CHAPTER XVI
When Alfred entered Zoie's bedroom he glanced about him in bewilderment.It appeared that he was in an enchanted chamber. Through the dim roselight he could barely perceive his young wife. She was lying white andapparently lifeless on her pillows. He moved cautiously toward the bed,but Aggie raised a warning finger. Afraid to speak, he grasped Aggie'shand and searched her face for reassurance; she nodded toward Zoie,whose eyes were closed. He tiptoed to the bedside, sank on his knees andreverently kissed the small hand that hung limply across the side of thebed.
To Alfred's intense surprise, his lips had barely touched Zoie'sfingertips when he felt his head seized in a frantic embrace. "Alfred,Alfred!" cried Zoie in delight; then she smothered his face with kisses.As she lifted her head to survey her astonished husband, she caughtthe reproving eye of Aggie. With a weak little sigh, she relaxed hertenacious hold of Alfred, breathed his name very faintly, and sank back,apparently exhausted, upon her pillows.
"It's been too much for her," said the terrified young husband, and heglanced toward Aggie in anxiety.
Aggie nodded assent.
"How pale she looks," added Alfred, as he surveyed the white face on thepillows.
"She's so weak, poor dear," sympathised Aggie, almost in a whisper.
Alfred nodded his understanding to Aggie. It was then that his attentionwas for the first time attracted toward the crib.
"My boy!" he exclaimed. And again Zoie forgot Aggie's warning andsat straight up in bed. But Alfred did not see her. He was makingdeterminedly for the crib, his heart beating high with the pride ofpossession.
Throwing back the coverlets of the bassinette, Alfred stared at theempty bed in silence, then he quickly turned to the two anxious women."Where is he?" he asked, his eyes wide with terror.
Zoie's lips opened to answer, but no words came.
Alfred's eyes turned to Aggie. The look on her face increased his worstfears. "Don't tell me he's----" he could not bring himself to utter theword. He continued to look helplessly from one woman to the other.
In vain Zoie again tried to answer. Aggie also made an unsuccessfulattempt to speak. Then, driven to desperation by the strain of thesituation, Zoie declared boldly: "He's out."
"Out?" echoed Alfred in consternation.
"With Jimmy," explained Aggie, coming to Zoie's rescue as well as sheknew how.
"Jimmy!" repeated Alfred in great astonishment.
"Just for a breath of air," explained Zoie sweetly She had now entirelyregained her self-possession.
"Isn't he very young to be out at night?" asked Alfred with a puzzledfrown.
"We told Jimmy that," answered Aggie, amazed at the promptnesswith which each succeeding lie presented itself. "But you see," shecontinued, "Jimmy is so crazy about the child that we can't do anythingwith him."
"Jimmy crazy about my baby?" exclaimed Alfred incredulously. "He alwayssaid babies were 'little red worms.'"
"Not this one," answered Zoie sweetly.
"No, indeed," chimed in Aggie. "He acts as though he owned it."
"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 Aggiestammered evasively.
"Oh, j-just downstairs--somewhere."
"I'll LOOK j-just downstairs somewhere," decided Alfred, and he snatchedup his hat and started toward the door.
"Alfred!" cried Zoie in alarm.
Coming back to her bedside to reassure her, Alfred was caught in afrantic embrace. "I'll be back in a minute, dear," he said, but Zoieclung 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 ofJimmy out in the street with his baby at this hour of the night was notto be borne.
Zoie renewed her efforts at persuasion. "Now, dearie," she said, "Iwish you'd go get shaved and wash up a bit. I don't wish baby to see youlooking 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, andZoie told Aggie afterward that his chest had momentarily expanded threeinches.
"But _I_ care," persisted Zoie. "First impressions are so important."
"Now, Zoie," cautioned Aggie, as she crossed toward the bed withaffected solicitude. "You mustn't excite yourself."
Zoie was quick to understand the suggested change in her tactics, andagain she sank back on her pillows apparently ill and faint.
Utterly vanquished by the dire result of his apparently inhumanthoughtlessness, Alfred glanced at Aggie, uncertain as to how to repairthe injury.
Aggie beckoned to him to come away from the bed.
"Let her have her own way," she whispered with a significant glancetoward Zoie.
Alfred nodded understandingly and put a finger to his lips to signifythat he would henceforth speak in hushed tones, then he tiptoed back tothe bed and gently stroked the curls from Zoie's troubled forehead.
"There now, dear," he whispered, "lie still and rest and I'll go shaveand wash up a bit."
Zoie sighed her acquiescence.
"Mind," he whispered to Aggie, "you are to call me the moment my boycomes," and then he slipped quietly into the bedroom.
No sooner had Alfred crossed the threshold, than Zoie sat up in bed andcalled 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 littlefat 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'sbedroom door, gave her a warning signal.
Zoie had barely time to get back beneath the covers, when Alfredre-entered the room in search of his satchel. Aggie found it for himquickly.
Alfred glanced solicitously at Zoie's closed eyes. "I'm so sorry," heapologised 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 wasinterrupted 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, lestAlfred 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 horridold baby that he's never seen."
"If Jimmy doesn't come soon, he never WILL see it," declared Aggie, andshe started toward the window to look out.
Just then there was a short quick ring of the bell. The two womenglanced at each other with mingled hope and fear. Then their eyes soughtthe door expectantly.
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