."

"But where can we GET another?" asked Zoie.

Before Aggie could answer, Alfred was again heard calling from the next
room. Apparently all his anger had subsided, for he inquired in the most
amiable tone as to what baby might be doing and how he might be feeling.
Aggie crossed quickly to the door, and sweetly reassured the anxious
father, then she closed the door softly and turned to Zoie and Jimmy
with a new inspiration lighting her face. "I have it," she exclaimed
ecstatically.

Jimmy regarded his spouse with grave suspicion.

"Now see here," he objected, "every time YOU 'HAVE IT,' I DO IT. The
NEXT time you 'HAVE IT' YOU DO IT!"

The emphasis with which Jimmy made his declaration deserved
consideration, but to his amazement it was entirely ignored by both
women. Hopping quickly out of bed, without even glancing in his
direction, Zoie gave her entire attention to Aggie. "What is it?" she
asked eagerly.

"There must be OTHER babies' Homes," said Aggie, and she glanced at
Jimmy from her superior height.

"They aren't open all night like corner drug stores," growled Jimmy.

"Well, they ought to be," decided Zoie.

"And surely," argued Aggie, "in an extraordinary case--like----"

"This was an 'extraordinary case,'" declared Jimmy, "and you saw what
happened this time, and the Superintendent is a friend of mine--at least
he WAS a friend of mine." And with that Jimmy sat himself down on the
far corner of the couch and proceeded to ruminate on the havoc that
these two women had wrought in his once tranquil life.

Zoie gazed at Jimmy in deep disgust; her friend Aggie had made an
excellent suggestion, and instead of acting upon it with alacrity, here
sat Jimmy sulking like a stubborn child.

"I suppose," said Zoie, as her eyebrows assumed a bored angle, "there
are SOME babies in the world outside of Children's Homes."

"Of course," was Aggie's enthusiastic rejoinder; "there's one born every
minute."

"But I was born BETWEEN minutes," protested Jimmy.

"Who's talking about you?" snapped Zoie.

Again Aggie exclaimed that she "had it."

"She's got it twice as bad," groaned Jimmy, and he wondered what new
form her persecution of him was about to take.

"Where is the morning paper?" asked Aggie, excitedly.

"We can't advertise NOW," protested Zoie. "It's too late for that."

"Sh! Sh!" answered Aggie, as she snatched the paper quickly from
the table and began running her eyes up and down its third page.