"This stuff is all new to me," says Gladys, with a sigh, "but I guess I've got to do it!" She gazes at the ground and gets kinda red. "It was not your conversation that made the hit with me!" she winds up softly.
"I'm afraid I don't understand," pipes Senseless Joe.
"Heavens!" remarks Gladys. "There's enough concrete between your neck and your hat to build a bridge over the bay! I can safely say you're the first man I ever proposed to, but somebody's got to do it and I guess I'm the goat!"
"What!" screams Joe, comin' to life at last. "You--you--forgive--you--" The poor simp gets all excited and once again he can't talk and--I don't blame him. You never seen Gladys, and you don't know how she looked right then!
"Say!" says Gladys. "Am I bein' kidded or--"
Joe might have been a tramp as a movie lover, but take it from me, as the real thing he was no slouch! I hadda stand there and watch it, because I couldn't get past till they got away and if they'd ever seen me, I guess Joe would have bought a gun. Finally, they break, Gladys pushin' Joe away and holdin' him off.
"You've got to promise me you'll stop lyin' and four-flushin'!" she tells him. "Tell the truth and don't kid yourself that you'd have been President, if you hadn't been jobbed. That stuff is poor and will get you nowheres. Make good and you won't have to tell anybody about it--it'll be in the papers! As far as I can see, the best thing about you right now is ME! If you can't get over with _that_, I'll see that you do!"
"We'll get married to-night!" yelps Joe. "There's a minister in Film City and--"
"Don't crowd me!" interrupts Gladys, lettin' herself be kissed. "Do you promise?"
"Just what _are_ you supposed to do in this picture?" she asks him.
"Well," Gladys tells him, "you won't do it! I don't want no crippled bridegroom at my weddin'. Now listen to me! If you could _write_ that stuff you've been wastin' on the air around here, you ought to make a pretty good press agent. Mr. Potts, the man who owns the company and the fellow you or your father _never_ palled around with, has a man on his payroll named Struther. He's head of what they call the publicity department, it says so on ten of his cards I have. He once claimed he'd do anything for me in such a loud voice that the floorwalker had to speak to him. I'm goin' over to the office now and ask him to give you a job back in New York. To be perfectly truthful with you, that's what I came over here for to-day in the first place!"