“Good-morning,” she said and came over to the bed. “We haven’t been able to get the doctor. He’s gone to Lake Como. No one knew there was a patient coming. What’s wrong with you anyway?”
“I’m wounded. In the legs and feet and my head is hurt.”
“What’s your name?”
“Henry. Frederic Henry.”
“I’ll wash you up. But we can’t do anything to the dressings until the doctor comes.”
“Is Miss Barkley here?”
“No. There’s no one by that name here.”
“Who was the woman who cried when I came in?”
The nurse laughed. “That’s Mrs. Walker. She was on night duty and she’d been asleep. She wasn’t expecting any one.”
While we were talking she was undressing me, and when I was undressed, except for the bandages, she washed me, very gently and smoothly. The washing felt very good. There was a bandage on my head but she washed all around the edge.