The Amazing Inheritance

by Frances R. Sterrett

She had meant to be such a good queen, she thought with a little choking hiccup. It wasn't fair for the Sons of Sunshine to object to her before they knew what kind of a queen she would make! She meant to be simple and honest, to follow Madame Cabot's rule for queens, to be a good queen and now—. She bit her lip and pressed her hand hard against her eyes to keep back the tears. It wasn't fair!

It was funny that there was no window in such a big room. How could any one see to do her hair at that old bureau? There was a gas jet beside the bureau, but Tessie could not find any matches. It was funny that there was no window. And how old-fashioned the house was to have gas instead of electricity.

From the street, in the rear of the house, she could hear the faint rumble and squeak of a street car as it passed, and it made her realize how unbelievable the situation was. The air was close and heavy. How could any one stay in a close, airless room? She would suffocate. Was that why Mr. Pracht had locked her in the windowless room, so that she would suffocate, and the Sons of Sunshine could do as they pleased with her islands? Well, she would show him! She wouldn't suffocate! She just would not suffocate and let Mr. Pracht sell her islands to the Japanese. She wouldn't do it! But it was funny there wasn't a window.

She jumped up suddenly and crossed the room to peer behind the shabby bureau. It stood close against the wall, and she pulled at it impatiently. There was a squeak. It sounded like the very crack of doom to Tessie's frightened ears. She held her breath as she waited for Mr. Pracht to burst in and ask what she thought she was doing. But when there was no sign from Mr. Pracht, she pulled at the bureau again, waiting until the passing street car made a noise outside which might cover the noise on the inside. At last she had the bureau far enough from the wall to look behind it. Of course there was a window. She looked at it triumphantly.

"I thought so!" she said, as she dusted her hands and pushed herself behind the bureau, so that she could look out of the grimy glass into the dusky twilight.

Below the window was the roof of a small porch and beyond that was a yard inclosed with a high board fence. If she could open the window, drop on the porch, then to the ground and climb the fence, she could escape from Mr. Pracht and the Sons of Sunshine, and then— She was almost sorry that she would still be a queen even if she did escape from Mr. Pracht. She thought again almost regretfully of her old place at the Evergreen. No one had ever kidnaped her or threatened her when she was selling aluminum. She had been scolded, but every one said Mr. Walker's bark was far worse than his bite.

If she could only open this grimy window. The frame stuck tight. She tried again, tugging at it with all of her might, and when she failed to move it the tears rushed to her eyes. It was so tantalizing to see a way of escape and not be able to use it. She pushed and tugged until at last the frame shot up with an unexpectedness which almost threw her out of the window. She drew in a deep breath of the fresh evening air, and felt ready for anything. There really was nothing like fresh air to give a girl courage.

She looked down on the roof of the little porch. It seemed farther away than it had when the window was closed. For all she knew Mr. Pracht might be standing under it to catch her when she slipped down, but there was an equal chance that he wasn't there, and she would have to take the chance. She took time to bless Joe Cary and thank him before she put her feet over the sill. If it hadn't been for Joe she never in the world would have gone to the Y. W. C. A. gymnasium class and trained her muscles to do what they were told. She clung to the sill for a breathless second and then dropped. The silk belt of her frock caught on a nail, but the weight of her body tore it loose. The porch roof creaked when she struck it, but the noise was no louder, loud as it sounded in Tessie's anxious ears, than would have been made by a marauding cat.

Tessie crouched low and waited. There was not another sound. So Mr. Pracht was not on the porch, and he had not heard her. She slid quickly down a post and dashed across the yard like a shadow. Her trained muscles made easy work of the high board fence, and in a flash she was on the other side, in a narrow street, and free. She straightened herself and drew a long breath. It was unbelievable that she had escaped so easily. But she had escaped. She grinned triumphantly. She had skinned her elbows and scratched her face, but such minor casualties were of no account. She felt for the Tear of God. It was safe in the bag hanging from her waist. Suddenly she stopped grinning triumphantly, and began to cry. Now that she was free, she could realize how frightened she had been, even if she was a fearless Gilfooly.

What should she do? Where should she go? Not back to the hotel. The Sons of Sunshine would look for her there and would kidnap her again. And she had had enough of kidnaping. A little of that sort of thing was far more than enough. Where could she go and hide herself from Mr. Pracht until Mr. Marvin would make it safe for her to be found? She fumbled in her pocket for a handkerchief to dry her tears. This was no time to cry. There was a little purse in her pocket as well as a handkerchief, a gay little affair of red leather, and in it was a key. Tessie usually carried the little purse in her beaded bag, but her beaded bag had been so full that morning that she had taken it out and stuffed it into her pocket.