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CHAPTER 20 The End of Something (1939) By Valentine’s Day 1939, with Ernest’s heart elsewhere, he headed once again for Cuba. The author rented his usual room at the Ambos Mundos for sleeping and a room at the Sevilla-Biltmore for writing, stocking it with plenty of food to avoid breaking for meals if writing was going well. The best way to get any work done, he told a friend, is to “tell everybody you live in one hotel and live in another.”1 Relocation to Cuba helped clear his head, and he launched into a frenzy of composition. Ernest intended to complete three short stories and quickly finished the first one, titled “Under the Ridge.” Though he no longer prized Pauline as a marriage partner, he still valued her as an editor. After sending the story to Key West for her review, he told Perkins, “Pauline thinks among best I’ve ever written.”2 When he started on the next story, the words flowed much more easily than expected. By the time he reached fifteen thousand words, Ernest realized that, instead of a short story, he had the makings of a Spanish Civil War novel. Thus, Ernest marked March 1, 1939, as the day he officially began For Whom the Bell Tolls. Vowing to concentrate on the novel until it was finished, he generally started writing around 8:30 each morning and worked straight through until about 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Martha joined him in Cuba, and when he broke for the day they swam, played tennis, fished for marlin from the Pilar, or went into Havana and strolled along the Prado or drank at the Floridita. Pauline’s letters to Ernest from Key West remained upbeat and correct for the most part. Occasionally, however, she let her guard down, and her feelings flowed across the page. Responding to Ernest’s complaints about being asked to change love scenes in his play, she admitted her helplessness in advising him, indicating that there was “a time when I might have taken a stand about love, but find I know nothing about love.”3 215 In mid-March, Ernest returned to Key West for Bumby’s Easter visit. While there he tried to keep up the writing momentum established in Cuba but found it virtually impossible. Pauline had developed several new friendships during Ernest’s prolonged absences, and gathering around the Hemingways’ pool for drinks had become an afternoon ritual. Pauline made no attempt to alter the routine after Ernest returned. Unlike in the past, when his need for quiet ranked as her top priority, Pauline no longer felt compelled to send guests away or even have them be quiet. When Ernest argued with Pauline about it, Virginia defended her. Ernest soon headed back to Cuba, where he again became engrossed in writing. Earlier he had promised Martha that he would find a house for them, but the words flowed so well that he never got around to it. Martha took matters into her own hands and found a Spanish-style house about fifteen miles from Havana in the little village of San Francisco de Paulo. With about ten acres, the property included a guesthouse near the main house and rented for one hundred dollars per month. Though it was run-down, Martha perceived great possibilities. When Ernest first saw the house, he immediately dismissed it, proclaiming it not worth one hundred dollars per month. Undeterred, Martha went to work on it using her own funds while Ernest went fishing. When he returned, the house pleased Ernest so much that he moved in immediately. To avoid questions from friends and save embarrassment for Pauline, he continued receiving his mail at the Ambos Mundos address, just as on previous fishing and writing trips. Not long after Ernest returned to Cuba, Pauline and Virginia decided on a leisurely trip to Piggott by way of New York, leaving the boys in Key West with Ada to finish the school term. Their uncle Henry Pfeiffer had died on April 13, and since they had not made it to the funeral services in New York or the interment in Cedar Falls, Pauline thought visiting family might do her some good. Also, she wanted some time to herself without worrying about everyone’s schedules. Pauline planned to spend May in Piggott and return to New York with Virginia, then perhaps visit friends in Nantucket and see how the summer shaped up from...

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