At the sound of Aggie's voice however, his heart began to pound with
fear. "Had she found him out for the weak miserable deceiver that he
was? Would she tell him that they were going to separate forever?"
Aggie's first words were reassuring. "Awfully sorry to be so late,
dear," she said.
Jimmy felt her kiss upon his chubby cheek and her dear arms about his
neck. He decided forthwith to tell her everything, and never, never
again to run the risk of deceiving her; but before he could open his
lips, she continued gaily: "I've brought Zoie home with me, dear. There's no sense in her eating
all alone, and she's going to have ALL her dinners with us." Jimmy
groaned. "After dinner," continued Aggie, "you and I can take her to
the theatre and all those places and keep her cheered until Alfred comes
home."
"Home?" repeated Jimmy in alarm. Was it possible that Alfred had already
relented?
"Oh, he doesn't know it yet," explained Aggie, "but he's coming. We'll
tell you all about it at dinner." And they did.
While waiting for Aggie, Jimmy had thought himself hungry, but once
the two women had laid before him their "nefarious baby-snatching
scheme"--food lost its savour for him, and one course after another was
taken away from him untouched.
Each time that Jimmy ventured a mild objection to his part in the plan,
as scheduled by them, he met the threatening eye of Zoie; and by the
time that the three left the table he was so harassed and confused by
the chatter of the two excited women, that he was not only reconciled
but eager to enter into any scheme that might bring Alfred back, and
free him of the enforced companionship of Alfred's nerve-racking wife.
True, he reflected, it was possible that Alfred, on his return, might
discover him to be the culprit who lunched with Zoie and might carry out
his murderous threat; but even such a fate was certainly preferable to
interminable evenings spent under the same roof with Zoie.
"All YOU need do, Jimmy," explained Aggie sweetly, when the three of
them were comfortably settled in the library, "is to see your friend
the Superintendent of the Babies' Home, and tell him just what kind of a
baby we shall need, and when we shall need it."
"Can't we see it ourselves?" chimed in Zoie.
"Oh yes, indeed," said Aggie confidently, and she turned to Jimmy with
a matter-of-fact tone. "You'd better tell the Superintendent to have
several for us to look at when the time arrives."