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You begin again with some fine sensory description of Henry and Catherine in his hospital room--the sights, the sounds, the sensations of a cool night, even the taste of crackers and vermouth and, the next morning, the smell of coffee sipped by the antiaircraft gun crew on the next roof.
You get the impression that \"their\" room, as Henry now calls it, is a refuge from the war. Although Milan is not in the combat zone, evidence of the fighting is all around--in the searchlight stabbing the sky and the men at the antiaircraft gun.
Catherine and Henry\'s talk reveals their growing intimacy. She readies him for surgery and curiously and innocently questions him about his experiences with prostitutes. The chapter ends with more lovemaking.
Some readers find Catherine a less than convincing character, and scenes like this surely contribute to that conclusion. For these readers, she is too compliant--\"You see? I do anything you want.\"--to be believed. People who disagree with this view of her point out that Farewell is a love story. Henry and Catherine are deeply in love and are just now realizing it, hence the submersion of one person in the other. In fairness to Hemingway, you have to concede that he does prepare you for their intense love by tracing the steps of Henry\'s growing involvement. But you must make up your own mind about Catherine.
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