the sunlight. I was expecting my wife, I said. There was a big double bed, a letto matrimoniale with a satin coverlet. The hotel was very luxurious. I went down the long halls, down the wide stairs, through the rooms to the bar. I knew the barman and sat on a high stool and ate salted almonds and potato chips. The martini felt cool and clean.
“What are you doing here in borghese ?” the barman asked after he had mixed a second martini.
“I am on leave. Convalescing-leave.”
“There is no one here. I don’t know why they keep the hotel open.”
“Have you been fishing?”
“I’ve caught some beautiful pieces. Trolling this time of year you catch some beautiful pieces.”
“Did you ever get the tobacco I sent?”
“Yes. Didn’t you get my card?”
I laughed. I had not been able to get the tobacco. It was American pipe-tobacco that he wanted, but my relatives had stopped sending it or it was being held up. Anyway it never came.
“I’ll get some somewhere,” I said. “Tell me have you seen two English girls in the town? They came here day before yesterday.”
“They are not at the hotel.”
“They are nurses.”
“I have seen two nurses. Wait a minute, I will find out where they are.”
“One of them is my wife,” I said. “I have come here to meet her.”