He reached for his hat and tiptoed gingerly
toward the door, but just as he was congratulating himself upon
his decision, Alfred called to him with a mysterious air.
"Jimmy," he said, "just a minute," and he nodded for Jimmy to
approach.
It must have been Jimmy's guilty conscience that made him
powerless to disobey Alfred's every command. Anyway, he slunk
back to the fond parent's side, where he ultimately allowed
himself to be inveigled into swinging his new watch before the
unattentive eyes of the red-faced babes on Alfred's knees.
"Lower, Jimmy, lower," called Alfred as Jimmy absent-mindedly
allowed the watch to swing out of the prescribed orbit. "Look at
the darlings, Jimmy, look at them," he exclaimed as he gazed at
the small creatures admiringly.
"Yes, look at them, Jimmy," repeated Zoie, and she glared at
Jimmy behind Alfred's back.
"Don't you wish you had one of them, Jimmy?' " asked Alfred.
"Well, _I_ wish he had," commented Zoie, and she wondered how she
was ever again to detach either of them from Alfred's breast.
Before she could form any plan, the telephone rang loud and
persistently. Jimmy glanced anxiously toward the women for
instructions.
"I'll answer it," said Aggie with suspicious alacrity, and she
crossed quickly toward the 'phone. The scattered bits of
conversation that Zoie was able to gather from Aggie's end of the
wire did not tend to soothe her over-excited nerves.
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