By Ernest Hemingway-Books Pdf

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excursion from Paris's Left Bank to Pamplona for the July fiesta and its climactic bull fight, a journey from the center of a civilization spirtually bankrupted by the First World War to a vital, God-haunted world in which faith and honor have yet to lose their currency, the novel captured for the generation that would come to be called "Lost" the spirit of its age, and marked Ernest Hemingway ...

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Published in 1926 to explosive acclaim The Sun Also Rises stands as perhaps the most impressive first
novel ever written by an American writer A roman clef about a group of American and English expatriates on an
excursion from Paris s Left Bank to Pamplona for the July fiesta and its climactic bull fight a journey from the
center of a civilization spirtually bankrupted by the First World War to a vital God haunted world in which faith
and honor have yet to lose their currency the novel captured for the generation that would come to be called Lost
the spirit of its age and marked Ernest Hemingway as the preeminent writer of his time
This book is for Hadley
and for John Hadley Nicanor
You are all a lost generation
GERTRUDE STEIN IN CONVERSATION
One generation passeth away and another generation cometh but the earth abideth forever The sun also ariseth
and the sun goeth down and hasteth to the place where he arose The wind goeth toward the south and turneth
about unto the north it whirleth about continually and the wind returneth again according to his circuits All the
rivers run into the sea yet the sea is not full unto the place from whence the rivers come thither they return
again
ECCLESIASTES
BOOK ONE
1
Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton Do not think that I am very much
impressed by that as a boxing title but it meant a lot to Cohn He cared nothing for boxing in fact he disliked it but
he learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he had felt on being
treated as a Jew at Princeton There was a certain inner comfort in knowing he could knock down anybody who was
snooty to him although being very shy and a thoroughly nice boy he never fought except in the gym He was
Spider Kelly s star pupil Spider Kelly taught all his young gentlemen to box like featherweights no matter whether
they weighed one hundred and five or two hundred and five pounds But it seemed to fit Cohn He was really very
fast He was so good that Spider promptly overmatched him and got his nose permanently flattened This increased
Cohn s distaste for boxing but it gave him a certain satisfaction of some strange sort and it certainly improved his
nose In his last year at Princeton he read too much and took to wearing spectacles I never met any one of his class
who remembered him They did not even remember that he was middleweight boxing champion
I mistrust all frank and simple people especially when their stories hold together and I always had a suspicion
that perhaps Robert Cohn had never been middleweight boxing champion and that perhaps a horse had stepped on
his face or that maybe his mother had been frightened or seen something or that he had maybe bumped into
something as a young child but I finally had somebody verify the story from Spider Kelly Spider Kelly not only
remembered Cohn He had often wondered what had become of him
Robert Cohn was a member through his father of one of the richest Jewish families in New York and through
his mother of one of the oldest At the military school where he prepped for Princeton and played a very good end
on the football team no one had made him race conscious No one had ever made him feel he was a Jew and hence
any different from anybody else until he went to Princeton He was a nice boy a friendly boy and very shy and it
made him bitter He took it out in boxing and he came out of Princeton with painful self consciousness and the
flattened nose and was married by the first girl who was nice to him He was married five years had three children
lost most of the fifty thousand dollars his father left him the balance of the estate having gone to his mother
hardened into a rather unattractive mould under domestic unhappiness with a rich wife and just when he had made
up his mind to leave his wife she left him and went off with a miniature painter As he had been thinking for months
about leaving his wife and had not done it because it would be too cruel to deprive her of himself her departure was
a very healthful shock
The divorce was arranged and Robert Cohn went out to the Coast In California he fell among literary people
and as he still had a little of the fifty thousand left in a short time he was backing a review of the Arts The review
commenced publication in Carmel California and finished in Provincetown Massachusetts By that time Cohn
who had been regarded purely as an angel and whose name had appeared on the editorial page merely as a member
of the advisory board had become the sole editor It was his money and he discovered he liked the authority of
editing He was sorry when the magazine became too expensive and he had to give it up
By that time though he had other things to worry about He had been taken in hand by a lady who hoped to
rise with the magazine She was very forceful and Cohn never had a chance of not being taken in hand Also he was
sure that he loved her When this lady saw that the magazine was not going to rise she became a little disgusted
with Cohn and decided that she might as well get what there was to get while there was still something available so
she urged that they go to Europe where Cohn could write They came to Europe where the lady had been educated
and stayed three years During these three years the first spent in travel the last two in Paris Robert Cohn had two
friends Braddocks and myself Braddocks was his literary friend I was his tennis friend
The lady who had him her name was Frances found toward the end of the second year that her looks were
going and her attitude toward Robert changed from one of careless possession and exploitation to the absolute
determination that he should marry her During this time Robert s mother had settled an allowance on him about
three hundred dollars a month During two years and a half I do not believe that Robert Cohn looked at another
woman He was fairly happy except that like many people living in Europe he would rather have been in America
and he had discovered writing He wrote a novel and it was not really such a bad novel as the critics later called it
although it was a very poor novel He read many books played bridge played tennis and boxed at a local
gymnasium
I first became aware of his lady s attitude toward him one night after the three of us had dined together We
had dined at l Avenue s and afterward went to the Caf de Versailles for coffee We had several fines after the
coffee and I said I must be going Cohn had been talking about the two of us going off somewhere on a weekend
trip He wanted to get out of town and get in a good walk I suggested we fly to Strasbourg and walk up to Saint
Odile or somewhere or other in Alsace I know a girl in Strasbourg who can show us the town I said
Somebody kicked me under the table I thought it was accidental and went on She s been there two years and
knows everything there is to know about the town She s a swell girl
I was kicked again under the table and looking saw Frances Robert s lady her chin lifting and her face
hardening
Hell I said why go to Strasbourg We could go up to Bruges or to the Ardennes
Cohn looked relieved I was not kicked again I said good night and went out Cohn said he wanted to buy a
paper and would walk to the corner with me For God s sake he said why did you say that about that girl in
Strasbourg for Didn t you see Frances
No why should I If I know an American girl that lives in Strasbourg what the hell is it to Frances
It doesn t make any difference Any girl I couldn t go that would be all
Don t be silly
You don t know Frances Any girl at all Didn t you see the way she looked
Oh well I said let s go to Senlis
Don t get sore
I m not sore Senlis is a good place and we can stay at the Grand Cerf and take a hike in the woods and come
home
Good that will be fine
Well I ll see you to morrow at the courts I said
Good night Jake he said and started back to the caf
You forgot to get your paper I said
That s so He walked with me up to the kiosque at the corner You are not sore are you Jake He turned
with the paper in his hand
No why should I be
See you at tennis he said I watched him walk back to the caf holding his paper I rather liked him and
evidently she led him quite a life
2
That winter Robert Cohn went over to America with his novel and it was accepted by a fairly good publisher
His going made an awful row I heard and I think that was where Frances lost him because several women were
nice to him in New York and when he came back he was quite changed He was more enthusiastic about America
than ever and he was not so simple and he was not so nice The publishers had praised his novel pretty highly and
it rather went to his head Then several women had put themselves out to be nice to him and his horizons had all
shifted For four years his horizon had been absolutely limited to his wife For three years or almost three years he
had never seen beyond Frances I am sure he had never been in love in his life
He had married on the rebound from the rotten time he had in college and Frances took him on the rebound
from his discovery that he had not been everything to his first wife He was not in love yet but he realized that he
was an attractive quantity to women and that the fact of a woman caring for him and wanting to live with him was
not simply a divine miracle This changed him so that he was not so pleasant to have around Also playing for
higher stakes than he could afford in some rather steep bridge games with his New York connections he had held
cards and won several hundred dollars It made him rather vain of his bridge game and he talked several times of
how a man could always make a living at bridge if he were ever forced to
Then there was another thing He had been reading W H Hudson That sounds like an innocent occupation
but Cohn had read and reread The Purple Land The Purple Land is a very sinister book if read too late in life It
recounts splendid imaginary amorous adventures of a perfect English gentleman in an intensely romantic land the
scenery of which is very well described For a man to take it at thirty four as a guide book to what life holds is
about as safe as it would be for a man of the same age to enter Wall Street direct from a French convent equipped
with a complete set of the more practical Alger books Cohn I believe took every word of The Purple Land as
literally as though it had been an R G Dun report You understand me he made some reservations but on the whole
the book to him was sound It was all that was needed to set him off I did not realize the extent to which it had set
him off until one day he came into my office
Hello Robert I said Did you come in to cheer me up
Would you like to go to South America Jake he asked
No
Whynot
I don t know I never wanted to go Too expensive You can see all the South Americans you want in Paris
anyway
They re not the real South Americans
They look awfully real to me
I had a boat train to catch with a week s mail stories and only half of them written
Do you know any dirt I asked
No
None of your exalted connections getting divorces
No listen Jake If I handled both our expenses would you go to South America with me
Why
You can talk Spanish And it would be more fun with two of us
No I said I like this town and I go to Spain in the summertime
All my life I ve wanted to go on a trip like that Cohn said He sat down I ll be too old before I can ever do
it
Don t be a fool I said You can go anywhere you want You ve got plenty of money
I know But I can t get started
Cheer up I said All countries look just like the moving pictures
But I felt sorry for him He had it badly
I can t stand it to think my life is going so fast and I m not really living it
Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bullfighters
I m not interested in bull fighters That s an abnormal life I want to go back in the country in South America
We could have a great trip
Did you ever think about going to British East Africa to shoot
No I wouldn t like that
I d go there with you
No that doesn t interest me
That s because you never read a book about it Go on and read a book all full of love affairs with the beautiful
shiny black princesses
I want to go to South America
He had a hard Jewish stubborn streak
Come on down stairs and have a drink
Aren t you working
No I said We went down the stairs to the caf on the ground floor I had discovered that was the best way to
get rid of friends Once you had a drink all you had to say was Well I ve got to get back and get off some cables
and it was done It is very important to discover graceful exits like that in the newspaper business where it is such
an important part of the ethics that you should never seem to be working Anyway we went down stairs to the bar
and had a whiskey and soda Cohn looked at the bottles in bins around the wall This is a good place he said
There s a lot of liquor I agreed
Listen Jake he leaned forward on the bar Don t you ever get the feeling that all your life is going by and
you re not taking advantage of it Do you realize you ve lived nearly half the time you have to live already
Yes every once in a while
Do you know that in about thirty five years more we ll be dead
What the hell Robert I said What the hell
I m
It s one thing I don t worry about I said
You ought to
I ve had plenty to worry about one time or other I m through worrying
Well I want to go to South America
Listen Robert going to another country doesn t make any difference I ve tried all that You can t get away
from yourself by moving from one place to another There s nothing to that
But you ve never been to South America
South America hell If you went there the way you feel now it would be exactly the same This is a good
town Why don t you start living your life in Paris
I m sick of Paris and I m sick of the Quarter
Stay away from the Quarter Cruise around by yourself and see what happens to you
Nothing happens to me I walked alone all one night and nothing happened except a bicycle cop stopped me
and asked to see my papers
Wasn t the town nice at night
I don t care for Paris
So there you were I was sorry for him but it was not a thing you could do anything about because right away
you ran up against the two stubbornnesses South America could fix it and he did not like Paris He got the first idea
out of a book and I suppose the second came out of a book too
Well I said I ve got to go up stairs and get off some cables
Do you really have to go
Yes I ve got to get these cables off
Do you mind if I come up and sit around the office
No come on up
He sat in the outer room and read the papers and the Editor and Publisher and I worked hard for two hours
Then I sorted out the carbons stamped on a by line put the stuff in a couple of big manila envelopes and rang for a
boy to take them to the Gare St Lazare I went out into the other room and there was Robert Cohn asleep in the big
chair He was asleep with his head on his arms I did not like to wake him up but I wanted to lock the office and
shove off I put my hand on his shoulder He shook his head I can t do it he said and put his head deeper into his
arms I can t do it Nothing will make me do it
Robert I said and shook him by the shoulder He looked up He smiled and blinked
Did I talk out loud just then
Something But it wasn t clear
God what a rotten dream
Did the typewriter put you to sleep
Guess so I didn t sleep all last night
What was the matter
Talking he said
I could picture it I have a rotten habit of picturing the bedroom scenes of my friends We went out to the Caf
Napolitain to have an aperitif and watch the evening crowd on the Boulevard
3
It was a warm spring night and I sat at a table on the terrace of the Napolitain after Robert had gone watching
it get dark and the electric signs come on and the red and green stop and go traffic signal and the crowd going by
and the horse cabs clippety clopping along at the edge of the solid taxi traffic and the poules going by singly and
in pairs looking for the evening meal I watched a good looking girl walk past the table and watched her go up the
street and lost sight of her and watched another and then saw the first one coming back again She went by once
more and I caught her eye and she came over and sat down at the table The waiter came up
Well what will you drink I asked
Pernod
That s not good for little girls
Little girl yourself Dites garcon un pernod
A pernod for me too
What s the matter she asked Going on a party
Sure Aren t you
I don t know You never know in this town
Don t you like Paris
No
Why don t you go somewhere else
Isn t anywhere else
You re happy all right
Happy hell
Pernod is greenish imitation absinthe When you add water it turns milky It tastes like licorice and it has a
good uplift but it drops you just as far We sat and drank it and the girl looked sullen
Well I said are you going to buy me a dinner
She grinned and I saw why she made a point of not laughing With her mouth closed she was a rather pretty
girl I paid for the saucers and we walked out to the street I hailed a horse cab and the driver pulled up at the curb
Settled back in the slow smoothly rolling fiacre we moved up the Avenue de l Op ra passed the locked doors of
the shops their windows lighted the Avenue broad and shiny and almost deserted The cab passed the New York
Herald bureau with the window full of clocks
What are all the clocks for she asked
They show the hour all over America
Don t kid me
We turned off the Avenue up the Rue des Pyramides through the traffic of the Rue de Rivoli and through a
dark gate into the Tuileries She cuddled against me and I put my arm around her She looked up to be kissed She
touched me with one hand and I put her hand away
Never mind
What s the matter You sick
Yes
Everybody s sick I m sick too
We came out of the Tuileries into the light and crossed the Seine and then turned up the Rue des Saints P res
You oughtn t to drink pernod if you re sick
You neither
It doesn t make any difference with me It doesn t make any difference with a woman
What are you called
Georgette How are you called
Jacob
That s a Flemish name
American too
You re not Flamand
No American
Good I detest Flamands
By this time we were at the restaurant I called to the cocher to stop We got out and Georgette did not like
the looks of the place This is no great thing of a restaurant
No I said Maybe you would rather go to Foyot s Why don t you keep the cab and go on
I had picked her up because of a vague sentimental idea that it would be nice to eat with some one It was a
long time since I had dined with a poule and I had forgotten how dull it could be We went into the restaurant
passed Madame Lavigne at the desk and into a little room Georgette cheered up a little under the food
It isn t bad here she said It isn t chic but the food is all right
Better than you eat in Liege
Brussels you mean
We had another bottle of wine and Georgette made a joke She smiled and showed all her bad teeth and we
touched glasses
You re not a bad type she said It s a shame you re sick We get on well What s the matter with you
anyway
I got hurt in the war I said
Oh that dirty war
We would probably have gone on and discussed the war and agreed that it was in reality a calamity for
civilization and perhaps would have been better avoided I was bored enough Just then from the other room some
one called Barnes I say Barnes Jacob Barnes
It s a friend calling me I explained and went out
There was Braddocks at a big table with a party Cohn Frances Clyne Mrs Braddocks several people I did
not know
You re coming to the dance aren t you Braddocks asked
What dance
Why the dancings Don t you know we ve revived them Mrs Braddocks put in
You must come Jake We re all going Frances said from the end of the table She was tall and had a smile
Of course he s coming Braddocks said Come in and have coffee with us Barnes
Right
And bring your friend said Mrs Braddocks laughing She was a Canadian and had all their easy social
graces
Thanks we ll be in I said I went back to the small room
Who are your friends Georgette asked
Writers and artists
There are lots of those on this side of the river
Too many
I think so Still some of them make money
Oh yes
We finished the meal and the wine Come on I said We re going to have coffee with the others
Georgette opened her bag made a few passes at her face as she looked in the little mirror re defined her lips
with the lip stick and straightened her hat
Good she said
We went into the room full of people and Braddocks and the men at his table stood up
I wish to present my fianc e Mademoiselle Georgette Leblanc I said Georgette smiled that wonderful
smile and we shook hands all round
Are you related to Georgette Leblanc the singer Mrs Braddocks asked
Connais pas Georgette answered
But you have the same name Mrs Braddocks insisted cordially
No said Georgette Not at all My name is Hobin
But Mr Barnes introduced you as Mademoiselle Georgette Leblanc Surely he did insisted Mrs Braddocks
who in the excitement of talking French was liable to have no idea what she was saying
He s a fool Georgette said
Oh it was a joke then Mrs Braddocks said
Yes said Georgette To laugh at
Did you hear that Henry Mrs Braddocks called down the table to Braddocks Mr Barnes introduced his
fiancee as Mademoiselle Leblanc and her name is actually Hobin
Of course darling Mademoiselle Hobin I ve known her for a very long time
Oh Mademoiselle Hobin Frances Clyne calIed speaking French very rapidly and not seeming so proud and
astonished as Mrs Braddocks at its coming out really French Have you been in Paris long Do you like it here
You love Paris do you not
Who s she Georgette turned to me Do I have to talk to her
She turned to Frances sitting smiling her hands folded her head poised on her long neck her lips pursed
ready to start talking again
No I don t like Paris It s expensive and dirty
Really I find it so extraordinarily clean One of the cleanest cities in all Europe
I find it dirty
How strange But perhaps you have not been here very long
I ve been here long enough
But it does have nice people in it One must grant that
Georgette turned to me You have nice friends
Frances was a little drunk and would have liked to have kept it up but the coffee came and Lavigne with the
liqueurs and after that we all went out and started for Braddocks s dancing club
The dancing club was a bal musette in the Rue de la Montagne Sainte Genevieve Five nights a week the
working people of the Pantheon quarter danced there One night a week it was the dancingclub On Monday nights
it was closed When we arrived it was quite empty except for a policeman sitting near the door the wife of the
proprietor back of the zinc bar and the proprietor himself The daughter of the house came down stairs as we went
in There were long benches and tables ran across the room and at the far end a dancing floor
I wish people would come earlier Braddocks said The daughter came up and wanted to know what we
would drink The proprietor got up on a high stool beside the dancing floor and began to play the accordion He had
a string of bells around one of his ankles and beat time with his foot as he played Every one danced It was hot and
we came off the floor perspiring
My God Georgette said What a box to sweat in
It s hot
Hot my God
Take off your hat
That s a good idea
Some one asked Georgette to dance and I went over to the bar It was really very hot and the accordion music
was pleasant in the hot night I drank a beer standing in the doorway and getting the cool breath of wind from the
street Two taxis were coming down the steep street They both stopped in front of the Bal A crowd of young men
some in jerseys and some in their shirt sleeves got out I could see their hands and newly washed wavy hair in the
light from the door The policeman standing by the door looked at me and smiled They came in As they went in
under the light I saw white hands wavy hair white faces grimacing gesturing talking With them was Brett She
looked very lovely and she was very much with them
One of them saw Georgette and said I do declare There is an actual harlot I m going to dance with her Lett
You watch me
The tall dark one called Lett said Don t you be rash
The wavy blond one answered Don t you worry dear And with them was Brett
I was very angry Somehow they always made me angry I know they are supposed to be amusing and you
should be tolerant but I wanted to swing on one any one anything to shatter that superior simpering composure
Instead I walked down the street and had a beer at the bar at the next Bal The beer was not good and I had a worse
cognac to take the taste Out of my mouth When I came back to the Bad there was a crowd on the floor and
Georgette was dancing with the tall blond youth who danced big hippily carrying his head on one side his eyes
lifted as he danced As soon as the music stopped another one of them asked her to dance She had been taken up by
them I knew then that they would all dance with her They are like that
I sat down at a table Cohn was sitting there Frances was dancing Mrs Braddocks brought up somebody and
introduced him as Robert Prentiss He was from New York by way of Chicago and was a rising new novelist He
had some sort of an English accent I asked him to have a drink
Thanks so much he said I ve just had one
Have another
Thanks I will then
We got the daughter of the house over and each had a fine a l eau
You re from Kansas City they tell me he said
Yes
Do you find Paris amusing
Yes
Really
I was a little drunk Not drunk in any positive sense but just enough to be careless
For God s sake I said yes Don t you
Oh how charmingly you get angry he said I wish I had that faculty
I got up and walked over toward the dancing floor Mrs Braddocks followed me Don t be cross with
Robert she said He s still only a child you know
I wasn t cross I said I just thought perhaps I was going to throw up
Your fianc e is having a great success Mrs Braddocks looked out on the floor where Georgette was
dancing in the arms of the tall dark one called Lett
Isn t she I said
Rather said Mrs Braddocks
Cohn came up Come on Jake he said have a drink We walked over to the bar What s the matter with
you You seem all worked up over something
Nothing This whole show makes me sick is all
Brett came up to the bar
Hello you chaps
Hello Brett I said Why aren t you tight
Never going to get tight any more I say give a chap a brandy and soda
She stood holding the glass and I saw Robert Cohn looking at her He looked a great deal as his compatriot
must have looked when he saw the promised land Cohn of course was much younger But he had that look of
eager deserving expectation
Brett was damned good looking She wore a slipover jersey sweater and a tweed skirt and her hair was
brushed back like a boy s She started all that She was built with curves like the hull of a racing yacht and you
missed none of it with that wool jersey
It s a fine crowd you re with Brett I said
Aren t they lovely And you my dear Where did you get it
At the Napolitain
And have you had a lovely evening
Oh priceless I said
Brett laughed It s wrong of you Jake It s an insult to all of us Look at Frances there and Jo
This for Cohn s benefit
It s in restraint of trade Brett said She laughed again
You re wonderfully sober I said
Yes Aren t I And when one s with the crowd I m with one can drink in such safety too
The music started and Robert Cohn said Will you dance this with me Lady Brett
Brett smiled at him I ve promised to dance this with Jacob she laughed You ve a hell of a biblical name
Jake
How about the next asked Cohn
We re going Brett said We ve a date up at Montmartre
Dancing I looked over Brett s shoulder and saw Cohn standing at the bar still watching her
You ve made a new one there I said to her
Don t talk about it Poor chap I never knew it till just now
Oh well I said I suppose you like to add them up
Don t talk like a fool
You do
Oh well What if I do
Nothing I said We were dancing to the accordion and some one was playing the banjo It was hot and I felt
happy We passed close to Georgette dancing with another one of them
What possessed you to bring her
I don t know I just brought her
You re getting damned romantic
No bored
Now
No not now
Let s get out of here She s well taken care of
Do you want to
Would I ask you if I didn t want to
We left the floor and I took my coat off a hanger on the wall and put it on Brett stood by the bar Cohn was
talking to her I stopped at the bar and asked them for an envelope The patronne found one I took a fifty franc note
from my pocket put it in the envelope sealed it and handed it to the patronne
If the girl I came with asks for me will you give her this I said If she goes out with one of those
gentlemen will you save this for me
C est entendu Monsieur the patronne said You go now So early
Yes I said
We started out the door Cohn was still talking to Brett She said good night and took my arm Good night
Cohn I said Outside in the street we looked for a taxi
You re going to lose your fifty francs Brett said
Oh yes
No taxis
We could walk up to the Pantheon and get one
Come on and we ll get a drink in the pub next door and send for one
You wouldn t walk across the street
Not if I could help it
We went into the next bar and I sent a waiter for a taxi
Well I said we re out away from them
We stood against the tall zinc bar and did not talk and looked at each other The waiter came and said the taxi
was outside Brett pressed my hand hard I gave the waiter a franc and we went out Where should I tell him I
asked
Oh tell him to drive around
I told the driver to go to the Parc Montsouris and got in and slammed the door Brett was leaning back in the
corner her eyes closed I sat beside her The cab started with a jerk
Oh darling I ve been so miserable Brett said
4
The taxi went up the hill passed the lighted square then on into the dark still climbing then levelled out onto
a dark street behind St Etienne du Mont went smoothly down the asphalt passed the trees and the standing bus at
the Place de la Contrescarpe then turned onto the cobbles of the Rue Mouffetard There were lighted bars and late
open shops on each side of the street We were sitting apart and we jolted close together going down the old street
Brett s hat was off Her head was back I saw her face in the lights from the open shops then it was dark then I saw
her face clearly as we came out on the Avenue des Gobelins The street was torn up and men were working on the
car tracks by the light of acetylene flares Brett s face was white and the long line of her neck showed in the bright
light of the flares The street was dark again and I kissed her Our lips were tight together and then she turned away
and pressed against the corner of the seat as far away as she could get Her head was down
Don t touch me she said Please don t touch me
What s the matter
I can t stand it
Oh Brett
You mustn t You must know I can t stand it that s all Oh darling please understand
Don t you love me
Love you I simply turn all to jelly when you touch me
Isn t there anything we can do about it
She was sitting up now My arm was around her and she was leaning back against me and we were quite calm
She was looking into my eyes with that way she had of looking that made you wonder whether she really saw out of
her own eyes They would look on and on after every one else s eyes in the world would have stopped looking She
looked as though there were nothing on earth she would not look at like that and really she was afraid of so many
things
And there s not a damn thing we could do I said
I don t know she said I don t want to go through that hell again
We d better keep away from each other
But darling I have to see you It isn t all that you know
No but it always gets to be
That s my fault Don t we pay for all the things we do though
She had been looking into my eyes all the time Her eyes had different depths sometimes they seemed
perfectly flat Now you could see all the way into them
When I think of the hell I ve put chaps through I m paying for it all now
Don t talk like a fool I said Besides what happened to me is supposed to be funny I never think about it
Oh no I ll lay you don t
Well let s shut up about it
I laughed about it too myself once She wasn t looking at me A friend of my brother s came home that
way from Mons It seemed like a hell of a joke Chaps never know anything do they
No I said Nobody ever knows anything
I was pretty well through with the subject At one time or another I had probably considered it from most of its
various angles including the one that certain injuries or imperfections are a subject of merriment while remaining
quite serious for the person possessing them
It s funny I said It s very funny And it s a lot of fun too to be in love
Do you think so her eyes looked flat again
I don t mean fun that way In a way it s an enjoyable feeling
No she said I think it s hell on earth
It s good to see each other
No I don t think it is

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