VANDERLIP _(The sullenness returning into his face.)_ And you know how to make him uncomfortable. FREDA _(Smiling.)_ Think so? VANDERLIP You are, by long odds, the most brutal woman I ever met. FREDA _(Incredulously and innocently aghast.)_ I? VANDERLIP _(Harshly.)_ I wouldn't treat a dog the way you treated me. _(Growing angry.)_ You treated me like a cur, the way you lugged me away from the dance. FREDA Think so? VANDERLIP I'd sooner a man beat me with a club, than take what I took from you. It was just as much as if you took a club to me. You beat me into submission, in front of everybody, until I followed at your heels--that's what you did. FREDA _(With mock solemnity.)_ Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth. VANDERLIP But you are not the Lord. You are Freda--Freda _(Laughing and interrupting.)_ And whom Freda chasteneth-- VANDERLIP _(Interrupting.)_ She-- FREDA _(Interrupting.)_ Not at all. The Lord is the Lord, but Freda is only a woman.... _(A pause.)_ VANDERLIP _(Impatiently.)_ And? FREDA Her ways are different from the Lord's. _(She pulls her chair alongside of his, and rests one hand for a moment, caressingly, on his. Speaks softly.)_ And aren't you glad? _(The caress has its effect. He is soothed, and puffs away at cigar with half-closed eyes.)_ _(Freda, unobserved, throws a swift glance at clock, listens intently as for sounds from without of an approaching sled, and betrays to her audience her anxiety and restlessness.)_ _(Maid enters with two glasses on a tray. Freda, observed by Vanderlip, sips from one glass, nods head approvingly, and passes it to him. Takes other glass herself.)_ FREDA Minnie. Candles. _(Maid moves about room, putting out lamps and lighting candles, which latter, with tissue-paper shades, shed softer light.)_ _(Vanderlip suddenly recollects himself and draws watch. Freda tries to cover watch with hand, but jails. Vanderlip sees watch and starts to rise from chair. Freda half rises and presses him back.)_ VANDERLIP _(With note of real regret in his voice, glancing from cigar in one hand, and glass in other hand, to the stove, about the room, and then at Freda.)_ It's a darn shame to leave all this, but I've really got to, Freda. I don't think I was ever so comfortable in my life. FREDA _(Softly, almost whispering.)_ Then why leave it, Floyd? VANDERLIP I've got to hit the trail to-night, right away. And I've got to get my trail clothes. That bearskin overcoat's too warm. Can't travel in it. _(Starts to rise.)_ FREDA _(Pressing him back gently.)_ Wait a minute. Let me think. _(Thinks a moment. Her face brightens.)_ Ah, the very thing. Why not send my Indian for your things? He can bring them here. That will give you a few minutes more of the warm-- VANDERLIP _(Interrupting, putting his arm out and around her waist.)_ And of you, Freda.