"THERE," said the bachelor as he bowed to a little man across the room, "sits the eighth wonder of the world—a man with a squint and a cork leg and no income to speak of, who has just married for the third time. What makes us so fascinating?"
The widow laid down her oyster fork and gazed thoughtfully at the beautiful girl in blue chiffon sitting opposite the man with the squint.
"Don't generalize," she said, turning rebukingly to the bachelor. "You mean what makes the little man so fascinating?"
The bachelor jabbed an oyster viciously.
"Well," he grumbled, "what does make him so fascinating? Is it the squint or the cork——"
The widow looked at him reproachfully.
"Don't be envious," she said. "He might have two squints and yet be successful with women. Haven't you ever seen a runty, plain little man before, with nothing on earth, apparently, to recommend him except his sex, who could draw the women as a magnet does needles?"
The bachelor dropped his oyster and stared at the widow.
"It's hypnotism!" he declared with solemn conviction.
The widow laughed.