" Colonel Stuart contacted the Dulles airport control tower, informing Trudeau that a plane landing in 58 minutes would be carrying Esperanza.Meela Nais reminded Balthus that she should have taken care of the task, but he responded that he didn't want her "past history to cloud the issue.I have never discovered any other subject quite so worthy of my attention.Laura: But you write about people with such real understanding and sentiment.That's what makes your column so good.Lydecker: The sentiment comes easy at 50 cents a word.Laura: Well, if that's the way you really feel, you must be very lonely.Lydecker: Will you kindly continue this character analysis elsewhere? You begin to bore me.Laura: You're a poor man.I'm very sorry for you.After Laura quickly packs her things and leaves, Lydecker reminisces that he had a sudden change of heart - he remembers how appealing Laura was: "She had something about her, that girl.When he heard a baby's cries and saw a blanket covering the abandoned young infant, bundled up in the filthy, garbage-strewn alleyway, he looked up - wondering to himself if the baby had been tossed from the window.The biggest distraction in the town was in progress at the courthouse, where Rosa was a suspect in a manslaughter case and faced a coroner's inquest.