"Would it make any difference to you if I took my time off from eight to
eleven, after baby's early feeding, and would you sort of look after
him, if he should wake up before I get back?"

He stared at her.

"You mean you intend to turn out to walk or shop or whatever you do, at
eight in the morning?"

"Yes. I have to get up early on baby's account anyway."

"But, Jane, I don't know anything about kids. If he cried, I wouldn't
know what to do."

"I could show you. It is my job the rest of the twenty-four hours, you
know."

"I suppose it's only fair, but...."

"I think you ought to learn what to do for him, just as I did. I might
die or get hurt."

"Don't be silly."

"Is it a bargain? Will you take a three-hour period?"

"On your responsibility."

"Oh, no; it must be on yours, Jerry. If you don't do a whole-hearted
job, I can't trust you. He is our baby, you know--not mine."

"All right," he sighed. "When do I begin?"

"To-morrow. Come up now, and the nurse and I will show you how to manage
him. He almost never wakes up," she reassured him.

The next day they inaugurated the plan. Jane had an early breakfast,
before Jerry was up, bathed and fed baby, and left him asleep on the
balcony. Then she fled to her haven, worked until a few minutes before
eleven, when she went back to the studio. From then until lunch time she
could revise, or work over her first draft, but for the first process,
she still had quiet and her own free soul.

The first few days the scheme worked beautifully. The fourth day, Jerry
Jr. awoke at nine-thirty, and all efforts to induce him to sleep, on the
part of his parent and Anna, were in vain. Jane found Jerry pushing the
baby carriage up and down the studio furiously. He was hot, flushed, and
mad.

"Oh, did he waken?"

"Did he? He's been acting like the devil for hours."

"That's too bad."

"Where do you go for all these hours, Jane? You can't walk all this
time."

"Have I ever asked what you do with your time, Jerry?"

"I don't expect you to do my work."

"Do you feel that you are doing my work when you share the care of our
baby for three hours a day?"

"It's no man's work, pushing a baby carriage."

"If you feel demeaned by looking after our son, I shall certainly not
ask your help again."

"It's no fun, trying to keep him quiet."

"No. I've discovered that."

She took their protesting offspring upstairs without more words. But the
next day she did not go to