Mr. Bill, with Joe Cary at his heels, dashed into the Evergreen and
through the crowd of shoppers to the elevator. A car was just about to
go up. Mr. Bill reached in and plucked out one of the passengers.
"Larsen," he said breathlessly to the employment manager, "have you
taken on any new people to-day?"
"Wha--what?" spluttered Larsen, too startled at being plucked from the
ascending elevator to do more than splutter--"what do you mean?"
"Just what I say!" exclaimed Mr. Bill. "Have you taken on any new people
to-day? Hurry up the answer! I haven't any time to spare."
His eagerness and his determination impressed Larsen as soon as Larsen
could recover from his surprise. "Yes," he said then, "I took on three
new people."
Mr. Bill sent a triumphant glance at Joe Cary. "Any girls?" he demanded
even more eagerly.
Larsen regarded him curiously. Mr. Bill had never showed any interest in
the girls employed in the Evergreen, they had never seemed to be any
more to Mr. Bill than so many bolts of midnight blue serge, or so many
electric washing-machines, but now Mr. Bill acted as if he knew that
the girls were human beings, real flesh-and-blood little creatures.
"There was one girl," Larsen remembered slowly.
Mr. Bill caught his shoulder and gave him a little shake. "What was she
like? Where is she?" The words fairly dashed over each other in their
haste to be spoken. "What was she like?" he repeated impatiently.
"Nothing!" Larsen described the new salesgirl in one vivid word. "She
wasn't like anything! And she's down in the basement in the hardware.
Her name?" in answer to another shake from Mr. Bill. "Her name was Mary
Smith." And to the best of Larsen's recollection she was nineteen years
old, a high-school girl, an orphan, and she had wanted to go to work at
once. Mr. Walker was short-handed so he had taken her down at once, and
she would receive the minimum wage of----
But Mr. Bill did not wait to hear about the minimum wage. "Come on,
Joe!" he called over his shoulder and hurried away, not to his father's
office where Joe thought they were bound, but to the basement.
The elevator was full of shoppers and Mr. Bill was separated from Joe by
a blue serge suit and a plaid gingham frock, so that Joe could not ask
Mr. Bill what on earth was eating him, but an inkling of Mr. Bill's
suspicion had crept into his mind. He was as eager as Mr. Bill to learn
if there was anything in that suspicion.
When they reached the basement, Mr. Bill made a dash for the hardware
and stood for a moment surveying the department with eager searching
eyes. Half a dozen customers were hesitating over various pans and
kettles, and as many clerks were waiting, with more or less patience,
for them to make their decisions. Mr. Bill and Joe had never seen those
customers before but they had seen the clerks. They recognized each one
of the half dozen. But Larsen had said there was a new girl. Joe turned
to ask Mr. Walker where she was when Mr. Bill pulled his sleeve, and
pointed a shaking finger toward the corner where the brooms and mops
were. A girl was standing beside them, the brooms concealing fully half
of her black frock.
"There she is!" hissed Mr. Bill.
Joe swung around and stared. There she was, the Mary Smith Mr. Larsen
had mentioned, the new employee. She was small and dressed in black in
accordance with the rule of the store. Her hair was pulled back from her
forehead and twisted in a hard knot on her neck. She wore glasses, and
so far as Joe could tell, she did not look like any one he had ever seen
before.
"Huh!" muttered Mr. Bill in deep disgust. "Larsen was right. She does
look like nothing, doesn't she? My hunch wasn't worth much, but just to
make sure let's have a word with old Walker."
When they found Mr. Walker in the rear of the department, he agreed that
Mary Smith had no style, that she would never be noticed in a crowd, but
he insisted that as a salesgirl she already showed promise.
"Only have to tell her once," he declared. "And brains are of more use
than style in this department. I think she'll make good!" As if Mr. Bill
cared what she would make. "But since I made such a bad guess about
little Miss Gilfooly I haven't had as much confidence in my psychology.
I never in the world would have taken her for a queen, so I won't say
too much about this Mary Smith. Say," he begged, as Mr. Bill would have
darted off, "have they found Miss Gilfooly yet? There's romance! Can you
believe it? I declare, I was just about ready to think that there wasn't
any in the world when along came that frizzle-headed black man and bang!
we were off! It was a good stunt for the department. You'd never believe
how our sales jumped. Too bad about the little queen! I hope she's all
right!" Tessie would have been surprised to hear how worried he seemed
to be about her.
"I hope she is!" agreed Mr. Bill, his eyes following Mary Smith as she
moved from the brooms to the carpet-sweepers.
Joe nudged him sharply, and asked him if he were going to his father's
office or should Joe go alone?
"It might be just as well for you to come along," he said significantly.
"I've several things to say to your father that it might be just as well
for you to hear."
"Just as you say!" But Mr. Bill showed no interest in a visit to his
father's office, nor in what Joe was going to say to his father. He was
as flat as a pricked balloon. A moment before, he had been floating high
in the sky, a round rosy ball, and now he lay on the dirty pavement,
nothing but a bit of dingy red rubber. He took another look at Mary
Smith, but she had disappeared around the carpet-sweepers, and he
followed Joe to the elevator and to the office.
Mr. Kingley looked up as they entered. "Huh!" he grunted, and they could
regard themselves as welcome or not as they pleased. Joe walked over
until he stood in front of the flat desk where Mr. Kingley would have to
look at him if he looked at anything.
"Mr. Kingley," he began, but Mr. Kingley preferred to lead the
discussion.
"Have you found our queen?" he asked, and there really was an interest,
an anxiety, in his voice.
"No, we haven't!" exclaimed Mr. Bill before Joe could gather breath to
repeat with crushing sarcasm the phrase "our queen" which so irritated
him. "Just for a moment, when we were at her old home, I had a hunch
that she might be hiding herself from those darned Sunshine Sons and
that she would think there would be no place as safe as her old job in
the Evergreen basement, but she isn't there."
"My soul!" interrupted Mr. Kingley, and his eyes fairly stood on his
cheeks. "Are you sure! That would make a striking story. The little
queen driven back to the Evergreen where she was found!" He smacked his
lips as he voiced the headline he quickly composed. "Are you sure,
Bill?" He hoped that Mr. Bill would not be sure.
"You don't think of anything but headlines, do you, Mr. Kingley?" Joe
broke in rudely. "You never think of Tessie as a young girl, a human
being? You only think of her as publicity for the Evergreen!"
"Well, but--but--" spluttered Mr. Kingley, staring at Joe indignantly.
Didn't Joe know that the welfare department of the Evergreen was the
best in the Northwest? That didn't look as if he failed to regard his
employees as human beings. As for publicity, even the Kingleys furnished
publicity for the Evergreen. Every time Mrs. Kingley went east or Ethel
had a friend in for a cup of tea, there was a notice in the _Gazette_.
To be sure, the notice did not always mention the Evergreen, but in the
Waloo mind, the name of Kingley meant Evergreen. The two were
synonymous. Joe should remember that. Really Joe was impossible. He
should remember all that Mr. Kingley had done for Tessie since she
became a queen, clothed her, introduced her to Waloo and aided her in
every way. He had a perfect right to be indignant at Joe and to glare at
him hotly.
"What I want to know is, how much the Evergreen is responsible for this
kidnaping?" went on Joe, as cold as Mr. Kingley was hot. They might have
been the two extremities of a dinner--hot soup and frozen pudding. Joe
did not seem to care a pin if Mr. Kingley did sputter and glare at him.
"Joe!" Both Mr. Kingley and Mr. Bill were on their feet and their
exclamations were full of genuine and righteous indignation.
"What do you mean?" Mr. Bill found his tongue first. "What do you mean,
Cary? What has father to do with the Sons of Sunshine?"
"That's what I want him to tell us," Joe said, while Mr. Kingley
continued to imitate a soda-water bottle. "There are things which must
be cleared up. I don't know much, but I suspect a lot." He turned his
back on the soda-water bottle and spoke directly to Mr. Bill. "You
remember the way your father acted when this darned news came to Tessie,
how he framed a big publicity campaign for the Evergreen, the exhibition
of the clothes he sold Tessie, the aluminum sale for the poor children
of the Sunshine Islands, the moving picture he had made of her, oh, the
whole business? It was all over the front page of the newspapers every
day. And it made the Evergreen famous from New York to San Francisco.
People who came to town asked the way to the Evergreen instead of to the
Art Museum or the new post office. It put the Evergreen on the world
map, and made it the most-talked-of store in the country. No matter what
came up, Mr. Kingley considered the Evergreen before he did Tessie. And
what I want to know now is how much of the thing is fake and how much is
true?"
"And what I want to know now," declared Mr. Bill standing shoulder to
shoulder with Joe and facing this choking parent, "is where Tessie
Gilfooly is. If half what Joe says is true, then you know where she is,
and you've got to tell me!"
Mr. Kingley turned his bulging eyes from one determined young face only
to see another determined young face. He could not entrench himself
behind glittering generalities another minute. They would know what he
knew, and he might as well tell them at once.
"Boys," he began slowly, "sit down and I'll tell you what I know. Sit
down!" he roared, as they failed to obey his first order but stood
facing him with a watchfulness which was very annoying. "You make me
nervous standing there, and looking at me as if I were a criminal. No,
Bill," as Mr. Bill impatiently shifted his weight from one brown shoe
to the other, "I don't know anything about the kidnaping of Miss
Gilfooly! But Joe is right in his statement that I made use of the
strange things that have happened here to advertise the Evergreen. I
only did what any red-blooded man would have done. It would have been
blind stupid folly to have refused to use such material. And a store
never had such publicity. Joe is right when he says the Evergreen is the
most famous store in the world. People do come from all over the
country, and our mail-order business is doubled, trebled, because of the
romance we found in our basement."
"Get down to brass tacks, Dad," rudely interrupted Mr. Bill. "Never mind
a speech. Just tell us in a few simple words whether you originated the
whole stunt? Are there any Sunshine Islands? Did Tessie Gilfooly ever
have an Uncle Pete? Did----"
"Bill!" exclaimed Mr. Kingley, looking incurably injured. "How can you
think that I would stoop to such unscrupulous methods!"
"But did you?" insisted Mr. Bill. He walked over to stand beside his
father as if to remind him that there might be more than one way to
obtain a direct answer to a simple question.
Before Mr. Kingley could say whether he did or didn't, Norah Lee burst
unceremoniously into the room.
"Oh, Mr. Kingley!" she exclaimed quickly. "Ka-kee-ta has come back! He
came half an hour ago, and he is perfectly furious because the queen and
the Tear of God have disappeared!"
"Ka-kee-ta!" The exclamation was an incredulous trio. The motif was full
of unbelief.
"Where has he been?" demanded Joe, one eye on Mr. Kingley and the other
on pink-cheeked, breathless Norah. "Where was he?"
"He doesn't seem to know," Norah said. She was eager to tell her story.
"He actually says he doesn't know. He went to get the chocolates for
Tessie, and when he came back, he had a five-pound box under his arm.
But where he was and what he was doing he can't, or won't say! He
mumbles a lot of native gibberish, but of course I can't understand
that. It's maddening! He declares he will find Tessie before night. And
Pracht, too. And he mumbles a lot about sharks!"
"He would!" muttered Joe, a puzzled frown cutting his forehead from his
face.
"I hope he does find her!" exclaimed Mr. Bill, staring at his father,
who seemed pleased that Ka-kee-ta had returned.
"Of course I'm not worried about Tessie since she telephoned that she
was all right," went on Norah. She could feel that there was a tension
in the office atmosphere, and as she did not understand it she talked
nervously. "I know she is all right, but----"
"How do you know she is all right?" burst forth Mr. Bill. "She may have
been forced to send that message. You don't know that she is all right
at all!" He contradicted Norah flatly and rudely.
Joe looked at him in surprise. "She was all right when she left the
cottage," he impatiently reminded Mr. Bill. "She was right enough to eat
some breakfast and change her clothes. Of course she is all right, and,"
he turned his eyes on Mr. Kingley, who squirmed uneasily. "I'm inclined
to think that Ka-kee-ta is right, that Tessie will be found before the
morning edition of the _Gazette_ goes to press. How about it, Mr.
Kingley? Do you agree with me?"
"I hope so. I sincerely hope so," stuttered Mr. Kingley, who found it
very disagreeable to be singled out as Joe had singled him. "I do hope
she will be found long before then."
"Ka-kee-ta's looking for her now," Norah went on. "He didn't wait a
second, but went off with the candy under one arm and his ax under the
other."
"Mr. Douglas wants to see Mr. Kingley," broke in the office boy from the
doorway.
"Douglas?" Mr. Kingley looked as if he had never heard of any Mr.
Douglas.
"Bert Douglas from Marvin, Phelps & Stokes," Mr. Bill told him. "Send
him in," he said to the boy. "Perhaps he can tell us something."
Bert came in with much dignity and importance. He glanced at the little
group--Norah and Mr. Bill and Joe--which had formed in front of Mr.
Kingley, and he explained at once why he was there.
"Mr. Marvin sent me over to tell you, Mr. Kingley, that the special
representative from the Sunshine Islands, Mr. Pitts, has arrived to
confer with Queen Teresa. As you have taken the queen under your
protection, he thought you should know at once."
There was not a sound, but the air was heavy with significance. They all
felt it. Joe Cary stepped forward.
"Then there really are Sunshine Islands?" He sounded as if he had never
really believed that there were any Sunshine Islands.
Bert looked at him in surprise. "Of course!" he said. "The special
representative is a white man--James Pitts. He has had charge of King
Pete's business affairs. He was on the islands when King Pete died, and
then, just as he was ready to leave, the radicals, Sons of Sunshine,
they call themselves, you know, locked him up. But he had sent Ka-kee-ta
with a lot of important papers to a lawyer in Honolulu, and the lawyer
brought him here. Pitts managed to escape and has just arrived. We were
glad to see him, for we had so many contradictory messages from him and
about him, that we scarcely knew what to think. I suppose they were
sent by the radicals."
Joe stared at him before he drew a long breath, and turned away. "Mr.
Kingley," he said impulsively, "I beg your pardon!"
"I should think you would," Mr. Kingley told him gruffly.
"All we have to do now," went on Bert, still rather overfull of
importance, "is to find Queen Teresa, and then we can settle everything
up. Mr. Marvin thought perhaps--" He looked suggestively at Mr. Kingley,
who hurriedly shook his head and fairly bellowed his reply.
"No, I don't! I don't know where she is! You go right back and tell Mr.
Marvin I don't know! This is all very interesting and very romantic, but
it doesn't do my work. If there is nothing I can do for you, I would
suggest that I have the morning mail to look over. Send in Miss Jenson,"
he curtly told the boy who ran in to answer his buzzer.
Joe, stalking out behind the others, could not refrain from a last word.
He would have choked if he had not spoken. "You mean Mr. Gray, don't
you?" He grinned sarcastically. "The _Gazette_ should be told of the
arrival of James Pitts, special representative of the Sunshine Islands,
whose queen was found in the basement of the Evergreen."
Mr. Kingley regarded him with cold eyes. "Will you kindly shut the door
behind you?" he said so frostily that any thermometer would have
registered his temperature as far, far below zero.