"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 G.o.d. 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 a.s.sure 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 s.h.a.ggy 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 bas.e.m.e.nt. 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 G.o.ds!" 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 G.o.d 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 j.a.panese, 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 G.o.d 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 superst.i.tious. Any one who has the Tear of G.o.d can influence them. That is why Pracht kidnaped Miss Gilfooly. But even if she has the Tear of G.o.d, 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.