Then, she recites poetic words to him - the derivation of the film""s title:They are not long the days of wine and roses: Out of a misty dream, our path emerges for a while, then closes within a dream.A pretty American blonde with a tight-fitting suit disembarks (for he stop-over until 4:00 am), parades down the gangplank, and catches heir eye - they pursue her to a nearby cafe.As a fire blazed at Merlin""s camp, he had everyone look into the "Fire of Truth" to interpret its billowing smoke as Rorschach images.You gotta get out now, away from me...You get low, you stay low.No more friends.Nothing familiar.There""s enough in there for you to make a life.Any life...I""ll end it.Go ahead." He used the Professor""s phone to speak to Conklin, falsely reported that Marie was dead, and then proposed a meeting with Conklin in Paris at 5:30 pm that day, in the middle of a bridge named Pont Neuf.Wilks: I""m the one that gets the pressure calls from upstairs.I""m the one that has to explain.You don""t keep an office like this very long stepping on a lot of corns.Bannion: Do you want me to go upstairs and explain?Wilks: Not you.You""re a corn-stepper by instinct."A corn-stepper by instinct," Bannion is not able to understand why he is ordered to lay off the case and "stop pestering the widow," since he now realizes that Lucy told the truth: "She talks to me just once - (he clicks his finger) - like that, she""s dead.