r new kingdom and of Mr. Bill. Not once did shabby Joe Cary intrude on her dream of glory. It seemed only

ou're going to Mifflin to get your ma's and pa's wed

at the Waloo for dinner with the wonderful Mr. Bill. She would have to get up and put on her old sateen and go and sell aluminum in the Evergreen basement. She wished she hadn't dreamed that Uncle Pete had died and made her a queen. Such a dream as that made it harder than ever to waken. She had kno

police station, and the police told him that we were right last night when we said that man on the porch was hit on the head. A friend came for him, and after he had talked to him, he told the police just how it was. The colored man was walking along the street, when all of a sudden he didn't know nothing. I don't suppose he coul

her grandmother, who was already dressed in her black alpaca instead of her morning calico, and whose

hat it couldn't be true. It just could not be true. She thou

ed Granny, who was putt

the question. It was so perfectly ridiculous and unbe

you're a queen!" The firm confident tone sent a shiver of delight down Tessie's spine. "Didn't your Uncle Pete

could not believe that she was to ride in it, although Bert tol

sixty miles from Waloo. This is just a formality, you know, Miss Gilfooly. We all know that you really are the Queen of the Sunshine Islands. We don't n

She looked speculatively at the tonneau of the big car. There was no one in it. "Could we take my grandmother, Mr. D

e's plenty of room, and we'll feel safer to have a Scout with

he wished that she had had a son to run away to sea and be a king. "My Lil would make a better-looking queen than that washed-out Tessie Gilfooly," she thought, as she watched them from behind the skimpy curtain. "Lil's suit was new this spring, and that blue dud T

white face-jumped wistfully around the car. Jonah wanted to drive t

eager for the family to enjoy the

ned the two i

og to-day!" And to show how little she cared about the good fortune which had come to her neig

as Bert had prophesied, was delightful. It was no time at all before they were in front of the red brick building which was Mifflin's new Court House. But when they went in an

was here yesterday, but it isn't

manded Bert, with all the impo

e I've been here, no one has ever asked about that license. And now yesterday a man wante

id he have a tattooed nos

all over it. He was what you would call a blond. With a big nose," he insisted

not one of them could tell her anything about a blo

erguson's store had a little blaze yesterday, and when I heard the fire engine I naturally went to th

" agreed Bert. "And you had bette

hought it necessary to tell him what to do. "I'll call the

se?" Tessie could not imagine why any one would steal a piece of paper. M

to make it impossible for you to prove that you are

ea! But whoever would?

do that!" she declared. "Not while I have bre

" And Bert gr

than smiles. She wanted

ded. "Can't Tessie be a queen unless she

ant to know about the wedding of father and mother, all you have t

t it! That was a bright thought, Johnny, but I'm glad it didn't come to you before. If you'd had it in Waloo we'd have missed a pleasant ride. I can tell

e preferred to tell Granny that her story of the Gilfooly-Andrews wedding would be sufficient to place Tessie on any throne

amp the night of the wedding and came near burning up the bride. He'll remember and be glad to tell you that my son John married Teresa Andrews right and proper. And that ain't all," went on Granny, who could accomplish great things when she began little things, "the man who married John and Teresa and bapt

lose to Miss Gilfooly that your evidence wouldn't be sufficient. The court might suspect such a near rel

ho had nothing but contempt for a cour

n by shrubbery and vines, and the Boy Scout rang the bell loudly. But Mr. Townshend was in Waloo visi

that's everything, no matter what you're looking for. You say Reverend Townshend's sister lives on Tenth Avenue South?" she aske

"That's my job!" And he looked a

Townshend had been knocked down by an automobile as he was crossing a street that afternoon, and was lying in the hospital w

" Tessie was almost in tears. Her

wedding, and it will be funny if I can't find some of them. You don't want to get disco

ncussion of the brain. "The Fates seem to be against you! So are some people, I should judge. There is evidently some one who doesn't want you to be the Queen of the Sunshine Islands. Look at

was crazy! And she told him so. "You talk as if being a queen was

oe, and then Tessie knew, bey

ng a queen if you a

and queens who were glad to abdicate. You don't have to be a queen unless you please, Tes

en she startled him by bursting into tears-"you-y

taken her in his arms and kissed the tears away, she was so lit

y. There's some folks," she said over her shoulder to Joe, "who are quick enough to tell oth

do," he declared promptly. "I never would be a king! Not fo

to do is to carry them the best he knows how. Now I want you to stop picking on Tessie just because she's a queen. It isn't her fault, and you needn't talk to her as if it was. We don't none of us know why she was picked out to look after those queer fol

yes twinkled. "Just as you say. Tess can think she