“Perhaps,” Ruth agreed. “But I do wonder how it came into your grandmother’s possession, and why she would have saved this particular torn slip. George has asked a very good question indeed.”

“Could it be from the day of the fire?” Rebecca asked.

“Oh my!” Ruth picked up the bit of paper and scrutinized it again, as if hoping to see something more revealed in the few words. “Wouldn’t that be something!”

“It does seem to have a March date,” Rebecca observed. “If it was from the day of the fire, that would explain why Pauline still had it, and why my grandmother would have kept it.”

“But they had just received their pay packets minutes before the fire broke out,” Ruth said. “So she would have turned in all her credit slips, along with Esther’s. I don’t know why either of the Auerbach sisters would have had any credit slips in their possession at that juncture.”

The three of them gazed solemnly at the little scrap of paper for a moment.

“May I photocopy this for my records?” Ruth asked. “I would like to compare it to the credit slips they have in the Kheel archive at Cornell, and perhaps learn something more from that. And there are some other scholars to whom I wish to show it. In March, at the Herstorical Society annual meeting, I am giving a PowerPoint presentation concerning—”

“Sure. We can do that later.”

“Do you recognize the handwriting?” Ruth asked Rebecca. “You see, that is the sort of thing with which you can be so uniquely helpful.”

“I’m not sure. It’s just a few words, and it’s torn.”

“Do you know your great-aunt Pauline’s writing? Are there any examples extant? Letters? Legal documents?”

“No, not really. I don’t think I have ever seen her writing. Unless this is her writing. Don’t you think it must be? It looks just like my grandmother’s writing, but it’s just a few words in pencil, so it’s kind of hard to tell.”

“Ah.” Ruth sat back, disappointed. “One might assume this is Pauline Auerbach’s handwriting, but we have no way to verify it without another definite sample.”

“But Esther must have thought the slip was important. It obviously meant something to her or she wouldn’t have saved it the way she did.”

“True. Good point. Was this in the safe-deposit box you mentioned when we spoke?” Ruth asked a little too eagerly.

“Yes,” Rebecca said shortly. “It was.”

“Do you have anything else you want to show me that your grandmother put away? I have been so curious about that safe-deposit box! My goodness, this is a productive meeting already, and I haven’t even asked a single one of my questions!”

Rebecca took out from the Balducci’s tote bag the eyeglasses in their case and the coins, and Ruth leaned forward avidly.

“These are marvelous artifacts,” Ruth said. She pored over the three coins, which she held in the palm of her hand. “The Roman numeral five is so interesting. What do you suppose this brown substance is on the coins, though?” She began to scrape at the nickel with her thumbnail. Ruth’s nails were short and coated with beige polish.