The summer evening had begun to fold the world in its mysterious embrace. Far away in the west the sun was setting and the last glow of all too fleeting day lingered lovingly on sea and strand, on the proud promontory of dear old Howth⁽³,³⁾ guarding as ever the waters of the bay, on the weedgrown rocks ⁽³by alongº³⁾ Sandymount shore and, last but not least, on the quiet church whence there streamed forth at times upon the stillness the voice of prayer to her who is in her pure radiance a beacon ever to the stormtossed heart of man, Mary, star of the sea.

The three girl friends were seated on the rocks,º enjoying the evening scene ⁽³and the air³⁾ which was fresh ⁽³and butº³⁾ not too chilly. Many a time and oft were they wont to come there to that favourite nook to have a cosy chat ^|5beside the sparkling waves^5| and discuss matters feminine, Cissy Caffrey and Edy Boardman with the baby in the pushcar and Tommy and Jacky Caffrey, two little curlyheaded boys, dressed in sailor suits with caps to match and the name H.M.S. Belleisleº printed on both. For Tommy and Jacky Caffrey were twins, scarce four years old and very noisy and spoiled twins ⁽³at times sometimesº³⁾ but for all that darling little fellows with bright merry faces and endearing ways about them. They were dabbling in the sand with their spades and buckets, building castles as children do, or playing with their big coloured ball,º ⁽³as³⁾ happy as the day was long. And Edy Boardman was rocking the chubby baby to and fro in the pushcar while that young gentleman fairly chuckled with delight. He was but eleven months and nine days old and, though still a tiny toddler, was just beginning to lisp his first babyish words. Cissy
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Caffrey bent over toº him to tease his fat little plucks and the dainty dimple in his chin.

— Now, baby, Cissy Caffrey said. Say out big, big. I want a drink of water.º
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And baby prattled after her:

— A jink a jink a jawbo.º

Cissy Caffrey cuddled the wee chap for she was awfully fond of children, so patient with little sufferers and Tommy Caffrey could never be got to take his castor oil unless it was Cissy Caffrey that held his nose ^|5and promised ^|ahim^a| the ^|6scatty heel of the loaf orº^6| brown bread with golden syrup on^5|. ^|7What a persuasive power that girl had!^7| But to be sure baby ⁽³Boardman³⁾ was as good as gold, a perfect little dote in his new fancy bib. ⁽³No None of your³⁾ spoilt ⁽³beauty beauties^3)|8, Flora MacFlimsy sort,^8| was Cissy Caffrey. A truerhearted ^|8girl lass^8| never drew the breath of life, always with a laugh in her gipsylike eyes and a frolicsome word on her cherryripe red lips, a girl lovable in the extreme. And Edy Boardman laughed too at the quaint language of little brother.

But just then there was a slight altercation between Masterº Tommy and Master Jacky. Boys will be boys and ⁽⁴the ourº⁴⁾ two twins were no exception to ⁽³the this ^|8golden^8|3) rule. The apple of discord was a certain castle of sand which Master Jacky had built and Master Tommy would have it right go wrong that it was to be architecturally improved by a frontdoor like the Martello tower had. But if Master Tommy was headstrong Master Jacky was selfwilled too and, true to the maxim that every little Irishman's house is his castle, he fell upon his hated rival and to such purpose that the wouldbe assailant came to grief and (alas to relate!) the coveted castle too. Needless to say the cries of discomfited Master Tommy drew the attention of the girl friends.

— Come here, Tommy, his sister called imperatively⁽³. At, at³⁾ once! And you, Jacky, for shame to throw poor Tommy in the dirty sand. Wait till I catch you for that.

His eyes misty with unshed tears Master Tommy came at her call for their big sister's word was law with the twins. And in a sad plight he was ⁽³too³⁾ after his misadventure. His little man-o'-war top and
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unmentionables were full of sand but Cissy was a past mistress in the art of smoothing ⁽³out overº³⁾ life's tiny troubles andº very quickly not one speck of sand was to be seen on his smart little suit. Still the blue eyes were glistening with hot tears that would well up so she ^|7kissed away the hurtness and^7| shook her hand at Master Jacky the culprit ^|7and said if she was near him she wouldn't be far from him^7|, her eyes dancing in admonition.

— Nasty bold Jacky⁽³,!³⁾ she ⁽³said cried³⁾.

She put ⁽³her an³⁾ arm round the little mariner and coaxed winningly:

— What's your name? Butter and cream?
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— Tell us who is your sweetheart, spoke Edy Boardman. Is Cissy your sweetheart?

— Nao, Tommy said.

— I know, Edy Boardman said none too amiably with an arch glance from her shortsighted eyes. I know who is Tommy's sweetheart.º Gerty is Tommy's sweetheart.

— Nao, Tommy said on the verge of tears.

Cissy's quick motherwit guessed what was amiss and she whispered to Edy Boardman to take him there behind the pushcar where the gentlemanº couldn't see and to mind he didn't wet his new tan shoes.

But who was Gerty?

Gerty MacDowell who was seated near her companions, lost in thought, gazing far away into the distance was in very truthº as fair a specimen of winsome Irish girlhood as one could wish to see. She was pronounced beautiful by all who knew her though, as folks often said, she was more a Giltrap than a MacDowell. Her figure was slight and graceful, inclining even to fragility but those iron jelloids she had been taking of late had done her a world of good ^|6much better than the Widow Welch's female pills^6| and she was much better of those discharges she used to get ^|5and that tired feeling^5|. The waxen pallor of her face was almost spiritual in its ivorylike purity ^|5though her ^|arosebud^a| mouth was a genuine Cupid's bow, Greekly perfect^5|. Her hands were of
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finely veined alabaster with tapering fingers and as white as lemonjuiceº and queen of ointments could make them though it was not true that she used to wear kid gloves in bed ^|8or take a milk footbath either^8|. Bertha Supple told that once to Edy Boardman^|7, a deliberate lie,^7| when she was black out ^|5at daggers drawn^5| with Gerty (the girl chums had of course their little tiffs from time to time like the rest of mortals) and she told her not toº let on whatever she did that it was her that told her or she'd never speak to her again. No. Honour where honour is due. There was anº innate refinement, a languid queenly ^|8hauteur hauteur^8| about Gerty which was unmistakably evidenced in her delicate hands and ⁽³high arched higharched³⁾ instep. Had kind fate but willed her to be born a gentlewoman of high degree in her own right and had she only received the benefit of a good education Gerty MacDowell might easily have held her own beside any lady ⁽³of in³⁾ the land and have seen herself exquisitely gowned with jewels on her brow and patrician suitors at her feet vying with one another to pay their devoirs to
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her. Mayhap it was this, the love that might have been, that lent to her ⁽³softly featured softlyfeatured³⁾ face at ⁽³times whiles³⁾ a look, tense with suppressed meaning, that imparted a strange yearning tendencyº to the beautiful eyes, a charm few could resist. Why have women such eyes of witchery? Gerty's were of the bluest Irish blue, set off by lustrous lashes and dark expressive ⁽³expressive³⁾ brows. Time ⁽³had been was³⁾ when those brows were not so silkily seductiveº. It was Madame Vera Verity, directress of the ⁽³Woman Beautiful Woman Beautifulº³⁾ page ⁽³in ofº³⁾ the Princess ⁽³Novelette novelette³⁾, who had first advised her to try eyebrowleine⁽³,³⁾ which gave that haunting expression to the eyes, so becoming in leaders of fashion, and she had never regretted it. ^|5Then there was ^|7blushing scientifically cured and^7| how to be tall increase your height and you have a beautiful face but your nose? That would suit Mrs Dignam because she had a button one.^5| But Gerty's crowning glory was her wealth of ^|5wonderful^5| hair. It was dark brown with a natural wave in it. She had cut it that very morning on account of the new moon and it nestled about her pretty head in a profusion of luxuriant clusters ^|5and pared her nails too, Thursday for wealth^5|. And just now at Edy's words as a telltale flush, delicate as the faintest rosebloom, crept into her cheeks she looked so lovely in her
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sweet girlish shyness that of a surety God's fair land of Ireland did not hold her equal.

For an instant she was silent with rather sad downcast eyes. She was about to retort but something checked the words on her tongue. Inclination prompted her to speak out: dignity told her to be silent. The pretty lips pouted awhileº but then she glanced up and broke ⁽³out³⁾ into a joyous little laugh which had in it all the freshness of a young May morning. She knew right well, no-one better, what made squinty Edy say that ^|6because of him cooling in his attentions when it was simply a ^(errlover's lovers'º^err) quarrel^6|. As per usual somebody's nose was out of joint about the boy that had the bicycle ⁽³off the London bridge road³⁾ always riding up and down in front of her ⁽³windows windowº³⁾. Only now his father kept him in inº the evenings studying hard to get an exhibition in the intermediate that was on and he was going ⁽³to go³⁾ to Trinity college to study for a doctor when he left the high school like his brother ⁽³W E W. E.º³⁾ Wylie who was racing in the bicycle races ⁽³of inº³⁾ Trinity college university. Little recked he perhaps for what she felt, that dull ^|6ache aching void^6| in her heart sometimes, piercing to the core. Yet he was young and perchance ⁽³in time³⁾ he might learn to love her ⁽³in time³⁾. They were protestants in his family and of course Gerty knew ⁽⁴who Who⁴⁾ came first and after Him the blessed ^|~5virgin Virgin^~|5| and then ^|8saint Saint^8| Joseph. But he was undeniably handsome ^|6with an exquisite nose^6| and he ⁽³looked was³⁾ what he ⁽³was looked³⁾, every inch a gentleman, the shape of his head too at the back without his cap on⁽³,^{3) |5}that she would know anywhere^5|
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something off the common and the way he turned the bicycle at ⁽³her theº³⁾ lamp with his hands off the bars and also the nice perfume of those good cigarettes and besides they were both of a size ⁽³too he and she³⁾ and that was why Edy Boardman thought she was so frightfully clever because he didn't go and ride up and down in front of her bit of a garden.

Gerty was dressed simply but with ^|7the^7| instinctive taste ^|7of a votary of Dame Fashion^7| for she felt that there was just a might that he might be out. A neat blouse of electric blue⁽³,³⁾ selftinted by dolly dyes ^(3|7(because it was expected in the Lady's Pictorial that electric blue would be worn)^7|,³⁾ with a smart vee opening ^|5down to the division^5| and kerchief pocket (in which she ⁽³always³⁾ kept ⁽³always³⁾ a ⁽³little³⁾ piece of cottonwool scented with ⁽³heliotrope her
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favourite perfume because the handkerchief spoiled the sit³⁾) and a navy ⁽³three quarter threequarter³⁾ skirt cut to the stride showedº off her slim graceful figure to perfection. She wore a coquettish ^|6wideleaved little love of a^6| hat of ^|6wideleaved^6| nigger straw ^|8contrast trimmed^8| with an underbrim of eggblue chenille and at the side a butterfly bow ⁽³of silk³⁾ to tone. All Tuesday week afternoon she was hunting to match that chenille but at last she found what she wanted ⁽³in Sparrow's at Clery's³⁾ summer ⁽³bargains sales³⁾, the very it, slightly shopsoiled but you would never notice,º seven fingers two and a penny. She did it up all by herself and ^|6what joy was hers when ^|8she^8|6| tried it on then,º smiling ^|8back^8| at ^|7her the^7| lovely reflection ^|6in which^6| the mirror⁽³,^{3) |6}and gave back to her! And^6| when she put it on the waterjug to keep the shape she knew that that would take the shine out of some people she knew. Her shoes were the newest thing in footwear (Edy Boardman prided herself that she was very ⁽⁴petite petite⁴⁾ but she never had a foot like Gerty MacDowell, a five,º and never would ⁽³have,³⁾ ash,º oak or elm) with patent toecaps and just one smart buckle ^|5|6over at^6| her higharched instepº^5|. Her wellturned ankle displayed its ^|5perfect^5| proportions beneath her skirt and just the proper amount and no more of her shapely ^|7leg limbs^7| encased in finespun hose with highspliced heels and wide garter tops. As for undies they were Gerty's chief care and who that knows the fluttering hopes and fears of sweet seventeen (though Gerty would never see seventeen again) can find it in his heart to blame her? She had four dinky sets ^|6withº ^|7very awfully^7| pretty stitchery^6|, three ^|5articles garments^5| and nighties extra, and each set slotted with different coloured ribbons, rosepink, pale blue, mauve and peagreen and she aired them herself ⁽³and blued them³⁾ when they came home from the wash ⁽³because she wouldn't trust those washerwomen and aired³⁾ and ironed ⁽³herself them³⁾ and she had a brickbat ⁽³too³⁾ to keep the iron ⁽³hot³⁾ on ⁽³because she wouldn't trust those washerwomen as far as she'd see them scorching the things³⁾. She was wearing the blue for luck, ^|5hoping against hope,^5| her own colour and ⁽³lucky the lucky colourº³⁾ too for a bride to have a bit of blue somewhere ⁽³on
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her³⁾ because the green she wore ⁽³on Friday that day week³⁾ brought grief because his father brought him in to study for the intermediate exhibition and because she thought perhaps he might be out because when she was dressing that morning she nearly slipped up the old pair on her inside out and that was for
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luck and lovers' meetingº if you put those things on inside out ⁽³or if they got untied that he was thinking about you³⁾ so long as it wasn't of a Friday.

And yet —º and yet⁽³.!^{3) |5}That strained look ^|ain her eyes. on her face^|6.!^6|a|5| A gnawing sorrow is there all the time. Her very soul is in her eyes and she would give worlds to be in ^|5the privacy of^5| her own familiar chamber where^|8, giving way to tears,^8| she could have a good cry and relieve her pentup feelings ^|5thoughº not too much because she knew how to cry nicely before the mirror^5|. ^|5You are lovely, Gerty, it said.^5| The paly light of evening falls upon a face infinitely sad and wistful. Gerty MacDowell yearns in vain. Yes, she had known from the ⁽³very³⁾ first that ^|6it her daydream of ^|aone day becoming a marriage has been arranged and the weddingbells ringing for^a| Mrs Reggy Wylie ^|a|7T.C.D T.C.D.^7|a| (because the one who married the ^|8other elder^8| brother would be Mrs Wylie) and in the fashionable intelligence Mrs Gertrude Wylie was wearing ^|aan exquisite grey mantle a sumptuous confection of grey^a| trimmed with expensive blue fox^6| was not to be. He was too young to understand. He would not believe in love^|6, a woman's birthright^6|. The night of the party long ago in Stoer'sº (he was still in short trousers) when they were alone and he stole an arm round her waist she went white to the very lips. He called her little one ^|5in a strangely husky voice^5| and ^|5half kissed her snatched a half kiss^5| (the first!) but it was only the end of her nose and then he hastened from the room with a remark about refreshments. Impetuous fellow! Strength of character had never been Reggy Wylie's strong point and he who would woo and win Gerty MacDowell must be a man among men. But waiting, always waiting to be asked and it was leap year too and would soon be over. No prince charming is her beau ideal to lay a rare and wondrous love at her feet but rather a manly man with a strong quiet face ^|5who had not found his ideal^5|, perhaps his hair slightly flecked with grey, and who would understand, take her in his sheltering arms, strain her to him in all the strength of his deep passionate nature and comfort her with a long long kiss. ^|5It would be like heaven.^5| For such a one she yearns this balmy summer eve. With all the heart of her she longs to be his only, his affianced bride for riches for poor^|8,^8| in sickness in health^|8,^8| till death us two part^|8,^8| from this to this day forward.
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And while Edy Boardman was with little Tommy behind the pushcar she was just thinking would the day ever come when she could call herself
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his little wife to be. Then they could talk about her ^|9till they went blue in the face^9|, Bertha Supple too⁽³,³⁾ and Edy, ⁽³little theº³⁾ spitfire, because she would be twentytwo in November. She would care for him with creature comforts too for Gerty was womanly wise and knew that a mere man liked that feeling of ^|10homeyness hominess^10|. Her ⁽³teacakes griddlecakes^{3) |5}done to a goldenbrown hue^5| and queen Ann's pudding ^|5of delightful creaminess^5| had won golden opinions from all because she had a lucky hand ⁽³they said³⁾ also for lighting a fire, dredge in the fine ^|10selfraising^10| flour and always stir in the same direction⁽³,³⁾ then cream the milk and sugar and whisk well the white of eggs ^|5though she didn't like the eating part when there were any people that made her shy and often she wondered why you couldn't eat something poetical like violets or roses^5| and they would have a ^|6nice beautifully appointed^6| drawingroom with pictures ^|5and engravings ^|8and the photograph of grandpapa Giltrap's lovely dog Garryowen that almost talked^|10,^10| it was so human^|10,^10|8|5| and chintz covers for the chairs and that silver toastrack in Clery's summer ⁽³sale ^|5jumble^5| sales³⁾ like they have in rich houses. He would be tall ^|5with broad shoulders^5| (she had always admired tall men for a husband) with glistening white teeth under his carefully trimmed sweeping moustache and ^|9they would go on the continent for their honeymoon (three wonderful weeks!) and then^|10,^10| when they settled down in a nice snug and cosy little homely house^|10,^10|9| every morning they would both have brekky^|10,^{10| |5}simple but perfectly served^|10,^10|5| for their own two selves and before he went out to business he would give ^|6her his dear little wifey^6| a good hearty hug and gaze for a moment deep down into her eyes.

Edy Boardman asked Tommy Caffrey was he done and he said yes^|10,^10| so then she buttoned up his little knickerbockers for him and told him to run off and play with Jacky and to be good ^|10now^10| and not to fight. But Tommy said he wanted the ball and Edy told him no that baby was playing with the ball and if he took it there'd be wigs on the green but Tommy said it was his ball ^(3|10his ball^10|3) and he wanted his ball and he pranced on the ground, if you please. The temper of him! O, he was
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a man already was little Tommy Caffrey ^|6since he was out of pinnies^6|. Edy told him no, no and to be off now with him and she told Cissy Caffrey not to give in to him.

— You're not my sister, naughty Tommy said. It's my ball.

But Cissy Caffrey told baby Boardman to look up, look up high at her finger and she snatched the ball quickly and threw it along the sand and Tommy after it in full career, having won the day.

— Anything for a quiet life, laughed Ciss.

And she tickled ⁽³baby Boardman's^{3) (4|8}baby's tiny tot's^8|4) two cheeks to make him forget and played here's
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the lord mayor, here's his two horses, here's his gingerbread carriage and here he walks in, chinchopper, chinchopper, chinchopper⁽³,³⁾ chin. But Edy got as cross as two sticks about ^|10his himº^10| getting hisº own way like that from everyone always petting him.

— I'd like to give him something, she said, so I would, where I won't say.

— On the beeoteetom, laughed Cissy merrily.

Gerty MacDowell bent down her head ^|6and crimsoned^6| at the idea of Cissy saying ^|6a an unladylike^6| thing like that out ^|7loud^7| she'd be ashamed of her life to say, flushing a deep rosy red^|7,^7| and Edy Boardman said she was sure the gentleman opposite heard what she said. But not a pin cared ⁽³Cissy Ciss³⁾.

— Let him! she said with a pert toss of her head and a piquant tilt of her nose. Give it to him too on the same place ⁽³as³⁾ quick as I'd look at him.

Madcap Ciss ^|5with her golliwog curls^5|. You had to laugh at her sometimes. For instance when she asked you would you have some more Chinese tea and jaspberry ram and when she drew the jugs too and the men's faces ^|5on her nails with red ink^5| make you split your sides or when ^|9she wanted to go where you know^9| she said she wanted to run and pay a visit to the ^|10miss white Miss White^10|. That was just like Cissycums. O, and will you ever forget ⁽³her³⁾ the evening she dressed up in her father's suit and hat ^|5and the burned cork moustache^5| and walked down ⁽³blank Tritonville road,³⁾ smoking a cigarette. ^|6There was none to come up to her for fun.^6| But she was sincerity itself, one of the bravest and truest hearts heaven ever made, ⁽³a sterling good friend,³⁾ not one of your twofaced things⁽³,³⁾ too sweet to be wholesome.
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And then there came out upon the air the sound of voices and the pealing anthem of the organ. It was the men's temperance ⁽³novena retreat³⁾ conducted by the missioner, the reverend ⁽³father³⁾ John Hughes S.J.,º rosary⁽³,³⁾ sermon and benediction of the ^|6most blessed sacrament Most Blessed Sacrament^6|. They were there gathered together without distinction of social class (and ⁽³a³⁾ most edifying ⁽³spectacle^{3) (3}was it it was³⁾ to see) in that simple fane beside the waves^|10,^10| after the storms of this weary world, kneeling ⁽³humbly at before³⁾ the feet of the immaculate, ^|6reciting the litany of Our Lady of Loreto,^6| beseeching her to intercede for them, ^|6the old familiar words,^6| holy Mary, holy virgin of virgins. How sad to poor Gerty's ears! Had her father only avoided the clutches of the demon drink^|10,^{10| |5}by taking the pledges pledge or those powders the drink habit cured in Pearson's Weekly^|10,^10|5| she might now be rolling in her carriage, second to none. Over and over had she told herself that as she mused by the ⁽³fireside dying embers³⁾ in a brown study⁽³, her eyes on the dying embers,^{3) |7}without the lamp because she hated
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two lights^7| or ^|5oftentimes^5| gazing out of the window ^|5dreamily^5| by the hour at the rain falling on the rusty bucket^|5, thinking^5|. But that vile decoction which has ruined so many hearths and homes had cast its shadow over her ⁽³girlhood childhood³⁾ days. Nay, she had even witnessed in the home circle deeds of violence caused by intemperance and had seen her own father, a prey to the fumes of intoxication⁽³,³⁾ forget himself completely for if there was one thing of all things that Gerty knew it was thatº the man who lifts his hand to a woman save in the way of kindness⁽³,³⁾ deserves to be branded as the lowest of the low.

And still the voices sang in supplication to the ^|~5virgin Virgin^~|5| most powerful, ^|~5virgin Virgin^~|5| most merciful. And Gerty, ⁽³rapt wrapt³⁾ in thought, scarce saw or heard her companions or the twins at ⁽³the theirº³⁾ boyish gambols or the gentleman off Sandymount green that Cissy ⁽³Caffrey³⁾ called the man that was so like himself passing along the strand taking a short walk. You never saw him anyway screwed but still and for all that she would not like him for a father because he was too old or something or on account of his face (it was a palpable case of ⁽³Doctor doctor³⁾ Fell) or his carbuncly nose with the pimples on it ^|7and ^|ahis sandy moustache a bit^a| white under his nose^7|. Poor father! With all his faults she loved him still when he sang Tell me, Mary, how to woo theeº ^|6or My love and cottage
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near Rochelle^6| and they had stewed cockles and lettuce with ^|10Lazenby's^10| salad dressing for supper and when he sang ⁽³the duet³⁾ The moon hath raised with Mr Dignam that died suddenly and was buried, God have mercy on him, from a stroke. Her mother's birthday that was and Charley was home on his holidays and Tom and Mr Dignam and Mrs and Patsy and Freddy Dignam and they were to have had a group taken. No-one would have thought the end was so nearº. Now he was laid to rest. And her mother said to him to let that be a warning to him for the rest of his days and he couldn't even go to the funeral on account of the gout and she had to go into town to bring him the letters and samples from his office about Catesby's cork lino, artistic^|5,º standard^5| designs, fit for a palace, gives tiptop wear and always bright and cheery in the home.

A sterling good daughter was Gerty just like a second mother in the house, a ministering angel too ^|5with a little heart worth its weight in gold^5|. And when her mother had those ⁽³awful ^|5raging^5| splitting³⁾ headaches who was it rubbed ⁽³on³⁾ the menthol cone on her forehead but Gerty though she didn't like her ⁽³mother's mother³⁾ taking pinches of snuff and that was the only single thing they ever had words about, taking snuff. ^|5Everyone thought the world of her ^|7for her gentle ways^7|.^5| It was Gerty who turned off the gas ⁽³at the main³⁾ every night ⁽³at the main³⁾ and it was Gerty
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who tacked up on the wall of that place ^|5where she never forgot every fortnight the chlorate of lime^5| Mr Tunney the grocer's christmas almanac⁽³,³⁾ the picture of halcyon days where a young gentleman in the ⁽³dress costume³⁾ they used to wear then with a threecornered hat ⁽³offered was offeringº³⁾ a bunch of flowers to his ⁽³lady love ladyloveº³⁾ with oldtime chivalry through ⁽³the her³⁾ lattice window. ^|5You could see there was a story behind it.^5| The colours were done ⁽³something³⁾ lovely. She was in a soft clinging white ^|6in a studied attitude^6| and the gentleman ⁽³was³⁾ in chocolate and he looked a thorough aristocrat. She often looked at them dreamily when she went there for a certain purpose and ^|10felt her own arms that were white and soft just like hers with the sleeves back and^10| thought about those times because she had found out in Walker's pronouncing dictionary that belonged to grandpapa Giltrapº about the halcyon days what they meant.

The twins were now playing in the most approved brotherly
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fashion⁽³,³⁾ till at last ⁽³master Master³⁾ Jacky⁽³,³⁾ who was really as bold as brass⁽³,³⁾ there was no getting behind that⁽³,³⁾ deliberately kicked the ball as hard as ever he could down towards the seaweedy rocks. Needless to say⁽³,³⁾ poor Tommy was not slow to voice his dismay but luckily the gentleman in black who was sitting there by himself came ^|10gallantly^10| to the rescue and intercepted the ball. Our two champions claimed their plaything with lusty cries and to avoid trouble Cissy Caffrey called to the gentleman to throw it to her please. The gentleman aimed the ball once or twice and then threw it ⁽³along up³⁾ the strand towards Cissy Caffrey but it rolled down the slope and stopped ⁽³rightº³⁾ under Gerty's skirt near the little pool ⁽³beside by³⁾ the rock. The twins clamoured again for it and Cissy told her to kick it away and let them fight for it^(3|10it^10|3) so Gerty drew back her foot but she wished their stupid ball hadn't come rolling down to her and she gave a kickº but she missed and Edy and Cissy laughed.

— If you fail try again, Edy Boardman said.

Gerty smiled assent ^|7and bit her lip^7|.º A delicate pink crept into her pretty ⁽³cheeks cheek³⁾ but she was determined to let them see so she just lifted her skirt a little ⁽³but just enough³⁾ and took good aim and gave the ball a jolly good kick and it went ever so far and the two twins after it down towards the shingle. Pure jealousy of course it was⁽³,³⁾ nothing else to draw attention on account of the gentleman opposite looking. She felt the warm flush, a danger signal always with Gerty MacDowell, surging and flaming into her cheeks. Till then they had only exchanged glances of the most casual but now under the brim of her new hat she ventured a look at him and the face that met her gaze there in the twilight, wan and strangely drawn, seemed to her the saddest she had ever seen.
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Through the open window of the church the fragrant incense was wafted and with it the fragrant names of her who was conceived without stain of original sin⁽³. Spiritual, spiritual³⁾ vessel, pray for us, honourable vessel, pray for us, vessel of singular devotion, pray for us, mystical rose. And careworn hearts were there and toilers for their daily bread and many who had erred and wandered, their eyes wet with contrition but⁽³,³⁾ for all that⁽³,³⁾ bright with hope for the reverend father ⁽³Father³⁾ Hughes had told them what the great saint Bernard ⁽³had³⁾ said in his famous prayer
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of Mary, the most pious ^|~5virgin's Virgin's^~|5| intercessory power that it was not recorded in any age that those who implored her powerful protection were ever abandoned by her.

The twins were now playing again right merrily for the troubles of childhood are but as ^|10passing fleeting^10| summer ⁽³clouds showers³⁾. Cissy ⁽³Caffrey³⁾ played with baby Boardman till he crowed with glee, clapping baby hands in air⁽⁴,.º^{4) (3}crying peep Peep she cried³⁾ behind the hood of the pushcar and Edy asked where was Cissy gone and then Cissy popped up her head and ⁽³said cried³⁾ ah! ⁽³(O, my! and, my word,³⁾ didn't the little chap enjoy ⁽³that) that!³⁾ And then she ⁽³bade him told him to³⁾ say papa.

— Say papa, baby. Say pa pa pa pa pa pa pa.

And baby did his level best to say it ⁽³because for³⁾ he was very intelligent for eleven months everyone said ^|5and big for his age and the picture of health^|7, a perfect little bunch of love,^7|5| and he would certainly turn out to be something great, they said.

— ⁽³Ja, ja, ja, ja Haja ja ja haja³⁾.

Cissy wiped his little mouth with the dribbling bib and wanted him to sit up properly and say ⁽³pa, pa, pa. But pa pa pa butº³⁾ when she undid the strap she cried out, holy saint Denis, that he was possing wet and to double the half blanket the other way under him. Of course his infant majesty was most obstreperous at such toilet formalities and ⁽³he let everyone know it:

— Habaa baaaahabaaa baaaa.³⁾

⁽³⇒^{3) |5}And two great big lovely big tears coursing down his cheeks.^{5| (3}it It³⁾ was all no use ⁽³soothering him with no, nono, baby, no and³⁾ telling him ^(4|v5all^v5|4) aboutº the geegee and where was the puffpuff but Ciss, alwaysº readywitted⁽³,³⁾ gave him in his mouth the teat of the suckingbottle and the young heathen was quickly appeased.

Gerty wished to goodness they would take their ⁽³squalling³⁾ baby home out of that ^|5and not get on her nerves^5|,º no hour to be out,º and the little brats of twins. She gazed out towards the distant sea. It was like ^|5a picture painting the paintings that man used to do on the pavement with all the coloured chalks^{5| |9}and such a pity too leaving them there to be all blotted out,^9|(3:³⁾ the evening and the clouds coming
{u22, 342}
out and the Bailey light on Howth
{u21, 398}
and to hear the music like that and the perfume ⁽³they used of those incense they burned³⁾ in the church ^|8like a kind of waft^8|. And while she gazed her heart went pitapat. Yes, it was her he was looking at⁽³,³⁾ and there was meaning in his look. His eyes burned into her as though they would search her through and through, read her very soul. Wonderful eyes they were, superbly expressive, but could you trust them? ^|7People were so queer.^7| She could see at once by his dark eyes ^|5and his pale intellectual face^5| that he was a foreigner^(err,º^{err) |5|a}like the image of^a| the photo she had of Martin Harvey, the matinée idol, only for the moustache which she preferred ^|6because she wasn't stagestruck like ^|9Winnie Winny^9| Rippingham that wanted they two to ^|aalways^a| dress the same on account of a play^6|5| but she could not see whether he had an aquiline nose ^|7or a slightly retroussé^7| from where he was sitting. He was in deep mourning, she could see that, and the story of a haunting sorrow was written on his face. She would have given worlds to know what it was. He was looking up so ⁽³intensely intently³⁾, so still and he saw her kick the ball and perhaps he could see the bright steel buckles of ⁽³her shoesº³⁾ if she swung them like that thoughtfully ^|5with the toes down^5|. She was glad that something told her to put on the transparent stockings thinking Reggy Wylie might be out but that was far away. Here was that of which she had so often dreamed. ^|5It was he who mattered and there was joy on her face because she wanted him because she felt instinctively that he was like no-one else.^5| The ^|8very^8| heart of the ^|6girl-woman girlwoman^6| went out to him^|5, her dreamhusband^|9,º because she knew on the instant it was him^9|5|. If he had suffered, more sinned against than sinning, or even, even, if he had been himself a sinner, a wicked man, she cared not. ^|5Even if he was a protestant or methodist she could convert him easily ^|8if he truly loved her^8|.^5| There were wounds that wanted healing ^|5|awith heartbalm^a|. She was a womanly woman not like other flighty girls, ^|a|bunfeminine^|10,^10|b| he had known^|~,^~|a| those cyclists showing off what they hadn't got^5| and she just yearned to know all, to forgive all if she could make him fall in love with her, make him forget the memory of the past. Then mayhap he would embrace her gently, ^|5like a real man,^5| crushing her soft body to ⁽³his him³⁾, and love her^|6, his ownest girlie,^6| for herself alone.
{u21, 399}

Refuge of sinners. Comfortress of the afflicted. Ora pro nobis. Well has it been said that whosoever prays to her with faith and constancy can never be lost or cast away: and fitly is she too a haven of refuge for the afflicted because of the seven dolours which transpierced her own heart. Gerty could picture the whole scene in the church, the stained glass windows lighted up, the candles, the flowers and the blue banners of the blessed ^|~5virgin's Virgin's^~|5| sodality and ⁽³father Father³⁾
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Conroy was helping ⁽³canon Canon³⁾ O'Hanlon at the altar, carrying things in and out with his eyes cast down. He looked almost a saint and his confessionbox was so quiet and clean and dark and his hands were just like white wax ^|5and if ever she became a Dominican nun in their white habit perhaps he might come to the convent for the novena of Saint Dominic^5|. He told her that time when she told him about that ⁽³at in³⁾ confession⁽³,³⁾ crimsoning up to the roots of her hair for fear he could see, ⁽³that she was³⁾ not to be troubled because that was only the voice of nature and we were all subject to nature's laws, he said, in this life and that that was no sin because that came from the nature of woman instituted by God, he said, and that ⁽³our Our³⁾ Blessed Lady herself said to the archangel Gabriel be it done unto me according to Thy Word. He was so kind and holy and often and often she thought ^|5and thought^5| could she work ^|5an embroidered a ^|7ruched^7|5| teacosy ^|5with embroidered floral design^5| for him as a present or a clock but they had a clock she noticed on the mantelpiece white and gold with a ^|5canary canarybirdº^5| that came out of a little house to tell the time the day she went there about the flowers for the forty hours' adoration because it was hard to know what sort of a present to give or perhaps an album of illuminated views of Dublin or some place.

The ^|8exasperating^8| little brats of twins began to quarrel again and Jacky threw the ball out towards the sea and they both ran after it. ⁽³Common as ditchwater the little Little³⁾ monkeys ⁽³common as ditchwater³⁾. Someone ought to take them and give them a good hiding for themselves to keep them in their places^|8,^8| the both of them. And Cissy and Edy shouted after them to come back because they were afraid the tide might come in on them and be drowned.

— Jacky! Tommy!
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Not they! What a great notion they had! So Cissy said it was the very last time she'd ever bring them out. She jumped up and called them and thenº she ran down the slope past him, tossing ⁽³behind her³⁾ her hair ⁽³behind her³⁾ which had a good enough colour if there had been more of it but with all the thingamerry she was always rubbing into it she couldn't get it to grow long because it wasn't natural so she could just go and throw her hat at it. She ran with long gandery strides it was a wonder she didn't rip up her skirt at the side that was too tight on her because there was a lot of the tomboy about Cissy Caffrey ^|5and she was a forward piece^5| whenever she thought she had a good opportunity to show off and just because she was a good runner she ran like that so that he could see all the end of her petticoat running and her skinny shanks up as far as possible. It would have served her just right if she had tripped up over something ^|5accidentally on purpose^5| with her high ^|5crooked^5| French heels on her to make her look tall and
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got a fine tumble. ^|5Tableau!^5| That would have been a very charming exposé for a gentleman like that to witness.

Queen of angels, queen of patriarchs, queen of prophets, of all saints, they prayed, queen of the most holy rosary and then Father Conroy handed the thurible to Canon O'Hanlon and he put in the incense and censed the ^|10blessed sacrament Blessed Sacrament^10| and Cissy Caffrey caught the two twins and she was itching to give them a ^|8ringing^8| good clip on the ear but she didn't because she thought he might be watching but she never made a bigger mistake in ⁽³all^{3) |10}all^10| her life because Gerty could see without looking that he never took his eyes off of her and then Canon O'Hanlon handed the thurible back to Father Conroy and knelt down looking up at the ^|10blessed sacrament Blessed Sacrament^10| and the choir began to sing Tantum ergo and she just swung her foot in and out in time ^|5as the music rose and fell^5| to the ⁽³tantumer Tantumer³⁾ gosa cramen tum. Three and eleven she paid for those stockings in Sparrow's of George'sº street on the Tuesday, no the Monday before ^|~5easter Easter^~|5| and there wasn't a brack on them and that was what he was looking at, transparent, and not at ^|5her ^|6her's her insignificant ones^6|5| that had neither shape nor form ^|7(the cheek of her!)^7| because he had eyes in his head to see the difference for himself.
{u21, 401}

Cissy came up along the strand with the two twins and their ball with her hat anyhow on her ^|10on to^10| one side after her run and she did look a streel tugging the two kids along with the ^|5flimsy^5| blouse she bought only a fortnight before like a rag on her back ^|5and a bit of her petticoat hanging ^|6like a caricature^6|5|. Gerty just took off her hat for a moment to settle her hair and a ⁽³a³⁾ prettier, a daintier head of nutbrown tresses was never seen on a girl's shoulders⁽³,³⁾ —º a radiant little vision, in sooth, almost maddening in its sweetness. You would have to travel many a long mile before you found a head of hair the like of that. She could almost see the swift answering flashº of admiration in his eyes that set her tingling in every nerve. She put on her hat so that she could see from underneath the brim and swung her buckled shoe faster for her breath caught as she ⁽³read caught³⁾ the expression ⁽³of in³⁾ his eyes. He was ^(erreying eyeingº^err) her as a snakeº eyes its prey. Her woman's instinct told her that she had raised the devil in him and at the thought a burning scarlet swept from throat to brow till the lovely colour of her face became a glorious rose.

Edy Boardman was noticing it too because she was squinting at Gerty, half smiling, with her specs⁽³,³⁾ like an old maid, pretending to ⁽³hush nurse³⁾ the baby. Irritable little gnat she was and always would be and that was why no-one could get on with her⁽³,³⁾ poking her nose into what was no concern of hers. And she said to Gerty:
{u22, 345}

— A penny for your thoughts.

— What? ^|5laughed replied^5| Gerty ^|5with a smile reinforced by the whitest of teeth^5|. I was only wondering was it late.

Because she wished ⁽³to goodness³⁾ they'd take the snottynosed twins and ⁽³the babby their babyº³⁾ home to the mischief out of that so that was why she just gave a gentle hint about ⁽⁴it its⁴⁾ being late. And when Cissy came up Edy asked her the time and Miss Cissy, as glib as you like, said it was half past kissing time, time to kiss again. But Edy wanted to know because they were told to be in early.

— Wait, said Cissy, I'll askº ⁽³my³⁾ uncle Peter over there what's the time by his conundrum.

So over she went and when he saw her coming she could see him take his hand out of his pocket, getting nervous, and beginning to play
{u21, 402}
with his watchchain, looking ⁽³up³⁾ at the church. Passionate nature though he was Gerty could see that he had enormous control over himself. One moment he had been there⁽³,³⁾ fascinated by a loveliness that made him gaze,º ⁽³the passion seething in his veins³⁾ and the next moment it was the quiet gravefaced gentleman, selfcontrol expressed in every line of his ⁽³distinguished looking distinguishedlooking³⁾ figure.

Cissy said to excuse her would he mind ⁽³please³⁾ telling her what was the right time and Gerty could see him taking out his watch^|10,^{10| (3}and³⁾ listening ⁽³to it³⁾ and looking up ⁽³and looking at it:^{3) |5}and clearing his throat^5| and he said he was very sorry his watch was stopped but he thought it must be after eight because the sun was set. His voice had a cultured ring in it and ^|5though he spoke in measured accents^5| there was a suspicion of a quiver in the mellow tones. Cissy said thanks and came back with her tongue out and said ^|5uncle said^5| his waterworks were out of order.

Then they sang the second verse of the Tantum ergo and Canon O'Hanlon got up again and censed the ^|10blessed sacrament Blessed Sacrament^10| and knelt down and he told Father Conroy that one of the candles was just going to set fire to the flowers and Father Conroy got up and settled it all right and she could see the gentleman winding his watch and listening to the works⁽³. And and³⁾ she swung her leg more in and out in time. It was getting darker but he could see and he was looking all the time that he was winding the watch or whatever he was doing to it and then he put it back ⁽³and put his hands back into his pockets³⁾. She felt a kind of a sensation rushing all over her and she knew by the feel of her scalp and that irritation against her stays that that thing ⁽³was must be³⁾ coming on because the last time ⁽³too³⁾ was ⁽³also³⁾ when she clipped her hair on account of the moon. His dark eyes fixed themselves on her again,º drinking in her every contour,
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literally worshipping at her shrine. If ever there was undisguised admiration in a man's passionate gaze it was there plain to be seen on that man's face. It is for you, Gertrude MacDowell, and you know it.

Edy began to get ready to go ^|5and it was high time for her^5| and ^|5she Gerty^5| noticed that ⁽³thatº³⁾ little hint she gave had ⁽³had³⁾ the desired effect because it was a long way along the strand to where there was the place to push up the pushcar and Cissy took off the twins' caps and ⁽³combed tidied³⁾ their
{u21, 403}
hair to make herself attractive of course and Canon O'Hanlon stood up with his cope poking up at his neck and Father Conroy handed him the card to read off and he read out Panem de coelo praestitisti eis and Edy and Cissy were talking about the time all the time and asking her but Gerty could pay them back in their own coin and she just answeredº with scathing politeness when Edy asked her was she heartbroken about her best boy throwing her over. Gerty winced sharply. A brief cold blaze shone from her eyes that spoke ^|5volumes^5| of scorn immeasurable. It hurt —º Oº yes, it cut deep because Edy had her own quiet way of saying things ⁽³like³⁾ that she knew would wound like the confounded little cat she was. Gerty's lips parted swiftly ^|5to frame the word^5| but she fought back the sob that rose to her throat, so slim, so flawless⁽³,³⁾ so beautifully ⁽³modelled moulded³⁾ it seemed one an artist might have dreamed of. She had loved him better than he knew. Lighthearted deceiver and fickle like all his sex he would never understand what he had meant to her and for an instant there was in the blue eyes a quick stinging of tears. Their eyes were probing her mercilessly but with a brave effort she sparkled back in sympathy as she glanced at her new conquest for them to see.

— O, ^|5she laughed responded Gerty, laughing, quick as lightning, laughing^5|, and the proud head flashed up. I can throw my cap at who I like because it's leap year.

Her words rang out ⁽³crystal clear crystalclear³⁾, more musical than the cooing of the ringdove^(err,º^err) but they cut the silence icily. There was that in her young voice that told that she was not a one to be lightly trifled with. ^|5As for Mr Reggy ^|awith his swank and his bit of money^a| she could just chuck him aside as if he was so much filth and ^|6not never again would she^6| cast ^|7as much as^7| a second thought on him ^|8and tear his silly postcard into a dozen pieces^8|. And if ever after he dared to presume she could give him one look ^|6of measured scorn^6| that would make him shrivel up on the spot.^5| Miss ^|5puny little^5| Edy's countenance fell to no slight extent and Gerty could see by her looking as black as thunder that she was simply in a towering rage ^|6though she hid it, the little kinnatt,^6| because that shaft had struck home ^|6for her petty jealousy^6| and they both knew that she was something aloof, apart,º in another sphere, that she was
{u21, 404}
not of them and never would beº and there
{u22, 347}
was somebody else too that knew it and saw it so they could put that in their pipe and smoke it.

Edy straightened up baby Boardman to get ready to go and Cissy tucked in the ball and the spades and buckets and it was high time too because the sandman was on his way for ⁽³master Master³⁾ Boardman junior⁽³. And and³⁾ Cissy ⁽³Caffrey³⁾ told him too that ⁽³billy winks Billy Winks³⁾ was coming and that baby was to go deedaw and baby looked just too ducky, laughing up out of his gleeful eyes⁽³,³⁾ and Cissy poked him like that out of fun in his wee fat tummy and baby, without as much as by your leave, sent up his compliments to all and sundryº on to his ^|10brand new brandnew^10| dribbling bib.

— O my! ⁽³puddeny Puddenyº³⁾ pie! protested Ciss. ^|5He has his bib destroyed.^5|

The slight ^|10contretemps contretemps^10| claimed her attention but in two ⁽³two twosº³⁾ she set that little matter to rights.

Gerty stifled a smothered exclamation ^|5and gave a nervous cough^5| and Edy asked what and she was just going to tell her to catch it while it was flying but she was ever ladylike in her deportment so she simply passed it off ^|5with consummate tact^5| by saying that that was the benediction because just then the bell rang out from the steeple over the quiet seashore because Canon O'Hanlon was up on the altar with the veil that Father Conroy put round him round his shoulders giving ⁽⁴them⁴⁾ the benediction with the ^|10blessed sacrament Blessed Sacrament^10| in his hands.

How moving the scene there in the gathering twilight, ^|6|athe stained glass windows lit up^a|6| the last glimpse of Erin, the touching chime of those evening bells and at the same time a bat flew forth from theº ivied belfry through the dusk, hither, thither, with a tiny lost cry. And she could see far away the lights of the lighthouses ^|5so picturesque ^|6she would have loved to do with a box of paints ^|9because it was easier than to make a man^9|6|5| and soon the lamplighter would be going his rounds ^|6past the presbyterian church grounds and along by shady Tritonville avenue where the couples walked and^6| lighting the lamp near her window where Reggy Wylie used to turn ^|5the bicycle his freewheel^5| like she read in that book The Lamplighter by Miss Cummins⁽³,³⁾ author of Mabel Vaughan and other tales. For Gerty had her dreams that no-one knew of. She loved to read poetry and⁽³, when^{3) |10}when^10| she got a keepsake from Bertha Supple of that lovely confession
{u21, 405}
album with the coralpink cover to write her thoughts in she laid it in the drawer of her ^|10toilet-table toilettable^10|(3,³⁾ which,º though it did not err on the side of luxury, was scrupulously neat and clean. It was there she kept her girlish treasureº trove, the tortoiseshell combs, her child of Mary badge, the whiterose scent, the ⁽³eyebrowline eyebrowleine³⁾, her alabaster pouncetbox and the ribbons to change when her things came home from the wash and there were some beautiful thoughts written in it in violet ink that she bought in ^|10Wisdom^10| Hely's
{u22, 348}
^|10of Dame Street^10| for she felt that she too could write poetry if she could only express herself like that ⁽³poetry poem^{3) |8}that appealed to her so deeply that^8| she had copied out of the newspaper she found one evening round the potherbs.º Art thou real, my ideal? it was called by Louis ⁽⁴J J.^{4) (3}Walsh ^|6Walshe Walshº^6|3), Magherafelt, and after there was something about twilight, wilt thou ever? and ^|8often ofttimes^8| the beauty of poetry, so sad in its transient loveliness^|10,^10| had misted her eyes with silent tears ⁽³for she felt³⁾ that the years were slipping by for her, one by one, and but for that one shortcoming she knew she need fear no ⁽³comparisons competition³⁾ and that was ⁽³anº³⁾ accident coming down ^|6the Dalkey^6| hill and she always tried to conceal it. But it must end,º she felt. If she saw that magic lure in his eyes there would be no holding back for her. Love laughs at locksmiths. She would make the great sacrifice. ^|5Her every effort would be to share his thoughts.^5| Dearer than the whole world would she be to him and gild his days with happiness. There was the ⁽³all important allimportant³⁾ question and she was dying to know was he a married man or a widower who had lost his wife or some tragedy like the nobleman with the foreign name from the land of song had to have her put into a madhouse, cruel only to be kind. But even if — what then? Would it make a very great difference⁽³.?³⁾ From everything in the least indelicate her finebred nature instinctively recoiled. She loathed that sort of person, the fallen women off the ^|s10accomodation accommodation^s10| walk beside the Dodder that went with the soldiers and coarse menº ^|6with no respect for a girl's honour^6|, degrading the sex and being taken up to the police station. No, no: not that. They would be just good friends ^|5like a big brother and sister without all that other^5| in spite of the conventions of ^|~5society Society^~|5| with a big ess. Perhaps it was an old flame he was in mourning for from the days beyond recall. She thought she
{u21, 406}
understood. She would try to understand him because men were so different. The old love was waiting, waiting with little white hands stretched out, with blue appealing eyes. ^|8Heart of mine!^8| She would follow ^|7herº dream of love,^7| the dictates of her heart ^|5that told her he was her all in all, the only man in ^|9all^9| the world for her^5| for love was the master guide. Nothing else mattered. Come what might she would be wild, untrammelled, free.

Canon O'Hanlon put the ^|10blessed sacrament Blessed Sacrament^10| back into the tabernacle and the choir sang Laudate Dominum omnes gentes and then he locked the tabernacle door because the benediction was over and Father Conroy handed him his hat to put on and ^|9crosscat^9| Edy asked ^|9was wasn't^9| she coming but Jacky Caffrey called out:

— O, look, Cissy!

And they all looked was it sheet lightning but Tommy saw it too over the trees beside the church, blue and then green and purple.
{u22, 349}

— It's fireworks, Cissy Caffrey said.

And they all ran down the strand to see over the houses and the church, helterskelter, Edy with the pushcar with baby Boardman in it and Cissy holding Tommy and Jacky by the hand so they wouldn't fall⁽³,³⁾ running.

— Come on, Gerty, Cissy called. It's the bazaar fireworks.

But Gerty was adamant. She had no intention of being at their beck and call. If they could run like rossies she could sit so she said she could see from where she was. The eyes that were fastened upon her set her pulses tingling. She looked at him a moment, meeting his glance, and a light broke in upon her. Whitehot passion was in that face, passion silent as the grave⁽⁴,º⁴⁾ and it had made her his. At last they were left alone without the others to pry and pass remarks and she knew he could be trusted to the death, steadfast, ^|6a sterling man,^6| a man of ^|8inflexible^{8| (3}principle honourº³⁾ to his fingertips. ^|5His hands and face were working and a ^(errtremour tremorº^err) went over her.^5| She leaned back far to ⁽³see look³⁾ up where the fireworks were and she caught her knee in her hands so as not to fall back⁽³,³⁾ looking up⁽³,³⁾ and there was no-one to see only him and her when she revealed all her graceful beautifully shaped legs like that, supply
{u21, 407}
soft and delicately rounded, and she seemed to hear the panting of his heart,º his hoarse breathing, because she knew ⁽³too³⁾ about the passion of men like that, hotblooded⁽³,³⁾ because Bertha Supple told her once in ^|7dead^7| secret ^|7and made her swear she'd never^7| about the gentleman lodger that was staying with them out of the ^|5record office Congested Districts Board^5| that had pictures cut out of papers of ⁽³those³⁾ skirtdancers ^|5and highkickers^5| and she said he used to do something not very nice that you could imagine sometimes in the bed. But this was ^|5altogether^5| different from a thing like that ⁽³because^{3) |7}because^7| there was all the difference because she could almost feel him draw her face to his and the first quick hot touch of his handsome lips. Besides there was absolution so long as you didn't do the other thing before being married and there ought to be women priests that would understand without ^|6your^6| telling out and Cissy Caffrey too sometimes had that dreamy kind of dreamy look in her eyes so that she too, my dear, ^|8and ^|9Winnie Winny^9| Rippingham so mad about actors' photographs^8| and besides it was on account of that other thing coming on the way it did.

And Jacky Caffrey shouted to look, there was another and she leaned back and the garters were blue to match on account of ⁽³the contrast with³⁾ the transparent and they all saw it and ⁽³they all³⁾ shouted to look, look,º there it was and she leaned back ever so far to see the fireworks and something queer was flying ⁽³about³⁾ through the air, a soft thing,º to and fro, dark. And she saw a long Roman candle going up over
{u22, 350}
the trees⁽³,³⁾ up, up, and^|6, in the tense hush,^6| they were all breathless with excitement as it went higher and higher and she had to lean back more and more to look up after it, high, high, almost out of sight, and her face was suffused with a divine, an entrancing blush from straining back and he could see her other things too, nainsook knickers, ^|5the fabric that caresses the skin, better than those other pettiwidth ^|7ones ^|10hose^10|7|, the green,^5| four and eleven, on account of being white and she let him and she saw that he saw and then it went so high it went out of sight a moment and she was trembling in every limb from being bent so far back that he ^|5could see had a full view^5| high up above her knee where no-one ever ^|7not even on the swing or wading^7| and she wasn't ashamed ⁽³and he wasn't either³⁾ to look in that immodest
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way like that because he couldn't resist the sight ^|5of the wondrous revealment ^|9half offered^9|5| like those skirtdancers behaving so immodest before ⁽³men gentlemen³⁾ looking and he ⁽³wasn't either, kept on³⁾ looking, looking. She would fain have cried to him chokingly, held out her snowy slender arms to him to come, to feel his lips laid on her white brow^|5, the cry of a young girl's love, ^|6a little strangled cry, wrung from her,^6| that cry that has rung through the ages^5|. ⁽³O!³⁾ And then ⁽³a rocket sprang and bang shot blind blank and O! then^{3) (3}suddenly it the Roman candle³⁾ burst and it was like a sigh of O! and ⁽³everybody everyone³⁾ cried O! O! ^|7in raptures^7| and it ⁽³shot gushed³⁾ out of it a stream of rain gold hair threads and they ⁽³burst shed³⁾ and ah! they were all greeny dewy stars falling with golden, O so lovely⁽⁴,!º⁴⁾ O⁽³, so³⁾ soft, sweet, soft!

Then all melted away dewily in the grey air: all was silent. Ah! She glanced at him as she bent forward quickly, a ^|5|alittle pathetic pathetic little^a|5| glance of piteous protest, of shy reproach under which he coloured like a girl. He was leaning back against the rock behind. Leopold Bloom (for it is he) stands silentº with bowed head before those young guileless eyes. What a brute he had been! At it again? A fair unsullied soul had called ⁽³to him³⁾ and, wretch that he was, how had he answered? ⁽³What an An³⁾ utter cad he had been!º ^|5He of all men!^5| But there was an infinite store of mercy in those eyes, for him too a word of pardon even though he had erred and sinned and wandered. ^|8Should a girl tell? No, a thousand times no.^8| That was their secret, only theirs, alone in the hiding twilight and there was none to know ⁽³or tell³⁾ save the little bat that flew so softly through the evening to and fro and little bats don't tell.

Cissy Caffrey whistled⁽³, imitating the boys in the football field to show what a great person she was:³⁾ and ⁽³then³⁾ she ⁽³called cried³⁾:º

— Gerty! Gerty! We're going. Come on. We can see from farther up.

Gerty had an idea^|5, one of love's little ruses^5|. She ⁽³took the wadding from slipped a hand into³⁾ her
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kerchief pocket and ⁽³took out the wadding and³⁾ waved in ⁽³gay³⁾ reply of course without letting him and then ⁽³put slipped³⁾ it back. Wonder if he's too far to. She rose. ^|5Was it goodbye? No.^5| She had to go but they would meet again, there, and she would dream of ⁽³it that³⁾ till then, ⁽³till they met³⁾ tomorrow^|6, of her dream of yester eve^6|. She drew herself up to her full height. Their
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souls met in a last lingering glance and the eyes that reached her heart, full of a strange shining, hung enraptured on her sweet flowerlike face. She half smiled at him ^|5wanly^5|, a sweet forgiving smile ^|6—, a smile that verged on tears,^6| and then they parted.

⁽³⇒³⁾ Slowly⁽³,³⁾ without looking back she went down the uneven strand to Cissy, to Edy, to Jacky and Tommy Caffrey, to little baby Boardman. It was darker now and there were stones and bits of wood on the strand and slippy seaweed. She walked with a certain quiet dignity ⁽³characteristic of her³⁾ but with care and ⁽³very³⁾ slowly because —º because Gerty MacDowell was …

Tight boots⁽³.?^{3) (3}No! She' lame. No. She's lame!³⁾ O!

Mr Bloom watched her as she limped away. Poor girl! That's why she's left on the shelf and the others did a sprint. Thought something was wrong by the cut of her jib. Jilted beauty. ^|5A defect is ten times worse in a woman^|~.^{~|5| |6}But makes them polite.^6| Glad I didn't know it when she was on show. Hot little devil all the same. ^|5I wouldn'tº mind. Curiosity like a nun or a negress or a girl with glasses.^{5| |7}That squinty one is delicate.^7| Near her monthlies, I expect⁽³,³⁾ makes them feel ticklish. I have such a bad headache ⁽³today³⁾. Where did I put the letter⁽³.?³⁾ Yes, all right. All kinds of crazy longings. ^|7Licking pennies.^7| Girl in Tranquilla convent ^|5that^5| nun told me liked ⁽³paraffin to smell rock³⁾ oil. ^|9Virgins go mad in the end I suppose.^9| Sister? ^|5How many women in Dublin have it today? Martha, she. Something in the air.^5| That's the moon. But then why don't all women menstruate at the same time with theº same moon⁽³.^|6?,^6|3) I mean^|6.?^6| Depends on the time they were born⁽³,³⁾ I suppose. ^|6Or all start scratch then get out of step. Sometimes Molly and Milly together.^6| Anyhow I got the best of that. ^|5Damned glad I didn't do it in the bath this morning over her silly I will punish you letter.^5| Made up for ⁽³the that³⁾ tramdriver this morning. That gouger M'Coy stopping ⁽³him me³⁾ to say nothing. ⁽³And his wife engagement in the country valise^|10,^10| voice like a pickaxe.³⁾ Thankful for small mercies. Cheap too. Yours for the asking. ⁽³Because they want it themselves. ^|10Their natural craving.^10| Shoals of them every evening poured out of offices. ^|7Reserve better. Don't want it they throw it at you.^7| Catch em alive, O.³⁾ Pity they can't see themselves. A dream of
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wellfilled hose. Where was that? Ah, yes. Mutoscope ⁽³picture pictures in Capel street³⁾: for men only. Peeping Tom. ^(3|6Willie's Willy's^6| hat and what the girls did with it.³⁾ Do they snapshot those girls or is it ⁽³imagination of some fellow? all a
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fake^(err.?º^{11)3) (4}Lingerie Lingerie⁴⁾ does it. Felt for the curves inside her ⁽⁴deshabille deshabilleº⁴⁾. Excites ⁽³themselves them also³⁾ when they're. ^|5I'm all clean come and dirty me. And they like dressing one another for the sacrifice. ^|7Milly delighted with Molly's new blouse. At first.^7| Put them all on to take them all off.^5| Molly ⁽³too³⁾. Why I bought her the violet garters. ^|6Us too: the tie he wore, his lovely socks ^|7and unread turnedup trousers^7|. He wore a pair of gaiters the night that first we met. His lovely shirt was shining beneath his what? of jet.^6| Say a woman loses a charm with every pin she takes out. Pinned together. O⁽³,³⁾ Mairy lost the pin of her. Dressed up to the nines for somebody. ^|7Fashion part of their charm. Just changes when you're on the track of the secret. Except the east: Mary, Martha: now as then.^{7| |5}No reasonable offer refused.^{5| |7}In no She wasn't in a^7| hurry either. Always off to a fellow when they are. ^|6They never forget an appointment.^6| Out on spec probably. They believe in chance because like themselves. And the others inclined to give her an odd dig. ^|7Mary and Martha.^7| Girl friends at school, arms round each other's necks ^|5or with ten fingers locked^5|, kissing and whispering secretsº about nothing in the convent garden. Nuns with whitewashed faces, cool coifsº and their rosaries going up and down, vindictive too for what they can't get. Barbed wire. Be sure now and write to me. And I'll write to you. Now won't you? Molly and Josie Powell. ^|9Till Mr Right comesº along^|10,º^{10|9| |10}Then then^10| meet once in a blue moon. ⁽³Tableau. Tableau^|10.!^{10|3) (3}Look O, look³⁾ who it is for the love of God! How are you at all? What have you been doing with yourself? Kiss and delighted to, kiss, to see you. Picking holes in each other's appearance. You're looking splendid. ^|5Sister souls. Showingº their teeth at one another. How many have you left?^5| Wouldn't lend each other a pinch of salt.

Ah^|10.!^10|

Devils they are when that's coming on them. ^|6Dark devilish appearance.^6| Molly often told me feel things a ton weight. Scratch the sole of my foot. O that way! O, that's exquisite! Feel it myself too. Good to rest once in a way. Wonder if it's bad to go with them then.
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Safe in ⁽³a one³⁾ way. ^|6Turns milk, makes fiddlestrings snap.^6| Something about withering plants I read in a garden. Besides they say if the flower withers she wears she's a flirt. All are. Daresay she felt I. When you feel like that you often meet what you feel. Liked me or what? Dress they look at. Always know a fellow courting: collars and cuffs. ^|5Well cocks and lions do the same and stags.^5| Same time might prefer a tie undone or something. Trousers? Suppose I when I was? No. Gently does it. Dislike rough and tumble. Kiss in the dark and never tell. Saw something in me. Wonder ⁽³why what³⁾. Sooner have me as I am than some poet
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⁽³chap³⁾ with bearsgrease plastery hair, lovelock over his dexter optic. To aid gentleman in literary. Ought to attend to my appearance ⁽³this my³⁾ age. Didn't let her see me in profile. Still, you never know. Pretty girls and ugly men marrying. Beauty and the beast. Besides I can't be so if Molly. Took off her hat to show her hair. Wide brim⁽³. Bought bought³⁾ to hide her face, meeting someone might know her, bend down⁽³,³⁾ or carry a bunch of flowers ⁽³to smell³⁾. Hair ⁽³smells strong³⁾ in rut. Ten bob I got for Molly's combings when we were on the rocks in Holles street. Why not? Suppose he gave her money⁽³?.³⁾ Why not? All a prejudice. She's worth ten ⁽³shillings³⁾, ⁽³more³⁾ fifteen, ⁽³more³⁾ a pound. ⁽³What? I think so. All that for nothing.³⁾ Bold hand⁽³:.³⁾ Mrs Marion. Did I forget to write address on that letter like the postcard I sent ⁽³to³⁾ Flynn^(err.?º^err) And the day I went to Drimmie's without a necktie. Wrangle with Molly it was put me off. No, I remember. Richie Goulding⁽³: he's. He's³⁾ another. Weighs on his mind. Funny my watch stopped at half past four. ^|5Dust. Shark liver oil they use to clean. Couldº do it myself. Save.^5| Was that just when he, she?

O, he did⁽³!.³⁾ Into her. She did⁽³!.³⁾ Done.

Ah^|10.!^10|

Mr Bloom with careful hand recomposed his wet shirt. O Lord, that little limping devil. Begins to feel cold and clammy. ^(errAfter effect Aftereffectº^err) not pleasant. ^|5Still you have to get rid of it someway.^5| They don't care. Complimented perhaps. Go home ⁽³now^{3) |5}to bread nicey bread and milky^5| and say night prayers with the kiddies. Well, aren't they?º ^|6See her as she is spoil all. Must have the ^|7scene stage setting^7|, the rouge, costume, position, music. ^|9The name too. ^|10Amours Amours^10| of actresses. Nell Gwynn, Mrs Bracegirdle,
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Maud Branscombe.^9| Curtain up. ^|7|aMoonlight silver effulgence.^a| Maiden discovered with pensive bosom. Little sweetheart come and kiss me.^7|6| Still⁽³,³⁾ I feel. The strength it gives a man. That's the secret of it. Good job I let off ⁽³then behind the wall there behind³⁾ coming out of Dignam's. Cider that was. Otherwise I couldn't have. Makes you want to sing after. ⁽³Lacaus esant ^|6tatatara taratara^6|.³⁾ Suppose I spoke to her. What about? Bad plan however ifº you don't know how to end the conversation. Ask them a question they ask you another. Good ⁽³plan idea³⁾ if you're stuck. ⁽³Gain time.^{3) (3}Then But thenº³⁾ you're in a cart. Wonderful of course if you say: good evening, and you see she's on for it: good evening. ^|7O but the dark evening in the Appian way I nearly spoke to Mrs Clinch O thinking she was. Whew!^7| Girl in Meath street that night. All the dirty things I made her say. ^|5Allº wrong of course. ^|7My arks she called it.^7| It's so hard to find one who. Aho! If you don't answer when they solicit must be horrible for them till they harden. And kissed my hand when I gave her the extra two shillings.^{5| (3}Parrots. ^|10Press the
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button and the bird will squeak.^10|3) Wish she hadn't called me sir. O, her mouth in the dark! ⁽³And you a married man with a single girl^|7.!^7| That's what they enjoy. Taking a man from another woman.^{3) |5}Or even hear of it.^{5| |6}Different with me. Glad to get away from other chap's wife. Eating off his cold plate. Chap in the Burton today spitting back gumchewed gristle.^6| French letter still in my pocketbook. ^|8Cause of half the trouble.^8| But might happen sometime, I don't think. Come in⁽³, all. All³⁾ is prepared. I dreamt. What? Worst is beginning. How they change the venue when it's not what they ⁽³want like³⁾. Ask you do you like mushrooms because ⁽³they she once³⁾ knew a gentleman ⁽³once³⁾ who. ^|6Or ask you what someone was going to say when ^|7he changed his mind and^7| stopped.^6| Yet if I went the whole hog, say: I want to, something like that. Because I did. She too. Offend her⁽³, then. Then³⁾ make it up. Pretend to want something awfully⁽³. Then, then³⁾ cry off for her sake. Flatters them. She must have been thinking of someone else all the time. What harm? Must since she came to the use of reason, he, he and he. First kiss does the trick. ^|7The propitious moment.^7| Something inside them goes pop. Mushy like, tell by their eye, on the sly. First thoughts are best. Remember that till their dying day. Molly, lieutenant Mulvey that kissed her under the
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Moorish wall beside the gardens. Fifteen she told me. But her breasts were developed. Fell asleep then. After Glencree dinner that was when we drove home⁽³. Featherbed the featherbed³⁾ mountain. Gnashing her teeth in sleep. Lord mayor had his eye on her too. Val Dillon. Apoplectic.

There she is with them down there for the fireworks. My fireworks. Up like a rocket ⁽³and,³⁾ down like a stick. And the children, twins they must be, waiting for something to happen. ^|5No reasonable offer refused.^5| Want to be grownups. Dressing in mother's clothes. Time enough, understand all the ways of the world. And the dark one with the mop head and the nigger mouth. I knew she could whistle. Mouth made for that. ^|7Like Molly.^7| Why ⁽³some whores that highclassº whore in Jammet's^{3) (3}wear veils to their noses wore her veil only to her nose³⁾. Would you mind, please, telling me the right time? I'll tell you the ⁽³right³⁾ time ⁽³in up³⁾ a ^|5dark^5| lane. Say prunes and prisms forty times every morning, cure for fat lips. Caressing the little boy too. Onlookers see most of the game. Of course they understand birds, ⁽³animal animalsº³⁾, babies. In their line.

Didn't look back when she was going down the strand. Wouldn't give that satisfaction. Those girls, those girls, those lovely seaside ⁽³girls³⁾. Fine eyes she had, clear. It's the white of the eye brings that out not so much the pupil. Did she know what I? Course. Like a cat sitting beyond a dog's jump. Woman. Neverº meet one like that Wilkins in the high school drawing a picture of Venus with all ⁽³her hisº³⁾ belongings on show. Call that innocence⁽³.?³⁾ Poor idiot! His wife
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has her work cut out for her. ^|6Never see them sit on a bench marked Wet Paint. Eyes all over them. Look under the bed for what's not there. ^|7Longing to get the fright of their lives.^7|6| Sharp as needles they are. When I said to Molly the man at the corner of Cuffe street was goodlooking, thought she might like, twigged at once he had a false arm. Had⁽³,³⁾ too. Where do they get that? ^|7Typist going up Roger Greene's stairs two at a time to show her ^|acalves understandings^a|.^7| Handed down from father to,º mother to daughter, I mean. Bred in the bone. Milly⁽³,³⁾ for example⁽³,³⁾ drying her handkerchief on the mirror to save the ironing. ^|5Best place for an ad to catch a woman's eye on a mirror.^5| And when I sent ⁽³herº³⁾ for Molly's Paisley shawl to Prescott'sº, by the way that ad I must, carrying home the change in her stocking⁽³!.º³⁾ Clever little minx⁽³.!³⁾ I never told her. Neat way she carries
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parcels too. Attract men, small thing like that. Holding up her hand, shaking it, to let the blood flow back when it was red. Who did you learn that from? Nobody. Something the nurse taught me. O, don't they know? ⁽⁴Five Three⁴⁾ years old she was in front of Molly's ⁽³dressing table, dressingtable³⁾ just before we left Lombard street west. Me have a nice pace.º Mullingar. Who knows? Ways of the world. Young student. Straight on her pins ⁽³anyhow anyway³⁾ not like the other. Still she was game. Lord, I am wet. Devil you are. Swell of her calf. Transparent stockings, stretched to breaking point. Not like that frump today. A.E. Rumpled stockings. Or the one in Grafton street. White. Wow! Beef to the heel.

A monkey puzzle rocket burst, spluttering in darting crackles. Zrads and zrads, zrads, zrads. And Cissy and Tommy and Jackyº ran out to see and Edy after with the pushcar and then Gerty beyond the curve of the rocks. Will she? Watch! Watch! See! Looked round. She smelt an onion. Darling, I saw⁽³,³⁾ your. I saw all.

Lord!

Did me good all the same. Off colour after Kiernan's, Dignam's. For this relief much thanks. In Hamlet, that is. Lord! It was all things combined. Excitement. When she leaned back⁽³,³⁾ felt an ache at the butt of my tongue. Your head it simply ⁽³swirls³⁾. He's right. Might have made a worse fool of myself ⁽³however³⁾. Instead of talking about nothing. Then I will tell you all. Still it was a kind of language between us. It couldn't be? No⁽³.,³⁾ Gerty they called her. Might be false name however like mineº and the address Dolphin's barn a blind.

⁽³⇒^{3) (3}Her maiden name was Jemima Brown Her maiden name was Jemimaº Brown^3)
(3⇒^{3) (3}and she lived with her mother in Irishtown And she lived with her mother in Irishtown³⁾.
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⁽³⇒³⁾ Place made me think of that⁽³,³⁾ I suppose. All tarred with the same brush. Wiping pens in their stockings. But the ball rolled down to her as if it understood. Every bullet has its billet. Course I never could throw anything straight at school. Crooked as a ram's horn. Sad however because it lasts only a few years till they settle down to ⁽³pot walloping potwallopingº^{3) |6}and papa's pants will soon fit Willy^6| and fuller'sº earth for the baby when ^|5he does they hold him out to do^5| ah ah. No soft job. Saves them. Keeps them
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out of harm's way. Nature. Washing child, washing corpse. Dignam. Children's hands always round them. Cocoanut skulls, monkeys, not even closed at first, sour milk in their swaddles and tainted curds. Oughtn't to have given that child an empty teat to suck. Fill it up with wind. Mrs Beaufoy, Purefoy. Must call to the hospital. Wonder is nurse Callan there still. ^|5She used to look over some nights when Molly was in the Coffee Palace. That young doctor O'Hare I noticed her brushing his coat. ^|aAll tarred with the same brush.^a|5| And Mrs Breen and Mrs Dignam once like that too, marriageable. Worst of all ^|10the at^10| night Mrs Duggan told me in the City Arms. Husband rolling in drunk, stink of pub off him like a polecat. Have that in your nose ^|10all night in the dark^10|, whiff of stale boose. ^|6Then ask in the morning: was I drunk last night?^6| Bad policy however to fault the husband. ⁽³Chickens come home to roost.³⁾ They stick by one another ⁽³like glue³⁾. Maybe the women's fault also. That's where Molly can knock spots off them. ⁽³It's It is³⁾ the blood of the south. Moorish. Also the form, the figure. Hands felt for the opulent. Just compare⁽³,³⁾ for instance⁽³,³⁾ those others. Wife locked up at home, skeleton in the cupboard. Allow me to introduce my. Then they trot you out some kind of a nondescript, wouldn't know what to call her ⁽³always. Alwaysº³⁾ see a fellow's weak point in his wife. Still⁽³,³⁾ there's destiny in it⁽³:,³⁾ falling in love. Have their own secrets between them. Chaps that would go ⁽⁴toº⁴⁾ the dogs if some woman didn't take them in hand. Then little chits of girls, height of a shilling in coppers, with little hubbies. As God made them ⁽³he He³⁾ matched them. Sometimes children turn out well enough. Twice nought makes one. ^|5Or old ^|arich^a| chap of seventy and blushing bride. Marry in May and repent in December.^5| This wet is very unpleasant. ^|6Stuck. ^|7Well the foreskin is not back.^7| Better detach.^6|

Ow!

Other hand a sixfooter with a wifey up to his watchpocket. Long and the short of it. ^|5Big he and little she.^5| Very strange about my watch. ^|5Wristwatches are always going wrong.^5| Wonder is there any magnetic influence between the person because that was about the time he. Yes, I suppose,º at once. Cat's away⁽³,³⁾ the mice will play. I remember looking in Pill lane. Also that now is magnetism.
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⁽³At the back Back³⁾ of everything⁽³,³⁾
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magnetism⁽³, attracting something³⁾. Earth⁽³,³⁾ for instance⁽³,³⁾ pulling this and being pulled. That causes movement. And time⁽³, well? Well³⁾ that's the time the movement takes. Then if one thing stopped the whole ghesabo would stop bit by bit. Because it's all arranged. Magnetic needle tells you what's going on in the sun, the stars. Little piece of steel iron. When you hold out the fork. Come. Come. Tip. Woman and man⁽³,³⁾ that is. Fork and steel. Molly, he. Dress up and look and suggest and let you see and see more and defy you if you're a man to see that and^|6,^{6| |5}like a sneeze coming^|6,^6|5| legs, look, look and ^|5if you have any guts in you^5|. Tip. Have to let fly.

⁽³⇒³⁾ Wonder how is she feeling in that region. Shame all put on before third person. ^|5More put out about a hole in her stocking.^5| Molly, her underjaw stuck out, head back^|6,^6| about the farmer in the ridingboots ^|5with the and^5| spurs ^|5at the ^|aHorse horse^a| show^5|. And when the painters were in Lombard street west. ^|7Fine voice that fellow had. How Giuglini began.^7| Smell that I did⁽³. Like, like³⁾ flowers. It was too. Violets. Came from the turpentine probably in the paint. Make their own ⁽³use³⁾ of everything. Same time doing it scraped her slipper on the floor so they wouldn't hear. But lots of them can't kick the beam, I think. Keep that thing up for hours. Kind of a general all round over me and half down my back.

Wait. Hm. Hm. Yes. That's her perfume. Why she waved her hand. I leave you this to think of me when I'm far away on the pillow. What is it? Heliotrope? No.º Hyacinth? Hm. Roses, I think. She'd like scent of that kind. Sweet and cheap: soon sour. Why Molly likes opoponax. Suits her⁽³,³⁾ with a little jessamine mixed. Her high notes and her low notes. At the dance night she met him, dance of the hours. Heat brought it out. She was wearing her black and it had the perfume of the ⁽³last³⁾ time ⁽³before³⁾. Good conductor, is it? Or bad? Light too. Suppose there's some connection. For instance if you go into a cellar where it's dark. Mysterious thing too. Why did I smell it only now? Took its time ⁽³in coming³⁾ like herself⁽³. Slow, slow³⁾ but sure. Suppose it's ever so many millions of tiny grains blown across. Yes, it is. Because those spice islands, Cinghalese this morning, smell them leagues off. Tell you what it is. It's like a fine fine veil or web they have ⁽³allº³⁾ over the skin, fine like what do you call it gossamer and they'reº always spinning it out
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of them, fine as anything, rainbow colours without knowing it. Clings to everything she takes off. Vamp of her stockings. Warm shoe. Stays. Drawers⁽³. Little: little³⁾ kick⁽³,³⁾ taking them off. ⁽³By by Byby³⁾ till next time. Also the cat likes to sniff in her shift on the bed. Know her smell in a thousand. Bathwater too. Reminds me of strawberries and cream. Wonder where it is really⁽³?.³⁾ There or the armpits or under the neck. Because
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you get it out of all holes and corners. Hyacinth perfume made of oil of ether or something. Muskrat. Bag under their tails. ^|5Oneº grain pour off odour for years.^5| Dogs at each other⁽³,³⁾ behind. Good evening. ⁽³Good evening Evening³⁾. How do you sniff? Hm. Hm. Very well, thank you. Animals go by that. Yes now, look at it that way. We're the same. Some women⁽³, for³⁾ instance⁽³,³⁾ warn you off when they have ⁽³that their period³⁾. Come near. Then get a hogo you could hang your hat on. Like what? Potted herrings gone stale or. Boof! Please keep off the grass.

Perhaps they get a man smell off us. What though? Cigary gloves ⁽³long Long³⁾ John had on his desk the other ⁽³day³⁾. Breath? What you eat and drink gives that. No. Mansmell, I mean. Must be connected with that because priests that are supposed to ⁽³be³⁾ are different. Women ⁽³run buzz³⁾ round ⁽³that it³⁾ like flies round treacle. ^|6Railed off the altar get on to it anyhow at any cost. The tree of forbidden priest.^6| O⁽³,³⁾ father, will you? Let me be the first to. That diffuses itself all through the body, permeates. Source of life. Andº it's extremely curious the smell. ⁽³Celery sauce.³⁾ Let me.

Mr Bloom inserted his nose. Hm. Into the. Hm. Opening of his waistcoat. Almonds⁽³? or.^{3) (3}Or no, lemons is it? No. Lemons it is.³⁾ Ah no, that's the soap.

O by the by that lotion. I knew there was something on my mind. ⁽³I never Never³⁾ went back and the soap not paid. ^|5Dislike carrying bottles like that hag this morning. Hynes might have paid me that three shillings. I could mention Meagher's just to remind him. Still if he works that paragraph^|~.^~|5| Two and nine ⁽³bad. Bad³⁾ opinion of me he'll have. Call tomorrow. How much do I owe you? Three and nine? Two and nine, sir. Ah. Might stop him giving credit ⁽³another time³⁾. Lose your customers that ⁽³ways wayº³⁾. Pubs do. Fellows run up a bill on the slate and then slinking around the back streets ⁽³in to some other place into somewhere else³⁾.

Here's this ⁽³man nobleman³⁾ passed before. Blown in from the bay. Just
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went as far as turn back. Always at home at dinnertime. Looks mangled out: had a good tuck in. Enjoying nature now. Grace after meals. After supper walk a mile. Sure he has a small bank balance somewhere, government sit. Walk after him now make him awkward like those newsboys me today. ^|5Still you learn something. See ourselves as others see us. ^|6So long as women don't mock what matter?^6|5| That's the way to find out. Ask yourself who is he now. ⁽³The Man on the Beach. The ^|5Mystery^5| Man on the Beachº,^{3) (3}Prize Story prize titbit story³⁾ by Mr Leopold Bloom. Payment at the rate of one guinea per column. And that fellow today at the graveside in the ⁽³brown^{3) |6}mackintosh macintosh^6|. Corns on his kismet however. Healthy perhaps absorb all the. Whistle brings rain they say. Must be some somewhere. Salt in the
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Ormond damp. The body feels the atmosphere. Old Betty's joints are on the rack. Mother Shipton's prophecy that is about ships ⁽³round the world around they fly³⁾ in the twinkling. No⁽³, signs. Signs³⁾ of rain it is. The royal reader. And distant hills seem coming nigh.

Howth. Bailey light. Two, four, six, eight, nine. See. ^|7Has to change or they might think it a house. Wreckers. Grace ^(errdarling Darlingº^err).^7| People afraid of the dark. Also glowworms, cyclists: lighting upº time. Jewels ⁽³too,³⁾ diamonds⁽³,³⁾ flash better. ⁽³Women.³⁾ Light is a kind of reassuring. Not going to hurt you. Better now of course than long ago. Country roads. Run you through the small guts for nothing. Still two types there are you bob against. ⁽³Excuse me.³⁾ Scowl or smile. ^|6Pardon!^6| Not at all. Best time to spray ⁽³flowers plants³⁾ too in the shade after the sun. ^|7Some light still. Red rays are longest. Roygbiv^|9,^{9| |10}Reynolds Vance^10| taught us: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.^{7| |5}A star I see. Venus? Can't tell yet. Two. Whenº three it's night.^5| Were those nightclouds there all the time? ^|5Looks like a phantom ship. No. Wait. A mirage Trees are they? An optical illusion. Mirage.^5| Land of the setting sun this. Homerule sun setting in the ^|10northeast southeast^10|. My native land, goodnight.

Dew falling. Bad for you, dear, to sit on that stone. Brings on white fluxions. ^|7Never have ^|athe^a| little baby then ^|aless he was big strong fight his way ^|bup^b| through^a|.^7| Might get piles myself. Sticks too like a summer cold, sore on the mouth. ^|7Cut with grass or paper worst.º^7| Friction of the position. Like to be that rock she sat on. ^|7O sweet little, you don't
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know how nice you looked. ^|aI begin to like them at that age. Green apples. Grab at all that offer.^a| Suppose it's the only time we cross legs, seated.^7| Also the library today: those girl graduates⁽³: happy. Happy³⁾ chairs under them. But it's the evening influence. They feel allº that. Open like flowers ⁽³too³⁾, know their hours, ⁽³sunflowers,³⁾ Jerusalem artichokes, ⁽³sunflowers,³⁾ in ballrooms, ⁽³chandeliers,³⁾ avenues under the lamps. Nightstock in Mat Dillon's garden where I kissed her shoulder. ^|7Wish I had ^|10an a full length^10| oilpainting of her then.^7| June that was too⁽³.³⁾ I wooed. ⁽³And now.³⁾ The year returns. ^|5History repeats itself. ^|8Ye crags and peaks I'm with you once again.^{8|5| |6}Life, love, voyage round your own little world.^{6| (3}And now?³⁾ Sad about her lame of course but must be on your guard not to feel too much pity. They take advantage.

All quiet on Howth now. The distant hills seem. Where we. The rhododendrons. I am a fool perhaps. He gets the plums and I the ^|6leavings plumstones^6|. ^|7Where I come in.^7| All that old hill has seen. Names change⁽³. That's: that's³⁾ all. Lovers⁽³. Yum: yum³⁾ yum.

Tired I feel now. ^|5Will I get up? O wait.^5| Drained all the manhood out of me, little wretch. She kissed me. ⁽³My youth.³⁾ Never again. ⁽³My youth.³⁾ Only once it comes.
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Or hers. Take the train there tomorrow. No. Returning not the same. Like kids your second visit to a house. The new I want. ⁽³Is there any? Nothing new under the sun.³⁾ Care of P.O. Dolphin's barn. Are you not happy in your? Naughty darling. At Dolphin's barn charades in Luke Doyle's house. Mat Dillon and his bevy of daughters ⁽³were there,:³⁾ Tiny, Atty, Floey, ^|7|10Mamie, Louie Maimy, Louy^10|,^{7| |10}Sara Hetty^10|. Molly too. Eightyseven that was. Year before we. And the old major⁽³,³⁾ partial to his drop of spirits. Curious she an only child, I an only child. ⁽³Now So³⁾ it returns. ⁽³Dolphin's barn.³⁾ Think you're escaping and run into yourself. Longest way round is the shortest way home. And just when ⁽³she he³⁾ and ⁽³he she³⁾. Circus horse walking in a ring. Rip van Winkle we played. Rip: tear in Henny Doyle's overcoat. Van: breadvan delivering. Winkle: cockles and periwinkles. Then I did Rip van Winkle coming back. She leaned on the sideboard watching. Moorish eyes. Twenty years asleep ^|5in Sleepy Hollow^5|. All changed. Forgotten. The young are old ⁽³now³⁾. His gun rusty from the dewº.

Ba. What is that flying about? Swallow? Bat probably. Thinks I'm
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a tree, so blind. ^|7Have birds no smell^|8.?^8|7| Metempsychosis. They believed you could be changed into ⁽³one a tree³⁾ from grief. Weeping willow. Ba. There he goes. Funny little beggar. Wonder where he lives. Belfry up there⁽³.³⁾ Very likely. Hanging by ^|6the his^6| heels in the odour of sanctity. Bell scared him out, I suppose. Mass seems to be over. ^|6Could hear ^|athem all^a| at it. Pray for us. And pray for us. And pray for us. Good idea the repetition. Same thing with ads. Buy from us. And buy from us.^6| Yes, there's the light in the priest's house. Their frugal meal. Remember about the mistake in the valuation when I was in Thom's. Twentyeightº it is. Two houses they have. Gabriel Conroy's brother is curate. Ba. Again. Wonder why they come out at night like mice. They're a mixed breed. Birds are like hopping mice. What frightens them, light or noise? Better sit still. All instinct like the bird in drouth got water out of the end of a jar by throwing in pebbles. Like a little man in a cloak he is with tiny hands. Weeny bones. Almost see them shimmering, kind of a bluey white. Colours depend on the light you see. ^|5Stare the sun for example like the eagle then look at a shoe see a blotch blob yellowish.^{5| |6}Wants to stamp his trademark on everything.^6| Instance, that cat this morning on the staircase⁽³.^{3) (3}colour Colour³⁾ of brown turf. ^|5Say you never see them with three colours. Not true. That half tabbywhite tortoiseshell in the City Armsº with the letter em on her forehead. ^|6Body fifty different colours.^6|5| Howth a while ago amethyst. Glass flashing. That's how that wise man what's his name with the burning glass. Then the heather goes on fire. It can't be tourists' matches. What? Perhaps the sticks dry rub together in the
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wind and light. ^|5Or broken bottles ^|ain the furze^a| act as a burning glass in the sun. Archimedes. I have it! ^|7My memory's not so bad.^7|5|

Ba. Who knows what they're always flying for. Insects⁽³, birds³⁾? That bee last week got into the room playing with his shadow on the ceiling. ^|10Might be the one bit me, come back to see.^10| Birds too⁽³. Never never³⁾ find out⁽³. Or³⁾ what they say. Like our small talk. And says ⁽³he she³⁾ and says ⁽³she he³⁾. Nerve they have to fly over the ocean and back. Lots must be killed in storms, telegraph wires. Dreadful life sailors have too. Big brutes of ^|5oceangoing^5| steamers floundering along in the dark, lowing out like seacows. ⁽³Faugh a ballagh! Faugh a ballagh.³⁾
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Out of that, bloody curse to you⁽³!.^{3) (3}Other, Othersº³⁾ in vessels, bit of a handkerchief sail, pitched about like snuff at a wake when the stormy winds do blow. Married too. Sometimes away for years at the ends of the earth somewhere. No ends really because it's round. Wife in every port they say. She has a good job if she minds it till Johnny comes marching home again. If ever he does. Smelling the tail endº of ports. How can they like the sea? Yet they do. The anchor's weighed. Off he sails with a scapular or a medal on him for luck. Well⁽³.?³⁾ And the tephilim ^|5no what's this they call it^5| poor papa's father had on his door to touch. That brought us out of the land of Egypt and into the house of bondage. Something in all those superstitions because when you go out never know what dangers. Hanging on to a plank ^|5or astride of a beam^5| for grim life, lifebelt roundº him, gulping salt water, and that's the last of his nibs till the sharks catch hold of him⁽³.³⁾ Do fish ⁽³ever³⁾ get seasick?

Then you have a beautiful calm without a cloud, smooth sea, placid, crew and cargo in smithereens, Davy Jones' locker⁽³, moon. Moon³⁾ looking down ⁽³so peaceful³⁾. Not my fault, old cockalorum.

A lost long candle wandered up the sky from Mirus bazaar in ^|6aid search^6| of funds for Mercer's hospital and broke, drooping, and shed a cluster of violet but one white stars. They floated, fell: they faded. ^|6The shepherd's hour: the hour of foldingº: hour of tryst.^{6| |5}From house to house^|6,^6| giving his everwelcome double knock^|6,^6| went the nine o'clock postman, the glowworm's lamp at his belt gleaming here and there ^|aamong through^a| the laurel hedges.^5| And among the ^|6five young^{6| |7}elms trees^7| a hoisted lintstock lit the lamp at Leahy's terrace. By ^|6the^6| screens of lighted windows, by equal gardens a shrill voice went crying, wailing: ^|5Evening Telegraph, extra edition. Evening Telegraph, ^|6extra stop press^6| edition!^{5| |5}Result of the Gold Cup races: Result of the Gold Cup races^|8:!^8|5| and from the door of Dignam's house a boy ran out and called. Twittering the bat flew here, flew there. Far out over the sands the coming surf crept, grey. Howth settled for slumber,º tired of long days, of yumyum rhododendrons (he was old) and felt
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gladly the night breeze ⁽³lift,º³⁾ ruffle his ^|10many fell of^10| ferns. He lay but opened a red eye unsleeping, deep and slowly breathing, slumberous but awake. And far on Kish bank the anchored lightship twinkled, winked at Mr Bloom.
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Life those chaps out there must have, stuck in the same spot. Irish Lights board. Penance for their sins. ^|7Coastguards too. Rocket and breeches buoy and lifeboat.^7| Day we went out ^|7for the pleasure cruise^7| in the Erin's Kingº, throwing them the sack of old papers. Bears in the zoo. Filthy trip. Drunkards out to shake up their livers. Puking overboard to feed the herrings. ^|5Nausea.^5| And the women, fear of God in their faces. Milly, no sign of funk. Her blue scarf loose, laughing. Don't know what death is at that age. And then their stomachs clean. But being lost they fear. When we hid behind the tree at Crumlin. I didn't want to. Mamma! Mamma! ^|6Babes in the ^|aWood wood^a|.^6| Frightening them with masks too. ^|6Throwing them up in the air to catch them. I'll murder you. Is it only ^|ahalf^a| fun? Or children playing battle. Whole earnest. How can people aim guns at each other. Sometimes they go off.^6| Poor kids⁽³!.³⁾ Only troubles wildfire and nettlerash. Calomel purge I got ⁽³her³⁾ for that. After getting better⁽³,³⁾ asleep with Molly. Very same teeth she has. What do they love? Another themselves? But the morning she chased her with the umbrella. Perhaps so as not to hurt. I felt her pulse. Ticking. Little hand it was: now big. Dearest Papli. All that the hand says when you touch. Loved to count my waistcoat buttons. Her first stays I remember. Made me laugh to see. Little paps to begin with. Left one is more sensitive, I think. Mine too. Nearer the heart⁽³?.^{3) |6}Padding themselves out if fat is in fashion.^6| Her growing pains at night, calling, wakening me. Frightened she was when ⁽³that,³⁾ her nature⁽³,³⁾ came on her first. Poor child! Strange moment for the mother too⁽³!.³⁾ Brings back her girlhood. Gibraltar. Looking from Buena Vista. O'Hara's tower. The seabirds screaming. Old ⁽³barbary Barbaryº³⁾ ape that gobbled all his family. Sundown, gunfire⁽³,³⁾ for the men to cross the lines. Looking out over the sea she told me. Evening like this, but clear, no clouds. I always thought I'd marry a lord or a gentleman ⁽³coming³⁾ with a private yacht. ⁽³Bueñas noches, señorita. El hombre ama la muchacha hormosa Buenas noches, señorita. El hombre ama la muchachaº ^|7hormosa hermosa^7|3). Why me? Because you ⁽³looked were³⁾ so foreign from the others.

Better not stick here all night like ^|6an oyster a limpet^6|. This weather makes you dull. Must be getting on for nine by the light. Go home. Too late for Leah.º Lily of Killarney. No. Might be still up. Call to the hospital
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to see. Hope she's over. Long day I've had. Martha, the bath, funeral, house of Keyesº, museum with those goddesses, Dedalus' song. Then that bawler in Barney Kiernan's. Got my own back there. Drunken ranters. ^|5What I said about his God made him wince.
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Mistake to hit back. Or? No.^5| Ought to go home and laugh at themselves. Always want to be swilling in company. Afraid to be alone like a child of two. Suppose he hit me.º Look at it other way round. Not so bad then. Perhaps not to hurt he meant. Three cheers for Israel. Three cheers for the sister-in-law he hawked about, three fangs in her mouth. ^|5Same style of beauty.^{5| (3}An extremely ^|5Extremely Particularly^5|3) nice ^|5old party for a^5| cup of tea. ^|5The sister of the wife of the wild man of Borneo has just come to town.^5| Imagine that in the early morning ^|5at close range^5|. ⁽³Every one Everyone³⁾ to his taste as ⁽³Maurice Morris³⁾ said when he kissed the cow. But Dignam's put the boots on it. Houses of mourning so depressing because you never know. Anyhow she wants the money. Must call to theº Scottish Widowsº as I promised. Strange name. Takes it for granted we're going to pop off first. That widow on Monday was itº outside Cramer's that looked at me. Buried the poor husband but progressing favourably ^|7on the premium^7|. ^|7Her widow's mite.^7| Well? What do you expect her to do? Must wheedle her way along. Widower I hate to see. Looks so forlorn. Poor man O'Connor wife and five children poisoned by mussels here. The sewage. Hopeless. Some good ^|5motherly matronly^5| woman ^|5in a porkpie hat to mother him.^{5| |5}take Take^5| him in tow, platter face and a large apron. ^|6Ladies' grey ^(errflanelette flanneletteº^err) bloomers, three shillings a pair, astonishing bargain. ^|aPlain and loved, loved for ever, they say.^a| Ugly: no woman thinks she is. Love, lie and be handsome for tomorrow we die.^6| See him sometimes walking about⁽³,³⁾ trying to find out who played the trick. U. p: up. Fate that is. He, not me. Also a shop often noticed. Curse seems to dog it. Dreamt last night? Wait. Something confused. She had red slippers on. Turkish. Wore the breeches. Suppose she does⁽³?.³⁾ Would I like her in pyjamas⁽³.?³⁾ Damned hard to answer. Nannetti's gone. Mailboat. Near Holyhead by now. Must nail that ad of Keyes's. Work Hynes and Crawford. Petticoats for Molly. She has something to put in them. What's that? Might be money.
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Mr Bloom stooped and turned over a piece of paper on the ⁽³sand strand³⁾. He brought it near his eyes and peered. Letter? No. Can't read. Better go. Better. I'm tired to move. Page of an old copybook. ^|7All those holes and pebbles. Who could count them?^7| Never know what you find. Bottle with story of a treasure in it⁽³,³⁾ thrown from a wreck. Parcels post. Children always want to throw things in the sea. Trust? Bread cast on the waters. What's this? Bit of stick.

O! Exhausted that ⁽³little³⁾ female has me. ⁽³Not so young now.³⁾ Will she come here tomorrow? ^|7Wait for her somewhere for ever. Must come back. Murderers do.^7| Will I?
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