rety; then he and the Italian
woman made for the door with their babes pressed close to their hearts.

"Wait a minute," cried Alfred. "I want an understanding."

O'Flarety turned in the doorway and raised a warning fist.

"If you don't leave my kids alone, you'll GIT 'an understanding.'"

"Me too," added the mother.

"On your way," commanded the officer to the pair of them, and together
with Maggie and the officer, they disappeared forever from the Hardy
household.

Alfred gazed about the room. "My God!" he exclaimed; then he turned to
Jimmy who was still in the custody of the second officer: "If I'm not a
father, what am I?"

"I'd hate to tell you," was Jimmy's unsympathetic reply, and in utter
dejection Alfred sank on the foot of the bed and buried his head in his
hands.

"What shall I do with this one, sir?" asked the officer, undecided as to
Jimmy's exact standing in the household.

"Shoot him, for all I care," groaned Alfred, and he rocked to and fro.

"How ungrateful!" exclaimed Aggie, then she signalled to the officer to
go.

"No more of your funny business," said the officer with a parting nod at
Jimmy and a vindictive light in his eyes when he remembered the bruises
that Jimmy had left on his shins.

"Oh, Jimmy!" said Aggie sympathetically, and she pressed her hot face
against his round apoplectic cheek. "You poor dear! And after all you
have done for us!"

"Yes," sneered Zoie, having regained sufficient strength to stagger to
her feet, "he's done a lot, hasn't he?" And then forgetting that her
original adventure with Jimmy which had brought about such disastrous
results was still unknown to Aggie and Alfred, she concluded bitterly,
"All this would never have happened, if it hadn't been for Jimmy and his
horrid old luncheon."

Jimmy was startled. This was too much, and just as he had seemed to be
well out of complications for the remainder of his no doubt short life.
He turned to bolt for the door but Aggie's eyes were upon him.

"Luncheon?" exclaimed Aggie and she regarded him with a puzzled frown.

Zoie's hand was already over her lips, but too late.

Recovering from his somewhat bewildering sense of loss, Alfred, too, was
now beginning to sit up and take notice.

"What luncheon?" he demanded.

Zoie gazed from Alfred to Aggie, then at Jimmy, then resolving to make
a clean breast of the matter, she sidled toward Alfred with her most
ingratiating manner.

"Now, Alfred," she purred, as