Part 30 (1/2)

Jimmy appealed to Aggie and Zoie. Their faces were as blank as his own.

He glanced at Alfred.

”Humour her,” whispered Alfred, much elated by the evidence of his own self-control as compared to Jimmy's utter demoralisation under the apparently same circ.u.mstances.

Still Jimmy did not budge.

Alfred was becoming vexed; he pointed first to his own forehead, then to that of Jimmy's hysterical captor. He even ill.u.s.trated his meaning by making a rotary motion with his forefinger, intended to remind Jimmy that the woman was a lunatic.

Still Jimmy only stared at him and all the while the woman was becoming more and more emphatic in her declaration that Jimmy knew where her baby was.

”Sure, Jimmy,” said Alfred, out of all patience with Jimmy's stupidity and tiring of the strain of the woman's presence. ”You know where her baby is.”

”Ah!” cried the mother, and she towered over Jimmy with a wild light in her eyes. ”Take me to him,” she demanded; ”take me to him.”

Jimmy rolled his large eyes first toward Aggie, then toward Zoie and at last toward Alfred. There was no mercy to be found anywhere.

”Take her to him, Jimmy,” commanded a concert of voices; and pursued by a bundle of waving colours and a medley of discordant sounds, Jimmy shot from the room.

CHAPTER XXIV

The departure of Jimmy and the crazed mother was the occasion for a general relaxing among the remaining occupants of the room. Exhausted by what had pa.s.sed Zoie had ceased to interest herself in the future. It was enough for the present that she could sink back upon her pillows and draw a long breath without an evil face bending over her, and without the air being rent by screams.

As for Aggie, she fell back upon the window seat and closed her eyes.

The horrors into which Jimmy might be rus.h.i.+ng had not yet presented themselves to her imagination.

Of the three, Alfred was the only one who had apparently received exhilaration from the encounter. He was strutting about the room with the babe in his arms, undoubtedly enjoying the sensations of a hero.

When he could sufficiently control his feeling of elation, he looked down at the small person with an air of condescension and again lent himself to the garbled sort of language with which defenceless infants are inevitably persecuted.

”Tink of dat horrid old woman wanting to steal our own little oppsie, woppsie, toppsie babykins,” he said. Then he turned to Zoie with an air of great decision. ”That woman ought to be locked up,” he declared, ”she's dangerous,” and with that he crossed to Aggie and hurriedly placed the infant in her unsuspecting arms. ”Here, Aggie,” he said, ”you take Alfred and get him into bed.”

Glad of an excuse to escape to the next room and recover her self control, Aggie quickly disappeared with the child.

For some moments Alfred continued to pace up and down the room; then he came to a full stop before Zoie.

”I'll have to have something done to that woman,” he declared emphatically.

”Jimmy will do enough to her,” sighed Zoie, weakly.

”She's no business to be at large,” continued Alfred; then, with a business-like air, he started toward the telephone.

”Where are you going?” asked Zoie.

Alfred did not answer. He was now calling into the 'phone, ”Give me information.”

”What on earth are you doing?” demanded Zoie, more and more disturbed by his mysterious manner.

”One can't be too careful,” retorted Alfred in his most paternal fas.h.i.+on; ”there's an awful lot of kidnapping going on these days.”

”Well, you don't suspect information, do you?” asked Zoie.

Again Alfred ignored her; he was intent upon things of more importance.