XV
In spite of her brave words, Tessie did not feel brave when she thoughtof Frederic Pracht and his threats. She shivered and turned pale, andthere was a frightened look in her big blue eyes. She wondered if Mr.Pracht had told her the truth about the islands and the people and theircustoms--their barbarous customs.
She suddenly discovered that she knew almost nothing about the kingdomher Uncle Pete had left to her. She had been a queen for almost a month,and she had been so busy spending the island revenues that she hadscarcely glanced in her library books. She blushed with shame. Joe Cary,who had no claim to the islands at all, knew far more about them thanshe did. He talked as if the Sons of Sunshine were like the I. W. W. oranarchists who threw bombs when and where they pleased. Now that sherealized how ignorant she was, Tessie could not understand how she hadbeen satisfied to know nothing. She had only been interested in spendingthe money Mr. Marvin had given her. She had not taken so much as aminute to learn anything about the history of the islands, nor anythingabout the people who lived on the islands. It wasn't right, she toldherself with shame.
"I'm a rotten queen," she confessed to Granny in a disgust so deep thatit colored her cheeks and brought a black frown to her smooth whiteforehead. "But I don't have to keep on being a rotten queen." And sheflew to the telephone and called for Marvin, Phelps & Stokes and askedeagerly for Mr. Douglas--Mr. Gilbert Douglas.
"This is Qu--I mean this is Tessie Gilfooly," she corrected herself witha shamed little laugh, for in her present humble state of mind she didnot feel that she had any right to call herself a queen.
"Hello! Your Majesty!" chuckled Bert. Tessie could hear him laugh overthe wire, and the hearty chuckle cheered her. "What can I do for youto-day?"
"You can tell me if you have heard anything about the specialrepresentative from the Sunshine Islands." Tessie quickly told him whathe could do for her. "It seems to me he should be here by now."
"That's a funny thing!" exclaimed Bert. "I just put on my hat to comeover and tell you what we have heard of that very representative. He--"Bert hesitated and then went on reluctantly--"he is still in theislands."
"Still in the islands!" repeated Tessie faintly. "Why--why--I thoughthe was to come at once!"
"He was captured by a bunch of rebels. Sons of Sunshine they callthemselves," explained Bert slowly. He was finding that it was notnearly so pleasant to carry bad news as it had been to carry good news.
"My goodness gracious!" cried Tessie. "My gracious goodness! They won'thurt him, will they? They won't boil him in sh-shark oil?" Her voiceshook as she asked the question, but of course Bert would tell her thatit was ridiculous to think that any one would be treated in such asavage fashion in these civilized days.
But Bert hesitated. "Well," he said at last, "when you get down to brasstacks your people aren't much more than savages, Queen Teresa, and theydo things in a savage way. I don't honestly think that they would boilany one in oil, but you never can tell what cannibals will do. Anywaythe party that is in power--that was your uncle's party, you know, thesame as our republicans, as I understand it--is doing everything tostraighten matters and show the Sons of Sunshine that it will be to theadvantage of the islands if King Pete's will is carried out. I expectthe rebels will free the special representative at once and he will bealong as soon as he can. You're not to worry. You're not on theislands. You're safe here in Waloo. You haven't anything to worryabout."
"Haven't I?" quavered Tessie. "Did you hear what happened the othernight at the Evergreen banquet? If it hadn't been for Ka-kee-ta, I wouldhave been kidnaped. The store detective hasn't found out a thing, andMr. Kingley thinks I imagined it. But I didn't. I didn't!" she insisted."Even if I don't have to worry, I do. I can't help it! Do you know, BertDouglas, that I don't know anything about those islands! Not a singlesolitary thing!"
"I don't know much!" Bert frankly admitted his ignorance, and he did notseem ashamed of it, but then Bert was not a king, he was only a lawyer."I guess there isn't much to learn. You see, they were almost unknownuntil your Uncle Pete was washed up on them and put them on the map."
"You must have papers and things?" suggested Tessie, pinkly ashamed thatshe had not asked the question before.
"I'll gather up everything I can find and come right over," offered Berteagerly. "Shall I?"
"Do!" begged Tessie. "I just can't wait another minute to learn allabout them!"
She was a little disappointed in the big law firm of Marvin, Phelps &Stokes as she hung up the receiver. Surely some one in the office shouldhave known about the property of a client. She didn't believe that thelawyers knew as much as Joe Cary. Joe! She took the receiver from itshook again and asked Central to give her the Evergreen, please. WhenCentral at last reluctantly connected her with the big department store,she breathlessly demanded Joe Cary.
"Hello, Joe!" she said as soon as she heard his friendly voice over thewire. "This is Tessie!"
"Hello, Tess! What do you want me to do?" For experience had taught Joethat when Tessie called him up it was because she wanted him to dosomething.
"I want you to come right over and tell me everything you know aboutthese Sons of Sunshine!" Her voice quivered as she spoke of the Sons ofSunshine.
"What do you mean?" asked Joe sharply. "What have they been trying to donow?"
"My goodness!" Tessie was frightened. "You don't really think there areany of them in Waloo, do you? I thought you were jollying when you saidthe man who tried to take me from the Evergreen banquet was a Son ofSunshine. I never believed there were any of them in Waloo!" Her teethchattered, and cold fingers seemed to be running up and down her spine.
"I don't jolly about serious things. I honestly believe that the man youfound on the porch that night was a Sunshiner, and I am just as surethat the man who tried to rob you at the banquet was one, too. I can'tprove it, and the store detective laughs at me, but I know I am right.Don't have anything to do with them, Tess. They're brutes! They wouldn'tstop at anything!"
"I know!" impatiently. "And I'm scared to death, Joe Cary! I wish you'dcome right over and tell me what you know!"
"I'll run up this evening."
"You tell Mr. Kingley I want to see you right away, and he'll let youcome right away," guessed Tessie. She would die if she had to wait untilevening.
"I shan't ask any favors of old Kingley," Joe told her stiffly.
"Oh, Joe!" Her breath caught in a sob. "Not when I ask you? Please,please? I'm frightened!" Her quivering voice told him how frightened shewas.
"All right!" he said quickly. "I'll come over, but for heaven's sakekeep your shirt on and don't lose your head!"
"I don't want to lose my head," she agreed meekly. "That's why I wantyou to come right over. And, Joe, you're a darling!"
"Oh, am I?" gruffly. "We'll see about that!"
The information Bert gathered proved to be most unsatisfactory toTessie. It only told about Uncle Pete's will and certain propertieswhich he possessed in the Hawaiian Islands. There was scarcely a wordabout the people or the politics of the Sunshine Islands.
"You don't know as much as I do," complained Tessie, as she pushed thepapers aside. She looked at him, and disappointment was written all overher face.
"No, I don't suppose I do! You've had Ka-kee-ta to tell you things. ButI say, you're not really worrying, are you? You needn't because we areall going to stand by you. Mr. Marvin said the other day that he ratherthought he would send me along when you go to the islands to see thateverything is all right."
"Bert Douglas!" She stared at him and a little of the worry slipped fromher eyes. "How perfectly wonderful! And perhaps Mr. Kingley will sendMr. Bill! Mr. Bill told me last night. His father wants him to look overthe islands. With you and Mr. Bill everything will be perfect!"
"Sure to," agreed Bert, although he did look a trifle disappointed whenhe heard that Mr. Bill was to be a member of the royal party.
But Joe Cary was not so sure that Bert and Mr. Bill would makeeverything all right fo
r Tessie. He shook his head.
"You have to remember that you will not be dealing with civilizedpeople, Tessie," he said frowningly. "Oh, yes, some of them arecivilized in a way, but from what I hear your Uncle Pete was as big asavage as any of them. He did build a church and import a missionary,but when the missionary disappeared he didn't send for another."
"What became of the missionary?" Tessie was afraid of the answer. Herred lips lost their color as she asked for it.
"Just as well not to ask too many questions," suggested Joe. "No oneever heard. He just disappeared. The Sons of Sunshine were organized tofight your Uncle Pete's revolutionary ideas, you know. Old customs wasthe war-cry. And they swear they will never have another white ruler.There is something back of it all that I can't get hold of yet and itmeans trouble. Your Uncle Pete should have known better than to haveleft you such a mess. His money was all right, but he didn't need toleave you his troubles. The natives will never accept you as theirqueen!"
"Ka-kee-ta did," Tessie tearfully reminded him.
"Ka-kee-ta was your Uncle Pete's tool and slave. He thought your UnclePete was a god, but I expect at heart Ka-kee-ta's still a savage. Don'tyou trust him. Hang it all! I wish you'd refuse to have anything to dowith the darned old islands! I'm afraid for you!" And when Joe Cary wasafraid, there was real cause for fear.
"I'm afraid too!" gulped Tessie, and impulsively she told him aboutFrederic Pracht and his offer and his threat.
"There it is!" exclaimed Joe. "They've begun, you see, and nobody knowswhere they will stop. They won't come out in the open. They fight in thedark. Tessie, you're so little and helpless and sweet!" His hand shotout to close on her fingers. "You can't fight them!"
But the touch of his fingers gave Tessie courage to stop whimpering andsit up straight. "I can!" she insisted, her head high. "I'm Irish, youknow, Irish enough not to give in until I know I'm beaten. And I trustUncle Pete. He wouldn't have left me the islands if he hadn't thought Icould manage them. And I'll have Granny and Johnny! And Bert Douglas isgoing with us! And so is Mr. Bill! We ought to be able to handle a lotof ignorant natives!"
"Bill Kingley! Bert Douglas! What do they know about the SunshineIslands? I suppose I'll have to go, too, Tessie! I can't let you takeyour old Granny without me! She's been too good to me," he explained."Are you going to take Norah Lee, too?" He seemed to want to know justwho would compose the party. He looked at her eagerly when he spoke ofNorah.
"Of course. I'll have to have some one to answer my letters. It will besplendid to have you, Joe! I shan't worry another minute. You are sucha comfort! Before you came I was scared to death, but now--" She caughthis hands and squeezed them. "It's such fun to be a queen, Joe," shewhispered, all her fears forgotten as she thought of the pleasant partyshe was going to take to the Sunshine Islands.
"Is it, little girl?" tenderly.
"Is it! You know I never had anything in all my life until Uncle Petedied, and then in a flash I stopped being nobody and was somebody. Ishould say I was somebody! Old Mr. Kingley never knew I was on earthuntil I became a queen, and now he has given me a banquet and unlimitedcredit, and Mrs. Kingley invited me to dinner, and Ethel Kingley hasasked me to join her bridge club, and Mr. Bill--Mr. Bill is here all thetime!" She flushed as she spoke of Mr. Bill.
"You like Bill Kingley, don't you, Tessie?" he asked gently.
The color in Tessie's cheeks deepened. "Of course I like him," she saidfrankly. "I adored him before I ever knew him and now--" She raised herhead and looked at Joe. "He's so kind and interested," she explainedsoftly. "He thinks it's awfully jolly for me to be a queen."
"He would!" Joe was rather scornful of Mr. Bill's thought. "He hasn'tsense enough to see that thrones are nothing but targets now. It mayhave been all right in the old days to have kings and queens, Tessie,I'm not questioning the past, I'm too busy with the present and thefuture, but it isn't all right now. The people don't need them. Youshouldn't be proud and happy to be a queen. You should be angry andindignant!"
"Why, Joe Cary!" There was no doubt that she was indignant and angry,but it was not because she was a queen. "How can you talk like that? Theidea! The very idea! I asked you to help me and if you only insult me--"She turned away so that he would not see the tears which filled hereyes.
"Oh, Tessie! Silly little girl!" His arm was around her. "I wouldn'thurt you for the world, but I have to tell you the truth. I can't lie toyou the way other people do! I can't do it! I think so much of you,little Tessie! I hate to have you even play you are a queen!"
She pulled herself free and stared at him. "Play!" she cried furiously."Play! I am a queen, Joe Cary, and you know it! Just because I've knownyou for years and years is no reason why you--you--" She was so angrythat she could not say another word. She could not look at him eitherfor the tears overflowed her eyes. "I wish you'd go!" she managed tostammer.
Joe never thought of going. He had a shamed sort of feeling as if he hadbroken a little girl's doll, and he took Tessie in his arms again andkissed the tears from her soft cheeks.
"Tessie!" he murmured. "Little Tessie!"
She could feel the hard beat of his heart under her head. She had neversupposed a man's heart would beat like that. Her own heart often thumpedmore madly, but a man's heart was different. She pushed him away. JoeCary need not think that he could say the things he had said to her andthen kiss her and expect her to forget his hard words. How dared he kissher when he talked as he did! She was a queen! She was! And men didn'tkiss queens! Men had been killed for less than Joe had done.
"Joe Cary," she began angrily, but he would not let her say anotherword. He closed her lips with the palm of his hand.
"Give it up, Tessie," he said breathlessly, swept from his feet by thesoft sweetness of her lips. "Give up this ridiculous fairy tale and----"
"Why, Joe Cary!" She pushed him away, all wide-eyed astonishment. "Stopbeing a queen! The idea! I want you to know that I like being a queen!And I'm not afraid now! Not a bit! I don't care that for the Sons ofSunshine!" And she snapped her fingers at the rebels.
Joe looked at her and thought how dear and sweet and childish she was.If she were ten years old she could be no more unreasonable.
"I hope you'll always feel that way," was all he said, for he understoodperfectly that nothing he could say would influence her now. He wouldhave to leave it to Fate to show her what it meant to be the queen ofhalf a dozen islands filled with savages.
It was not altogether Tessie's fault that she was so unreasonable andturned such a deaf ear to his plain, practical words. When Mr. Bill camein a few moments later, he did not scold Tessie and tell her that shewas a little fool to think that she was a queen. Mr. Bill took her handand raised it to his lips.
"Queen Teresa!" he murmured adoringly.
Tessie shot a triumphant glance at Joe before she went to put on herwrap, for she and Mr. Bill were going out to dine.
"At the Kingleys," she told Joe with shining eyes, for a month agoTessie never thought that Fate could ever arrange matters so that shewould dine at the Kingleys as an honored guest. But the Tessie of amonth ago was not the Tessie of to-day, not a bit. No wonder theKingleys, even Mrs. Kingley, now looked at her admiringly and made muchof her.
When she came back with her rose wrap floating from her shoulders, herface rosy, too, and her eyes as bright as stars, even Joe had to look ather in admiration. But he groaned as well as admired. What was going tohappen to little Tessie! Granny shook her head at another new frock,although that famous blind man on his galloping horse could have seenthat she was peacock-proud of her granddaughter.
"Don't forget Ka-kee-ta," she said to Tessie, as if Ka-kee-ta were apocket handkerchief and must not be forgotten.
"Oh, Ka-kee-ta!" Tessie stamped her satin slipper. "I wish I could loseKa-kee-ta! I hate to have him always at my heels!"
"It's part of the price of being a queen," Joe said gently.
Tessie looked at him and frowned sulkily. "I'm not going to pay anythingto-night!" sh
e said sharply. "I shan't take Ka-kee-ta! Come," she heldout her hand to Mr. Bill. "We'll go out the other way, and he'll neverknow but I'm in here. I just can't be bothered with him to-night. It'sso stupid to have a bodyguard when I have you." She smiled at Mr. Bill.
"You bet it is!" stammered Mr. Bill, holding her fingers tight in hisbig paw.
Granny watched them slip away, and then she turned to Joe.
"She's just a foolish little girl," she said, as if she were thinkingaloud.
"She'll make a grand woman," prophesied Joe, and he sighed, also.
"That may be." But Granny did not seem quite as sure as Joe that Tessiewould make a grand woman. "What's going to change her, Joe?" she askedcuriously. "What's going to change a silly little girl into a grandwoman?"
"Love," Joe told her boldly and valiantly.
"Love!" Granny repeated the word. "That may be, Joe. Love does strangethings. Maybe it can change Tessie. Understand, I don't blame Tessie,Joe. The poor little thing never had anything in all her life until now.No wonder her head is turned. But maybe love can turn it right again."
"It can!" insisted Joe. "Love is the strongest force in the world, youknow, Granny. It is nothing for love to straighten a pretty girl's head.It's this queen business that bothers me, Granny. This fool queenbusiness! What do you think about it, anyway?"
Granny snorted contemptuously. "I'm beginning to think that my son Petedied as big a rascal as he lived." Granny did not mince words when shetold Joe what she thought. "And that's saying a good deal. I don't likethese Sunshine Islands, Joe, and if I have my way, we won't stir a steptoward them. I'm afraid of the savages, but I'm not telling Tessie that.Every girl dreams some day she'll be a queen and now that my girl reallyis a queen, I'm not the one who'll tell her she was better off when shewas selling aluminum in the Evergreen."
Joe squared his shoulders as if he put a burden on them.
"Well, I will," he said stoutly. "I don't believe in deceiving peopleeven for their own good."
Granny looked at him admiringly, but there was something more thanadmiration in her faded eyes. Was it pity? "You always were a brave boy,Joe Cary," she said. "And you're young enough to believe in yourself.But girls are different from anything you've met yet. You've got tohandle them different. But what's the use of an old woman like metalking to you? You'll have to find out things for yourself."
"Yes," agreed Joe proudly. "I'm the kind that has to find things out forhimself."
"Stay and have dinner with me?" asked Granny with cordial hospitality."Now that Tessie's gone to Kingley's and Johnny's at that Boy Scout campI'll be all alone if you don't stay."
"Where's Norah Lee?" Joe questioned carelessly, but he flushed a bit.
"We can ask Norah, too," Granny told him quickly. "She don't often stayfor dinner. She's a great help to Tessie, Joe, but Tessie pays her goodwages so I suppose Tessie is a help to her, too."
"That's the way it works out. When a fellow helps you you help him, too.And Norah would be a peach if she wasn't all for business."
"That's just--what was the word we heard so much about during the war?Camouflage? That's just camouflage, Joe. No girl is all for business onthe inside even if she is on the outside. You take my word for it thatinside a girl is all for romance. That's the way the good Lord madegirls." And she nodded her pepper-and-salt head knowingly.
"I wonder!" Joe said eagerly, and he looked at Granny as if he wouldlike to believe her.
"I know!" declared Granny. "And now I'll go and ask Norah Lee if shewants to eat with us, and then we can talk about these islands ofTessie's some more. I didn't know until to-day that a man could havemore than one wife in the Sunshine Islands. The old king, Pete's friend,had three. It makes me wonder about Pete. But there's one thing sure,Joe Cary, Tessie shan't have but one husband. I don't care anythingabout their old customs!"