That way you could tell how much whiskey there was and it would not suddenly be too thin from the soda.
I would get a bottle of whiskey and have them bring ice and soda.
That was the sensible way.
Good whiskey was very pleasant.
It was one of the pleasant parts of life.
"What are you thinking, darling?"
"About whiskey."
"What about whiskey?"
"About how nice it is."
Catherine made a face.
"All right," she said.
We stayed at that hotel three weeks.
It was not bad; the diningroom was usually empty and very often we ate in our room at night.
We walked in the town and took the cogwheel railway down to Ouchy and walked beside the lake.
The weather became quite warm and it was like spring.
We wished we were back in the mountains but the spring weather lasted only a few days and then the cold rawness of the breaking-up of winter came again.
Catherine bought the things she needed for the baby, up in the town.
I went to a gymnasium in the arcade to box for exercise.
I usually went up there in the morning while Catherine stayed late in bed.
On the days of false spring it was very nice, after boxing and taking a shower, to walk along the streets smelling the spring in the air and stop at a cafй to sit and watch the people and read the paper and drink a vermouth; then go down to the hotel and have lunch with Catherine.
The professor at the boxing gymnasium wore mustaches and was very precise and jerky and went all to pieces if you started after him.
But it was pleasant in the gym.
There was good air and light and I worked quite hard, skipping rope, shadowboxing, doing abdominal exercises lying on the floor in a patch of sunlight that came through the open window, and occasionally scaring the professor when we boxed.
I could not shadow-box in front of the narrow long mirror at first because it looked so strange to see a man with a beard boxing.
But finally I just thought it was funny.
I wanted to take off the beard as soon as I started boxing but Catherine did not want me to.
Sometimes Catherine and I went for rides out in the country in a carriage.
It was nice to ride when the days were pleasant and we found two good places where we could ride out to eat.
Catherine could not walk very far now and I loved to ride out along the country roads with her.
When there was a good day we had a splendid time and we never had a bad time.
We knew the baby was very close now and it gave us both a feeling as though something were hurrying us and we could not lose any time together.
41
One morning I awoke about three o'clock hearing Catherine stirring in the bed.
"Are you all right, Cat?"
"I've been having some pains, darling."
"Regularly?"
"No, not very."
"If you have them at all regularly we'll go to the hospital."
I was very sleepy and went back to sleep.
A little while later I woke again.
"Maybe you'd better call up the doctor," Catherine said. "I think maybe this is it."
I went to the phone and called the doctor.
"How often are the pains coming?" he asked.
"How often are they coming, Cat?"
"I should think every quarter of an hour."
"You should go to the hospital, then," the doctor said. "I will dress and go there right away myself."
I hung up and called the garage near the station to send up a taxi.
No one answered the phone for a long time.
Then I finally got a man who promised to send up a taxi at once.
Catherine was dressing.