VANDERLIP
(Hastily.)
I don't know what to say. Nothing I'd like better, Freda. You know that well enough.
(He presses her hand, and she nods.)
But you see I'm—
(Blurting it out.)
—I'm engaged. Of course you know that. Everybody knows it. The girl's coming in over the ice to marry me.
(Meditatively.)
Don't know what was up with me when I asked her, but it was a long while back, and I was all-fired young.