"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 Japanese, 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 God 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 superstitious. Any one who has the Tear of God can influence them. That is why Pracht kidnaped Miss Gilfooly. But even if she has the Tear of God, 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.