Paradox

I've never heard anything coming even close to it, yet Mr Pond seems to know:

"He knew enough about men to know that a man must have a friend, if possible a female friend, to talk to till all is blue."

And yet shortly before Mr Pond had declared in some length that women are notoriously bad listeners, meaning from a speech they will extract what they want to hear and forget about the rest. The one quality this friend to whom one talks to till all is blue should possess is being a good listener though - and especially in Captain Gahagan's case.

G K Chesterton 'The Paradoxes of Mr Pond' - 'The Crime of Captain Gahagan' - which turns out to be a pretty romantic one by the way.