"Take me to him," she demanded; "take me to
him."
Jimmy rolled his large eyes first toward Aggie, then toward Zoie
and at last toward Alfred. There was no mercy to be found
anywhere.
"Take her to him, Jimmy," commanded a concert of voices; and
pursued by a bundle of waving colours and a medley of discordant
sounds, Jimmy shot from the room.
CHAPTER XXIV
The departure of Jimmy and the crazed mother was the occasion for
a general relaxing among the remaining occupants of the room.
Exhausted by what had passed Zoie had ceased to interest herself
in the future. It was enough for the present that she could sink
back upon her pillows and draw a long breath without an evil face
bending over her, and without the air being rent by screams.
As for Aggie, she fell back upon the window seat and closed her
eyes. The horrors into which Jimmy might be rushing had not yet
presented themselves to her imagination.
Of the three, Alfred was the only one who had apparently received
exhilaration from the encounter. He was strutting about the room
with the babe in his arms, undoubtedly enjoying the sensations of
a hero. When he could sufficiently control his feeling of
elation, he looked down at the small person with an air of
condescension and again lent himself to the garbled sort of
language with which defenceless infants are inevitably
persecuted.
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