Of the two roles, Matt's is the more complex, for he is a many-sided character. Basically, his is a tragic conception of life because of the personal horrors attendant on his youth in prewar Europe. Yet, he can encourage Sally to take a risk and "live for today." He believes in reason and communication. "I have great powers of ratiocination", he tells her, and this helps him to see not only that she is in love with him, but that there is "something to tell" that only she can tell. He can take "no" for an answer but not evasions.

Matt knows he is not a "romantic type," but his mathematical mind (he knows the multiplication table up to seventy-five times seventy-five) tells him his own worth, and hers. He is a mimic, attempting a comic German accent with the same confidence as he "does" Humphrey Bogart...