He tried to look up at her; he could not. He
feared she would read his guilt in his eyes. "What guilt?" he
asked himself. There was no longer any denying the fact--a
secret had sprung up between them.
Annoyed at receiving no greeting, Aggie continued in a rather
hurt voice:
"Aren't you two going to speak to me?"
Alfred swallowed hard in an effort to regain his composure.
"Good-morning," he said curtly.
Fully convinced of a disagreement between the two old friends,
Aggie addressed herself in a reproachful tone to Jimmy.
"My dear," she said, "what are you doing here this time of day?"
Jimmy felt Alfred's steely eyes upon him. "Why!" he stammered.
"Why, I just came over to--bring your message."
"My message?" repeated Aggie in perplexity. "What message?"
Alfred's eyebrows drew themselves sharply together.
Jimmy had told so many lies this morning that another more or
less could not matter; moreover, this was not a time to hesitate.
"Why, the message you sent to Zoie," he answered boldly.
"But I sent no message to Zoie," said Aggie.
"What!" thundered Alfred, so loud that Aggie's fingers
involuntarily went to her ears. She was more and more puzzled by
the odd behaviour of the two.
"I mean yesterday's message," corrected Jimmy. And he assumed an
aggrieved air toward Aggie.
"You villain," exclaimed Aggie.
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