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"Bah!" his mother said, then she moved her eyes sharply straight ahead at Millie. "That'n now. She'll never get a real man-ain't built for it."

Millie stood up straight and put her hands on her hips.

"I don't know," she said. She moved to the side so her mother could see her and pulled her long skirt up nearly to her knees. "If skirts were this short, I'd be beating them off."

"Humph! All baseball players, too."

"Millie dropped her skirt and glared at her mother. She didn't say anything, and the room suddenly was very quiet.

"Baseball players?" Buck's quick words cut deliberately into the quiet. Millie nodded and her hands went back to her hips.

"What of it?" She looked back at her mother defiantly. Lota cleared her throat to speak, but Buck squeezed her hand and stopped her.

"I never could understand," he said, thoughtfully, "how come you girls don't marry better. You're all right pretty, and I never saw either one of you with a dirty neck."

"Now, you just wait." Millie said her words slowly with a space between each. Her head went from side to side as she spoke. "As long as you've been living in Aven and running around with senators and bankers and really big men, you've never introduced either of us to a man." She stopped abruptly and clenched her teeth. "Why?"

Buck didn't answer, but he felt a flush coming up his face. He let her eyes hold his for a moment, the shifted them uneasily to his mother.

"Think that over," Millie said distinctly, and turned quickly and walked out, closing the door softly behind her.

The silence was heavy until Jeanie Bannon said, "Whew, boy, she laid it on heavy , didn't she?"