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I’ll put you in a cab later. It’s only nine-thirty.”
    â€œAnd you’re not bored with me, Ike? We’ve been together all day.”
    â€œI’m not bored. Are you?”
    â€œNo, it’s been a good day for me, the best. And you must call me Liz. Everyone does.”
    We took a cab to my apartment, and I busied myself with building a fire, while Elizabeth fixed herself at the dining-room window, overlooking the river. “I can’t get enough of it. It’s a whole other thing at night.”
    â€œYes, it changes. It always changes.”
    â€œIf I lived here, I’d spend my life at this window.”
    â€œOh, Liz, I don’t think so. You’d get used to it.”
    â€œNo—how could I?” She came into the living room now and stood in front of the fire. “I wouldn’t get used to this either, Ike.” The big couch faced the fire, and she dropped onto it, stretching her legs.
    â€œThis looks like a dream,” she said, “sitting here in the center of New York, in front of a fireplace, with that wonderful river out there—when did you find me on the bridge? Was it a whole lifetime ago?”
    â€œFriday night—an old Jew driving home from a coffee klatch.”
    â€œWhy do you keep referring to yourself as an old man?”
    â€œBecause I’m an old man. Seventy-nine come December, old enough to be your grandfather.”
    â€œNo, no, not my grandfather. You’re filled with life and warmth and compassion—and you’re very wise. When you told me at dinner that a man like Sedge Hopper is not born out of a bad seed but is shaped by a society that venerates greed and power above all else, I began to understand him for the first time.”
    â€œWhich does not make him any less wicked.”
    â€œBut God would understand and forgive him.”
    I had no answer to that. I asked whether I might bring her something, some port perhaps?
    â€œNothing. I’m totally content—until I open my eyes and discover this is all a dream.”
    â€œNot a dream, not at all, Liz.”
    We sat on the couch, side by side, ten inches or so between us, talking a little but mostly staring at the fire and watching it burn down. At last, I said, “Time to go, Liz?” But the last thing in the world I wanted was for her to leave me. I felt that if she did, the past three days would disappear in a puff of smoke.
    She didn’t answer my question.
    â€œIt’s almost eleven.”
    â€œMy shift begins at two P.M. and I work until nine.”
    â€œStill, you have to go home!”
    â€œWhy?” Now she spoke like a little child, pleadingly. “Why do I have to go home, Ike? I don’t want to go back to that dreadful apartment. Why can’t I sleep in your son’s room where I slept the first night?” Then the boldness of her request overcame her and she leaped to her feet, shaking her head. “No, I’m making a fool of myself! What an awful thing to ask you!” She strode out of the room to the entry, and when I followed her, she was struggling into her long sweater.
    â€œLiz,” I said gently, grasping her by the arms, “let go of the sweater. Of course you can stay over. Please. Now come sit down again and we’ll let the fire burn out.”
    She allowed herself to be led back to the sofa. “I shouldn’t have asked you. I wasn’t making a pass, Ike, believe me, please. I don’t want to use you or take advantage of your kindness. It would be better if you let me go home.”
    â€œNo, I’m afraid you’re trapped, Liz. I’ll sleep better if I know you’re in the next room.”
    â€œBecause you still think I’ll kill myself? No, Ike, that’s over. Don’t you understand? You came by on the bridge because it was not my time to die. You were sent. I know you don’t believe that, but I do; and it’s no excuse for me to act