"Try another seer--there is De Castro. Here is Mrs. MacBirney. Mrs. MacBirney," Kimberly moved so he could command Alice's attention, "Mrs. Nelson is trying to find out what a man likes in a woman. I haven't been able to tell her----"
"It isn't that at all," smiled Lottie, wearily. "Mr. Kimberly can tell. He won't."
Kimberly appealed to Alice. "It is a great mistake not to trust your oracle when he is doing his best--don't you think so, Mrs. MacBirney?"
"I suppose an oracle is consulted on his reputation--and it is on his reputation that his clients should rely," suggested Alice.
"Anyway," declared Lottie, rising, "I am going to try another."
Kimberly turned his chair as she walked away so that he could speak to Alice. "Giving advice is not my forte. Whenever I attempt it I disappoint somebody; and this time I had a difficult subject. Mrs. Nelson wants to know what men like in women. A much more interesting subject would be, what women like in men. I should suppose, in my blundering way, that sincerity would come before everything else, Mrs. MacBirney. What do you think?"
"Sincerity ought to be of value."
"But there is a great deal else, you imply."
"Necessarily, I should think."
"As, for instance?"