Mr. Bill hurried Tessie through the crowd and to his car. They both
thought of the day, over a month ago, when Tessie had learned that she
was a queen, and Mr. Bill had taken her to Marvin, Phelps & Stokes. And
now he was taking her to the lawyers' again. They smiled radiantly at
each other. How blue the sky was! How bright the sunshine!
"My word!" exclaimed Mr. Bill from the very depths of his honest heart.
"I'm glad I found you!"
"I'm glad, too," Tessie murmured shyly. "I made up my mind that I'd stay
in the Evergreen basement until the special representative came and made
the Sons of Sunshine behave themselves. I'm sorry you were worried," she
said apologetically. Indeed she was sorry that Mr. Bill had been
worried. The thought that Mr. Bill would worry about her sent a lump,
that almost choked her, into her throat.
"Worried!" The word was inadequate to express what Mr. Bill had
suffered. "Say," he said quickly, "when I heard you had been carried off
I--I--Oh, hang it all!" The eager expression slipped from his face, and
he drew back. "I wish you weren't a queen," he muttered discontentedly.
"What were you going to say?" asked Tessie eagerly. "Never mind the
queen business. I want to hear what you were going to say."
Mr. Bill looked at her flushed little face and into her starry blue
eyes, and he did not care a penny if she were a queen. She was the
dearest, the sweetest, the loveliest girl in the world. She was Tessie!
Tessie Gilfooly! He did not care a hang if she were also a queen. And he
did not care another hang if they were there by the curb with the noon
crowd moving up and down the sidewalk. He only remembered that Tessie
was there beside him, within reach of his hand, and that all night he
had been trying to find her, afraid for her. The words came in a great
rush. He could not have kept one of them back to save his life. Tessie
did not want him to keep them back--not one of them. Her ears were
hungry to hear them all. She colored enchantingly.
"I'm crazy about you!" Mr. Bill said thickly. "And when you were
kidnaped yesterday I nearly died! I would have died if you hadn't been
found. I know I would! I never felt about a girl as I do about you. I--I
don't feel complete unless you are with me. Oh, darn it! I wish you
weren't a queen!" He remembered what she was, and looked at her
helplessly, almost indignantly.
Tessie laughed softly, and the wild roses deepened in her cheeks. "I
don't!" she said firmly. "If I hadn't been a queen, you never, never
would have seen me! You never did see me until that day, and all the
time I was crazy about you. The first day I went to the Evergreen was
the first day you were there, and Mr. Walker took you around and showed
you everything. I thought you were the most wonderful man in the world!
But you never looked at me! You never saw me until I was a queen! I
should say I was glad that Uncle Pete died and sent Ka-kee-ta to find
me!" she finished breathlessly.
"You darling! You honey-girl!" Mr. Bill fought valiantly the impulse to
take her in his arms and kiss her and kiss her right in the face of the
moving noon throng. "And you really do like me?" He wanted to hear her
say again that he was the most wonderful man in the world.
"I'm crazy about you!" Tessie repeated happily.
"My word!" He stared at her. "And I'm crazy about you! Can you believe
it? I don't know how this is going to end," he said firmly, "but I know
this much--I'm not going to give you up to any Sunshine Islands! You
belong to me!" He held fast to what belonged to him and grinned.
"That's the wonderful part!" Tessie sighed with ecstasy, her heart
beating so fast that she could scarcely find breath to go on. "That I
belong to you, and you belong to me! I--I can't make it seem true! It's
far more amazing than that I'm a queen!"
The word reminded them that they were on the way to meet the queen's
special representative. They never would meet him if they remained in
front of the Evergreen. Mr. Bill reluctantly touched a button, and they
shot forward just as a man, a _Gazette_ reporter, recognized Tessie. He
raised a cheer.
"Oh!" Tessie looked back and waved her hand before she turned her
glowing face to Mr. Bill. "Can you believe it? Isn't this the most
wonderful world?"
Eventually they joined the others in Mr. Marvin's office. Not only were
Joe, Norah, Bert and Mr. Kingley seated around Mr. Marvin's desk, but
there was another man there, a big broad-shouldered man with a sunburned
face, and beside him stood Ka-kee-ta, and clutched tight in Ka-kee-ta's
right hand was the sleeve of Frederic Pracht. Mr. Pracht stood leaning
against the wall, a cynical smile on his face.
As Tessie came in, all rosy apology, Ka-kee-ta gave a roar and rushed
forward dragging Mr. Pracht with him, and whether he wanted to or not,
Mr. Pracht had to make obeisance to the queen.
"Hang it all!" he muttered angrily. "Let me go!"
"Yes, Ka-kee-ta, let him go," ordered Mr. Marvin, as Tessie gave a
little shriek when she saw who had been forced to bend before her.
But it was not until James Pitts uttered a few curt words in an unknown
tongue that Ka-kee-ta released his prisoner. Mr. Pracht stumbled to his
feet and withdrew to a corner, where he stood brushing his clothes with
a hand that would shake. He knew very well that it would not be wise for
him to take another step. He had gone as far as he could.
"Why, Ka-kee-ta!" Tessie patted her bodyguard on the shoulder. "Where
were you? I was so worried about you? And how did you find Mr. Pracht?"
"I think I can tell you that better than Ka-kee-ta," said Mr. Pitts, and
he came forward to shake Tessie's little hand. "Glad to meet you," he
said formally before he began his story. "I was on my way to Mr.
Marvin's office yesterday when I met Ka-kee-ta in front of a candy
store. I took him back to the Pioneer to ask him about things and
detained him so late that I persuaded him to sleep on the floor of my
room instead of returning to disturb you. He never would have left you
for a moment if he had known that the Sons of Sunshine had threatened
you. As for Pracht, he came to see me this morning to try and make a
deal for the islands. He was there when Ka-kee-ta came back to tell me
that Miss Gilfooly had disappeared. We suspected that Pracht knew
something about the kidnaping, and Ka-kee-ta grabbed him. As long as no
harm has been done and you are safe, I would suggest that Pracht be
released. He is only the tool of a man who is known in the islands as
the Shark. The Shark planned to make a fortune by selling the islands to
Japan, and he organized the Sons of Sunshine to cause dissension among
the people, and influence them to refuse to accept a white queen. He
sent Pracht here to oppose you, and to get the Tear of God, which means
everything to the islanders. No one could expect to influence them
unless he had the Tear of God. But the Sons of Sunshine turned against
the Shark. He was killed in the fight which liberated me, and without
him, Pracht is harmless. He did not know of the Shark's death until I
told him. Let him go," he advised curtly.
"Wait a minute," exclaimed Mr. Kingley. "Before he goes, I want to know
why he used my car to kidnap the queen?" And he glared at Mr. Pracht.
"Because Miss Gilfooly knew your car and would get into it when she was
told," Mr. Pracht explained in a voice which was very different from the
domineering tones he had used to Tessie. "We had expected to go to the
hotel and ask her to come to Mrs. Kingley, but when we picked her up in
the street, it was easy. We didn't hurt her!" he added hurriedly.
"No, you didn't hurt her. You didn't dare!" Mr. Pitts told him coldly.
"You can go!"
Mr. Pracht did not wait to hear another word. He was glad to go, and he
slid out of the door like a brown-and-green snake.
"Goodness gracious!" exclaimed Tessie, who was not at all sure that she
liked to have Mr. Pitts issue orders and let a brown-and-green snake
loose.
"His methods were clumsy," Mr. Pitts said flatly, "from the beginning
when he stole the records from the Mifflin court house. And they were
clumsy when he had his native servant ransack your house for the Tear of
God. The fellow was knocked on the head by Ka-kee-ta who was prowling
around to see you, Miss Gilfooly, and who was frightened at what he had
done and ran away. It was clumsy of Pracht to think that he could steal
the jewel from you at the Evergreen banquet, where he acted as a waiter.
And clumsier still to threaten you as he did and to kidnap you. That
must have been his servant at the window when you thought you saw
Ka-kee-ta. Pracht should have used a little tact. Tact is far more
necessary than force in negotiations of this sort." He looked at Tessie
and nodded his head to assure her that he had no intention of using
force. Tact was the weapon that he would always use.
There was a slight pause which Mr. Kingley broke with a cough. The
cough might have been a signal for, as soon as he heard it, Mr. Marvin
looked at Mr. Pitts.
"If you have brought information from the Sunshine Islands for Queen
Teresa, you might give it to her now," he said. "We are all her
friends." And he smiled at Her Majesty.
"Oh, yes!" breathed Queen Teresa on pins and needles to hear about the
Sunshine Islands. She regarded her friends with shining eyes. They were
friends to be very proud of, every one of them.
Mr. Pitts let his glance roam from one to another also, and his shaggy
brows drew together until they made a black line above his keen
penetrating eyes.
"I find," he began slowly, carefully weighing each word before he
offered it to Tessie and her friends, "that you have no idea of what the
Sunshine Islands actually are. You seem to regard them as you would
England or any other European kingdom. Of course a king is a king, or in
this case, I should say a queen is a queen, but there is a difference
between a first-rate power and a group of Pacific islands. I understand
from Ka-kee-ta that you have looked upon Miss Gilfooly as you would upon
Queen Mary, for instance, and I am afraid that you have prepared her for
nothing but disappointment."
Tessie's heart jumped into her mouth. Wasn't she a queen then, after
all? Her face, which had been as pink as a rose, turned as white as the
flower on Mr. Marvin's desk.
Joe Cary gave a low whistle. "I thought so!" he exclaimed, and he glared
at Mr. Kingley.
No one paid any attention to him. Every one was too interested in Mr.
Pitts and his words to have even a small portion of interest for
whistling Joe Cary.
"I don't understand," went on Mr. Pitts even more carefully, "why you
thought best to shower Miss Gilfooly with such royal honors and
homage--just why you took that point of view--" he hesitated again.
"You tell us, Mr. Kingley," begged Joe. "You tell us how that mistake
was made."
Mr. Kingley flushed and eyed Joe as if he wished that Joe were where he
belonged--behind a drawing-board in the advertising department of the
Evergreen--instead of in the office of Marvin, Phelps & Stokes, heckling
the owner of the Evergreen.
"I happened to be with Mr. Marvin, when he received the papers from the
Honolulu lawyer who brought Ka-kee-ta here," he said a little
reluctantly, although the reluctance disappeared as he told his story.
"They said that the King of the Sunshine Islands--I remember that the
word king was distinctly used--had died and made the eldest child of his
brother, John Gilfooly of Waloo, his heir. I knew that there was a Miss
Gilfooly on the Evergreen pay roll. The name had been unusual enough to
attract my attention. And it occurred to me if that Gilfooly should
prove to be the heir, she would be a queen and we could obtain some
mighty effective publicity for the Evergreen. Business had been dull, we
were feeling the general depression, and we needed something to boost
trade. Mr. Marvin has been my friend for many years, and he consented to
let me use the information. I don't see yet that any harm has been
done," he told Joe defiantly.
"I don't either," murmured Tessie, with a shy glance at Mr. Bill, who
looked at her anything but shyly.
Mr. Kingley regarded Tessie with hearty approval before he went on. "Mr.
Marvin's man located the eldest child of John Gilfooly in Miss Teresa
Gilfooly, who sold aluminum in the Evergreen basement. We arranged to
notify her of her good fortune while she was at work, and naturally I
made the most of the story. And no one can say I haven't treated Miss
Gilfooly like a queen!" He dared Joe to say it. "I confess that I used
the romantic and dramatic events which followed to benefit the
Evergreen, but any man would have done that if he was any kind of a
business man at all. I even helped Miss Gilfooly raise a large fund for
the poor children of the islands," he boasted.
"There are no poor in the Sunshine Islands!" Mr. Pitts spoke
indignantly. "Every one is rich and happy there, for people are rich and
happy when they have all they want. They may not have much, but they
have what they want, and I guess that is all any of us work for. I
suppose this is a disappointment to you, Miss Gilfooly?" He turned to
Tessie with kindly concern.
"No," she told him a little slowly. "It isn't exactly. You see, I know
something about these Sons of Sunshine! and when I was kidnaped, I did a
lot of thinking I hadn't had time to do before. I remembered what
happens to kings and queens when the people don't want them. Joe Cary
had told me all about that. I'm not sure I want to be a queen and
perhaps some day find myself in boiling oil." She shuddered. "Mr. Pracht
said that was what they do in the Sunshine Islands when they don't like
their kings."
"It has been done," admitted Mr. Pitts, "but not lately. I think you are
right. You wouldn't be happy in the Islands. According to their laws, a
queen from another tribe, which is what you would be, must marry the
most powerful man on the islands."
"Oh!" Tessie's eyes grew so big and round that there seemed to be
nothing in her face but two big blue eyes. "I couldn't do that! I never
could do that!" And she looked appealingly at Mr. Bill.
"No, of course you couldn't. And you couldn't stay on the Islands
twenty-four hours unless you did. Here is a shot I took at the man you
would have to marry, if you remain the queen." He handed Tessie a
photograph of a big strapping native, who looked enough like Ka-kee-ta
to be his twin brother. He had the same frizzled hair, the same tattooed
nose.
Tessie turned away from it with a shriek and a shudder. "I never could!
Never!" she declared. "I couldn't ever marry any one but----"
"Me!" interrupted Mr. Bill proudly. Mr. Bill was immensely pleased with
Mr. Pitts' report of the Sunshine Islands. It promised to remove many of
the difficulties from the path which led to Tessie. "Perhaps this isn't
the time to speak of it, but you might as well know that Miss Gilfooly
is going to marry me some day soon."
There was a gasp and a gurgle from Mr. Kingley. He stumbled to his feet
and stared at his son and then at his former employee. He was unable to
utter one of the words which rushed to his lips. He could only stare at
his son, and wonder what on earth his son's mother would say.
"Ye gods!" he heard Joe Cary explain. "Here is publicity! The Queen of
the Sunshine Islands and the heir of the Evergreen! People will eat up
such a story. You'll double your sales again, Mr. Kingley!"
Norah Lee looked at Joe, and then she looked at Tessie, and then back
to Joe, as if she were surprised to hear him speak so lightly of Tessie
marrying any one. Her face flushed suddenly, and she ran to Tessie and
kissed her.
"I'm so glad," she whispered. "I knew Mr. Bill was crazy about you."
"And did you know I was crazy about Mr. Bill?" whispered Tessie, all
aquiver with ecstasy. "Isn't he wonderful!"
"Old Bill stole a march on us," grumbled Bert Douglas. "He had you
branded before the rest of us had a chance," he told Tessie
discontentedly.
"I think you are very wise, Miss Gilfooly." Mr. Pitts seemed as pleased
as any of the group. "You will be far happier as the wife of a young
American than of Ti-ta there." He nodded toward the snapshot which lay
face up on Mr. Marvin's desk.
"My goodness!" shivered Tessie. "I should think I would! But what will
become of Ka-kee-ta if I marry Mr. Bill? I shan't want Ka-kee-ta around
then."
"I'll take him and the Tear of God back to the islands," offered Mr.
Pitts. "And I'll guarantee you a wedding present such as Waloo has never
seen."
"And we'll exhibit it at the Evergreen!" Mr. Kingley did not care if Joe
Cary did laugh. "People will want to see it."
"Then I am to understand you will renounce your rights to the islands?"
Mr. Pitts asked, so that he would know exactly what he was to
understand. "I doubt if you really have any legal claim to them. I doubt
if Pete Gilfooly had the right to leave them to any one. His private
fortune, something over a hundred thousand----"
"A hundred thousand!" cried Mr. Kingley. "I thought it was millions!" He
glared at Mr. Pitts as if he suspected that Mr. Pitts had secreted the
millions.
"A hundred thousand," repeated Mr. Pitts firmly. "Money isn't worth what
it was in the islands. It isn't worth what it was anywhere. Look at the
German mark and the French franc! Look at the Russian ruble! Look at the
American dollar! The Shark asked millions from the Japanese, but I told
you what happened to him. No, Pete Gilfooly left a hundred thousand
dollars, and they are safe in a Honolulu bank, subject to Miss
Gilfooly's orders. That money was his, no matter how he made it, and he
could leave it where he pleased. But the Sunshine Islands are different.
And the Tear of God is different, too. Whether you have any right to it
or not, you have possession of it, and the people want it back. They are
prepared to pay a good price for it, because they believe that
misfortune will come to the islands if it isn't brought back. They are
childishly superstitious. Any one who has the Tear of God can influence
them. That is why Pracht kidnaped Miss Gilfooly. But even if she has the
Tear of God, Miss Gilfooly couldn't govern those islands. That's a man's
job and it should be a Sunshine Islander's job. I think the offer is a
fair one, and I can promise you that the islands will never become the
property of any foreign power. They will remain in the possession of the
people--an independent people!" he added impressively.
"He's right!" Joe Cary told Tessie eagerly. "You'll be a lot happier if
you stop thinking any more about this queen business, and plan to settle
down with Mr. Bill in a flat here in Waloo."
"I know," murmured Tessie, all aglow at the thought of a flat in Waloo
with Mr. Bill. It would be heaven! And then, strangely enough, she had
to remember what Mr. Kingley had said about the duties and
responsibilities to which Providence had called her and Mr. Bill. Mr.
Bill could look after his duties from a flat in Waloo, but what about
her responsibilities? Could she put them aside, just because the Waloo
flat would be heaven? The Sunshine Islands were hers. They had been left
to her by her Uncle Pete. She didn't care what Mr. Pitts said. And
anyway, Mr. Pitts sounded a lot like Mr. Pracht, they both wanted to
take her islands from her. Perhaps there were moments when it was
unpleasant to be a queen, but there were also moments when it was
pleasant. And the islands were hers! The blood of the fighting Gilfoolys
began to stir in her veins.
Mr. Pitts playing with the snapshot of Ti-ta turned it toward her. It
gave her the horrors just to look at the pictured face. Oh, dear! She
did want to continue to be a queen, but she did not want to pay the
price for the honor, if Mr. Pitts was right about the price. But was he?
Would she have to marry that horror to remain a queen? She looked at Mr.
Pitts suspiciously. Mr. Pitts was supposed to be her representative--her
special representative--but he talked as if he were the counsel for the
islands. He did not seem to be thinking of her at all.
"Then I am to understand," Mr. Pitts said a second time, and in a most
ingratiating manner, "that you will resign your claim to the Sunshine
Islands?"
His insistence made him more than ever like the detestable Mr. Pracht.
Tessie tossed her head indignantly. What was there about her islands
that everybody should try to take them from her? Resign! She would not
resign anything until she knew, and even when she knew, she would resign
nothing until she was ready. She was a queen, and she would keep her
kingdom until she was thoroughly ready to give it up. She didn't care
what this horrid Mr. Pitts said or what Joe Cary said. And she would
keep Mr. Bill, too! The fighting blood of the Gilfoolys was in full
command, but before she could muster her indignant thoughts into orderly
sentences, which would explain her decision, Mr. Kingley had something
to say. Mr. Kingley seemed as opposed to Mr. Pitts as Tessie was.
"Not so fast! Not so fast!" he cautioned. "Kingdoms aren't resigned as
easily nor as quickly as that. It doesn't seem wise to me, a business
man, for Queen Teresa to give up her rights until she knows what they
are. I should advise her to visit the Sunshine Islands before she
decides to give them to any one."
"Oh!" Tessie was aghast. "I never could put my foot on them! I wouldn't
dare!" And although she was a Gilfooly and therefore brave as a lion,
she was inconsistent enough to look piteously at Mr. Bill. Surely he
would not want her to visit islands inhabited by cannibals.
"You see!" murmured Mr. Pitts, with a shrug of his broad shoulders.
"I should further suggest," went on Mr. Kingley, who seemed full of
helpful suggestions, "that, as the queen is to marry my son, the visit
to the islands might be a feature of their wedding trip."
"Gosh!" muttered Joe Cary, visualizing the headlines which such a
wedding trip would produce in every newspaper.
"Oh!" exclaimed Tessie, but it was a very different "Oh" from the one
she had uttered before. What a wonderful man old Mr. Kingley was! With
Mr. Bill beside her, she would not be afraid if all six islands were
covered with cannibals. She looked at Mr. Bill, her face all pink
dimples.
"Now that," exclaimed Mr. Bill enthusiastically, "is a real idea!" He
caught Tessie's hand and squeezed it.
But Mr. Pitts shook his head. "You would never be allowed to land," he
prophesied.
"Well," exclaimed Tessie stubbornly, "I'm not going to give up my
islands until I've seen them!" Mr. Kingley's suggestion was proving more
alluring to her every minute.
Mr. Pitts sighed and settled himself for a long argument. He took great
pains to hold the picture of Ti-ta so that Tessie would have to look at
the tattooed face.
Tessie turned away from it. "And if I'm married to Mr. Bill," her voice
shook with ecstasy at the thought, "I couldn't marry that man!"
"The islands would never recognize your marriage to any man but Ti-ta,"
Mr. Pitts insisted. "You would have to marry him or resign your claims.
I am sorry that you don't like my suggestion. It was made to help you. I
know what the islands are. I know how Pete Gilfooly managed to hold
them. They are no place for a white woman!" And he told them more about
the islands, and the barbarous customs of the natives, whom Pete
Gilfooly had never been able to civilize, even if he had built them a
church and a moving-picture theater. He made Tessie's warm blood run
cold, and even Mr. Kingley shook his head.
"Why they're nothing but savages!" Mr. Kingley exclaimed in disgust.
"That's what I have been telling you," Mr. Pitts said patiently. "They
have no respect or consideration for women. Miss Gilfooly, even if she
is the queen, would be only Ti-ta's slave. She would be just one of his
wives!"
"I wouldn't!" cried Tessie, fiercely indignant at such a statement. "I
wouldn't marry anybody ever but Mr. Bill! And if those Sunshine Island
people don't want me to be their queen, why I don't owe them anything!"
She had suddenly made an amazing discovery. "I haven't any obligation to
them at all!" Of course she hadn't! Mr. Kingley could talk about the
responsibilities Providence had given her if he wanted to, but even Mr.
Kingley should see that she owed nothing to a people who refused to let
her take the responsibilities. "I'm glad I had the islands, that I was
their queen," she went on eagerly, "for they brought me and Mr. Bill
together, but now that we are together, I don't want them! Not for a
minute! I think they're horrid! I wouldn't live where men can have
half-a-dozen wives!"
"But--" began Mr. Kingley feebly.
He had never had anything to do with a royal abdication before, but he
felt that this was not the way one should properly be managed. Surely
there must be a system for such an affair.
Tessie stamped her foot. "Please, please don't make any more
objections!" she begged. "If you were a girl, and had to choose between
splendid Mr. Bill and that tattooed horror, you wouldn't hesitate a
second, no matter how many kingdoms were thrown in with the native. I'd
rather marry Mr. Bill than have a dozen kingdoms! I would!" she repeated
defiantly. "I'm like Joe Cary," she even dared to say to purpling Mr.
Kingley. "I've learned that women are of far more use to the world than
queens."
"Good for you, Tess!" applauded Joe Cary.
"But--" Mr. Kingley began again ever more feebly.
"And anyway," went on Tessie, the words coming in an impetuous rush,
"this is my kingdom, and if I want to give it back to the people I can!
Can't I?" She appealed to Mr. Bill. "You would just as soon I wouldn't
be a queen, wouldn't you?"
"I'd rather!" he told her honestly. "I'd a lot rather have you just
little Tessie Gilfooly. I've told you more than once that I wished you
weren't a queen."
Tessie drew a long breath and smiled radiantly at Mr. Bill. It pleased
her enormously to hear that he liked her better as Tessie Gilfooly. But
when she looked at Mr. Kingley she sighed. "I wish you did, too," she
said wistfully. She could not be quite happy without Mr. Kingley's
approval. "I wish you didn't want me to keep on being a queen."
Before Mr. Kingley could tell her how much better it was in his
estimation for her to remain a queen, the door opened, and Mr. Phelps
came in with a newspaper which he placed before Mr. Marvin.
"The noon edition of the _Gazette_," he explained importantly, and he
looked curiously at Tessie. "I thought you should see this at once." And
he pointed to an item in the upper left-hand corner of the folded sheet.
Mr. Marvin looked at the big headline. "Upon my word!" he exclaimed in
astonishment. "A tidal wave has washed over the Sunshine Islands and
destroyed two of them. Here is a dispatch from Honolulu that on the
twenty-third of the month, a tidal wave swept over the Sunshine Islands
and destroyed two of them!"
"Well, I'll be darned!" exclaimed Mr. Bill, the first to find his voice,
and he put his arm around Tessie and held her tight, as if to make sure
that she would not be swept away from him.
"A tidal wave!" cried Tessie, and she looked almost suspiciously at Mr.
Pitts, as if she suspected that he had had something to do with the
tidal wave. "Do they have those on the islands, too?" There seemed to be
no end to the disagreeable things that could happen on the Sunshine
Islands.
"Occasionally," mumbled Mr. Pitts, as he snatched the paper from Mr.
Marvin and read the dispatch himself. "There used to be twelve islands
in the group, but six of them have been destroyed by tidal waves. The
last was in 1853 when the smallest, Ki-yu-hi, was swept away. I must
cable Honolulu!" And he hurried from the room, Ka-kee-ta at his heels.
Tessie turned to Mr. Kingley. "Just suppose we had gone there on our
wedding trip, Mr. Bill and I, and we had been swept away by a tidal
wave!" she said, her face white at the mere thought. "How would you feel
then? I shouldn't think you would want us to have anything to do with
such a place."
"Well, well," muttered Mr. Kingley, somewhat dazed by the calamity in
the Pacific Ocean. "I'm glad your uncle's money was banked in Honolulu.
I guess this Pitts is right and those islands aren't any place for a
white woman," he admitted slowly.
"Then, that's settled!" Tessie reached forward and patted his hand. "I'm
glad you agree with us at last. But isn't it awful to have two whole
islands destroyed like that? It wasn't my fault, was it? Nobody can
blame me, can they? Even if I did have the Tear of God?" She snatched
the royal jewel from her bag where she had tucked it when she came to
the office, and threw it on the desk, as if it burned her fingers. "Do
you suppose the islands were destroyed because Ka-kee-ta brought that to
me? Do you suppose the people were right when they said misfortune would
come to them if the Tear of God wasn't brought back?" Her face was quite
white and her eyes full of awed fear. "I--I never want to see it again!"
she gasped. "I think those islands are awful! If you aren't killed by
savages, you're drowned by tidal waves!" She turned away from the royal
pearl with horror.
"I'll take care of it for you," suggested Mr. Kingley, taking it in his
hand. "I'll keep it in the store vault." He felt that something should
be saved for Tessie from the wreck of her kingdom.
But Tessie shook her head. "I'll give it to Ka-kee-ta," she insisted,
"and he can take it back to the islands, and maybe the rest of them will
be saved; maybe then there won't be any more tidal waves."
"Sure, you can give it to Ka-kee-ta," Mr. Bill promised her. "I'll be
glad to have him take it away from Waloo. I don't want him around,
either. He'll be better off with Mr. Pitts. Mr. Pitts seems to
understand natives. And some day I'll give you a string of real
pearls."
"That's what I'd like!" Tessie was tearfully grateful. "Oh, what will
Granny say?" she exclaimed suddenly. "I must go and tell her about the
tidal wave and everything!"