"Cut it," shouted the officer. And before Jimmy could get further,
Alfred resumed with fresh vehemence.
"He's supposed to be a friend of mine," he explained to the officer, as
he nodded toward the wriggling Jimmy. "He was all right when I left him
a few months ago."
"You'll think I'm all right again," shouted Jimmy, trying to get free
from the officer, "before I've finished telling all I----"
"That won't help any," interrupted the officer firmly, and with another
twist of Jimmy's badly wilted collar he turned to Alfred with his most
civil manner, "What shall I do with him, sir?"
"I don't know," said Alfred, convinced that his friend was a fit subject
for a straight jacket. "This is horrible."
"It's absurd," cried Zoie, on the verge of hysterics, and in utter
despair of ever disentangling the present complication without
ultimately losing Alfred, "you're all absurd," she cried wildly.
"Absurd?" exclaimed Alfred, turning upon her in amazement, "what do you
mean?"
"It's a joke," said Zoie, without the slightest idea of where the joke
lay. "If you had any sense you could see it."
"I DON'T see it," said Alfred, with hurt dignity.
"Neither do I," said Jimmy, with boiling resentment.
"Can you call it a joke," asked Alfred, incredulously, "to have our
boy----" He stopped suddenly, remembering that there was a companion
piece to this youngster. "The other one!" he exclaimed, "our other
boy----" He rushed to the crib, found it empty, and turned a terrified
face to Zoie. "Where is he?" he demanded.
"Now, Alfred," pleaded Zoie, "don't get excited; he's all right."
"How do you know?" asked the distracted father.
Zoie did not know, but at that moment her eyes fell upon Jimmy, and as
usual he was the source of an inspiration for her.
"Jimmy never cared for the other one," she said, "did you, Jimmy?"
Alfred turned to the officer, with a tone of command. "Wait," he said,
then he started toward the bedroom door to make sure that his other
boy was quite safe. The picture that confronted him brought the hair
straight up on his head. True to her promise, and ignorant of Jimmy's
return with the first baby, Aggie had chosen this ill-fated moment to
appear on the threshold with one babe on each arm.