human
You ought to know, she heard Kimberly answer.
gpt
You have been very successful in pleasing them.
human
And failed where I have most wanted to succeed. Oh, no. I am asking you. What _do_ they like?
gpt
I can’t tell you. To me, of course, few men seem worth pleasing.
human
What should you do to please a man, if you were a woman?
gpt
Nonsense.
human
I’m asking purely out of curiosity, persisted Lottie.
gpt
I have failed. I realize it and I shall never try again. But at the end--I’d like to know.
human
You probably would not agree with me, answered Kimberly after a silence,
gpt
What is his highest nature?
human
Whatever his best instincts are,
gpt
And then?
human
That’s all.
gpt
Oh, nonsense!
human
No, it isn’t nonsense. Only I am not good at analyzing. If I once caught a man in that way I should know I had him fast forever. There is absolutely no use in flinging your mere temptations at him. Keep those quietly in the background. He will go after them fast enough when you have made sure of him on the higher plane. If you are compelled to display your temptations at the start, the case is hopeless. You have surrendered your advantage of the high appeal. Trust him to think about the other side of it, Lottie. You can’t suggest to him anything he doesn’t know, and perhaps--I’m not sure--he prefers to turn to that side when he thinks you are not looking. The difficulty is, he concluded, speaking slowly,
gpt
It must be something even to have him on the hook for a while, Robert.
human
But you don’t agree with me.
gpt
No.
human
No doubt, I’m wrong. And it isn’t, I suppose, of much consequence whether the men stay caught or not. I look at it, probably, with a business instinct. When I do anything, I want it to stay done forever. When I make a deal or fasten a point I want it to stay fastened for all time. That is my nature. Now, that may not be a woman’s nature. You shouldn’t have asked me, don’t you see, because we ’begin’ differently.
gpt
I fancy that’s it, Robert. We ’begin’ differently.
human
Try another seer--there is De Castro. Here is Mrs. MacBirney. Mrs. MacBirney, Kimberly moved so he could command Alice’s attention,
gpt
Mrs. Nelson is trying to find out what a man likes in a woman. I haven’t been able to tell her----
human
It isn’t that at all, smiled Lottie, wearily.
gpt
Mr. Kimberly can tell. He won’t.
human
It is a great mistake not to trust your oracle when he is doing his best--don’t you think so, Mrs. MacBirney?
gpt
I suppose an oracle is consulted on his reputation--and it is on his reputation that his clients should rely,
human
Anyway, declared Lottie, rising,
gpt
I am going to try another.
human
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?
gpt
Sincerity ought to be of value.
human
But there is a great deal else, you imply.
gpt
Necessarily, I should think.
human
As, for instance?
gpt
Unselfishness among other things,
human
I don’t know about unselfishness. I have my doubts about unselfishness. Are you sure?
gpt
Most ideals include it, I believe.
human
I don’t know that I have any ideals--abstract ideals, that is. Though I once took quite an interest in the Catholic Church.
gpt
An academic interest.
human
No, no; a real and concrete interest. I admire it greatly. I tried once to look into its claims. What in part discouraged me was the unpleasant things Catholics themselves told me about their church.
gpt
They must have been bad Catholics.
human
I don’t know enough about them to discriminate between the good and the bad. What, by the way, he asked bluntly,
gpt
I am a bad one, I am ashamed to say.
human
Then these I speak of must have been good ones, he remarked at once,
gpt
There are varying degrees even of badness, she returned steadily.
human
I hope I shall never fall low enough to speak slightingly of my faith.
gpt
I don’t understand, he persisted, musing,
human
Suppose you become one.
gpt
I may sometime. To be perfectly frank, what I found most lacking when I looked into the question was some sufficient inducement. Of what use? I asked myself. If by following Christianity and its precepts a man could make himself anything more than he is--prolong his years, or recall his youth. If he could achieve the Titanic, raise himself to the power of a demigod! Kimberly’s eyes shone wide at the thought, then they closed to a contrasting torpor.
human
Will religion do this for any one? I think not. But fancy what that would mean; never to grow old, never to fall ill, never to long for without possessing!
gpt
A man that follows the dreams of religion, he resumed but with lessening assurance, for Alice maintained a silence almost contemptuous and he began to feel it,
human
Some men, of course, she suggested with scant patience,
gpt
I don’t like that phrase, ’the average mortal.’ It has a villainously hackneyed sound, don’t you think? No, for my part I should be willing to let everybody in on the greater, the splendid dispensation.
human
You might be sorry if you did.
gpt
You mean, there are men that should die--some that should die early?
human
There are many reasons why it might not work.
gpt
That is true--it might not work, if universally applied. It would do better restricted to a few of us. But no matter; since we can’t have it at all, we must do the best we can. And the way to beat the game as it must be played in this world at present, he continued with contained energy,
human
I have asked you not to call me Alice.
gpt
But wish me the success, won’t you? It’s awfully up-hill work fighting alone. Two together can do so much better. With two the power is raised almost to the infinite. Together we could be gods--or at least make the gods envy us.