"Upon what?"
"Whether you were worth knowing. I addressed other gentlemen in front of
your club. They politely said I had made a mistake."
"They were old or married."
"That wasn't it."
"Then they didn't see you in the light, as I did."
"What difference would that have made?"
"All the difference in the world. But you have tabooed flattery. I see
that I should have been a barber, a mild lunatic, or a detective."
"You would have been easier to dispose of."