“The best way is to have it over your leg,” I said. “Then you feel it and don’t lose your teeth.”
I put my hand in the water. It was very cold. We were almost opposite the hotel now.
“I have to go in,” the barman said, “to be there for eleven o’clock. L’heure du cocktail. ”
“All right.”
I pulled in the line and wrapped it on a stick notched at each end. The barman put the boat in a little slip in the stone wall and locked it with a chain and padlock.
“Any time you want it,” he said, “I’ll give you the key.”
“Thanks.”
We went up to the hotel and in to the bar. I did not want another drink so early in the morning so I went up to our room. The maid had just finished doing the room and Catherine was not back yet. I lay down on the bed and tried to keep from thinking.
When Catherine came back it was all right again. Ferguson was downstairs, she said. She was coming to lunch.
“I knew you wouldn’t mind,” Catherine said.
“No,” I said.
“What’s the matter, darling?”
“I don’t know.”
“I know. You haven’t anything to do. All you have is me and I go away.”