, little
worm," he stammered; "and see what we are now!" He thrust out his chest
and strutted about in great pride.

"Big red worms," admitted Jimmy gloomily.

But Alfred did not hear him. "You and I ought to have SONS on the way to
what we are," he declared, "and better."

"Oh yes, better," agreed Jimmy, thinking of his present plight. "Much
better."

"But HAVE we?" demanded Alfred.

Jimmy glanced about the room, as though expecting an answering
demonstration from the ceiling.

"Have YOU?" persisted Alfred.

Jimmy shook his head solemnly.

"Have _I_?" asked the irate husband.

Out of sheer absent mindedness Jimmy shrugged his shoulders.

As usual Alfred answered his own question. "Oh, no!" he raged. "YOU have
a wife who spends her time and money gadding about with----"

Jimmy's face showed a new alarm.

"--my wife," concluded Alfred.

Jimmy breathed a sigh of relief.

"I have a wife," said Alfred, "who spends her time and my money gadding
around with God knows whom. But I'll catch him!" he cried with new fury.
"Here," he said, pulling a roll of bills from his pocket. "I'll bet you
I'll catch him. How much do you want to bet?"

Undesirous of offering any added inducements toward his own capture,
Jimmy backed away both literally and figuratively from Alfred's
proposition.

"What's the use of getting so excited?" he asked.

Mistaking Jimmy's unwillingness to bet for a disinclination to take
advantage of a friend's reckless mood, Alfred resented the implied
insult to his astuteness.

"You think I can't catch him?" he exclaimed. "Let's see the colour of
your money," he demanded.

But before Jimmy could comply, an unexpected voice broke into the
argument and brought them both round with a start.

CHAPTER VII

"Good Heavens," exclaimed Aggie, who had entered the room while Alfred
was talking his loudest. "What a racket!"

Her eyes fell upon Jimmy who was teetering about uneasily just behind
Alfred. She stared at him in amazement. Was it possible that Jimmy, the
methodical, had left his office at this hour of the morning, and for
what?

Avoiding the question in Aggie's eyes, Jimmy pretended to be searching
for his pocket handkerchief--but always with the vision of Aggie in her
new Fall gown and her large "picture" hat at his elbow. Never before had
she appeared so beautiful to him, so desirable--suppose he should lose
her? Life spread before him as a dreary waste. He tried to look up at
her