"Air?" repeated Alfred in surprise. "He had air a while ago with my
son. He is going to stay here and tell me the news. Sit down, Jimmy,"
he commanded, and to the intense annoyance of Aggie and Zoie, Jimmy sank
resignedly on the couch.

Alfred was about to seat himself beside his friend, when the 'phone rang
violently. Being nearest to the instrument, Alfred reached it first and
Zoie and Aggie awaited the consequences in dread. What they heard did
not reassure them nor Jimmy.

"Still down there?" exclaimed Alfred into the 'phone.

Jimmy began to wriggle with a vague uneasiness.

"Well," continued Alfred at the 'phone, "that woman has the wrong
number." Then with a peremptory "Wait a minute," he turned to Zoie, "The
hall boy says that woman who called a while ago is still down stairs and
she won't go away until she has seen you, Zoie. She has some kind of an
idiotic idea that you know where her baby is."

"How absurd," sneered Zoie.

"How silly," added Aggie.

"How foolish," grunted Jimmy.

"Well," decided Alfred, "I'd better go down stairs and see what's
the matter with her," and he turned toward the door to carry out his
intention.

"Alfred!" called Zoie sharply. She was half out of bed in her anxiety.
"You'll do no such thing. 'Phone down to the boy to send her away. She's
crazy."

"Oh," said Alfred, "then she's been here before? Who is she?"

"Who is she?" answered Zoie, trying to gain time for a new inspiration.
"Why, she's--she's----" her face lit up with satisfaction--the idea had
arrived. "She's the nurse," she concluded emphatically.

"The nurse?" repeated Alfred, a bit confused.

"Yes," answered Zoie, pretending to be annoyed with his dull memory.
"She's the one I told you about, the one I had to discharge."

"Oh," said Alfred, with the relief of sudden comprehension; "the crazy
one?"

Aggie and Zoie nodded their heads and smiled at him tolerantly, then
Zoie continued to elaborate. "You see," she said, "the poor creature was
so insane about little Jimmy that I couldn't go near the child."

"What!" exclaimed Alfred in a mighty rage. "I'll soon tell the boy what
to do with her," he declared, and he rushed to the 'phone. Barely had
Alfred taken the receiver from the hook when the outer door was heard
to bang. Before he could speak a distracted young woman, whose excitable
manner bespoke her foreign origin, swept through the door without seeing
him and hurled herself at the unsuspecting Zoie