Joe tried to get his mind on the music for the last set. He did a little serious work on “I Got It Bad,” turning the chorus into bebop flat fifths, followed with the tomtom rhythm of “Cherokee,” then moved into the placid waters of “More Than You Know.” The jitterbuggers got one last shot with “The G.I. Jive” before he U-turned through “Funny Valentine” and slid into the final tune of the night, “Every Time We Say Goodbye.” Fuchs was doing a Hapsburg ballroom number with Anna Weiss, as if he were waltzing to “The Blue Danube.” She seemed graceful enough in his arms, and smiled as if she found him either amusing or ridiculous. Across the floor, Oppy had his eye on Fuchs and the girl with a concentration that was unusual even for him. At the same time, Kitty was behind Oppy and watching him and the girl. Perhaps it was the novelty of a new face or her bizarre coveralls, but everyone seemed to watch Anna Weiss; on the dance floor she seemed to be the only one completely alive. It was a trick of the light that followed one person around. Joe had seen the quality before; it was rare, but not unknown.

Every time we say good-bye.… Porter had written an intimate ballad for lovers parting at train stations, troopships, bedrooms. At previous dances, Fuchs’ style had struck Joe as ludicrous; tonight it was irritating. When he saw them heading for a dip, he skipped a bar, went on four bars, inserted the missing notes and continued. Fuchs looked like a man trapped by a traffic signal. The girl looked at Joe. The other dancers didn’t notice because they were all dancing close and slow. As Fuchs stared at the piano, Joe drew the tune out. It was full of the loveliest A-minor chords. He got Harvey to sustain an E and came down the whole keyboard on the ninths like Tatum, returning to catch Harvey’s dying note and stretch it into melody with the right hand while he brought the left softly up the keys like a rabbit. Harvey stopped playing and stood with the reed in his open mouth, eyes big. Joe turned the rabbit into a bebop bopping from chord to chord as softly as a lullaby until he merged the melody again and made it swell until Fuchs couldn’t help but start dancing again. When the German was in full spin, Joe dropped into “The Skaters’ Waltz,” still in A-minor. The girl was laughing, taking him up on it. Fuchs tried to stop, but she wouldn’t let him; Oppy wiped tears of laughter.