"I see you are an analyst of character."
"Rather more of a synthesist, I imagine. I collect what both enemies and friends say of an individual and then build his character from those materials."
"How horrible! I trust you will never try your method on me."
"I have done so already."
"You wretch! What do you mean?"
"I mean that I have heard considerable about you in New York, and that I dined with six men at the City Club this evening. You were the one person in Chicago I was most desirous of meeting, so I managed to collect some most useful materials from which I have built my estimate of your character."
"I must call that the boldest piece of assurance I ever heard of."
"Why any more so than for me to judge you by my own impressions? My method is more judicial. As in a court of law, I hear both sides of a case, and do not permit myself to be biased by personal charms."
"You are a clever pleader. I feel tempted to throw myself on the mercy of the court and receive its verdict."
"Before the verdict can be given the court must be cleared of reporters; as that seems impracticable, sentence must be deferred."