- Frederic feels like he’s wearing a costume when he wears civilian clothes. He takes a train to Stresa. At Stresa, he gets a room, goes to the bar, and gets some sandwiches and martinis.
- He finds Catherine and Helen eating dinner at their hotel.
- Catherine is very happy to see him, but Helen is not. She tells him that she is mad at him for getting Catherine pregnant.
- Helen is very upset, and she tells Catherine and Frederic they have no honor. She is mad at them for not being married.
- She apologizes for being upset, and says she wants them both happy. She says she wants them to leave, but when Frederic and Catherine go to leave, she accuses them of abandoning her. They finish dinner with her.
- Catherine and Frederic have a very nice night together. Frederic thinks that Catherine is the same at night as in the day, but better — unlike other women he has known, who are different in the day from in the night.
- She asks Frederic about the war, and he says that he does not read the papers anymore, now that he is out.
- Catherine is afraid Frederic will be arrested for desertion, and urges him to find them a way to Switzerland quickly.
- He tells her he feels "like a criminal" for deserting the army. Catherine tells him, "It’s only the Italian army," which pleases Frederic.
- She asks him later if he still feels like a criminal, and he says not when he is with her.