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voice of Caroline Lord. There followed a lengthy explanation on Sam’s part, friendly silences from Caroline as she spoke, and then a strange, anguished sob as Samlet herself go at last. Then it was like coming home to an old friend. The older woman listened, really listened. She gave Sam a kind of comfort she had forgotten over the years. And when Sam hung up the phone half an hour later, she lay staring at the canopy above her, wondering if maybe she really was going crazy after all. She had just promised to fly to California the following afternoon.

I t was a frenzied morning for Samantha, she packed two suitcases, called the airlines, left a note and a check for the cleaning woman, and attempted to close up the apartment as best she could. Then, with her two suitcases, she took a cab to the office, where she gave Charlie the key to the apartment and promised to send Christmas presents for the boys from the coast. Then she met with Harvey for more than two hours, explaining everything he wanted to know.
    “You know, you don’t have to do this for me, Harvey. It isn’t what I want.” Her eyes reached out toward him asthey concluded the meeting that would send her on her way.
    He eyed her quietly from across his vast marble and chrome desk. “It isn’t what you want, Sam, but it’s what you need, whether you know it or not. Are you getting out of town?” He was a tall, spare man with iron-gray hair that he wore as closely cropped as any Marine. He wore white Brooks Brothers shirts, striped suits, looked like a banker, and smoked a pipe, but behind the steely gray eyes was a brilliant mind, a creative spirit, and a rare and beautiful soul. He had been, in a sense, like a father to Samantha, and now that she thought it over, it didn’t really surprise her that he was sending her away. But they hadn’t spoken of her plans all morning. All they had talked about were the accounts.
    “Yes, I’m going away.” She smiled at him from across the forbidding desk. It was easy to remember how frightened she had been of him at first, and how much she had come to respect him over the years. But the respect was mutual, as she knew. “In fact”—she looked at her watch—“my plane leaves in two hours.”
    “Then get the hell out of my office.” He put his pipe down and grinned, but Sam hesitated for a moment in her chair.
    “You’re sure I’ll get my job back, Harvey?”
    “I swear it. You have the letter?” She nodded. “Good. Then if you don’t get your job back, you can sue me.”
    “That’s not what I want. I want the job.”
    “You’ll get it, and probably mine eventually too.”
    “I could come back in a few weeks, you know.” She saidit tentatively, but he shook his head and the smile faded quickly from his eyes.
    “No, Sam, you can’t. April first, and that’s it.”
    “For any special reason?” He didn’t want to tell her, so again he shook his head.
    “No, that was the date we picked. I’ll send you plenty of memos to keep you abreast of what’s happening here, and you can call me anytime you want. Does my secretary know where to find you?”
    “Not yet, but she will.”
    “Good.” He came around the desk then and pulled her toward him without saying another word. He held her close for a long moment and then kissed the top of her head. “Take it easy, Sam. We’ll miss you.” His voice was gruff and there were tears in her eyes as she held him close for one more moment and then strode rapidly toward the door. For just one tiny instant she felt as though she were being banished from her home, and she felt panic wash over her as she considered begging him not to make her leave.
    But when she left his office, Charlie was waiting for her outside in the hallway, and he smiled gently at her, slung an arm over her shoulders, and gave her a squeeze. “Ready to go, kiddo?”
    “No.” She smiled damply at him and then-sniffed, burrowing closely into his side.
    “You will be.”
    “Yeah?