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Henry has made it to Milan. He goes to a wine shop and has coffee. His dialogue with the proprietor shows the temper of the country at this juncture in the war. Word of the retreat has gotten back to Milan. Defeat is in the air. Men are apparently deserting because the proprietor strongly hints that he\'s running a kind of underground railway station for soldiers \"in trouble.\" Henry politely refuses his help, but he does take care to remember the address.
He goes to the hospital and finds that Catherine is away on leave in Stresa. Then he seeks out Ralph Simmons, the American opera singer. Henry is organizing a plan. He asks about getting into Switzerland and asks Simmons to buy him some civilian clothing. (Incidentally, now you find out what Henry was doing in Italy when the war broke out: studying architecture in Rome.) Simmons offers his own clothes and further suggests that Stresa is ideal for escaping to Switzerland. \"You just row a boat across,\" he says. The plan seems settled.
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