ted so long before I brought her case to
you. I was afraid you were going to place too much emphasis on the
sexual aspects which, of course, by your standards are abnormal. It has
really nothing to do with the problem, and I wish you'd forget about it,
but I suppose you can't. To you, her sexual instincts will be normal and
it will be _mine_ which will appear abnormal, whereas in reality, of
course, it's the other way around. You'll never cure her, I can see that
now. But then, you don't have to really _cure_ her. If you can just get
her to admit the truth for just a moment or two, just temporarily, I can
get her back to some really competent men. No reflection on your ability
meant, you know. I realize you're the best available in this age,
naturally."

"Naturally."

"But you can't know that, can you? Well, take my word for it, you are.
So suppose you start acting like it and get to work on her, eh? Could it
be Gilui? No."

Dr. Quink bent over and tied his shoelace once or twice before he
replied. He would have to talk to Mrs. Fairfield in private, of course,
Mr. Fairfield could understand that, of course, it was not that Dr.
Quink did not want Mr. Fairfield around when the discussion took place
but simply that one could not achieve rapport without absolute
confidence and, of course, privacy.

"Of course," Mr. Fairfield agreed. "I'll go up and shower now, perhaps
I'll take a bit of a nap before dinner. I'd like to avoid that horrible
liquid she was stirring up when we came in anyhow. Somewhere she's
picked up the idea that one should offer those things to dinner guests,
and I can't stand them. Will you want a pen and some notepaper?"

When he had left the room to tread up the stairs one at a time, leaning
heavily on the cast-iron bannister but making no sound on the
wall-to-wall carpeting, Dr. Quink leaned back and had barely time to
pass his hand wearily over his eyes in a circular motion that he found
soothing when Mrs. Fairfield entered from behind a swinging door bearing
a small circular tray on which were balanced the aforementioned martini
pitcher and two high-stemmed glasses, properly frosted and rounded with
lemon.

"Has he left already?" she asked. "Well, shall we get right down to
business? You call me Mimi and I'll call you Victor. What did you think
of his story? Pretty wild, isn't it? But he's harmless, I'm sure. I'm
not in the least bit afraid of him. Do you think I should be?"

* *