"You just try," threatened Alfred, and he towered over the intimidated
Jimmy. "Are you crazy?"
Jimmy was of the opinion that he must be crazy or he would never have
found himself in such a predicament as this, but the anxious faces of
Zoie and Aggie, denied him the luxury of declaring himself so. He sank
mutely on the end of the couch and proceeded to sulk in silence.
As for Aggie and Zoie, they continued to gaze open-mouthed at Alfred,
who was waltzing about the room transported into a new heaven of delight
at having snatched his heir from the danger of another night ramble with
Jimmy.
"Did a horrid old Jimmy spoil his 'itty nap'?" he gurgled to Baby. Then
with a sudden exclamation of alarm, he turned toward the anxious women.
"Aggie!" he cried, as he stared intently into Baby's face. "Look--his
rash! It's turned IN!"
Aggie pretended to glance over Alfred's shoulder.
"Why so it has," she agreed nervously.
"What shall we do?" cried the distraught Alfred.
"It's all right now," counselled Aggie, "so long as it didn't turn in
too suddenly."
"We'd better keep him warm, hadn't we?" suggested Alfred, remembering
Aggie's previous instructions on a similar occasion. "I'll put him in
his crib," he decided, and thereupon he made a quick move toward the
bassinette.
Staggering back from the cradle with the unsteadiness of a drunken man
Alfred called upon the Diety. "What is THAT?" he demanded as he pointed
toward the unexpected object before him.
Neither Zoie, Aggie, nor Jimmy could command words to assist Alfred's
rapidly waning powers of comprehension, and it was not until he had
swept each face for the third time with a look of inquiry that Zoie
found breath to stammer nervously, "Why--why--why, that's the OTHER
one."
"The other one?" echoed Alfred in a dazed manner; then he turned to
Aggie for further explanation.
"Yes," affirmed Aggie, with an emphatic nod, "the other one."
An undescribable joy was dawning on Alfred's face.
"You don't mean----" He stared from the infant in his arms to the one in
the cradle, then back again at Aggie and Zoie. The women solemnly nodded
their heads. Even Jimmy unblushingly acquiesced. Alfred turned toward
Zoie for the final confirmation of his hopes.
"Yes, dear," assented Zoie sweetly, "that's Alfred."
What Jimmy and the women saw next appeared to be the dance of a whirling
dervish; as a matter of fact, it was merely a man, mad with delight,
clasping two infants in long clothes and circling the room with them.