This story concerns the attempts of the title couple to conceive a baby. They tried in Boston and on the boat over to Europe. On the boat, Cornelia Elliot was very sick. She was a Southern woman and became ill easily. When they married, she had seemed younger but now she looked her forty years. When they were married, Hubert Elliot was studying at Harvard in a postgraduate program. He was a poet. He had never slept with a woman before he married. Most women to whom he told that fact immediately left him. Cornelia thought his chastity was lovely. She also adored the way that he kissed her. He could not remember what made him kiss her the first time or why they married, but they did. The first night of their marriage was in Boston. It was a disappointment. But, they still wanted a baby very badly, so they kept trying after they sailed for Europe the next day. First, they went to Paris. Then, they followed some friends to Dijon, but they found that boring. They went back to Paris. Then, they decided that Paris was too crowded and they rented a castle in Touraine for the summer. Cornelia's friend came over from America to stay with them. This made Cornelia much happier than she had been. Several of Hubert's friends also came down to Touraine. But, even though they admired Hubert's poems and he was about to send them out to be published, the friends left to accompany a new young poet to a seaside resort. Hubert drank much white wine at this time. He stopped sleeping with Cornelia. Instead, Cornelia's friend stayed with her. Hubert drank a lot of white wine and hardly spoke. Hemingway writes that they were all happy.
