10. Wandering Rocks
Link every word (may take a few seconds)
[10304][ 10 ]
[10305]
[10306]The superior, the very reverend John Conmee S. J. reset his smooth watch
[10307]in his interior pocket as he came down the presbytery steps. Five to
[10308]three. Just nice time to walk to Artane. What was that boy’s name
[10309]again? Dignam. Yes. Vere dignum et iustum est. Brother Swan was the
[10310]person to see. Mr Cunningham’s letter. Yes. Oblige him, if possible.
[10311]Good practical catholic: useful at mission time.
[10312]
[10313]A onelegged sailor, swinging himself onward by lazy jerks of his
[10314]crutches, growled some notes. He jerked short before the convent of the
[10315]sisters of charity and held out a peaked cap for alms towards the very
[10316]reverend John Conmee S. J. Father Conmee blessed him in the sun for his
[10317]purse held, he knew, one silver crown.
[10318]
[10319]Father Conmee crossed to Mountjoy square. He thought, but not for long,
[10320]of soldiers and sailors, whose legs had been shot off by cannonballs,
[10321]ending their days in some pauper ward, and of cardinal Wolsey’s
[10322]words: If I had served my God as I have served my king He would not have
[10323]abandoned me in my old days. He walked by the treeshade of sunnywinking
[10324]leaves: and towards him came the wife of Mr David Sheehy M.P.
[10325]
[10326]—Very well, indeed, father. And you, father?
[10327]
[10328]Father Conmee was wonderfully well indeed. He would go to Buxton
[10329]probably for the waters. And her boys, were they getting on well at
[10330]Belvedere? Was that so? Father Conmee was very glad indeed to hear that.
[10331]And Mr Sheehy himself? Still in London. The house was still sitting, to
[10332]be sure it was. Beautiful weather it was, delightful indeed. Yes, it was
[10333]very probable that Father Bernard Vaughan would come again to preach. O,
[10334]yes: a very great success. A wonderful man really.
[10335]
[10336]Father Conmee was very glad to see the wife of Mr David Sheehy M.P.
[10337]Iooking so well and he begged to be remembered to Mr David Sheehy M.P.
[10338]Yes, he would certainly call.
[10339]
[10340]—Good afternoon, Mrs Sheehy.
[10341]
[10342]Father Conmee doffed his silk hat and smiled, as he took leave, at the
[10343]jet beads of her mantilla inkshining in the sun. And smiled yet again,
[10344]in going. He had cleaned his teeth, he knew, with arecanut paste.
[10345]
[10346]Father Conmee walked and, walking, smiled for he thought on Father
[10347]Bernard Vaughan’s droll eyes and cockney voice.
[10348]
[10349]—Pilate! Wy don’t you old back that owlin mob?
[10350]
[10351]A zealous man, however. Really he was. And really did great good in his
[10352]way. Beyond a doubt. He loved Ireland, he said, and he loved the Irish.
[10353]Of good family too would one think it? Welsh, were they not?
[10354]
[10355]O, lest he forget. That letter to father provincial.
[10356]
[10357]Father Conmee stopped three little schoolboys at the corner of Mountjoy
[10358]square. Yes: they were from Belvedere. The little house. Aha. And were
[10359]they good boys at school? O. That was very good now. And what was his
[10360]name? Jack Sohan. And his name? Ger. Gallaher. And the other little man?
[10361]His name was Brunny Lynam. O, that was a very nice name to have.
[10362]
[10363]Father Conmee gave a letter from his breast to Master Brunny Lynam and
[10364]pointed to the red pillarbox at the corner of Fitzgibbon street.
[10365]
[10366]—But mind you don’t post yourself into the box, little man, he said.
[10367]
[10368]The boys sixeyed Father Conmee and laughed:
[10369]
[10370]—O, sir.
[10371]
[10372]—Well, let me see if you can post a letter, Father Conmee said.
[10373]
[10374]Master Brunny Lynam ran across the road and put Father Conmee’s letter
[10375]to father provincial into the mouth of the bright red letterbox. Father
[10376]Conmee smiled and nodded and smiled and walked along Mountjoy square
[10377]east.
[10378]
[10379]Mr Denis J Maginni, professor of dancing &c, in silk hat, slate
[10380]frockcoat with silk facings, white kerchief tie, tight lavender
[10381]trousers, canary gloves and pointed patent boots, walking with grave
[10382]deportment most respectfully took the curbstone as he passed lady
[10383]Maxwell at the corner of Dignam’s court.
[10384]
[10385]Was that not Mrs M’Guinness?
[10386]
[10387]Mrs M’Guinness, stately, silverhaired, bowed to Father Conmee from the
[10388]farther footpath along which she sailed. And Father Conmee smiled and
[10389]saluted. How did she do?
[10390]
[10391]A fine carriage she had. Like Mary, queen of Scots, something. And to
[10392]think that she was a pawnbroker! Well, now! Such a... what should he
[10393]say?... such a queenly mien.
[10394]
[10395]Father Conmee walked down Great Charles street and glanced at the shutup
[10396]free church on his left. The reverend T. R. Greene B.A. will (D.V.)
[10397]speak. The incumbent they called him. He felt it incumbent on him to say
[10398]a few words. But one should be charitable. Invincible ignorance. They
[10399]acted according to their lights.
[10400]
[10401]Father Conmee turned the corner and walked along the North Circular
[10402]road. It was a wonder that there was not a tramline in such an important
[10403]thoroughfare. Surely, there ought to be.
[10404]
[10405]A band of satchelled schoolboys crossed from Richmond street. All
[10406]raised untidy caps. Father Conmee greeted them more than once benignly.
[10407]Christian brother boys.
[10408]
[10409]Father Conmee smelt incense on his right hand as he walked. Saint
[10410]Joseph’s church, Portland row. For aged and virtuous females.
[10411]Father Conmee raised his hat to the Blessed Sacrament. Virtuous: but
[10412]occasionally they were also badtempered.
[10413]
[10414]Near Aldborough house Father Conmee thought of that spendthrift
[10415]nobleman. And now it was an office or something.
[10416]
[10417]Father Conmee began to walk along the North Strand road and was saluted
[10418]by Mr William Gallagher who stood in the doorway of his shop. Father
[10419]Conmee saluted Mr William Gallagher and perceived the odours that came
[10420]from baconflitches and ample cools of butter. He passed Grogan’s
[10421]the Tobacconist against which newsboards leaned and told of a dreadful
[10422]catastrophe in New York. In America those things were continually
[10423]happening. Unfortunate people to die like that, unprepared. Still, an
[10424]act of perfect contrition.
[10425]
[10426]Father Conmee went by Daniel Bergin’s publichouse against the window
[10427]of which two unlabouring men lounged. They saluted him and were saluted.
[10428]
[10429]Father Conmee passed H. J. O’Neill’s funeral establishment where
[10430]Corny Kelleher totted figures in the daybook while he chewed a blade
[10431]of hay. A constable on his beat saluted Father Conmee and Father Conmee
[10432]saluted the constable. In Youkstetter’s, the porkbutcher’s, Father
[10433]Conmee observed pig’s puddings, white and black and red, lie neatly
[10434]curled in tubes.
[10435]
[10436]Moored under the trees of Charleville Mall Father Conmee saw a
[10437]turfbarge, a towhorse with pendent head, a bargeman with a hat of dirty
[10438]straw seated amidships, smoking and staring at a branch of poplar above
[10439]him. It was idyllic: and Father Conmee reflected on the providence of
[10440]the Creator who had made turf to be in bogs whence men might dig it
[10441]out and bring it to town and hamlet to make fires in the houses of poor
[10442]people.
[10443]
[10444]On Newcomen bridge the very reverend John Conmee S. J. of saint Francis
[10445]Xavier’s church, upper Gardiner street, stepped on to an outward bound
[10446]tram.
[10447]
[10448]Off an inward bound tram stepped the reverend Nicholas Dudley C. C. of
[10449]saint Agatha’s church, north William street, on to Newcomen bridge.
[10450]
[10451]At Newcomen bridge Father Conmee stepped into an outward bound tram for
[10452]he disliked to traverse on foot the dingy way past Mud Island.
[10453]
[10454]Father Conmee sat in a corner of the tramcar, a blue ticket tucked with
[10455]care in the eye of one plump kid glove, while four shillings, a sixpence
[10456]and five pennies chuted from his other plump glovepalm into his purse.
[10457]Passing the ivy church he reflected that the ticket inspector usually
[10458]made his visit when one had carelessly thrown away the ticket. The
[10459]solemnity of the occupants of the car seemed to Father Conmee excessive
[10460]for a journey so short and cheap. Father Conmee liked cheerful decorum.
[10461]
[10462]It was a peaceful day. The gentleman with the glasses opposite Father
[10463]Conmee had finished explaining and looked down. His wife, Father Conmee
[10464]supposed. A tiny yawn opened the mouth of the wife of the gentleman with
[10465]the glasses. She raised her small gloved fist, yawned ever so gently,
[10466]tiptapping her small gloved fist on her opening mouth and smiled tinily,
[10467]sweetly.
[10468]
[10469]Father Conmee perceived her perfume in the car. He perceived also that
[10470]the awkward man at the other side of her was sitting on the edge of the
[10471]seat.
[10472]
[10473]Father Conmee at the altarrails placed the host with difficulty in the
[10474]mouth of the awkward old man who had the shaky head.
[10475]
[10476]At Annesley bridge the tram halted and, when it was about to go, an old
[10477]woman rose suddenly from her place to alight. The conductor pulled the
[10478]bellstrap to stay the car for her. She passed out with her basket and
[10479]a marketnet: and Father Conmee saw the conductor help her and net and
[10480]basket down: and Father Conmee thought that, as she had nearly passed
[10481]the end of the penny fare, she was one of those good souls who had
[10482]always to be told twice bless you, my child, that they have been
[10483]absolved, pray for me. But they had so many worries in life, so many
[10484]cares, poor creatures.
[10485]
[10486]From the hoardings Mr Eugene Stratton grimaced with thick niggerlips at
[10487]Father Conmee.
[10488]
[10489]Father Conmee thought of the souls of black and brown and yellow men and
[10490]of his sermon on saint Peter Claver S. J. and the African mission and of
[10491]the propagation of the faith and of the millions of black and brown and
[10492]yellow souls that had not received the baptism of water when their last
[10493]hour came like a thief in the night. That book by the Belgian jesuit, Le
[10494]Nombre des Élus, seemed to Father Conmee a reasonable plea. Those were
[10495]millions of human souls created by God in His Own likeness to whom the
[10496]faith had not (D.V.) been brought. But they were God’s souls, created
[10497]by God. It seemed to Father Conmee a pity that they should all be lost,
[10498]a waste, if one might say.
[10499]
[10500]At the Howth road stop Father Conmee alighted, was saluted by the
[10501]conductor and saluted in his turn.
[10502]
[10503]The Malahide road was quiet. It pleased Father Conmee, road and name.
[10504]The joybells were ringing in gay Malahide. Lord Talbot de Malahide,
[10505]immediate hereditary lord admiral of Malahide and the seas adjoining.
[10506]Then came the call to arms and she was maid, wife and widow in one day.
[10507]Those were old worldish days, loyal times in joyous townlands, old times
[10508]in the barony.
[10509]
[10510]Father Conmee, walking, thought of his little book Old Times in the
[10511]Barony and of the book that might be written about jesuit houses and of
[10512]Mary Rochfort, daughter of lord Molesworth, first countess of Belvedere.
[10513]
[10514]A listless lady, no more young, walked alone the shore of lough Ennel,
[10515]Mary, first countess of Belvedere, listlessly walking in the evening,
[10516]not startled when an otter plunged. Who could know the truth? Not the
[10517]jealous lord Belvedere and not her confessor if she had not committed
[10518]adultery fully, eiaculatio seminis inter vas naturale mulieris, with her
[10519]husband’s brother? She would half confess if she had not all sinned as
[10520]women did. Only God knew and she and he, her husband’s brother.
[10521]
[10522]Father Conmee thought of that tyrannous incontinence, needed however for
[10523]man’s race on earth, and of the ways of God which were not our ways.
[10524]
[10525]Don John Conmee walked and moved in times of yore. He was humane and
[10526]honoured there. He bore in mind secrets confessed and he smiled at
[10527]smiling noble faces in a beeswaxed drawingroom, ceiled with full fruit
[10528]clusters. And the hands of a bride and of a bridegroom, noble to noble,
[10529]were impalmed by Don John Conmee.
[10530]
[10531]It was a charming day.
[10532]
[10533]The lychgate of a field showed Father Conmee breadths of cabbages,
[10534]curtseying to him with ample underleaves. The sky showed him a flock
[10535]of small white clouds going slowly down the wind. Moutonner, the French
[10536]said. A just and homely word.
[10537]
[10538]Father Conmee, reading his office, watched a flock of muttoning clouds
[10539]over Rathcoffey. His thinsocked ankles were tickled by the stubble of
[10540]Clongowes field. He walked there, reading in the evening, and heard
[10541]the cries of the boys’ lines at their play, young cries in the quiet
[10542]evening. He was their rector: his reign was mild.
[10543]
[10544]Father Conmee drew off his gloves and took his rededged breviary out. An
[10545]ivory bookmark told him the page.
[10546]
[10547]Nones. He should have read that before lunch. But lady Maxwell had come.
[10548]
[10549]Father Conmee read in secret Pater and Ave and crossed his breast. Deus
[10550]in adiutorium.
[10551]
[10552]He walked calmly and read mutely the nones, walking and reading till he
[10553]came to Res in Beati immaculati: Principium verborum tuorum veritas: in
[10554]eternum omnia iudicia iustitiæ tuæ.
[10555]
[10556]A flushed young man came from a gap of a hedge and after him came a
[10557]young woman with wild nodding daisies in her hand. The young man raised
[10558]his cap abruptly: the young woman abruptly bent and with slow care
[10559]detached from her light skirt a clinging twig.
[10560]
[10561]Father Conmee blessed both gravely and turned a thin page of his
[10562]breviary. Sin: Principes persecuti sunt me gratis: et a verbis tuis
[10563]formidavit cor meum.
[10564]
[10565]Corny Kelleher closed his long daybook and glanced with his drooping eye
[10566]at a pine coffinlid sentried in a corner. He pulled himself erect,
[10567]went to it and, spinning it on its axle, viewed its shape and brass
[10568]furnishings. Chewing his blade of hay he laid the coffinlid by and came
[10569]to the doorway. There he tilted his hatbrim to give shade to his eyes
[10570]and leaned against the doorcase, looking idly out.
[10571]
[10572]Father John Conmee stepped into the Dollymount tram on Newcomen bridge.
[10573]
[10574]Corny Kelleher locked his largefooted boots and gazed, his hat
[10575]downtilted, chewing his blade of hay.
[10576]
[10577]Constable 57C, on his beat, stood to pass the time of day.
[10578]
[10579]—That’s a fine day, Mr Kelleher.
[10580]
[10581]—Ay, Corny Kelleher said.
[10582]
[10583]—It’s very close, the constable said.
[10584]
[10585]Corny Kelleher sped a silent jet of hayjuice arching from his mouth
[10586]while a generous white arm from a window in Eccles street flung forth a
[10587]coin.
[10588]
[10589]—What’s the best news? he asked.
[10590]
[10591]—I seen that particular party last evening, the constable said with
[10592]bated breath.
[10593]
[10594]A onelegged sailor crutched himself round MacConnell’s corner,
[10595]skirting Rabaiotti’s icecream car, and jerked himself up Eccles
[10596]street. Towards Larry O’Rourke, in shirtsleeves in his doorway, he
[10597]growled unamiably:
[10598]
[10599]—For England...
[10600]
[10601]He swung himself violently forward past Katey and Boody Dedalus, halted
[10602]and growled:
[10603]
[10604]—home and beauty.
[10605]
[10606]J. J. O’Molloy’s white careworn face was told that Mr Lambert was in
[10607]the warehouse with a visitor.
[10608]
[10609]A stout lady stopped, took a copper coin from her purse and dropped it
[10610]into the cap held out to her. The sailor grumbled thanks, glanced sourly
[10611]at the unheeding windows, sank his head and swung himself forward four
[10612]strides.
[10613]
[10614]He halted and growled angrily:
[10615]
[10616]—For England...
[10617]
[10618]Two barefoot urchins, sucking long liquorice laces, halted near him,
[10619]gaping at his stump with their yellowslobbered mouths.
[10620]
[10621]He swung himself forward in vigorous jerks, halted, lifted his head
[10622]towards a window and bayed deeply:
[10623]
[10624]—home and beauty.
[10625]
[10626]The gay sweet chirping whistling within went on a bar or two, ceased.
[10627]The blind of the window was drawn aside. A card Unfurnished Apartments
[10628]slipped from the sash and fell. A plump bare generous arm shone, was
[10629]seen, held forth from a white petticoatbodice and taut shiftstraps. A
[10630]woman’s hand flung forth a coin over the area railings. It fell on the
[10631]path.
[10632]
[10633]One of the urchins ran to it, picked it up and dropped it into the
[10634]minstrel’s cap, saying:
[10635]
[10636]—There, sir.
[10637]
[10638]Katey and Boody Dedalus shoved in the door of the closesteaming kitchen.
[10639]
[10640]—Did you put in the books? Boody asked.
[10641]
[10642]Maggy at the range rammed down a greyish mass beneath bubbling suds
[10643]twice with her potstick and wiped her brow.
[10644]
[10645]—They wouldn’t give anything on them, she said.
[10646]
[10647]Father Conmee walked through Clongowes fields, his thinsocked ankles
[10648]tickled by stubble.
[10649]
[10650]—Where did you try? Boody asked.
[10651]
[10652]—M’Guinness’s.
[10653]
[10654]Boody stamped her foot and threw her satchel on the table.
[10655]
[10656]—Bad cess to her big face! she cried.
[10657]
[10658]Katey went to the range and peered with squinting eyes.
[10659]
[10660]—What’s in the pot? she asked.
[10661]
[10662]—Shirts, Maggy said.
[10663]
[10664]Boody cried angrily:
[10665]
[10666]—Crickey, is there nothing for us to eat?
[10667]
[10668]Katey, lifting the kettlelid in a pad of her stained skirt, asked:
[10669]
[10670]—And what’s in this?
[10671]
[10672]A heavy fume gushed in answer.
[10673]
[10674]—Peasoup, Maggy said.
[10675]
[10676]—Where did you get it? Katey asked.
[10677]
[10678]—Sister Mary Patrick, Maggy said.
[10679]
[10680]The lacquey rang his bell.
[10681]
[10682]—Barang!
[10683]
[10684]Boody sat down at the table and said hungrily:
[10685]
[10686]—Give us it here.
[10687]
[10688]Maggy poured yellow thick soup from the kettle into a bowl. Katey,
[10689]sitting opposite Boody, said quietly, as her fingertip lifted to her
[10690]mouth random crumbs:
[10691]
[10692]—A good job we have that much. Where’s Dilly?
[10693]
[10694]—Gone to meet father, Maggy said.
[10695]
[10696]Boody, breaking big chunks of bread into the yellow soup, added:
[10697]
[10698]—Our father who art not in heaven.
[10699]
[10700]Maggy, pouring yellow soup in Katey’s bowl, exclaimed:
[10701]
[10702]—Boody! For shame!
[10703]
[10704]A skiff, a crumpled throwaway, Elijah is coming, rode lightly down the
[10705]Liffey, under Loopline bridge, shooting the rapids where water chafed
[10706]around the bridgepiers, sailing eastward past hulls and anchorchains,
[10707]between the Customhouse old dock and George’s quay.
[10708]
[10709]The blond girl in Thornton’s bedded the wicker basket with rustling
[10710]fibre. Blazes Boylan handed her the bottle swathed in pink tissue paper
[10711]and a small jar.
[10712]
[10713]—Put these in first, will you? he said.
[10714]
[10715]—Yes, sir, the blond girl said. And the fruit on top.
[10716]
[10717]—That’ll do, game ball, Blazes Boylan said.
[10718]
[10719]She bestowed fat pears neatly, head by tail, and among them ripe
[10720]shamefaced peaches.
[10721]
[10722]Blazes Boylan walked here and there in new tan shoes about the
[10723]fruitsmelling shop, lifting fruits, young juicy crinkled and plump red
[10724]tomatoes, sniffing smells.
[10725]
[10726]H. E. L. Y.’S filed before him, tallwhitehatted, past Tangier lane,
[10727]plodding towards their goal.
[10728]
[10729]He turned suddenly from a chip of strawberries, drew a gold watch from
[10730]his fob and held it at its chain’s length.
[10731]
[10732]—Can you send them by tram? Now?
[10733]
[10734]A darkbacked figure under Merchants’ arch scanned books on the
[10735]hawker’s cart.
[10736]
[10737]—Certainly, sir. Is it in the city?
[10738]
[10739]—O, yes, Blazes Boylan said. Ten minutes.
[10740]
[10741]The blond girl handed him a docket and pencil.
[10742]
[10743]—Will you write the address, sir?
[10744]
[10745]Blazes Boylan at the counter wrote and pushed the docket to her.
[10746]
[10747]—Send it at once, will you? he said. It’s for an invalid.
[10748]
[10749]—Yes, sir. I will, sir.
[10750]
[10751]Blazes Boylan rattled merry money in his trousers’ pocket.
[10752]
[10753]—What’s the damage? he asked.
[10754]
[10755]The blond girl’s slim fingers reckoned the fruits.
[10756]
[10757]Blazes Boylan looked into the cut of her blouse. A young pullet. He took
[10758]a red carnation from the tall stemglass.
[10759]
[10760]—This for me? he asked gallantly.
[10761]
[10762]The blond girl glanced sideways at him, got up regardless, with his tie
[10763]a bit crooked, blushing.
[10764]
[10765]—Yes, sir, she said.
[10766]
[10767]Bending archly she reckoned again fat pears and blushing peaches.
[10768]
[10769]Blazes Boylan looked in her blouse with more favour, the stalk of the
[10770]red flower between his smiling teeth.
[10771]
[10772]—May I say a word to your telephone, missy? he asked roguishly.
[10773]
[10774]—Ma! Almidano Artifoni said.
[10775]
[10776]He gazed over Stephen’s shoulder at Goldsmith’s knobby poll.
[10777]
[10778]Two carfuls of tourists passed slowly, their women sitting fore,
[10779]gripping the handrests. Palefaces. Men’s arms frankly round their
[10780]stunted forms. They looked from Trinity to the blind columned porch of
[10781]the bank of Ireland where pigeons roocoocooed.
[10782]
[10783]—Anch’io ho avuto di queste idee, Almidano Artifoni said, quand’
[10784]ero giovine come Lei. Eppoi mi sono convinto che il mondo è una bestia.
[10785]È peccato. Perchè la sua voce... sarebbe un cespite di rendita, via.
[10786]Invece, Lei si sacrifica.
[10787]
[10788]—Sacrifizio incruento, Stephen said smiling, swaying his ashplant in
[10789]slow swingswong from its midpoint, lightly.
[10790]
[10791]—Speriamo, the round mustachioed face said pleasantly. Ma, dia retta a
[10792]me. Ci rifletta.
[10793]
[10794]By the stern stone hand of Grattan, bidding halt, an Inchicore tram
[10795]unloaded straggling Highland soldiers of a band.
[10796]
[10797]—Ci rifletterò, Stephen said, glancing down the solid trouserleg.
[10798]
[10799]—Ma, sul serio, eh? Almidano Artifoni said.
[10800]
[10801]His heavy hand took Stephen’s firmly. Human eyes. They gazed curiously
[10802]an instant and turned quickly towards a Dalkey tram.
[10803]
[10804]—Eccolo, Almidano Artifoni said in friendly haste. Venga a trovarmi e
[10805]ci pensi. Addio, caro.
[10806]
[10807]—Arrivederla, maestro, Stephen said, raising his hat when his hand was
[10808]freed. E grazie.
[10809]
[10810]—Di che? Almidano Artifoni said. Scusi, eh? Tante belle cose!
[10811]
[10812]Almidano Artifoni, holding up a baton of rolled music as a signal,
[10813]trotted on stout trousers after the Dalkey tram. In vain he trotted,
[10814]signalling in vain among the rout of barekneed gillies smuggling
[10815]implements of music through Trinity gates.
[10816]
[10817]Miss Dunne hid the Capel street library copy of The Woman in White
[10818]far back in her drawer and rolled a sheet of gaudy notepaper into her
[10819]typewriter.
[10820]
[10821]Too much mystery business in it. Is he in love with that one, Marion?
[10822]Change it and get another by Mary Cecil Haye.
[10823]
[10824]The disk shot down the groove, wobbled a while, ceased and ogled them:
[10825]six.
[10826]
[10827]Miss Dunne clicked on the keyboard:
[10828]
[10829]—16 June 1904.
[10830]
[10831]Five tallwhitehatted sandwichmen between Monypeny’s corner and the
[10832]slab where Wolfe Tone’s statue was not, eeled themselves turning H. E.
[10833]L. Y.’S and plodded back as they had come.
[10834]
[10835]Then she stared at the large poster of Marie Kendall, charming
[10836]soubrette, and, listlessly lolling, scribbled on the jotter sixteens and
[10837]capital esses. Mustard hair and dauby cheeks. She’s not nicelooking,
[10838]is she? The way she’s holding up her bit of a skirt. Wonder will that
[10839]fellow be at the band tonight. If I could get that dressmaker to make a
[10840]concertina skirt like Susy Nagle’s. They kick out grand. Shannon and
[10841]all the boatclub swells never took his eyes off her. Hope to goodness he
[10842]won’t keep me here till seven.
[10843]
[10844]The telephone rang rudely by her ear.
[10845]
[10846]—Hello. Yes, sir. No, sir. Yes, sir. I’ll ring them up after five.
[10847]Only those two, sir, for Belfast and Liverpool. All right, sir. Then
[10848]I can go after six if you’re not back. A quarter after. Yes, sir.
[10849]Twentyseven and six. I’ll tell him. Yes: one, seven, six.
[10850]
[10851]She scribbled three figures on an envelope.
[10852]
[10853]—Mr Boylan! Hello! That gentleman from Sport was in looking for you.
[10854]Mr Lenehan, yes. He said he’ll be in the Ormond at four. No, sir. Yes,
[10855]sir. I’ll ring them up after five.
[10856]
[10857]Two pink faces turned in the flare of the tiny torch.
[10858]
[10859]—Who’s that? Ned Lambert asked. Is that Crotty?
[10860]
[10861]—Ringabella and Crosshaven, a voice replied groping for foothold.
[10862]
[10863]—Hello, Jack, is that yourself? Ned Lambert said, raising in salute
[10864]his pliant lath among the flickering arches. Come on. Mind your steps
[10865]there.
[10866]
[10867]The vesta in the clergyman’s uplifted hand consumed itself in a long
[10868]soft flame and was let fall. At their feet its red speck died: and
[10869]mouldy air closed round them.
[10870]
[10871]—How interesting! a refined accent said in the gloom.
[10872]
[10873]—Yes, sir, Ned Lambert said heartily. We are standing in the historic
[10874]council chamber of saint Mary’s abbey where silken Thomas proclaimed
[10875]himself a rebel in 1534. This is the most historic spot in all Dublin.
[10876]O’Madden Burke is going to write something about it one of these days.
[10877]The old bank of Ireland was over the way till the time of the union
[10878]and the original jews’ temple was here too before they built their
[10879]synagogue over in Adelaide road. You were never here before, Jack, were
[10880]you?
[10881]
[10882]—No, Ned.
[10883]
[10884]—He rode down through Dame walk, the refined accent said, if my memory
[10885]serves me. The mansion of the Kildares was in Thomas court.
[10886]
[10887]—That’s right, Ned Lambert said. That’s quite right, sir.
[10888]
[10889]—If you will be so kind then, the clergyman said, the next time to
[10890]allow me perhaps...
[10891]
[10892]—Certainly, Ned Lambert said. Bring the camera whenever you like.
[10893]I’ll get those bags cleared away from the windows. You can take it
[10894]from here or from here.
[10895]
[10896]In the still faint light he moved about, tapping with his lath the piled
[10897]seedbags and points of vantage on the floor.
[10898]
[10899]From a long face a beard and gaze hung on a chessboard.
[10900]
[10901]—I’m deeply obliged, Mr Lambert, the clergyman said. I won’t
[10902]trespass on your valuable time...
[10903]
[10904]—You’re welcome, sir, Ned Lambert said. Drop in whenever you like.
[10905]Next week, say. Can you see?
[10906]
[10907]—Yes, yes. Good afternoon, Mr Lambert. Very pleased to have met you.
[10908]
[10909]—Pleasure is mine, sir, Ned Lambert answered.
[10910]
[10911]He followed his guest to the outlet and then whirled his lath away among
[10912]the pillars. With J. J. O’Molloy he came forth slowly into Mary’s
[10913]abbey where draymen were loading floats with sacks of carob and palmnut
[10914]meal, O’Connor, Wexford.
[10915]
[10916]He stood to read the card in his hand.
[10917]
[10918]—The reverend Hugh C. Love, Rathcoffey. Present address: Saint
[10919]Michael’s, Sallins. Nice young chap he is. He’s writing a book about
[10920]the Fitzgeralds he told me. He’s well up in history, faith.
[10921]
[10922]The young woman with slow care detached from her light skirt a clinging
[10923]twig.
[10924]
[10925]—I thought you were at a new gunpowder plot, J. J. O’Molloy said.
[10926]
[10927]Ned Lambert cracked his fingers in the air.
[10928]
[10929]—God! he cried. I forgot to tell him that one about the earl of
[10930]Kildare after he set fire to Cashel cathedral. You know that one? I’m
[10931]bloody sorry I did it, says he, but I declare to God I thought the
[10932]archbishop was inside. He mightn’t like it, though. What? God, I’ll
[10933]tell him anyhow. That was the great earl, the Fitzgerald Mor. Hot
[10934]members they were all of them, the Geraldines.
[10935]
[10936]The horses he passed started nervously under their slack harness. He
[10937]slapped a piebald haunch quivering near him and cried:
[10938]
[10939]—Woa, sonny!
[10940]
[10941]He turned to J. J. O’Molloy and asked:
[10942]
[10943]—Well, Jack. What is it? What’s the trouble? Wait awhile. Hold hard.
[10944]
[10945]With gaping mouth and head far back he stood still and, after an
[10946]instant, sneezed loudly.
[10947]
[10948]—Chow! he said. Blast you!
[10949]
[10950]—The dust from those sacks, J. J. O’Molloy said politely.
[10951]
[10952]—No, Ned Lambert gasped, I caught a... cold night before... blast your
[10953]soul... night before last... and there was a hell of a lot of draught...
[10954]
[10955]He held his handkerchief ready for the coming...
[10956]
[10957]—I was... Glasnevin this morning... poor little... what do you call
[10958]him... Chow!... Mother of Moses!
[10959]
[10960]Tom Rochford took the top disk from the pile he clasped against his
[10961]claret waistcoat.
[10962]
[10963]—See? he said. Say it’s turn six. In here, see. Turn Now On.
[10964]
[10965]He slid it into the left slot for them. It shot down the groove, wobbled
[10966]a while, ceased, ogling them: six.
[10967]
[10968]Lawyers of the past, haughty, pleading, beheld pass from the
[10969]consolidated taxing office to Nisi Prius court Richie Goulding carrying
[10970]the costbag of Goulding, Collis and Ward and heard rustling from the
[10971]admiralty division of king’s bench to the court of appeal an elderly
[10972]female with false teeth smiling incredulously and a black silk skirt of
[10973]great amplitude.
[10974]
[10975]—See? he said. See now the last one I put in is over here: Turns Over.
[10976]The impact. Leverage, see?
[10977]
[10978]He showed them the rising column of disks on the right.
[10979]
[10980]—Smart idea, Nosey Flynn said, snuffling. So a fellow coming in late
[10981]can see what turn is on and what turns are over.
[10982]
[10983]—See? Tom Rochford said.
[10984]
[10985]He slid in a disk for himself: and watched it shoot, wobble, ogle, stop:
[10986]four. Turn Now On.
[10987]
[10988]—I’ll see him now in the Ormond, Lenehan said, and sound him. One
[10989]good turn deserves another.
[10990]
[10991]—Do, Tom Rochford said. Tell him I’m Boylan with impatience.
[10992]
[10993]—Goodnight, M’Coy said abruptly. When you two begin...
[10994]
[10995]Nosey Flynn stooped towards the lever, snuffling at it.
[10996]
[10997]—But how does it work here, Tommy? he asked.
[10998]
[10999]—Tooraloo, Lenehan said. See you later.
[11000]
[11001]He followed M’Coy out across the tiny square of Crampton court.
[11002]
[11003]—He’s a hero, he said simply.
[11004]
[11005]—I know, M’Coy said. The drain, you mean.
[11006]
[11007]—Drain? Lenehan said. It was down a manhole.
[11008]
[11009]They passed Dan Lowry’s musichall where Marie Kendall, charming
[11010]soubrette, smiled on them from a poster a dauby smile.
[11011]
[11012]Going down the path of Sycamore street beside the Empire musichall
[11013]Lenehan showed M’Coy how the whole thing was. One of those manholes
[11014]like a bloody gaspipe and there was the poor devil stuck down in it,
[11015]half choked with sewer gas. Down went Tom Rochford anyhow, booky’s
[11016]vest and all, with the rope round him. And be damned but he got the rope
[11017]round the poor devil and the two were hauled up.
[11018]
[11019]—The act of a hero, he said.
[11020]
[11021]At the Dolphin they halted to allow the ambulance car to gallop past
[11022]them for Jervis street.
[11023]
[11024]—This way, he said, walking to the right. I want to pop into Lynam’s
[11025]to see Sceptre’s starting price. What’s the time by your gold watch
[11026]and chain?
[11027]
[11028]M’Coy peered into Marcus Tertius Moses’ sombre office, then at
[11029]O’Neill’s clock.
[11030]
[11031]—After three, he said. Who’s riding her?
[11032]
[11033]—O. Madden, Lenehan said. And a game filly she is.
[11034]
[11035]While he waited in Temple bar M’Coy dodged a banana peel with gentle
[11036]pushes of his toe from the path to the gutter. Fellow might damn easy
[11037]get a nasty fall there coming along tight in the dark.
[11038]
[11039]The gates of the drive opened wide to give egress to the viceregal
[11040]cavalcade.
[11041]
[11042]—Even money, Lenehan said returning. I knocked against Bantam Lyons
[11043]in there going to back a bloody horse someone gave him that hasn’t an
[11044]earthly. Through here.
[11045]
[11046]They went up the steps and under Merchants’ arch. A darkbacked figure
[11047]scanned books on the hawker’s cart.
[11048]
[11049]—There he is, Lenehan said.
[11050]
[11051]—Wonder what he’s buying, M’Coy said, glancing behind.
[11052]
[11053]—Leopoldo or the Bloom is on the Rye, Lenehan said.
[11054]
[11055]—He’s dead nuts on sales, M’Coy said. I was with him one day and
[11056]he bought a book from an old one in Liffey street for two bob. There
[11057]were fine plates in it worth double the money, the stars and the moon
[11058]and comets with long tails. Astronomy it was about.
[11059]
[11060]Lenehan laughed.
[11061]
[11062]—I’ll tell you a damn good one about comets’ tails, he said. Come
[11063]over in the sun.
[11064]
[11065]They crossed to the metal bridge and went along Wellington quay by the
[11066]riverwall.
[11067]
[11068]Master Patrick Aloysius Dignam came out of Mangan’s, late
[11069]Fehrenbach’s, carrying a pound and a half of porksteaks.
[11070]
[11071]—There was a long spread out at Glencree reformatory, Lenehan said
[11072]eagerly. The annual dinner, you know. Boiled shirt affair. The lord
[11073]mayor was there, Val Dillon it was, and sir Charles Cameron and Dan
[11074]Dawson spoke and there was music. Bartell d’Arcy sang and Benjamin
[11075]Dollard...
[11076]
[11077]—I know, M’Coy broke in. My missus sang there once.
[11078]
[11079]—Did she? Lenehan said.
[11080]
[11081]A card Unfurnished Apartments reappeared on the windowsash of number 7
[11082]Eccles street.
[11083]
[11084]He checked his tale a moment but broke out in a wheezy laugh.
[11085]
[11086]—But wait till I tell you, he said. Delahunt of Camden street had the
[11087]catering and yours truly was chief bottlewasher. Bloom and the wife were
[11088]there. Lashings of stuff we put up: port wine and sherry and curacoa to
[11089]which we did ample justice. Fast and furious it was. After liquids came
[11090]solids. Cold joints galore and mince pies...
[11091]
[11092]—I know, M’Coy said. The year the missus was there...
[11093]
[11094]Lenehan linked his arm warmly.
[11095]
[11096]—But wait till I tell you, he said. We had a midnight lunch too after
[11097]all the jollification and when we sallied forth it was blue o’clock
[11098]the morning after the night before. Coming home it was a gorgeous
[11099]winter’s night on the Featherbed Mountain. Bloom and Chris Callinan
[11100]were on one side of the car and I was with the wife on the other. We
[11101]started singing glees and duets: Lo, the early beam of morning. She was
[11102]well primed with a good load of Delahunt’s port under her bellyband.
[11103]Every jolt the bloody car gave I had her bumping up against me. Hell’s
[11104]delights! She has a fine pair, God bless her. Like that.
[11105]
[11106]He held his caved hands a cubit from him, frowning:
[11107]
[11108]—I was tucking the rug under her and settling her boa all the time.
[11109]Know what I mean?
[11110]
[11111]His hands moulded ample curves of air. He shut his eyes tight in
[11112]delight, his body shrinking, and blew a sweet chirp from his lips.
[11113]
[11114]—The lad stood to attention anyhow, he said with a sigh. She’s a
[11115]gamey mare and no mistake. Bloom was pointing out all the stars and the
[11116]comets in the heavens to Chris Callinan and the jarvey: the great bear
[11117]and Hercules and the dragon, and the whole jingbang lot. But, by God,
[11118]I was lost, so to speak, in the milky way. He knows them all, faith. At
[11119]last she spotted a weeny weeshy one miles away. And what star is that,
[11120]Poldy? says she. By God, she had Bloom cornered. That one, is it? says
[11121]Chris Callinan, sure that’s only what you might call a pinprick. By
[11122]God, he wasn’t far wide of the mark.
[11123]
[11124]Lenehan stopped and leaned on the riverwall, panting with soft laughter.
[11125]
[11126]—I’m weak, he gasped.
[11127]
[11128]M’Coy’s white face smiled about it at instants and grew grave.
[11129]Lenehan walked on again. He lifted his yachtingcap and scratched his
[11130]hindhead rapidly. He glanced sideways in the sunlight at M’Coy.
[11131]
[11132]—He’s a cultured allroundman, Bloom is, he said seriously. He’s
[11133]not one of your common or garden... you know... There’s a touch of the
[11134]artist about old Bloom.
[11135]
[11136]Mr Bloom turned over idly pages of The Awful Disclosures of Maria
[11137]Monk, then of Aristotle’s Masterpiece. Crooked botched print. Plates:
[11138]infants cuddled in a ball in bloodred wombs like livers of slaughtered
[11139]cows. Lots of them like that at this moment all over the world. All
[11140]butting with their skulls to get out of it. Child born every minute
[11141]somewhere. Mrs Purefoy.
[11142]
[11143]He laid both books aside and glanced at the third: Tales of the Ghetto
[11144]by Leopold von Sacher Masoch.
[11145]
[11146]—That I had, he said, pushing it by.
[11147]
[11148]The shopman let two volumes fall on the counter.
[11149]
[11150]—Them are two good ones, he said.
[11151]
[11152]Onions of his breath came across the counter out of his ruined mouth.
[11153]He bent to make a bundle of the other books, hugged them against his
[11154]unbuttoned waistcoat and bore them off behind the dingy curtain.
[11155]
[11156]On O’Connell bridge many persons observed the grave deportment and gay
[11157]apparel of Mr Denis J Maginni, professor of dancing &c.
[11158]
[11159]Mr Bloom, alone, looked at the titles. Fair Tyrants by James Lovebirch.
[11160]Know the kind that is. Had it? Yes.
[11161]
[11162]He opened it. Thought so.
[11163]
[11164]A woman’s voice behind the dingy curtain. Listen: the man.
[11165]
[11166]No: she wouldn’t like that much. Got her it once.
[11167]
[11168]He read the other title: Sweets of Sin. More in her line. Let us see.
[11169]
[11170]He read where his finger opened.
[11171]
[11172]—All the dollarbills her husband gave her were spent in the stores on
[11173]wondrous gowns and costliest frillies. For him! For Raoul!
[11174]
[11175]Yes. This. Here. Try.
[11176]
[11177]—Her mouth glued on his in a luscious voluptuous kiss while his hands
[11178]felt for the opulent curves inside her déshabillé.
[11179]
[11180]Yes. Take this. The end.
[11181]
[11182]—You are late, he spoke hoarsely, eying her with a suspicious glare.
[11183]
[11184]The beautiful woman threw off her sabletrimmed wrap, displaying her
[11185]queenly shoulders and heaving embonpoint. An imperceptible smile played
[11186]round her perfect lips as she turned to him calmly.
[11187]
[11188]Mr Bloom read again: The beautiful woman.
[11189]
[11190]Warmth showered gently over him, cowing his flesh. Flesh yielded amply
[11191]amid rumpled clothes: whites of eyes swooning up. His nostrils arched
[11192]themselves for prey. Melting breast ointments (for him! For Raoul!).
[11193]Armpits’ oniony sweat. Fishgluey slime (her heaving embonpoint!).
[11194]Feel! Press! Crished! Sulphur dung of lions!
[11195]
[11196]Young! Young!
[11197]
[11198]An elderly female, no more young, left the building of the courts of
[11199]chancery, king’s bench, exchequer and common pleas, having heard in
[11200]the lord chancellor’s court the case in lunacy of Potterton, in the
[11201]admiralty division the summons, exparte motion, of the owners of the
[11202]Lady Cairns versus the owners of the barque Mona, in the court of appeal
[11203]reservation of judgment in the case of Harvey versus the Ocean Accident
[11204]and Guarantee Corporation.
[11205]
[11206]Phlegmy coughs shook the air of the bookshop, bulging out the dingy
[11207]curtains. The shopman’s uncombed grey head came out and his unshaven
[11208]reddened face, coughing. He raked his throat rudely, puked phlegm on the
[11209]floor. He put his boot on what he had spat, wiping his sole along it,
[11210]and bent, showing a rawskinned crown, scantily haired.
[11211]
[11212]Mr Bloom beheld it.
[11213]
[11214]Mastering his troubled breath, he said:
[11215]
[11216]—I’ll take this one.
[11217]
[11218]The shopman lifted eyes bleared with old rheum.
[11219]
[11220]—Sweets of Sin, he said, tapping on it. That’s a good one.
[11221]
[11222]The lacquey by the door of Dillon’s auctionrooms shook his handbell
[11223]twice again and viewed himself in the chalked mirror of the cabinet.
[11224]
[11225]Dilly Dedalus, loitering by the curbstone, heard the beats of the
[11226]bell, the cries of the auctioneer within. Four and nine. Those lovely
[11227]curtains. Five shillings. Cosy curtains. Selling new at two guineas. Any
[11228]advance on five shillings? Going for five shillings.
[11229]
[11230]The lacquey lifted his handbell and shook it:
[11231]
[11232]—Barang!
[11233]
[11234]Bang of the lastlap bell spurred the halfmile wheelmen to their sprint.
[11235]J. A. Jackson, W. E. Wylie, A. Munro and H. T. Gahan, their stretched
[11236]necks wagging, negotiated the curve by the College library.
[11237]
[11238]Mr Dedalus, tugging a long moustache, came round from Williams’s row.
[11239]He halted near his daughter.
[11240]
[11241]—It’s time for you, she said.
[11242]
[11243]—Stand up straight for the love of the lord Jesus, Mr Dedalus said.
[11244]Are you trying to imitate your uncle John, the cornetplayer, head upon
[11245]shoulder? Melancholy God!
[11246]
[11247]Dilly shrugged her shoulders. Mr Dedalus placed his hands on them and
[11248]held them back.
[11249]
[11250]—Stand up straight, girl, he said. You’ll get curvature of the
[11251]spine. Do you know what you look like?
[11252]
[11253]He let his head sink suddenly down and forward, hunching his shoulders
[11254]and dropping his underjaw.
[11255]
[11256]—Give it up, father, Dilly said. All the people are looking at you.
[11257]
[11258]Mr Dedalus drew himself upright and tugged again at his moustache.
[11259]
[11260]—Did you get any money? Dilly asked.
[11261]
[11262]—Where would I get money? Mr Dedalus said. There is no-one in Dublin
[11263]would lend me fourpence.
[11264]
[11265]—You got some, Dilly said, looking in his eyes.
[11266]
[11267]—How do you know that? Mr Dedalus asked, his tongue in his cheek.
[11268]
[11269]Mr Kernan, pleased with the order he had booked, walked boldly along
[11270]James’s street.
[11271]
[11272]—I know you did, Dilly answered. Were you in the Scotch house now?
[11273]
[11274]—I was not, then, Mr Dedalus said, smiling. Was it the little nuns
[11275]taught you to be so saucy? Here.
[11276]
[11277]He handed her a shilling.
[11278]
[11279]—See if you can do anything with that, he said.
[11280]
[11281]—I suppose you got five, Dilly said. Give me more than that.
[11282]
[11283]—Wait awhile, Mr Dedalus said threateningly. You’re like the rest of
[11284]them, are you? An insolent pack of little bitches since your poor mother
[11285]died. But wait awhile. You’ll all get a short shrift and a long day
[11286]from me. Low blackguardism! I’m going to get rid of you. Wouldn’t
[11287]care if I was stretched out stiff. He’s dead. The man upstairs is
[11288]dead.
[11289]
[11290]He left her and walked on. Dilly followed quickly and pulled his coat.
[11291]
[11292]—Well, what is it? he said, stopping.
[11293]
[11294]The lacquey rang his bell behind their backs.
[11295]
[11296]—Barang!
[11297]
[11298]—Curse your bloody blatant soul, Mr Dedalus cried, turning on him.
[11299]
[11300]The lacquey, aware of comment, shook the lolling clapper of his bell but
[11301]feebly:
[11302]
[11303]—Bang!
[11304]
[11305]Mr Dedalus stared at him.
[11306]
[11307]—Watch him, he said. It’s instructive. I wonder will he allow us to
[11308]talk.
[11309]
[11310]—You got more than that, father, Dilly said.
[11311]
[11312]—I’m going to show you a little trick, Mr Dedalus said. I’ll leave
[11313]you all where Jesus left the jews. Look, there’s all I have. I got
[11314]two shillings from Jack Power and I spent twopence for a shave for the
[11315]funeral.
[11316]
[11317]He drew forth a handful of copper coins, nervously.
[11318]
[11319]—Can’t you look for some money somewhere? Dilly said.
[11320]
[11321]Mr Dedalus thought and nodded.
[11322]
[11323]—I will, he said gravely. I looked all along the gutter in O’Connell
[11324]street. I’ll try this one now.
[11325]
[11326]—You’re very funny, Dilly said, grinning.
[11327]
[11328]—Here, Mr Dedalus said, handing her two pennies. Get a glass of milk
[11329]for yourself and a bun or a something. I’ll be home shortly.
[11330]
[11331]He put the other coins in his pocket and started to walk on.
[11332]
[11333]The viceregal cavalcade passed, greeted by obsequious policemen, out of
[11334]Parkgate.
[11335]
[11336]—I’m sure you have another shilling, Dilly said.
[11337]
[11338]The lacquey banged loudly.
[11339]
[11340]Mr Dedalus amid the din walked off, murmuring to himself with a pursing
[11341]mincing mouth gently:
[11342]
[11343]—The little nuns! Nice little things! O, sure they wouldn’t do
[11344]anything! O, sure they wouldn’t really! Is it little sister Monica!
[11345]
[11346]From the sundial towards James’s gate walked Mr Kernan, pleased with
[11347]the order he had booked for Pulbrook Robertson, boldly along James’s
[11348]street, past Shackleton’s offices. Got round him all right. How do you
[11349]do, Mr Crimmins? First rate, sir. I was afraid you might be up in your
[11350]other establishment in Pimlico. How are things going? Just keeping
[11351]alive. Lovely weather we’re having. Yes, indeed. Good for the country.
[11352]Those farmers are always grumbling. I’ll just take a thimbleful of
[11353]your best gin, Mr Crimmins. A small gin, sir. Yes, sir. Terrible
[11354]affair that General Slocum explosion. Terrible, terrible! A thousand
[11355]casualties. And heartrending scenes. Men trampling down women and
[11356]children. Most brutal thing. What do they say was the cause? Spontaneous
[11357]combustion. Most scandalous revelation. Not a single lifeboat would
[11358]float and the firehose all burst. What I can’t understand is how
[11359]the inspectors ever allowed a boat like that... Now, you’re talking
[11360]straight, Mr Crimmins. You know why? Palm oil. Is that a fact? Without
[11361]a doubt. Well now, look at that. And America they say is the land of the
[11362]free. I thought we were bad here.
[11363]
[11364]I smiled at him. America, I said quietly, just like that. What is it?
[11365]The sweepings of every country including our own. Isn’t that true?
[11366]That’s a fact.
[11367]
[11368]Graft, my dear sir. Well, of course, where there’s money going
[11369]there’s always someone to pick it up.
[11370]
[11371]Saw him looking at my frockcoat. Dress does it. Nothing like a dressy
[11372]appearance. Bowls them over.
[11373]
[11374]—Hello, Simon, Father Cowley said. How are things?
[11375]
[11376]—Hello, Bob, old man, Mr Dedalus answered, stopping.
[11377]
[11378]Mr Kernan halted and preened himself before the sloping mirror of Peter
[11379]Kennedy, hairdresser. Stylish coat, beyond a doubt. Scott of Dawson
[11380]street. Well worth the half sovereign I gave Neary for it. Never built
[11381]under three guineas. Fits me down to the ground. Some Kildare street
[11382]club toff had it probably. John Mulligan, the manager of the Hibernian
[11383]bank, gave me a very sharp eye yesterday on Carlisle bridge as if he
[11384]remembered me.
[11385]
[11386]Aham! Must dress the character for those fellows. Knight of the road.
[11387]Gentleman. And now, Mr Crimmins, may we have the honour of your custom
[11388]again, sir. The cup that cheers but not inebriates, as the old saying
[11389]has it.
[11390]
[11391]North wall and sir John Rogerson’s quay, with hulls and anchorchains,
[11392]sailing westward, sailed by a skiff, a crumpled throwaway, rocked on the
[11393]ferrywash, Elijah is coming.
[11394]
[11395]Mr Kernan glanced in farewell at his image. High colour, of course.
[11396]Grizzled moustache. Returned Indian officer. Bravely he bore his stumpy
[11397]body forward on spatted feet, squaring his shoulders. Is that Ned
[11398]Lambert’s brother over the way, Sam? What? Yes. He’s as like it as
[11399]damn it. No. The windscreen of that motorcar in the sun there. Just a
[11400]flash like that. Damn like him.
[11401]
[11402]Aham! Hot spirit of juniper juice warmed his vitals and his breath. Good
[11403]drop of gin, that was. His frocktails winked in bright sunshine to his
[11404]fat strut.
[11405]
[11406]Down there Emmet was hanged, drawn and quartered. Greasy black rope.
[11407]Dogs licking the blood off the street when the lord lieutenant’s wife
[11408]drove by in her noddy.
[11409]
[11410]Bad times those were. Well, well. Over and done with. Great topers too.
[11411]Fourbottle men.
[11412]
[11413]Let me see. Is he buried in saint Michan’s? Or no, there was a
[11414]midnight burial in Glasnevin. Corpse brought in through a secret door
[11415]in the wall. Dignam is there now. Went out in a puff. Well, well. Better
[11416]turn down here. Make a detour.
[11417]
[11418]Mr Kernan turned and walked down the slope of Watling street by the
[11419]corner of Guinness’s visitors’ waitingroom. Outside the Dublin
[11420]Distillers Company’s stores an outside car without fare or jarvey
[11421]stood, the reins knotted to the wheel. Damn dangerous thing. Some
[11422]Tipperary bosthoon endangering the lives of the citizens. Runaway horse.
[11423]
[11424]Denis Breen with his tomes, weary of having waited an hour in John Henry
[11425]Menton’s office, led his wife over O’Connell bridge, bound for the
[11426]office of Messrs Collis and Ward.
[11427]
[11428]Mr Kernan approached Island street.
[11429]
[11430]Times of the troubles. Must ask Ned Lambert to lend me those
[11431]reminiscences of sir Jonah Barrington. When you look back on it all
[11432]now in a kind of retrospective arrangement. Gaming at Daly’s. No
[11433]cardsharping then. One of those fellows got his hand nailed to the table
[11434]by a dagger. Somewhere here lord Edward Fitzgerald escaped from major
[11435]Sirr. Stables behind Moira house.
[11436]
[11437]Damn good gin that was.
[11438]
[11439]Fine dashing young nobleman. Good stock, of course. That ruffian, that
[11440]sham squire, with his violet gloves gave him away. Course they were
[11441]on the wrong side. They rose in dark and evil days. Fine poem that
[11442]is: Ingram. They were gentlemen. Ben Dollard does sing that ballad
[11443]touchingly. Masterly rendition.
[11444]
[11445]At the siege of Ross did my father fall.
[11446]
[11447]A cavalcade in easy trot along Pembroke quay passed, outriders leaping,
[11448]leaping in their, in their saddles. Frockcoats. Cream sunshades.
[11449]
[11450]Mr Kernan hurried forward, blowing pursily.
[11451]
[11452]His Excellency! Too bad! Just missed that by a hair. Damn it! What a
[11453]pity!
[11454]
[11455]Stephen Dedalus watched through the webbed window the lapidary’s
[11456]fingers prove a timedulled chain. Dust webbed the window and the
[11457]showtrays. Dust darkened the toiling fingers with their vulture nails.
[11458]Dust slept on dull coils of bronze and silver, lozenges of cinnabar, on
[11459]rubies, leprous and winedark stones.
[11460]
[11461]Born all in the dark wormy earth, cold specks of fire, evil, lights
[11462]shining in the darkness. Where fallen archangels flung the stars of
[11463]their brows. Muddy swinesnouts, hands, root and root, gripe and wrest
[11464]them.
[11465]
[11466]She dances in a foul gloom where gum bums with garlic. A sailorman,
[11467]rustbearded, sips from a beaker rum and eyes her. A long and seafed
[11468]silent rut. She dances, capers, wagging her sowish haunches and her
[11469]hips, on her gross belly flapping a ruby egg.
[11470]
[11471]Old Russell with a smeared shammy rag burnished again his gem, turned it
[11472]and held it at the point of his Moses’ beard. Grandfather ape gloating
[11473]on a stolen hoard.
[11474]
[11475]And you who wrest old images from the burial earth? The brainsick words
[11476]of sophists: Antisthenes. A lore of drugs. Orient and immortal wheat
[11477]standing from everlasting to everlasting.
[11478]
[11479]Two old women fresh from their whiff of the briny trudged through
[11480]Irishtown along London bridge road, one with a sanded tired umbrella,
[11481]one with a midwife’s bag in which eleven cockles rolled.
[11482]
[11483]The whirr of flapping leathern bands and hum of dynamos from the
[11484]powerhouse urged Stephen to be on. Beingless beings. Stop! Throb always
[11485]without you and the throb always within. Your heart you sing of. I
[11486]between them. Where? Between two roaring worlds where they swirl, I.
[11487]Shatter them, one and both. But stun myself too in the blow. Shatter me
[11488]you who can. Bawd and butcher were the words. I say! Not yet awhile. A
[11489]look around.
[11490]
[11491]Yes, quite true. Very large and wonderful and keeps famous time. You say
[11492]right, sir. A Monday morning, ’twas so, indeed.
[11493]
[11494]Stephen went down Bedford row, the handle of the ash clacking against
[11495]his shoulderblade. In Clohissey’s window a faded 1860 print of Heenan
[11496]boxing Sayers held his eye. Staring backers with square hats stood
[11497]round the roped prizering. The heavyweights in tight loincloths
[11498]proposed gently each to other his bulbous fists. And they are throbbing:
[11499]heroes’ hearts.
[11500]
[11501]He turned and halted by the slanted bookcart.
[11502]
[11503]—Twopence each, the huckster said. Four for sixpence.
[11504]
[11505]Tattered pages. The Irish Beekeeper. Life and Miracles of the Curé of
[11506]Ars. Pocket Guide to Killarney.
[11507]
[11508]I might find here one of my pawned schoolprizes. Stephano Dedalo, alumno
[11509]optimo, palmam ferenti.
[11510]
[11511]Father Conmee, having read his little hours, walked through the hamlet
[11512]of Donnycarney, murmuring vespers.
[11513]
[11514]Binding too good probably. What is this? Eighth and ninth book of Moses.
[11515]Secret of all secrets. Seal of King David. Thumbed pages: read and read.
[11516]Who has passed here before me? How to soften chapped hands. Recipe for
[11517]white wine vinegar. How to win a woman’s love. For me this. Say the
[11518]following talisman three times with hands folded:
[11519]
[11520]—Se el yilo nebrakada femininum! Amor me solo! Sanktus! Amen.
[11521]
[11522]Who wrote this? Charms and invocations of the most blessed abbot Peter
[11523]Salanka to all true believers divulged. As good as any other abbot’s
[11524]charms, as mumbling Joachim’s. Down, baldynoddle, or we’ll wool your
[11525]wool.
[11526]
[11527]—What are you doing here, Stephen?
[11528]
[11529]Dilly’s high shoulders and shabby dress.
[11530]
[11531]Shut the book quick. Don’t let see.
[11532]
[11533]—What are you doing? Stephen said.
[11534]
[11535]A Stuart face of nonesuch Charles, lank locks falling at its sides. It
[11536]glowed as she crouched feeding the fire with broken boots. I told her
[11537]of Paris. Late lieabed under a quilt of old overcoats, fingering a
[11538]pinchbeck bracelet, Dan Kelly’s token. Nebrakada femininum.
[11539]
[11540]—What have you there? Stephen asked.
[11541]
[11542]—I bought it from the other cart for a penny, Dilly said, laughing
[11543]nervously. Is it any good?
[11544]
[11545]My eyes they say she has. Do others see me so? Quick, far and daring.
[11546]Shadow of my mind.
[11547]
[11548]He took the coverless book from her hand. Chardenal’s French primer.
[11549]
[11550]—What did you buy that for? he asked. To learn French?
[11551]
[11552]She nodded, reddening and closing tight her lips.
[11553]
[11554]Show no surprise. Quite natural.
[11555]
[11556]—Here, Stephen said. It’s all right. Mind Maggy doesn’t pawn it on
[11557]you. I suppose all my books are gone.
[11558]
[11559]—Some, Dilly said. We had to.
[11560]
[11561]She is drowning. Agenbite. Save her. Agenbite. All against us. She will
[11562]drown me with her, eyes and hair. Lank coils of seaweed hair around me,
[11563]my heart, my soul. Salt green death.
[11564]
[11565]We.
[11566]
[11567]Agenbite of inwit. Inwit’s agenbite.
[11568]
[11569]Misery! Misery!
[11570]
[11571]—Hello, Simon, Father Cowley said. How are things?
[11572]
[11573]—Hello, Bob, old man, Mr Dedalus answered, stopping.
[11574]
[11575]They clasped hands loudly outside Reddy and Daughter’s. Father Cowley
[11576]brushed his moustache often downward with a scooping hand.
[11577]
[11578]—What’s the best news? Mr Dedalus said.
[11579]
[11580]—Why then not much, Father Cowley said. I’m barricaded up, Simon,
[11581]with two men prowling around the house trying to effect an entrance.
[11582]
[11583]—Jolly, Mr Dedalus said. Who is it?
[11584]
[11585]—O, Father Cowley said. A certain gombeen man of our acquaintance.
[11586]
[11587]—With a broken back, is it? Mr Dedalus asked.
[11588]
[11589]—The same, Simon, Father Cowley answered. Reuben of that ilk. I’m
[11590]just waiting for Ben Dollard. He’s going to say a word to long John to
[11591]get him to take those two men off. All I want is a little time.
[11592]
[11593]He looked with vague hope up and down the quay, a big apple bulging in
[11594]his neck.
[11595]
[11596]—I know, Mr Dedalus said, nodding. Poor old bockedy Ben! He’s always
[11597]doing a good turn for someone. Hold hard!
[11598]
[11599]He put on his glasses and gazed towards the metal bridge an instant.
[11600]
[11601]—There he is, by God, he said, arse and pockets.
[11602]
[11603]Ben Dollard’s loose blue cutaway and square hat above large slops
[11604]crossed the quay in full gait from the metal bridge. He came towards
[11605]them at an amble, scratching actively behind his coattails.
[11606]
[11607]As he came near Mr Dedalus greeted:
[11608]
[11609]—Hold that fellow with the bad trousers.
[11610]
[11611]—Hold him now, Ben Dollard said.
[11612]
[11613]Mr Dedalus eyed with cold wandering scorn various points of Ben
[11614]Dollard’s figure. Then, turning to Father Cowley with a nod, he
[11615]muttered sneeringly:
[11616]
[11617]—That’s a pretty garment, isn’t it, for a summer’s day?
[11618]
[11619]—Why, God eternally curse your soul, Ben Dollard growled furiously, I
[11620]threw out more clothes in my time than you ever saw.
[11621]
[11622]He stood beside them beaming, on them first and on his roomy clothes
[11623]from points of which Mr Dedalus flicked fluff, saying:
[11624]
[11625]—They were made for a man in his health, Ben, anyhow.
[11626]
[11627]—Bad luck to the jewman that made them, Ben Dollard said. Thanks be to
[11628]God he’s not paid yet.
[11629]
[11630]—And how is that basso profondo, Benjamin? Father Cowley asked.
[11631]
[11632]Cashel Boyle O’Connor Fitzmaurice Tisdall Farrell, murmuring,
[11633]glassyeyed, strode past the Kildare street club.
[11634]
[11635]Ben Dollard frowned and, making suddenly a chanter’s mouth, gave forth
[11636]a deep note.
[11637]
[11638]—Aw! he said.
[11639]
[11640]—That’s the style, Mr Dedalus said, nodding to its drone.
[11641]
[11642]—What about that? Ben Dollard said. Not too dusty? What?
[11643]
[11644]He turned to both.
[11645]
[11646]—That’ll do, Father Cowley said, nodding also.
[11647]
[11648]The reverend Hugh C. Love walked from the old chapterhouse of saint
[11649]Mary’s abbey past James and Charles Kennedy’s, rectifiers, attended
[11650]by Geraldines tall and personable, towards the Tholsel beyond the ford
[11651]of hurdles.
[11652]
[11653]Ben Dollard with a heavy list towards the shopfronts led them forward,
[11654]his joyful fingers in the air.
[11655]
[11656]—Come along with me to the subsheriff’s office, he said. I want to
[11657]show you the new beauty Rock has for a bailiff. He’s a cross between
[11658]Lobengula and Lynchehaun. He’s well worth seeing, mind you. Come
[11659]along. I saw John Henry Menton casually in the Bodega just now and it
[11660]will cost me a fall if I don’t... Wait awhile... We’re on the right
[11661]lay, Bob, believe you me.
[11662]
[11663]—For a few days tell him, Father Cowley said anxiously.
[11664]
[11665]Ben Dollard halted and stared, his loud orifice open, a dangling button
[11666]of his coat wagging brightbacked from its thread as he wiped away the
[11667]heavy shraums that clogged his eyes to hear aright.
[11668]
[11669]—What few days? he boomed. Hasn’t your landlord distrained for rent?
[11670]
[11671]—He has, Father Cowley said.
[11672]
[11673]—Then our friend’s writ is not worth the paper it’s printed on,
[11674]Ben Dollard said. The landlord has the prior claim. I gave him all the
[11675]particulars. 29 Windsor avenue. Love is the name?
[11676]
[11677]—That’s right, Father Cowley said. The reverend Mr Love. He’s a
[11678]minister in the country somewhere. But are you sure of that?
[11679]
[11680]—You can tell Barabbas from me, Ben Dollard said, that he can put that
[11681]writ where Jacko put the nuts.
[11682]
[11683]He led Father Cowley boldly forward, linked to his bulk.
[11684]
[11685]—Filberts I believe they were, Mr Dedalus said, as he dropped his
[11686]glasses on his coatfront, following them.
[11687]
[11688]—The youngster will be all right, Martin Cunningham said, as they
[11689]passed out of the Castleyard gate.
[11690]
[11691]The policeman touched his forehead.
[11692]
[11693]—God bless you, Martin Cunningham said, cheerily.
[11694]
[11695]He signed to the waiting jarvey who chucked at the reins and set on
[11696]towards Lord Edward street.
[11697]
[11698]Bronze by gold, Miss Kennedy’s head by Miss Douce’s head, appeared
[11699]above the crossblind of the Ormond hotel.
[11700]
[11701]—Yes, Martin Cunningham said, fingering his beard. I wrote to Father
[11702]Conmee and laid the whole case before him.
[11703]
[11704]—You could try our friend, Mr Power suggested backward.
[11705]
[11706]—Boyd? Martin Cunningham said shortly. Touch me not.
[11707]
[11708]John Wyse Nolan, lagging behind, reading the list, came after them
[11709]quickly down Cork hill.
[11710]
[11711]On the steps of the City hall Councillor Nannetti, descending, hailed
[11712]Alderman Cowley and Councillor Abraham Lyon ascending.
[11713]
[11714]The castle car wheeled empty into upper Exchange street.
[11715]
[11716]—Look here, Martin, John Wyse Nolan said, overtaking them at the Mail
[11717]office. I see Bloom put his name down for five shillings.
[11718]
[11719]—Quite right, Martin Cunningham said, taking the list. And put down
[11720]the five shillings too.
[11721]
[11722]—Without a second word either, Mr Power said.
[11723]
[11724]—Strange but true, Martin Cunningham added.
[11725]
[11726]John Wyse Nolan opened wide eyes.
[11727]
[11728]—I’ll say there is much kindness in the jew, he quoted, elegantly.
[11729]
[11730]They went down Parliament street.
[11731]
[11732]—There’s Jimmy Henry, Mr Power said, just heading for Kavanagh’s.
[11733]
[11734]—Righto, Martin Cunningham said. Here goes.
[11735]
[11736]Outside la Maison Claire Blazes Boylan waylaid Jack Mooney’s
[11737]brother-in-law, humpy, tight, making for the liberties.
[11738]
[11739]John Wyse Nolan fell back with Mr Power, while Martin Cunningham took
[11740]the elbow of a dapper little man in a shower of hail suit, who walked
[11741]uncertainly, with hasty steps past Micky Anderson’s watches.
[11742]
[11743]—The assistant town clerk’s corns are giving him some trouble, John
[11744]Wyse Nolan told Mr Power.
[11745]
[11746]They followed round the corner towards James Kavanagh’s winerooms. The
[11747]empty castle car fronted them at rest in Essex gate. Martin Cunningham,
[11748]speaking always, showed often the list at which Jimmy Henry did not
[11749]glance.
[11750]
[11751]—And long John Fanning is here too, John Wyse Nolan said, as large as
[11752]life.
[11753]
[11754]The tall form of long John Fanning filled the doorway where he stood.
[11755]
[11756]—Good day, Mr Subsheriff, Martin Cunningham said, as all halted and
[11757]greeted.
[11758]
[11759]Long John Fanning made no way for them. He removed his large Henry Clay
[11760]decisively and his large fierce eyes scowled intelligently over all
[11761]their faces.
[11762]
[11763]—Are the conscript fathers pursuing their peaceful deliberations? he
[11764]said with rich acrid utterance to the assistant town clerk.
[11765]
[11766]Hell open to christians they were having, Jimmy Henry said pettishly,
[11767]about their damned Irish language. Where was the marshal, he wanted
[11768]to know, to keep order in the council chamber. And old Barlow the
[11769]macebearer laid up with asthma, no mace on the table, nothing in order,
[11770]no quorum even, and Hutchinson, the lord mayor, in Llandudno and little
[11771]Lorcan Sherlock doing locum tenens for him. Damned Irish language,
[11772]language of our forefathers.
[11773]
[11774]Long John Fanning blew a plume of smoke from his lips.
[11775]
[11776]Martin Cunningham spoke by turns, twirling the peak of his beard, to the
[11777]assistant town clerk and the subsheriff, while John Wyse Nolan held his
[11778]peace.
[11779]
[11780]—What Dignam was that? long John Fanning asked.
[11781]
[11782]Jimmy Henry made a grimace and lifted his left foot.
[11783]
[11784]—O, my corns! he said plaintively. Come upstairs for goodness’ sake
[11785]till I sit down somewhere. Uff! Ooo! Mind!
[11786]
[11787]Testily he made room for himself beside long John Fanning’s flank and
[11788]passed in and up the stairs.
[11789]
[11790]—Come on up, Martin Cunningham said to the subsheriff. I don’t think
[11791]you knew him or perhaps you did, though.
[11792]
[11793]With John Wyse Nolan Mr Power followed them in.
[11794]
[11795]—Decent little soul he was, Mr Power said to the stalwart back of long
[11796]John Fanning ascending towards long John Fanning in the mirror.
[11797]
[11798]—Rather lowsized. Dignam of Menton’s office that was, Martin
[11799]Cunningham said.
[11800]
[11801]Long John Fanning could not remember him.
[11802]
[11803]Clatter of horsehoofs sounded from the air.
[11804]
[11805]—What’s that? Martin Cunningham said.
[11806]
[11807]All turned where they stood. John Wyse Nolan came down again. From the
[11808]cool shadow of the doorway he saw the horses pass Parliament street,
[11809]harness and glossy pasterns in sunlight shimmering. Gaily they went past
[11810]before his cool unfriendly eyes, not quickly. In saddles of the leaders,
[11811]leaping leaders, rode outriders.
[11812]
[11813]—What was it? Martin Cunningham asked, as they went on up the
[11814]staircase.
[11815]
[11816]—The lord lieutenantgeneral and general governor of Ireland, John Wyse
[11817]Nolan answered from the stairfoot.
[11818]
[11819]As they trod across the thick carpet Buck Mulligan whispered behind his
[11820]Panama to Haines:
[11821]
[11822]—Parnell’s brother. There in the corner.
[11823]
[11824]They chose a small table near the window, opposite a longfaced man whose
[11825]beard and gaze hung intently down on a chessboard.
[11826]
[11827]—Is that he? Haines asked, twisting round in his seat.
[11828]
[11829]—Yes, Mulligan said. That’s John Howard, his brother, our city
[11830]marshal.
[11831]
[11832]John Howard Parnell translated a white bishop quietly and his grey claw
[11833]went up again to his forehead whereat it rested. An instant after, under
[11834]its screen, his eyes looked quickly, ghostbright, at his foe and fell
[11835]once more upon a working corner.
[11836]
[11837]—I’ll take a mélange, Haines said to the waitress.
[11838]
[11839]—Two mélanges, Buck Mulligan said. And bring us some scones and
[11840]butter and some cakes as well.
[11841]
[11842]When she had gone he said, laughing:
[11843]
[11844]—We call it D.B.C. because they have damn bad cakes. O, but you missed
[11845]Dedalus on Hamlet.
[11846]
[11847]Haines opened his newbought book.
[11848]
[11849]—I’m sorry, he said. Shakespeare is the happy huntingground of all
[11850]minds that have lost their balance.
[11851]
[11852]The onelegged sailor growled at the area of 14 Nelson street:
[11853]
[11854]—England expects...
[11855]
[11856]Buck Mulligan’s primrose waistcoat shook gaily to his laughter.
[11857]
[11858]—You should see him, he said, when his body loses its balance.
[11859]Wandering Ængus I call him.
[11860]
[11861]—I am sure he has an idée fixe, Haines said, pinching his chin
[11862]thoughtfully with thumb and forefinger. Now I am speculating what it
[11863]would be likely to be. Such persons always have.
[11864]
[11865]Buck Mulligan bent across the table gravely.
[11866]
[11867]—They drove his wits astray, he said, by visions of hell. He will
[11868]never capture the Attic note. The note of Swinburne, of all poets, the
[11869]white death and the ruddy birth. That is his tragedy. He can never be a
[11870]poet. The joy of creation...
[11871]
[11872]—Eternal punishment, Haines said, nodding curtly. I see. I tackled him
[11873]this morning on belief. There was something on his mind, I saw.
[11874]It’s rather interesting because professor Pokorny of Vienna makes an
[11875]interesting point out of that.
[11876]
[11877]Buck Mulligan’s watchful eyes saw the waitress come. He helped her to
[11878]unload her tray.
[11879]
[11880]—He can find no trace of hell in ancient Irish myth, Haines said, amid
[11881]the cheerful cups. The moral idea seems lacking, the sense of destiny,
[11882]of retribution. Rather strange he should have just that fixed idea. Does
[11883]he write anything for your movement?
[11884]
[11885]He sank two lumps of sugar deftly longwise through the whipped cream.
[11886]Buck Mulligan slit a steaming scone in two and plastered butter over its
[11887]smoking pith. He bit off a soft piece hungrily.
[11888]
[11889]—Ten years, he said, chewing and laughing. He is going to write
[11890]something in ten years.
[11891]
[11892]—Seems a long way off, Haines said, thoughtfully lifting his spoon.
[11893]Still, I shouldn’t wonder if he did after all.
[11894]
[11895]He tasted a spoonful from the creamy cone of his cup.
[11896]
[11897]—This is real Irish cream I take it, he said with forbearance. I
[11898]don’t want to be imposed on.
[11899]
[11900]Elijah, skiff, light crumpled throwaway, sailed eastward by flanks of
[11901]ships and trawlers, amid an archipelago of corks, beyond new Wapping
[11902]street past Benson’s ferry, and by the threemasted schooner Rosevean
[11903]from Bridgwater with bricks.
[11904]
[11905]Almidano Artifoni walked past Holles street, past Sewell’s yard.
[11906]Behind him Cashel Boyle O’Connor Fitzmaurice Tisdall Farrell, with
[11907]stickumbrelladustcoat dangling, shunned the lamp before Mr Law Smith’s
[11908]house and, crossing, walked along Merrion square. Distantly behind him a
[11909]blind stripling tapped his way by the wall of College park.
[11910]
[11911]Cashel Boyle O’Connor Fitzmaurice Tisdall Farrell walked as far as
[11912]Mr Lewis Werner’s cheerful windows, then turned and strode back along
[11913]Merrion square, his stickumbrelladustcoat dangling.
[11914]
[11915]At the corner of Wilde’s house he halted, frowned at Elijah’s name
[11916]announced on the Metropolitan hall, frowned at the distant pleasance of
[11917]duke’s lawn. His eyeglass flashed frowning in the sun. With ratsteeth
[11918]bared he muttered:
[11919]
[11920]—Coactus volui.
[11921]
[11922]He strode on for Clare street, grinding his fierce word.
[11923]
[11924]As he strode past Mr Bloom’s dental windows the sway of his dustcoat
[11925]brushed rudely from its angle a slender tapping cane and swept onwards,
[11926]having buffeted a thewless body. The blind stripling turned his sickly
[11927]face after the striding form.
[11928]
[11929]—God’s curse on you, he said sourly, whoever you are! You’re
[11930]blinder nor I am, you bitch’s bastard!
[11931]
[11932]Opposite Ruggy O’Donohoe’s Master Patrick Aloysius Dignam, pawing
[11933]the pound and a half of Mangan’s, late Fehrenbach’s, porksteaks he
[11934]had been sent for, went along warm Wicklow street dawdling. It was too
[11935]blooming dull sitting in the parlour with Mrs Stoer and Mrs Quigley
[11936]and Mrs MacDowell and the blind down and they all at their sniffles
[11937]and sipping sups of the superior tawny sherry uncle Barney brought from
[11938]Tunney’s. And they eating crumbs of the cottage fruitcake, jawing the
[11939]whole blooming time and sighing.
[11940]
[11941]After Wicklow lane the window of Madame Doyle, courtdress milliner,
[11942]stopped him. He stood looking in at the two puckers stripped to their
[11943]pelts and putting up their props. From the sidemirrors two mourning
[11944]Masters Dignam gaped silently. Myler Keogh, Dublin’s pet lamb, will
[11945]meet sergeantmajor Bennett, the Portobello bruiser, for a purse of fifty
[11946]sovereigns. Gob, that’d be a good pucking match to see. Myler Keogh,
[11947]that’s the chap sparring out to him with the green sash. Two bar
[11948]entrance, soldiers half price. I could easy do a bunk on ma. Master
[11949]Dignam on his left turned as he turned. That’s me in mourning. When
[11950]is it? May the twentysecond. Sure, the blooming thing is all over. He
[11951]turned to the right and on his right Master Dignam turned, his cap awry,
[11952]his collar sticking up. Buttoning it down, his chin lifted, he saw the
[11953]image of Marie Kendall, charming soubrette, beside the two puckers. One
[11954]of them mots that do be in the packets of fags Stoer smokes that his old
[11955]fellow welted hell out of him for one time he found out.
[11956]
[11957]Master Dignam got his collar down and dawdled on. The best pucker going
[11958]for strength was Fitzsimons. One puck in the wind from that fellow would
[11959]knock you into the middle of next week, man. But the best pucker for
[11960]science was Jem Corbet before Fitzsimons knocked the stuffings out of
[11961]him, dodging and all.
[11962]
[11963]In Grafton street Master Dignam saw a red flower in a toff’s mouth
[11964]and a swell pair of kicks on him and he listening to what the drunk was
[11965]telling him and grinning all the time.
[11966]
[11967]No Sandymount tram.
[11968]
[11969]Master Dignam walked along Nassau street, shifted the porksteaks to
[11970]his other hand. His collar sprang up again and he tugged it down. The
[11971]blooming stud was too small for the buttonhole of the shirt, blooming
[11972]end to it. He met schoolboys with satchels. I’m not going tomorrow
[11973]either, stay away till Monday. He met other schoolboys. Do they notice
[11974]I’m in mourning? Uncle Barney said he’d get it into the paper
[11975]tonight. Then they’ll all see it in the paper and read my name printed
[11976]and pa’s name.
[11977]
[11978]His face got all grey instead of being red like it was and there was a
[11979]fly walking over it up to his eye. The scrunch that was when they
[11980]were screwing the screws into the coffin: and the bumps when they were
[11981]bringing it downstairs.
[11982]
[11983]Pa was inside it and ma crying in the parlour and uncle Barney telling
[11984]the men how to get it round the bend. A big coffin it was, and high and
[11985]heavylooking. How was that? The last night pa was boosed he was standing
[11986]on the landing there bawling out for his boots to go out to Tunney’s
[11987]for to boose more and he looked butty and short in his shirt. Never see
[11988]him again. Death, that is. Pa is dead. My father is dead. He told me to
[11989]be a good son to ma. I couldn’t hear the other things he said but I
[11990]saw his tongue and his teeth trying to say it better. Poor pa. That was
[11991]Mr Dignam, my father. I hope he’s in purgatory now because he went to
[11992]confession to Father Conroy on Saturday night.
[11993]
[11994]William Humble, earl of Dudley, and lady Dudley, accompanied by
[11995]lieutenantcolonel Heseltine, drove out after luncheon from the viceregal
[11996]lodge. In the following carriage were the honourable Mrs Paget, Miss de
[11997]Courcy and the honourable Gerald Ward A. D. C. in attendance.
[11998]
[11999]The cavalcade passed out by the lower gate of Phoenix park saluted by
[12000]obsequious policemen and proceeded past Kingsbridge along the northern
[12001]quays. The viceroy was most cordially greeted on his way through the
[12002]metropolis. At Bloody bridge Mr Thomas Kernan beyond the river greeted
[12003]him vainly from afar. Between Queen’s and Whitworth bridges lord
[12004]Dudley’s viceregal carriages passed and were unsaluted by Mr
[12005]Dudley White, B. L., M. A., who stood on Arran quay outside Mrs M.
[12006]E. White’s, the pawnbroker’s, at the corner of Arran street west
[12007]stroking his nose with his forefinger, undecided whether he should
[12008]arrive at Phibsborough more quickly by a triple change of tram or by
[12009]hailing a car or on foot through Smithfield, Constitution hill and
[12010]Broadstone terminus. In the porch of Four Courts Richie Goulding with
[12011]the costbag of Goulding, Collis and Ward saw him with surprise.
[12012]Past Richmond bridge at the doorstep of the office of Reuben J Dodd,
[12013]solicitor, agent for the Patriotic Insurance Company, an elderly female
[12014]about to enter changed her plan and retracing her steps by King’s
[12015]windows smiled credulously on the representative of His Majesty. From
[12016]its sluice in Wood quay wall under Tom Devan’s office Poddle river
[12017]hung out in fealty a tongue of liquid sewage. Above the crossblind
[12018]of the Ormond hotel, gold by bronze, Miss Kennedy’s head by Miss
[12019]Douce’s head watched and admired. On Ormond quay Mr Simon Dedalus,
[12020]steering his way from the greenhouse for the subsheriff’s office,
[12021]stood still in midstreet and brought his hat low. His Excellency
[12022]graciously returned Mr Dedalus’ greeting. From Cahill’s corner the
[12023]reverend Hugh C. Love, M. A., made obeisance unperceived, mindful of
[12024]lords deputies whose hands benignant had held of yore rich advowsons. On
[12025]Grattan bridge Lenehan and M’Coy, taking leave of each other, watched
[12026]the carriages go by. Passing by Roger Greene’s office and Dollard’s
[12027]big red printinghouse Gerty MacDowell, carrying the Catesby’s cork
[12028]lino letters for her father who was laid up, knew by the style it was
[12029]the lord and lady lieutenant but she couldn’t see what Her Excellency
[12030]had on because the tram and Spring’s big yellow furniture van had to
[12031]stop in front of her on account of its being the lord lieutenant. Beyond
[12032]Lundy Foot’s from the shaded door of Kavanagh’s winerooms John Wyse
[12033]Nolan smiled with unseen coldness towards the lord lieutenantgeneral and
[12034]general governor of Ireland. The Right Honourable William Humble, earl
[12035]of Dudley, G. C. V. O., passed Micky Anderson’s all times ticking
[12036]watches and Henry and James’s wax smartsuited freshcheeked models, the
[12037]gentleman Henry, dernier cri James. Over against Dame gate Tom Rochford
[12038]and Nosey Flynn watched the approach of the cavalcade. Tom Rochford,
[12039]seeing the eyes of lady Dudley fixed on him, took his thumbs quickly
[12040]out of the pockets of his claret waistcoat and doffed his cap to her.
[12041]A charming soubrette, great Marie Kendall, with dauby cheeks and lifted
[12042]skirt smiled daubily from her poster upon William Humble, earl of
[12043]Dudley, and upon lieutenantcolonel H. G. Heseltine, and also upon the
[12044]honourable Gerald Ward A. D. C. From the window of the D. B. C. Buck
[12045]Mulligan gaily, and Haines gravely, gazed down on the viceregal equipage
[12046]over the shoulders of eager guests, whose mass of forms darkened the
[12047]chessboard whereon John Howard Parnell looked intently. In Fownes’s
[12048]street Dilly Dedalus, straining her sight upward from Chardenal’s
[12049]first French primer, saw sunshades spanned and wheelspokes spinning
[12050]in the glare. John Henry Menton, filling the doorway of Commercial
[12051]Buildings, stared from winebig oyster eyes, holding a fat gold hunter
[12052]watch not looked at in his fat left hand not feeling it. Where the
[12053]foreleg of King Billy’s horse pawed the air Mrs Breen plucked her
[12054]hastening husband back from under the hoofs of the outriders. She
[12055]shouted in his ear the tidings. Understanding, he shifted his tomes to
[12056]his left breast and saluted the second carriage. The honourable Gerald
[12057]Ward A. D. C., agreeably surprised, made haste to reply. At Ponsonby’s
[12058]corner a jaded white flagon H. halted and four tallhatted white
[12059]flagons halted behind him, E.L.Y.’S, while outriders pranced past
[12060]and carriages. Opposite Pigott’s music warerooms Mr Denis J Maginni,
[12061]professor of dancing &c, gaily apparelled, gravely walked, outpassed by
[12062]a viceroy and unobserved. By the provost’s wall came jauntily Blazes
[12063]Boylan, stepping in tan shoes and socks with skyblue clocks to the
[12064]refrain of My girl’s a Yorkshire girl.
[12065]
[12066]Blazes Boylan presented to the leaders’ skyblue frontlets and high
[12067]action a skyblue tie, a widebrimmed straw hat at a rakish angle and a
[12068]suit of indigo serge. His hands in his jacket pockets forgot to salute
[12069]but he offered to the three ladies the bold admiration of his eyes and
[12070]the red flower between his lips. As they drove along Nassau street His
[12071]Excellency drew the attention of his bowing consort to the programme of
[12072]music which was being discoursed in College park. Unseen brazen highland
[12073]laddies blared and drumthumped after the cortège:
[12074]
[12075] But though she’s a factory lass
[12076] And wears no fancy clothes.
[12077] Baraabum.
[12078] Yet I’ve a sort of a
[12079] Yorkshire relish for
[12080] My little Yorkshire rose.
[12081] Baraabum.
[12082]Thither of the wall the quartermile flat handicappers, M. C. Green, H.
[12083]Shrift, T. M. Patey, C. Scaife, J. B. Jeffs, G. N. Morphy, F. Stevenson,
[12084]C. Adderly and W. C. Huggard, started in pursuit. Striding past Finn’s
[12085]hotel Cashel Boyle O’Connor Fitzmaurice Tisdall Farrell stared through
[12086]a fierce eyeglass across the carriages at the head of Mr M. E. Solomons
[12087]in the window of the Austro-Hungarian viceconsulate. Deep in Leinster
[12088]street by Trinity’s postern a loyal king’s man, Hornblower, touched
[12089]his tallyho cap. As the glossy horses pranced by Merrion square Master
[12090]Patrick Aloysius Dignam, waiting, saw salutes being given to the gent
[12091]with the topper and raised also his new black cap with fingers greased
[12092]by porksteak paper. His collar too sprang up. The viceroy, on his way
[12093]to inaugurate the Mirus bazaar in aid of funds for Mercer’s hospital,
[12094]drove with his following towards Lower Mount street. He passed a blind
[12095]stripling opposite Broadbent’s. In Lower Mount street a pedestrian in
[12096]a brown macintosh, eating dry bread, passed swiftly and unscathed across
[12097]the viceroy’s path. At the Royal Canal bridge, from his hoarding,
[12098]Mr Eugene Stratton, his blub lips agrin, bade all comers welcome to
[12099]Pembroke township. At Haddington road corner two sanded women halted
[12100]themselves, an umbrella and a bag in which eleven cockles rolled to view
[12101]with wonder the lord mayor and lady mayoress without his golden chain.
[12102]On Northumberland and Lansdowne roads His Excellency acknowledged
[12103]punctually salutes from rare male walkers, the salute of two small
[12104]schoolboys at the garden gate of the house said to have been admired
[12105]by the late queen when visiting the Irish capital with her husband, the
[12106]prince consort, in 1849 and the salute of Almidano Artifoni’s sturdy
[12107]trousers swallowed by a closing door.
[12108]
[12109]
[12110]
[12111]
[12112]
[12113]