"She shan't go,--so she shouldn't!" Patty crooned, as she held her child closer in her sheltering arms.
"No; and that's what I told Mr. Merritt," went on Azalea. "But he is tricky, and I felt pretty sure he'd try underhand means to get the baby. I've kept watch night and day, and I've always been certain that Fleurette was either in Winnie's care or Patty's. Patty wouldn't trust her with _me_ any more."
Azalea spoke the last words wistfully, with a penitent look in her brown eyes.
"Small wonder!" cried Elise, who was listening interestedly. "After you took that blessed child to--"
"There, there, Elise," Farnsworth interrupted, "we _do_ trust Azalea. Let her finish her story."
Azalea gave him a grateful look and went on.
"When I went away from the house to-day, Patty was at home, so, though I knew it was Winnie's day off, I felt all right about Baby. Then,--while we were out walking, I saw Winnie go by,--and soon after I felt a--a sort of presentiment that I _must_ go home. I couldn't tell why,--only I felt I must come back to the house at once. So I did,--and everything seemed to be all right. I decided I had been foolishly nervous about it,--and I took Fleurette down on the porch for a little while.
"Then that man came and demanded her! I was alone, except for Janet,--who is no good in an emergency,--and Mr. Merritt was very determined. If I hadn't thought of the phonograph I don't know what I should have done, for that man is quite capable of taking Baby away from my arms by main force. But I happened to think I could fool him,--as I couldn't combat him,--so I put on the crying record to make him think we were still in the library,--and I scooted over to Gales' with the baby as fast as I could run. Then I came back--"
"Weren't you afraid of him?" asked Patty, shuddering at the thought of Azalea at the mercy of the infuriated man.
"No; I know him, and he isn't a brute or a ruffian. He was just bent on getting Fleurette for that picture,--it would take only a few minutes,--and I was just as bent that he shouldn't.
"So, when he found I had outwitted him, he accepted the situation,--why, he even wanted to take _my_ picture in my angry mood! He is a man who thinks of nothing but a good pose for his pictures."