Again Aggie had recourse to the 'phone.
"Hello," she called to the office boy, "tell that woman to go around to
the back door, and we'll send something down to her." There was a slight
pause, then Aggie added sweetly, "Yes, tell her to wait at the foot of
the fire-escape."
Zoie had already caught the drift of Aggie's intention and she now fixed
her glittering eyes upon Jimmy, who was already shifting about uneasily
and glancing at Aggie, who approached him with a business-like air.
"Now, dear," said Aggie, "come with me. I'll hand Baby out through the
bathroom window and you can run right down the fire-escape with him."
"If I do run down the fire-escape," exclaimed Jimmy, wagging his large
head from side to side, "I'll keep right on RUNNING. That's the last
you'll ever see of me."
"But, Jimmy," protested Aggie, slightly hurt by his threat, "once that
woman gets her baby you'll have no more trouble."
"With you two still alive?" asked Jimmy, looking from one to the other.
"She'll be up here if you don't hurry," urged Aggie impatiently, and
with that she pulled Jimmy toward the bedroom door.
"Let her come," said Jimmy, planting his feet so as to resist Aggie's
repeated tugs, "I'm going to South America."
"Why will you act like this," cried Aggie, in utter desperation, "when
we have so little time?"
"Say," said Jimmy irrelevantly, "do you know that I haven't had any----"
"Yes," interrupted Aggie and Zoie in chorus, "we know."
"How long," continued Zoie impatiently, "is it going to take you to slip
down that fire-escape?"
"That depends on how fast I 'slip,'" answered Jimmy doggedly.
"You'll 'slip' all right," sneered Zoie.
Further exchange of pleasantries between these two antagonists was cut
short by the banging of the outside door.
"Good Heavens!" exclaimed Aggie, glancing nervously over her shoulder,
"there's Alfred now. Hurry, Jimmy, hurry," she cried, and with that she
fairly forced Jimmy out through the bedroom door, and followed in his
wake to see him safely down the fire-escape.