"Maybe she isn't!"
"Maybe she'd like to be."
"No accounting for taste."
Ava turned upon her escort coldly. "You haven't any taste. How would
you recognize it?"
The Venusian girl knew the situation all too well; she had been looking
out for herself for a number of years, and this project included making
the best of an opportunity. Her hand strayed behind Maculay.
Then the peacemakers saw something that they were entirely unprepared
to stop. Ava Longacre took Maculay by one hand and half-hurled him
away from the table, unbalancing him across one hip. Cliff staggered
forward--to be caught and supported by his possible assailant. But in
the meantime Ava had gone to the edge of the table and had taken the
Venusian girl by one wrist. She turned, ducked under the arm, and came
up behind in a hammer-lock.
Chips from Maculay's stack dribbled out of the tortured fingers of the
Venusian. Ava turned with the girl and hurled her forward into the
still-unbalanced men.
The Venusian screamed in anger.
Ava's former escort caught her and kept her from falling, and in doing
so he let Maculay slip to one knee.