VI
In spite of her tearful assertion that she knew she would not sleep awink, Tessie was soon dreaming of her new kingdom and of Mr. Bill. Notonce did shabby Joe Cary intrude on her dream of glory. It seemed only aminute from the time she crept shiveringly into bed beside Granny,before Granny was shaking her shoulder.
"After nine o'clock, Tessie!" she was calling. "If you're going toMifflin to get your ma's and pa's wedding license at ten, you'd betterget up right away!"
Tessie opened her eyes slowly and reluctantly. She was afraid of whatthey would see. Yes, there was Granny calling her as she called herevery morning. There was the ugly old bureau and the crayon portrait ofher grandfather. Of course, she had been dreaming. She wasn't a queen.She had never been at the Waloo for dinner with the wonderful Mr. Bill.She would have to get up and put on her old sateen and go and sellaluminum in the Evergreen basement. She wished she hadn't dreamed thatUncle Pete had died and made her a queen. Such a dream as that made itharder than ever to waken. She had known all the time that it was only adream. Such wonderful things never happened to poor working girls. Andif it really was nine o'clock, she was afraid to imagine how Mr. Walkerwould rebuke her for her tardiness. Why had Granny let her sleep whenGranny knew that she would be fined if she were late?
"And your friend, that Mr. Bill, stopped here half an hour ago on hisway to the store," went on Granny, shaking out Tessie's clothes andhanging them on a chair. "We got to get you some new things, Tessie.These ain't royal. They don't do credit to your poor Uncle Pete, who'sbeen so good to you. Mr. Bill said he stopped at the police station, andthe police told him that we were right last night when we said that manon the porch was hit on the head. A friend came for him, and after hehad talked to him, he told the police just how it was. The colored manwas walking along the street, when all of a sudden he didn't knownothing. I don't suppose he could have upset my closets if he wasunconscious, and so long as nothing's missing, I ain't going to worry.But there certainly were queer doings last night. You hurry right along,Tessie. Your coffee's all ready, and I warmed up the liver. No knowingwhere we'll be for dinner to-night, and we can't be wasteful even if weare queens."
There it was, that most disturbing word! Tessie swung her feet over theside of the bed and stared at her grandmother, who was already dressedin her black alpaca instead of her morning calico, and whose front hairmust have been surprised to find itself out of curling pins at nineo'clock in the morning.
"Then it's all true!" she faltered. She told herself again that itcouldn't be true. It just could not be true. She thought she would dieif it wasn't true, but she knew it wasn't.
"What's true?" questioned Granny, who was putting the room to rights.
"That I'm a queen?" Tessie blushed hotly, as she asked the question. Itwas so perfectly ridiculous and unbelievable, and yet Granny talked asif it might be true.
Granny stood still with Tessie's worn blue serge suit in one hand and aclothesbrush in the other. "Of course you're a queen!" The firmconfident tone sent a shiver of delight down Tessie's spine. "Didn'tyour Uncle Pete die and make you a queen? Come down just as soon asyou're dressed, Tessie. We ain't got time to waste to-day."
Even when Bert Douglas drove up in a shining touring car, Tessie couldnot believe that she was to ride in it, although Bert told her that shewas, and he for one was mighty glad that she was.
"We have a corking day!" he exclaimed, with an approving glance at thecloudless sky. "And we'll have a corking ride. I'm glad your people weremarried sixty miles from Waloo. This is just a formality, you know, MissGilfooly. We all know that you really are the Queen of the SunshineIslands. We don't need any certificates." And he laughed joyously. Itwas so strange and unbelievable and delightful that he was to drive ayoung queen to Mifflin and back.
"It's so wonderful that I can't believe it," Tessie told him earnestly,and her voice quivered with the wonder of it. She looked speculativelyat the tonneau of the big car. There was no one in it. "Could we take mygrandmother, Mr. Douglas?" She raised her big blue eyes appealingly."She would enjoy the ride. And my brother Johnny? He's a Boy Scout."
"Sure, we can take all the royal family," chuckled Bert. "There's plentyof room, and we'll feel safer to have a Scout with us." He laughed againas he hospitably opened the tonneau door.
Mrs. Scanlon stood at her window and watched Granny and Johnny settlethemselves proudly in the car. She saw Tessie take the seat next to thewheel, and she was green with envy from her red hair to her patchedblack shoes. She had heard the news, and in her heart she wished thatshe had had a son to run away to sea and be a king. "My Lil would make abetter-looking queen than that washed-out Tessie Gilfooly," she thought,as she watched them from behind the skimpy curtain. "Lil's suit was newthis spring, and that blue dud Tessie has on is a year old if it's aday. I don't believe it's really true! Such things don't happen! Queen,indeed!" And she sniffed loudly and elevated her long thin nose becauselittle Tessie Gilfooly had come home with some ridiculous story aboutbeing a queen.
Jonah, Johnny's dog--a mongrel with a most rakish brown spot on hiswhite face--jumped wistfully around the car. Jonah wanted to drive toMifflin too. He saw no reason why he should be left at home alone.
"Could we take him?" asked Granny, eager for the family to enjoy theride as a family. "He'd enjoy it."
And Jonah joined the two in the tonneau.
"Just as well he's going," muttered Mrs. Scanlon. "I wouldn't have notime to feed anybody's dog to-day!" And to show how little she caredabout the good fortune which had come to her neighbors, she took herchairs and tables out of the parlor and gave the room a thoroughcleaning.
Bert was right. It was a wonderful day--a blue and gold day. There wasnot a cloud in the sky, nor a care in the car. The road to Mifflin wasvelvet smooth, so that the drive, as Bert had prophesied, wasdelightful. It was no time at all before they were in front of the redbrick building which was Mifflin's new Court House. But when they wentin and demanded a copy of the record of the marriage of John Gilfoolyand Teresa Andrews, which had been solemnized in Mifflin twenty yearsago, the clerk could not find the record.
"That's funny!" he exclaimed. "It was here yesterday, but it isn't hereto-day!" He looked puzzled.
"Did you see it yesterday?" demanded Bert, with all the importance of asix-months lawyer.
"Sure I saw it yesterday. A man came in and asked for a copy. Funnything! In all the time I've been here, no one has ever asked about thatlicense. And now yesterday a man wanted it and to-day you want it." Thecoincidence impressed him as so strange that he blinked.
"Was he a black man and did he have a tattooed nose?" asked Tessieeagerly.
The clerk shook his head. "No, he had light hair and a big nose withfreckles all over it. He was what you would call a blond. With a bignose," he insisted almost as if he thought it was quite unusual for ablond to have a nose at all.
Tessie looked at Bert, and at Granny and Johnny. But not one of themcould tell her anything about a blond with a big nose. Granny could onlyshake her head.
"He must have sneaked the record when I went out to look at the fire,"the clerk said indignantly. "Ferguson's store had a little blazeyesterday, and when I heard the fire engine I naturally went to thedoor. But I can't have this sort of thing," he added querulously. "Ican't have my records stolen!"
"No, I shouldn't think you could," agreed Bert. "And you had better findout who stole this record."
"I shall!" The clerk was quite offended because Bert had thought itnecessary to tell him what to do. "I'll call the sheriff right away."And he bustled over to the telephone.
"But--but why should any one steal my father's and mother's marriagelicense?" Tessie could not imagine why any one would steal a piece ofpaper. Money or a jewel--the Tear of God even--could be used, but apiece of paper----
Bert smiled at her puzzled face. "Some one might want to make itimpossible for you to prove that you are John Gilfooly's eldest child,"he explained carefully.
Tessie gasped
. "The idea! But whoever would?" She could not imagine.
Granny bristled indignantly. "Well, they can't do that!" she declared."Not while I have breath in my body to say she is! I guess I know!"
"Sure you do!" And Bert grinned at her.
But Granny wanted more than smiles. She wanted action--immediate action.
"What are we going to do now?" she demanded. "Can't Tessie be a queenunless she has her ma's and pa's wedding license?"
"I don't see why you need any old paper," put in Johnny. "If you wantto know about the wedding of father and mother, all you have to do is toask Granny. She was at the wedding, weren't you, Granny?"
Granny turned to gaze at him with pride. "Bless the boy!" she exclaimedin honest admiration. "Of course I was there! And I can tell the lawyersall about it! That was a bright thought, Johnny, but I'm glad it didn'tcome to you before. If you'd had it in Waloo we'd have missed a pleasantride. I can tell you all about the wedding," she said to Bert, and therewas much triumph in her voice, "all about the bride's dress and therefreshments and everything!"
"I don't believe that your evidence will be enough, Mrs. Gilfooly," Bertsaid reluctantly and regretfully, for he would have preferred to tellGranny that her story of the Gilfooly-Andrews wedding would besufficient to place Tessie on any throne. "You are too near a relativeto be disinterested. That's what the court would say," he explainedhastily as Granny snorted.
"My soul and body!" She stared at him. "As if I'd lie about my own sonor my own granddaughter! But there were other folks at the wedding,"she, remembered joyously. "The Hortons, who live over on Olive street,were there. Sophie Horton was Tessie's mother's bridesmaid, and SamHorton knocked over a piano lamp the night of the wedding and came nearburning up the bride. He'll remember and be glad to tell you that myson John married Teresa Andrews right and proper. And that ain't all,"went on Granny, who could accomplish great things when she began littlethings, "the man who married John and Teresa and baptized Tessie isalive to this day and living in this very town. We've only got to go tothe Reverend Townshend's house to hear all about it. I suppose the lawwould believe a regular minister if it wouldn't believe a lovinggrandmother," she said to Bert, with a decided tinge of resentment inher hearty voice.
Bert laughed apologetically. "That's fine! But you understand, Mrs.Gilfooly, it is because you are so close to Miss Gilfooly that yourevidence wouldn't be sufficient. The court might suspect such a nearrelative, but the word of the minister who married Miss Gilfooly'sparents should be enough for any court."
"I should think so!" snorted Granny, who had nothing but contempt for acourt which would not believe a grandmother.
They drove through the pretty streets of Mifflin to the home of Mr.Townshend, which was almost hidden by shrubbery and vines, and the BoyScout rang the bell loudly. But Mr. Townshend was in Waloo visiting hissister, and the young granddaughter, who answered the bell, had neverheard of the Gilfoolys.
"Never mind!" exclaimed Granny cheerfully, for Tessie looked as if shedid mind. "We know where to go now for what we want, and that'severything, no matter what you're looking for. You say ReverendTownshend's sister lives on Tenth Avenue South?" she asked the younggranddaughter. "Mr. Douglas will just drive us there and hear with hisown ears what Reverend Townshend has to say."
"Sure I'll drive you!" Bert said. "That's my job!" And he looked as ifhe liked his job enormously.
But black luck preceded them, for when they returned to Waloo and droveto Tenth Avenue South, they learned that the Reverend Townshend had beenknocked down by an automobile as he was crossing a street thatafternoon, and was lying in the hospital with concussion of the brain.And they found, on driving to Olive street, that the Hortons had gone toVermont for the summer.
"I don't believe I ever was born!" Tessie was almost in tears. Her lipsquivered. So did her voice.
"Tut, tut!" rebuked her grandmother. "There were fifty-six folks, as Iremember, at that wedding, and it will be funny if I can't find some ofthem. You don't want to get discouraged at the beginning of anything,Tessie, not if you ever want to see the end of it."
"Why don't you drop it, Tess?" advised Joe Cary, when he heard about theblond man with a big nose, the stolen marriage record, and about theReverend Townshend who was in the hospital with concussion of the brain."The Fates seem to be against you! So are some people, I should judge.There is evidently some one who doesn't want you to be the Queen of theSunshine Islands. Look at last night! Look at to-day! Why do you want tobe a queen, anyway?" He asked the question as he would have asked whyshe wanted to be a salesgirl, or why she did not want to be astenographer.
Tessie stared at him. The idea of asking such a question! Joe Cary wascrazy! And she told him so. "You talk as if being a queen was likeselling aluminum in the Evergreen!" she exclaimed indignantly.
"It isn't as decent!" cried Joe, and then Tessie knew, beyond a doubt,that he was crazy.
"You can't stop being a queen if you are one!" she flared.
"Why can't you?" demanded Joe. "Can't you abdicate? Seems to me I'veread of several kings and queens who were glad to abdicate. You don'thave to be a queen unless you please, Tessie Gilfooly!" He actually didseem to think that being a queen was like selling aluminum.
"Joe--Joe Cary--" she began in exasperation, and then she startled himby bursting into tears--"you--you never want me to have any f-fun!" shehiccuped.
"Oh, great Scott, Tess!" he said helplessly, and he would have taken herin his arms and kissed the tears away, she was so little and sweet andunreasonable, but Granny snatched her from him.
"There, there, my lamb!" she crooned. "You're all tired out. You justcome to your old Granny. There's some folks," she said over her shoulderto Joe, "who are quick enough to tell other folks what to do, but Iwonder what they would say if they were to find themselves kings."
Joe stared at her, and then he laughed. "I know what I would do," hedeclared promptly. "I never would be a king! Not for a minute!" Heseemed proud of himself--of what he would be.
"Then you'd be a coward, Joe Cary, and a shirk!" Granny pricked theballoon of his pride with her frankness. "When the good Lord putsresponsibilities and duties on a body's shoulders, he can't throw 'emoff without being a coward and a shirk. What he has to do is to carrythem the best he knows how. Now I want you to stop picking on Tessiejust because she's a queen. It isn't her fault, and you needn't talk toher as if it was. We don't none of us know why she was picked out tolook after those queer folks in the Pacific Ocean, but I guess the goodLord knows His business, and He knows the Gilfoolys. It isn't any crimeto be a queen. It's a privilege, and we're all going to enjoy it withTessie. I don't want to hear any more picking," she repeated sternly.
"All right, Granny," Joe murmured meekly, but his eyes twinkled. "Justas you say. Tess can think she is Queen of England, and I shan't sayanother word!"