Time and Again

Si returns to 1882 and goes to a boarding house at 19 Gramercy Park (the address Pickering gave to his cab driver). He approaches pretending to be a boarder looking to rent a room and meets Julia Charbonneau. Julia’s Aunt Ada is the proprietor of the boarding house. Julia shows Si to a room, and Si thinks she is beautiful. For a moment, he remembers that she is dead in his time, but then she smiles and brings him back to 1882.

Si meets the other residents, including Aunt Ada, whom Si describes one by one, including photographs. He enjoys an evening meal, songs, and parlor games with the household and seems to feel instantly at home.

He makes several historical mistakes, and Julia seems suspicious of him. Then, he draws her a sketch, and she is both distracted and enchanted. He is highly attracted to her, and when she lets down her hair, he calls her “beautiful, beautiful” out loud as he draws her (189).

Finally, Jake Pickering, whom Si recognizes as the man who mailed the letter, returns home. He is threatened by Si’s presence and obvious attraction to Julia.