Sculpture had always seemed a dull businessstill.

 . selfinflicted wounds. A. I wanted to go to Austria without war. There is nothing worse than war. I love you.Thats a relief.You did exactly right. It was cold in the car in the night as the road climbed. The hall too. 206 arent youYes. I said. drunk. folded it without rising from the bed and slid it in his breeches pocket. I saw arched stone bridges over the river where tracks turned off from the road and we passed stone farmhouses with pear trees candelabraed against their south walls and low stone walls in the fields. Drink that.

 Today I see priest with girls.Another American. You know more about it than I do.She was unclasping something from her neck.I drank the cognac and felt it warm all the way down. They carried wounded in and brought them out. it seemed.I guess youve got a fracture all right.I have one. Every week some one gets wounded by rock fragments.She looked down at the grass. Its a Saint Anthony. then stopped and kissed her.Its a silly front.I pressed her hand. unloaded them and went away.

 I said I thought they had them. and in the fall when the rains came the leaves all fell from the chestnut trees and the branches were bare and the trunks black with rain. The war was changed too. They were very nice and we had a big evening. because they did not bombard it to destroy it but only a little in a military way. This chap of yours was very anxious for me to see you. You understand Priest every night five against one.Thank you very much. Priest not happy without girls. father. Gordini stood behind me. I had a very fine little show and Im all right now. Genoa was the place to see the bad marbles. That is true. His mother sent it to me.It belonged to a boy who was killed last year.

 The men were hot and sweating. I wanted to go to the Black Forest. Another night when you feel stronger. and things went very badly.No.I will get it for you. I decided to go on upstairs. The little major looked at us furious. I saw that word pricked him and kept on. isnt heYes. the major said.I dont believe a word of this. After supper I would go and see Catherine Barkley.I looked in her eyes and put my arm around her as I had before and kissed her. Rocca ignored this and went on to explain the joke to me. Still I would probably have been killed.

 We saw their white uniforms through the trees and walked toward them. All the officers were very happy. Hes coming to see you. I couldnt move. spaced by the interval of their dust.I did not. I say its rotten. Really.Youre an orator. We went for a stretcher but there wasnt any. The carabinieri waved us to go on. Get well soon.The next afternoon I went to call on Miss Barkley again. When this road was finished the offensive would start.Four hundred twenty or minnenwerfer.Whats the matterHe looked at me.

 But I found a place where the cars would be sheltered after they passed that last badlooking bit and could wait for the wounded to be brought across the pontoon bridge.Whats the trouble the war.I wanted to do something for him. spaced by the interval of their dust.Ive heard about it. she said. Oh oh oh oh. with the sun on it. Outside the sergeant adjutant knelt down beside me where I lay.When I got back to the villa it was five oclock and I went out where we washed the cars.Come on.Just as you like. We drank rum and it was very friendly. We understand you let us talk. Hes all right. I like the simpler pleasures.

 the water clear.Ill go and see now.Poor man. What made it pretty was that it sounded like Island. I said to Gordini.I have to go. and instead of going on I felt myself slide back. It would only be worse if we stopped fighting.Kiss me.They dont give them like that. Not Bacchus. Now they try to forget it.A new wide road was being finished that would go over the mountain and zigzag down to the bridge.She looked at me. At the gate of the driveway that led up to the British villa. There is only one difference between taking a girl who has always been good and a woman.

 Manera said. She did not seem tall walking toward me but she looked very lovely. But Im back now.Its not been away. even in the ambulance business. In the town there were more guns. Why did you do itI dont know. Tenente. The grappa was very strong. For stupidity. He was a tall man and wore steel rimmed spectacles.Its very odd though. All fire and smoke and nothing inside.I did not say anything. He woke when he heard me in the room and sat up.There were small gray motor cars that passed going very fast usually there was an officer on the seat with the driver and more officers in the back seat.

 I must write some letters. Sometimes all niceness gone and glad to get out on the street but always another day starting and then another night. Outside the window it was a lovely spring morning. He smiled. I said I thought they had them. Rome. looking out at the snow falling slowly and heavily.Can Gordini driveI dont think so. isnt heYes.No. It was impossible to salute foreigners as an Italian. He had not had it but he understood that I had really wanted to go to the Abruzzi but had not gone and we were still friends.Of course some of the bonds were not accounted for but the priest had all of the three per cent bonds and several local obligations. I handed it to Gordini. Gordini stood behind me. no.

Youre dirty.Ill bring it to you.You dont believe me We will go now this afternoon and see.Sometimes in the dark we heard the troops marching under the window and guns going past pulled by motor-tractors. It was Passini and when I touched him he screamed. I looked at the tires carefully. Over on the right they had the Duke of Aosta.How do you do Miss Barkley said.I went out to look at the cars and see what was going on and then came back and sat down in the dugout with the four drivers. father. I said. the gas mask in an oblong tin can. You love EnglandNot too well.Wonderful. It looked as though it might be a mess.If you drop me again.

No. TaorminaYou talk like a timetable. I turned her so I could see her face when I kissed her and I saw that her eyes were shut.All right. Priest wants Austrians to win the war. If youve got a fracture you dont want inflammation.They hang you. first fingers extended.Loan me fifty lire. There was nothing to write about. Florence. Rocca said. you know. Porta feriti I tried to get closer to Passini to try to put a tourniquet on the legs but I could not move.Ill be right here. They were a real mask.

 Its not a wound. the captain commenced picking on the priest. I said. and tenentecolonello (the little finger). They were silent until I went out. I tried to breathe but my breath would not come and I felt myself rush bodily out of myself and out and out and out and all the time bodily in the wind. I could have given him that anyway. crossed the pontoon bridge. Multiple superficial wounds of the left and right thigh and left and right knee and right foot. I had not noticed her.What rotten luck. if the war should end. I went on home. and tears came in my eyes from the reflex.It could not be worse.Im awfully sorry.

 I said to Gordini. We drank rum and it was very friendly. They arent girls; they are old war comrades. I dont mind at all. Perhaps.The Pope wants the Austrians to win the war. He did not hear me.But now we will shut up. lit it and went on reading. aint this a goddam warListen. I came back the next afternoon from our first mountain post and stopped the car at the smistimento where the wounded and sick were sorted by their papers and the papers marked for the different hospitals. Signor Tenente. Yes. with strange planes.I stopped to ask if you were better. They were moderately clean.

She laughed. You could stay with my family. one of the other captains said. Passini said. the major said. They say if you can prove you did any heroic act you can get the silver. Messina. I couldnt move. I remembered. The lieutenant. To save you trouble. Ill always come back.Be a good boy and be careful. Somebody was singing. as I said.Two carabinieri held the car up.

 Passini said sarcastically.Open the bottle. Another nurse was with her. We were in the foothills on the near side of the river and as the road mounted there were the high mountains off to the north with snow still on the tops. Bacchus or no Bacchus. While I rubbed myself with a towel I looked around the room and out the window and at Rinaldi lying with his eyes closed on the bed. The gravel paths were moist and the grass was wet with dew.In the ward at the field hospital they told me a visitor was coming to see me in the afternoon. The orderly brought a chair and he sat down. English goddess. We in the auto ambulance cannot even realize at all how bad it is. In the town there were more guns. he said. We caught them and passed them and turned off on a road that climbed up into the hills. My Austrian snipers rifle with its blued octagon barrel and the lovely dark walnut.The Italians didnt want women so near the front.

 drink that. she said. I said and went back to the house and drank another bowl of coffee at the mess table. I was always able to forget. and God be with you. Rinaldi said goodnight.Youre a nice boy. It was a hot night and there was a good deal going on up in the mountains.Isnt there anywhere we can goNo. Doesnt anybody work nowSince you are gone we have nothing but frostbites. she said. It would not finish it if one side stopped fighting. Manera said.Do you always know what people thinkNot always. I thought I was coming back. I thought she was probably a little crazy.

 It was a hot day and the sky was very bright and blue and the road was white and dusty. He bandaged. I said. Halfway through the wine I did not want any more. Youve had it before. 206 arent youYes. It was Passini and when I touched him he screamed.Yes. The trunks of the trees too were dusty and the leaves fell early that year and we saw the troops marching along the road and the dust rising and leaves. It evidently made no difference whether I was there to look after things or not. After some more wine I told the story of the jockey who found the penny. It is just bad administration. I sat now in the chair and an orderly of some sort looked at me disapprovingly from behind a desk while I looked at the marble floor.I ate the end of my piece of cheese and took a swallow of wine. It was a big trench mortar shell. I looked across the wire at the Austrian lines.

The forest of oak trees on the mountain beyond the town was gone. There had been a little town but it was all rubble. Now they have a guard outside his house with a bayonet and nobody can come to see his mother and father and sisters and his father loses his civil rights and cannot even vote.Its not been away. went downstairs.A whatAn ignorant wop. they would not be loaded. but with the difference between us. Shes a nurse. hotter and slower than ever: then the stragglers.In Milano. and pounded on the window to attract his attention. the captain said. I would take you and never hurt you. I wish she were here now. Sculpture had always seemed a dull businessstill.