"I'll take care of it for you," suggested Mr. Kingley, taking it in his hand. "I'll keep it in the store vault." He felt that something should be saved for Tessie from the wreck of her kingdom.
But Tessie shook her head. "I'll give it to Ka-kee-ta," she insisted, "and he can take it back to the islands, and maybe the rest of them will be saved; maybe then there won't be any more tidal waves."
"Sure, you can give it to Ka-kee-ta," Mr. Bill promised her. "I'll be glad to have him take it away from Waloo. I don't want him around, either. He'll be better off with Mr. Pitts. Mr. Pitts seems to understand natives. And some day I'll give you a string of real pearls."
"That's what I'd like!" Tessie was tearfully grateful. "Oh, what will Granny say?" she exclaimed suddenly. "I must go and tell her about the tidal wave and everything!"
[XXVI]
"Are you surprised?" Norah asked Joe as they went down in the elevator. She looked at Joe curiously, for there was a broad grin on Joe's face, and a grin was not what Norah expected him to wear under the circumstances. She would have said that a sad and sorry countenance was more befitting the occasion. But Joe looked anything but sad and sorry. Indeed, he was so jubilant that Norah borrowed some of his triumphant satisfaction and smiled, too.
He hesitated. "No," he said slowly, "I'm not surprised, although I don't know whether you refer to Tessie's engagement to Mr. Bill, or to Mr. Kingley's successful publicity campaign or to the loss of two of the Sunshine Islands?"