Credits a stranger with bringing him food and drink. Here’s the WSJ’s article about The Third Man, the companion who isn’t there.
“There are more things in heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio.”
That which we regard as adventitious is often more integral than we think. Maybe I’ll have to go back and reread Julian Jaynes. More of a Walter Ong fan, but still.
I smell a hint of the ol’ “marathon runner who starts the race with the pack, then catches a taxi and jumps back into the race 2 miles before finish line”.
But I’ve been told I’m a hopeless cynic.