"I don't jolly about serious things. I honestly believe that the man you found on the porch that night was a Sunshiner, and I am just as sure that the man who tried to rob you at the banquet was one, too. I can't prove it, and the store detective laughs at me, but I know I am right. Don't have anything to do with them, Tess. They're brutes! They wouldn't stop at anything!"
"I know!" impatiently. "And I'm scared to death, Joe Cary! I wish you'd come right over and tell me what you know!"
"I'll run up this evening."
"You tell Mr. Kingley I want to see you right away, and he'll let you come right away," guessed Tessie. She would die if she had to wait until evening.
"I shan't ask any favors of old Kingley," Joe told her stiffly.
"Oh, Joe!" Her breath caught in a sob. "Not when I ask you? Please, please? I'm frightened!" Her quivering voice told him how frightened she was.
"All right!" he said quickly. "I'll come over, but for heaven's sake keep your shirt on and don't lose your head!"
"I don't want to lose my head," she agreed meekly. "That's why I want you to come right over. And, Joe, you're a darling!"
"Oh, am I?" gruffly. "We'll see about that!"
The information Bert gathered proved to be most unsatisfactory to Tessie. It only told about Uncle Pete's will and certain properties which he possessed in the Hawaiian Islands. There was scarcely a word about the people or the politics of the Sunshine Islands.