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 basement. 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.