What's left of the group splits up, with Bill returning to Paris and Mike to Saint Jean de Luz, on the French side of the border. Jake travels to San Sebastian, where he relaxes alone in cafés and on the beach. Soon, however, his relative tranquility is shattered by a telegram from Brett begging him to join her in Madrid. Jake faithfully travels to the capital overnight; when he finds Brett in her hotel room, she is devastated by the end of her affair with Romero. Though she says she doesn't want to talk about it, she does nothing but talk, and Jake of course listens. Brett reveals that it was she who ended the relationship, and that she intends to return to Mike. As the novel ends, Jake and Brett are drunk and riding in a cab, their bodies pressed together by the movements of the car — just as they were at the start of Chapter IV.
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