EVER telling the TRUTH.” She walked away from Jimmy as though dismissing the entire matter; he shifted his position uneasily; she turned to him again with mock sweetness. “I suppose YOU told AGGIE all about it?” she said.
Jimmy's round eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped lower. “I—I—don't believe I did,” he stammered weakly. “I didn't think of it again.”
“Thank heaven for that!” concluded Zoie with tightly pressed lips. Then she knotted her small white brow in deep thought.
Jimmy regarded her with growing uneasiness. “What are you up to now?” he asked.
“I don't know yet,” mused Zoie, “BUT YOU'RE NOT GOING TO TELL AGGIE—that's ONE SURE thing.” And she pinned him down with her eyes.
“I certainly will tell her,” asserted Jimmy, with a wag of his very round head. “Aggie is just the one to get you out of this.”
“She's just the one to make things worse,” said Zoie decidedly. Then seeing Jimmy's hurt look, she continued apologetically: “Aggie MEANS all right, but she has an absolute mania for mixing up in other people's troubles. And you know how THAT always ends.”
“I never deceived my wife in all my life,” declared Jimmy, with an air of self approval that he was far from feeling.
“Now, Jimmy,” protested Zoie impatiently, “you aren't going to have moral hydrophobia just when I need your help!”
“I'm not going to lie to Aggie, if that's what you mean,” said Jimmy, endeavouring not to wriggle under Zoie's disapproving gaze.
“Then don't,” answered Zoie sweetly.
Jimmy never feared Zoie more than when she APPEARED to agree with him. He looked at her now with uneasy distrust.
“Tell her the truth,” urged Zoie.
“I will,” declared Jimmy with an emphatic nod.
“And I'LL DENY IT,” concluded Zoie with an impudent toss of her head.
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