"Queen Teresa?" asked the stranger eagerly, although he knew very well that she was Queen Teresa. "Of the Sunshine Islands?" He came into the room and shut the door carefully behind him.
A great hope dashed into Tessie's mind. He was the special representative from the Sunshine Islands, the man who was to escort her to her kingdom in obedience to the orders in her Uncle Pete's last will and testament. Of course he was the special representative. In spite of the fact that he made Tessie think that he must be made of tubs, large and small, neatly piled upon one another. He had an air of great assurance and greater authority. He could tell her all about the islands and that it would not be necessary for her to eat native food nor to have Ka-kee-ta bang on the door with his ax. He would tell her everything. He looked as full of information as a complete set of encyclopedia. And when he spoke, she was sure he was the special representative, for he said smilingly, ingratiatingly, "I have come to talk to you about the Sunshine Islands."
"Is that so!" exclaimed the Queen of the Sunshine Islands. She looked triumphantly at Granny. "Won't you sit down?" She hesitated in choosing a chair for herself and at last took one which stood near Granny. After she was seated in it she moved it even closer to Granny as if she wanted her comfort or protection.
"You must think it is very romantic to be a queen," went on the tublike man, still smiling pleasantly. "And it is romantic! I suppose you picture your kingdom as another England or Spain or——"
"I don't," interrupted Granny. "Not any more. I might as well confess that at first I did that very thing, but I've just read a few things in these books about the Sunshine Islands, and I know now that they ain't a bit like England or even Spain. I was just telling Tessie—the queen—that when Ka-kee-ta knocked on the door with his ax."
"You are quite right!" He smiled at Granny and nodded his white thatched head. "But I can tell you much more than you will find in any book. To begin with, the pleasant parts of the islands are beautiful, very beautiful. They are not large; you could crowd the half a dozen into the state of Minnesota and have room to spare. But the climate! Ah, the climate! It is perfect! The islands are south of Hawaii, you know, but nearer the United States—nearer Mexico would be more correct—but it is the same thing. They are coral islands with cocoanut palms and banana and breadfruit trees. The villages are made up of palm leaf huts with a larger hut on the largest island for the ruler."
"Isn't there any electric light or any gas or any city water?" asked Granny, who could not believe that there was any place without those three necessities.
"There is not. But there is a sky bluer than any sky you ever saw, and the water in the lagoon is as clear as crystal and of a wonderful blue-green color. The coral sand is so white that it makes your eyes ache. The Sunshine Islands are rarely beautiful, but they are not convenient. It would be safe to say that they have not a single convenience," he insisted as Granny gasped and exclaimed:
"Not even in the king's palace?"
"Palace!" He laughed scornfully almost, as Joe Cary had laughed at kings and palaces. "Palm-leaf huts," he explained. "And the people—you know they are cannibals?" He looked at Tessie, as if he were vastly amused to know that her people were cannibals.