II
Tessie had never crossed the threshold of Mr. Kingley's sacred office.She had never dreamed of crossing it, and she hung back when Mr. Billthrew open the door.
"Dad!" cried Mr. Bill, a trifle breathlessly. "Listen to this! You'llnever believe it!"
There was an excitement in his voice which made his father, busy withMiss Norah Lee who was on the Evergreen publicity staff, look up fromthe sketches and copy they were studying. And when he saw his only sonhand-in-hand with a pink-cheeked, big-eyed, bareheaded girl in a blacksateen frock, he feared the worst.
"Bill!" he exclaimed harshly. He rose to his feet and glared at his onlyson. "How dare you?"
He changed his tone completely when he heard the story. His eyes fairlybulged as he stared at Queen Teresa who stood modestly beside Mr. Bill.For once in his life Mr. William Allison Kingley seemed at a completeloss for words. Nothing like this had ever happened before in theEvergreen, and so it was not surprising that Mr. Kingley, like Mr.Walker, was unprepared. It takes youth like Tessie's and Mr. Bill'sto accept such stupendous events unquestioningly. Youth naturallybelieves in fairies, and if you really do believe in fairies,why--anything--everything--is possible.
"What a chance for some gorgeous publicity!" Norah Lee murmured. She hadrisen, too, and was staring at Tessie as if she had never seen ablack-frocked salesgirl before, and as if she saw her now as so manycolumns of print on the front page of the _Gazette_.
An odd smile touched Mr. Kingley's mouth, and at once he was himselfagain. Like a well-known Queen of England, Mr. Kingley had a wordengraved upon his heart--and that word was Evergreen. Mr. Kingley livedand breathed for the Evergreen. Every thought, word and deed was for theEvergreen, first and last. He went to bed at night that he might get upin the morning to work for the Evergreen. He passionately envied hisson, because Mr. Bill was just beginning his career in the Evergreen,and so might naturally expect a long life of service to the big store.He admired his wife and daughter because they were clothed and nourishedby the Evergreen. Just for a flash, perhaps for the only time in hislife, when he saw his son and Tessie together, hand-in-hand, he hadforgotten his idol; but Norah Lee's impulsive murmur pulled him down onhis knees to it again.
"Of course. That's just what I was going to say!" He seemed irritatedbecause Norah had already said it. "I heartily congratulate you, MissGilfooly--or should I say Queen Teresa?" He smiled benevolently at thequeen as he took her hand and solemnly shook it. "You might send for thephotographer, Miss Lee, and arrange to have some pictures taken of MissGilfooly at the aluminum--was it?--receiving the news of her--of heraccession to the throne of the Sunshine Islands. It sounds quite like aromance, doesn't it? And you say you have heard nothing from your UnclePete--King Peter, I should say--for twenty-five years?" he asked, asNorah disappeared with a backward look of incredulous wonder at Tessie.
"No, sir." Tessie spoke softly. She had a pleasant voice, inherited fromher Irish ancestors. It sounded exceedingly pleasant and musical to Mr.Kingley, and to Mr. Bill, too. "Not for twenty-five years. He ran awayto sea when he was sixteen and my grandfather was awfully cross. He saidhe would come to no good end, but Granny said a man could make a livingon the sea as well as on the land."
"And your grandmother was right!" Mr. Kingley seemed delighted thatTessie's grandmother had spoken true words. "A king! Bless me! It isromantic!" He sounded almost envious of Tessie's romance. "Do you knowanything about these Sunshine Islands?" He seemed to thirst fordetails. "Bill, push forward that chair for Miss Gilfooly."
Tessie gave Mr. Bill a shy little smile as she sank into the big chairhe pushed forward. Of all the unbelievable things which had happened,this was about the most unbelievable. Imagine sitting in Mr. Kingley'ssacred office for a little chat with Mr. Kingley and Mr. Bill! Tessie'shead whirled, but she managed to tell them in her soft, pleasant voicethat she really knew very little about the Sunshine Islands, but thatshe would have to resign her position in the Evergreen, because shewould have to go to her new kingdom. She spoke a little regretfully ofleaving the Evergreen, and Mr. Kingley understood perfectly. He knew hewould hate to leave the store even for a throne. Tessie was to see herlawyer at half-past five.
"After hours," she hastily told Mr. Kingley, so that he would know thatshe was not going to take advantage of her new honor and ask any favors.
"Faithful little thing," beamed Mr. Kingley. "You'll make a good queen.And you're going to the islands at once? Not alone, I hope?"
"My brother John will go with me. He's a Boy Scout!" It would havecheered Johnny's heart to have heard the pride in Tessie's voice.
"But you will need more support than a Boy Scout. The natives of thosePacific islands are cannibals!" Mr. Kingley was shocked to think thatTessie contemplated going to them without an army to aid her. "At least,I read somewhere once that they were cannibals," he said hurriedly whenMr. Bill looked at him in surprise because he _did_ know something aboutthe Pacific islands. He flushed slightly and seemed annoyed.
"Johnny's a good Boy Scout," insisted Tessie. "And Granny will go withus, of course. And the cannibals are reformed, Mr. Kingley. Uncle Petedidn't allow them to eat anybody!"
"I should hope not! Bless me! This is strange! I never expected anythinglike this to happen in the Evergreen. I suppose the newspapers will giveus the front page for such a story. I wonder what the Bon Ton and theMammoth will say! The world, as well as Waloo, will be interested." Hewas forgetting Tessie in his delight in the situation, for, as has beensaid, he was the owner of the Evergreen before he was any one else. "Idon't suppose, Miss Gilfooly," he said slowly, as if he were following atrain of thought which was dashing through his mind, "I don't supposeyou would want to hold a little sale here some day soon, after the_Gazette_ has published the story? Of aluminum, perhaps? I mean--" ashis son gave a shocked exclamation, "Dad!"--"for one of the charities ofthe Sunshine Islands? It would help both of us. But that can be arrangedlater. I don't deny it would help the Evergreen as much as it wouldincrease, say--the shoe fund of your new kingdom."
"If it would help you, Mr. Kingley, I'd be glad to do it," Tessie toldhim obligingly, and she glanced reprovingly at Mr. Bill, who snortedscornfully.
"Help me!" Mr. Kingley laughed and beamed at her with more satisfactionthan he could put in words. "Why every woman in town would want to buy apiece of aluminum if a queen would sell it to her," he declared. "But wecan talk of that later. We'll keep in touch with you--in close touch.And now, suppose you let Bill take you home or to your lawyer's?"
"I don't want to ask any favors," Tessie managed to stammer, althoughher heart began to thump unmanageably. Imagine Mr. Bill taking _her_home!
"It's a pleasure to grant them." Mr. Kingley rose to his feet again andbowed to her. "After you've had your picture taken, Bill will go withyou to your lawyer's. Help her all you can, Bill," he told his son. "Shewas one of us, you know, one of the Evergreen family, and we must helpher."
"I will," promised Mr. Bill. "I'll stay right with her. Come on, YourMajesty!" He grinned at Tessie. "It sounds like a joke," he said withthe frankness of a member of the family.
Tessie raised her eyes and smiled at him. "It isn't a joke," she saidslowly. "If it had been a joke, that native with the funny hair and thetattooed nose would never have given me this, would he?" And she openedher left hand which she had held tightly closed, and showed them a pearlas big as a marble. It was threaded on some sort of grass or vegetablefiber and caught in a network of the same lacelike filament.
"Bless me!" exclaimed Mr. Kingley, who had never seen a pearl as largeas a marble before. He touched it with his fingers to make sure that hereally saw one now. "Do you suppose it is real?"
"It's real!" nodded Tessie. "And it belongs to the King, or the Queen,of the Sunshine Islands. I couldn't be the queen if I didn't have it,"she told him, and her eyes were big with wonder, that she was a queen atall.
Mr. Kingley stopped looking at the pearl to look at Tessie. "Imaginegiving it to you without proper authori
ty, papers, identification, youknow!" It was most unbusinesslike to his businesslike mind. He could notimagine such a procedure. When he did business he had the papers verycarefully drawn up before anything passed from hand to hand. Evidentlythat was not the way affairs were conducted in the Sunshine Islands."Simple people, aren't they? It must be worth a great deal of money!" Heeyed the pearl with the respect one gives to what is worth a great dealof money. It reminded him of something else. "Have you any idea, mydear--I mean, Miss Gilfooly," when Mr. Kingley felt as kindly towardTessie as he did, it was hard to keep the more informal term from hislips, "what the value of your new kingdom is?"
"The lawyer said the islands were worth hundreds of thousands," Tessiemurmured bashfully.
"Dollars?" gasped Mr. Kingley, his eyes bulging again.
"Pounds," corrected Tessie, unconsciously icing the cake she offered Mr.Kingley for inspection. "That's more than dollars, isn't it? I thinkthat's pretty good," she added with innocent pride.
"Good!" He choked over the word. "Take care of her, Bill! Take good careof her," he urged. "My soul, but this is splendid and romantic! I wasalways interested in romance. I never could have built up the Evergreenas I have if I hadn't been romantic. To think of finding a queen in ourbasement! Take good care of her, Bill!"
"I will," Mr. Bill promised again. He was far more impressed by Tessie'sbig blue eyes and the enchanting color in her cheeks than he was by thenumber of pounds she had just received. Gee, but she was a queen allright! A peach of a queen! "Come on, Miss Gilfooly, and I'll take youhome." He drew a quick breath as he discovered that he wanted to haveher to himself. He did not want to share her even with his father, whowas beaming so benevolently.
"After the picture is taken," reminded Mr. Kingley, faithful to hismotto--"Business first." "After the picture is taken. And if there isanything you want in the store, Miss Gilfooly, anything in the way offrocks or furbelows," what he really had in mind was a coronation robebut he did not put the thought in words, "just help yourself. Yourcredit is good with us. I'll see you again, Queen Teresa." And helaughed and took her hand and shook it. "Perhaps you would like me toput your jewel in the safe?"
"I want to show it to Granny." Tessie closed her fingers over the pearl."She'll be interested because Uncle Pete wore it. I'll take good care ofit," she promised.
"Do!" he begged, and he bowed to her again as she went away with Mr.Bill. "My soul!" he declared, as he dropped back in his chair and staredaround him at the familiar furnishings which just then did not seem sofamiliar. "This is going to be a big thing for the Evergreen! Where'sMiss Lee? We must tell the world what was found in our basement!"
As Tessie and Mr. Bill left the office they met Joe Cary coming to theoffice. His hands were full of drawings to be submitted to the criticaleye of Mr. Kingley, who refused to let so much as a sketch of ahook-and-eye appear in any paper without his august approval. Joestopped and stared. What was Tessie Gilfooly doing up here on the officefloor with Mr. Bill, when her place was in the basement? He sensedtrouble of some sort and took his stand promptly and unquestioninglybeside Tessie.
"What's up, Tess?" he demanded, without any preliminary remarks.
Tessie tore her admiring eyes from Mr. Bill and looked at Joe as hestood there, his hands full of sketches, an anxious expression on hisface which was half hidden by the ugly green shade that protected hiseyes. Above the shade his brown hair was rough and untidy. Mr. Bill'shair was black and of lacquer smoothness. Joe's coat was old and torn.There was a darn at the upper corner of the pocket. Mr. Bill was asartorial dream--a joy to his tailor. The contrast between Joe and Mr.Bill was so marked that it was painful. Tessie blushed for Joe. But hewas her old friend, and she wanted to tell him the news herself.
"Oh, Joe!" she cried. "What do you think? I'm a queen!"
Naturally Joe would not believe such an absurd statement until Tessiehad told him about the lawyer and the native with the frizzled hair, andshowed him the big pearl, and even then he looked as if he did notbelieve it.
"It's a joke!" He glared at Mr. Bill as if he suspected that Mr. Billwere responsible for the joke, which he considered was in very badtaste.
"You remember Uncle Pete?" Tessie went on eagerly. "You've heard Grannytalk about Uncle Pete?"
"She said he was lost at sea!" nodded Joe, wondering what connectionthere could be between Granny's vagabond son and this ridiculousstatement that Tessie was a queen.
"And all the time she thought he was lost at sea, he was King of theseSunshine Islands! Can you believe it?" Tessie drew a long breath, forshe could not believe it. She looked with shining eyes from the godlikeMr. Bill to the worn Joe Cary.
"No, I can't!" Joe said bluntly. "I can't believe a word of it. What doyou mean about a lawyer? Wait a minute, Tessie, and I'll go with you."
"Mr. Bill is going with me," Tessie told him quickly and proudly.
Joe looked at Mr. Bill as if he were measuring him body and soul. Hemight not approve of the result, but he found nothing to which he hadthe right to object.
"Of course if you would rather have him," he said, and he turned awaywith his sketches.
Even if he did take her to but one movie in two weeks he was her oldfriend, and Tessie would not hurt him for the world. She caught hissleeve.
"He offered first," she said, still a bit overcome with the wonder thatMr. Bill had offered at all. "And his father told him to go with me. Andhe can go without being docked," she explained in a whisper whichreached Mr. Bill's ears even if it was low. "You don't want to bedocked, Joe."
"I'd rather be docked than have you get into trouble," Joe declared inanything but a whisper. "But it's all right, Tessie. Mr. Bill can lookafter you and perhaps he does know more about kings and queens than Ido. I don't believe in such things, you know."
"I know!" But Tessie drew a long breath which told Joe that she believedin kings and queens. Indeed, she did believe in them!
"What do you mean, Cary?" demanded Mr. Bill. "Don't you believe MissGilfooly?"
"Oh, I believe Tessie all right. Tessie knows what I think of her. But Idon't believe in kings or queens. The world doesn't need that kind ofthing any more. You can see how it's getting rid of them--Russia andAustria and Germany. It may be all right," he admitted slowly, "ifTessie likes it, but personally I don't see how she can. Royalty is asold-fashioned as hoopskirts and belongs to the same period," he finishedscornfully.
"You're an anarchist!" Mr. Bill was shocked, and he moved closer toTessie as if to protect her.
"I'm a progressive!" Joe contradicted him flatly. "I move with theworld, and I don't try to hold it back. But that doesn't mean I can'tcongratulate Tessie because she has a plaything that will amuse heruntil she outgrows it, although when I come to think of it, the SunshineIslands sounds a lot like cannibals----"
"Cannibals!" Tessie was indignant. "Uncle Pete wouldn't be king of anycannibals!" The idea! How dared Joe Cary think Uncle Pete would?
"If you'll pardon me, Miss Gilfooly," broke in Mr. Bill, who dislikedthe tone of the conversation, and who had no patience with Joe Cary'soutrageous ideas--pure envy, pure unadulterated envy, he knew wasresponsible for them--"we were on our way to your lawyer's when we metyour friend."
"Oh, yes!" Tessie turned to him eagerly. His voice thrilled her and madeher forget to be indignant at Joe. "But first we are going to thebasement to be photographed, you know."
"Basement! Photographed!" exclaimed Joe, who could not find head nortail to this amazing story of Tessie's.
"For publicity for the Evergreen!" Tessie was pinkly important. "Mr.Kingley suggested it, and I'm glad to do anything I can to help thestore."
Tessie spoke with some emphasis, and she smiled radiantly. It was sothrilling to feel that she could help the Evergreen which had been sopatronizing to her, although she was far too tender-hearted to haveformulated that thought. She only knew that it was mighty pleasant to dosomething for the store. Tessie did not have an analytical mind. Shetook things as they came to her and did no
t stop to question why theycame.
Joe whistled softly. "Publicity," he repeated. "Ye gods and littlefishes! Publicity! The Evergreen must be served, eh? Ye gods! Run along,Tess," as she stared at him, "and have your picture taken. I expect itwill make mighty good publicity for Mr. Kingley!" And he laughed in away that puzzled Tessie and made her look at him in dismay. What onearth was the matter with Joe Cary?
The Amazing Inheritance Page 2
