"Pracht," meditated Granny. "That sounds like a German name."
He stopped smiling at Tessie to smile at Granny, and Tessie drew a deep breath of relief, as if at last she had more space about her.
"It is not strange that my name sounds German, because it is German," Mr. Pracht explained to Granny. "My great-grandfather came from Frankfort and settled in Pennsylvania. There are many German names in Pennsylvania."
"H-m," muttered Granny, and she regarded him gravely, as if she were not quite satisfied with the explanation, as if she suspected that it would not wear well—that it would shrink or fade. "My son Pete," she said slowly, "he inherited the islands, didn't he?"
"From the old king. He cured the old king's toothache."
"Didn't the old king have any children?" Even if she suspected that his information might not wear well, Granny thought it was just as well to obtain as much of it as she could.
"He had twenty-three."
"Twenty-three children!" Granny gasped. She had known large families in her day, but twenty-three children——
"Seventeen girls and six boys," was the ready response. "And thirty-one grandchildren. I don't exactly know how many great-grandchildren there are."
"Never mind." The old king's children interested Granny far more than his great grandchildren. "When there were twenty-three children, why did the old king leave his kingdom to my son Pete?" That was the question which did interest her, and while a toothache cure should be paid for, a kingdom did seem rather a large price.