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appeared on the scene, than a sharp whistle was heard from the
pavement below.
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"Pull down the shade!" cried Zoie frantically.
Aggie hastened toward the window.
Attributing Zoie's uneasiness to a caprice of modesty, Alfred
turned from the cradle to reassure her.
"No one can see in way up here," he said.
To Zoie's distress, the lowering of the shade was answered by a
yet shriller whistle from the street below.
"Was it 'up' or 'down'?" cried Zoie to Aggie in an agony of
doubt, as she tried to recall her instructions to Jimmy.
"I don't know," answered Aggie. "I've forgotten."
Another impatient whistle did not improve their memory. Alarmed
by Zoie's increasing excitement, and thinking she was troubled
merely by a sick woman's fancy that someone might see through the
window, Alfred placed the babe quickly in its cradle and crossed
to the young wife's bed.
"It was up, dear," he said. "You had Aggie put it down."
"Then I want it up," declared the seemingly perverse Zoie.
"But it was up," argued Alfred.
A succession of emotional whistles set Zoie to pounding the
pillows.
"Put it down!" she commanded.
"But Zoie----" protested Alfred.
"Did I say 'up' or did I say 'down'?" moaned the half-demented
Zoie, while long whistles and short whistles, appealing whistles
and impatient whistles followed each other in quick succession.
"You said down, dear," persisted Alfred, now almost as distracted
as his wife.
Zoie waved him from the room. "I wish you'd get out of here,"
she cried; "you make me so nervous that I can't think at all."
"Of course, dear," murmured Alfred, "if you wish it." And with a
hurt and perplexed expression on his face he backed quickly from
the room.
CHAPTER XXI
When Zoie's letter asking for the O'Flarety twin had reached that
young lady's astonished mother, Mrs. O'Flarety felt herself
suddenly lifted to a position of importance.
"Think of the purty Mrs. Hardy a wantin' my little Bridget," she
exclaimed, and she began to dwell upon the romantic possibilities
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of her offspring's future under the care of such a "foine stylish
lady and concluded by declaring it 'a lucky day entoirely.' "
Jimmy had his misgivings about it being Bridget's "LUCKY day,"
but it was not for him to delay matters by dwelling upon the
eccentricities of Zoie's character, and when Mrs. O'Flarety had
deposited Bridget in Jimmy's short arms and slipped a well filled
nursing bottle into his overcoat pocket, he took his leave
hastily, lest the excited woman add Bridget's twin to her willing
offering.
Once out of sight of the elated mother, Jimmy thrust the
defenceless Bridget within the folds of his already snug ulster,
buttoned the garment in such places as it would meet, and made
for the taxi which, owing to the upset condition of the street,
he had been obliged to abandon at the corner.
Whether the driver had obtained a more promising "fare" or been
run in by the police, Jimmy never knew. At any rate it was in
vain that he looked for his vehicle. So intense was the cold
that it was impossible to wait for a chance taxi; furthermore,
the meanness of the district made it extremely unlikely that one
would appear, and glancing guiltily behind him to make sure that
no one was taking cognisance of his strange exploit, Jimmy began
picking his way along dark lanes and avoiding the lighted
thoroughfare on which the "Sherwood" was situated, until he was
within a block of his destination.
Panting with haste and excitement, he eventually gained courage
to dash through a side street that brought him within a few doors
of the "Sherwood." Again glancing behind him, he turned the well
lighted corner and arrived beneath Zoie's window to find one
shade up and one down. In his perplexity he emitted a faint
whistle. Immediately he saw the other shade lowered. Uncertain
as to what arrangement he had actually made with Zoie, he
ventured a second whistle. The result was a hysterical running
up and down of the shade which left him utterly bewildered as to
what disposition he was supposed to make of the wobbly bit of
humanity pressed against his shirt front.
Reaching over his artificially curved figure to grasp a bit of
white that trailed below his coat, he looked up to see a passing
policeman eyeing him suspiciously.
"Taking the air?" asked the policeman.
"Ye-yes," mumbled Jimmy with affected nonchalence and he knocked
the heels of his boots together in order to keep his teeth from
chattering. "It's a fi-fine ni-night for air," he stuttered.
"Is it?" said the policeman, and to Jimmy's horror, he saw the
fellow's eyes fix themselves on the bit of white.
"Go-good-night," stammered Jimmy hurriedly, and trying to assume
an easy stride in spite of the uncomfortable addition to his
already rotund figure, he slipped into the hotel, where avoiding
the lighted elevator, he laboured quickly, up the stairs.
At the very moment when Zoie was driving Alfred in consternation
from the room, Jimmy entered it uninvited.
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"Get out," was the inhospitable greeting received simultaneously
from Zoie and Aggie, and without waiting for further instructions
he "got."
Fortunately for all concerned, Alfred, who was at the same moment
departing by way of the bedroom door, did not look behind him;
but it was some minutes before Aggie who had followed Jimmy into
the hall could persuade him to return.
After repeated and insistent signals both from Aggie and Zoie,
Jimmy's round red face appeared cautiously around the frame of
the door. It bore unmistakable indications of apoplexy. But the
eyes of the women were not upon Jimmy's face, they too had caught
sight of the bit of white that hung below his coat, and dragging
him quickly into the room and closing the door, Aggie proceeded
without inquiry or thanks to unbutton his coat and to take from
beneath it the small object for which she and Zoie had been
eagerly waiting.
"Thank Heaven!" sighed Zoie, as she saw Aggie bearing the latest
acquisition to Alfred's rapidly increasing family safely toward
the crib.
Suddenly remembering something in his right hand coat pocket, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]