"Don't be silly."
"Is it a bargain? Will you take a three-hour period?"
"On your responsibility."
"Oh, no; it must be on yours, Jerry. If you don't do a whole-hearted job, I can't trust you. He is our baby, you know—not mine."
"All right," he sighed. "When do I begin?"
"To-morrow. Come up now, and the nurse and I will show you how to manage him. He almost never wakes up," she reassured him.
The next day they inaugurated the plan. Jane had an early breakfast, before Jerry was up, bathed and fed baby, and left him asleep on the balcony. Then she fled to her haven, worked until a few minutes before eleven, when she went back to the studio. From then until lunch time she could revise, or work over her first draft, but for the first process, she still had quiet and her own free soul.
The first few days the scheme worked beautifully. The fourth day, Jerry Jr. awoke at nine-thirty, and all efforts to induce him to sleep, on the part of his parent and Anna, were in vain. Jane found Jerry pushing the baby carriage up and down the studio furiously. He was hot, flushed, and mad.
"Oh, did he waken?"
"Did he? He's been acting like the devil for hours."