He simply doesn't mention them."
"I don't know.
It's hard to see inside the head of the brave."
"Yes.
That's how they keep that way."
"You're an authority."
"You're right, darling.
That was deserved."
"You're brave."
"No," she said. "But I would like to be."
"I'm not," I said. "I know where I stand.
I've been out long enough to know.
I'm like a ball-player that bats two hundred and thirty and knows he's no better."
"What is a ball-player that bats two hundred and thirty?
It's awfully impressive."
"It's not.
It means a mediocre hitter in baseball."
"But still a hitter," she prodded me.
"I guess we're both conceited," I said. "But you are brave."
"No.
But I hope to be."
"We're both brave," I said. "And I'm very brave when I've had a drink."
"We're splendid people," Catherine said.
She went over to the armoire and brought me the cognac and a glass. "Have a drink, darling," she said. "You've been awfully good."
"I don't really want one."
"Take one."
"All right." I poured the water glass a third full of cognac and drank it off.
"That was very big," she said. "I know brandy is for heroes.
But you shouldn't exaggerate."
"Where will we live after the war?"
"In an old people's home probably," she said. "For three years I looked forward very childishly to the war ending at Christmas.
But now I look forward till when our son will be a lieutenant commander."
"Maybe he'll be a general."
"If it's an hundred years' war he'll have time to try both of the services."
"Don't you want a drink?"
"No.
It always makes you happy, darling, and it only makes me dizzy."
"Didn't you ever drink brandy?"
"No, darling.
I'm a very old-fashioned wife."
I reached down to the floor for the bottle and poured another drink.
"I'd better go to have a look at your compatriots," Catherine said. "Perhaps you'll read the papers until I come back."
"Do you have to go?"
"Now or later."
"All right. Now."
"I'll come back later."
"I'll have finished the papers," I said.
22
It turned cold that night and the next day it was raining.
Coming home from the Ospedale Maggiore it rained very hard and I was wet when I came in.