Prologue-Chapter 4 Summary

In the prologue, the story begins in an apartment building high above a park in New York.

In chapter one, Harry Copeland, a Jewish businessman, leaves the Turin at incredible speed, watched by the doorman as he leaps over a bench and seems to disappear. Harry has lived in the apartment on and off since he was born, but he left both for college and the war, where he worked in reconnaissance. He walks through the streets of New York, heading towards the reservoir of the Hudson, where he also swims frequently. Harry is fairly eccentric. He waits for the ferry to reach the shore. When it arrives, he watches passengers pour out of the ferry, and spots a woman he finds very beautiful.

In chapter two, Harry visits his aunt Elaine, who was his father's brother's wife. Elaine wants to know what...