Baby Mine Part 11

she asked.

"That's the LATEST," sniffled Zoie, in a heap at Aggie's feet. And then she continued in a much aggrieved tone, "You know he's ALWAYS rowing because we haven't as many babies as the cook has cats."

"Well, why don't you get him a baby?" asked the practical, far-seeing Aggie.

"It's too late NOW," moaned Zoie.

"Not at all," rea.s.sured Aggie. "It's the very thing that would bring him back."

"How COULD I get one?" questioned Zoie, and she looked up at Aggie with round astonished eyes.

"Adopt it," answered Aggie decisively.

Zoie regarded her friend with mingled disgust and disappointment. "No,"

she said with a sigh and a shake of her head, "that wouldn't do any good. Alfred's so fussy. He always wants his OWN things around."

"He needn't know," declared Aggie boldly.

"What do you mean?" whispered Zoie.

Drawing herself up with an air of great importance, and regarding the wondering young person at her knee with smiling condescension, Aggie prepared to make a most interesting disclosure.

"There was a long article in the paper only this morning," she told Zoie, "saying that three thousand husbands in this VERY CITY are fondling babies not their own."

Zoie turned her small head to one side, the better to study Aggie's face. It was apparent to the latter that she must be much more explicit.

"Babies adopted in their absence," explained Aggie, "while they were on trips around the country."

A dangerous light began to glitter in Zoie's eyes.

"Aggie!" she cried, bringing her small hands together excitedly, "do you think I COULD?"

"Why not?" asked Aggie, with a very superior air. Zoie's enthusiasm was increasing her friend's admiration of her own scheme. "This same paper tells of a woman who adopted three sons while her husband was in Europe, and he thinks each one of them is his."

"Where can we get some?" cried Zoie, now thoroughly enamoured of the idea.

"You can always get TONS of them at the Children's Home," answered Aggie confidently.

"I can't endure babies," declared Zoie, "but I'd do ANYTHING to get Alfred back. Can we get one TO-DAY?" she asked.

Aggie looked at her small friend with positive pity. "You don't WANT one TO-DAY," she explained.

Zoie rolled her large eyes inquiringly.

"If you were to get one to-day," continued Aggie, "Alfred would know it wasn't yours, wouldn't he?"

A light of understanding began to show on Zoie's small features.

"There was none when he left this morning," added Aggie.

"That's true," acquiesced Zoie.

"You must wait awhile," counselled Aggie, "and then get a perfectly new one."

But Zoie had never been taught to wait.

"Now Aggie----" she began.

Aggie continued without heeding her.

"After a few months," she explained, "when Alfred's temper has had time to cool, we'll get Jimmy to send him a wire that he has an heir."

"A few months!" exclaimed Zoie, as though Aggie had suggested an eternity. "I've never been away from Alfred that long in all my life."

Aggie was visibly annoyed. "Well, of course," she said coldly, as she rose to go, "if you can get Alfred back WITHOUT that----"

"But I can't!" cried Zoie, and she clung to her friend as to her last remaining hope.

"Then," answered Aggie, somewhat mollified by Zoie's complete submission. "THIS is the only way. The President of the Children's Home is a great friend of Jimmy's," she said proudly.

It was at this point that Zoie made her first practical suggestion.

"Then we'll LET JIMMY GET IT," she declared.

"Of course," agreed Aggie enthusiastically, as though they would be according the poor soul a rare privilege. "Jimmy gives a hundred dollars to the Home every Christmas,"--additional proof why he should be selected for this very important office.

"Good Heavens!" exclaimed Zoie with shocked surprise. "If Alfred were to give a hundred dollars to a Baby's Home, I should suspect him."

"Don't be silly!" snapped Aggie curtly. In spite of her firm faith in Jimmy's innocence, she was undoubtedly annoyed by Zoie's unpleasant suggestion.

There was an instant's pause, then putting disagreeable thoughts from her mind, Aggie turned to Zoie with renewed enthusiasm.

"We must get down to business," she said, "we'll begin on the baby's outfit at once."

"Its what?" queried Zoie.

"Its clothes," explained Aggie.

"Oh, what fun!" exclaimed Zoie, and she clapped her hands merrily like a very small child. A moment later she stopped with sudden misgiving.

"But, Aggie," she said fearfully, "suppose Alfred shouldn't come back after I've got the baby? I'd be a widow with a child."

"Oh, he's sure to come back!" answered Aggie, with a confident air.

"He'll take the first train, home."

"I believe he will," a.s.sented Zoie joyfully. All her clouds were again dispelled. "Aggie," she cried impulsively, "you are a darling. You have just saved my life." And she clasped her arms so tightly around Aggie's neck that her friend was in danger of being suffocated.

Releasing herself Aggie continued with a ruffled collar and raised vanity: "You can write him an insinuating letter now and then, just to lead up to the good news gradually."

Zoie tipped her small head to one side and studied her friend thoughtfully. "Do you know, Aggie," she said, with frank admiration, "I believe you are a better liar than I am."