"Alfred!" called Zoie sharply. She was half out of bed in her anxiety.
"You'll do no such thing. 'Phone down to the boy to send her away. She's
crazy."
"Oh," said Alfred, "then she's been here before? Who is she?"
"Who is she?" answered Zoie, trying to gain time for a new inspiration.
"Why, she's--she's----" her face lit up with satisfaction--the idea had
arrived. "She's the nurse," she concluded emphatically.
"The nurse?" repeated Alfred, a bit confused.
"Yes," answered Zoie, pretending to be annoyed with his dull memory.
"She's the one I told you about, the one I had to discharge."
"Oh," said Alfred, with the relief of sudden comprehension; "the crazy
one?"
Aggie and Zoie nodded their heads and smiled at him tolerantly, then
Zoie continued to elaborate. "You see," she said, "the poor creature was
so insane about little Jimmy that I couldn't go near the child."
"What!" exclaimed Alfred in a mighty rage. "I'll soon tell the boy what
to do with her," he declared, and he rushed to the 'phone. Barely had
Alfred taken the receiver from the hook when the outer door was heard
to bang. Before he could speak a distracted young woman, whose excitable
manner bespoke her foreign origin, swept through the door without seeing
him and hurled herself at the unsuspecting Zoie. The woman's black hair
was dishevelled, and her large shawl had fallen from her shoulders. To
Jimmy, who was crouching behind an armchair, she seemed a giantess.
"My baby!" cried the frenzied mother, with what was unmistakably an
Italian accent. "Where is he?" There was no answer; her eyes sought
the cradle. "Ah!" she shrieked, then upon finding the cradle empty, she
redoubled her lamentations and again she bore down upon the terrified
Zoie.
"You," she cried, "you know where my baby is!"
For answer, Zoie sank back amongst her pillows and drew the bed covers
completely over her head. Alfred approached the bed to protect his young
wife; the Italian woman wheeled about and perceived a small child in his
arms. She threw herself upon him.
"I knew it," she cried; "I knew it!"
Managing to disengage himself from what he considered a mad woman, and
elevating one elbow between her and the child, Alfred prevented the
mother from snatching the small creature from his arms.
"Calm yourself, madam," he commanded with a superior air. "We are very
sorry for you, of course, but we can't have you coming here and going on
like this. He's OUR baby and----"