"I don't know where Tessie went," he told Joe languidly. "She asked me to go in the Bon Bon Box, and buy her five pounds of chocolates, and I did. I saw her get into a car and——"
"What car?" snapped Joe. "It wasn't her own car! Her own car was standing in front of the hotel. I saw it when I came in."
"Not her own car!" cried Granny, and her face turned a pasty gray as she stared at Joe. "Not her own car, Joe! Then somebody's kidnaped her! I know they have! Poor little Tessie!"
[XVIII]
"Bless me!" Mr. Kingley stared unbelievingly into Joe Cary's excited face. "Queen Teresa kidnaped? Nonsense, Cary! Such things aren't done in Waloo in broad daylight. You say it's true? What a story! I must have Gray telephone the Gazette that we have a front page story for them. Bless me!"
"Never mind the publicity end of this now, Mr. Kingley!" exclaimed Joe, so disgusted that he could scarcely speak calmly. "Let's think of Tessie first and the Evergreen second for a change."
Mr. Kingley opened his mouth to say that the Evergreen must always come first, and people, no matter who they were, second, but as he looked at Joe, he suddenly decided that some explanations were better left unmade.
"The little queen is all right!" he insisted instead. "Of course she is! This is Waloo, the United States, not a savage island. Nothing could happen to Miss Gilfooly in Waloo. She's all right! What makes you think she was kidnaped? Who kidnaped her? Where was that frizzle-headed bodyguard? Why wasn't he on his job?" He shot the questions, one after another at Joe, and then was impatient because they were not answered.