FREDA

(Interrupting.)

Won't you let go of me and sit down?

VANDERLIP

(Ignoring her.)

Why do they take advantage of me?

(Freda shrugs her shoulders.)

Because I am a fool. Because I am playing their game and don't know how to play it. They know how to play it. They ought to know—it is their game. A man's a fool to buck another man's game. The percentage is all in favor of the house. And a man is a bigger fool to buck a woman's game. And I've been dead soft and easy. I know it. I've played your game and you've tied knots in me...

(He pauses, as though debating the next thing to say.)

FREDA