nto 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, Jimmy
called to Aggie, who turned to him and waited expectantly. After
characteristic fumbling, he produced a well filled nursing bottle.

"What's that?" asked Zoie.

"For HER," grunted Jimmy, and he nodded toward the bundle in Aggie's
arms.

"HER!" cried Zoie and Aggie in chorus. Zoie shut her lips hard and gazed
at him with contempt.

"I might have known you'd get the wrong kind," she said.

What Jimmy thought about the ingratitude of woman was not to be
expressed in language. He controlled himself as well as he could and
merely LOOKED the things that he would like to have said.

"Well, it can't be helped now," decided the philosophic Aggie; "here,
Jimmy," she said, "you hold 'HER' a minute and I'll get you the other
one."

Placing the small creature in Jimmy's protesting arms, Aggie turned
toward the cradle to make the proposed exchange when she was startled by
the unexpected return of Alfred.

Thanks to the ample folds of Jimmy's ulster, he was able to effectually
conceal his charge and he started quickly toward the hall, but in making
the necessary detour around the couch he failed to reach the door before
Alfred, who had chosen a more direct way.

"Hold on, Jimmy," exclaimed Alfred good-naturedly, and he laid a
detaining hand on his friend's shoulder. "Where are you going?"

"I'll be back," stammered Jimmy weakly, edging his way toward the door,
and contriving to keep his back toward Alfred.

"Wait a minute," said Alfred jovially, as he let his hand slip onto
Jimmy's arm, "you haven't told me the news yet."

"I'll tell you later," mumbled Jimmy, still trying to escape. But
Alfred's eye had fallen upon a bit of white flannel dangling below
the bottom of Jimmy's ulster, it travelled upward to Jimmy's unusually
rotund figure.

"What have you got there?" he demanded to know, as he pointed toward the
centre button of Jimmy's overcoat.

"Here?" echoed Jimmy vapidly, glancing at the button in question, "why,
that's just a little----" There was a faint wail from the depths of
the ulster. Jimmy began to caper abou