Read Online Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway - Free Book Online

sat down at the table. David watched her and it
seemed as though she were holding her breath. "Are you tired?" David
asked. "I think so." "Have a glass of this," the Colonel
said. "Would it be all right if I had an absinthe?" "Of
course," David said. "I'll have one too." "Not for
me," the Colonel said to the bartender. "This bottle's lost its
freshness. Put it back to chill and bring me a glass from a cold bottle."
"Do you like the real Pernod?" he asked Catherine. "Yes,"
she said. "I'm shy with people and it helps." "It's an excellent
drink," he said. "I'd join you but I have work I must do after
lunch." "I'm sorry I forgot to make a rendezvous," David said.
"This is very nice." "I stopped by for the mail at the bank.
There's quite a lot for you. I left it in the room." "I don't care
about it," she said. "I saw you in the Prado looking at the
Grecos," the Colonel said. "I saw you too," she said. "Do
you always look at pictures as though you owned them and were deciding how to
have them re-hung properly?" "Probably," the Colonel said.
"Do you always look at them as though you were the young chief of a
warrior tribe who had gotten loose from his councillors and was looking at that
marble of Leda and the Swan?" Catherine blushed under her dark tan and
looked at David and then at the Colonel. "I like you," she said.
"Tell me some more. "I like you," he said. "And I envy
David. Is he everything you want?" "Don't you know?" "'To
me the visible world is visible,'" the Colonel said. "Now go on and
take another sip of that wormwood-tasting truth serum." "I don't need
it now. "Aren't you shy now? Drink it anyway. It's good for you. You're
the darkest white girl I've ever seen. Your father was very dark though."
"I must have his skin. My mother was very fair." "I never knew
her." "Did you know my father well?" "Quite well."
"How was he?" "He was a very difficult and charming man. Are you
really shy?" "Truly. Ask David." "You get over it awfully quickly."
"You rode over it. How was my father?" "He was the shyest man I
ever knew and he could be the most charming." "Did he have to use
Pernod too?" "He used everything." "Do I remind you of
him?" "Not at all." "That's good. Does David?"
"Not in the least." "That's even better. How did you know I was
a boy in the Prado?" 'Why shouldn't you be?" "I only started it
again last evening. I was a girl for almost a month. Ask David." "You
don't need to say ask David. What are you right now?" "A boy if it's
all right with you." "It's fine with me. But you're not."
     
    "I
just wanted to say it," she said. "Now that I said it I don't have to
be it. But it was wonderful in the Prado. That was why I wanted to tell David
about it." "You'll have plenty of time to tell David."
"Yes," she said. "We have time for things." "Tell me
where you got so dark," the Colonel said. "Do you know how dark you
are?" "That was from le Grau du Roi and then not far from la Napoule.
There was a cove there with a trail that went down to it through the pines. You
couldn't see it from the road." "How long did it take to get so
dark?" "About three months." "And what are you going to do
with it?" "Wear it," she said. "It's very becoming in
bed." "I shouldn't think you'd want to waste it in town."
"'The Prado isn't wasting. I don't really wear it. It's me. I really am
this dark. The sun just develops it. I wish I was darker." "You
probably will be then," the Colonel said. "Do you have other things
like that to look forward to?" "Just every day," Catherine said.
"I look forward to every day." "And has today been a good
one?" "Yes. You know it has. You were there." "Will you and
David lunch with me?" "All right," Catherine said. "I'll go
up and change. Will you wait for me?" "Don't you want to finish your
drink?" David asked. "I don't care about it," she said.
"Don't worry about me. I won't be shy." She walked to the door and
they both looked after her. "Was I too rough?" the Colonel asked.
"I hope not. She's a very lovely girl." "I