The Amazing Inheritance Part 18

"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.

Mr. Pracht shrugged his shoulders. "That is what the twenty-three children would like to know. They declare that King Pete hypnotized their father, or, as they put it, placed him under a spell. My private opinion is that the old king quarreled with his family until he hated every one of his twenty-three children. And they hated him. They hated each other, too, until their father died and they came together to fight his successor. That's why the Sons of Sunshine organized. You've heard of them?" He turned his bright blue eyes on Tessie again.

She nodded, but did not speak. Granny did not speak either for a moment; then she said slowly, as if she were trying to visualize her words:

"That's quite a family. Twenty-three children!"

"The old man had three wives," Mr. Pracht said with a little laugh.

"Three! Do you mean that a man can have more than one wife in my granddaughter's kingdom?" If Granny's gray hair had not been held by a net, it would have risen with horror at such a thought.

"A man can have as many wives as he can buy," explained Mr. Pracht. "You remember I told you the islands were not like Minnesota and Waloo." He laughed and showed two rows of big white teeth.

"They don't seem to be," murmured Granny, while Tessie gasped. "I must confess I am surprised. Ain't you surprised, Tessie, to hear all this? I had my suspicions after I got over my first surprise and had time to remember Pete, and to look into these books. But I thought you were going to tell us what you thought Tessie should do with these islands which her Uncle Pete left her when he died?" she said suddenly.

"There is but one thing to do," Mr. Pracht told her so suddenly and emphatically that she knew that he had given the question some study. He was not offering her any made-while-you-wait opinion. She should sell her rights in them, and sell as soon as she can. "Real estate values vary, you know, and just at present Miss Gilfooly could obtain a very good price. If she waits I am afraid she will lose money. If she sells her rights at once, I am quite sure that she will obtain enough to enable her to live like a queen wherever she pleases." He smiled pleasantly at Tessie, but Tessie frowned.

"I wouldn't be a queen if I sold my islands," she objected. Already her head felt bare, as if a crown had been torn from it.

"Surely you would be a queen. A queen doesn't lose her t.i.tle when she loses her kingdom," declared Mr. Pracht, quick to see that honors meant more to Tessie just then than lands. "Look at Kaiser Bill. And the French empress who died the other day. So long as you live, you will be Queen Teresa of the Sunshine Islands. But take my word for it that you will find it much pleasanter to be Queen Teresa in London or Paris, or even in Waloo, than you would in the Sunshine Islands. I can't think of a thing you would like there--not one thing."

"Uncle Pete liked them!" flared Tessie, indignant at such contemptuous scorn of her kingdom. "He liked them well enough to live there years and years."

"He probably had his reasons." There was a significance in Mr. Pracht's smooth voice that made Granny and Tessie look at each other. "And he was a man," went on Mr. Pracht. "He never hesitated when it was necessary to put down rebellion."

"I bet he didn't!" agreed Granny.

"And you know there is a strong desire for a native ruler? The Sons of Sunshine are behind it. They will never permit you to land without a fight. And you wouldn't be able to hold your throne," he grinned, "without bloodshed, I know!" And he told Tessie more about her kingdom--disagreeable things. By the time he finished Tessie was almost in tears.

"I am prepared to offer you two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for your rights in the Sunshine Islands," he said at last.

"Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars!" Tessie was on her feet and staring at him indignantly.

"The lawyer said they were worth a million pounds!" Granny said sharply.

Granny had learned to bargain in the old days, and some lessons are never forgotten.

"A million pounds!" Mr. Pracht repeated. "That sounds like King Pete. He was not the man to put a low valuation on anything that belonged to him.

But a million pounds! That is ridiculous! Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars is far more than they are worth, but I want Miss Gilfooly to be comfortable and have some luxuries. I want her to have an income that will let her live anywhere!" His face wore the kindliest, the most benevolent of expressions as he turned it to Tessie.

Tessie did not like his benevolent expression any more than she had liked his admiring smile. The something in the back of her head which connected a fat, white-headed, big-nosed, freckled man with an unpleasant experience bothered her. She wished she could remember what it was.

"Are you the special representative my Uncle Pete said was to come for me?" she asked suddenly.

"Special representative!" he repeated, and there was a vague uncertainty in his voice which told Tessie at once that he knew even less of the special representative than she did.

Granny was still considering the two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

She sniffed at them.

"I never trust a man who pays more than a thing is worth," she contemptuously told Mr. Pracht. "There's always a n.i.g.g.e.r in the woodpile. Are you buying these islands for yourself?" she asked pleasantly, "or for the twenty-three children? Tessie would want to know who would look after the people if she should sell the islands."

"I sure would!" Tessie looked gratefully at Granny. Trust Granny to ask leading questions.

Mr. Pracht hesitated before he spoke in a most confidential manner, as if only to Granny and Tessie would he admit the truth. "I represent a syndicate which plans to develop the natural resources of the islands.

The syndicate has no use for the t.i.tle, so that Miss Gilfooly can remain a queen in name. And I can a.s.sure her that the people will be well looked after. I might possibly," he frowned and spoke more slowly, "be able to offer two hundred and seventy-five thousand!" He looked at Tessie as if he had made a wonderful offer, one that she could not afford to refuse. Surely when she heard that sum she would jump up and exclaim: "Yes, thank you. You may have my kingdom for two hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars!"

"Couldn't you make it three hundred thousand?" asked Granny, quite as if she were selling rags to the junk man and not bargaining with a syndicate for a kingdom.

He looked at her. "I should hate to say positively, but if that is the price Miss Gilfooly will accept, I might--yes!" He took a sudden determination. "I will a.s.sume the responsibility and offer you three hundred thousand dollars. It's a big price! The syndicate will lose money, but----"

"Bosh!" exclaimed Granny, and she rose to her feet and stood beside Tessie. "Bosh! Syndicates don't lose money! I don't know how Queen Teresa feels, but if I were in her shoes, I'd tell your syndicate to go to Jericho before I would sell an inch of my islands. That's what I'd do!" And she snapped her fingers in his face.

"Madam!" He jumped back indignantly. He turned to Tessie. After all the Sunshine Islands belonged to Tessie, not to her belligerent grandmother.

"Of course I shan't sell my islands!" declared Tessie, flushed and indignant, that he should really think she would. "I wouldn't sell them for a million! I have a duty to the people! It wouldn't be right to sell them!"

An ugly look crept into Mr. Pracht's blue eyes. "You can refuse if you wish," he said, and there was an ugly note in his voice, far different from his former suave, smooth manner. "I can only remind you again that the natives have sworn that they will never have another white ruler.

And you will find that they will stop at nothing. They have several disagreeable customs in regard to those they consider usurpers. Boiling them in shark oil is perhaps the simplest!" He bowed triumphantly and walked toward the door.

"Is that so," remarked Granny coldly. "And may I ask you if you were at the Evergreen banquet for the queen the other evening?"

"Banquet?" he swung around and looked at her. There was an odd expression in his eyes.

"Yes, there was an unexpected guest who made things very disagreeable for a minute. You sound as if you might have been him."

He shook his head. "I have no time for social gatherings," he said coldly. "But Miss Gilfooly had better consider my offer. As I said, the natives will stop at nothing."

If he expected Tessie to call him back and whimper that she was afraid of the natives, and couldn't he do something to protect her he was sadly disappointed. He found himself on the other side of the door without a word being spoken. As the door closed behind him Tessie turned to her grandmother.

"Granny," she wailed, "did you hear what he said?" She caught Granny's hand and held it tight.

"Sure, I heard what he said!" Granny put a protecting arm around her.

"But I doubt if there is enough shark oil in the United States to boil anybody, my lamb. Don't you fret. Your Granny will take care of you!"

"I'm not fretting!" But she clung to Granny's hand. "And I'm glad he isn't one of my people! I wouldn't trust him! I don't like him!"

"I don't trust him, either. I bet he knows more about what happened at the Evergreen banquet than we do. You'll see. We'll know all about it some day. Did you take a good look at him, Tessie?"

Tessie nodded tearfully. "Fat and white, like a nasty worm," she gulped.

Granny added a feature to Tessie's sketch. "And a big nose! You remember it was a man with white hair and a big nose that stole the record of your ma's and pa's wedding. Don't you forget that, Tessie Gilfooly! That man tried to make us think he was honest, coming here and offering to buy your islands. But he ain't honest. You can tell that as soon as you look at him. There's something queer in this business, Tessie! I don't understand it, but you look out for that man. He's got a bad eye. Dear, dear, I wish Joe Cary was still boarding with us! I trusted Joe Cary!"