Mr. Petersen came home one day at noon, and found no trace of lunch. Addie was not in the kitchen, nor Minnie. The latter he could always trace by means of his son’s voice, and he went up to the bedroom, to find her lying on the bed, exhausted, sobbing, while Addie bathed her forehead with cold water while she dandled the baby.
“Well, well!” he asked. “What’s wrong now?”
“He will enlist!” cried Minnie wildly. “You’ve got to stop him! I won’t have it. I’ll die!”
“Pshaw!” said Mr. Petersen mildly. “This won’t do!”
He was a little annoyed.
“You must let a man do as he thinks right,” he said.
“Right!” cried Minnie. “He’s not thinking of that! He wants to get away—— He’s made up his mind to get away from me!”
“Come, come! This isn’t very sensible, my dear!”
“Neither are you!” she answered, unexpectedly. “You’re the biggest fool in the world, Christian Petersen!” And began to laugh.
In the course of time she was calmed, and Mr. Petersen went downstairs to look for a bite to eat. He discovered Alec in the kitchen with Sandra, boiling eggs.