eight o'clock
To Erik it was not alien or superfluous . Even in their ecstasies there was still a world for him , like some mocking rival laughing at him , saying , `` You can embrace Rachel . But what can you do to me ? See if you can embrace me and swallow me with a kiss ... '' That 's why he stayed away till eight o'clock , moving among men , writing , talking , doing work on the magazine . But there was nothing for her to do . She inhabited a world named Erik Dorn , a perfect world in which there was no room even for thought . Erik had written her a note from the office once ... `` my heart is a dancing star above the graves of your absence ... '' But that was almost a lie because it was true only for one moment .