
2019 | 309 views | 0 downloads | 130 Pages | 751.52 KB
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 ...
Flyleaf Published in 1926 to explosive acclaim The Sun Also Rises stands as perhaps the most impressive firstnovel ever written by an American writer A roman clef about a group of American and English expatriates on anexcursion from Paris s Left Bank to Pamplona for the July fiesta and its climactic bull fight a journey from thecenter of a civilization spirtually bankrupted by the First World War to a vital God haunted world in which faithand 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 turnethabout unto the north it whirleth about continually and the wind returneth again according to his circuits All therivers run into the sea yet the sea is not full unto the place from whence the rivers come thither they returnagain ECCLESIASTES BOOK ONE 1 Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton Do not think that I am very muchimpressed by that as a boxing title but it meant a lot to Cohn He cared nothing for boxing in fact he disliked it buthe learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he had felt on beingtreated as a Jew at Princeton There was a certain inner comfort in knowing he could knock down anybody who wassnooty to him although being very shy and a thoroughly nice boy he never fought except in the gym He wasSpider Kelly s star pupil Spider Kelly taught all his young gentlemen to box like featherweights no matter whetherthey weighed one hundred and five or two hundred and five pounds But it seemed to fit Cohn He was really veryfast He was so good that Spider promptly overmatched him and got his nose permanently flattened This increasedCohn s distaste for boxing but it gave him a certain satisfaction of some strange sort and it certainly improved hisnose In his last year at Princeton he read too much and took to wearing spectacles I never met any one of his classwho 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 suspicionthat perhaps Robert Cohn had never been middleweight boxing champion and that perhaps a horse had stepped onhis face or that maybe his mother had been frightened or seen something or that he had maybe bumped intosomething as a young child but I finally had somebody verify the story from Spider Kelly Spider Kelly not onlyremembered 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 throughhis mother of one of the oldest At the military school where he prepped for Princeton and played a very good endon the football team no one had made him race conscious No one had ever made him feel he was a Jew and henceany different from anybody else until he went to Princeton He was a nice boy a friendly boy and very shy and itmade him bitter He took it out in boxing and he came out of Princeton with painful self consciousness and theflattened 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 madeup his mind to leave his wife she left him and went off with a miniature painter As he had been thinking for monthsabout leaving his wife and had not done it because it would be too cruel to deprive her of himself her departure wasa very healthful shock The divorce was arranged and Robert Cohn went out to the Coast In California he fell among literary peopleand as he still had a little of the fifty thousand left in a short time he was backing a review of the Arts The reviewcommenced 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 memberof the advisory board had become the sole editor It was his money and he discovered he liked the authority ofediting 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 torise with the magazine She was very forceful and Cohn never had a chance of not being taken in hand Also he wassure that he loved her When this lady saw that the magazine was not going to rise she became a little disgustedwith 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 twofriends 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 weregoing and her attitude toward Robert changed from one of careless possession and exploitation to the absolutedetermination that he should marry her During this time Robert s mother had settled an allowance on him aboutthree hundred dollars a month During two years and a half I do not believe that Robert Cohn looked at anotherwoman 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 localgymnasium I first became aware of his lady s attitude toward him one night after the three of us had dined together Wehad dined at l Avenue s and afterward went to the Caf de Versailles for coffee We had several fines after thecoffee and I said I must be going Cohn had been talking about the two of us going off somewhere on a weekendtrip He wanted to get out of town and get in a good walk I suggested we fly to Strasbourg and walk up to SaintOdile 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 andknows 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 facehardening 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 apaper and would walk to the corner with me For God s sake he said why did you say that about that girl inStrasbourg 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 comehome 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 turnedwith 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 andevidently 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 werenice to him in New York and when he came back he was quite changed He was more enthusiastic about Americathan ever and he was not so simple and he was not so nice The publishers had praised his novel pretty highly andit rather went to his head Then several women had put themselves out to be nice to him and his horizons had allshifted For four years his horizon had been absolutely limited to his wife For three years or almost three years hehad 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 reboundfrom his discovery that he had not been everything to his first wife He was not in love yet but he realized that hewas an attractive quantity to women and that the fact of a woman caring for him and wanting to live with him wasnot simply a divine miracle This changed him so that he was not so pleasant to have around Also playing forhigher stakes than he could afford in some rather steep bridge games with his New York connections he had heldcards and won several hundred dollars It made him rather vain of his bridge game and he talked several times ofhow 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 Itrecounts splendid imaginary amorous adventures of a perfect English gentleman in an intensely romantic land thescenery of which is very well described For a man to take it at thirty four as a guide book to what life holds isabout as safe as it would be for a man of the same age to enter Wall Street direct from a French convent equippedwith a complete set of the more practical Alger books Cohn I believe took every word of The Purple Land asliterally as though it had been an R G Dun report You understand me he made some reservations but on the wholethe 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 sethim 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 Parisanyway 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 doit 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 beautifulshiny 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 toget 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 suchan important part of the ethics that you should never seem to be working Anyway we went down stairs to the barand 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 andyou 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 awayfrom 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 goodtown 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 meand 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 awayyou ran up against the two stubbornnesses South America could fix it and he did not like Paris He got the first ideaout 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 aboy to take them to the Gare St Lazare I went out into the other room and there was Robert Cohn asleep in the bigchair He was asleep with his head on his arms I did not like to wake him up but I wanted to lock the office andshove 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 hisarms 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 watchingit 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 andin pairs looking for the evening meal I watched a good looking girl walk past the table and watched her go up thestreet and lost sight of her and watched another and then saw the first one coming back again She went by oncemore 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 agood 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 prettygirl 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 ofthe 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 adark gate into the Tuileries She cuddled against me and I put my arm around her She looked up to be kissed Shetouched 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 likethe 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 along 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 wetouched 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 forcivilization and perhaps would have been better avoided I was bored enough Just then from the other room someone 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 didnot 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 socialgraces 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 lipswith 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 wonderfulsmile 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 hisfiancee 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 andastonished 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 pursedready 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 theliqueurs 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 theworking people of the Pantheon quarter danced there One night a week it was the dancingclub On Monday nightsit was closed When we arrived it was quite empty except for a policeman sitting near the door the wife of theproprietor back of the zinc bar and the proprietor himself The daughter of the house came down stairs as we wentin 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 wewould drink The proprietor got up on a high stool beside the dancing floor and began to play the accordion He hada string of bells around one of his ankles and beat time with his foot as he played Every one danced It was hot andwe 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 musicwas pleasant in the hot night I drank a beer standing in the doorway and getting the cool breath of wind from thestreet 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 thelight 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 Shelooked 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 youshould 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 worsecognac to take the taste Out of my mouth When I came back to the Bad there was a crowd on the floor andGeorgette was dancing with the tall blond youth who danced big hippily carrying his head on one side his eyeslifted as he danced As soon as the music stopped another one of them asked her to dance She had been taken up bythem 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 andintroduced him as Robert Prentiss He was from New York by way of Chicago and was a rising new novelist Hehad 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 withRobert 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 wasdancing 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 withyou 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 compatriotmust have looked when he saw the promised land Cohn of course was much younger But he had that look ofeager deserving expectation Brett was damned good looking She wore a slipover jersey sweater and a tweed skirt and her hair wasbrushed back like a boy s She started all that She was built with curves like the hull of a racing yacht and youmissed 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 felthappy 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 wastalking to her I stopped at the bar and asked them for an envelope The patronne found one I took a fifty franc notefrom 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 thosegentlemen 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 taxiwas outside Brett pressed my hand hard I gave the waiter a franc and we went out Where should I tell him Iasked 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 thecorner 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 ontoa dark street behind St Etienne du Mont went smoothly down the asphalt passed the trees and the standing bus atthe Place de la Contrescarpe then turned onto the cobbles of the Rue Mouffetard There were lighted bars and lateopen 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 sawher face clearly as we came out on the Avenue des Gobelins The street was torn up and men were working on thecar tracks by the light of acetylene flares Brett s face was white and the long line of her neck showed in the brightlight of the flares The street was dark again and I kissed her Our lips were tight together and then she turned awayand 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 ofher own eyes They would look on and on after every one else s eyes in the world would have stopped looking Shelooked as though there were nothing on earth she would not look at like that and really she was afraid of so manythings 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 seemedperfectly 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 thatway 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 itsvarious angles including the one that certain injuries or imperfections are a subject of merriment while remainingquite 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