"Well, I'll be darned!" he exclaimed unbelievingly. "If it isn't Queen Teresa! You certainly make one sweet peach of a queen!" He was quite scarlet and somewhat incoherent in his admiration.
"Clothes do make a difference, don't they, Mr. Bill?" asked Miss Morley, proud of what she had made of Tessie. "She looks quite smart now, doesn't she? I've been working over her all morning."
"Good work!" approved Mr. Bill. "I'll say she looks all right!" And his hearty admiration deepened the color in Tessie's cheeks as well as in his own face. Imagine Mr. Bill saying that Tessie Gilfooly looked all right! No wonder Tessie's face was pink, and her eyes shone.
Mr. Kingley admired Tessie also and told Miss Morley that she had done well—remarkably well.
"I knew the Evergreen could outfit a woman for any position," he said with great satisfaction. "You selected other garments than what she is wearing?"
"You said to fit her out appropriately but not foolishly." Miss Morley repeated the orders she had received. "I have chosen a couple of afternoon frocks, dinner gowns and evening gowns and a little jersey and a serge for day wear."
"And hats?" suggested Mr. Kingley. "A queen can't wear her crown all the time." And he laughed at his joke.
"And hats." Miss Morley was polite enough and clever enough to laugh with him. "And shoes and everything. She has a very complete little outfit."
"That's good. That's very good. You might collect the gowns and hats, Miss Morley, and make a little exhibition of them to-morrow before they are delivered. Miss Gilfooly can wait a day longer for them, and our customers will be interested in a royal wardrobe. Have Miss Lee run a little story in the Gazette. It isn't every store," he told them proudly, "that could fit out a queen at a moment's notice. You arrange a little exhibition, Miss Morley, and we'll invite Waloo to come and see it. You'll like that, my dear," he told Tessie, who was not sure that she would like it at all.
Joe Cary, bringing a message to Mr. Kingley from Mr. Maltby, the assistant advertising manager, who had been discharged from his jury, most certainly did not like it and he dared to say so.