"Oh, DOES he?" exclaimed Alfred hotly. "I'll soon put a stop to that,"

he declared. "Where did he take him?"

Again the two women looked at each other inquiringly, then Aggie stammered evasively.

"Oh, j-just downstairs--somewhere."

"I'll LOOK j-just downstairs somewhere," decided Alfred, and he s.n.a.t.c.hed up his hat and started toward the door.

"Alfred!" cried Zoie in alarm.

Coming back to her bedside to rea.s.sure her, Alfred was caught in a frantic embrace. "I'll be back in a minute, dear," he said, but Zoie clung to him and pleaded desperately.

"You aren't going to leave me the very first thing?"

Alfred hesitated. He had no wish to be cruel to Zoie, but the thought of Jimmy out in the street with his baby at this hour of the night was not to be borne.

Zoie renewed her efforts at persuasion. "Now, dearie," she said, "I wish you'd go get shaved and wash up a bit. I don't wish baby to see you looking so horrid."

"Yes, do, Alfred," insisted Aggie. "He's sure to be here in a minute."

"My boy won't care HOW his father looks," declared Alfred proudly, and Zoie told Aggie afterward that his chest had momentarily expanded three inches.

"But _I_ care," persisted Zoie. "First impressions are so important."

"Now, Zoie," cautioned Aggie, as she crossed toward the bed with affected solicitude. "You mustn't excite yourself."

Zoie was quick to understand the suggested change in her tactics, and again she sank back on her pillows apparently ill and faint.

Utterly vanquished by the dire result of his apparently inhuman thoughtlessness, Alfred glanced at Aggie, uncertain as to how to repair the injury.

Aggie beckoned to him to come away from the bed.

"Let her have her own way," she whispered with a significant glance toward Zoie.

Alfred nodded understandingly and put a finger to his lips to signify that he would henceforth speak in hushed tones, then he tiptoed back to the bed and gently stroked the curls from Zoie's troubled forehead.

"There now, dear," he whispered, "lie still and rest and I'll go shave and wash up a bit."

Zoie sighed her acquiescence.

"Mind," he whispered to Aggie, "you are to call me the moment my boy comes," and then he slipped quietly into the bedroom.

No sooner had Alfred crossed the threshold, than Zoie sat up in bed and called in a sharp whisper to Aggie, "What's keeping them?" she asked.

"I can't imagine," answered Aggie, also in whisper.

"If I had Jimmy here," declared Zoie vindictively, "I'd wring his little fat neck," and slipping her little pink toes from beneath the covers, she was about to get out of bed, when Aggie, who was facing Alfred's bedroom door, gave her a warning signal.

Zoie had barely time to get back beneath the covers, when Alfred re-entered the room in search of his satchel. Aggie found it for him quickly.

Alfred glanced solicitously at Zoie's closed eyes. "I'm so sorry," he apologised to Aggie, and again he slipped softly out of the room.

Aggie and Zoie drew together for consultation.

"Suppose Jimmy can't get the baby," whispered Zoie.

"In that case, he'd have 'phoned," argued Aggie.

"Let's 'phone to the Home," suggested Zoie, "and find----" She was interrupted by Alfred's voice.

"Say, Aggie," called Alfred from the next room.

"Yes?" answered Aggie sweetly, and she crossed to the door and waited.

"Hasn't he come yet?" called Alfred impatiently.

"Not yet, Alfred," said Aggie, and she closed the door very softly, lest Alfred should hear her.

"I never knew Alfred could be so silly!" snapped Zoie.

"Sh! sh!" warned Aggie, and she glanced anxiously toward Alfred's door.

"He doesn't care a bit about me!" complained Zoie. "It's all that horrid old baby that he's never seen."

"If Jimmy doesn't come soon, he never WILL see it," declared Aggie, and she started toward the window to look out.

Just then there was a short quick ring of the bell. The two women glanced at each other with mingled hope and fear. Then their eyes sought the door expectantly.

CHAPTER XVII

With the collar of his long ulster pushed high and the brim of his derby hat pulled low, Jimmy Jinks crept cautiously into the room. When he at length ceased to glance over his shoulder and came to a full stop, Aggie perceived a bit of white flannel hanging beneath the hem of his tightly b.u.t.toned coat.

"You've GOT it!" she cried.

"Where is it?" asked Zoie.

"Give it to me," demanded Aggie.

Jimmy stared at them as though stupefied, then glanced uneasily over his shoulder, to make sure that no one was pursuing him. Aggie unb.u.t.toned his ulster, seized a wee mite wrapped in a large shawl, and clasped it to her bosom with a sigh of relief. "Thank heaven!" she exclaimed, then crossed quickly to the ba.s.sinette and deposited her charge.

In the meantime, having thrown discretion to the wind, Zoie had hopped out of bed. As usual, her greeting to Jimmy was in the nature of a reproach. "What kept you?" she demanded crossly.

"Yes," chimed in Aggie, who was now bending over the crib. "What made you so long?"

"See here!" answered Jimmy hotly, "if you two think you can do any better, you're welcome to the job," and with that he threw off his overcoat and sank sullenly on the couch.

"Sh! sh!" exclaimed Zoie and Aggie, simultaneously, and they glanced nervously toward Alfred's bedroom door.