"Kitty," said Cutty, his fine eyes sparkling, "I shan't have to
watch over you so much as I thought. On the other hand, you have
described me to a dot."

"Quite possibly. Vanity has its uses. It keeps us in contact with
bathtubs and nice clothes. I imagine that you would make both
husband and comrade; or you would have, twenty years ago" - without
intentional cruelty. Wasn't Cutty fifty-two?

"Kitty, you've touched a vital point. It took those twenty years
to make me companionable. Experience is something we must buy; it
isn't left in somebody's will. Let us say that I possess all the
necessary attributes save one."

"And what is that?"

"Youth, Kitty. And take the word of a senile old dotard, your young
man, when you find him, will lack many of the attributes you require.
On the other hand, there is always the possibility that these will
develop as you jog along. The terrible pity of youth is that it has
the habit of conferring these attributes rather than finding them.
You put garlands on the heads of snow images, and the first glare of
sunshine - pouf!"

"Cutty, I'm beginning to like you immensely" - smiling. "Perhaps
women ought to have two husbands - one young and handsome and the
other old and wise like yourself."

Cutty wished he were alone in order to analyze the stab. Old! When