Page:The Plutocrat (1927).pdf/84

 "Now, Baby, now! You don't think your old daddy would"

"Go 'way from me!" the girl cried. "It's horrible. And didn't I tell you to stop calling me 'Baby'?"

"Now, Ba—I mean Libby—you oughtn't to get to feeling like this toward me. You know I only mean everything for just your own good, and I"

"Let Libby alone," his wife interrupted him sharply. "You know well enough how she feels toward you; and if you expect her to ever get over it, you'd better not keep trying to talk to her; I've told you often enough! I asked you where've you been all afternoon."

"Why, nowhere except right on this steamer, Mamma. I just been sitting around quietly enjoying myself."

"It smells like it!" she said grimly.

He seemed grieved by her distrust. "Mamma, I've been gettin' acquainted with some pretty big men."

"You have? Where'd you find 'em?"

"Why, Mamma, this vessel is full of 'em! It's chuck full of the biggest and finest men I almost ever saw in one body."