A Farewell to Arms Chapter 17

He wakes up and his knee is in a cast. Miss Gage tells him that the operation went well. He feels sick and realizes he wouldn't have been able to have sex anyway that night. There are other patients in the hospital now: a Georgian with malaria, and a New Yorker with malaria and jaundice. Catherine takes night duty to spend nights with Fred and they write notes to each other during the day through Miss Ferguson. Fred tries to talk to Miss Ferguson about their wedding, but she thinks they will never get married because they will fight first, or he will die, or he will get her in trouble (pregnant). She is cynical about marriage and even more so about Fred's sincerity. She asks about his head and his knee and advises that Catherine take some nights off because she was getting too tired. She doesn't believe that Fred will let her take nights off. He calls Miss Gage in and tells her to see that it happens and they share some vermouth. She tells him that she is his friend.

"Catherine Barkley took three days off night duty and then she came back on again. It was as though we met again after each of us had been away on a long journey" Chapter 17, pg. 111

Friendship 7