August 7, 2025 • 19 mins
18 - Book 5, Chapter 38. A Farewell to Arms.
Ernest Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms is often referred to as a war novel, which is true enough. There is certainly blood and gore, along with a measure of dark humor, but the novel is more a love story than an account of battles between soldiers. Hemingway introduces us to Frederic Henry, an American volunteer serving in the sanitary services of the Italian Army in the north of Italy during World War One. He is a Lieutenant supervising ambulance drivers and is often near the front lines. Badly wounded by a shell, Henry passes through a number of surgeries and, while convalescing, meets Catherine Barkley with whom he begins an affair. Their story follows them from Gorizia, to Milan, to Stresa, and, finally, and ironically, to Switzerland, a neutral nation.
Ernest Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms is often referred to as a war novel, which is true enough. There is certainly blood and gore, along with a measure of dark humor, but the novel is more a love story than an account of battles between soldiers. Hemingway introduces us to Frederic Henry, an American volunteer serving in the sanitary services of the Italian Army in the north of Italy during World War One. He is a Lieutenant supervising ambulance drivers and is often near the front lines. Badly wounded by a shell, Henry passes through a number of surgeries and, while convalescing, meets Catherine Barkley with whom he begins an affair. Their story follows them from Gorizia, to Milan, to Stresa, and, finally, and ironically, to Switzerland, a neutral nation.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Book five, chapter thirty eight of a Farewell to Arms
by Ernest Hemeway. This LibriVox recording as in the public domain.
That fall, the snow came very late. We lived in
a brown wooden house in the pine trees on the
side of the mountain, and at night there was frost
(00:21):
so that there was thin ice over the water, and
the two pitchers on the dresser. In the morning, Missus
Guttingen came into the room early in the morning to
shut the windows and started a fire in the tall
porcelain stove. The pine wood crackled and sparkled, and then
the fire roared in the stove. And the second time
Missus Gutteningen came into the room, she brought big chunks
(00:43):
of wood for the fire and a pitcher of hot water.
When the room was warm, she brought in breakfast. Sitting
up in bed eating breakfast, we could see the lake
in the mountains across the lake on the French side.
There was snow on the tops of the mountains, and
the lake was a gray steel blue. Outside, in front
of the chalais, a road went up the mountain. The
(01:05):
wheel ruts and ridges were iron hard with the frost
and the road climbed steadily through the forest up and
around the mountain to where there were meadows and barns
and cabins in the meadows at the edge of the woods.
Looking across the valley, the valley was deep, and there
was a stream at the bottom that flowed down into
the lake, and when the wind blew across the valley,
(01:27):
you could hear the stream and the rocks. Sometimes we
went off the road and on a path through the
pine forest. The floor of the forest was soft to
walk on. The frost did not harden it as it
did the road, but we did not mind the hardness
of the road because we had nails in the soles
and heels of our boots, and the heel nails bit
(01:48):
into the frozen ruts, and with nailed boots it was
good walking on the road and invigorating, but it was
lovely walking in the woods. In front of the house
where we lived. The mountain went down steep to the
little plain along the lake, and we sat on the
porch of the house in the sun and saw the
winding of the road down the mountain side, and the
terraced vineyards on the side of the lower mountain. The
(02:11):
vines all dead now for the winter, and the fields
divided by stone walls. And below the vineyards the houses
of the town on the narrow plain along the lake shore,
there was an island with two trees on the lake,
and the trees looked like double sails of a fishing boat.
The mountains were sharp and steep. On the other side
of the lake, and down at the end of the
(02:33):
lake was the plain of the Rhone Valley, flat between
the two ranges of mountains, and up the valley where
the mountains cut it off was the Dumdi. It was
a high, snowy mountain and it dominated the valley, but
it was so far away that it did not make
a shadow. When the sun was bright, we ate lunch
on the porch, but the rest of the time we
(02:55):
ate upstairs in a small room with plain wooden walls
and a big stove in the corner. We bought books
and magazines in the town and a copy of Hoil,
and learned many two handed card games. The small room
with the stove was our living room. There were two
comfortable chairs and a table for books and magazines, and
(03:15):
we played cards on the dining table when it was cleared. Away.
Mister and Missus Guttingen lived downstairs, and we would hear
them talking sometimes in the evening, and they were very
happy together too. He had been a head waiter and
she had worked as maid in the same hotel, and
they had saved their money to buy this place. They
had a son who was studying to be a head waiter.
(03:38):
He was at a hotel in Zurich. Downstairs there was
a parlor where they sold wine and beer, and sometimes
in the evening we would hear carts stop outside on
the road and men come up the steps to go
in the parlor to drink wine. There was a box
of wood in the hall outside the living room, and
I kept up the fire from it, but we did
(03:59):
not stay up very late. We went to bed in
the dark in the big bedroom, and when I was undressed,
I opened the windows and saw the night and the
cold stars and the pine trees below the window, and
then got into bed as fast as I could. It
was lovely in bed, with the air so cold and
clear in the night outside the window. We slept well,
(04:21):
and if I woke in the night, I knew it
was from only one cause, and I would shift the
feather bed over very softly, so that Catherine would not
be wakened, and then go back to sleep again, warm
and with the new lightness of thin covers. The war
seemed as far away as the football games of some
one else's college, but I knew from the papers that
(04:41):
they were still fighting in the mountains. Because the snow
would not come. Sometimes we walked down the mountain into Montreux.
There was a path went down the mountain, but it
was steep, and so usually we took the road and
walked down on the wide, hard road between fields, and
then below between the stone walls the vineyards, and on
down between the houses of the villages. Along the way
(05:05):
there were three villages, Chernay, Fontane Vent and the other
I forget. Then along the road we passed an old,
square built stone chateau on a ledge on the side
of the mountain side with the terraced fields of vines,
each vine tied to a stick to hold it up,
the vines dry and brown, and the earth ready for
(05:25):
the snow, and the lake down below flat and gray
ash steel. The road went down a long grate below
the chateau and then turned to the right and went
down very steeply and paved with cobbles into Montreux. We
did not know anyone in Montreal. We walked along beside
the lake and saw the swans and the many gulls
and turns that flew up when you came close, and
(05:47):
screamed when they looked down at the water. Out on
the lake. There were flocks of grebes, small and dark,
and leaving trails in the water when they swam. In
the town, we walked along the main street and looked
in the windows of the shops. There were many big
hotels that were closed, but most of the shops were open,
and the people were very glad to see us. There
(06:08):
was a fine coffeure's place where Catherine went to have
her hair done. The woman who ran it was very
cheerful and the only person we knew in Montreux. While
Catherine was there, I went up to a beer place
and drank dark Munich beer and read the papers. I
read the Corrieri de la Sera in the English and
American papers from Paris. All the advertisements were blacked out,
(06:33):
supposedly to prevent communication in that way with the enemy.
The papers were bad reading. Everything was going very badly everywhere.
I sat back in the corner with a heavy mug
of dark beer and an open glazed paper package of pretzels,
and ate the pretzels for the salty flavor and the
good way they made the beer taste, and read about disaster.
(06:56):
I thought Catherine would come by, but she did not come,
so I hung the papers back on the rack, paid
for my beer, and went up the street to look
for her. The day was cold and dark and wintry,
and the stone of the houses looked cold. Katherine was
still in the hair dresser's shop. The woman was waving
her hair. I sat in the little booth and watched.
(07:19):
It was exciting to watch him. Catherine smiled and talked
to me, and my voice was a little thick from
being excited. The tongs made a pleasant clicking sound, and
I could see Katherine in three mirrors, and it was
pleasant and warm in the booth. Then the woman put
up Katherine's hair, and Catherine looked in the mirror and
changed it a little, taking out and putting in pins,
(07:40):
and stood up. I'm sorry to have taken such a
long time. Monsieur was very interested, were you not, monsieur?
The woman smiled, yes, I said. We went out and
up the street. It was cold and wintry and the
wind was blowing. Oh, Darling, I love you, so I said,
don't we have a fine time. Catherine said, look, let's
(08:03):
go some place and have beer instead of tea. It's
very good for young Catherine. It keeps her small. Young Catherine,
I said, that loafer, she's been very good. Catherine said,
she makes very little trouble. The doctor says, beer will
be good for me and keep her small. If you
keep her small enough and she's a boy, maybe he
will be a jockey. I suppose if we really have
(08:26):
this child, we ought to get married. Catherine said, we
are in the beer place at the corner table. Who
was getting dark outside was still early, but the day
was dark and the dusk was coming early. Let's get
married now, I said no. Catherine said, it's too embarrassing.
Now I show too plainly. I won't go before anyone
and be married in the state. I wish we'd gotten married.
(08:50):
I suppose it would have been better. But when could we, Darling,
I don't know. I know one thing. I'm not going
to be married in the splendid, matronly state. You're not matronly. Oh, yes,
I am, darling. The hair dresser asked me if this
was our first I lied and said no, we had
two boys and two girls. When will we be married?
(09:13):
Any time? After I'm thin again. We want to have
a splendid wedding with everyone thinking, what a handsome young couple.
And you're not worried, darling. Why should I be worried?
The only time I ever felt badly was when I
felt like a whore in the lawn, and that only
lasted seven minutes, and besides it was thorough furnishings. Don't
I make a good wife. You're a lovely wife. Then
(09:35):
don't be too technical, darling. I'll marry you as soon
as i'm thin again, all right? Do you think I
ought to drink another beer? The doctor said I was
rather narrow in the hips, and it's all for the
best if we keep young Catherine small. What else did
he say I was worried? Nothing? I have wonderful blood pressure, darling.
(09:56):
He admired my blood pressure greatly. What did he say
about you being narrow in the hips? Nothing? Nothing at all?
He said I shouldn't ski quite right? He said it
was too late to start. If I'd never done it before.
He said I could ski if I wouldn't fall down.
He's just a big hearted joker. Really, he was very nice.
(10:17):
We'll have him when the baby comes. Did you ask
him if you ought to get married? No? I told
him we'd been married four years. You see, Darling. If
I marry you, i'll be an American. And any time
we're married, under American law, the child is legitimate. Where
did you find that out in the New York World,
(10:38):
Amanac in the library? You're a grand girl. I'll be
very glad to be an American. And we'll go to America,
won't we? Darling? I want to see Niagara Falls. You're
a fine girl. There's something else I want to see,
but I can't remember it. The Stockyards, No, I can't
remember it. The Woolworth Building, No, the Grand Canyon, No,
(11:00):
but i'd like to see that. What was it? The
Golden Gate? That's what I want to see. Where is
the Golden Gate? San Francisco? Then let's go there. I
want to see San Francisco anyway, all right, we'll go there. Now,
let's go up the mountain? Should we can? We get
the m O B. There is a train a little
(11:20):
after five. Let's get there, all right. I'll drink one
more beer first. When we went out to go up
the street and climb the stairs to the station, it
was very cold. A cold wind was coming down the
Rhone Valley. There were lights in the shop windows, and
we climbed the steep stone stairway to the upper street,
then up another stairs to the station. The electric train
(11:42):
was there waiting, all the lights on. It was a
dial that showed when it left. The clock hands pointed
to ten minutes after five. I looked at the station clock.
It was five minutes after As we got on board,
I saw the motormen and conductor coming out of the
station wine shop. We sat down and opened the window.
The train was electrically heated and stuffy, but fresh cold
(12:05):
air came in through the window. Are you tired, cat,
I asked, no, I feel splendid. It isn't a long ride.
I like the ride. She said, don't worry about me, darling,
I feel fine. Snow did not come until three days
before Christmas. We woke one morning and it was snowing.
We stayed in bed with a fire roaring in the
(12:25):
stove and watched the snow fall missus Gutenjin took away
the breakfast trays and put more wood in the stove.
It was a big snow storm, she said, it had
started about midnight. I went to the window and looked out,
but could not see across the road. It was blowing
and snowing wildly. I went back to bed and we
lay and talked. I wish I could ski. Catherine said,
(12:48):
it's rotten not being able to ski. We'll get a
bobslet and come down the road. That's no worse for
you than riding in a car. Won't it be rough?
We can see. I hope it won't be too rough.
After a while, we'll take a walk in the snow
before lunch, Catherine said, so we'll have a good appetite.
I'm always hungry, so am I. We went out in
(13:12):
the snow, but it was drifted so that we could
not walk far. I went ahead and made a trail
down to the station, But when we reached there we
had gone far enough. The snow was blowing so we
could hardly see. And we went into the little inn
by the station and swept each other off with a
broom and sat on a bench and had vermoots. It
is a big storm. The bar maid said, yes, the
(13:35):
snow is very late this year. Yes. Could I eat
a chocolate bar? Katherine asked, or is it too close
to lunch? I'm always hungry. Go on and eat one,
I said, I'll take one with Philbert's. Catherine said, they
are very good. The girl said, I like them the best.
I'll have another vermouth, I said. When we came out
(13:57):
to start back up the road, our track was filled
in by the snow. There are only faint indentations where
the holes had been. The snow blew in our faces
so we could hardly see. We brushed off and went
in to have lunch. Mister Gutenjin served the lunch. Tomorrow
there will be skiing, he said, Do you ski, mister Henry, No,
but I want to learn. You will learn very easily.
(14:19):
My boy will be here for Christmas and he will
teach you. That's fine. When does he come tomorrow? Night?
When we were sitting by the stove in the little
room after lunch, looking out the window at the snow
coming down, Catherine said, wouldn't you like to go on
a trip somewhere by yourself, darling and be with men
and ski? No? Why should. I I should think sometimes
(14:41):
you would want to see other people besides me? Do
you want to see other people? No? Neither do I
I know, but you're different. I'm having a child and
then makes me content it not to do anything. I know.
I'm awfully stupid now and I talk too much, And
I think you ought to get away so you won't
be tired me. Do you want me to go away? No?
(15:03):
I want you to stay. That's what I'm going to do.
Come over here, she said. I want to feel the
bump on your head. It's a big bump. She ran
her finger over it. Darling. Would you like to grow
a beard? Would you like me too? It might be fun.
I'd like to see you with a beard. All right,
I'll grow one. I'll start now this minute. It's a
(15:23):
good idea and it will give me something to do.
Are you worried because you haven't anything to do? No?
I like it. I have a fine life, don't you.
I have a lovely life. But I was afraid because
I'm big now that maybe I wasn't bored to you.
Oh Kat, you don't know how crazy I am about
you this way, just the way you are. I have
(15:44):
a fine time don't we have a good life? I do,
but I thought maybe you were restless. No. Sometimes I
wonder about the front and about people I know, but
I don't worry. I don't think about anything much. Who
do you wonder about but Reinalde and the priest and
lots of people I know, But I don't think about
(16:05):
them much. I don't want to think about the war.
I'm through with it. What are you thinking about now? Nothing? Yes,
you were tell me I was wondering whether Reinalde had
the syphless? Was that all? Yes? Has he the syphless?
I don't know. I'm glad you haven't. Did you ever
(16:26):
have anything like that? I had gone, Arihea, I don't
want to hear about it. Was it very painful, darling?
Very I wish i'd had it, No, you don't, I do.
I wish i'd had it to be like you. I
wish i'd stayed with all your girls so I could
make fun of them. To you, that's a pretty picture.
It's not pretty picture. You haven't gone, Aria, I know it.
(16:50):
Look at the snow now, I'd rather look at you, darling.
Why don't you let your hair grow? How grow? Just
grow a little longer? It's long enough now, No, let
it grow a little longer, and I could cut mine
and we'd be just alike, only one of us blonde
and one of us dark. I wouldn't let you cut yours.
(17:11):
It would be fun. I'm tired of it. It's an
awful nuisance in the bed at night. I like it.
Wouldn't you like it short? I might? I like it
the way it is. It might be nice short. Then
we both be alike. Oh, darling, I want you so much.
I want to be you too. You are we're the
same one. I know it. At night we are. The
(17:32):
nights are grand. I want us to be all mixed up.
I don't want you to go away. I just said that.
You go if you want to, but hurry right back. Why, darling,
I don't live at all when I'm not with you.
I won't ever go away. I said. I'm no good
when you're not there. I haven't any life at all
any more. I want you to have a life. I
(17:53):
want you to have a fine life. But we'll have
it together, won't we. Now? Do you want me to
stop growing my beard or let it go on? Go on?
Grow it? It will be exciting. Maybe it will be
done for New Year's Now, do you want to play chess?
I'd rather play with you. No, let's play chess and
afterward we'll play. Yes, all right. I got out the
(18:17):
chessboard and arranged the pieces. It was still snowing hard outside.
One time in the night I woke up and knew
that Catherine was awake too. The moon was shining in
the window and made shadows on the bed from the
bars on the window panes. Are you awake, sweetheart, yes,
can't you sleep? I just woke up thinking about how
(18:37):
I was nearly crazy when I first met you. Do
you remember you were just a little crazy. I'm never
that way anymore. I'm grand now. You say grand so sweetly?
Say grand grand? Oh, you're sweet, and I'm not crazy now.
I'm just very, very very happy. Go on to sleep,
(18:58):
I said, all right, let's go to sleep at exactly
the same moment, all right, But we did not. I
was awake for quite a long time, thinking about things
and watching Catherine sleeping the moonlight on her face. Then
I went to sleep too. End of Chapter thirty eight.
Book five, chapter thirty eight of a Farewell to Arms
by Ernest Hemeway. This LibriVox recording as in the public domain.
That fall, the snow came very late. We lived in
a brown wooden house in the pine trees on the
side of the mountain, and at night there was frost
(00:21):
so that there was thin ice over the water, and
the two pitchers on the dresser. In the morning, Missus
Guttingen came into the room early in the morning to
shut the windows and started a fire in the tall
porcelain stove. The pine wood crackled and sparkled, and then
the fire roared in the stove. And the second time
Missus Gutteningen came into the room, she brought big chunks
(00:43):
of wood for the fire and a pitcher of hot water.
When the room was warm, she brought in breakfast. Sitting
up in bed eating breakfast, we could see the lake
in the mountains across the lake on the French side.
There was snow on the tops of the mountains, and
the lake was a gray steel blue. Outside, in front
of the chalais, a road went up the mountain. The
(01:05):
wheel ruts and ridges were iron hard with the frost
and the road climbed steadily through the forest up and
around the mountain to where there were meadows and barns
and cabins in the meadows at the edge of the woods.
Looking across the valley, the valley was deep, and there
was a stream at the bottom that flowed down into
the lake, and when the wind blew across the valley,
(01:27):
you could hear the stream and the rocks. Sometimes we
went off the road and on a path through the
pine forest. The floor of the forest was soft to
walk on. The frost did not harden it as it
did the road, but we did not mind the hardness
of the road because we had nails in the soles
and heels of our boots, and the heel nails bit
(01:48):
into the frozen ruts, and with nailed boots it was
good walking on the road and invigorating, but it was
lovely walking in the woods. In front of the house
where we lived. The mountain went down steep to the
little plain along the lake, and we sat on the
porch of the house in the sun and saw the
winding of the road down the mountain side, and the
terraced vineyards on the side of the lower mountain. The
(02:11):
vines all dead now for the winter, and the fields
divided by stone walls. And below the vineyards the houses
of the town on the narrow plain along the lake shore,
there was an island with two trees on the lake,
and the trees looked like double sails of a fishing boat.
The mountains were sharp and steep. On the other side
of the lake, and down at the end of the
(02:33):
lake was the plain of the Rhone Valley, flat between
the two ranges of mountains, and up the valley where
the mountains cut it off was the Dumdi. It was
a high, snowy mountain and it dominated the valley, but
it was so far away that it did not make
a shadow. When the sun was bright, we ate lunch
on the porch, but the rest of the time we
(02:55):
ate upstairs in a small room with plain wooden walls
and a big stove in the corner. We bought books
and magazines in the town and a copy of Hoil,
and learned many two handed card games. The small room
with the stove was our living room. There were two
comfortable chairs and a table for books and magazines, and
(03:15):
we played cards on the dining table when it was cleared. Away.
Mister and Missus Guttingen lived downstairs, and we would hear
them talking sometimes in the evening, and they were very
happy together too. He had been a head waiter and
she had worked as maid in the same hotel, and
they had saved their money to buy this place. They
had a son who was studying to be a head waiter.
(03:38):
He was at a hotel in Zurich. Downstairs there was
a parlor where they sold wine and beer, and sometimes
in the evening we would hear carts stop outside on
the road and men come up the steps to go
in the parlor to drink wine. There was a box
of wood in the hall outside the living room, and
I kept up the fire from it, but we did
(03:59):
not stay up very late. We went to bed in
the dark in the big bedroom, and when I was undressed,
I opened the windows and saw the night and the
cold stars and the pine trees below the window, and
then got into bed as fast as I could. It
was lovely in bed, with the air so cold and
clear in the night outside the window. We slept well,
(04:21):
and if I woke in the night, I knew it
was from only one cause, and I would shift the
feather bed over very softly, so that Catherine would not
be wakened, and then go back to sleep again, warm
and with the new lightness of thin covers. The war
seemed as far away as the football games of some
one else's college, but I knew from the papers that
(04:41):
they were still fighting in the mountains. Because the snow
would not come. Sometimes we walked down the mountain into Montreux.
There was a path went down the mountain, but it
was steep, and so usually we took the road and
walked down on the wide, hard road between fields, and
then below between the stone walls the vineyards, and on
down between the houses of the villages. Along the way
(05:05):
there were three villages, Chernay, Fontane Vent and the other
I forget. Then along the road we passed an old,
square built stone chateau on a ledge on the side
of the mountain side with the terraced fields of vines,
each vine tied to a stick to hold it up,
the vines dry and brown, and the earth ready for
(05:25):
the snow, and the lake down below flat and gray
ash steel. The road went down a long grate below
the chateau and then turned to the right and went
down very steeply and paved with cobbles into Montreux. We
did not know anyone in Montreal. We walked along beside
the lake and saw the swans and the many gulls
and turns that flew up when you came close, and
(05:47):
screamed when they looked down at the water. Out on
the lake. There were flocks of grebes, small and dark,
and leaving trails in the water when they swam. In
the town, we walked along the main street and looked
in the windows of the shops. There were many big
hotels that were closed, but most of the shops were open,
and the people were very glad to see us. There
(06:08):
was a fine coffeure's place where Catherine went to have
her hair done. The woman who ran it was very
cheerful and the only person we knew in Montreux. While
Catherine was there, I went up to a beer place
and drank dark Munich beer and read the papers. I
read the Corrieri de la Sera in the English and
American papers from Paris. All the advertisements were blacked out,
(06:33):
supposedly to prevent communication in that way with the enemy.
The papers were bad reading. Everything was going very badly everywhere.
I sat back in the corner with a heavy mug
of dark beer and an open glazed paper package of pretzels,
and ate the pretzels for the salty flavor and the
good way they made the beer taste, and read about disaster.
(06:56):
I thought Catherine would come by, but she did not come,
so I hung the papers back on the rack, paid
for my beer, and went up the street to look
for her. The day was cold and dark and wintry,
and the stone of the houses looked cold. Katherine was
still in the hair dresser's shop. The woman was waving
her hair. I sat in the little booth and watched.
(07:19):
It was exciting to watch him. Catherine smiled and talked
to me, and my voice was a little thick from
being excited. The tongs made a pleasant clicking sound, and
I could see Katherine in three mirrors, and it was
pleasant and warm in the booth. Then the woman put
up Katherine's hair, and Catherine looked in the mirror and
changed it a little, taking out and putting in pins,
(07:40):
and stood up. I'm sorry to have taken such a
long time. Monsieur was very interested, were you not, monsieur?
The woman smiled, yes, I said. We went out and
up the street. It was cold and wintry and the
wind was blowing. Oh, Darling, I love you, so I said,
don't we have a fine time. Catherine said, look, let's
(08:03):
go some place and have beer instead of tea. It's
very good for young Catherine. It keeps her small. Young Catherine,
I said, that loafer, she's been very good. Catherine said,
she makes very little trouble. The doctor says, beer will
be good for me and keep her small. If you
keep her small enough and she's a boy, maybe he
will be a jockey. I suppose if we really have
(08:26):
this child, we ought to get married. Catherine said, we
are in the beer place at the corner table. Who
was getting dark outside was still early, but the day
was dark and the dusk was coming early. Let's get
married now, I said no. Catherine said, it's too embarrassing.
Now I show too plainly. I won't go before anyone
and be married in the state. I wish we'd gotten married.
(08:50):
I suppose it would have been better. But when could we, Darling,
I don't know. I know one thing. I'm not going
to be married in the splendid, matronly state. You're not matronly. Oh, yes,
I am, darling. The hair dresser asked me if this
was our first I lied and said no, we had
two boys and two girls. When will we be married?
(09:13):
Any time? After I'm thin again. We want to have
a splendid wedding with everyone thinking, what a handsome young couple.
And you're not worried, darling. Why should I be worried?
The only time I ever felt badly was when I
felt like a whore in the lawn, and that only
lasted seven minutes, and besides it was thorough furnishings. Don't
I make a good wife. You're a lovely wife. Then
(09:35):
don't be too technical, darling. I'll marry you as soon
as i'm thin again, all right? Do you think I
ought to drink another beer? The doctor said I was
rather narrow in the hips, and it's all for the
best if we keep young Catherine small. What else did
he say I was worried? Nothing? I have wonderful blood pressure, darling.
(09:56):
He admired my blood pressure greatly. What did he say
about you being narrow in the hips? Nothing? Nothing at all?
He said I shouldn't ski quite right? He said it
was too late to start. If I'd never done it before.
He said I could ski if I wouldn't fall down.
He's just a big hearted joker. Really, he was very nice.
(10:17):
We'll have him when the baby comes. Did you ask
him if you ought to get married? No? I told
him we'd been married four years. You see, Darling. If
I marry you, i'll be an American. And any time
we're married, under American law, the child is legitimate. Where
did you find that out in the New York World,
(10:38):
Amanac in the library? You're a grand girl. I'll be
very glad to be an American. And we'll go to America,
won't we? Darling? I want to see Niagara Falls. You're
a fine girl. There's something else I want to see,
but I can't remember it. The Stockyards, No, I can't
remember it. The Woolworth Building, No, the Grand Canyon, No,
(11:00):
but i'd like to see that. What was it? The
Golden Gate? That's what I want to see. Where is
the Golden Gate? San Francisco? Then let's go there. I
want to see San Francisco anyway, all right, we'll go there. Now,
let's go up the mountain? Should we can? We get
the m O B. There is a train a little
(11:20):
after five. Let's get there, all right. I'll drink one
more beer first. When we went out to go up
the street and climb the stairs to the station, it
was very cold. A cold wind was coming down the
Rhone Valley. There were lights in the shop windows, and
we climbed the steep stone stairway to the upper street,
then up another stairs to the station. The electric train
(11:42):
was there waiting, all the lights on. It was a
dial that showed when it left. The clock hands pointed
to ten minutes after five. I looked at the station clock.
It was five minutes after As we got on board,
I saw the motormen and conductor coming out of the
station wine shop. We sat down and opened the window.
The train was electrically heated and stuffy, but fresh cold
(12:05):
air came in through the window. Are you tired, cat,
I asked, no, I feel splendid. It isn't a long ride.
I like the ride. She said, don't worry about me, darling,
I feel fine. Snow did not come until three days
before Christmas. We woke one morning and it was snowing.
We stayed in bed with a fire roaring in the
(12:25):
stove and watched the snow fall missus Gutenjin took away
the breakfast trays and put more wood in the stove.
It was a big snow storm, she said, it had
started about midnight. I went to the window and looked out,
but could not see across the road. It was blowing
and snowing wildly. I went back to bed and we
lay and talked. I wish I could ski. Catherine said,
(12:48):
it's rotten not being able to ski. We'll get a
bobslet and come down the road. That's no worse for
you than riding in a car. Won't it be rough?
We can see. I hope it won't be too rough.
After a while, we'll take a walk in the snow
before lunch, Catherine said, so we'll have a good appetite.
I'm always hungry, so am I. We went out in
(13:12):
the snow, but it was drifted so that we could
not walk far. I went ahead and made a trail
down to the station, But when we reached there we
had gone far enough. The snow was blowing so we
could hardly see. And we went into the little inn
by the station and swept each other off with a
broom and sat on a bench and had vermoots. It
is a big storm. The bar maid said, yes, the
(13:35):
snow is very late this year. Yes. Could I eat
a chocolate bar? Katherine asked, or is it too close
to lunch? I'm always hungry. Go on and eat one,
I said, I'll take one with Philbert's. Catherine said, they
are very good. The girl said, I like them the best.
I'll have another vermouth, I said. When we came out
(13:57):
to start back up the road, our track was filled
in by the snow. There are only faint indentations where
the holes had been. The snow blew in our faces
so we could hardly see. We brushed off and went
in to have lunch. Mister Gutenjin served the lunch. Tomorrow
there will be skiing, he said, Do you ski, mister Henry, No,
but I want to learn. You will learn very easily.
(14:19):
My boy will be here for Christmas and he will
teach you. That's fine. When does he come tomorrow? Night?
When we were sitting by the stove in the little
room after lunch, looking out the window at the snow
coming down, Catherine said, wouldn't you like to go on
a trip somewhere by yourself, darling and be with men
and ski? No? Why should. I I should think sometimes
(14:41):
you would want to see other people besides me? Do
you want to see other people? No? Neither do I
I know, but you're different. I'm having a child and
then makes me content it not to do anything. I know.
I'm awfully stupid now and I talk too much, And
I think you ought to get away so you won't
be tired me. Do you want me to go away? No?
(15:03):
I want you to stay. That's what I'm going to do.
Come over here, she said. I want to feel the
bump on your head. It's a big bump. She ran
her finger over it. Darling. Would you like to grow
a beard? Would you like me too? It might be fun.
I'd like to see you with a beard. All right,
I'll grow one. I'll start now this minute. It's a
(15:23):
good idea and it will give me something to do.
Are you worried because you haven't anything to do? No?
I like it. I have a fine life, don't you.
I have a lovely life. But I was afraid because
I'm big now that maybe I wasn't bored to you.
Oh Kat, you don't know how crazy I am about
you this way, just the way you are. I have
(15:44):
a fine time don't we have a good life? I do,
but I thought maybe you were restless. No. Sometimes I
wonder about the front and about people I know, but
I don't worry. I don't think about anything much. Who
do you wonder about but Reinalde and the priest and
lots of people I know, But I don't think about
(16:05):
them much. I don't want to think about the war.
I'm through with it. What are you thinking about now? Nothing? Yes,
you were tell me I was wondering whether Reinalde had
the syphless? Was that all? Yes? Has he the syphless?
I don't know. I'm glad you haven't. Did you ever
(16:26):
have anything like that? I had gone, Arihea, I don't
want to hear about it. Was it very painful, darling?
Very I wish i'd had it, No, you don't, I do.
I wish i'd had it to be like you. I
wish i'd stayed with all your girls so I could
make fun of them. To you, that's a pretty picture.
It's not pretty picture. You haven't gone, Aria, I know it.
(16:50):
Look at the snow now, I'd rather look at you, darling.
Why don't you let your hair grow? How grow? Just
grow a little longer? It's long enough now, No, let
it grow a little longer, and I could cut mine
and we'd be just alike, only one of us blonde
and one of us dark. I wouldn't let you cut yours.
(17:11):
It would be fun. I'm tired of it. It's an
awful nuisance in the bed at night. I like it.
Wouldn't you like it short? I might? I like it
the way it is. It might be nice short. Then
we both be alike. Oh, darling, I want you so much.
I want to be you too. You are we're the
same one. I know it. At night we are. The
(17:32):
nights are grand. I want us to be all mixed up.
I don't want you to go away. I just said that.
You go if you want to, but hurry right back. Why, darling,
I don't live at all when I'm not with you.
I won't ever go away. I said. I'm no good
when you're not there. I haven't any life at all
any more. I want you to have a life. I
(17:53):
want you to have a fine life. But we'll have
it together, won't we. Now? Do you want me to
stop growing my beard or let it go on? Go on?
Grow it? It will be exciting. Maybe it will be
done for New Year's Now, do you want to play chess?
I'd rather play with you. No, let's play chess and
afterward we'll play. Yes, all right. I got out the
(18:17):
chessboard and arranged the pieces. It was still snowing hard outside.
One time in the night I woke up and knew
that Catherine was awake too. The moon was shining in
the window and made shadows on the bed from the
bars on the window panes. Are you awake, sweetheart, yes,
can't you sleep? I just woke up thinking about how
(18:37):
I was nearly crazy when I first met you. Do
you remember you were just a little crazy. I'm never
that way anymore. I'm grand now. You say grand so sweetly?
Say grand grand? Oh, you're sweet, and I'm not crazy now.
I'm just very, very very happy. Go on to sleep,
(18:58):
I said, all right, let's go to sleep at exactly
the same moment, all right, But we did not. I
was awake for quite a long time, thinking about things
and watching Catherine sleeping the moonlight on her face. Then
I went to sleep too. End of Chapter thirty eight.
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