"It's like Archie has to do it, like he can't stop himself--it's one way to get reactions from Wolfe, in particular certain *kinds* of reactions, and on a certain emotional and even erotic level..."

>> I totally agree with this; I'd never thought of it this way before! Archie really puts a huge amount of his 'mental focus' on Wolfe; except for dates, dancing, movies and ballgames he seems otherwise fixated on Wolfe and conversing with him, and getting reactions.