尤利西斯Ulysses(中英对照)_派派后花园

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[Novel] 尤利西斯Ulysses(中英对照)

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soneyky

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Ulysses is one of the most influential novels of the twentieth century. It was not easy to find a publisher in America willing to take it on, and when Jane Jeap and Margaret Anderson started printing extracts from the book in their literary magazine The Little Review in 1918, they were arrested and charged with publishing obscenity. They were fined $100, and even The New York Times expressed satisfaction with their conviction.

Ulysses was not published in book form until 1922, when another American woman, Sylvia Beach, published it in Paris her Shakespeare & Company. Ulysses was not available legally in any English-speaking country until 1934, when Random House successfully defended Joyce against obscenity charges and published it in the Modern Library.

This edition follows the complete and unabridged text as corrected and reset in 1961. Judge John Woolsey's decision lifting the ban against Ulysses is reprinted, along with a letter from Joyce to Bennett Cerf, the publisher of Random House, and the original foreword to the book by Morris L. Ernst, who defended Ulysses during the trial.
  
  
《尤利西斯》是爱尔兰意识流文学作家詹姆斯·乔伊斯(James Joyce)于1922年出版的长篇小说。小说以时间为顺序,描述了主人公,苦闷彷徨的都柏林小市民,广告推销员利奥波德·布卢姆(Leopold Bloom)于1904年6月16日一昼夜之内在都柏林的种种日常经历。乔伊斯选择这一天来描写,是因为这一天是他和他的妻子诺拉·巴纳克尔(Nora Barnacle)首次约会的日子。小说的题目来源于希腊神话中的英雄奥德修斯(Odysseus,拉丁名为尤利西斯),而《尤利西斯》的章节和内容也经常表现出和荷马史诗《奥德赛》内容的平行对应关系。利奥波德·布卢姆是奥德修斯现代的反英雄的翻版,他的妻子摩莉·布卢姆(Molly Bloom)则对应了奥德修斯的妻子帕涅罗佩(Penelope),青年学生斯蒂芬·迪达勒斯(Stephen Dedalus,也是乔伊斯早期作品《一个青年艺术家的画像》主人公,以乔伊斯本人为原型)对应奥德修斯的儿子忒勒玛科斯(Telemachus)。乔伊斯将布卢姆在都柏林街头的一日游荡比作奥德修斯的海外十年漂泊,同时刻画了他不忠诚的妻子摩莉以及斯蒂芬寻找精神上的父亲的心理。小说大量运用细节描写和意识流手法构建了一个交错凌乱的时空,语言上形成了一种独特的风格。《尤利西斯》是意识流小说的代表作,并被誉为20世纪一百部最佳英文小说之首,每年的6月16日已经被纪念为“布卢姆日”。

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soneyky

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怕相思,已思相,轮到相思没处辞,眉间露一丝
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英:
1、Chapter 1 Telemachus

STATELY, PLUMP BUCK MULLIGAN CAME FROM THE STAIRHEAD, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressing gown, ungirdled, was sustained gently-behind him by the mild morning air. He held the bowl aloft and intoned:
-- Introibo ad altare Dei.
Halted, he peered down the dark winding stairs and called up coarsely:
-- Come up, Kinch. Come up, you fearful jesuit.
Solemnly he came forward and mounted the round gunrest. He faced about and blessed gravely thrice the tower, the surrounding country and the awaking mountains. Then, catching sight of Stephen Dedalus, he bent towards him and made rapid crosses in the air, gurgling in his throat and shaking his head. Stephen Dedalus, displeased and sleepy, leaned his arms on the top of the staircase and looked coldly at the shaking gurgling face that blessed him, equine in its length, and at the light untonsured hair, grained and hued like pale oak.
Buck Mulligan peeped an instant under the mirror and then covered the bowl smartly.
-- Back to barracks, he said sternly.
He added in a preacher's tone:
-- For this, O dearly beloved, is the genuine Christine: body and soul and blood and ouns. Slow music, please. Shut your eyes, gents. One moment. A little trouble about those white corpuscles. Silence, all.
He peered sideways up and gave a long low whistle of call, then paused awhile in rapt attention, his even white teeth glistening here and there with gold points. Chrysostomos. Two strong shrill whistles answered through the calm.
-- Thanks, old chap, he cried briskly. That will do nicely. Switch off the current, will you?
He skipped off the gunrest and looked gravely at his watcher, gathering about his legs the loose folds of his gown. The plump shadowed face and sullen oval jowl recalled a prelate, patron of arts in the middle ages. A pleasant smile broke quietly over his lips.
-- The mockery of it, he said gaily. Your absurd name, an ancient Greek.
He pointed his finger in friendly jest and went over to the parapet, laughing to himself. Stephen Dedalus stepped up, followed him wearily half way and sat down on the edge of the gunrest, watching him still as he propped his mirror on the parapet, dipped the brush in the bowl and lathered cheeks and neck.
Buck Mulligan's gay voice went on.
-- My name is absurd too: Malachi Mulligan, two dactyls. But it has a Hellenic ring, hasn't it? Tripping and sunny like the buck himself. We must go to Athens. Will you come if I can get the aunt to fork out twenty quid?
He laid the brush aside and, laughing with delight, cried:
-- Will he come? The jejune jesuit.
Ceasing, he began to shave with care.
-- Tell me, Mulligan, Stephen said quietly.
-- Yes, my love?
-- How long is Haines going to stay in this tower?
Buck Mulligan showed a shaven cheek over his right shoulder.
-- God, isn't he dreadful? he said frankly. A ponderous Saxon. He thinks you're not a gentleman. God, these bloody English. Bursting with money and indigestion. Because he comes from Oxford. You know, Dedalus; you have the real Oxford manner. He can't make you out. O, my name for you is the best: Kinch, the knife-blade.
He shaved warily over his chin.
-- He was raving all night about a black panther, Stephen said. Where is his guncase?
-- A woful lunatic, Mulligan said. Were you in a funk?
-- I was, Stephen said with energy and growing fear. Out here in the dark with a man I don't know raving and moaning to himself about shooting a black panther. You saved men from drowning. I'm not a hero, however. If he stays on here I am off.
Buck Mulligan frowned at the lather on his razorblade. He hopped down from his perch and began to search his trouser pockets hastily.
-- Scutter, he cried thickly.
He came over to the gunrest and, thrusting a hand into Stephen's upper pocket, said:
-- Lend us a loan of your noserag to wipe my razor.
Stephen suffered him to pull out and hold up on show by its corner a dirty crumpled handkerchief. Buck Mulligan wiped the razorblade neatly. Then, gazing over the handkerchief, he said:
-- The bard's noserag. A new art colour for our Irish poets: snotgreen. You can almost taste it, can't you?
He mounted to the parapet again and gazed out over Dublin bay, his fair oakpale hair stirring slightly.
-- God, he said quietly. Isn't the sea what Algy calls it: a grey sweet mother? The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea. Epi oinopa ponton. Ah, Dedalus, the Greeks. I must teach you. You must read them in the original. Thalatta! Thalatta! She is our great sweet mother. Come and look.
Stephen stood up and went over to the parapet. Leaning on it he looked down on the water and on the mailboat clearing the harbour mouth of Kingstown.
-- Our mighty mother, Buck Mulligan said.
He turned abruptly his great searching eyes from the sea to Stephen's face.
-- The aunt thinks you killed your mother, he said. That's why she won't let me have anything to do with you.
-- Someone killed her, Stephen said gloomily.
-- You could have knelt down, damn it, Kinch, when your dying mother asked you, Buck Mulligan said. I'm hyperborean as much as you. But to think of your mother begging you with her last breath to kneel down and pray for her. And you refused. There is something sinister in you.
He broke off and lathered again lightly his farther cheek. A tolerant smile curled his lips.
-- But a lovely mummer, he murmured to himself. Kinch, the loveliest mummer of them all.
He shaved evenly and with care, in silence, seriously.
Stephen, an elbow rested on the jagged granite, leaned his palm against his brow and gazed at the fraying edge of his shiny black coat-sleeve. Pain, that was not yet the pain of love, fretted his heart. Silently, in a dream she had come to him after her death, her wasted body within its loose brown grave-clothes giving off an odour of wax and rosewood, her breath, that had bent upon him, mute, reproachful, a faint odour of wetted ashes. Across the threadbare cuffedge he saw the sea hailed as a great sweet mother by the well-fed voice beside him. The ring of bay and skyline held a dull green mass of liquid. A bowl of white china had stood beside her deathbed holding the green sluggish bile which she had torn up from her rotting liver by fits of loud groaning vomiting.
Buck Mulligan wiped again his razorblade.
-- Ah, poor dogsbody, he said in a kind voice. I must give you a shirt and few noserags. How are the secondhand breeks?
-- They fit well enough, Stephen answered.
Buck Mulligan attacked the hollow beneath his underlip.
-- The mockery of it, he said contentedly, secondleg they should be. God knows what poxy bowsy left them off. I have a lovely pair with a hair stripe, grey. You'll look spiffing in them. I'm not joking, Kinch. You look damn well when you're dressed.
-- Thanks, Stephen said. I can't wear them if they are grey.
-- He can't wear them, Buck Mulligan told his face in the mirror. Etiquette is etiquette. He kills his mother but he can't wear grey trousers.
He folded his razor neatly and with stroking palps of fingers felt the smooth skin.
Stephen turned his gaze from the sea and to the plump face with its smokeblue mobile eyes.
-- That fellow I was with in the Ship last night, said Buck Mulligan, says you have g.p.i. He's up in Dottyville with Conolly Norman. General paralysis of the insane.
He swept the mirror a half circle in the air to flash the tidings abroad in sunlight now radiant on the sea. His curling shaven lips laughed and the edges of his white glittering teeth. Laughter seized all his strong wellknit trunk.
-- Look at yourself, he said, you dreadful bard.
Stephen bent forward and peered at the mirror held out to him, cleft by a crooked crack, hair on end. As he and others see me. Who chose this face for me? This dogsbody to rid of vermin. It asks me too.
-- I pinched it out of the skivvy's room, Buck Mulligan said. It does her all right. The aunt always keeps plain-looking servants for Malachi. Lead him not into temptation. And her name is Ursula.
Laughing again, he brought the mirror away from Stephen's peering eyes.
-- The rage of Caliban at not seeing his face in a mirror, he said. If Wilde were only alive to see you.
Drawing back and pointing, Stephen said with bitterness:
-- It is a symbol of Irish art. The cracked lookingglass of a Buck Mulligan suddenly linked his arm in Stephen's and walked with him round the tower, his razor and mirror clacking in the pocket where he had thrust them.
-- It's not fair to tease you like that, Kinch, is it? he said kindly. God knows you have more spirit than any of them.
Parried again. He fears the lancet of my art as I fear that of his. The cold steelpen.
-- Cracked lookingglass of a servant. Tell that to the oxy chap downstairs and touch him for a guinea. He's stinking with money and thinks you're not a gentleman. His old fellow made his tin by selling jalap to Zulus or some bloody swindle or other. God, Kinch, if you and I could only work together we might do something for the island. Hellenise it.
Cranly's arm. His arm.
-- And to think of your having to beg from these swine. I'm the only one that knows what you are. Why don't you trust me more? What have you up your nose against me? Is it Haines? If he makes any noise here I'll bring down Seymour and we'll give him a ragging worse than they gave Clive Kempthorpe.
Young shouts of moneyed voices in Clive Kempthorpe's rooms. Palefaces: they hold their ribs with laughter, one clasping another, O, I shall expire! Break the news to her gently, Aubrey! I shall die! With slit ribbons of his shirt whipping the air he hops and hobbles round the table, with trousers down at heels, chased by Ades of Magdalen with the tailor's shears. A scared calf's face gilded with marmalade. I don't want to be debagged! Don't you play the giddy ox with me!
Shouts from the open window startling evening in the quadrangle. A deaf gardener, aproned, masked with Matthew Arnold's face, pushes his mower on the sombre lawn watching narrowly the dancing motes of grasshalms.
To ourselves... new paganism... omphalos.
-- Let him stay, Stephen said. There's nothing wrong with him except at night.
-- Then what is it? Buck Mulligan asked impatiently. Cough it up. I'm quite frank with you. What have you against me now?
They halted, looking towards the blunt cape of Bray Head that lay on the water like the snout of a sleeping whale. Stephen freed his arm quietly.
-- Do you wish me to tell you? he asked.
-- Yes, what is it? Buck Mulligan answered. I don't remember anything.
He looked in Stephen's face as he spoke. A light wind passed his brow, fanning softly his fair uncombed hair and stirring silver points of anxiety in his eyes.
Stephen, depressed by his own voice, said:
-- Do you remember the first day I went to your house after my mother's death?
Buck Mulligan frowned quickly and said:
-- What? Where? I can't remember anything. I remember only ideas and sensations. Why? What happened in the name of God?
-- You were making tea, Stephen said, and I went across the landing to get more hot water. Your mother and some visitor came out of the drawingroom. She asked you who was in your room.
-- Yes? Buck Mulligan said. What did I say? I forget.
-- You said, Stephen answered, O, it's only Dedalus whose mother is beastly dead.
A flush which made him seem younger and more engaging rose to Buck Mulligan's cheek.
-- Did I say that? he asked. Well? What harm is that?
He shook his constraint from him nervously.
-- And what is death, he asked, your mother's or yours or my own? You saw only your mother die. I see them pop off every day in the Mater and Richmond and cut up into tripes in the dissecting room. It's a beastly thing and nothing else. It simply doesn't matter. You wouldn't kneel down to pray for your mother on her deathbed when she asked you. Why? Because you have the cursed jesuit strain in you, only it's injected the wrong way. To me it's all a mockery and beastly. Her cerebral lobes are not functioning. She calls the doctor Sir Peter Teazle and picks buttercups off the quilt. Humour her till it's over. You crossed her last wish in death and yet you sulk with me because I don't whinge like some hired mute from Lalouette's. Absurd! I suppose I did say it. I didn't mean to offend the memory of your mother.
He had spoken himself into boldness. Stephen, shielding the gaping wounds which the words had left in his heart, said very coldly:
-- I am not thinking of the offence to my mother.
-- Of what, then? Buck Mulligan asked.
-- Of the offence to me, Stephen answered.
Buck Mulligan swung round on his heel.
-- O, an impossible person! he exclaimed.
He walked off quickly round the parapet. Stephen stood at his post, gazing over the calm sea towards the headland. Sea and headland now grew dim. Pulses were beating in his eyes, veiling their sight, and he felt the fever of his cheeks.
A voice within the tower called loudly:
-- Are you up there, Mulligan?
-- I'm coming, Buck Mulligan answered.
He turned towards Stephen and said:
-- Look at the sea. What does it care about offences? Chuck Loyola, Kinch, and come on down. The Sassenach wants his morning rashers.
His head halted again for a moment at the top of the staircase, level with the roof.
-- Don't mope over it all day, he said. I'm inconsequent. Give up the moody brooding.
His head vanished but the drone of his descending voice boomed out of the stairhead:
And no more turn aside and brood
Upon love's bitter mystery
For Fergus rules the brazen cars.
Woodshadows floated silently by through the morning peace from the stairhead seaward where he gazed. Inshore and farther out the mirror of water whitened, spurned by lightshod hurrying feet. White breast of the dim sea. The twining stresses, two by two. A hand plucking the harpstrings merging their twining chords. Wavewhite wedded words shimmering on the dim tide.
A cloud began to cover the sun slowly, shadowing the bay in deeper green. It lay behind him, a bowl of bitter waters. Fergus' song: I sang it alone in the house, holding down the long dark chords. Her door was open: she wanted to hear my music. Silent with awe and pity I went to her bedside. She was crying in her wretched bed. For those words, Stephen: love's bitter mystery.
Where now?
Her secrets: old feather fans, tasselled dancecards, powdered with musk, a gaud of amber beads in her locked drawer. A birdcage hung in the sunny window of her house when she was a girl. She heard old Royce sing in the pantomime of Turko the terrible and laughed with others when he sang:
I am the boy
That can enjoy
Invisibility.
Phantasmal mirth, folded away: muskperfumed.
And no more turn aside and brood
Folded away in the memory of nature with her toys. Memories beset his brooding brain. Her glass of water from the kitchen tap when she had approached the sacrament. A cored apple, filled with brown sugar, roasting for her at the hob on a dark autumn evening. Her shapely fingernails reddened by the blood of squashed lice from the children's shirts.
In a dream, silently, she had come to him, her wasted body within its loose graveclothes giving off an odour of wax and rosewood, her breath bent over him with mute secret words, a faint odour of wetted ashes.
Her glazing eyes, staring out of death, to shake and bend my soul. On me alone. The ghostcandle to light her agony. Ghostly light on the tortured face. Her hoarse loud breath rattling in horror, while all prayed on their knees. Her eyes on me to strike me down. Liliata rutilantium te confessorum turma circumdet: iubilantium te virginum chorus excipiat.
Ghoul! Chewer of corpses!
No mother. Let me be and let me live.
-- Kinch ahoy!
Buck Mulligan's voice sang from within the tower. It came nearer up the staircase, calling again. Stephen, still trembling at his soul's cry, heard warm running sunlight and in the air behind him friendly words.
-- Dedalus, comedown, like a good mosey. Breakfast is ready. Haines is apologizing for waking us last night. It's all right.
-- I'm coming, Stephen said, turning.
-- Do, for Jesus' sake, Buck Mulligan said. For my sake and for all our sakes.
His head disappeared and reappeared.
-- I told him your symbol of Irish art. He says it's very clever. Touch him for a quid, will you? A guinea, I mean.
-- I get paid this morning, Stephen said.
-- The school kip? Buck Mulligan said. How much? Four quid? Lend us one.
-- If you want it, Stephen said.
-- Four shining sovereigns, Buck Mulligan cried with delight. We'll have a glorious drunk to astonish the druidy druids. Four omnipotent sovereigns.
He flung up his hands and tramped down the stone stairs, singing out of tune with a Cockney accent:
O, won't we have a merry time
Drinking whisky, beer and wine,
On coronation,
Coronation day?
O, won't we have a merry time
On coronation day?
Warm sunshine merrying over the sea. The nickel shaving-bowl shone, forgotten, on the parapet. Why should I bring it down? Or leave it there all day, forgotten friendship?
He went over to it, held it in his hands awhile, feeling its coolness, smelling the clammy slaver of the lather in which the brush was stuck. So I carried the boat of incense then at Clongowes. I am another now and yet the same. A servant too. A server of a servant.
In the gloomy domed livingroom of the tower Buck Mulligan's gowned form moved briskly about the hearth to and fro, hiding and revealing its yellow glow. Two shafts of soft daylight fell across the flagged floor from the high barbicans: and at the meeting of their rays a cloud of coalsmoke and fumes of fried grease floated, turning.
-- We'll be choked, Buck Mulligan said. Haines, open that door, will you?
Stephen laid the shavingbowl on the locker. A tall figure rose from the hammock where it had been sitting, went to the doorway and pulled open the inner doors.
-- Have you the key? a voice asked.
-- Dedalus has it, Buck Mulligan said. Janey Mack, I'm choked. He howled without looking up from the fire:
-- Kinch!
-- It's in the lock, Stephen said, coming forward.
The key scraped round harshly twice and, when the heavy door had been set ajar, welcome light and bright air entered. Haines stood at the doorway, looking out. Stephen haled his upended valise to the table and sat down to wait. Buck Mulligan tossed the fry on to the dish beside him. Then he carried the dish and a large teapot over to the table, set them down heavily and sighed with relief.
-- I'm melting, he said, as the candle remarked when .
But hush. Not a word more on that subject. Kinch, wake up. Bread, butter, honey. Haines, come in. The grub is ready. Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts. Where's the sugar? O, jay, there's no milk.
Stephen fetched the loaf and the pot of honey and the buttercooler from the locker. Buck Mulligan sat down in a sudden pet.
-- What sort of a kip is this? he said. I told her to come after eight.
-- We can drink it black, Stephen said. There's a lemon in the locker.
-- O, damn you and your Paris fads, Buck Mulligan said. I want Sandycove milk.
Haines came in from the doorway and said quietly:
-- That woman is coming up with the milk.
-- The blessings of God on you, Buck Mulligan cried, jumping up from his chair. Sit down. Pour out the tea there. The sugar is in the bag. Here, I can't go fumbling at the damned eggs. He hacked through the fry on the dish and slapped it out on three plates, saying:
-- In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.
Haines sat down to pour out the tea.
-- I'm giving you two lumps each, he said. But, I say, Mulligan, you do make strong tea, don't you?
Buck Mulligan, hewing thick slices from the loaf, said in an old woman's wheedling voice:
-- When I makes tea I makes tea, as old mother Grogan said. And when I makes water I makes water.
-- By Jove, it is tea, Haines said.
Buck Mulligan went on hewing and wheedling:
-- So I do, Mrs Cahill, says she. Begob, ma'am, says Mrs Cahill, God send you don't make them in the one pot.
He lunged towards his messmates in turn a thick slice of bread, impaled on his knife.
-- That's folk, he said very earnestly, for your book, Haines. Five lines of text and ten pages of notes about the folk and the fishgods of Dundrum. Printed by the weird sisters in the year of the big wind.
He turned to Stephen and asked in a fine puzzled voice, lifting his brows:
-- Can you recall, brother, is mother Grogan's tea and water pot spoken of in the Mabinogion or is it in the Upanishads?
-- I doubt it, said Stephen gravely.
-- Do you now? Buck Mulligan said in the same tone. Your reasons, pray?
-- I fancy, Stephen said as he ate, it did not exist in or out of the Mabinogion. Mother Grogan was, one imagines, a kinswoman of Mary Ann.
Buck Mulligan's face smiled with delight.
-- Charming, he said in a finical sweet voice, showing his white teeth and blinking his eyes pleasantly. Do you think she was? Quite charming.
Then, suddenly overclouding all his features, he growled in a hoarsened rasping voice as he hewed again vigorously at the loaf:
-- For old Mary Ann
She doesn't care a damn,
But, hising up her petticoats...
He crammed his mouth with fry and munched and droned.
The doorway was darkened by an entering form.
-- The milk, sir.
-- Come in, ma'am, Mulligan said. Kinch, get the jug.
An old woman came forward and stood by Stephen's elbow.
-- That's a lovely morning, sir, she said. Glory be to God.
-- To whom? Mulligan said, glancing at her. Ah, to be sure. Stephen reached back and took the milkjug from the locker.
-- The islanders, Mulligan said to Haines casually, speak frequently of the collector of prepuces.
-- How much, sir? asked the old woman.
-- A quart, Stephen said.
He watched her pour into the measure and thence into the jug rich white milk, not hers. Old shrunken paps. She poured again a measureful and a tilly. Old and secret she had entered from a morning world, maybe a messenger. She praised the goodness of the milk, pouring it out. Crouching by a patient cow at daybreak in the lush field, a witch on her toadstool, her wrinkled fingers quick at the squirting dugs. They lowed about her whom they knew, dewsilky cattle. Silk of the kine and poor old woman, names given her in old times. A wandering crone, lowly form of an immortal serving her conqueror and her gay betrayer, their common cuckquean, a messenger from the secret morning. To serve or to upbraid, whether he could not tell: but scorned to beg her favour.
-- It is indeed, ma'am, Buck Mulligan said, pouring milk into their cups.
-- Taste it, sir, she said.
He drank at her bidding.
-- If we could only live on good food like that, he said to her somewhat loudly, we wouldn't have the country full of rotten teeth and rotten guts. Living in a bogswamp, eating cheap food and the streets paved with dust, horsedung and consumptives' spits.
-- Are you a medical student, sir? the old woman asked.
-- I am, ma'am, Buck Mulligan answered.
Stephen listened in scornful silence. She bows her old head to a voice that speaks to her loudly, her bonesetter, her medicineman; me she slights. To the voice that will shrive and oil for the grave all there is of her but her woman's unclean loins, of man's flesh made not in God's likeness, the serpent's prey. And to the loud voice that now bids her be silent with wondering unsteady eyes.
-- Do you understand what he says? Stephen asked her.
-- Is it French you are talking, sir? the old woman said to Haines.
Haines spoke to her again a longer speech, confidently.
-- Irish, Buck Mulligan said. Is there Gaelic on you?
-- I thought it was Irish, she said, by the sound of it. Are you from west, sir?
-- I am an Englishman, Haines answered.
-- He's English, Buck Mulligan said, and he thinks we ought to speak Irish in Ireland.
-- Sure we ought to, the old woman said, and I'm ashamed I don't speak the language myself. I'm told it's a grand language by them that knows.
-- Grand is no name for it, said Buck Mulligan. Wonderful entirely. Fill us out some more tea, Kinch. Would you like a cup, ma'am?
-- No, thank you, sir, the old woman said, slipping the ring of the milkcan on her forearm and about to go.
Haines said to her:
-- Have you your bill? We had better pay her, Mulligan, hadn't we?
Stephen filled the three cups.
-- Bill, sir? she said, halting. Well, it's seven mornings a pint at twopence is seven twos is a shilling and twopence over and these three mornings a quart at fourpence is three quarts is a shilling and one and two is two and two, sir.
Buck Mulligan sighed and having filled his mouth with a crust thickly buttered on both sides, stretched forth his legs and began to search his trouser pockets.
-- Pay up and look pleasant, Haines said to him smiling.
Stephen filled a third cup, a spoonful of tea colouring faintly the thick rich milk. Buck Mulligan brought up a florin, twisted it round in his fingers and cried:
-- A miracle!
He passed it along the table towards the old woman, saying:
-- Ask nothing more of me, sweet. All I can give you I give. Stephen laid the coin in her uneager hand.
-- We'll owe twopence, he said.
-- Time enough, sir, she said, taking the coin. Time enough. Good morning, sir.
She curtseyed and went out, followed by Buck Mulligan's tender chant:
-- Heart of my heart, were it more,
More would be laid at your feet.
He turned to Stephen and said:
-- Seriously, Dedalus. I'm stony. Hurry out to your school kip and bring us back some money. Today the bards must drink and junket. Ireland expects that every man this day will do his duty.
-- That reminds me, Haines said, rising, that I have to visit your national library today.
-- Our swim first, Buck Mulligan said.
He turned to Stephen and asked blandly:
-- Is this the day for your monthly wash, Kinch?
Then he said to Haines:
-- The unclean bard makes a point of washing once a month.
-- All Ireland is washed by the gulfstream, Stephen said as he let honey trickle over a slice of the loaf.
Haines from the corner where he was knotting easily a scarf about the loose collar of his tennis shirt spoke:
-- I intend to make a collection of your sayings if you will let me.
Speaking to me. They wash and tub and scrub. Agenbite of inwit. Conscience. Yet here's a spot.
-- That one about the cracked lookingglass of a servant being the symbol of Irish art is deuced good.
Buck Mulligan kicked Stephen's foot under the table and said with warmth of tone:
-- Wait till you hear him on Hamlet, Haines.
-- Well, I mean it, Haines said, still speaking to Stephen. I was just thinking of it when that poor old creature came in.
-- Would I make money by it? Stephen asked.
Haines laughed and, as he took his soft grey hat from the holdfast of the hammock, said:
-- I don't know, I'm sure.
He strolled out to the doorway. Buck Mulligan bent across to Stephen and said with coarse vigour:
-- You put your hoof in it now. What did you say that for?
-- Well? Stephen said. The problem is to get money. From whom? From the milkwoman or from him. It's a toss up, I think.
I blow him out about you, Buck Mulligan said, and then you come along with your lousy leer and your gloomy jesuit jibes.
-- I see little hope, Stephen said, from her or from him.
Buck Mulligan sighed tragically and laid his hand on Stephen's arm.
-- From me, Kinch, he said.
In a suddenly changed tone he added:
-- To tell you the God's truth I think you're right. Damn all else they are good for. Why don't you play them as I do? To hell with them all. Let us get out of the kip.
He stood up, gravely ungirdled and disrobed himself of his gown, saying resignedly:
-- Mulligan is stripped of his garments.
He emptied his pockets on to the table.
-- There's your snotrag, he said.
And putting on his stiff collar and rebellious tie, he spoke to them, chiding them, and to his dangling watchchain. His hands plunged and rummaged in his trunk while he called for - a clean handkerchief. Agenbite of inwit. God, we'll simply have to dress the character. I want puce gloves and green boots. Contradiction. Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. Mercurial Malachi. A limp black missile flew out of his talking hands.
-- And there's your Latin quarter hat, he said.
Stephen picked it up and put it on: Haines called to them from the doorway:
-- Are you coming, you fellows?
-- I'm ready, Buck Mulligan answered, going towards the door. Come out, Kinch. You have eaten all we left, I suppose. Resigned he passed out with grave words and gait, saying, wellnigh with sorrow:
-- And going forth he met Butterly.
Stephen, taking his ashplant from its leaningplace, followed them out and, as they went down the ladder, pulled to the slow iron door and locked it. He put the huge key in his inner pocket.
At the foot of the ladder Buck Mulligan asked:
-- Did you bring the key?
-- I have it, Stephen said, preceding them.
He walked on. Behind him he heard Buck Mulligan club with his heavy bathtowel the leader shoots of ferns or grasses.
-- Down, sir. How dare you, sir? Haines asked:
-- Do you pay rent for this tower?
-- Twelve quid, Buck Mulligan said.
-- To the secretary of state for war, Stephen added over his shoulder.
They halted while Haines surveyed the tower and said at last:
-- Rather bleak in wintertime, I should say. Martello you call it?
-- Billy Pitt had them built, Buck Mulligan said, when the French were on the sea. But ours is the omphalos.
-- What is your idea of Hamlet? Haines asked Stephen.
-- No, no, Buck Mulligan shouted in pain. I'm not equal to Thomas Aquinas and the fiftyfive reasons he has made to prop it up. Wait till I have a few pints in me first.
He turned to Stephen, saying as he pulled down neatly the peaks of his primrose waistcoat:
-- You couldn't manage it under three pints, Kinch, could you?
-- It has waited so long, Stephen said listlessly, it can wait longer.
-- You pique my curiosity, Haines said amiably. Is it some paradox?
-- Pooh! Buck Mulligan said. We have grown out of Wilde and paradoxes. It's quite simple. He proves by algebra that Hamlet's grandson is Shakespeare's grandfather and that he himself is the ghost of his own father.
-- What? Haines said, beginning to point at Stephen. He himself?
Buck Mulligan slung his towel stolewise round his neck and, bending in loose laughter, said to Stephen's ear:
-- O, shade of Kinch the elder! Japhet in search of a father!
-- We're always tired in the morning, Stephen said to Haines. And it is rather long to tell.
Buck Mulligan, walking forward again, raised his hands.
-- The sacred pint alone can unbind the tongue of Dedalus, he said.
-- I mean to say, Haines explained to Stephen as they followed, this tower and these cliffs here remind me somehow of Elsinore. That beetles o'er his base into the sea, isn't it?
Buck Mulligan turned suddenly for an instant towards Stephen but did not speak. In the bright silent instant Stephen saw his own image in cheap dusty mourning between their gay attires.
-- It's a wonderful tale, Haines said, bringing them to halt again.
Eyes, pale as the sea the wind had freshened, paler, firm and prudent. The seas' ruler, he gazed southward over the bay, empty save for the smokeplume of the mailboat, vague on the bright skyline, and a sail tacking by the Muglins.
-- I read a theological interpretation of it somewhere, he said bemused. The Father and the Son idea. The Son striving to be atoned with the Father.
Buck Mulligan at once put on a blithe broadly smiling face. He looked at them, his wellshaped mouth open happily, his eyes, from which he had suddenly withdrawn all shrewd sense, blinking with mad gaiety. He moved a doll's head to and fro, the brims of his Panama hat quivering, and began to chant in a quiet happy foolish voice:
-- I'm the queerest young fellow that ever you heard.
My mother's a jew, my father's a bird.
With Joseph the joiner I cannot agree,
So here's to disciples and Calvary.
He held up a forefinger of warning.
-- If anyone thinks that I amn't divine
He'll get no free drinks when I'm making the wine
But have to drink water and wish it were plain
That I make when the wine beco
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英:
2、Chapter 2 Nestor


YOU, COCHRANE, WHAT CITY SENT FOR HIM?
-- Tarentum, sir.
-- Very good. Well?
-- There was a battle, sir.
-- Very good. Where?
The boy's blank face asked the blank window.
Fabled by the daughters of memory. And yet it was in some way if not as memory fabled it. A phrase, then, of impatience, thud of Blake's wings of excess. I hear the ruin of all space, shattered glass and toppling masonry, and time one livid final flame. What's left us then?
-- I forgot the place, sir. 279 B.C.
-- Asculum, Stephen said, glancing at the name and date in the gorescarred book.
-- Yes, sir. And he said: Another victory like that and we are done for.
That phrase the world had remembered. A dull ease of the mind. From a hill above a corpsestrewn plain a general speaking to his officers, leaned upon his spear. Any general to any officers. They lend ear.
-- You, Armstrong, Stephen said. What was the end of Pyrrhus?
-- End of Pyrrhus, sir?
-- I know, sir. Ask me, sir, Comyn said.
-- Wait. You, Armstrong. Do you know anything about Pyrrhus?
A bag of figrolls lay snugly in Armstrong's satchel. He curled them between his palms at whiles and swallowed them softly. Crumbs adhered to the tissues of his lips. A sweetened boy's breath. Welloff people, proud that their eldest son was in the navy. Vico Road, Dalkey.
-- Pyrrhus, sir? Pyrrhus, a pier.
All laughed. Mirthless high malicious laughter. Armstrong looked round at his classmates, silly glee in profile. In a moment they will laugh more loudly, aware of my lack of rule and of the fees their papas pay.
-- Tell me now, Stephen said, poking the boy's shoulder with the book, what is a pier.
-- A pier, sir, Armstrong said. A thing out in the waves. A kind of bridge. Kingstown pier, sir.
Some laughed again: mirthless but with meaning. Two in the back bench whispered. Yes. They knew: had never learned nor ever been innocent. All. With envy he watched their faces. Edith, Ethel, Gerty, Lily. Their likes: their breaths, too, sweetened with tea and jam, their bracelets tittering in the struggle.
-- Kingstown pier, Stephen said. Yes, a disappointed bridge. The words troubled their gaze.
-- How, sir? Comyn asked. A bridge is across a river.
For Haines's chapbook. No-one here to hear. Tonight deftly amid wild drink and talk, to pierce the polished mail of his mind. What then? A jester at the court of his master, indulged and disesteemed, winning a clement master's praise. Why had they chosen all that part? Not wholly for the smooth caress. For them too history was a tale like any other too often heard, their land a pawnshop.
Had Pyrrhus not fallen by a beldam's hand in Argos or Julius Caesar not been knifed to death? They are not to be thought away. Time has branded them and fettered they are lodged in the room of the infinite possibilities they have ousted. But can those have been possible seeing that they never were? Or was that only possible which came to pass? Weave, weaver of the wind.
-- Tell us a story, sir.
-- Oh, do, sir, a ghoststory.
-- Where do you begin in this? Stephen asked, opening another book.
-- Weep no more, Comyn said.
-- Go on then, Talbot.
-- And the history, sir?
-- After, Stephen said. Go on, Talbot.
A swarthy boy opened a book and propped it nimbly under the breastwork of his satchel. He recited jerks of verse with odd glances at the text:
-- Weep no more, woful shepherd, weep no more
For Lycidas, your sorrow, is not dead,
Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor...
It must be a movement then, an actuality of the possible as possible. Aristotle's phrase formed itself within the gabbled verses and floated out into the studious silence of the library of Saint Genevieve where he had read, sheltered from the sin of Paris, night by night. By his elbow a delicate Siamese conned a handbook of strategy. Fed and feeding brains about me: under glowlamps, impaled, with faintly beating feelers: and in my mind's darkness a sloth of the underworld, reluctant, shy of brightness, shifting her dragon scaly folds. Thought is the thought of thought. Tranquil brightness. The soul is in a manner all that is: the soul is the form of forms. Tranquillity sudden, vast, candescent: form of forms.
Talbot repeated:
-- Through the dear might of Him that walked the waves,
Through the dear might...
-- Turn over, Stephen said quietly. I don't see anything.
-- What, sir? Talbot asked simply, bending forward.
His hand turned the page over. He leaned back and went on again having just remembered. Of him that walked the waves. Here also over these craven hearts his shadow lies and on the scoffer's heart and lips and on mine. It lies upon their eager faces who offered him a coin of the tribute. To Caesar what is Caesar's, to God what is God's. A long look from dark eyes, a riddling sentence to be woven on the church's looms. Ay.
Riddle me, riddle me, randy ro.
My father gave me seeds to sow.
Talbot slid his closed book into his satchel.
-- Have I heard all? Stephen asked.
-- Yes, sir. Hockey at ten, sir.
-- Half day, sir. Thursday.
-- Who can answer a riddle? Stephen asked.
They bundled their books away, pencils clacking, pages rustling. Crowding together they strapped and buckled their satchels, all gabbling gaily:
-- A riddle, sir? Ask me, sir.
-- O, ask me, sir.
-- A hard one, sir.
-- This is the riddle, Stephen said.
The cock crew
The sky was blue:
The bells in heaven
Were striking eleven.
Tis time for this poor soul
To go to heaven.
-- What is that?
-- What, sir?
-- Again, sir. We didn't hear.
Their eyes grew bigger as the lines were repeated. After a silence Cochrane said:
-- What is it, sir? We give it up.
Stephen, his throat itching, answered:
-- The fox burying his grandmother under a hollybush.
He stood up and gave a shout of nervous laughter to which their cries echoed dismay.
A stick struck the door and a voice in the corridor called:
-- Hockey!
They broke asunder, sidling out of their benches, leaping them. Quickly they were gone and from the lumberroom came the rattle of sticks and clamour of their boots and tongues.
Sargent who alone had lingered came forward slowly, showing an open copybook. His tangled hair and scraggy neck gave witness of unreadiness and through his misty glasses weak eyes looked up pleading. On his cheek, dull and bloodless, a soft stain of ink lay, dateshaped, recent and damp as a snail's bed.
He held out his copybook. The word Sums was written on the headline. Beneath were sloping figures and at the foot a crooked signature with blind loops and a blot. Cyril Sargent: his name and seal.
-- Mr Deasy told me to write them out all again, he said, and show them to you, sir.
Stephen touched the edges of the book. Futility.
-- Do you understand how to do them now? he asked.
-- Numbers eleven to fifteen, Sargent answered. Mr Deasy said I was to copy them off the board, sir.
-- Can you do them yourself? Stephen asked.
-- No, sir.
Ugly and futile: lean neck and tangled hair and a stain of ink, a snail's bed. Yet someone had loved him, borne him in her arms and in her heart. But for her the race of the world would have trampled him under foot, a squashed boneless snail. She had loved his weak watery blood drained from her own. Was that then real? The only true thing in life? His mother's prostrate body the fiery Columbanus in holy zeal bestrode. She was no more: the trembling skeleton of a twig burnt in the fire, an odour of rosewood and wetted ashes. She had saved him from being trampled under foot and had gone, scarcely having been. A poor soul gone to heaven: and on a heath beneath winking stars a fox, red reek of rapine in his fur, with merciless bright eyes scraped in the earth, listened, scraped up the earth, listened, scraped and scraped.
Sitting at his side Stephen solved out the problem. He proves by algebra that Shakespeare's ghost is Hamlet's grandfather. Sargent peered askance through his slanted glasses. Hockeysticks rattled in the lumberroom: the hollow knock of a ball and calls from the field.
Across the page the symbols moved in grave morrice, in the mummery of their letters, wearing quaint caps of squares and cubes. Give hands, traverse, bow to partner: so: imps of fancy of the Moors. Gone too from the world, Averroes and Moses Maimonides, dark men in mien and movement, flashing in their mocking mirrors the obscure soul of the world, a darkness shining in brightness which brightness could not comprehend.
-- Do you understand now? Can you work the second for yourself?
-- Yes, sir.
In long shady strokes Sargent copied the data. Waiting always for a word of help his hand moved faithfully the unsteady symbols, a faint hue of shame flickering behind his dull skin. Amor matris: subjective and objective genitive. With her weak blood and wheysour milk she had fed him and hid from sight of others his swaddling bands.
Like him was I, these sloping shoulders, this gracelessness. My childhood bends beside me. Too far for me to lay a hand there once or lightly. Mine is far and his secret as our eyes. Secrets, silent, stony sit in the dark palaces of both our hearts: secrets weary of their tyranny: tyrants willing to be dethroned.
The sum was done.
-- It is very simple, Stephen said as he stood up.
-- Yes, sir. Thanks, Sargent answered.
He dried the page with a sheet of thin blottingpaper and carried his copybook back to his desk.
-- You had better get your stick and go out to the others, Stephen said as he followed towards the door the boy's graceless form.
-- Yes, sir.
In the corridor his name was heard, called from the playfield.
-- Sargent!
-- Run on, Stephen said. Mr Deasy is calling you.
He stood in the porch and watched the laggard hurry towards the scrappy field where sharp voices were in strife. They were sorted in teams and Mr Deasy came stepping over wisps of grass with gaitered feet. When he had reached the schoolhouse voices again contending called to him. He turned his angry white moustache.
-- What is it now? he cried continually without listening.
-- Cochrane and Halliday are on the same side, sir, Stephen cried.
-- Will you wait in my study for a moment, Mr Deasy said, till I restore order here.
And as he stepped fussily back across the field his old man's voice cried sternly:
-- What is the matter? What is it now?
Their sharp voices cried about him on all sides: their many forms closed round him, the garish sunshine bleaching the honey of his illdyed head.
Stale smoky air hung in the study with the smell of drab abraded leather of its chairs. As on the first day he bargained with me here. As it was in the beginning, is now. On the sideboard the tray of Stuart coins, base treasure of a bog: and ever shall be. And snug in their spooncase of purple plush, faded, the twelve apostles having preached to all the gentiles: world without end.
A hasty step over the stone porch and in the corridor. Blowing out his rare moustache Mr Deasy halted at the table.
-- First, our little financial settlement, he said.
He brought out of his coat a pocketbook bound by a leather thong. It slapped open and he took from it two notes, one of joined halves, and laid them carefully on the table.
-- Two, he said, strapping and stowing his pocketbook away.
And now his strongroom for the gold. Stephen's embarrassed hand moved over the shells heaped in the cold stone mortar: whelks and money, cowries and leopard shells: and this, whorled as an emir's turban, and this, the scallop of Saint James. An old pilgrim's hoard, dead treasure, hollow shells.
A sovereign fell, bright and new, on the soft pile of the tablecloth.
-- Three, Mr Deasy said, turning his little savingsbox about in his hand. These are handy things to have. See. This is for sovereigns. This is for shillings, sixpences, halfcrowns. And here crowns. See.
He shot from it two crowns and two shillings.
-- Three twelve, he said. I think you'll find that's right.
-- Thank you, sir, Stephen said, gathering the money together with shy haste and putting it all in a pocket of his trousers.
-- No thanks at all, Mr Deasy said. You have earned it.
Stephen's hand, free again, went back to the hollow shells. Symbols too of beauty and of power. A lump in my pocket. Symbols soiled by greed and misery.
-- Don't carry it like that, Mr Deasy said. You'll pull it out somewhere and lose it. You just buy one of these machines. You'll find them very handy.
Answer something.
-- Mine would be often empty, Stephen said.
The same room and hour, the same wisdom: and I the same. Three times now. Three nooses round me here. Well. I can break them in this instant if I will.
-- Because you don't save, Mr Deasy said, pointing his finger. You don't know yet what money is. Money is power, when you have lived as long as I have. I know, I know. If youth but knew. But what does Shakespeare say? Put but money in thy purse.
-- Iago, Stephen murmured.
He lifted his gaze from the idle shells to the old man's stare.
-- He knew what money was, Mr Deasy said. He made money. A poet but an Englishman too. Do you know what is the pride of the English? Do you know what is the proudest word you will ever hear from an Englishman's mouth?
The seas' ruler. His seacold eyes looked on the empty bay: history is to blame: on me and on my words, unhating.
-- That on his empire, Stephen said, the sun never sets.
-- Ba! Mr Deasy cried. That's not English. A French Celt said that. He tapped his savingsbox against his thumbnail.
-- I will tell you, he said solemnly, what is his proudest boast. I paid my way.
Good man, good man.
-- I paid my way. I never borrowed a shilling in my life. Can you feel that? I owe nothing. Can you?
Mulligan, nine pounds, three pairs of socks, one pair brogues, ties. Curran, ten guineas. McCann, one guinea. Fred Ryan, two shillings. Temple, two lunches. Russell, one guinea, Cousins, ten shillings, Bob Reynolds, half a guinea, Kohler, three guineas, Mrs McKernan, five weeks' board. The lump I have is useless.
-- For the moment, no, Stephen answered.
Mr Deasy laughed with rich delight, putting back his savingsbox.
-- I knew you couldn't, he said joyously. But one day you must feel it. We are a generous people but we must also be just.
-- I fear those big words, Stephen said, which make us so unhappy.
Mr Deasy stared sternly for some moments over the mantelpiece at the shapely bulk of a man in tartan fillibegs: Albert Edward, Prince of Wales.
-- You think me an old fogey and an old tory, his thoughtful voice said. I saw three generations since O'Connell's time. I remember the famine. Do you know that the orange lodges agitated for repeal of the union twenty years before O'Connell did or before the prelates of your communion denounced him as a demagogue? You fenians forget some things.
Glorious, pious and immortal memory. The lodge of Diamond in Armagh the splendid behung with corpses of papishes. Hoarse, masked and armed, the planters' covenant. The black north and true blue bible. Croppies lie down.
Stephen sketched a brief gesture.
-- I have rebel blood in me too, Mr Deasy said. On the spindle side. But I am descended from sir John Blackwood who voted for the union. We are all Irish, all kings' sons.
-- Alas, Stephen said.
-- Per vias rectas, Mr Deasy said firmly, was his motto. He voted for it and put on his topboots to ride to Dublin from the Ards of Down to do so.
Lal the ral the ra
The rocky road to Dublin.
A gruff squire on horseback with shiny topboots. Soft day, sir John. Soft day, your honour... Day... Day... Two topboots jog dangling on to Dublin. Lal the ral the ra, lal the ral the raddy.
-- That reminds me, Mr Deasy said. You can do me a favour, Mr Dedalus, with some of your literary friends: I have a letter here for the press. Sit down a moment. I have just to copy the end.
He went to the desk near the window, pulled in his chair twice and read off some words from the sheet on the drum of his typewriter.
-- Sit down. Excuse me, he said over his shoulder, the dictates of common sense. Just a moment.
He peered from under his shaggy brows at the manuscript by his elbow and, muttering, began to prod the stiff buttons of the keyboard slowly, some times blowing as he screwed up the drum to erase an error.
Stephen seated himself noiselessly before the princely presence. Framed around the walls images of vanished horses stood in homage, their meek heads poised in air: lord Hastings' Repulse, the duke of Westminster's Shotover, the duke of Beaufort's Ceylon, prix de Paris, 1866. Elfin riders sat them, watchful of a sign. He saw their speeds, backing King's colours, and shouted with the shouts of vanished crowds.
-- Full stop, Mr Deasy bade his keys. But prompt ventilation of this important question...
Where Cranly led me to get rich quick, hunting his winners among the mudsplashed brakes, amid the bawls of bookies on their pitches and reek of the canteen, over the motley slush. Even money Fair Rebel: ten to one the field. Dicers and thimbleriggers we hurried by after the hoofs, the vying caps and jackets and past the meatfaced woman, a butcher's dame, nuzzling thirstily her clove of orange.
Shouts rang shrill from the boys' playfield and a whirring whistle.
Again: a goal. I am among them, among their battling bodies in a medley, the joust of life. You mean that knockkneed mother's darling who seems to be slightly crawsick? Jousts. Time shocked rebounds, shock by shock. Jousts, slush and uproar of battles, the frozen deathspew of the slain, a shout of spear spikes baited with men's bloodied guts.
-- Now then, Mr Deasy said, rising.
He came to the table, pinning together his sheets. Stephen stood up.
-- I have put the matter into a nutshell, Mr Deasy said. It's about the foot and mouth disease. Just look through it. There can be no two opinions on the matter.
May I trespass on your valuable space. That doctrine of laissez faire which so often in our history. Our cattle trade. The way of all our old industries. Liverpool ring which jockeyed the Galway harbour scheme. European conflagration. Grain supplies through the narrow waters of the channel. The pluterperfect imperturbability of the department of agriculture. Pardoned a classical allusion. Cassandra. By a woman who was no better than she should be. To come to the point at issue.
-- I don't mince words, do I? Mr Deasy asked as Stephen read on.
Foot and mouth disease. Known as Koch's preparation. Serum and virus. Percentage of salted horses. Rinderpest. Emperor's horses at Mürzsteg, lower Austria. Veterinary surgeons. Mr Henry Blackwood Price. Courteous offer a fair trial, Dictates of common sense. Allimportant question. In every sense of the word take the bull by the horns. Thanking you for the hospitality of your columns.
-- I want that to be printed and read, Mr Deasy said. You will see at the next outbreak they will put an embargo on Irish cattle. And it can be cured. It is cured. My cousin, Blackwood Price, writes to me it is regularly treated and cured in Austria by cattledoctors there. They offer to come over here. I am trying to work up influence with the department. Now I'm going to try publicity. I am surrounded by difficulties, by... intrigues, by... backstairs influence, by...
He raised his forefinger and beat the air oldly before his voice spoke.
-- Mark my words, Mr Dedalus, he said. England is in the hands of the jews. In all the highest places: her finance, her press. And they are the signs of a nation's decay. Wherever they gather they eat up the nation's vital strength. I have seen it Coming these years. As sure as we are standing here the jew merchants are already at their work of destruction. Old England is dying.
He stepped swiftly off, his eyes coming to blue life as they passed a broad sunbeam. He faced about and back again.
-- Dying, he said, if not dead by now.
The harlot's cry from street to street
Shall weave old England's winding sheet.
His eyes open wide in vision stared sternly across the sunbeam in which he halted.
-- A merchant, Stephen said, is one who buys cheap and sells dear, jew or gentile, is he not?
-- They sinned against the light, Mr Deasy said gravely. And you can see the darkness in their eyes. And that is why they are wanderers on the earth to this day.
On the steps of the Paris Stock Exchange the goldskinned men quoting prices on their gemmed fingers. Gabbles of geese. They swarmed loud, uncouth about the temple, their heads thickplotting under maladroit silk hats. Not theirs: these clothes, this speech, these gestures. Their full slow eyes belied the words, the gestures eager and unoffending, but knew the rancours massed about them and knew their zeal was vain. Vain patience to heap and hoard. Time surely would scatter all. A hoard heaped by the roadside: plundered and passing on. Their eyes knew the years of wandering and, patient, knew the dishonours of their flesh.
-- Who has not? Stephen said.
-- What do you mean? Mr Deasy asked.
He came forward a pace and stood by the table. His underjaw fell sideways open uncertainly. Is this old wisdom? He waits to hear from me.
-- History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.
From the playfield the boys raised a shout. A whirring whistle: goal. What if that nightmare gave you a back kick?
-- The ways of the Creator are not our ways, Mr Deasy said. All history moves towards one great goal, the manifestation of God.
Stephen jerked his thumb towards the window, saying:
-- That is God.
Hooray! Ay! Whrrwhee!
-- What? Mr Deasy asked.
-- A shout in the street, Stephen answered, shrugging his shoulders.
Mr Deasy looked down and held for a while the wings of his nose tweaked between his fingers. Looking up again he set them free.
-- I am happier than you are, he said. We have committed many errors and many sins. A woman brought sin into the world. For a woman who was no better than she should be, Helen, the runaway wife of Menelaus, ten years the Greeks made war on Troy. A faithless wife first brought the strangers to our shore here, MacMurrough's wife and her leman O'Rourke, prince of Breffni. A woman too brought Parnell low. Many errors, many failures but not the one sin. I am a struggler now at the end of my days. But I will fight for the right till the end.
For Ulster will fight
And Ulster will be right.
Stephen raised the sheets in his hand.
-- Well, sir, he began.
-- I foresee, Mr Deasy said, that you will not remain here very long at this work. You were not born to be a teacher, I think. Perhaps I am wrong.
-- A learner rather, Stephen said.
And here what will you learn more?
Mr Deasy shook his head.
-- Who knows? he said. To learn one must be humble. But life is the great teacher.
Stephen rustled the sheets again.
-- As regards these, he began.
-- Yes, Mr Deasy said. You have two copies there. If you can have them published at once.
Telegraph. Irish Homestead.
-- I will try, Stephen said, and let you know tomorrow. I know two editors slightly.
That will do, Mr Deasy said briskly. I wrote last night to Mr Field, M.P. There is a meeting of the cattletraders' association today at the City Arms Hotel. I asked him to lay my letter before the meeting. You see if you can get it into your two papers. What are they?
-- The Evening Telegraph...
-- That will do, Mr Deasy said. There is no time to lose. Now I have to answer that letter from my cousin.
-- Good morning, sir, Stephen said, putting the sheets in his pocket. Thank you.
-- Not at all, Mr Deasy said as he searched the papers on his desk. I like to break a lance with you, old as I am.
-- Good morning, sir, Stephen said again, bowing to his bent back.
He went out by the open porch and down the gravel path under the trees, hearing the cries of voices and crack of sticks from the playfield. The lions couchant on the pillars as he passed out through the gate; toothless terrors. Still I will help him in his fight. Mulligan will dub me a new name: the bullockbefriending bard.
-- Mr Dedalus!
Running after me. No more letters, I hope.
-- Just one moment.
-- Yes, sir, Stephen said, turning back at the gate.
Mr Deasy halted, breathing hard and swallowing his breath.
-- I just wanted to say, he said. Ireland, they say, has the honour of being the only country which never persecuted the jews. Do you know that? No. And do you know why?
He frowned sternly on the bright air.
-- Why, sir? Stephen asked, beginning to smile.
-- Because she never let them in, Mr Deasy said solemnly.
A coughball of laughter leaped from his throat dragging after it a rattling chain of phlegm. He turned back quickly, coughing, laughing, his lifted arms waving to the air.
-- She never let them in, he cried again through his laughter as he stamped on gaitered feet over the gravel of the path. That's why.
On his wise shoulders through the checkerwork of leaves the sun flung spangles, dancing coins.


中:
2、阿姆斯特朗的书包里悄悄地...

“你说说,科克伦,是哪个城市请他[1]的?”
“塔兰图姆[2],老师。”
“好极了。后来呢?”
“打了一仗,老师。”
“好极了。在哪儿?”
孩子那张茫然的脸向那扇茫然的窗户去讨教。
记忆的女儿们[3]所编的寓言。然而,即便同记忆所编的寓言有出入,总有些相仿佛吧。那么,就是一句出自焦躁心情的话,是布莱克臒妄分之翅膀的扑扇[4]。我听到整个空间的毁灭,玻璃碎成碴儿,砖石建筑坍塌下来,时光化为终极的一缕死灰色火焰[5]。那样,还留给我们什么呢?
“地点我忘记啦,老师。公元前三七九年。”
“阿斯库拉姆[6],”斯蒂芬朝着沾满血迹的书上那地名和年代望了一眼,说。
“是的,老师。他又说,再打赢这么一场仗,我们就完啦[7]。”
世人记住了此语。心情处于麻木而松驰的状态。尸骸累累的平原,一位将军站在小山岗上,拄着矛熗,正对他的部下训话。任何将军对任何部下。他们洗耳恭听。
“你,阿姆斯特朗,”斯蒂芬说。“皮勒斯的结尾怎么样?”
“皮勒斯的结尾吗,老师?”
“我晓得,老师。问我吧,老师,”科敏说。
“等一等。阿姆斯特朗,你说说,关于皮勒斯,你知道点什么吗?”
阿姆斯特朗的书包里悄悄地摆着一袋无花果夹心面包卷。他不时她用双掌把它搓成小卷儿,轻轻地咽下去。面包渣子还沾在他的嘴唇上呢。少年的呼吸发出一股甜味儿。这些阔人以长子进了海军而自豪。多基[8]的韦克街。
“皮勒斯吗,老师?皮勒斯是栈桥[9]。”
大家都笑了。并不快活的尖声嗤笑。阿姆斯特朗四下里打量着同学们,露出傻笑的侧影。过一会儿,他们将发觉我管教无方,也想到他们的爸爸所缴的学费,会越发放开嗓门大笑起来。
“现在告诉我,”斯蒂芬用书戳戳少年的肩头,“栈桥是什么?”
“栈桥,老师,”阿姆斯特朗说,“就是伸到海里的东西。一种桥梁。国王镇[10]桥,老师。”
有些人又笑了,不畅快,却别有用意。坐在后排凳子上的两个在小声讲着什么。是的。他们晓得,从未学习过,可一向也不是无知的。全都是这样。他怀着妒意注视着一张张的脸。伊迪丝、艾塞尔、格蒂、莉莉[11]。跟他们类似的人,她们的呼吸也给红茶、果酱弄得甜丝丝的,扭动时,她们腕上的镯子在窃笑着。
“国王镇码头,”斯蒂芬说,“是啊,一座失望之桥[12]。”
这句话使他们凝视着的眼神露出一片迷茫。
“老师,怎么会呢?”科敏问。“桥是架在河上的啊。”
可以收入海恩斯的小册子[13]。这里却没有一个人听。今晚在豪饮和畅叙中,如簧的巧舌将刺穿罩在他思想外面的那副锃亮的铠甲。然后呢?左不过是主人宫廷里的一名弄臣,既被纵容又受到轻视,博得宽厚的主人一声赞许而已。他们为什么都选择了这一角色呢?图的并不完全是温存的爱抚。对他们来说,历史也像其他任何一个听腻了的故事,他们的国土是一爿当铺[14]。
倘若皮勒斯并未在阿尔戈斯丧命于一个老太婆手下[15],或是尤利乌斯·恺撒不曾被短剑刺死[16]呢?这些事不是想抹煞就能抹煞的。岁月已给它们打上了烙印,把它们束缚住,关在被它们排挤出去的无限的可能性的领域里[17]。但是,那些可能性既然从未实现,难道还说得上什么可能吗?抑或惟有发生了的才是可能的呢?织吧,织风者[18]。
“给我们讲个故事吧,老师。”
“请讲吧,老师。讲个鬼故事。”
“这从哪儿开始?”期蒂芬打开另一本书,问道。
“莫再哭泣,”科敏说。
“那么,接着背下去,塔尔博特。”
“故事呢,老师?”
“呆会儿,”斯蒂芬说。“背下去,塔尔博特。”
一个面色黧黑的少年打开书本,麻利地将它支在书包这座胸墙底下。他不时地瞥着课文,结结巴巴地背诵着诗句:
莫再哭泣,悲痛的牧羊人,莫再哭泣,
你们哀悼的利西达斯不曾死去,
虽然他已沉入水面下……[19]
说来那肯定是一种运动了,可能性由于有可能而变为现实[20]。在急促而咬字不清的朗诵声中,亚理斯多德的名言自行出现了,飘进圣热内维艾芙图书馆那勤学幽静的气氛中;他曾一夜一夜地隐退在此研读[21],从而躲开了巴黎的罪恶。邻座上,一位纤弱的暹罗人正在那里展卷精读一部兵法手册。我周围的那些头脑已经塞满了,还在继续填塞着。头顶上是小铁栅围起的一盏盏白炽灯,有着微微颤动的触须。在我头脑的幽暗处,却是阴间的一个懒货,畏首畏尾,惧怕光明,蠕动着那像龙鳞般的裙皱[22]。思维乃是有关思维的思维[23]。静穆的光明。就某种意义上而言,灵魂是全部存在,灵魂乃是形态的形态[24]。突兀、浩翰、炽烈的静穆:形态的形态。
塔尔博特反复背诵着同一诗句:
借着在海浪上行走的主那亲切法力[25],
借着在海浪上……
“翻过去吧。”斯蒂芬沉静地说,“我什么也没看见。”
“您说什么,老师?”塔尔博特向前探探身子,天真地问道。
他用手翻了一页。他这才想起来,于是,挺直了身子背诵下去。关于在海浪上行走的主。他的影子也投射在这些怯懦的心灵上,在嘲笑者的心坎和嘴唇上,也在我的心坎和嘴唇上。还投射在拿一枚上税的银币给他看的那些人殷切的面容上。属于恺撒的归给恺撒,属于天主的归给天主[26]。深色的眼睛长久地凝视着,一个谜语般的句子,在教会的织布机上不停地织了下去。就是这样。
让我猜,让我猜,嗨哟嗬。
我爸爸给种籽叫我播。[27]
塔尔博特把他那本阖上的书,轻轻地放进书包。
“都背完了吗?”斯蒂芬问。
“老师,背完了。十点钟打曲棍球,老师。”
“半天儿,老师。星期四嘛。”
“谁会破谜语?”斯蒂芬问。
他们把铅笔弄得咯吱咯吱响,纸页窸窸窣窣,将书胡乱塞进书包。他们挤作一团,勒上书包的皮带,扣紧了,全都快活地吵嚷起来:
“破谜语,老师。让我破吧,老师。”
“噢,让我破吧,老师。”
“出个难的,老师。”
“是这么个谜儿,”斯蒂芬说:
公鸡打了鸣,
天色一片蓝。
天堂那些钟,
敲了十一点。
可怜的灵魂,
该升天堂啦。[28]
“那是什么?”
“什么,老师?”
“再说一遍,老师,我们没听见。”
重复这些词句时,他们的眼睛越睁越大了。沉默半晌后,科克伦说:
“是什么呀,老师?我们不猜了。”
斯蒂芬回答说,嗓子直发痒:
“是狐狸在冬青树下埋葬它的奶奶[29]。”
他站起来,神经质地大笑了一声,他们的喊叫声反应着沮丧情绪。
一根棍子敲了敲门,又有个嗓门在走廊里吆唤着:
“曲棍球!”
他们忽然散开来,有的侧身从凳子前挤出去,有的从上面一跃而过。他们很快就消失了踪影,接着,从堆房传来棍子的碰击声、嘈杂的皮靴声和饶舌声。
萨金特独自留了下来。他慢慢腾腾地走过来,出示一本摊开的练习本。他那其乱如麻的头发和瘦削的脖颈都表明他的笨拙。透过模糊不清的镜片,他翻起一双弱视的眼睛,央求着。他那灰暗而毫无血色的脸蛋儿上,沾了块淡淡的枣子形墨水渍,刚刚抹上去,还湿润得像蜗牛窝似的。
他递过练习本来。头一行标着算术字样。下面是歪歪拧拧的数字,末尾是弯弯曲曲的签名,带圈儿的笔划填得满满当当,另外还有一团墨水渍。西里尔·萨金特:他的姓名和印记。
“迪希先生叫我整个儿重写一遍,”他说,“还要拿给您看,老师。”
斯蒂芬摸了一下本子的边儿。徒劳无益。
“你现在会做这些了吗?”他问。
“十一题到十五题,”萨金特回答说。“老师,迪希先生要我从黑板上抄下来的。”
“你自己会做这些了吗?”斯蒂芬问。
“不会,老师。”
长得丑,而且没出息,细细的脖颈,其乱如麻的头发,一抹墨水渍,蜗牛窝。但还是有人爱过他,搂在怀里,疼在心上。倘非有她,在这谁也不让谁的世间,他早就被脚踩得烂成一摊无骨的蜗牛浆了。她爱的是从她自己身上流进去的他那虚弱稀薄的血液。那么,那是真实的喽?是人生唯一靠得住的东西喽[30]?暴躁的高隆班[31]凭着一股神圣的激情,曾迈过他母亲那横卧的身躯。她已经不在了,一根在火中燃烧过的小树枝那颤巍巍的残骸,一股黄檀和温灰气味。她拯救了他,使他免于被践踏在脚下,而她自己却没怎么活就走了。一副可怜的灵魂升了天堂:袩外闪烁下,在石楠丛生的荒野上,一只皮毛上还沾着劫掠者那血红腥臭的狐狸,有着一双凶残明亮的跟睛,用爪子刨地,听了听,刨起土来又听,刨啊,刨啊。
斯蒂芬挨着他坐着解题。他用代数运算出莎士比亚的亡灵薀威姆莱特的祖父[32]。萨金特透过歪戴着的眼镜斜睨着他。堆房里有球棍的碰撞声,操场上传未了钝重的击球声和喊叫声。
这些符号戴着平方形、立方形的奇妙帽子在纸页上表演着字母的哑剧,来回跳着庄重的摩利斯舞[33]。手牵手,互换位置,向舞伴鞠躬。就是这样,摩尔人幻想出来的一个个小鬼。阿威罗伊和摩西·迈蒙尼德[34]也都离开了人世,这些在音容和举止上都诡秘莫测的人,用他们那嘲讽的镜子[35]照着朦朦胧胧的世界之灵[36]。黑暗在光中照耀,而光却不能理解它[37]。
“这会子你明白了吧?第二道自己会做了吗?”
“会做啦,老师。”
萨金特用长长的、颤悠悠的笔划抄写着数字。他一边不断地期待着得到指点,一边忠实地描摹着那些不规则的符号。在他那灰暗的皮肤下面,是一抹淡淡的羞愧之色,忽隐忽现。母亲之爱[38]:主生格与宾生格。她用自己那虚弱的血液和稀溜发酸的奶汁喂养他,藏起他的尿布,不让人看到。
以前我就像他:肩膀也这么瘦削,也这么不起眼。我的童年在我旁边弯着腰。遥远得我甚至无从用手去摸一下,即便是轻轻地。我的太遥远了,而他的呢,就像我们的眼睛那样深邃。我们两人心灵的黑暗宫殿里,都一动不动地盘踞着沉默不语的一桩桩秘密:这些秘密对自己的专横已感到厌倦,是情愿被废黜的暴君。
题已经算出来了。
“这简单得很,”斯蒂芬边说边站起来。
“是的,老师。谢谢
[ 此帖被soneyky在2012-12-24 07:51重新编辑 ]
soneyky

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怕相思,已思相,轮到相思没处辞,眉间露一丝
举报 只看该作者 地板   发表于: 2012-12-24 0
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英:
3、Chapter 3 Proteus

INELUCTABLE MODALITY OF THE VISIBLE: AT LEAST THAT IF NO MORE, thought through my eyes. Signatures of all things I am here to read, seaspawn and seawrack, the nearing tide, that rusty boot. Snotgreen, bluesilver, rust: coloured signs. Limits of the diaphane. But he adds: in bodies. Then he was aware of them bodies before of them coloured. How? By knocking his sconce against them, sure. Go easy. Bald he was and a millionaire, maestro di color che sanno. Limit of the diaphane in. Why in? Diaphane, adiaphane. If you can put your five fingers through it, it is a gate, if not a door. Shut your eyes and see.
Stephen closed his eyes to hear his boots crush crackling wrack and shells. You are walking through it howsomever. I am, a stride at a time. A very short space of time through very short times of space. Five, six: the nacheinander. Exactly: and that is the ineluctable modality of the audible. Open your eyes. No. Jesus! If I fell over a cliff that beetles o'er his base, fell through the nebeneinander ineluctably. I am getting on nicely in the dark. My ash sword hangs at my side. Tap with it: they do. My two feet in his boots are at the end of his legs, nebeneinander. Sounds solid: made by the mallet of Los Demiurgos. Am I walking into eternity along Sandymount strand? Crush, crack, crick, crick. Wild sea money. Dominie Deasy kens them a'.
Won't you come to Sandymount,
Madeline the mare?
Rhythm begins, you see. I hear. A catalectic tetrameter of iambs marching. No, agallop: deline the mare.
Open your eyes now. I will. One moment. Has all vanished since? If I open and am for ever in the black adiaphane. Basta! I will see if I can see.
See now. There all the time without you: and ever shall be, world without end.
They came down the steps from Leahy's terrace prudently, Frauenzimmer: and down the shelving shore flabbily their splayed feet sinking in the silted sand. Like me, like Algy, coming down to our mighty mother. Number one swung lourdily her midwife's bag, the other's gamp poked in the beach. From the liberties, out for the day. Mrs Florence MacCabe, relict of the late Patk MacCabe, deeply lamented, of Bride Street. One of her sisterhood lugged me squealing into life. Creation from nothing. What has she in the bag? A misbirth with a trailing navelcord, hushed in ruddy wool. The cords of all link back, strandentwining cable of all flesh. That is why mystic monks. Will you be as gods? Gaze in your omphalos. Hello. Kinch here. Put me on to Edenville. Aleph, alpha: nought, nought, one.
Spouse and helpmate of Adam Kadmon: Heva, naked Eve. She had no navel. Gaze. Belly without blemish, bulging big, a buckler of taut vellum, no, whiteheaped corn, orient and immortal, standing from everlasting to everlasting. Womb of sin.
Wombed in sin darkness I was too, made not begotten. By them, the man with my voice and my eyes and a ghostwoman with ashes on her breath. They clasped and sundered, did the coupler's will. From before the ages He willed me and now may not will me away or ever A lex eterna stays about him. Is that then the divine substance wherein Father and Son are consubstantial? Where is poor dear Arius to try conclusions? Warring his life long on the contransmagnificandjewbangtantiality. Illstarred heresiarch. In a Greek watercloset he breathed his last: euthanasia. With beaded mitre and with crozier, stalled upon his throne, widower of a widowed see, with upstiffed omophorion, with clotted hinderparts.
Airs romped around him, nipping and eager airs. They are coming, waves. The whitemaned seahorses, champing, brightwindbridled, the steeds of Mananaan.
I mustn't forget his letter for the press. And after? The Ship, half twelve. By the way go easy with that money like a good young imbecile. Yes, I must.
His pace slackened. Here. Am I going to Aunt Sara's or not? My consubstantial father's voice. Did you see anything of your artist brother Stephen lately? No? Sure he's not down in Strasburg terrace with his aunt Sally? Couldn't he fly a bit higher than that, eh? And and and and tell us Stephen, how is uncle Si? O weeping God, the things I married into. De boys up in de hayloft. The drunken little costdrawer and his brother, the cornet player. Highly respectable gondoliers. And skeweyed Walter sirring his father, no less. Sir. Yes, sir. No, sir. Jesus wept: and no wonder, by Christ.
I pull the wheezy bell of their shuttered cottage: and wait. They take me for a dun, peer out from a coign of vantage.
-- It's Stephen, sir.
-- Let him in. Let Stephen in.
A bolt drawn back and Walter welcomes me.
-- We thought you were someone else.
In his broad bed nuncle Richie, pillowed and blanketed, extends over the hillock of his knees a sturdy forearm. Cleanchested. He has washed the upper moiety.
-- Morrow, nephew.
He lays aside the lapboard whereon he drafts his bills of costs for the eyes of Master Goff and Master Shapland Tandy, filing consents and common searches and a writ of Duces Tecum. A bogoak frame over his bald head: Wilde's Requiescat. The drone of his misleading whistle brings Walter back.
-- Yes, sir?
-- Malt for Richie and Stephen, tell mother. Where is she?
-- Bathing Crissie, sir.
Papa's little bedpal. Lump of love.
-- No, uncle Richie...
-- Call me Richie. Damn your lithia water. It lowers. Whusky!
-- Uncle Richie, really...
-- Sit down or by the law Harry I'll knock you down.
Walter squints vainly for a chair.
-- He has nothing to sit down on, sir.
-- He has nowhere to put it, you mug. Bring in our Chippendale chair. Would you like a bite of something? None of your damned lawdeedaw air here; the rich of a rasher fried with a herring? Sure? So much the better. We have nothing in the house but backache pills.
All'erta!
He drones bars of Ferrando's aria de sortita. The grandest number, Stephen, in the whole opera. Listen.
His tuneful whistle sounds again, finely shaded, with rushes of the air, his fists bigdrumming on his padded knees.
This wind is sweeter.
Houses of decay, mine, his and all. You told the Clongowes gentry you had an uncle a judge and an uncle a general in the army. Come out of them, Stephen. Beauty is not there. Nor in the stagnant bay of Marsh's library where you read the fading prophecies of Joachim Abbas. For whom? The hundredheaded rabble of the cathedral close. A hater of his kind ran from them to the wood of madness, his mane foaming in the moon, his eyeballs stars. Houyhnhnm, horsenostrilled. The oval equine faces. Temple, Buck Mulligan, Foxy Campbell. Lantern jaws. Abbas father, furious dean, what offence laid fire to their brains? Paff! Descende, calve, ut ne nimium decalveris. A garland of grey hair on his comminated head see him me clambering down to the footpace (descende), clutching a monstrance, basiliskeyed. Get down, bald poll! A choir gives back menace and echo, assisting about the altar's horns, the snorted Latin of jackpriests moving burly in their albs, tonsured and oiled and gelded, fat with the fat of kidneys of wheat.
And at the same instant perhaps a priest round the corner is elevating it. Dringdring! And two streets off another locking it into a pyx. Dringadring! And in a ladychapel another taking housel all to his own cheek. Dringdringl Down, up, forward, back. Dan Occam thought of that, invincible doctor. A misty English morning the imp hypostasis tickled his brain. Bringing his host down and kneeling he heard twine with his second bell the first bell in the transept (he is lifting his) and, rising, heard (now I am lifting) their two bells (he is kneeling) twang in diphthong.
Cousin Stephen, you will never be a saint. Isle of saints. You were awfully holy, weren't you? You prayed to the Blessed Virgin that you might not have a red nose. You prayed to the devil in Serpentine avenue that the fubsy widow in front might lift her clothes still more from the wet street. O si, certo! Sell your soul for that, do, dyed rags pinned round a squaw. More tell me, more still! On the top of the Howth tram alone crying to the rain: naked women! What about that, eh?
What about what? What else were they invented for?
Reading two pages apiece of seven books every night, eh? I was young. You bowed to yourself in the mirror, stepping forward to applause earnestly, striking face. Hurray for the Goddamned idiot! Hray! No-one saw: tell no-one. Books you were going to write with letters for titles. Have you read his F? O yes, but I prefer Q. Yes, but W is wonderful. O yes, W. Remember your epiphanies on green oval leaves, deeply deep, copies to be sent if you died to all the great libraries of the world, including Alexandria? Someone was to read them there after a few thousand year, a mahamanvantara. Pico della Mirandola like. Ay, very like a whale. When one reads these strange pages of one long gone one feels that one is at one with one who once...
The grainy sand had gone from under his feet. His boots trod again a damp crackling mast, razorshells, squeaking pebbles, that on the unnumbered pebbles beats, wood sieved by the shipworm, lost Armada. Unwholesome sandflats waited to suck his treading soles, breathing upward sewage breath. He coasted them, walking warily. A porter-bottle stood up, stogged to its waist, in the cakey sand dough. A sentinel: isle of dreadful thirst. Broken hoops on the shore; at the land a maze of dark cunning nets; farther away chalkscrawled backdoors and on the higher beach a dryingline with two crucified shirts. Ringsend: wigwams of brown steersmen and master mariners. Human shells.
He halted. I have passed the way to aunt Sara's. Am I not going there? Seems not. No-one about. He turned northeast and crossed the firmer sand towards the Pigeonhouse.
-- Qui vous a mis dans cette fichue position?
-- C'est le pigeon, Joseph.
Patrice, home on furlough, lapped warm milk with me in the bar MacMahon. Son of the wild goose, Kevin Egan of Paris. My father's a bird, he lapped the sweet lait chaud with pink young tongue, plump bunny's face. Lap, lapin. He hopes to win in the gros lots. About the nature of women he read in Michelet. But he must send me La Vie de Jésus by M. Leo Taxil. Lent it to his friend.
-- C'est tordant, vows savez. Moi je suis socialiste. Je ne crois pas en l'existence de Dieu. Faut pas le dire à mon père.
-- Il croit?
-- Mon père, oui.
Schluss. He laps.
My Latin quarter hat. God, we simply must dress the character. I want puce gloves. You were a student, weren't you? Of what in the other devil's name? Paysayenn. P. C. N., you know: physiques, chimiques et naturelles. Aha. Eating your groatsworth of mou en civet, fleshpots of Egypt, elbowed by belching cabmen. Just say in the most natural tone: when I was in Paris, boul' Mich', I used to. Yes, used to carry punched tickets to prove an alibi if they arrested you for murder somewhere. Justice. On the night of the seventeenth of February 1904 the prisoner was seen by two witnesses. Other fellow did it: other me. Hat, tie, overcoat, nose. Lui, c'est moi. You seem to have enjoyed yourself.
Proudly walking. Whom were you trying to walk like? Forget: a dispossessed. With mother's money order, eight shillings, the banging door of the post office slammed in your face by the usher. Hunger toothache. Encore deux minutes. Look clock. Must get. Fermé. Hired dog! Shoot him to bloody bits with a bang shotgun, bits man spattered walls all brass buttons. Bits all khrrrrklak in place clack back. Not hurt? O, that's all right. Shake hands. See what I meant, see? O, that's all right. Shake a shake. O, that's all only all right.
You were going to do wonders, what? Missionary to Europe after fiery Columbanus. Fiacre and Scotus on their creepystools in heaven spilt from their pintpots, loudlatinlaughing: Euge! Euge! Pretending to speak broken English as you dragged your valise, porter threepence, across the slimy pier at Newhaven. Comment? Rich booty you brought back; Le Tutu, five tattered numbers of Pantalon Blanc et Culotte Rouge, a blue French telegram, curiosity to show:
-- Mother dying come home father.
The aunt thinks you killed your mother. That's why she won't.
Then here's a health to Mulligan's aunt
And I'll tell you the reason why.
She always kept things decent in
The Hannigan famileye.
His feet marched in sudden proud rhythm over the sand furrows, along by the boulders of the south wall. He stared at them proudly, piled stone mammoth skulls. Gold light on sea, on sand, on boulders. The sun is there, the slender trees, the lemon houses.
Paris rawly waking, crude sunlight on her lemon streets. Moist pith of farls of bread, the froggreen wormwood, her matin incense, court the air. Belluomo rises from the bed of his wife's lover's wife, the kerchiefed housewife is astir, a saucer of acetic acid in her hands. In Rodot's Yvonne and Madeleine newmake their tumbled beauties, shattering with gold teeth chaussons of pastry, their mouths yellowed with the pus of flan breton. Faces of Paris men go by, their wellpleased pleasers, curled conquistadores.
Noon slumbers. Kevin Egan rolls gunpowder cigarettes through fingers smeared with printer's ink, sipping his green fairy as Patrice his white. About us gobblers fork spiced beans down their gullets. Un demi setier! A jet of coffee steam from the burnished caldron. She serves me at his beck. Il est irlandais. Hollandais? Non fromage. Deux irlandais, nous, Irlande, vous savez? Ah oui! She thought you wanted a cheese hollandais. Your postprandial, do you know that word? Postprandial. There was a fellow I knew once in Barcelona, queer fellow, used to call it his postprandial. Well: slainte! Around the slabbed tables the tangle of wined breaths and grumbling gorges. His breath hangs over our saucestained plates, the green fairy's fang thrusting between his lips. Of Ireland, the Dalcassians, of hopes, conspiracies, of Arthur Griffith now. To yoke me as his yokefellow, our crimes our common cause. You're your father's son. I know the voice. His fustian shirt, sanguineflowered, trembles its Spanish tassels at his secrets. M. Drumont, famous journalist, Drumont, know what he called queen Victoria? Old hag with the yellow teeth. Vieille ogresse with the dents jaunes. Maud Gonne, beautiful woman, La Patrie, M. Millevoye, Félix Faure, know how he died? Licentious men. The froeken, bonne à tout faire, who rubs male nakedness in the bath at Upsala. Moi faire, she said. Tous les messieurs. Not this Monsieur, I said. Most licentious custom. Bath a most private thing. I wouldn't let my brother, not even my own brother, most lascivious thing. Green eyes, I see you. Fang, I feel. Lascivious people.
The blue fuse burns deadly between hands and burns clear. Loose tobacco shreds catch fire: a flame and acrid smoke light our corner. Raw facebones under his peep of day boy's hat. How the head centre got away, authentic version. Got up as a young bride, man, veil orangeblossoms, drove out the road to Malahide. Did, faith. Of lost leaders, the betrayed, wild escapes. Disguises, clutched at, gone, not here.
Spurned lover. I was a strapping young gossoon at that time, I tell you, I'll show you my likeness one day. I was, faith. Lover, for her love he prowled with colonel Richard Burke, tanist of his sept, under the walls of Clerkenwell and, crouching, saw a flame of vengeance hurl them upward in the fog. Shattered glass and toppling masonry. In gay Paree he hides, Egan of Paris, unsought by any save by me. Making his day's stations, the dingy printingcase, his three taverns, the Montmartre lair he sleeps short night in, rue de la Goutte-d'Or, damascened with flyblown faces of the gone. Loveless, landless, wifeless. She is quite nicey comfy without her outcastman, madame, in rue G?t-le-Coeur, canary and two buck lodgers. Peachy cheeks, a zebra skirt, frisky as a young thing's. Spurned and undespairing. Tell Pat you saw me, won't you? I wanted to get poor Pat a job one time. Mon fils, soldier of France. I taught him to sing. The boys of Kilkenny are stout roaring blades. Know that old lay? I taught Patrice that. Old Kilkenny: saint Canice, Strongbow's castle on the Nore. Goes like this. O, O. He takes me, Napper Tandy, by the hand.
O, O the boys of
Kilkenny...
Weak wasting hand on mine. They have forgotten Kevin Egan, not he them. Remembering thee, O Sion.
He had come nearer the edge of the sea and wet sand slapped his boots. The new air greeted him, harping in wild nerves, wind of wild air of seeds of brightness. Here, I am not walking out to the Kish lightship, am I? He stood suddenly, his feet beginning to sink slowly in the quaking soil. Turn back.
Turning, he scanned the shore south, his feet sinking again slowly in new sockets. The cold domed room of the tower waits. Through the barbicans the shafts of light are moving ever, slowly ever as my feet are sinking, creeping duskward over the dial floor. Blue dusk, nightfall, deep blue night. In the darkness of the dome they wait, their pushedback chairs, my obelisk valise, around a board of abandoned platters. Who to clear it? He has the key. I will not sleep there when this night comes. A shut door of a silent tower entombing their blind bodies, the panthersahib and his pointer. Call: no answer. He lifted his feet up from the suck and turned back by the mole of boulders. Take all, keep all. My soul walks with me, form of forms. So in the moon's midwatches I pace the path above the rocks, in sable silvered, hearing Elsinore's tempting flood.
The flood is following me. I can watch it flow past from here. Get back then by the Poolbeg road to the strand there. He climbed over the sedge and eely oarweeds and sat on a stool of rock, resting his ashplant in a grike.
A bloated carcass of a dog lay lolled on bladderwrack. Before him the gunwale of a boat, sunk in sand. Un coche ensablé, Louis Veuillot called Gautier's prose. These heavy sands are language tide and wind have silted here. And there, the stoneheaps of dead builders, a warren of weasel rats. Hide gold there. Try it. You have some. Sands and stones. Heavy of the past. Sir Lout's toys. Mind you don't get one bang on the ear. I'm the bloody well gigant rolls all them bloody well boulders, bones for my steppingstones. Feefawfum. I zmellz de bloods odz an Iridzman.
A point, live dog, grew into sight running across the sweep of sand. Lord, is he going to attack me? Respect his liberty. You will not be master of others or their slave. I have my stick. Sit tight. From farther away, walking shoreward across from the crested tide, figures, two. The two maries. They have tucked it safe among the bulrushes. Peekaboo. I see you. No, the dog. He is running back to them. Who?
Galleys of the Lochlanns ran here to beach, in quest of prey, their bloodbeaked prows riding low on a molten pewter sun. Danevikings, torcs of tomahawks aglitter on their breasts when Malachi wore the collar of gold. A school of turlehide whales stranded in hot noon, spouting, hobbling in the shallows. Then from the starving cagework city a horde of jerkined dwarfs, my people, with flayers' knives, running, scaling, hacking in green blubbery whalemeat. Famine, plague and slaughters. Their blood is in me, their lusts my waves. I moved among them on the frozen Liffey, that I, a changeling, among the spluttering resin fires. I spoke to no-one: none to me.
The dog's bark ran towards him, stopped, ran back. Dog of my enemy. I just simply stood pale, silent, bayed about. Terribilia meditans. A primrose doublet, fortune's knave, smiled on my fear. For that are you pining, the bark of their applause? Pretenders: live their lives. The Bruce's brother, Thomas Fitzgerald, silken knight, Perkin Warbeck, York's false scion, in breeches of silk of whiterose ivory, wonder of a day, and Lambert Simnel, with a tail of nans and sutlers, a scullion crowned. All kings' sons. Paradise of pretenders then and now. He saved men from drowning and you shake at a cur's yelping. But the courtiers who mocked Guido in Or san Michele were in their own house. House of... We don't want any of your medieval abstrusiosities. Would you do what he did? A boat would be near, a lifebuoy. Natürlich, put there for you. Would you or would you not? The man that was drowned nine days ago off Maiden's rock. They are waiting for him now. The truth, spit it out. I would want to. I would try. I am not a strong swimmer. Water cold soft. When I put my face into it in the basin at Clongowes. Can't see! Who's behind me? Out quickly, quickly! Do you see the tide flowing quickly in on all sides, sheeting the lows of sands quickly, shell cocoacoloured? If I had land under my feet I want his life still to be his, mine to be mine. A drowning man. His human eyes scream to me out of horror of his death. I... With him together down... I could not save her. Waters: bitter death: lost.
A woman and a man. I see her skirties. Pinned up, I bet.
Their dog ambled about a bank of dwindling sand, trotting, sniffing on all sides. Looking for something lost in a past life. Suddenly he made off like a bounding hare, ears flung back, chasing the shadow of a lowskimming gull. The man's shrieked whistle struck his limp ears. He turned, bounded back, came nearer, trotted on twinkling shanks. On a field tenney a buck, trippant, proper, unattired. At the lacefringe of the tide he halted with stiff forehoofs, seawardpointed ears. His snout lifted barked at the wavenoise, herds of seamorse. They serpented towards his feet, curling, unfurling many crests, every ninth, breaking, plashing, from far, from farther out, waves and waves.
Cocklepickers. They waded a little way in the water and, stooping, soused their bags, and, lifting them again, waded out. The dog yelped running to them, reared up and pawed them, dropping on all fours, again reared up at them with mute bearish fawning. Unheeded he kept by them as they came towards the drier sand, a rag of wolf's tongue redpanting from his jaws. His speckled body ambled ahead of them and then loped off at a calf's gallop. The carcass lay on his path. He stopped, sniffed, stalked round it, brother, nosing closer, went round it, sniffing rapidly like a dog all over the dead dog's bedraggled fell. Dogskull, dogsniff, eyes on the ground, moves to one great goal. Ah, poor dogsbody. Here lies poor dogsbody's body.
-- Tatters! Out of that, you mongrel.
The cry brought him skulking back to his master and a blunt bootless kick sent him unscathed across a spit of sand, crouched in flight. He slunk back in a curve. Doesn't see me. Along by the edge of the mole he lolloped, dawdled, smelt a rock and from under a cocked hindleg pissed against it. He trotted forward and, lifting his hindleg, pissed quick short at an unsmelt rock. The simple pleasures of the poor. His hindpaws then scattered sand: then his forepaws dabbled and delved. Something he buried there, his grandmother. He rooted in the sand, dabbling delving and stopped to listen to the air, scraped up the sand again with a fury of his claws, soon ceasing, a pard, a panther, got in spouse-breach, vulturing the dead.
After he woke me up last night same dream or was it? Wait. Open hallway. Street of harlots. Remember. Haroun al Raschid. I am almosting it. That man led me, spoke. I was not afraid. The melon he had he held against my face. Smiled: creamfruit smell. That was the rule, said. In. Come. Red carpet spread. You will see who.
Shouldering their bags they trudged, the red Egyptians. His blued feet out of turnedup trousers slapped the clammy sand, a dull brick muffler strangling his unshaven neck. With woman steps she followed: the ruffian and his strolling mort. Spoils slung at her back. Loose sand and shellgrit crusted her bare feet. About her windraw face her hair trailed. Behind her lord his helpmate, bing awast, to Romeville. When night hides her body's flaws calling under her brown shawl from an archway where dogs have mired. Her fancyman is treating two Royal Dublins in O'Loughlin's of Blackpitts. Buss her, wap in rogue's rum lingo, for, O, my dimber wapping dell. A shefiend's whiteness under her rancid rags. Fumbally's lane that night: the tanyard smells.
White thy fambles, red thy gan
And thy quarrons dainty is.
Couch a hogshead with me then.
In the darkmans clip and kiss.
Morose delectation Aquinas tunbelly calls this, frate porcospino. Unfallen Adam rode and not rutted. Call away let him: thy quarrons dainty is. Language no whit worse than his. Monkwords, marybeads jabber on their girdles: roguewords, tough nuggets patter in their pockets.
Passing now.
A side-eye at my Hamlet hat. If I were suddenly naked here as I sit I am not. Across the sands of all the world, followed by the sun's flaming sword, to the west, trekking to evening lands. She trudges, schlepps, trains, drags, trascines her load. A tide westering, moondrawn, in her wake. Tides, myriadislanded, within her, blood not mine, oinopa ponton, a winedark sea. Behold the handmaid of the moon. In sleep the wet sign calls her hour, bids her rise. Bridebed, childbed, bed of death, ghostcandled. Omnis caro ad te veniet. He comes, pale vampire, through storm his eyes, his bat sails bloodying the sea, mouth to her mouth's kiss.
Here. Put a pin in that chap, will you? My tablets. Mouth to her kiss. No. Must be two of em. Glue 'em well. Mouth to her mouth's kiss.
His lips lipped and mouthed fleshless lips of air: mouth to her womb. Oomb, allwombing tomb. His mouth moulded issuing breath, unspeeched: ooeeehah: roar of cataractic planets, globed, blazing, roaring wayawayawayawayawayaway. Paper. The banknotes, blast them. Old Deasy's letter. Here. Thanking you for hospitality tear the blank end off. Turning his back to the sun he bent over far to a table of rock and scribbled words. That's twice I forgot to take slips from the library counter.
His shadow lay over the rocks as he bent, ending. Why not endless till the farthest star? Darkly they are there behind this light, darkness shining in the brightness, delta of Cassiopeia, worlds. Me sits there with his augur's rod of ash, in borrowed sandals, by day beside a livid sea, unbeheld, in violet night walking beneath a reign of uncouth stars. I throw this ended shadow from me, manshape ineluctable, call it back. Endless, would it be mine, form of my form? Who watches me here? Who ever anywhere will read these written words? Signs on a white field. Somewhere to someone in your flutiest voice. The good bishop of Cloyne took the veil of the temple out of his shovel hat: veil of space with coloured emblems hatched on its field. Hold hard. Coloured on a flat: yes, that's right. Flat I see, then think distance, near, far, flat I see, east, back. Ah, see now. Falls back suddenly, frozen in stereoscope. Click does the trick. You find my words dark. Darkness is in our souls, do you not think? Flutier. Our souls, shame-wounded by our sins, cling to us yet more, a woman to her lover clinging, the more the more.
She trusts me, her hand gentle, the longlashed eyes. Now where the blue hell am I bringing her beyond the veil? Into the ineluctable modality of the ineluctable visuality. She, she, she. What she? The virgin at Hodges Figgis' window on Monday looking in for one of the alphabet books you were going to write. Keen glance you gave her. Wrist through the braided jess of her sunshade. She lives in Leeson park, with a grief and kickshaws, a lady of letters. Talk that to someone else, Stevie: a pickmeup. Bet she wears those curse of God stays suspenders and yellow stockings, darned with lumpy wool. Talk about apple dumplings, piuttosto. Where are your wits?
Touch me. Soft eyes. Soft soft soft hand. I am lonely here. O, touch me soon, now. What is that word known to all men? I am quiet here alone. Sad too. Touch, touch me.
He lay back at full stretch over the sharp rocks, cramming the scribbled note and pencil into a pocket, his hat tilted down on his eyes. That is Kevin Egan's movement I made nodding for his nap, sabbath sleep. Et vidit Deus. Et erant valde bona. Alo! Bonjour, welcome as the flowers in May. Under its leaf he watched through peacocktwittering lashes the southing sun. I am caught in this burning scene. Pan's hour, the faunal noon. Among gumheavy serpentplants, milkoozing fruits, where on the tawny waters leaves lie wide. Pain is far.
And no more turn aside and brood.
His gaze brooded on his broadtoed boots, a buck's castoffs nebeneinander: He counted the creases of rucked leather wherein another's foot had nested warm. The foot that beat the ground in tripudium, foot I dislove. But you were delighted when Esther Osvalt's shoe went on you: girl I knew in Paris. Tiens, quel petit pied! Staunch friend, a brother soul: Wilde's love that dare not speak its name. He now will leave me. And the blame? As I am. As I am. All or not at all.
In long lassoes from the Cock lake the water flowed full, covering greengoldenly lagoons of sand, rising, flowing. My ashplant will float away. I shall wait. No, they will pass on, passing chafing against the low rocks, swirling, passing. Better get this job over quick. Listen: a fourworded wavespeech: seesoo, hrss, rsseeiss, ooos. Vehement breath of waters amid seasnakes, rearing horses, rocks. In cups of rocks it slops: flop, slop, slap: bounded in barrels. And, spent, its speech ceases. It flows purling, widely flowing, floating foampool, flower unfurling.
Under the upswelling tide he saw the writhing weeds lift languidly and sway reluctant arms, hising up their petticoats, in whispering water swaying and upturning coy silver fronds. Day by day: night by night: lifted, flooded and let fall. Lord, they are weary: and, whispered to, they sigh. Saint Ambrose heard it, sigh of leaves and waves, waiting, awaiting the fullness of their times, diebus ac noctibus iniurias patiens ingemiscit. To no end gathered: vainly then released, forth flowing, wending back: loom of the moon. Weary too in sight of lovers, lascivious men, a naked woman shining in her courts, she draws a toil of waters.
Five fathoms out there. Full fathom five thy father lies. At one he said. Found drowned. High water at Dublin bar. Driving before it a loose drift of rubble, fanshoals of fishes, silly shells. A corpse rising saltwhite from the undertow, bobbing landward, a pace a pace a porpoise. There he is. Hook it quick. Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor. We have him. Easy now.
Bag of corpsegas sopping in foul brine. A quiver of minnows, fat of a spongy titbit, flash through the slits of his buttoned trouserfly. God becomes man becomes fish becomes barnacle goose becomes featherbed mountain. Dead breaths I living breathe, tread dead dust, devour a urinous offal from all dead. Hauled stark over the gunwale he breathes upward the stench of his green grave, his leprous nosehole snoring to the sun.
A seachange this, brown eyes saltblue. Seadeath, mildest of all deaths known to man. Old Father Ocean. Prix de Paris: beware of imitations. Just you give it a fair trial. We enjoyed ourselves immensely.
Come. I thirst. Clouding over. No black clouds anywhere, are there? Thunderstorm. Allbright he falls, proud lightning of the intellect, Lucifer, dico, qui nescit occasum. No. My cockle hat and staff and his my sandal shoon. Where? To evening lands. Evening will find itself.
He took the hilt of his ashplant, lunging with it softly, dallying still. Yes, evening will find itself in me, without me. All days make their end. By the way next when is it? Tuesday will be the longest day. Of all the glad new year, mother, the rum tum tiddledy tum. Lawn Tennyson, gentleman poet. Già. For the old hag with the yellow teeth. And Monsieur Drumont, gentleman journalist. Già. My teeth are very bad. Why, I wonder? Feel. That one is going too. Shells. Ought I go to a dentist, I wonder, with that money? That one. Toothless Kinch, the superman. Why is that, I wonder, or does it mean something perhaps?
My handkerchief. He threw it. I remember. Did I not take it up?
His hand groped vainly in his pockets. No, I didn't. Better buy one.
He laid the dry snot picked from his nostril on a ledge of rock, carefully. For the rest let look who will.
Behind. Perhaps there is someone.
He turned his face over a shoulder, rere regardant. Moving t
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英:
3、Chapter 3 Proteus

INELUCTABLE MODALITY OF THE VISIBLE: AT LEAST THAT IF NO MORE, thought through my eyes. Signatures of all things I am here to read, seaspawn and seawrack, the nearing tide, that rusty boot. Snotgreen, bluesilver, rust: coloured signs. Limits of the diaphane. But he adds: in bodies. Then he was aware of them bodies before of them coloured. How? By knocking his sconce against them, sure. Go easy. Bald he was and a millionaire, maestro di color che sanno. Limit of the diaphane in. Why in? Diaphane, adiaphane. If you can put your five fingers through it, it is a gate, if not a door. Shut your eyes and see.
Stephen closed his eyes to hear his boots crush crackling wrack and shells. You are walking through it howsomever. I am, a stride at a time. A very short space of time through very short times of space. Five, six: the nacheinander. Exactly: and that is the ineluctable modality of the audible. Open your eyes. No. Jesus! If I fell over a cliff that beetles o'er his base, fell through the nebeneinander ineluctably. I am getting on nicely in the dark. My ash sword hangs at my side. Tap with it: they do. My two feet in his boots are at the end of his legs, nebeneinander. Sounds solid: made by the mallet of Los Demiurgos. Am I walking into eternity along Sandymount strand? Crush, crack, crick, crick. Wild sea money. Dominie Deasy kens them a'.
Won't you come to Sandymount,
Madeline the mare?
Rhythm begins, you see. I hear. A catalectic tetrameter of iambs marching. No, agallop: deline the mare.
Open your eyes now. I will. One moment. Has all vanished since? If I open and am for ever in the black adiaphane. Basta! I will see if I can see.
See now. There all the time without you: and ever shall be, world without end.
They came down the steps from Leahy's terrace prudently, Frauenzimmer: and down the shelving shore flabbily their splayed feet sinking in the silted sand. Like me, like Algy, coming down to our mighty mother. Number one swung lourdily her midwife's bag, the other's gamp poked in the beach. From the liberties, out for the day. Mrs Florence MacCabe, relict of the late Patk MacCabe, deeply lamented, of Bride Street. One of her sisterhood lugged me squealing into life. Creation from nothing. What has she in the bag? A misbirth with a trailing navelcord, hushed in ruddy wool. The cords of all link back, strandentwining cable of all flesh. That is why mystic monks. Will you be as gods? Gaze in your omphalos. Hello. Kinch here. Put me on to Edenville. Aleph, alpha: nought, nought, one.
Spouse and helpmate of Adam Kadmon: Heva, naked Eve. She had no navel. Gaze. Belly without blemish, bulging big, a buckler of taut vellum, no, whiteheaped corn, orient and immortal, standing from everlasting to everlasting. Womb of sin.
Wombed in sin darkness I was too, made not begotten. By them, the man with my voice and my eyes and a ghostwoman with ashes on her breath. They clasped and sundered, did the coupler's will. From before the ages He willed me and now may not will me away or ever A lex eterna stays about him. Is that then the divine substance wherein Father and Son are consubstantial? Where is poor dear Arius to try conclusions? Warring his life long on the contransmagnificandjewbangtantiality. Illstarred heresiarch. In a Greek watercloset he breathed his last: euthanasia. With beaded mitre and with crozier, stalled upon his throne, widower of a widowed see, with upstiffed omophorion, with clotted hinderparts.
Airs romped around him, nipping and eager airs. They are coming, waves. The whitemaned seahorses, champing, brightwindbridled, the steeds of Mananaan.
I mustn't forget his letter for the press. And after? The Ship, half twelve. By the way go easy with that money like a good young imbecile. Yes, I must.
His pace slackened. Here. Am I going to Aunt Sara's or not? My consubstantial father's voice. Did you see anything of your artist brother Stephen lately? No? Sure he's not down in Strasburg terrace with his aunt Sally? Couldn't he fly a bit higher than that, eh? And and and and tell us Stephen, how is uncle Si? O weeping God, the things I married into. De boys up in de hayloft. The drunken little costdrawer and his brother, the cornet player. Highly respectable gondoliers. And skeweyed Walter sirring his father, no less. Sir. Yes, sir. No, sir. Jesus wept: and no wonder, by Christ.
I pull the wheezy bell of their shuttered cottage: and wait. They take me for a dun, peer out from a coign of vantage.
-- It's Stephen, sir.
-- Let him in. Let Stephen in.
A bolt drawn back and Walter welcomes me.
-- We thought you were someone else.
In his broad bed nuncle Richie, pillowed and blanketed, extends over the hillock of his knees a sturdy forearm. Cleanchested. He has washed the upper moiety.
-- Morrow, nephew.
He lays aside the lapboard whereon he drafts his bills of costs for the eyes of Master Goff and Master Shapland Tandy, filing consents and common searches and a writ of Duces Tecum. A bogoak frame over his bald head: Wilde's Requiescat. The drone of his misleading whistle brings Walter back.
-- Yes, sir?
-- Malt for Richie and Stephen, tell mother. Where is she?
-- Bathing Crissie, sir.
Papa's little bedpal. Lump of love.
-- No, uncle Richie...
-- Call me Richie. Damn your lithia water. It lowers. Whusky!
-- Uncle Richie, really...
-- Sit down or by the law Harry I'll knock you down.
Walter squints vainly for a chair.
-- He has nothing to sit down on, sir.
-- He has nowhere to put it, you mug. Bring in our Chippendale chair. Would you like a bite of something? None of your damned lawdeedaw air here; the rich of a rasher fried with a herring? Sure? So much the better. We have nothing in the house but backache pills.
All'erta!
He drones bars of Ferrando's aria de sortita. The grandest number, Stephen, in the whole opera. Listen.
His tuneful whistle sounds again, finely shaded, with rushes of the air, his fists bigdrumming on his padded knees.
This wind is sweeter.
Houses of decay, mine, his and all. You told the Clongowes gentry you had an uncle a judge and an uncle a general in the army. Come out of them, Stephen. Beauty is not there. Nor in the stagnant bay of Marsh's library where you read the fading prophecies of Joachim Abbas. For whom? The hundredheaded rabble of the cathedral close. A hater of his kind ran from them to the wood of madness, his mane foaming in the moon, his eyeballs stars. Houyhnhnm, horsenostrilled. The oval equine faces. Temple, Buck Mulligan, Foxy Campbell. Lantern jaws. Abbas father, furious dean, what offence laid fire to their brains? Paff! Descende, calve, ut ne nimium decalveris. A garland of grey hair on his comminated head see him me clambering down to the footpace (descende), clutching a monstrance, basiliskeyed. Get down, bald poll! A choir gives back menace and echo, assisting about the altar's horns, the snorted Latin of jackpriests moving burly in their albs, tonsured and oiled and gelded, fat with the fat of kidneys of wheat.
And at the same instant perhaps a priest round the corner is elevating it. Dringdring! And two streets off another locking it into a pyx. Dringadring! And in a ladychapel another taking housel all to his own cheek. Dringdringl Down, up, forward, back. Dan Occam thought of that, invincible doctor. A misty English morning the imp hypostasis tickled his brain. Bringing his host down and kneeling he heard twine with his second bell the first bell in the transept (he is lifting his) and, rising, heard (now I am lifting) their two bells (he is kneeling) twang in diphthong.
Cousin Stephen, you will never be a saint. Isle of saints. You were awfully holy, weren't you? You prayed to the Blessed Virgin that you might not have a red nose. You prayed to the devil in Serpentine avenue that the fubsy widow in front might lift her clothes still more from the wet street. O si, certo! Sell your soul for that, do, dyed rags pinned round a squaw. More tell me, more still! On the top of the Howth tram alone crying to the rain: naked women! What about that, eh?
What about what? What else were they invented for?
Reading two pages apiece of seven books every night, eh? I was young. You bowed to yourself in the mirror, stepping forward to applause earnestly, striking face. Hurray for the Goddamned idiot! Hray! No-one saw: tell no-one. Books you were going to write with letters for titles. Have you read his F? O yes, but I prefer Q. Yes, but W is wonderful. O yes, W. Remember your epiphanies on green oval leaves, deeply deep, copies to be sent if you died to all the great libraries of the world, including Alexandria? Someone was to read them there after a few thousand year, a mahamanvantara. Pico della Mirandola like. Ay, very like a whale. When one reads these strange pages of one long gone one feels that one is at one with one who once...
The grainy sand had gone from under his feet. His boots trod again a damp crackling mast, razorshells, squeaking pebbles, that on the unnumbered pebbles beats, wood sieved by the shipworm, lost Armada. Unwholesome sandflats waited to suck his treading soles, breathing upward sewage breath. He coasted them, walking warily. A porter-bottle stood up, stogged to its waist, in the cakey sand dough. A sentinel: isle of dreadful thirst. Broken hoops on the shore; at the land a maze of dark cunning nets; farther away chalkscrawled backdoors and on the higher beach a dryingline with two crucified shirts. Ringsend: wigwams of brown steersmen and master mariners. Human shells.
He halted. I have passed the way to aunt Sara's. Am I not going there? Seems not. No-one about. He turned northeast and crossed the firmer sand towards the Pigeonhouse.
-- Qui vous a mis dans cette fichue position?
-- C'est le pigeon, Joseph.
Patrice, home on furlough, lapped warm milk with me in the bar MacMahon. Son of the wild goose, Kevin Egan of Paris. My father's a bird, he lapped the sweet lait chaud with pink young tongue, plump bunny's face. Lap, lapin. He hopes to win in the gros lots. About the nature of women he read in Michelet. But he must send me La Vie de Jésus by M. Leo Taxil. Lent it to his friend.
-- C'est tordant, vows savez. Moi je suis socialiste. Je ne crois pas en l'existence de Dieu. Faut pas le dire à mon père.
-- Il croit?
-- Mon père, oui.
Schluss. He laps.
My Latin quarter hat. God, we simply must dress the character. I want puce gloves. You were a student, weren't you? Of what in the other devil's name? Paysayenn. P. C. N., you know: physiques, chimiques et naturelles. Aha. Eating your groatsworth of mou en civet, fleshpots of Egypt, elbowed by belching cabmen. Just say in the most natural tone: when I was in Paris, boul' Mich', I used to. Yes, used to carry punched tickets to prove an alibi if they arrested you for murder somewhere. Justice. On the night of the seventeenth of February 1904 the prisoner was seen by two witnesses. Other fellow did it: other me. Hat, tie, overcoat, nose. Lui, c'est moi. You seem to have enjoyed yourself.
Proudly walking. Whom were you trying to walk like? Forget: a dispossessed. With mother's money order, eight shillings, the banging door of the post office slammed in your face by the usher. Hunger toothache. Encore deux minutes. Look clock. Must get. Fermé. Hired dog! Shoot him to bloody bits with a bang shotgun, bits man spattered walls all brass buttons. Bits all khrrrrklak in place clack back. Not hurt? O, that's all right. Shake hands. See what I meant, see? O, that's all right. Shake a shake. O, that's all only all right.
You were going to do wonders, what? Missionary to Europe after fiery Columbanus. Fiacre and Scotus on their creepystools in heaven spilt from their pintpots, loudlatinlaughing: Euge! Euge! Pretending to speak broken English as you dragged your valise, porter threepence, across the slimy pier at Newhaven. Comment? Rich booty you brought back; Le Tutu, five tattered numbers of Pantalon Blanc et Culotte Rouge, a blue French telegram, curiosity to show:
-- Mother dying come home father.
The aunt thinks you killed your mother. That's why she won't.
Then here's a health to Mulligan's aunt
And I'll tell you the reason why.
She always kept things decent in
The Hannigan famileye.
His feet marched in sudden proud rhythm over the sand furrows, along by the boulders of the south wall. He stared at them proudly, piled stone mammoth skulls. Gold light on sea, on sand, on boulders. The sun is there, the slender trees, the lemon houses.
Paris rawly waking, crude sunlight on her lemon streets. Moist pith of farls of bread, the froggreen wormwood, her matin incense, court the air. Belluomo rises from the bed of his wife's lover's wife, the kerchiefed housewife is astir, a saucer of acetic acid in her hands. In Rodot's Yvonne and Madeleine newmake their tumbled beauties, shattering with gold teeth chaussons of pastry, their mouths yellowed with the pus of flan breton. Faces of Paris men go by, their wellpleased pleasers, curled conquistadores.
Noon slumbers. Kevin Egan rolls gunpowder cigarettes through fingers smeared with printer's ink, sipping his green fairy as Patrice his white. About us gobblers fork spiced beans down their gullets. Un demi setier! A jet of coffee steam from the burnished caldron. She serves me at his beck. Il est irlandais. Hollandais? Non fromage. Deux irlandais, nous, Irlande, vous savez? Ah oui! She thought you wanted a cheese hollandais. Your postprandial, do you know that word? Postprandial. There was a fellow I knew once in Barcelona, queer fellow, used to call it his postprandial. Well: slainte! Around the slabbed tables the tangle of wined breaths and grumbling gorges. His breath hangs over our saucestained plates, the green fairy's fang thrusting between his lips. Of Ireland, the Dalcassians, of hopes, conspiracies, of Arthur Griffith now. To yoke me as his yokefellow, our crimes our common cause. You're your father's son. I know the voice. His fustian shirt, sanguineflowered, trembles its Spanish tassels at his secrets. M. Drumont, famous journalist, Drumont, know what he called queen Victoria? Old hag with the yellow teeth. Vieille ogresse with the dents jaunes. Maud Gonne, beautiful woman, La Patrie, M. Millevoye, Félix Faure, know how he died? Licentious men. The froeken, bonne à tout faire, who rubs male nakedness in the bath at Upsala. Moi faire, she said. Tous les messieurs. Not this Monsieur, I said. Most licentious custom. Bath a most private thing. I wouldn't let my brother, not even my own brother, most lascivious thing. Green eyes, I see you. Fang, I feel. Lascivious people.
The blue fuse burns deadly between hands and burns clear. Loose tobacco shreds catch fire: a flame and acrid smoke light our corner. Raw facebones under his peep of day boy's hat. How the head centre got away, authentic version. Got up as a young bride, man, veil orangeblossoms, drove out the road to Malahide. Did, faith. Of lost leaders, the betrayed, wild escapes. Disguises, clutched at, gone, not here.
Spurned lover. I was a strapping young gossoon at that time, I tell you, I'll show you my likeness one day. I was, faith. Lover, for her love he prowled with colonel Richard Burke, tanist of his sept, under the walls of Clerkenwell and, crouching, saw a flame of vengeance hurl them upward in the fog. Shattered glass and toppling masonry. In gay Paree he hides, Egan of Paris, unsought by any save by me. Making his day's stations, the dingy printingcase, his three taverns, the Montmartre lair he sleeps short night in, rue de la Goutte-d'Or, damascened with flyblown faces of the gone. Loveless, landless, wifeless. She is quite nicey comfy without her outcastman, madame, in rue G?t-le-Coeur, canary and two buck lodgers. Peachy cheeks, a zebra skirt, frisky as a young thing's. Spurned and undespairing. Tell Pat you saw me, won't you? I wanted to get poor Pat a job one time. Mon fils, soldier of France. I taught him to sing. The boys of Kilkenny are stout roaring blades. Know that old lay? I taught Patrice that. Old Kilkenny: saint Canice, Strongbow's castle on the Nore. Goes like this. O, O. He takes me, Napper Tandy, by the hand.
O, O the boys of
Kilkenny...
Weak wasting hand on mine. They have forgotten Kevin Egan, not he them. Remembering thee, O Sion.
He had come nearer the edge of the sea and wet sand slapped his boots. The new air greeted him, harping in wild nerves, wind of wild air of seeds of brightness. Here, I am not walking out to the Kish lightship, am I? He stood suddenly, his feet beginning to sink slowly in the quaking soil. Turn back.
Turning, he scanned the shore south, his feet sinking again slowly in new sockets. The cold domed room of the tower waits. Through the barbicans the shafts of light are moving ever, slowly ever as my feet are sinking, creeping duskward over the dial floor. Blue dusk, nightfall, deep blue night. In the darkness of the dome they wait, their pushedback chairs, my obelisk valise, around a board of abandoned platters. Who to clear it? He has the key. I will not sleep there when this night comes. A shut door of a silent tower entombing their blind bodies, the panthersahib and his pointer. Call: no answer. He lifted his feet up from the suck and turned back by the mole of boulders. Take all, keep all. My soul walks with me, form of forms. So in the moon's midwatches I pace the path above the rocks, in sable silvered, hearing Elsinore's tempting flood.
The flood is following me. I can watch it flow past from here. Get back then by the Poolbeg road to the strand there. He climbed over the sedge and eely oarweeds and sat on a stool of rock, resting his ashplant in a grike.
A bloated carcass of a dog lay lolled on bladderwrack. Before him the gunwale of a boat, sunk in sand. Un coche ensablé, Louis Veuillot called Gautier's prose. These heavy sands are language tide and wind have silted here. And there, the stoneheaps of dead builders, a warren of weasel rats. Hide gold there. Try it. You have some. Sands and stones. Heavy of the past. Sir Lout's toys. Mind you don't get one bang on the ear. I'm the bloody well gigant rolls all them bloody well boulders, bones for my steppingstones. Feefawfum. I zmellz de bloods odz an Iridzman.
A point, live dog, grew into sight running across the sweep of sand. Lord, is he going to attack me? Respect his liberty. You will not be master of others or their slave. I have my stick. Sit tight. From farther away, walking shoreward across from the crested tide, figures, two. The two maries. They have tucked it safe among the bulrushes. Peekaboo. I see you. No, the dog. He is running back to them. Who?
Galleys of the Lochlanns ran here to beach, in quest of prey, their bloodbeaked prows riding low on a molten pewter sun. Danevikings, torcs of tomahawks aglitter on their breasts when Malachi wore the collar of gold. A school of turlehide whales stranded in hot noon, spouting, hobbling in the shallows. Then from the starving cagework city a horde of jerkined dwarfs, my people, with flayers' knives, running, scaling, hacking in green blubbery whalemeat. Famine, plague and slaughters. Their blood is in me, their lusts my waves. I moved among them on the frozen Liffey, that I, a changeling, among the spluttering resin fires. I spoke to no-one: none to me.
The dog's bark ran towards him, stopped, ran back. Dog of my enemy. I just simply stood pale, silent, bayed about. Terribilia meditans. A primrose doublet, fortune's knave, smiled on my fear. For that are you pining, the bark of their applause? Pretenders: live their lives. The Bruce's brother, Thomas Fitzgerald, silken knight, Perkin Warbeck, York's false scion, in breeches of silk of whiterose ivory, wonder of a day, and Lambert Simnel, with a tail of nans and sutlers, a scullion crowned. All kings' sons. Paradise of pretenders then and now. He saved men from drowning and you shake at a cur's yelping. But the courtiers who mocked Guido in Or san Michele were in their own house. House of... We don't want any of your medieval abstrusiosities. Would you do what he did? A boat would be near, a lifebuoy. Natürlich, put there for you. Would you or would you not? The man that was drowned nine days ago off Maiden's rock. They are waiting for him now. The truth, spit it out. I would want to. I would try. I am not a strong swimmer. Water cold soft. When I put my face into it in the basin at Clongowes. Can't see! Who's behind me? Out quickly, quickly! Do you see the tide flowing quickly in on all sides, sheeting the lows of sands quickly, shell cocoacoloured? If I had land under my feet I want his life still to be his, mine to be mine. A drowning man. His human eyes scream to me out of horror of his death. I... With him together down... I could not save her. Waters: bitter death: lost.
A woman and a man. I see her skirties. Pinned up, I bet.
Their dog ambled about a bank of dwindling sand, trotting, sniffing on all sides. Looking for something lost in a past life. Suddenly he made off like a bounding hare, ears flung back, chasing the shadow of a lowskimming gull. The man's shrieked whistle struck his limp ears. He turned, bounded back, came nearer, trotted on twinkling shanks. On a field tenney a buck, trippant, proper, unattired. At the lacefringe of the tide he halted with stiff forehoofs, seawardpointed ears. His snout lifted barked at the wavenoise, herds of seamorse. They serpented towards his feet, curling, unfurling many crests, every ninth, breaking, plashing, from far, from farther out, waves and waves.
Cocklepickers. They waded a little way in the water and, stooping, soused their bags, and, lifting them again, waded out. The dog yelped running to them, reared up and pawed them, dropping on all fours, again reared up at them with mute bearish fawning. Unheeded he kept by them as they came towards the drier sand, a rag of wolf's tongue redpanting from his jaws. His speckled body ambled ahead of them and then loped off at a calf's gallop. The carcass lay on his path. He stopped, sniffed, stalked round it, brother, nosing closer, went round it, sniffing rapidly like a dog all over the dead dog's bedraggled fell. Dogskull, dogsniff, eyes on the ground, moves to one great goal. Ah, poor dogsbody. Here lies poor dogsbody's body.
-- Tatters! Out of that, you mongrel.
The cry brought him skulking back to his master and a blunt bootless kick sent him unscathed across a spit of sand, crouched in flight. He slunk back in a curve. Doesn't see me. Along by the edge of the mole he lolloped, dawdled, smelt a rock and from under a cocked hindleg pissed against it. He trotted forward and, lifting his hindleg, pissed quick short at an unsmelt rock. The simple pleasures of the poor. His hindpaws then scattered sand: then his forepaws dabbled and delved. Something he buried there, his grandmother. He rooted in the sand, dabbling delving and stopped to listen to the air, scraped up the sand again with a fury of his claws, soon ceasing, a pard, a panther, got in spouse-breach, vulturing the dead.
After he woke me up last night same dream or was it? Wait. Open hallway. Street of harlots. Remember. Haroun al Raschid. I am almosting it. That man led me, spoke. I was not afraid. The melon he had he held against my face. Smiled: creamfruit smell. That was the rule, said. In. Come. Red carpet spread. You will see who.
Shouldering their bags they trudged, the red Egyptians. His blued feet out of turnedup trousers slapped the clammy sand, a dull brick muffler strangling his unshaven neck. With woman steps she followed: the ruffian and his strolling mort. Spoils slung at her back. Loose sand and shellgrit crusted her bare feet. About her windraw face her hair trailed. Behind her lord his helpmate, bing awast, to Romeville. When night hides her body's flaws calling under her brown shawl from an archway where dogs have mired. Her fancyman is treating two Royal Dublins in O'Loughlin's of Blackpitts. Buss her, wap in rogue's rum lingo, for, O, my dimber wapping dell. A shefiend's whiteness under her rancid rags. Fumbally's lane that night: the tanyard smells.
White thy fambles, red thy gan
And thy quarrons dainty is.
Couch a hogshead with me then.
In the darkmans clip and kiss.
Morose delectation Aquinas tunbelly calls this, frate porcospino. Unfallen Adam rode and not rutted. Call away let him: thy quarrons dainty is. Language no whit worse than his. Monkwords, marybeads jabber on their girdles: roguewords, tough nuggets patter in their pockets.
Passing now.
A side-eye at my Hamlet hat. If I were suddenly naked here as I sit I am not. Across the sands of all the world, followed by the sun's flaming sword, to the west, trekking to evening lands. She trudges, schlepps, trains, drags, trascines her load. A tide westering, moondrawn, in her wake. Tides, myriadislanded, within her, blood not mine, oinopa ponton, a winedark sea. Behold the handmaid of the moon. In sleep the wet sign calls her hour, bids her rise. Bridebed, childbed, bed of death, ghostcandled. Omnis caro ad te veniet. He comes, pale vampire, through storm his eyes, his bat sails bloodying the sea, mouth to her mouth's kiss.
Here. Put a pin in that chap, will you? My tablets. Mouth to her kiss. No. Must be two of em. Glue 'em well. Mouth to her mouth's kiss.
His lips lipped and mouthed fleshless lips of air: mouth to her womb. Oomb, allwombing tomb. His mouth moulded issuing breath, unspeeched: ooeeehah: roar of cataractic planets, globed, blazing, roaring wayawayawayawayawayaway. Paper. The banknotes, blast them. Old Deasy's letter. Here. Thanking you for hospitality tear the blank end off. Turning his back to the sun he bent over far to a table of rock and scribbled words. That's twice I forgot to take slips from the library counter.
His shadow lay over the rocks as he bent, ending. Why not endless till the farthest star? Darkly they are there behind this light, darkness shining in the brightness, delta of Cassiopeia, worlds. Me sits there with his augur's rod of ash, in borrowed sandals, by day beside a livid sea, unbeheld, in violet night walking beneath a reign of uncouth stars. I throw this ended shadow from me, manshape ineluctable, call it back. Endless, would it be mine, form of my form? Who watches me here? Who ever anywhere will read these written words? Signs on a white field. Somewhere to someone in your flutiest voice. The good bishop of Cloyne took the veil of the temple out of his shovel hat: veil of space with coloured emblems hatched on its field. Hold hard. Coloured on a flat: yes, that's right. Flat I see, then think distance, near, far, flat I see, east, back. Ah, see now. Falls back suddenly, frozen in stereoscope. Click does the trick. You find my words dark. Darkness is in our souls, do you not think? Flutier. Our souls, shame-wounded by our sins, cling to us yet more, a woman to her lover clinging, the more the more.
She trusts me, her hand gentle, the longlashed eyes. Now where the blue hell am I bringing her beyond the veil? Into the ineluctable modality of the ineluctable visuality. She, she, she. What she? The virgin at Hodges Figgis' window on Monday looking in for one of the alphabet books you were going to write. Keen glance you gave her. Wrist through the braided jess of her sunshade. She lives in Leeson park, with a grief and kickshaws, a lady of letters. Talk that to someone else, Stevie: a pickmeup. Bet she wears those curse of God stays suspenders and yellow stockings, darned with lumpy wool. Talk about apple dumplings, piuttosto. Where are your wits?
Touch me. Soft eyes. Soft soft soft hand. I am lonely here. O, touch me soon, now. What is that word known to all men? I am quiet here alone. Sad too. Touch, touch me.
He lay back at full stretch over the sharp rocks, cramming the scribbled note and pencil into a pocket, his hat tilted down on his eyes. That is Kevin Egan's movement I made nodding for his nap, sabbath sleep. Et vidit Deus. Et erant valde bona. Alo! Bonjour, welcome as the flowers in May. Under its leaf he watched through peacocktwittering lashes the southing sun. I am caught in this burning scene. Pan's hour, the faunal noon. Among gumheavy serpentplants, milkoozing fruits, where on the tawny waters leaves lie wide. Pain is far.
And no more turn aside and brood.
His gaze brooded on his broadtoed boots, a buck's castoffs nebeneinander: He counted the creases of rucked leather wherein another's foot had nested warm. The foot that beat the ground in tripudium, foot I dislove. But you were delighted when Esther Osvalt's shoe went on you: girl I knew in Paris. Tiens, quel petit pied! Staunch friend, a brother soul: Wilde's love that dare not speak its name. He now will leave me. And the blame? As I am. As I am. All or not at all.
In long lassoes from the Cock lake the water flowed full, covering greengoldenly lagoons of sand, rising, flowing. My ashplant will float away. I shall wait. No, they will pass on, passing chafing against the low rocks, swirling, passing. Better get this job over quick. Listen: a fourworded wavespeech: seesoo, hrss, rsseeiss, ooos. Vehement breath of waters amid seasnakes, rearing horses, rocks. In cups of rocks it slops: flop, slop, slap: bounded in barrels. And, spent, its speech ceases. It flows purling, widely flowing, floating foampool, flower unfurling.
Under the upswelling tide he saw the writhing weeds lift languidly and sway reluctant arms, hising up their petticoats, in whispering water swaying and upturning coy silver fronds. Day by day: night by night: lifted, flooded and let fall. Lord, they are weary: and, whispered to, they sigh. Saint Ambrose heard it, sigh of leaves and waves, waiting, awaiting the fullness of their times, diebus ac noctibus iniurias patiens ingemiscit. To no end gathered: vainly then released, forth flowing, wending back: loom of the moon. Weary too in sight of lovers, lascivious men, a naked woman shining in her courts, she draws a toil of waters.
Five fathoms out there. Full fathom five thy father lies. At one he said. Found drowned. High water at Dublin bar. Driving before it a loose drift of rubble, fanshoals of fishes, silly shells. A corpse rising saltwhite from the undertow, bobbing landward, a pace a pace a porpoise. There he is. Hook it quick. Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor. We have him. Easy now.
Bag of corpsegas sopping in foul brine. A quiver of minnows, fat of a spongy titbit, flash through the slits of his buttoned trouserfly. God becomes man becomes fish becomes barnacle goose becomes featherbed mountain. Dead breaths I living breathe, tread dead dust, devour a urinous offal from all dead. Hauled stark over the gunwale he breathes upward the stench of his green grave, his leprous nosehole snoring to the sun.
A seachange this, brown eyes saltblue. Seadeath, mildest of all deaths known to man. Old Father Ocean. Prix de Paris: beware of imitations. Just you give it a fair trial. We enjoyed ourselves immensely.
Come. I thirst. Clouding over. No black clouds anywhere, are there? Thunderstorm. Allbright he falls, proud lightning of the intellect, Lucifer, dico, qui nescit occasum. No. My cockle hat and staff and his my sandal shoon. Where? To evening lands. Evening will find itself.
He took the hilt of his ashplant, lunging with it softly, dallying still. Yes, evening will find itself in me, without me. All days make their end. By the way next when is it? Tuesday will be the longest day. Of all the glad new year, mother, the rum tum tiddledy tum. Lawn Tennyson, gentleman poet. Già. For the old hag with the yellow teeth. And Monsieur Drumont, gentleman journalist. Già. My teeth are very bad. Why, I wonder? Feel. That one is going too. Shells. Ought I go to a dentist, I wonder, with that money? That one. Toothless Kinch, the superman. Why is that, I wonder, or does it mean something perhaps?
My handkerchief. He threw it. I remember. Did I not take it up?
His hand groped vainly in his pockets. No, I didn't. Better buy one.
He laid the dry snot picked from his nostril on a ledge of rock, carefully. For the rest let look who will.
Behind. Perhaps there is someone.
He turned his face over a shoulder, rere regardant. Moving t
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4、Chapter 4 Calypso


MR LEOPOLD BLOOM ATE WITH RELISH THE INNER ORGANS OF BEASTS and fowls. He liked thick giblet soup, nutty gizzards, a stuffed roast heart, liver slices fried with crustcrumbs, fried hencod's roes. Most of all he liked grilled mutton kidneys which gave to his palate a fine tang of faintly scented urine.
Kidneys were in his mind as he moved about the kitchen softly, righting her breakfast things on the humpy tray. Gelid light and air were in the kitchen but out of doors gentle summer morning everywhere. Made him feel a bit peckish.
The coals were reddening.
Another slice of bread and butter: three, four: right. She didn't like her plate full. Right. He turned from the tray, lifted the kettle off the hob and set it sideways on the fire. It sat there, dull and squat, its spout stuck out. Cup of tea soon. Good. Mouth dry. The cat walked stiffly round a leg of the table with tail on high.
-- Mkgnao!
-- O, there you are, Mr Bloom said, turning from the fire.
The cat mewed in answer and stalked again stiffly round a leg of the table, mewing. Just how she stalks over my writing-table. Prr. Scratch my head. Prr.
Mr Bloom watched curiously, kindly, the lithe black form. Clean to see: the gloss of her sleek hide, the white button under the butt of her tail, the green flashing eyes. He bent down to her, his hands on his knees.
-- Milk for the pussens, he said.
-- Mrkgnao! the cat cried.
They call them stupid. They understand what we say better than we understand them. She understands all she wants to. Vindictive too. Wonder what I look like to her. Height of a tower? No, she can jump me.
-- Afraid of the chickens she is, he said mockingly. Afraid of the chookchooks. I never saw such a stupid pussens as the pussens.
Cruel. Her nature. Curious mice never squeal. Seem to like it.
-- Mrkrgnao! the cat said loudly.
She blinked up out of her avid shameclosing eyes, mewing plaintively and long, showing him her milkwhite teeth. He watched the dark eyeslits narrowing with greed till her eyes were green stones. Then he went to the dresser, took the jug Hanlon's milkman had just filled for him, poured warmbubbled milk on a saucer and set it slowly on the floor.
-- Gurrhr! she cried, running to lap.
He watched the bristles shining wirily in the weak light as she tipped three times and licked lightly. Wonder is it true if you clip them they can't mouse after. Why? They shine in the dark, perhaps, the tips. Or kind of feelers in the dark, perhaps.
He listened to her licking lap. Ham and eggs, no. No good eggs with this drouth. Want pure fresh water. Thursday: not a good day either for a mutton kidney at Buckley's. Fried with butter, a shake of pepper. Better a pork kidney at Dlugacz's. While the kettle is boiling. She lapped slower, then licking the saucer clean. Why are their tongues so rough? To lap better, all porous holes. Nothing she can eat? He glanced round him. No.
On quietly creaky boots he went up the staircase to the hall, paused by the bedroom door. She might like something tasty. Thin bread and butter she likes in the morning. Still perhaps: once in a way.
He said softly in the bare hall:
-- I am going round the corner. Be back in a minute.
And when he had heard his voice say it he added:
-- You don't want anything for breakfast?
A sleepy soft grunt answered:
-- Mn.
No. She did not want anything. He heard then a warm heavy sigh, softer, as she turned over and the loose brass quoits of the bedstead jingled. Must get those settled really. Pity. All the way from Gibraltar. Forgotten any little Spanish she knew. Wonder what her father gave for it. Old style. Ah yes, of course. Bought it at the governor's auction. Got a short knock. Hard as nails at a bargain, old Tweedy. Yes, sir. At Plevna that was. I rose from the ranks, sir, and I'm proud of it. Still he had brains enough to make that corner in stamps. Now that was farseeing.
His hand took his hat from the peg over his initialled heavy overcoat, and his lost property office secondhand waterproof. Stamps: stickyback pictures. Daresay lots of officers are in the swim too. Course they do. The sweated legend in the crown of his hat told him mutely: Plasto's high grade ha. He peeped quickly inside the leather headband. White slip of paper. Quite safe.
On the doorstep he felt in his hip pocket for the latchkey. Not there. In the trousers I left off. Must get it. Potato I have. Creaky wardrobe. No use disturbing her. She turned over sleepily that time. He pulled the halldoor to after him very quietly, more, till the footleaf dropped gently over the threshold, a limp lid. Looked shut. All right till I come back anyhow.
He crossed to the bright side, avoiding the loose cellarflap of number seventyfive. The sun was nearing the steeple of George's church. Be a warm day I fancy. Specially in these black clothes feel it more. Black conducts, reflects (refracts is it?), the heat. But I couldn't go in that light suit. Make a picnic of it. His eyelids sank quietly often as he walked in happy warmth. Boland's breadvan delivering with trays our daily but she prefers yesterday's loaves turnovers crisp crowns hot. Makes you feel young. Somewhere in the east: early morning: set off at dawn, travel round in front of the sun, steal a day's march on him. Keep it up for ever never grow a day older technically. Walk along a strand, strange land, come to a city gate, sentry there, old ranker too, old Tweedy's big moustaches leaning on a long kind of a spear. Wander through awned streets. Turbaned faces going by. Dark caves of carpet shops, big man, Turko the terrible, seated crosslegged smoking a coiled pipe. Cries of sellers in the streets. Drink water scented with fennel, sherbet. Wander along all day. Might meet a robber or two. Well, meet him. Getting on to sundown. The shadows of the mosques along the pillars: priest with a scroll rolled up. A shiver of the trees, signal, the evening wind. I pass on. Fading gold sky. A mother watches from her doorway. She calls her children home in their dark language. High wall: beyond strings twanged. Night sky moon, violet, colour of Molly's new garters. Strings. Listen. A girl playing one of these instruments what do you call them: dulcimers. I pass.
Probably not a bit like it really. Kind of stuff you read: in the track of the sun. Sunburst on the titlepage. He smiled, pleasing himself. What Arthur Griffith said about the headpiece over the Freeman leader: a homerule sun rising up in the northwest from the laneway behind the bank of Ireland. He prolonged his pleased smile. Ikey touch that: homerule sun rising up in the northwest.
He approached Larry O'Rourke's. From the cellar grating floated up the flabby gush of porter. Through the open doorway the bar squirted out whiffs of ginger, teadust, biscuitmush. Good house, however: just the end of the city traffic. For instance M'Auley's down there: n. g. as position. Of course if they ran a tramline along the North Circular from the cattle market to the quays value would go up like a shot.
Bald head over the blind. Cute old codger. No use canvassing him for an ad. Still he knows his own business best. There he Is, sure enough, my bold Larry, leaning against the sugarbin in his shirtsleeves watching the aproned curate swab up with mop and bucket. Simon Dedalus takes him off to a tee with his eyes screwed up. Do you know what I'm going to tell you? What's that, Mr O'Rourke? Do you know what? The Russians, they'd only be an eight o'clock breakfast for the Japanese.
Stop and say a word: about the funeral perhaps. Sad thing about poor Dignam, Mr O'Rourke.
Turning into Dorset street he said freshly in greeting through the doorway:
-- Good day, Mr O'Rourke.
-- Good day to you.
-- Lovely weather, sir.
-- 'Tis all that.
Where do they get the money? Coming up redheaded curates from the county Leitrim, rinsing empties and old man in the cellar. Then, lo and behold, they blossom out as Adam Findlaters or Dan Tallons. Then think of the competition. General thirst. Good puzzle would be cross Dublin without passing a pub. Save it they can't. Off the drunks perhaps. Put down three and carry five. What is that? A bob here and there, dribs and drabs. On the wholesale orders perhaps. Doing a double shuffle with the town travellers. Square it with the boss and we'll split the job, see?
How much would that tot to off the porter in the month? Say ten barrels of stuff. Say he got ten per cent off. O more. Ten. Fifteen. He passed Saint Joseph's, National school. Brats' clamour. Windows open. Fresh air helps memory. Or a lilt. Ahbeesee defeegee kelomen opeecue rustyouvee double you. Boys are they? Yes. Inishturk. Inishark. Inishboffin. At their joggerfry. Mine. Slieve Bloom.
He halted before Dlugacz's window, staring at the hanks of sausages, polonies, black and white. Fifty multiplied by. The figures whitened in his mind unsolved: displeased, he let them fade. The shiny links packed with forcemeat fed his gaze and he breathed in tranquilly the lukewarm breath of cooked spicy pig's blood.
A kidney oozed bloodgouts on the willowpatterned dish: the last. He stood by the nextdoor girl at the counter. Would she buy it too, calling the items from a slip in her hand. Chapped: washing soda. And a pound and a half of Denny's sausages. His eyes rested on her vigorous hips. Woods his name is. Wonder what he does. Wife is oldfish. New blood. No followers allowed. Strong pair of arms. Whacking a carpet on the clothesline. She does whack it, by George. The way her crooked skirt swings at each whack.
The ferreteyed porkbutcher folded the sausages he had snipped off with blotchy fingers, sausagepink. Sound meat there like a stallfed heifer.
He took up a page from the pile of cut sheets. The model farm at Kinnereth on the lakeshore of Tiberias. Can become ideal winter sanatorium. Moses Montefiore. I thought he was. Farmhouse, wall round it, blurred cattle cropping. He held the page from him: interesting: read it nearer, the blurred cropping cattle, the page rustling. A young white heifer. Those mornings in the cattlemarket the beasts lowing in their pens, branded sheep, flop and fall of dung, the breeders in hobnailed boots trudging through the litter, slapping a palm on a ripemeated hindquarter, there's a prime one, unpeeled switches in their hands. He held the page aslant patiently, bending his senses and his will, his soft subject gaze at rest. The crooked skirt swinging whack by whack by whack.
The porkbutcher snapped two sheets from the pile, wrapped up her prime sausages and made a red grimace.
-- Now, my miss, he said.
She tendered a coin, smiling boldly, holding her thick wrist out.
-- Thank you, my miss. And one shilling threepence change. For you, please?
Mr Bloom pointed quickly. To catch up and walk behind her if she went slowly, behind her moving hams. Pleasant to see first thing in the morning. Hurry up, damn it. Make hay while the sun shines. She stood outside the shop in sunlight and sauntered lazily to the right. He sighed down his nose: they never understand. Sodachapped hands. Crusted toenails too. Brown scapulars in tatters, defending her both ways. The sting of disregard glowed to weak pleasure within his breast. For another a constable off duty cuddled her in Eccles Lane. They like them sizeable. Prime sausage. O please, Mr Policeman, I'm lost in the wood.
-- Threepence, please.
His hand accepted the moist tender gland and slid it into a sidepocket. Then it fetched up three coins from his trousers' pocket and laid them on the rubber prickles. They lay, were read quickly and quickly slid, disc by disc, into the till.
-- Thank you, sir. Another time.
A speck of eager fire from foxeyes thanked him. He withdrew his gaze after an instant. No: better not: another time.
-- Good morning, he said, moving away.
-- Good morning, sir.
No sign. Gone. What matter?
He walked back along Dorset street, reading gravely. Agendath Netaim: planter's company. To purchase vast sandy tracts from Turkish government and plant with eucalyptus trees. Excellent for shade, fuel and construction. Orangegroves and immense melonfields north of Jaffa. You pay eight marks and they plant a dunam of land for you with olives, oranges, almonds or citrons. Olives cheaper: oranges need artificial irrigation. Every year you get a sending of the crop. Your name entered for life as owner in the book of the union. Can pay ten down and the balance in yearly instalments. Bleibtreustrasse 34, Berlin, W. 15.
Nothing doing. Still an idea behind it.
He looked at the cattle, blurred in silver heat. Silvered powdered olivetrees. Quiet long days: pruning ripening. Olives are packed in jars, eh? I have a few left from Andrews. Molly spitting them out. Knows the taste of them now. Oranges in tissue paper packed in crates. Citrons too. Wonder is poor Citron still alive in Saint Kevin's parade. And Mastiansky with the old cither. Pleasant evenings we had then. Molly in Citron's basketchair. Nice to hold, cool waxen fruit, hold in the hand, lift it to the nostrils and smell the perfume. Like that, heavy, sweet, wild perfume. Always the same, year after year. They fetched high prices too Moisel told me. Arbutus place: Pleasants street: pleasant old times. Must be without a flaw, he said. Coming all that way: Spain, Gibraltar, Mediterranean, the Levant. Crates lined up on the quayside at Jaffa, chap ticking them off in a book, navvies handling them in soiled dungarees. There's whatdoyoucallhim out of. How do you? Doesn't see. Chap you know just to salute bit of a bore. His back is like that Norwegian captain's. Wonder if I'll meet him today. Watering cart. To provoke the rain. On earth as it is in heaven.
A cloud began to cover the sun wholly slowly wholly. Grey. Far.
No, not like that. A barren land, bare waste. Vulcanic lake, the dead sea: no fish, weedless, sunk deep in the earth. No wind would lift those waves, grey metal, poisonous foggy waters. Brimstone they called it raining down: the cities of the plain: Sodom, Gomorrah, Edom. All dead names. A dead sea in a dead land, grey and old. Old now. It bore the oldest, the first race. A bent hag crossed from Cassidy's clutching a noggin bottle by the neck. The oldest people. Wandered far away over all the earth, captivity to captivity, multiplying, dying, being born everywhere. It lay there now. Now it could bear no more. Dead: an old woman's: the grey sunken cunt of the world.
Desolation.
Grey horror seared his flesh. Folding the page into his pocket he turned into Eccles Street, hurrying homeward. Cold oils slid along his veins, chilling his blood: age crusting him with a salt cloak. Well, I am here now. Morning mouth bad images. Got up wrong side of the bed. Must begin again those Sandow's exercises. On the hands down. Blotchy brown brick houses. Number eighty still unlet. Why is that? Valuation is only twenty-eight. Towers, Battersby, North, MacArthur: parlour windows plastered with bills. Plasters on a sore eye. To smell the gentle smoke of tea, fume of the pan, sizzling butter. Be near her ample bedwarmed flesh. Yes, yes.
Quick warm sunlight came running from Berkeley Road, swiftly, in slim sandals, along the brightening footpath. Runs, she runs to meet me, a girl with gold hair on the wind.
Two letters and a card lay on the hallfloor. He stopped and gathered them. Mrs Marion Bloom. His quick heart slowed at once. Bold hand. Mrs Marion.
-- Poldy!
Entering the bedroom he halfclosed his eyes and walked through warm yellow twilight towards her tousled head.
-- Who are the letters for?
He looked at them. Mullingar. Milly.
-- A letter for me from Milly, he said carefully, and a card to you. And a letter for you.
He laid her card and letter on the twill bedspread near the curve of her knees.
-- Do you want the blind up?
Letting the blind up by gentle tugs halfway his backward eye saw her glance at the letter and tuck it under her pillow.
-- That do? he asked, turning.
She was reading the card, propped on her elbow.
-- She got the things, she said.
He waited till she had laid the card aside and curled herself back slowly with a snug sigh.
-- Hurry up with that tea, she said. I'm parched.
-- The kettle is boiling, he said.
But he delayed to clear the chair: her striped petticoat, tossed soiled linen: and lifted all in an armful on to the foot of the bed.
As he went down the kitchen stairs she called:
-- Poldy!
-- What?
-- Scald the teapot.
On the boil sure enough: a plume of steam from the spout. He scalded and rinsed out the teapot and put in four full spoons of tea, tilting the kettle then to let water flow in. Having set it to draw, he took off the kettle and crushed the pan flat on the live coals and watched the lump of butter slide and melt. While he unwrapped the kidney the cat mewed hungrily against him. Give her too much meat she won't mouse. Say they won't eat pork. Kosher. Here. He let the bloodsmeared paper fall to her and dropped the kidney amid the sizzling butter sauce. Pepper. He sprinkled it through his fingers, ringwise, from the chipped eggcup.
Then he slit open his letter, glancing down the page and over. Thanks: new tam: Mr Coghlan: lough Owel picnic: young student: Blazes Boylan's seaside girls.
The tea was drawn. He filled his own moustachecup, sham crown Derby, smiling. Silly Milly's birthday gift. Only five she was then. No wait: four. I gave her the amberoid necklace she broke. Putting pieces of folded brown paper in the letterbox for her. He smiled, pouring.
O Milly Bloom, you are my darling.
You are my looking glass from night to morning.
I'd rather have you without a farthing
Than Katey Keogh with her ass and garden.
Poor old professor Goodwin. Dreadful old case. Still he was a courteous old chap. Oldfashioned way he used to bow Molly off the platform. And the little mirror in his silk hat. The night Milly brought it into the parlour. O, look what I found in professor Goodwin's hat! All we laughed. Sex breaking out even then. Pert little piece she was.
He prodded a fork into the kidney and slapped it over: then fitted the teapot on the tray. Its hump bumped as he took it up. Everything on it? Bread and butter, four, sugar, spoon, her cream. Yes. He carried it upstairs, his thumb hooked in the teapot handle.
Nudging the door open with his knee he carried the tray in and set it on the chair by the bedhead.
-- What a time you were, she said.
She set the brasses jingling as she raised herself briskly, an elbow on the pillow. He looked calmly down on her bulk and between her large soft bubs, sloping within her nightdress like a shegoat's udder. The warmth of her couched body rose on the air, mingling with the fragrance of the tea she poured.
A strip of torn envelope peeped from under the dimpled pillow. In the act of going he stayed to straighten the bedspread.
-- Who was the letter from? he asked.
Bold hand. Marion.
-- O, Boylan, she said. He's bringing the programme.
-- What are you singing?
-- La ci darem with J. C. Doyle, she said, and Love's Old Sweet Song.
Her full lips, drinking, smiled. Rather stale smell that incense leaves next day. Like foul flowerwater.
-- Would you like the window open a little?
She doubled a slice of bread into her mouth, asking:
-- What time is the funeral?
-- Eleven, I think, he answered. I didn't see the paper.
Following the pointing of her finger he took up a leg of her soiled drawers from the bed. No? Then, a twisted grey garter looped round a stocking: rumpled, shiny sole.
-- No: that book.
Other stocking. Her petticoat.
-- It must have fell down, she said.
He felt here and there. Voglio e non vorvez. Wonder if she pronounces that right: voglio. Not in the bed. Must have slid down. He stooped and lifted the valance. The book, fallen, sprawled against the bulge of the orange-keyed chamberpot.
-- Show here, she said. I put a mark in it. There's a word I wanted to ask you.
She swallowed a draught of tea from her cup held by nothandle and, having wiped her fingertips smartly on the blanket, began to search the text with the hairpin till she reached the word.
-- Met him what? he asked.
-- Here, she said. What does that mean?
He leaned downwards and read near her polished thumbnail.
-- Metempsychosis?
-- Yes. Who's he when he's at home?
-- Metempsychosis, he said, frowning. It's Greek: from the Greek. That means the transmigration of souls.
-- O, rocks! she said. Tell us in plain words.
He smiled, glancing askance at her mocking eye. The same young eyes. The first night after the charades. Dolphin's Barn. He turned over the smudged pages. Ruby: the Pride of the Ring. Hello. Illustration. Fierce Italian with carriagewhip. Must be Ruby pride of the on the floor naked. Sheet kindly lent. The monster Maffei desisted and flung his victim from him with an oath. Cruelty behind it all. Doped animals. Trapeze at Hengler's. Had to look the other way. Mob gaping. Break your neck and we'll break our sides. Families of them. Bone them young so they metempsychosis. That we live after death. Our souls. That a man's soul after he dies. Dignam's soul...
-- Did you finish it? he asked.
-- Yes, she said. There's nothing smutty in it. Is she in love with the first fellow all the time?
-- Never read it. Do you want another?
-- Yes. Get another of Paul de Kock's. Nice name he has.
She poured more tea into her cup, watching its flow sideways.
Must get that Capel street library book renewed or they'll write to Kearney, my guarantor. Reincarnation: that's the word.
-- Some people believe, he said, that we go on living in another body after death, that we lived before. They call it reincarnation. That we all lived before on the earth thousands of years ago or some other planet. They say we have forgotten it. Some say they remember their past lives.
The sluggish cream wound curdling spirals through her tea. Better remind her of the word: metempsychosis. An example would be better. An example.
The Bath of the Nymph over the bed. Given away with the Easter number of Photo Bits: Splendid masterpiece in art colours. Tea before you put milk in. Not unlike her with her hair down: slimmer. Three and six I gave for the frame. She said it would look nice over the bed. Naked nymphs: Greece: and for instance all the people that lived then.
He turned the pages back.
-- Metempsychosis, he said, is what the ancient Greeks called it. They used to believe you could be changed into an animal or a tree, for instance. What they called nymphs, for example.
Her spoon ceased to stir up the sugar. She gazed straight before her, inhaling through her arched nostrils.
-- There's a smell of burn, she said. Did you leave anything on the fire?
-- The kidney! he cried suddenly.
He fitted the book roughly into his inner pocket and, stubbing his toes against the broken commode, hurried out towards the smell, stepping hastily down the stairs with a flurried stork's legs. Pungent smoke shot up in an angry Jet from a side of the pan. By prodding a prong of the fork under the kidney he detached it and turned it turtle on its back. Only a little burned. He tossed it off the pan on to a plate and let the scanty brown gravy trickle over it.
Cup of tea now. He sat down, cut and buttered a slice of the loaf. He shore away the burnt flesh and flung it to the cat. Then he put a forkful into his mouth, chewing with discernment the toothsome pliant meat. Done to a turn. A mouthful of tea. Then he cut away dies of bread, sopped one in the gravy and put it in his mouth. What was that about some young student and a picnic? He creased out the letter at his side, reading it slowly as he chewed, sopping another die of bread in the gravy and raising it to his mouth.
Dearest Papli,
Thanks ever so much for the lovely birthday present. It suits me splendid. Everyone says I'm quite the belle in my new tam. I got mummy's lovely box of creams and am writing. They are lovely. I am getting on swimming in the photo business now. Mr Coghlan took one of me and Mrs will send when developed. We did great biz yesterday. Fair day and all the beef to the heels were in. We are going to lough Owel on Monday with a few friends to make a scrap picnic. Give my love to mummy and to yourself a big kiss and thanks. I hear them at the piano downstairs. There is to be a concert in the Greville Arms on Saturday. There is a young student comes here some evenings named Bannon his cousins or something are big swells he sings Boylan's (I was on the pop of writing Blazes Boylan's) song about those seaside girls. Tell him silly Milly sends my best respects. Must now close with fondest love.
Your fond daughter, MILLY.
P.S. Excuse bad writing, am in a hurry. Byby.
M.
Fifteen yesterday. Curious, fifteenth of the month too. Her first birthday away from home. Separation. Remember the summer morning she was born, running to knock up Mrs Thornton in Denzille street. Jolly old woman. Lots of babies she must have helped into the world. She knew from the first poor little Rudy wouldn't live. Well, God is good, sir. She knew at once. He would be eleven now if he had lived.
His vacant face stared pitying at the postscript. Excuse bad writing. Hurry. Piano downstairs. Coming out of her shell. Row with her in the XL Café about the bracelet. Wouldn't eat her cakes or speak or look. Saucebox. He sopped other dies of bread in the gravy and ate piece after piece of kidney. Twelve and six a week. Not much. Still, she might do worse. Music hall stage. Young student. He drank a draught of cooler tea to wash down his meal. Then he read the letter again: twice.
O well: she knows how to mind herself. But if not? No, nothing has happened. Of course it might. Wait in any case till it does. A wild piece of goods. Her slim legs running up the staircase. Destiny. Ripening now. Vain: very.
He smiled with troubled affection at the kitchen window.
Day I caught her in the street pinching her cheeks to make them red. An&Aelig;mic a little. Was given milk too long. On the Erin's King that day round the Kish. Damned old tub pitching about. Not a bit funky. Her pale blue scarf loose in the wind with her hair.
All dimpled cheek's and curls,
Your head it simply swirls.
Seaside girls. Torn envelope. Hands stuck in his trousers pockets, jarvey off for the day, singing. Friend of the family. Swurls, he says. Pier with lamps, summer evening, band,
Those girls, those girls,
Those lovely seaside girls'
Milly too. Young kisses: the first. Far away now past. Mrs Marion. Reading lying back now, counting the strands of her hair, smiling, braiding.
A soft qualm regret, flowed down his backbone, increasing. Will happen, yes. Prevent. Useless: can't move. Girl's sweet light lips. Will happen too. He felt the flowing qualm spread over him. Useless to move now. Lips kissed, kissing kissed. Full gluey woman's lips.
Better where she is down there: away. Occupy her. Wanted a dog to pass the time. Might take a trip down there. August bank holiday, only two and six return. Six weeks off however. Might work a press pass. Or through M'Coy.
The cat, having cleaned all her fur, returned to the meatstained paper, nosed at it and stalked to the door. She looked back at him, mewing. Wants to go out. Wait before a door sometime it will open. Let her wait. Has the fidgets. Electric. Thunder in the air. Was washing at her ear with her back to the fire too.
He felt heavy, full: then a gentle loosening of his bowels. He stood up, undoing the waistband of his trousers. The cat mewed to him.
-- Miaow! he said in answer. Wait till I'm ready.
Heaviness: hot day coming. Too much trouble to fag up the stairs to the landing.
A paper. He liked to read at stool. Hope no ape comes knocking just as I'm.
In the table drawer he found an old number of Titbits. He folded it under his armpit, went to the door and opened it. The cat went up in soft bounds. Ah, wanted to go upstairs, curl up in a ball on the bed.
Listening, he heard her voice:
-- Come, come, pussy. Come.
He went out through the backdoor into the garden: stood to listen towards the next garden. No sound. Perhaps hanging clothes out to dry. The maid was in the garden. Fine morning.
He bent down to regard a lean file of spearmint growing by the wall. Make a summerhouse here. Scarlet runners. Virginia creepers. Want to manure the whole place over, scabby soil. A coat of liver of sulphur. All soil like that without dung. Household slops. Loam, what is this that is? The hens in the next garden: their droppings are very good top dressing. Best of all though are the cattle, especially when they are fed on those oilcakes. Mulch of dung. Best thing to clean ladies' kid gloves. Dirty cleans. Ashes too. Reclaim the whole place. Grow peas in that corner there. Lettuce. Always have fresh greens then. Still gardens have their drawbacks. That bee or bluebottle here Whitmonday.
He walked on. Where is my hat, by the way? Must have put it back on the peg. Or hanging up on the floor. Funny, I don't remember that. Hallstand too full. Four umbrellas, her rain cloak. Picking up the letters. Drago's shopbell ringing. Queer I was just thinking that moment. Brown brilliantined hair over his collar. Just had a wash and brushup. Wonder have I time for a bath this morning. Tara street. Chap in the paybox there got away James Stephens they say. O'Brien.
Deep voice that fellow Dlugacz has. Agenda what is it? Now, my miss. Enthusiast.
He kicked open the crazy door of the jakes. Better be careful not to get these trousers dirty for the funeral. He went in, bowing his head under the low lintel. Leaving the door ajar, amid the stench of mouldy limewash and stale cobwebs he undid his braces. Before sitting down he peered through a chink up at the nextdoor window. The king was in his counting house. Nobody.
Asquat on the cuckstool he folded out his paper turning its pages over on his bared knees. Something new and easy. No great hurry. Keep it a bit. Our prize titbit. Matcham's Masterstrike. Written by Mr Philip Beaufoy, Playgoers' club, London. Payment at the rate of one guinea a column has been made to the writer. Three and a half. Three pounds three. Three pounds thirteen and six.
Quietly he read, restraining himself, the first column and, yielding but resisting, began the second. Midway, his last resistance yielding, he allowed his bowels to ease themselves quietly as he read, reading still patiently, that slight constipation of yesterday quite gone. Hope it's not too big bring on piles again. No, just right. So. Ah! Costive one tabloid of cascara sagrada. Life might be so. It did not move or touch him but it was something quick and neat. Print anything now. Silly season. He read on, seated calm above his own rising smell. Neat certainly. Matcham often thinks of the master-stroke by which he won the laughing witch who now. Begins and ends morally. Hand in hand. Smart. He glanced back through what he had read and, while feeling his water flow quietly, he envied kindly Mr Beaufoy who had written it and received payment of three pounds thirteen and six.
Might manage a sketch. By Mr and Mrs L. M. Bloom. Invent a story for some proverb which? Time I used to try jotting down on my cuff what she said dressing. Dislike dressing together. Nicked myself shaving. Biting her nether Hip, hooking the placket of her skirt. Timing her. 9.15. Did Roberts pay you yet? 9.20. What had Gretta Conroy on? 9.23. What possessed me to buy this comb? 9.24. I'm swelled after that cabbage. A speck of dust on the patent leather of her boot.
Rubbing smartly in turn each welt against her stocking calf. Morning after the bazaar dance when May's band played Ponchielli's dance of the hours. Explain that morning hours, noon, then evening coming on, then night hours. Washing her teeth. That was the first night. Her head dancing. Her fansticks clicking. Is that Boylan well off? He has money. Why? I noticed he had a good smell off his breath dancing. No use humming then. Allude to it. Strange kind of music that last night. The mirror was in shadow. She rubbed her handglass briskly on her woollen vest against her full wagging bub. Peering into it. Lines in her eyes. It wouldn't pan out somehow.
Evening hours, girls in grey gauze. Night hours then black with daggers and eye
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4、Chapter 4 Calypso


MR LEOPOLD BLOOM ATE WITH RELISH THE INNER ORGANS OF BEASTS and fowls. He liked thick giblet soup, nutty gizzards, a stuffed roast heart, liver slices fried with crustcrumbs, fried hencod's roes. Most of all he liked grilled mutton kidneys which gave to his palate a fine tang of faintly scented urine.
Kidneys were in his mind as he moved about the kitchen softly, righting her breakfast things on the humpy tray. Gelid light and air were in the kitchen but out of doors gentle summer morning everywhere. Made him feel a bit peckish.
The coals were reddening.
Another slice of bread and butter: three, four: right. She didn't like her plate full. Right. He turned from the tray, lifted the kettle off the hob and set it sideways on the fire. It sat there, dull and squat, its spout stuck out. Cup of tea soon. Good. Mouth dry. The cat walked stiffly round a leg of the table with tail on high.
-- Mkgnao!
-- O, there you are, Mr Bloom said, turning from the fire.
The cat mewed in answer and stalked again stiffly round a leg of the table, mewing. Just how she stalks over my writing-table. Prr. Scratch my head. Prr.
Mr Bloom watched curiously, kindly, the lithe black form. Clean to see: the gloss of her sleek hide, the white button under the butt of her tail, the green flashing eyes. He bent down to her, his hands on his knees.
-- Milk for the pussens, he said.
-- Mrkgnao! the cat cried.
They call them stupid. They understand what we say better than we understand them. She understands all she wants to. Vindictive too. Wonder what I look like to her. Height of a tower? No, she can jump me.
-- Afraid of the chickens she is, he said mockingly. Afraid of the chookchooks. I never saw such a stupid pussens as the pussens.
Cruel. Her nature. Curious mice never squeal. Seem to like it.
-- Mrkrgnao! the cat said loudly.
She blinked up out of her avid shameclosing eyes, mewing plaintively and long, showing him her milkwhite teeth. He watched the dark eyeslits narrowing with greed till her eyes were green stones. Then he went to the dresser, took the jug Hanlon's milkman had just filled for him, poured warmbubbled milk on a saucer and set it slowly on the floor.
-- Gurrhr! she cried, running to lap.
He watched the bristles shining wirily in the weak light as she tipped three times and licked lightly. Wonder is it true if you clip them they can't mouse after. Why? They shine in the dark, perhaps, the tips. Or kind of feelers in the dark, perhaps.
He listened to her licking lap. Ham and eggs, no. No good eggs with this drouth. Want pure fresh water. Thursday: not a good day either for a mutton kidney at Buckley's. Fried with butter, a shake of pepper. Better a pork kidney at Dlugacz's. While the kettle is boiling. She lapped slower, then licking the saucer clean. Why are their tongues so rough? To lap better, all porous holes. Nothing she can eat? He glanced round him. No.
On quietly creaky boots he went up the staircase to the hall, paused by the bedroom door. She might like something tasty. Thin bread and butter she likes in the morning. Still perhaps: once in a way.
He said softly in the bare hall:
-- I am going round the corner. Be back in a minute.
And when he had heard his voice say it he added:
-- You don't want anything for breakfast?
A sleepy soft grunt answered:
-- Mn.
No. She did not want anything. He heard then a warm heavy sigh, softer, as she turned over and the loose brass quoits of the bedstead jingled. Must get those settled really. Pity. All the way from Gibraltar. Forgotten any little Spanish she knew. Wonder what her father gave for it. Old style. Ah yes, of course. Bought it at the governor's auction. Got a short knock. Hard as nails at a bargain, old Tweedy. Yes, sir. At Plevna that was. I rose from the ranks, sir, and I'm proud of it. Still he had brains enough to make that corner in stamps. Now that was farseeing.
His hand took his hat from the peg over his initialled heavy overcoat, and his lost property office secondhand waterproof. Stamps: stickyback pictures. Daresay lots of officers are in the swim too. Course they do. The sweated legend in the crown of his hat told him mutely: Plasto's high grade ha. He peeped quickly inside the leather headband. White slip of paper. Quite safe.
On the doorstep he felt in his hip pocket for the latchkey. Not there. In the trousers I left off. Must get it. Potato I have. Creaky wardrobe. No use disturbing her. She turned over sleepily that time. He pulled the halldoor to after him very quietly, more, till the footleaf dropped gently over the threshold, a limp lid. Looked shut. All right till I come back anyhow.
He crossed to the bright side, avoiding the loose cellarflap of number seventyfive. The sun was nearing the steeple of George's church. Be a warm day I fancy. Specially in these black clothes feel it more. Black conducts, reflects (refracts is it?), the heat. But I couldn't go in that light suit. Make a picnic of it. His eyelids sank quietly often as he walked in happy warmth. Boland's breadvan delivering with trays our daily but she prefers yesterday's loaves turnovers crisp crowns hot. Makes you feel young. Somewhere in the east: early morning: set off at dawn, travel round in front of the sun, steal a day's march on him. Keep it up for ever never grow a day older technically. Walk along a strand, strange land, come to a city gate, sentry there, old ranker too, old Tweedy's big moustaches leaning on a long kind of a spear. Wander through awned streets. Turbaned faces going by. Dark caves of carpet shops, big man, Turko the terrible, seated crosslegged smoking a coiled pipe. Cries of sellers in the streets. Drink water scented with fennel, sherbet. Wander along all day. Might meet a robber or two. Well, meet him. Getting on to sundown. The shadows of the mosques along the pillars: priest with a scroll rolled up. A shiver of the trees, signal, the evening wind. I pass on. Fading gold sky. A mother watches from her doorway. She calls her children home in their dark language. High wall: beyond strings twanged. Night sky moon, violet, colour of Molly's new garters. Strings. Listen. A girl playing one of these instruments what do you call them: dulcimers. I pass.
Probably not a bit like it really. Kind of stuff you read: in the track of the sun. Sunburst on the titlepage. He smiled, pleasing himself. What Arthur Griffith said about the headpiece over the Freeman leader: a homerule sun rising up in the northwest from the laneway behind the bank of Ireland. He prolonged his pleased smile. Ikey touch that: homerule sun rising up in the northwest.
He approached Larry O'Rourke's. From the cellar grating floated up the flabby gush of porter. Through the open doorway the bar squirted out whiffs of ginger, teadust, biscuitmush. Good house, however: just the end of the city traffic. For instance M'Auley's down there: n. g. as position. Of course if they ran a tramline along the North Circular from the cattle market to the quays value would go up like a shot.
Bald head over the blind. Cute old codger. No use canvassing him for an ad. Still he knows his own business best. There he Is, sure enough, my bold Larry, leaning against the sugarbin in his shirtsleeves watching the aproned curate swab up with mop and bucket. Simon Dedalus takes him off to a tee with his eyes screwed up. Do you know what I'm going to tell you? What's that, Mr O'Rourke? Do you know what? The Russians, they'd only be an eight o'clock breakfast for the Japanese.
Stop and say a word: about the funeral perhaps. Sad thing about poor Dignam, Mr O'Rourke.
Turning into Dorset street he said freshly in greeting through the doorway:
-- Good day, Mr O'Rourke.
-- Good day to you.
-- Lovely weather, sir.
-- 'Tis all that.
Where do they get the money? Coming up redheaded curates from the county Leitrim, rinsing empties and old man in the cellar. Then, lo and behold, they blossom out as Adam Findlaters or Dan Tallons. Then think of the competition. General thirst. Good puzzle would be cross Dublin without passing a pub. Save it they can't. Off the drunks perhaps. Put down three and carry five. What is that? A bob here and there, dribs and drabs. On the wholesale orders perhaps. Doing a double shuffle with the town travellers. Square it with the boss and we'll split the job, see?
How much would that tot to off the porter in the month? Say ten barrels of stuff. Say he got ten per cent off. O more. Ten. Fifteen. He passed Saint Joseph's, National school. Brats' clamour. Windows open. Fresh air helps memory. Or a lilt. Ahbeesee defeegee kelomen opeecue rustyouvee double you. Boys are they? Yes. Inishturk. Inishark. Inishboffin. At their joggerfry. Mine. Slieve Bloom.
He halted before Dlugacz's window, staring at the hanks of sausages, polonies, black and white. Fifty multiplied by. The figures whitened in his mind unsolved: displeased, he let them fade. The shiny links packed with forcemeat fed his gaze and he breathed in tranquilly the lukewarm breath of cooked spicy pig's blood.
A kidney oozed bloodgouts on the willowpatterned dish: the last. He stood by the nextdoor girl at the counter. Would she buy it too, calling the items from a slip in her hand. Chapped: washing soda. And a pound and a half of Denny's sausages. His eyes rested on her vigorous hips. Woods his name is. Wonder what he does. Wife is oldfish. New blood. No followers allowed. Strong pair of arms. Whacking a carpet on the clothesline. She does whack it, by George. The way her crooked skirt swings at each whack.
The ferreteyed porkbutcher folded the sausages he had snipped off with blotchy fingers, sausagepink. Sound meat there like a stallfed heifer.
He took up a page from the pile of cut sheets. The model farm at Kinnereth on the lakeshore of Tiberias. Can become ideal winter sanatorium. Moses Montefiore. I thought he was. Farmhouse, wall round it, blurred cattle cropping. He held the page from him: interesting: read it nearer, the blurred cropping cattle, the page rustling. A young white heifer. Those mornings in the cattlemarket the beasts lowing in their pens, branded sheep, flop and fall of dung, the breeders in hobnailed boots trudging through the litter, slapping a palm on a ripemeated hindquarter, there's a prime one, unpeeled switches in their hands. He held the page aslant patiently, bending his senses and his will, his soft subject gaze at rest. The crooked skirt swinging whack by whack by whack.
The porkbutcher snapped two sheets from the pile, wrapped up her prime sausages and made a red grimace.
-- Now, my miss, he said.
She tendered a coin, smiling boldly, holding her thick wrist out.
-- Thank you, my miss. And one shilling threepence change. For you, please?
Mr Bloom pointed quickly. To catch up and walk behind her if she went slowly, behind her moving hams. Pleasant to see first thing in the morning. Hurry up, damn it. Make hay while the sun shines. She stood outside the shop in sunlight and sauntered lazily to the right. He sighed down his nose: they never understand. Sodachapped hands. Crusted toenails too. Brown scapulars in tatters, defending her both ways. The sting of disregard glowed to weak pleasure within his breast. For another a constable off duty cuddled her in Eccles Lane. They like them sizeable. Prime sausage. O please, Mr Policeman, I'm lost in the wood.
-- Threepence, please.
His hand accepted the moist tender gland and slid it into a sidepocket. Then it fetched up three coins from his trousers' pocket and laid them on the rubber prickles. They lay, were read quickly and quickly slid, disc by disc, into the till.
-- Thank you, sir. Another time.
A speck of eager fire from foxeyes thanked him. He withdrew his gaze after an instant. No: better not: another time.
-- Good morning, he said, moving away.
-- Good morning, sir.
No sign. Gone. What matter?
He walked back along Dorset street, reading gravely. Agendath Netaim: planter's company. To purchase vast sandy tracts from Turkish government and plant with eucalyptus trees. Excellent for shade, fuel and construction. Orangegroves and immense melonfields north of Jaffa. You pay eight marks and they plant a dunam of land for you with olives, oranges, almonds or citrons. Olives cheaper: oranges need artificial irrigation. Every year you get a sending of the crop. Your name entered for life as owner in the book of the union. Can pay ten down and the balance in yearly instalments. Bleibtreustrasse 34, Berlin, W. 15.
Nothing doing. Still an idea behind it.
He looked at the cattle, blurred in silver heat. Silvered powdered olivetrees. Quiet long days: pruning ripening. Olives are packed in jars, eh? I have a few left from Andrews. Molly spitting them out. Knows the taste of them now. Oranges in tissue paper packed in crates. Citrons too. Wonder is poor Citron still alive in Saint Kevin's parade. And Mastiansky with the old cither. Pleasant evenings we had then. Molly in Citron's basketchair. Nice to hold, cool waxen fruit, hold in the hand, lift it to the nostrils and smell the perfume. Like that, heavy, sweet, wild perfume. Always the same, year after year. They fetched high prices too Moisel told me. Arbutus place: Pleasants street: pleasant old times. Must be without a flaw, he said. Coming all that way: Spain, Gibraltar, Mediterranean, the Levant. Crates lined up on the quayside at Jaffa, chap ticking them off in a book, navvies handling them in soiled dungarees. There's whatdoyoucallhim out of. How do you? Doesn't see. Chap you know just to salute bit of a bore. His back is like that Norwegian captain's. Wonder if I'll meet him today. Watering cart. To provoke the rain. On earth as it is in heaven.
A cloud began to cover the sun wholly slowly wholly. Grey. Far.
No, not like that. A barren land, bare waste. Vulcanic lake, the dead sea: no fish, weedless, sunk deep in the earth. No wind would lift those waves, grey metal, poisonous foggy waters. Brimstone they called it raining down: the cities of the plain: Sodom, Gomorrah, Edom. All dead names. A dead sea in a dead land, grey and old. Old now. It bore the oldest, the first race. A bent hag crossed from Cassidy's clutching a noggin bottle by the neck. The oldest people. Wandered far away over all the earth, captivity to captivity, multiplying, dying, being born everywhere. It lay there now. Now it could bear no more. Dead: an old woman's: the grey sunken cunt of the world.
Desolation.
Grey horror seared his flesh. Folding the page into his pocket he turned into Eccles Street, hurrying homeward. Cold oils slid along his veins, chilling his blood: age crusting him with a salt cloak. Well, I am here now. Morning mouth bad images. Got up wrong side of the bed. Must begin again those Sandow's exercises. On the hands down. Blotchy brown brick houses. Number eighty still unlet. Why is that? Valuation is only twenty-eight. Towers, Battersby, North, MacArthur: parlour windows plastered with bills. Plasters on a sore eye. To smell the gentle smoke of tea, fume of the pan, sizzling butter. Be near her ample bedwarmed flesh. Yes, yes.
Quick warm sunlight came running from Berkeley Road, swiftly, in slim sandals, along the brightening footpath. Runs, she runs to meet me, a girl with gold hair on the wind.
Two letters and a card lay on the hallfloor. He stopped and gathered them. Mrs Marion Bloom. His quick heart slowed at once. Bold hand. Mrs Marion.
-- Poldy!
Entering the bedroom he halfclosed his eyes and walked through warm yellow twilight towards her tousled head.
-- Who are the letters for?
He looked at them. Mullingar. Milly.
-- A letter for me from Milly, he said carefully, and a card to you. And a letter for you.
He laid her card and letter on the twill bedspread near the curve of her knees.
-- Do you want the blind up?
Letting the blind up by gentle tugs halfway his backward eye saw her glance at the letter and tuck it under her pillow.
-- That do? he asked, turning.
She was reading the card, propped on her elbow.
-- She got the things, she said.
He waited till she had laid the card aside and curled herself back slowly with a snug sigh.
-- Hurry up with that tea, she said. I'm parched.
-- The kettle is boiling, he said.
But he delayed to clear the chair: her striped petticoat, tossed soiled linen: and lifted all in an armful on to the foot of the bed.
As he went down the kitchen stairs she called:
-- Poldy!
-- What?
-- Scald the teapot.
On the boil sure enough: a plume of steam from the spout. He scalded and rinsed out the teapot and put in four full spoons of tea, tilting the kettle then to let water flow in. Having set it to draw, he took off the kettle and crushed the pan flat on the live coals and watched the lump of butter slide and melt. While he unwrapped the kidney the cat mewed hungrily against him. Give her too much meat she won't mouse. Say they won't eat pork. Kosher. Here. He let the bloodsmeared paper fall to her and dropped the kidney amid the sizzling butter sauce. Pepper. He sprinkled it through his fingers, ringwise, from the chipped eggcup.
Then he slit open his letter, glancing down the page and over. Thanks: new tam: Mr Coghlan: lough Owel picnic: young student: Blazes Boylan's seaside girls.
The tea was drawn. He filled his own moustachecup, sham crown Derby, smiling. Silly Milly's birthday gift. Only five she was then. No wait: four. I gave her the amberoid necklace she broke. Putting pieces of folded brown paper in the letterbox for her. He smiled, pouring.
O Milly Bloom, you are my darling.
You are my looking glass from night to morning.
I'd rather have you without a farthing
Than Katey Keogh with her ass and garden.
Poor old professor Goodwin. Dreadful old case. Still he was a courteous old chap. Oldfashioned way he used to bow Molly off the platform. And the little mirror in his silk hat. The night Milly brought it into the parlour. O, look what I found in professor Goodwin's hat! All we laughed. Sex breaking out even then. Pert little piece she was.
He prodded a fork into the kidney and slapped it over: then fitted the teapot on the tray. Its hump bumped as he took it up. Everything on it? Bread and butter, four, sugar, spoon, her cream. Yes. He carried it upstairs, his thumb hooked in the teapot handle.
Nudging the door open with his knee he carried the tray in and set it on the chair by the bedhead.
-- What a time you were, she said.
She set the brasses jingling as she raised herself briskly, an elbow on the pillow. He looked calmly down on her bulk and between her large soft bubs, sloping within her nightdress like a shegoat's udder. The warmth of her couched body rose on the air, mingling with the fragrance of the tea she poured.
A strip of torn envelope peeped from under the dimpled pillow. In the act of going he stayed to straighten the bedspread.
-- Who was the letter from? he asked.
Bold hand. Marion.
-- O, Boylan, she said. He's bringing the programme.
-- What are you singing?
-- La ci darem with J. C. Doyle, she said, and Love's Old Sweet Song.
Her full lips, drinking, smiled. Rather stale smell that incense leaves next day. Like foul flowerwater.
-- Would you like the window open a little?
She doubled a slice of bread into her mouth, asking:
-- What time is the funeral?
-- Eleven, I think, he answered. I didn't see the paper.
Following the pointing of her finger he took up a leg of her soiled drawers from the bed. No? Then, a twisted grey garter looped round a stocking: rumpled, shiny sole.
-- No: that book.
Other stocking. Her petticoat.
-- It must have fell down, she said.
He felt here and there. Voglio e non vorvez. Wonder if she pronounces that right: voglio. Not in the bed. Must have slid down. He stooped and lifted the valance. The book, fallen, sprawled against the bulge of the orange-keyed chamberpot.
-- Show here, she said. I put a mark in it. There's a word I wanted to ask you.
She swallowed a draught of tea from her cup held by nothandle and, having wiped her fingertips smartly on the blanket, began to search the text with the hairpin till she reached the word.
-- Met him what? he asked.
-- Here, she said. What does that mean?
He leaned downwards and read near her polished thumbnail.
-- Metempsychosis?
-- Yes. Who's he when he's at home?
-- Metempsychosis, he said, frowning. It's Greek: from the Greek. That means the transmigration of souls.
-- O, rocks! she said. Tell us in plain words.
He smiled, glancing askance at her mocking eye. The same young eyes. The first night after the charades. Dolphin's Barn. He turned over the smudged pages. Ruby: the Pride of the Ring. Hello. Illustration. Fierce Italian with carriagewhip. Must be Ruby pride of the on the floor naked. Sheet kindly lent. The monster Maffei desisted and flung his victim from him with an oath. Cruelty behind it all. Doped animals. Trapeze at Hengler's. Had to look the other way. Mob gaping. Break your neck and we'll break our sides. Families of them. Bone them young so they metempsychosis. That we live after death. Our souls. That a man's soul after he dies. Dignam's soul...
-- Did you finish it? he asked.
-- Yes, she said. There's nothing smutty in it. Is she in love with the first fellow all the time?
-- Never read it. Do you want another?
-- Yes. Get another of Paul de Kock's. Nice name he has.
She poured more tea into her cup, watching its flow sideways.
Must get that Capel street library book renewed or they'll write to Kearney, my guarantor. Reincarnation: that's the word.
-- Some people believe, he said, that we go on living in another body after death, that we lived before. They call it reincarnation. That we all lived before on the earth thousands of years ago or some other planet. They say we have forgotten it. Some say they remember their past lives.
The sluggish cream wound curdling spirals through her tea. Better remind her of the word: metempsychosis. An example would be better. An example.
The Bath of the Nymph over the bed. Given away with the Easter number of Photo Bits: Splendid masterpiece in art colours. Tea before you put milk in. Not unlike her with her hair down: slimmer. Three and six I gave for the frame. She said it would look nice over the bed. Naked nymphs: Greece: and for instance all the people that lived then.
He turned the pages back.
-- Metempsychosis, he said, is what the ancient Greeks called it. They used to believe you could be changed into an animal or a tree, for instance. What they called nymphs, for example.
Her spoon ceased to stir up the sugar. She gazed straight before her, inhaling through her arched nostrils.
-- There's a smell of burn, she said. Did you leave anything on the fire?
-- The kidney! he cried suddenly.
He fitted the book roughly into his inner pocket and, stubbing his toes against the broken commode, hurried out towards the smell, stepping hastily down the stairs with a flurried stork's legs. Pungent smoke shot up in an angry Jet from a side of the pan. By prodding a prong of the fork under the kidney he detached it and turned it turtle on its back. Only a little burned. He tossed it off the pan on to a plate and let the scanty brown gravy trickle over it.
Cup of tea now. He sat down, cut and buttered a slice of the loaf. He shore away the burnt flesh and flung it to the cat. Then he put a forkful into his mouth, chewing with discernment the toothsome pliant meat. Done to a turn. A mouthful of tea. Then he cut away dies of bread, sopped one in the gravy and put it in his mouth. What was that about some young student and a picnic? He creased out the letter at his side, reading it slowly as he chewed, sopping another die of bread in the gravy and raising it to his mouth.
Dearest Papli,
Thanks ever so much for the lovely birthday present. It suits me splendid. Everyone says I'm quite the belle in my new tam. I got mummy's lovely box of creams and am writing. They are lovely. I am getting on swimming in the photo business now. Mr Coghlan took one of me and Mrs will send when developed. We did great biz yesterday. Fair day and all the beef to the heels were in. We are going to lough Owel on Monday with a few friends to make a scrap picnic. Give my love to mummy and to yourself a big kiss and thanks. I hear them at the piano downstairs. There is to be a concert in the Greville Arms on Saturday. There is a young student comes here some evenings named Bannon his cousins or something are big swells he sings Boylan's (I was on the pop of writing Blazes Boylan's) song about those seaside girls. Tell him silly Milly sends my best respects. Must now close with fondest love.
Your fond daughter, MILLY.
P.S. Excuse bad writing, am in a hurry. Byby.
M.
Fifteen yesterday. Curious, fifteenth of the month too. Her first birthday away from home. Separation. Remember the summer morning she was born, running to knock up Mrs Thornton in Denzille street. Jolly old woman. Lots of babies she must have helped into the world. She knew from the first poor little Rudy wouldn't live. Well, God is good, sir. She knew at once. He would be eleven now if he had lived.
His vacant face stared pitying at the postscript. Excuse bad writing. Hurry. Piano downstairs. Coming out of her shell. Row with her in the XL Café about the bracelet. Wouldn't eat her cakes or speak or look. Saucebox. He sopped other dies of bread in the gravy and ate piece after piece of kidney. Twelve and six a week. Not much. Still, she might do worse. Music hall stage. Young student. He drank a draught of cooler tea to wash down his meal. Then he read the letter again: twice.
O well: she knows how to mind herself. But if not? No, nothing has happened. Of course it might. Wait in any case till it does. A wild piece of goods. Her slim legs running up the staircase. Destiny. Ripening now. Vain: very.
He smiled with troubled affection at the kitchen window.
Day I caught her in the street pinching her cheeks to make them red. An&Aelig;mic a little. Was given milk too long. On the Erin's King that day round the Kish. Damned old tub pitching about. Not a bit funky. Her pale blue scarf loose in the wind with her hair.
All dimpled cheek's and curls,
Your head it simply swirls.
Seaside girls. Torn envelope. Hands stuck in his trousers pockets, jarvey off for the day, singing. Friend of the family. Swurls, he says. Pier with lamps, summer evening, band,
Those girls, those girls,
Those lovely seaside girls'
Milly too. Young kisses: the first. Far away now past. Mrs Marion. Reading lying back now, counting the strands of her hair, smiling, braiding.
A soft qualm regret, flowed down his backbone, increasing. Will happen, yes. Prevent. Useless: can't move. Girl's sweet light lips. Will happen too. He felt the flowing qualm spread over him. Useless to move now. Lips kissed, kissing kissed. Full gluey woman's lips.
Better where she is down there: away. Occupy her. Wanted a dog to pass the time. Might take a trip down there. August bank holiday, only two and six return. Six weeks off however. Might work a press pass. Or through M'Coy.
The cat, having cleaned all her fur, returned to the meatstained paper, nosed at it and stalked to the door. She looked back at him, mewing. Wants to go out. Wait before a door sometime it will open. Let her wait. Has the fidgets. Electric. Thunder in the air. Was washing at her ear with her back to the fire too.
He felt heavy, full: then a gentle loosening of his bowels. He stood up, undoing the waistband of his trousers. The cat mewed to him.
-- Miaow! he said in answer. Wait till I'm ready.
Heaviness: hot day coming. Too much trouble to fag up the stairs to the landing.
A paper. He liked to read at stool. Hope no ape comes knocking just as I'm.
In the table drawer he found an old number of Titbits. He folded it under his armpit, went to the door and opened it. The cat went up in soft bounds. Ah, wanted to go upstairs, curl up in a ball on the bed.
Listening, he heard her voice:
-- Come, come, pussy. Come.
He went out through the backdoor into the garden: stood to listen towards the next garden. No sound. Perhaps hanging clothes out to dry. The maid was in the garden. Fine morning.
He bent down to regard a lean file of spearmint growing by the wall. Make a summerhouse here. Scarlet runners. Virginia creepers. Want to manure the whole place over, scabby soil. A coat of liver of sulphur. All soil like that without dung. Household slops. Loam, what is this that is? The hens in the next garden: their droppings are very good top dressing. Best of all though are the cattle, especially when they are fed on those oilcakes. Mulch of dung. Best thing to clean ladies' kid gloves. Dirty cleans. Ashes too. Reclaim the whole place. Grow peas in that corner there. Lettuce. Always have fresh greens then. Still gardens have their drawbacks. That bee or bluebottle here Whitmonday.
He walked on. Where is my hat, by the way? Must have put it back on the peg. Or hanging up on the floor. Funny, I don't remember that. Hallstand too full. Four umbrellas, her rain cloak. Picking up the letters. Drago's shopbell ringing. Queer I was just thinking that moment. Brown brilliantined hair over his collar. Just had a wash and brushup. Wonder have I time for a bath this morning. Tara street. Chap in the paybox there got away James Stephens they say. O'Brien.
Deep voice that fellow Dlugacz has. Agenda what is it? Now, my miss. Enthusiast.
He kicked open the crazy door of the jakes. Better be careful not to get these trousers dirty for the funeral. He went in, bowing his head under the low lintel. Leaving the door ajar, amid the stench of mouldy limewash and stale cobwebs he undid his braces. Before sitting down he peered through a chink up at the nextdoor window. The king was in his counting house. Nobody.
Asquat on the cuckstool he folded out his paper turning its pages over on his bared knees. Something new and easy. No great hurry. Keep it a bit. Our prize titbit. Matcham's Masterstrike. Written by Mr Philip Beaufoy, Playgoers' club, London. Payment at the rate of one guinea a column has been made to the writer. Three and a half. Three pounds three. Three pounds thirteen and six.
Quietly he read, restraining himself, the first column and, yielding but resisting, began the second. Midway, his last resistance yielding, he allowed his bowels to ease themselves quietly as he read, reading still patiently, that slight constipation of yesterday quite gone. Hope it's not too big bring on piles again. No, just right. So. Ah! Costive one tabloid of cascara sagrada. Life might be so. It did not move or touch him but it was something quick and neat. Print anything now. Silly season. He read on, seated calm above his own rising smell. Neat certainly. Matcham often thinks of the master-stroke by which he won the laughing witch who now. Begins and ends morally. Hand in hand. Smart. He glanced back through what he had read and, while feeling his water flow quietly, he envied kindly Mr Beaufoy who had written it and received payment of three pounds thirteen and six.
Might manage a sketch. By Mr and Mrs L. M. Bloom. Invent a story for some proverb which? Time I used to try jotting down on my cuff what she said dressing. Dislike dressing together. Nicked myself shaving. Biting her nether Hip, hooking the placket of her skirt. Timing her. 9.15. Did Roberts pay you yet? 9.20. What had Gretta Conroy on? 9.23. What possessed me to buy this comb? 9.24. I'm swelled after that cabbage. A speck of dust on the patent leather of her boot.
Rubbing smartly in turn each welt against her stocking calf. Morning after the bazaar dance when May's band played Ponchielli's dance of the hours. Explain that morning hours, noon, then evening coming on, then night hours. Washing her teeth. That was the first night. Her head dancing. Her fansticks clicking. Is that Boylan well off? He has money. Why? I noticed he had a good smell off his breath dancing. No use humming then. Allude to it. Strange kind of music that last night. The mirror was in shadow. She rubbed her handglass briskly on her woollen vest against her full wagging bub. Peering into it. Lines in her eyes. It wouldn't pan out somehow.
Evening hours, girls in grey gauze. Night hours then black with daggers and eye
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5、Chapter 5 Lotus Eaters

BY LORRIES ALONG SIR JOHN ROGERSON'S QUAY MR BLOOM WALKED soberly, past Windmill lane, Leask's the linseed crusher's, the postal telegraph office. Could have given that address too. And past the sailors' home. He turned from the morning noises of the quayside and walked through Lime street. By Brady's cottages a boy for the skins lolled, his bucket of offal linked, smoking a chewed fagbutt. A smaller girl with scars of eczema on her forehead eyed him, listlessly holding her battered caskhoop. Tell him if he smokes he won't grow. O let him! His life isn't such a bed of roses! Waiting outside pubs to bring da home. Come home to ma, da. Slack hour: won't be many there. He crossed Townsend street, passed the frowning face of Bethel. El, yes: house of: Aleph, Beth. And past Nichols' the undertaker's. At eleven it is. Time enough. Daresay Corny Kelleher bagged that job for O'Neill's. Singing with his eyes shut. Corney. Met her once in the park. In the dark. What a lark. Police tout. Her name and address she then told with my tooraloom tooraloom tay. O, surely he bagged it. Bury him cheap in a whatyoumaycall. With my tooraloom, tooraloom, tooraloom, tooraloom.
In Westland row he halted before the window of the Belfast and Oriental Tea Company and read the legends of lead-papered packets: choice blend, finest quality, family tea. Rather warm. Tea. Must get some from Tom Kernan. Couldn't ask him at a funeral, though. While his eyes still read blandly he took off his hat quietly inhaling his hairoil and sent his right hand with slow grace over his brow and hair. Very warm morning. Under their dropped lids his eyes found the tiny bow of the leather headband inside his high grade ha. Just there. His right hand came down into the bowl of his hat. His fingers found quickly a card behind the headband and transferred it to his waistcoat pocket.
So warm. His right hand once more more slowly went over again: choice blend, made of the finest Ceylon brands. The far east. Lovely spot it must be: the garden of the world, big lazy leaves to float about on, cactuses, flowery meads, snaky lianas they call them. Wonder is it like that. Those Cinghalese lobbing around in the sun, in dolce far niente. Not doing a hand's turn all day. Sleep six months out of twelve. Too hot to quarrel. Influence of the climate. Lethargy. Flowers of idleness. The air feeds most. Azotes. Hothouse in Botanic gardens. Sensitive plants. Waterlilies. Petals too tired to. Sleeping sickness in the air. Walk on roseleaves. Imagine trying to eat tripe and cowheel. Where was the chap I saw in that picture somewhere? Ah, in the dead sea, floating on his back, reading a book with a parasol open. Couldn't sink if you tried: so thick with salt. Because the weight of the water, no, the weight of the body in the water is equal to the weight of the. Or is it the volume is equal of the weight? It's a law something like that. Vance in High school cracking his fingerjoints, teaching. The college curriculum. Cracking curriculum. What is weight really when you say the weight? Thirtytwo feet per second, per second. Law of falling bodies: per second, per second. They all fall to the ground. The earth. It's the force of gravity of the earth is the weight.
He turned away and sauntered across the road. How did she walk with her sausages? Like that something. As he walked he took the folded Freeman from his sidepocket, unfolded it, rolled it lengthwise in a baton and tapped it at each sauntering step against his trouserleg. Careless air: just drop in to see. Per second, per second. Per second for every second it means. From the curbstone he darted a keen glance through the door of the postoffice. Too late box. Post here. No-one. In.
He handed the card through the brass grill.
-- Are there any letters for me? he asked.
While the postmistress searched a pigeonhole he gazed at the recruiting poster with soldiers of all arms on parade: and held the tip of his baton against his nostrils, smelling freshprinted rag paper. No answer probably. Went too far last time.
The postmistress handed him back through the grill his card with a letter. He thanked and glanced rapidly at the typed envelope.
Henry Flower, Esq.
c/o P. O. Westland Row,
City.
Answered anyhow. He slipped card and letter into his sidepocket, reviewing again the soldiers on parade. Where's old Tweedy's regiment? Castoff soldier. There: bearskin cap and hackle plume. No, he's a grenadier. Pointed cuffs. There he is: royal Dublin fusiliers. Redcoats. Too showy. That must be why the women go after them. Uniform. Easier to enlist and drill. Maud Gonne's letter about taking them off O'Connell street at night: disgrace to our Irish capital. Griffith's paper is on the same tack now: an army rotten with venereal disease: overseas or halfseasover empire. Half baked they look: hypnotised like. Eyes front. Mark time. Table: able. Bed: ed. The King's own. Never see him dressed up as a fireman or a bobby. A mason, yes.
He strolled out of the postoffice and turned to the right. Talk: as if that would mend matters. His hand went into his pocket and a forefinger felt its way under the flap of the envelope, ripping it open in jerks. Women will pay a lot of heed, I don't think. His fingers drew forth the letter and crumpled the envelope in his pocket. Something pinned on: photo perhaps. Hair? No.
M'Coy. Get rid of him quickly. Take me out of my way. Hate company when you.
-- Hello, Bloom. Where are you off to?
-- Hello, M'Coy. Nowhere in particular.
-- How's the body?
-- Fine. How are you?
-- Just keeping alive, M'Coy said.
His eyes on the black tie and clothes he asked with low respect:
-- Is there any... no trouble I hope? I see you're...
-- O no, Mr Bloom said. Poor Dignam, you know. The funeral is today.
-- To be sure, poor fellow. So it is. What time?
A photo it isn't. A badge maybe.
-- E... eleven, Mr Bloom answered.
-- I must try to get out there, M'Coy said. Eleven, is it? I only heard it last night. Who was telling me? Holohan. You know Hoppy?
-- I know.
Mr Bloom gazed across the road at the outsider drawn up before the door of the Grosvenor. The porter hoisted the valise up on the well. She stood still, waiting, while the man, husband, brother, like her, searched his pockets for change. Stylish kind of coat with that roll collar, warm for a day like this, looks like blanketcloth. Careless stand of her with her hands in those patch pockets. Like that haughty creature at the polo match. Women all for caste till you touch the spot. Handsome is and handsome does. Reserved about to yield. The honourable Mrs and Brutus is an honourable man. Possess her once take the starch out of her.
-- I was with Bob Doran, he's on one of his periodical bends, and what do you call him Bantam Lyons. Just down there in Conway's we were.
Doran, Lyons in Conway's. She raised a gloved hand to her hair. In came Hoppy. Having a wet. Drawing back his head and gazing far from beneath his veiled eyelids he saw the bright fawn skin shine in the glare, the braided drums. Clearly I can see today. Moisture about gives long sight perhaps. Talking of one thing or another. Lady's hand. Which side will she get up?
-- And he said: Sad thing about our poor friend Paddy! What Paddy? I said. Poor little Paddy Dignam, he said.
Off to the country: Broadstone probably. High brown boots with laces dangling. Well turned foot. What is he fostering over that change for? Sees me looking. Eye out for other fellow always. Good fallback. Two strings to her bow.
-- Why? I said. What's wrong with him? I said.
Proud: rich: silk stockings.
-- Yes, Mr Bloom said.
He moved a little to the side of M'Coy's talking head. Getting up in a minute.
-- What's wrong with him? he said. He's dead, he said. And, faith, he filled up. Is it Paddy Dignam? I said. I couldn't believe it when I heard it. I was with him no later than Friday last or Thursday was it in the Arch. Yes, he said. He's gone. He died on Monday, poor fellow.
Watch! Watch! Silk flash rich stockings white. Watch!
A heavy tramcar honking its gong slewed between.
Lost it. Curse your noisy pugnose. Feels locked out of it. Paradise and the peri. Always happening like that. The very moment. Girl in Eustace street hallway. Monday was it settling her garter. Her friend covering the display of. Esprit de corps. Well, what are you gaping at?
-- Yes, yes, Mr Bloom said after a dull sigh. Another gone.
-- One of the best, M'Coy said.
The tram passed. They drove off towards the Loop Line bridge, her rich gloved hand on the steel grip. Flicker, flicker: the laceflare of her hat in the sun: flicker, flick.
-- Wife well, I suppose? M'Coy's changed voice said.
-- O yes, Mr Bloom said. Tiptop, thanks.
He unrolled the newspaper baton idly and read idly:
What is home without
Plumtree's Potted Meat?
Incomplete.
With it an abode of bliss.
-- My missus has just got an engagement. At least it's not settled yet.
Valise tack again. By the way no harm. I'm off that, thanks.
Mr Bloom turned his largelidded eyes with unhasty friendliness.
-- My wife too, he said. She's going to sing at a swagger affair in the Ulster hall, Belfast, on the twentyfifth.
-- That so? M'Coy said. Glad to hear that, old man. Who's getting it up?
Mrs Marion Bloom. Not up yet. Queen was in her bedroom eating bread and. No book. Blackened court cards laid along her thigh by sevens. Dark lady and fair man. Cat furry black ball. Torn strip of envelope.
Love's
Old
Sweet
Song
Comes lo-ve's old...
-- It's a kind of a tour, don't you see? Mr Bloom said thoughtfully. Sweet song. There's a committee formed. Part shares and part profits.
M'Coy nodded, picking at his moustache stubble.
-- O well, he said. That's good news.
He moved to go.
-- Well, glad to see you looking fit, he said. Meet you knocking around.
-- Yes, Mr Bloom said.
-- Tell you what, M'Coy said. You might put down my name at the funeral, will you? I'd like to go but I mightn't be able, you see. There's a drowning case at Sandycove may turn up and then the coroner and myself would have to go down if the body is found. You just shove in my name if I'm not there, will you?
-- I'll do that, Mr Bloom said, moving to get off. That'll be all right.
-- Right, M'Coy said brightly. Thanks, old man. I'd go if I possibly could. Well, tolloll. Just C. P. M'Coy will do.
-- That will be done, Mr Bloom answered firmly.
Didn't catch me napping that wheeze. The quick touch. Soft mark. I'd like my job. Valise I have a particular fancy for. Leather. Capped corners, riveted edges, double action lever lock. Bob Cowley lent him his for the Wicklow regatta concert last year and never heard tidings of it from that good day to this.
Mr Bloom, strolling towards Brunswick street, smiled. My missus has just got an. Reedy freckled soprano. Cheeseparing nose. Nice enough in its way: for a little ballad. No guts in it. You and me, don't you know? In the same boat. Softsoaping. Give you the needle that would. Can't he hear the difference? Think he's that way inclined a bit. Against my grain somehow. Thought that Belfast would fetch him. I hope that smallpox up there doesn't get worse. Suppose she wouldn't let herself be vaccinated again. Your wife and my wife.
Wonder is he pimping after me?
Mr Bloom stood at the corner, his eyes wandering over the multicoloured hoardings. Cantrell and Cochrane's Ginger Ale (Aromatic). Clery's summer sale. No, he's going on straight. Hello. Leah tonight: Mrs Bandman Palmer. Like to see her in that again. Hamlet she played last night. Male impersonator. Perhaps he was a woman. Why Ophelia committed suicide? Poor papa! How he used to talk about Kate Bateman in that! Outside the Adelphi in London waited all the afternoon to get in. Year before I was born that was: sixtyfive. And Ristori in Vienna. What is this the right name is? By Mosenthal it is. Rachel, is it? No. The scene he was always talking about where the old blind Abraham recognises the voice and puts his fingers on his face.
-- Nathan's voice! His son's voice! I hear the voice of Nathan who left his father to die of grief and misery in my arms, who left the house of his father and left the God of his father.
Every word is so deep, Leopold.
Poor papa! Poor man! I'm glad I didn't go into the room to look at his face. That day! O dear! O dear! Ffoo! Well, perhaps it was the best for him.
Mr Bloom went round the corner and passed the drooping nags of the hazard. No use thinking of it any more. Nosebag time. Wish I hadn't met that M'Coy fellow.
He came nearer and heard a crunching of gilded oats, the gently champing teeth. Their full buck eyes regarded him as he went by, amid the sweet oaten reek of horsepiss. Their Eldorado. Poor jugginses! Damn all they know or care about anything with their long noses stuck in nosebags. Too full for words. Still they get their feed all right and their doss. Gelded too: a stump of black guttapercha wagging limp between their haunches. Might be happy all the same that way. Good poor brutes they look. Still their neigh can be very irritating.
He drew the letter from his pocket and folded it into the newspaper he carried. Might just walk into her here. The lane is safer.
He passed the cabman's shelter. Curious the life of drifting cabbies, all weathers, all places, time or setdown, no will of their own. Voglio e non. Like to give them an odd cigarette. Sociable. Shout a few flying syllables as they pass. He hummed:
La ci darem la mano
La la lala la la.
He turned into Cumberland street and, going on some paces, halted in the lee of the station wall. No-one. Meade's timberyard. Piled balks. Ruins and tenements. With careful tread he passed over a hopscotch court with its forgotten pickeystone. Not a sinner. Near the timberyard a squatted child at marbles, alone, shooting the taw with a cunnythumb. A wise tabby, a blinking sphinx, watched from her warm sill. Pity to disturb them. Mohammed cut a piece out of his mantel not to wake her. Open it. And once I played marbles when I went to that old dame's school. She liked mignonette. Mrs Ellis's. And Mr? He opened the letter within the newspaper.
A flower. I think it's a. A yellow flower with flattened petals. Not annoyed then? What does she say?
Dear Henry,
I got your last letter to me and thank you very much for it. I am sorry you did not like my last letter. Why did you enclose the stamps? I am awfully angry with you. I do wish I could punish you for that. I called you naughty boy because I do not like that other world. Please tell me what is the real meaning of that word. Are you not happy in your home you poor little naughty boy? I do wish I could do something for you. Please tell me what you think of poor me. I often think of the beautiful name you have. Dear Henry, when will we meet? I think of you so often you have no idea. I have never felt myself so much drawn to a man as you. I feel so bad about. Please write me a long letter and tell me more. Remember if you do not I will punish you. So now you know what I will do to you, you naughty boy, if you do not write. O how I long to meet you. Henry dear, do not deny my request before my patience are exhausted. Then I will tell you all. Goodbye now, naughty darling. I have such a bad headache today and write by return to your longing
MARTHA.
P.S. Do tell me what kind of perfume does your wife use. I want to know.
He tore the flower gravely from its pinhold smelt its almost no smell and placed it in his heart pocket. Language of flowers. They like it because no-one can hear. Or a poison bouquet to strike him down. Then, walking slowly forward, he read the letter again, murmuring here and there a word. Angry tulips with you darling manflower punish your cactus if you don't please poor forgetmenot how I long violets to dear roses when we soon anemone meet all naughty nightstalk wife Martha's perfume. Having read it all he took it from the newspaper and put it back in his sidepocket.
Weak joy opened his lips. Changed since the first letter. Wonder did she write it herself. Doing the indignant: a girl of good family like me, respectable character. Could meet one Sunday after the rosary. Thank you: not having any. Usual love scrimmage. Then running round corners. Bad as a row with Molly. Cigar has a cooling effect. Narcotic. Go further next time. Naughty boy: punish: afraid of-words, of course. Brutal, why not? Try it anyhow. A bit at a time.
Fingering still the letter in his pocket he drew the pin out of it. Common pin, eh? He threw it on the road. Out of her clothes somewhere: pinned together. Queer the number of pins they always have. No roses without thorns.
Flat Dublin voices bawled in his head. Those two sluts that night in the Coombe, linked together in the rain.
O, Mary lost the pin of her drawers.
She didn't know what to do
To keep it up
To keep it up.
It? Them. Such a bad headache. Has her roses probably. Or sitting all day typing. Eyefocus bad for stomach nerves. What perfume does your wife use? Now could you make out a thing like that?
To keep it up.
Martha, Mary. I saw that picture somewhere I forget now old master or faked for money. He is sitting in their house, talking. Mysterious. Also the two sluts in the Coombe would listen.
To keep it up.
Nice kind of evening feeling. No more wandering about. Just loll there: quiet dusk: let everything rip. Forget. Tell about places you have been, strange customs. The other one, jar on her head, was getting the supper: fruit, olives, lovely cool water out of the well stonecold like the hole in the wall at Ashtown. Must carry a paper goblet next time I go to the trottingmatches. She listens with big dark soft eyes. Tell her: more and more: all. Then a sigh: silence. Long long long rest.
Going under the railway arch he took out the envelope, tore it swiftly in shreds and scattered them towards the road. The shreds fluttered away, sank in the dank air: a white flutter then all sank.
Henry Flower. You could tear up a cheque for a hundred pounds in the same way. Simple bit of paper. Lord Iveagh once cashed a sevenfigure cheque for a million in the bank of Ireland. Shows you the money to be made out of porter. Still the other brother lord Ardilaun has to change his shirt four times a day, they say. Skin breeds lice or vermin. A million pounds, wait a moment. Twopence a pint, fourpence a quart, eightpence a gallon of porter, no, one and fourpence a gallon of porter. One and four into twenty: fifteen about. Yes, exactly. Fifteen millions of barrels of porter.
What am I saying barrels? Gallons. About a million barrels all the same.
An incoming train clanked heavily above his head, coach after coach. Barrels bumped in his head: dull porter slopped and churned inside. The bungholes sprang open and a huge dull flood leaked out, flowing together, winding through mudflats all over the level land, a lazy pooling swirl of liquor bearing along wideleaved flowers of its froth.
He had reached the open backdoor of All Hallows. Stepping into the porch he doffed his hat, took the card from his pocket and tucked it again behind the leather headband. Damn it. I might have tried to work M'Coy for a pass to Mullingar.
Same notice on the door. Sermon by the very reverend John Conmee S. J. on saint Peter Claver and the African mission. Save China's millions. Wonder how they explain it to the heathen Chinee. Prefer an ounce of opium. Celestials. Rank heresy for them. Prayers for the conversion of Gladstone they had too when he was almost unconscious. The protestants the same. Convert Dr. William J. Walsh D. D. to the true religion. Buddha their god lying on his side in the museum. Taking it easy with hand under his cheek. Josssticks burning. Not like Ecce Homo. Crown of thorns and cross. Clever idea Saint Patrick the shamrock. Chopsticks? Conmee: Martin Cunningham knows him: distinguished looking. Sorry I didn't work him about getting Molly into the choir instead of that Father Farley who looked a fool but wasn't. They're taught that. He's not going out in bluey specs with the sweat rolling off him to baptise blacks, is he? The glasses would take their fancy, flashing. Like to see them sitting round in a ring with blub lips, entranced, listening. Still life. Lap it up like milk, I suppose.
The cold smell of sacred stone called him. He trod the worn steps, pushed the swingdoor and entered softly by the rere.
Something going on: some sodality. Pity so empty. Nice discreet place to be next some girl. Who is my neighbour? Jammed by the hour to slow music. That woman at midnight mass. Seventh heaven. Women knelt in the benches with crimson halters round their necks, heads bowed. A batch knelt at the altar rails. The priest went along by them, murmuring, holding the thing in his hands. He stopped at each, took out a communion, shook a drop or two (are they in water?) off it and put it neatly into her mouth. Her hat and head sank. Then the next one: a small old woman. The priest bent down to put it into her mouth, murmuring all the time. Latin. The next one. Shut your eyes and open your mouth. What? Corpus. Body. Corpse. Good idea the Latin. Stupefies them first. Hospice for the dying. They don't seem to chew it; only swallow it down. Rum idea: eating bits of a corpse why the cannibals cotton to it.
He stood aside watching their blind masks pass down the aisle, one by one, and seek their places. He approached a bench and seated himself in its corner, nursing his hat and newspaper. These pots we have to wear. We ought to have hats modelled on our heads. They were about him here and there, with heads still bowed in their crimson halters, waiting for it to melt in their stomachs. Something like those mazzoth: it's that sort of bread: unleavened shewbread. Look at them. Now I bet it makes them feel happy. Lollipop. It does. Yes, bread of angels it's called. There's a big idea behind it, kind of kingdom of God is within you feel. First communicants. Hokypoky penny a lump. Then feel all like one family party, same in the theatre, all in the same swim. They do. I'm sure of that. Not so lonely. In our confraternity. Then come out a big spreeish. Let off steam. Thing is if you really believe in it. Lourdes cure, waters of oblivion, and the Knock apparition, statues bleeding. Old fellow asleep near that confession box. Hence those snores. Blind faith. Safe in the arms of Kingdom come. Lulls all pain. Wake this time next year.
He saw the priest stow the communion cup away, well in, and kneel an instant before it, showing a large grey bootsole from under the lace affair he had on. Suppose he lost the pin of his. He wouldn't know what to do to. Bald spot behind. Letters on his back I. N. R. I.? No: I. H. S. Molly told me one time I asked her. I have sinned: or no: I have suffered, it is. And the other one? Iron nails ran in.
Meet one Sunday after the rosary. Do not deny my request. Turn up with a veil and black bag. Dusk and the light behind her. She might be here with a ribbon round her neck and do the other thing all the same on the sly. Their character. That fellow that turned queen's evidence on the invincibles he used to receive the, Carey was his name, the communion every morning. This very church. Peter Carey. No, Peter Claver I am thinking of. Denis Carey. And just imagine that. Wife and six children at home. And plotting that murder all the time. Those crawthumpers, now that's a good name for them, there's always something shiftylooking about them. They're not straight men of business either. O no she's not here: the flower: no, no. By the way did I tear up that envelope? Yes: under the bridge.
The priest was rinsing out the chalice: then he tossed off the dregs smartly. Wine. Makes it more aristocratic than for example if he drank what they are used to Guinness's porter or some temperance beverage Wheatley's Dublin hop bitters or Cantrell and Cochrane's ginger ale (aromatic). Doesn't give them any of it: shew wine: only the other. Cold comfort. Pious fraud but quite right: otherwise they'd have one old booser worse than another coming along, cadging for a drink. Queer the whole atmosphere of the. Quite right. Perfectly right that is.
Mr Bloom looked back towards the choir. Not going to be any music. Pity. Who has the organ here I wonder? Old Glynn he knew how to make that instrument talk, the vibrato: fifty pounds a year they say he had in Gardiner street. Molly was in fine voice that day, the Stabat Mater of Rossini. Father Bernard Vaughan's sermon first. Christ or Pilate? Christ, but don't keep us all night over it. Music they wanted. Footdrill stopped. Could hear a pin drop. I told her to pitch her voice against that corner. I could feel the thrill in the air, the full, the people looking up:
Quis est homo!
Some of that old sacred music is splendid. Mercadante: seven last words. Mozart's twelfth mass: the Gloria in that. Those old popes were keen on music, on art and statues and pictures of all kinds. Palestrina for example too. They had a gay old time while it lasted. Healthy too chanting, regular hours, then brew liqueurs. Benedictine. Green Chartreuse. Still, having eunuchs in their choir that was coming it a bit thick. What kind of voice is it? Must be curious to hear after their own strong basses. Connoisseurs. Suppose they wouldn't feel anything after. Kind of a placid. No worry. Fall into flesh don't they? Gluttons, tall, long legs. Who knows? Eunuch. One way out of it.
He saw the priest bend down and kiss the altar and then face about and bless all the people. All crossed themselves and stood up. Mr Bloom glanced about him and then stood up, looking over the risen hats. Stand up at the gospel of course. Then all settled down on their knees again and he sat back quietly in his bench. The priest came down from the altar, holding the thing out from him, and he and the massboy answered each other in Latin. Then the priest knelt down and began to read off a card:
-- O God, our refuge and our strength.
Mr Bloom put his face forward to catch the words. English. Throw them the bone. I remember slightly. How long since your last mass? Gloria and immaculate virgin. Joseph her spouse. Peter and Paul. More interesting if you understood what it was all about. Wonderful organisation certainly, goes like clockwork. Confession. Everyone wants to. Then I will tell you all. Penance. Punish me, please. Great weapon In their hands. More than doctor or solicitor. Woman dying to. And I schschschschschsch. And did you chachachachacha? And why did you? Look down at her ring to find an excuse. Whispering gallery walls have ears. Husband learn to his surprise. God's little joke. Then out she comes. Repentance skindeep. Lovely shame. Pray at an altar. Hail Mary and Holy Mary. Flowers, incense, candles melting. Hide her blushes. Salvation army blatant imitation. Reformed prostitute will address the meeting. How I found the Lord. Squareheaded chaps those must be in Rome: they work the whole show. And don't they rake in the money too? Bequests also: to the P. P. for the time being in his absolute discretion. Masses for the repose of my soul to be said publicly with open doors. Monasteries and convents. The priest in the Fermanagh will case in the witness box. No browbeating him. He had his answer pat for everything. Liberty and exaltation of our holy mother the church. The doctors of the church: they mapped out the whole theology of it.
The priest prayed:
-- Blessed Michael, archangel, defend us in the hour of conflict. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil (may God restrain him, we humbly pray): and do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God thrust Satan down to hell and with him those other wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls.
The priest and the massboy stood up and walked off. All over. The women remained behind: thanksgiving.
Better be shoving along. Brother Buzz. Come around with the plate perhaps. Pay your Easter duty.
He stood up. Hello. Were those two buttons of my waistcoat open all the time. Women enjoy it. Annoyed if you don't. Why-didn't you tell me before. Never tell you. But we. Excuse, miss, there's a (whh!) just a (whh!) fluff. Or their skirt behind, placket unhooked. Glimpses of the moon. Still like you better untidy. Good job it wasn't farther south. He passed, discreetly buttoning, down the aisle and out through the main door into the light. He stood a moment unseeing by the cold black marble bowl while before him and behind two worshippers dipped furtive hands in the low tide of holy water. Trams: a car of Prescott's dyeworks: a widow in her weeds. Notice because I'm in mourning myself. He covered himself. How goes the time? Quarter past. Time enough yet. Better get that lotion made up. Where is this? Ah yes, the last time. Sweny's in Lincoln place. Chemists rarely move. Their green and gold beaconjars too heavy to stir. Hamilton Long's, founded in the year of the flood. Huguenot churchyard near there. Visit some day.
He walked southward along Westland row. But the recipe is in the other trousers. O, and I forgot that latchkey too. Bore this funeral affair. O well, poor fellow, it's not his fault. When was it I got it made up last? Wait. I changed a sovereign I remember. First of the month it must have been or the second. O he can look it up in the prescriptions book.
The chemist turned back page after page. Sandy shrivelled smell he seems to have. Shrunken skull. And old. Quest for the philosopher's stone. The alchemists. Drugs age you after mental excitement. Lethargy then. Why? Reaction. A lifetime in a night. Gradually changes your character. Living all the day among herbs, ointments, disinfectants. All his alabaster lilypots. Mortar and pestle. Aq. Dist. Fol. Laur. Te Virid. Smell almost cure you like the dentist's doorbell. Doctor whack. He ought to physic himself a bit. Electuary or emulsion. The first fellow that picked an herb to cure himself had a bit of pluck. Simples. Want to be careful. Enough stuff here to chloroform you. Test: turns blue litmus paper red. Chloroform. Overdose of laudanum. Sleeping draughts. Lovephiltres. Paragoric poppysyrup bad for cough. Clogs the pores or the phlegm. Poisons the only cures. Remedy where you least expect it. Clever of nature.
-- About a fortnight ago, sir?
-- Yes, Mr Bloom said.
He waited by the counter, inhaling the keen reek of drugs, the dusty dry smell of sponges and loofahs. Lot of time taken up telling your aches and pains.
-- Sweet almond oil and tincture of benzoin, Mr Bloom said, and then orangeflower water...
It certainly did make her skin so delicate white like wax.
-- And white wax also, he said.
Brings out the darkness of her eyes. Looking at me, the sheet up to her eyes, Spanish, smelling herself, when I was fixing the links in my cuffs. Those homely recipes are often the best: strawberries for the teeth: nettles and rainwater: oatmeal they say steeped in buttermilk. Skinfood. One of the old queen's sons, duke of Albany was it? had only one skin. Leopold yes. Three we have. Warts, bunions and pimples to make it worse. But you want a perfume too. What perfume does your? Peau d'Espagne. That orangeflower. Pure curd soap. Water is so fresh. Nice smell these soaps have. Time to get a bath round the corner. Hammam. Turkish. Massage. Dirt gets rolled up in your navel. Nicer if a nice girl did it. Also I think I. Yes I. Do it in the bath. Curious longing I. Water to water. Combine business with pleasure. Pity no time for massage. Feel fresh then all day. Funeral be rather glum.
-- Yes, sir, the chemist said. That was two and nine. Have you brought a bottle?
-- No, Mr Bloom said. Make it up, please. I'll call later in the day and I'll take one of those soaps. How much are they?
-- Fourpence, sir.
Mr Bloom raised a cake to his nostrils. Sweet lemony wax.
-- I'll take this one, he said. That makes three and a penny.
-- Yes, sir, the chemist said. You can pay all together, sir, when you come back.
-- Good, Mr Bloom said.
He strolled out of the shop,
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5、Chapter 5 Lotus Eaters

BY LORRIES ALONG SIR JOHN ROGERSON'S QUAY MR BLOOM WALKED soberly, past Windmill lane, Leask's the linseed crusher's, the postal telegraph office. Could have given that address too. And past the sailors' home. He turned from the morning noises of the quayside and walked through Lime street. By Brady's cottages a boy for the skins lolled, his bucket of offal linked, smoking a chewed fagbutt. A smaller girl with scars of eczema on her forehead eyed him, listlessly holding her battered caskhoop. Tell him if he smokes he won't grow. O let him! His life isn't such a bed of roses! Waiting outside pubs to bring da home. Come home to ma, da. Slack hour: won't be many there. He crossed Townsend street, passed the frowning face of Bethel. El, yes: house of: Aleph, Beth. And past Nichols' the undertaker's. At eleven it is. Time enough. Daresay Corny Kelleher bagged that job for O'Neill's. Singing with his eyes shut. Corney. Met her once in the park. In the dark. What a lark. Police tout. Her name and address she then told with my tooraloom tooraloom tay. O, surely he bagged it. Bury him cheap in a whatyoumaycall. With my tooraloom, tooraloom, tooraloom, tooraloom.
In Westland row he halted before the window of the Belfast and Oriental Tea Company and read the legends of lead-papered packets: choice blend, finest quality, family tea. Rather warm. Tea. Must get some from Tom Kernan. Couldn't ask him at a funeral, though. While his eyes still read blandly he took off his hat quietly inhaling his hairoil and sent his right hand with slow grace over his brow and hair. Very warm morning. Under their dropped lids his eyes found the tiny bow of the leather headband inside his high grade ha. Just there. His right hand came down into the bowl of his hat. His fingers found quickly a card behind the headband and transferred it to his waistcoat pocket.
So warm. His right hand once more more slowly went over again: choice blend, made of the finest Ceylon brands. The far east. Lovely spot it must be: the garden of the world, big lazy leaves to float about on, cactuses, flowery meads, snaky lianas they call them. Wonder is it like that. Those Cinghalese lobbing around in the sun, in dolce far niente. Not doing a hand's turn all day. Sleep six months out of twelve. Too hot to quarrel. Influence of the climate. Lethargy. Flowers of idleness. The air feeds most. Azotes. Hothouse in Botanic gardens. Sensitive plants. Waterlilies. Petals too tired to. Sleeping sickness in the air. Walk on roseleaves. Imagine trying to eat tripe and cowheel. Where was the chap I saw in that picture somewhere? Ah, in the dead sea, floating on his back, reading a book with a parasol open. Couldn't sink if you tried: so thick with salt. Because the weight of the water, no, the weight of the body in the water is equal to the weight of the. Or is it the volume is equal of the weight? It's a law something like that. Vance in High school cracking his fingerjoints, teaching. The college curriculum. Cracking curriculum. What is weight really when you say the weight? Thirtytwo feet per second, per second. Law of falling bodies: per second, per second. They all fall to the ground. The earth. It's the force of gravity of the earth is the weight.
He turned away and sauntered across the road. How did she walk with her sausages? Like that something. As he walked he took the folded Freeman from his sidepocket, unfolded it, rolled it lengthwise in a baton and tapped it at each sauntering step against his trouserleg. Careless air: just drop in to see. Per second, per second. Per second for every second it means. From the curbstone he darted a keen glance through the door of the postoffice. Too late box. Post here. No-one. In.
He handed the card through the brass grill.
-- Are there any letters for me? he asked.
While the postmistress searched a pigeonhole he gazed at the recruiting poster with soldiers of all arms on parade: and held the tip of his baton against his nostrils, smelling freshprinted rag paper. No answer probably. Went too far last time.
The postmistress handed him back through the grill his card with a letter. He thanked and glanced rapidly at the typed envelope.
Henry Flower, Esq.
c/o P. O. Westland Row,
City.
Answered anyhow. He slipped card and letter into his sidepocket, reviewing again the soldiers on parade. Where's old Tweedy's regiment? Castoff soldier. There: bearskin cap and hackle plume. No, he's a grenadier. Pointed cuffs. There he is: royal Dublin fusiliers. Redcoats. Too showy. That must be why the women go after them. Uniform. Easier to enlist and drill. Maud Gonne's letter about taking them off O'Connell street at night: disgrace to our Irish capital. Griffith's paper is on the same tack now: an army rotten with venereal disease: overseas or halfseasover empire. Half baked they look: hypnotised like. Eyes front. Mark time. Table: able. Bed: ed. The King's own. Never see him dressed up as a fireman or a bobby. A mason, yes.
He strolled out of the postoffice and turned to the right. Talk: as if that would mend matters. His hand went into his pocket and a forefinger felt its way under the flap of the envelope, ripping it open in jerks. Women will pay a lot of heed, I don't think. His fingers drew forth the letter and crumpled the envelope in his pocket. Something pinned on: photo perhaps. Hair? No.
M'Coy. Get rid of him quickly. Take me out of my way. Hate company when you.
-- Hello, Bloom. Where are you off to?
-- Hello, M'Coy. Nowhere in particular.
-- How's the body?
-- Fine. How are you?
-- Just keeping alive, M'Coy said.
His eyes on the black tie and clothes he asked with low respect:
-- Is there any... no trouble I hope? I see you're...
-- O no, Mr Bloom said. Poor Dignam, you know. The funeral is today.
-- To be sure, poor fellow. So it is. What time?
A photo it isn't. A badge maybe.
-- E... eleven, Mr Bloom answered.
-- I must try to get out there, M'Coy said. Eleven, is it? I only heard it last night. Who was telling me? Holohan. You know Hoppy?
-- I know.
Mr Bloom gazed across the road at the outsider drawn up before the door of the Grosvenor. The porter hoisted the valise up on the well. She stood still, waiting, while the man, husband, brother, like her, searched his pockets for change. Stylish kind of coat with that roll collar, warm for a day like this, looks like blanketcloth. Careless stand of her with her hands in those patch pockets. Like that haughty creature at the polo match. Women all for caste till you touch the spot. Handsome is and handsome does. Reserved about to yield. The honourable Mrs and Brutus is an honourable man. Possess her once take the starch out of her.
-- I was with Bob Doran, he's on one of his periodical bends, and what do you call him Bantam Lyons. Just down there in Conway's we were.
Doran, Lyons in Conway's. She raised a gloved hand to her hair. In came Hoppy. Having a wet. Drawing back his head and gazing far from beneath his veiled eyelids he saw the bright fawn skin shine in the glare, the braided drums. Clearly I can see today. Moisture about gives long sight perhaps. Talking of one thing or another. Lady's hand. Which side will she get up?
-- And he said: Sad thing about our poor friend Paddy! What Paddy? I said. Poor little Paddy Dignam, he said.
Off to the country: Broadstone probably. High brown boots with laces dangling. Well turned foot. What is he fostering over that change for? Sees me looking. Eye out for other fellow always. Good fallback. Two strings to her bow.
-- Why? I said. What's wrong with him? I said.
Proud: rich: silk stockings.
-- Yes, Mr Bloom said.
He moved a little to the side of M'Coy's talking head. Getting up in a minute.
-- What's wrong with him? he said. He's dead, he said. And, faith, he filled up. Is it Paddy Dignam? I said. I couldn't believe it when I heard it. I was with him no later than Friday last or Thursday was it in the Arch. Yes, he said. He's gone. He died on Monday, poor fellow.
Watch! Watch! Silk flash rich stockings white. Watch!
A heavy tramcar honking its gong slewed between.
Lost it. Curse your noisy pugnose. Feels locked out of it. Paradise and the peri. Always happening like that. The very moment. Girl in Eustace street hallway. Monday was it settling her garter. Her friend covering the display of. Esprit de corps. Well, what are you gaping at?
-- Yes, yes, Mr Bloom said after a dull sigh. Another gone.
-- One of the best, M'Coy said.
The tram passed. They drove off towards the Loop Line bridge, her rich gloved hand on the steel grip. Flicker, flicker: the laceflare of her hat in the sun: flicker, flick.
-- Wife well, I suppose? M'Coy's changed voice said.
-- O yes, Mr Bloom said. Tiptop, thanks.
He unrolled the newspaper baton idly and read idly:
What is home without
Plumtree's Potted Meat?
Incomplete.
With it an abode of bliss.
-- My missus has just got an engagement. At least it's not settled yet.
Valise tack again. By the way no harm. I'm off that, thanks.
Mr Bloom turned his largelidded eyes with unhasty friendliness.
-- My wife too, he said. She's going to sing at a swagger affair in the Ulster hall, Belfast, on the twentyfifth.
-- That so? M'Coy said. Glad to hear that, old man. Who's getting it up?
Mrs Marion Bloom. Not up yet. Queen was in her bedroom eating bread and. No book. Blackened court cards laid along her thigh by sevens. Dark lady and fair man. Cat furry black ball. Torn strip of envelope.
Love's
Old
Sweet
Song
Comes lo-ve's old...
-- It's a kind of a tour, don't you see? Mr Bloom said thoughtfully. Sweet song. There's a committee formed. Part shares and part profits.
M'Coy nodded, picking at his moustache stubble.
-- O well, he said. That's good news.
He moved to go.
-- Well, glad to see you looking fit, he said. Meet you knocking around.
-- Yes, Mr Bloom said.
-- Tell you what, M'Coy said. You might put down my name at the funeral, will you? I'd like to go but I mightn't be able, you see. There's a drowning case at Sandycove may turn up and then the coroner and myself would have to go down if the body is found. You just shove in my name if I'm not there, will you?
-- I'll do that, Mr Bloom said, moving to get off. That'll be all right.
-- Right, M'Coy said brightly. Thanks, old man. I'd go if I possibly could. Well, tolloll. Just C. P. M'Coy will do.
-- That will be done, Mr Bloom answered firmly.
Didn't catch me napping that wheeze. The quick touch. Soft mark. I'd like my job. Valise I have a particular fancy for. Leather. Capped corners, riveted edges, double action lever lock. Bob Cowley lent him his for the Wicklow regatta concert last year and never heard tidings of it from that good day to this.
Mr Bloom, strolling towards Brunswick street, smiled. My missus has just got an. Reedy freckled soprano. Cheeseparing nose. Nice enough in its way: for a little ballad. No guts in it. You and me, don't you know? In the same boat. Softsoaping. Give you the needle that would. Can't he hear the difference? Think he's that way inclined a bit. Against my grain somehow. Thought that Belfast would fetch him. I hope that smallpox up there doesn't get worse. Suppose she wouldn't let herself be vaccinated again. Your wife and my wife.
Wonder is he pimping after me?
Mr Bloom stood at the corner, his eyes wandering over the multicoloured hoardings. Cantrell and Cochrane's Ginger Ale (Aromatic). Clery's summer sale. No, he's going on straight. Hello. Leah tonight: Mrs Bandman Palmer. Like to see her in that again. Hamlet she played last night. Male impersonator. Perhaps he was a woman. Why Ophelia committed suicide? Poor papa! How he used to talk about Kate Bateman in that! Outside the Adelphi in London waited all the afternoon to get in. Year before I was born that was: sixtyfive. And Ristori in Vienna. What is this the right name is? By Mosenthal it is. Rachel, is it? No. The scene he was always talking about where the old blind Abraham recognises the voice and puts his fingers on his face.
-- Nathan's voice! His son's voice! I hear the voice of Nathan who left his father to die of grief and misery in my arms, who left the house of his father and left the God of his father.
Every word is so deep, Leopold.
Poor papa! Poor man! I'm glad I didn't go into the room to look at his face. That day! O dear! O dear! Ffoo! Well, perhaps it was the best for him.
Mr Bloom went round the corner and passed the drooping nags of the hazard. No use thinking of it any more. Nosebag time. Wish I hadn't met that M'Coy fellow.
He came nearer and heard a crunching of gilded oats, the gently champing teeth. Their full buck eyes regarded him as he went by, amid the sweet oaten reek of horsepiss. Their Eldorado. Poor jugginses! Damn all they know or care about anything with their long noses stuck in nosebags. Too full for words. Still they get their feed all right and their doss. Gelded too: a stump of black guttapercha wagging limp between their haunches. Might be happy all the same that way. Good poor brutes they look. Still their neigh can be very irritating.
He drew the letter from his pocket and folded it into the newspaper he carried. Might just walk into her here. The lane is safer.
He passed the cabman's shelter. Curious the life of drifting cabbies, all weathers, all places, time or setdown, no will of their own. Voglio e non. Like to give them an odd cigarette. Sociable. Shout a few flying syllables as they pass. He hummed:
La ci darem la mano
La la lala la la.
He turned into Cumberland street and, going on some paces, halted in the lee of the station wall. No-one. Meade's timberyard. Piled balks. Ruins and tenements. With careful tread he passed over a hopscotch court with its forgotten pickeystone. Not a sinner. Near the timberyard a squatted child at marbles, alone, shooting the taw with a cunnythumb. A wise tabby, a blinking sphinx, watched from her warm sill. Pity to disturb them. Mohammed cut a piece out of his mantel not to wake her. Open it. And once I played marbles when I went to that old dame's school. She liked mignonette. Mrs Ellis's. And Mr? He opened the letter within the newspaper.
A flower. I think it's a. A yellow flower with flattened petals. Not annoyed then? What does she say?
Dear Henry,
I got your last letter to me and thank you very much for it. I am sorry you did not like my last letter. Why did you enclose the stamps? I am awfully angry with you. I do wish I could punish you for that. I called you naughty boy because I do not like that other world. Please tell me what is the real meaning of that word. Are you not happy in your home you poor little naughty boy? I do wish I could do something for you. Please tell me what you think of poor me. I often think of the beautiful name you have. Dear Henry, when will we meet? I think of you so often you have no idea. I have never felt myself so much drawn to a man as you. I feel so bad about. Please write me a long letter and tell me more. Remember if you do not I will punish you. So now you know what I will do to you, you naughty boy, if you do not write. O how I long to meet you. Henry dear, do not deny my request before my patience are exhausted. Then I will tell you all. Goodbye now, naughty darling. I have such a bad headache today and write by return to your longing
MARTHA.
P.S. Do tell me what kind of perfume does your wife use. I want to know.
He tore the flower gravely from its pinhold smelt its almost no smell and placed it in his heart pocket. Language of flowers. They like it because no-one can hear. Or a poison bouquet to strike him down. Then, walking slowly forward, he read the letter again, murmuring here and there a word. Angry tulips with you darling manflower punish your cactus if you don't please poor forgetmenot how I long violets to dear roses when we soon anemone meet all naughty nightstalk wife Martha's perfume. Having read it all he took it from the newspaper and put it back in his sidepocket.
Weak joy opened his lips. Changed since the first letter. Wonder did she write it herself. Doing the indignant: a girl of good family like me, respectable character. Could meet one Sunday after the rosary. Thank you: not having any. Usual love scrimmage. Then running round corners. Bad as a row with Molly. Cigar has a cooling effect. Narcotic. Go further next time. Naughty boy: punish: afraid of-words, of course. Brutal, why not? Try it anyhow. A bit at a time.
Fingering still the letter in his pocket he drew the pin out of it. Common pin, eh? He threw it on the road. Out of her clothes somewhere: pinned together. Queer the number of pins they always have. No roses without thorns.
Flat Dublin voices bawled in his head. Those two sluts that night in the Coombe, linked together in the rain.
O, Mary lost the pin of her drawers.
She didn't know what to do
To keep it up
To keep it up.
It? Them. Such a bad headache. Has her roses probably. Or sitting all day typing. Eyefocus bad for stomach nerves. What perfume does your wife use? Now could you make out a thing like that?
To keep it up.
Martha, Mary. I saw that picture somewhere I forget now old master or faked for money. He is sitting in their house, talking. Mysterious. Also the two sluts in the Coombe would listen.
To keep it up.
Nice kind of evening feeling. No more wandering about. Just loll there: quiet dusk: let everything rip. Forget. Tell about places you have been, strange customs. The other one, jar on her head, was getting the supper: fruit, olives, lovely cool water out of the well stonecold like the hole in the wall at Ashtown. Must carry a paper goblet next time I go to the trottingmatches. She listens with big dark soft eyes. Tell her: more and more: all. Then a sigh: silence. Long long long rest.
Going under the railway arch he took out the envelope, tore it swiftly in shreds and scattered them towards the road. The shreds fluttered away, sank in the dank air: a white flutter then all sank.
Henry Flower. You could tear up a cheque for a hundred pounds in the same way. Simple bit of paper. Lord Iveagh once cashed a sevenfigure cheque for a million in the bank of Ireland. Shows you the money to be made out of porter. Still the other brother lord Ardilaun has to change his shirt four times a day, they say. Skin breeds lice or vermin. A million pounds, wait a moment. Twopence a pint, fourpence a quart, eightpence a gallon of porter, no, one and fourpence a gallon of porter. One and four into twenty: fifteen about. Yes, exactly. Fifteen millions of barrels of porter.
What am I saying barrels? Gallons. About a million barrels all the same.
An incoming train clanked heavily above his head, coach after coach. Barrels bumped in his head: dull porter slopped and churned inside. The bungholes sprang open and a huge dull flood leaked out, flowing together, winding through mudflats all over the level land, a lazy pooling swirl of liquor bearing along wideleaved flowers of its froth.
He had reached the open backdoor of All Hallows. Stepping into the porch he doffed his hat, took the card from his pocket and tucked it again behind the leather headband. Damn it. I might have tried to work M'Coy for a pass to Mullingar.
Same notice on the door. Sermon by the very reverend John Conmee S. J. on saint Peter Claver and the African mission. Save China's millions. Wonder how they explain it to the heathen Chinee. Prefer an ounce of opium. Celestials. Rank heresy for them. Prayers for the conversion of Gladstone they had too when he was almost unconscious. The protestants the same. Convert Dr. William J. Walsh D. D. to the true religion. Buddha their god lying on his side in the museum. Taking it easy with hand under his cheek. Josssticks burning. Not like Ecce Homo. Crown of thorns and cross. Clever idea Saint Patrick the shamrock. Chopsticks? Conmee: Martin Cunningham knows him: distinguished looking. Sorry I didn't work him about getting Molly into the choir instead of that Father Farley who looked a fool but wasn't. They're taught that. He's not going out in bluey specs with the sweat rolling off him to baptise blacks, is he? The glasses would take their fancy, flashing. Like to see them sitting round in a ring with blub lips, entranced, listening. Still life. Lap it up like milk, I suppose.
The cold smell of sacred stone called him. He trod the worn steps, pushed the swingdoor and entered softly by the rere.
Something going on: some sodality. Pity so empty. Nice discreet place to be next some girl. Who is my neighbour? Jammed by the hour to slow music. That woman at midnight mass. Seventh heaven. Women knelt in the benches with crimson halters round their necks, heads bowed. A batch knelt at the altar rails. The priest went along by them, murmuring, holding the thing in his hands. He stopped at each, took out a communion, shook a drop or two (are they in water?) off it and put it neatly into her mouth. Her hat and head sank. Then the next one: a small old woman. The priest bent down to put it into her mouth, murmuring all the time. Latin. The next one. Shut your eyes and open your mouth. What? Corpus. Body. Corpse. Good idea the Latin. Stupefies them first. Hospice for the dying. They don't seem to chew it; only swallow it down. Rum idea: eating bits of a corpse why the cannibals cotton to it.
He stood aside watching their blind masks pass down the aisle, one by one, and seek their places. He approached a bench and seated himself in its corner, nursing his hat and newspaper. These pots we have to wear. We ought to have hats modelled on our heads. They were about him here and there, with heads still bowed in their crimson halters, waiting for it to melt in their stomachs. Something like those mazzoth: it's that sort of bread: unleavened shewbread. Look at them. Now I bet it makes them feel happy. Lollipop. It does. Yes, bread of angels it's called. There's a big idea behind it, kind of kingdom of God is within you feel. First communicants. Hokypoky penny a lump. Then feel all like one family party, same in the theatre, all in the same swim. They do. I'm sure of that. Not so lonely. In our confraternity. Then come out a big spreeish. Let off steam. Thing is if you really believe in it. Lourdes cure, waters of oblivion, and the Knock apparition, statues bleeding. Old fellow asleep near that confession box. Hence those snores. Blind faith. Safe in the arms of Kingdom come. Lulls all pain. Wake this time next year.
He saw the priest stow the communion cup away, well in, and kneel an instant before it, showing a large grey bootsole from under the lace affair he had on. Suppose he lost the pin of his. He wouldn't know what to do to. Bald spot behind. Letters on his back I. N. R. I.? No: I. H. S. Molly told me one time I asked her. I have sinned: or no: I have suffered, it is. And the other one? Iron nails ran in.
Meet one Sunday after the rosary. Do not deny my request. Turn up with a veil and black bag. Dusk and the light behind her. She might be here with a ribbon round her neck and do the other thing all the same on the sly. Their character. That fellow that turned queen's evidence on the invincibles he used to receive the, Carey was his name, the communion every morning. This very church. Peter Carey. No, Peter Claver I am thinking of. Denis Carey. And just imagine that. Wife and six children at home. And plotting that murder all the time. Those crawthumpers, now that's a good name for them, there's always something shiftylooking about them. They're not straight men of business either. O no she's not here: the flower: no, no. By the way did I tear up that envelope? Yes: under the bridge.
The priest was rinsing out the chalice: then he tossed off the dregs smartly. Wine. Makes it more aristocratic than for example if he drank what they are used to Guinness's porter or some temperance beverage Wheatley's Dublin hop bitters or Cantrell and Cochrane's ginger ale (aromatic). Doesn't give them any of it: shew wine: only the other. Cold comfort. Pious fraud but quite right: otherwise they'd have one old booser worse than another coming along, cadging for a drink. Queer the whole atmosphere of the. Quite right. Perfectly right that is.
Mr Bloom looked back towards the choir. Not going to be any music. Pity. Who has the organ here I wonder? Old Glynn he knew how to make that instrument talk, the vibrato: fifty pounds a year they say he had in Gardiner street. Molly was in fine voice that day, the Stabat Mater of Rossini. Father Bernard Vaughan's sermon first. Christ or Pilate? Christ, but don't keep us all night over it. Music they wanted. Footdrill stopped. Could hear a pin drop. I told her to pitch her voice against that corner. I could feel the thrill in the air, the full, the people looking up:
Quis est homo!
Some of that old sacred music is splendid. Mercadante: seven last words. Mozart's twelfth mass: the Gloria in that. Those old popes were keen on music, on art and statues and pictures of all kinds. Palestrina for example too. They had a gay old time while it lasted. Healthy too chanting, regular hours, then brew liqueurs. Benedictine. Green Chartreuse. Still, having eunuchs in their choir that was coming it a bit thick. What kind of voice is it? Must be curious to hear after their own strong basses. Connoisseurs. Suppose they wouldn't feel anything after. Kind of a placid. No worry. Fall into flesh don't they? Gluttons, tall, long legs. Who knows? Eunuch. One way out of it.
He saw the priest bend down and kiss the altar and then face about and bless all the people. All crossed themselves and stood up. Mr Bloom glanced about him and then stood up, looking over the risen hats. Stand up at the gospel of course. Then all settled down on their knees again and he sat back quietly in his bench. The priest came down from the altar, holding the thing out from him, and he and the massboy answered each other in Latin. Then the priest knelt down and began to read off a card:
-- O God, our refuge and our strength.
Mr Bloom put his face forward to catch the words. English. Throw them the bone. I remember slightly. How long since your last mass? Gloria and immaculate virgin. Joseph her spouse. Peter and Paul. More interesting if you understood what it was all about. Wonderful organisation certainly, goes like clockwork. Confession. Everyone wants to. Then I will tell you all. Penance. Punish me, please. Great weapon In their hands. More than doctor or solicitor. Woman dying to. And I schschschschschsch. And did you chachachachacha? And why did you? Look down at her ring to find an excuse. Whispering gallery walls have ears. Husband learn to his surprise. God's little joke. Then out she comes. Repentance skindeep. Lovely shame. Pray at an altar. Hail Mary and Holy Mary. Flowers, incense, candles melting. Hide her blushes. Salvation army blatant imitation. Reformed prostitute will address the meeting. How I found the Lord. Squareheaded chaps those must be in Rome: they work the whole show. And don't they rake in the money too? Bequests also: to the P. P. for the time being in his absolute discretion. Masses for the repose of my soul to be said publicly with open doors. Monasteries and convents. The priest in the Fermanagh will case in the witness box. No browbeating him. He had his answer pat for everything. Liberty and exaltation of our holy mother the church. The doctors of the church: they mapped out the whole theology of it.
The priest prayed:
-- Blessed Michael, archangel, defend us in the hour of conflict. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil (may God restrain him, we humbly pray): and do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God thrust Satan down to hell and with him those other wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls.
The priest and the massboy stood up and walked off. All over. The women remained behind: thanksgiving.
Better be shoving along. Brother Buzz. Come around with the plate perhaps. Pay your Easter duty.
He stood up. Hello. Were those two buttons of my waistcoat open all the time. Women enjoy it. Annoyed if you don't. Why-didn't you tell me before. Never tell you. But we. Excuse, miss, there's a (whh!) just a (whh!) fluff. Or their skirt behind, placket unhooked. Glimpses of the moon. Still like you better untidy. Good job it wasn't farther south. He passed, discreetly buttoning, down the aisle and out through the main door into the light. He stood a moment unseeing by the cold black marble bowl while before him and behind two worshippers dipped furtive hands in the low tide of holy water. Trams: a car of Prescott's dyeworks: a widow in her weeds. Notice because I'm in mourning myself. He covered himself. How goes the time? Quarter past. Time enough yet. Better get that lotion made up. Where is this? Ah yes, the last time. Sweny's in Lincoln place. Chemists rarely move. Their green and gold beaconjars too heavy to stir. Hamilton Long's, founded in the year of the flood. Huguenot churchyard near there. Visit some day.
He walked southward along Westland row. But the recipe is in the other trousers. O, and I forgot that latchkey too. Bore this funeral affair. O well, poor fellow, it's not his fault. When was it I got it made up last? Wait. I changed a sovereign I remember. First of the month it must have been or the second. O he can look it up in the prescriptions book.
The chemist turned back page after page. Sandy shrivelled smell he seems to have. Shrunken skull. And old. Quest for the philosopher's stone. The alchemists. Drugs age you after mental excitement. Lethargy then. Why? Reaction. A lifetime in a night. Gradually changes your character. Living all the day among herbs, ointments, disinfectants. All his alabaster lilypots. Mortar and pestle. Aq. Dist. Fol. Laur. Te Virid. Smell almost cure you like the dentist's doorbell. Doctor whack. He ought to physic himself a bit. Electuary or emulsion. The first fellow that picked an herb to cure himself had a bit of pluck. Simples. Want to be careful. Enough stuff here to chloroform you. Test: turns blue litmus paper red. Chloroform. Overdose of laudanum. Sleeping draughts. Lovephiltres. Paragoric poppysyrup bad for cough. Clogs the pores or the phlegm. Poisons the only cures. Remedy where you least expect it. Clever of nature.
-- About a fortnight ago, sir?
-- Yes, Mr Bloom said.
He waited by the counter, inhaling the keen reek of drugs, the dusty dry smell of sponges and loofahs. Lot of time taken up telling your aches and pains.
-- Sweet almond oil and tincture of benzoin, Mr Bloom said, and then orangeflower water...
It certainly did make her skin so delicate white like wax.
-- And white wax also, he said.
Brings out the darkness of her eyes. Looking at me, the sheet up to her eyes, Spanish, smelling herself, when I was fixing the links in my cuffs. Those homely recipes are often the best: strawberries for the teeth: nettles and rainwater: oatmeal they say steeped in buttermilk. Skinfood. One of the old queen's sons, duke of Albany was it? had only one skin. Leopold yes. Three we have. Warts, bunions and pimples to make it worse. But you want a perfume too. What perfume does your? Peau d'Espagne. That orangeflower. Pure curd soap. Water is so fresh. Nice smell these soaps have. Time to get a bath round the corner. Hammam. Turkish. Massage. Dirt gets rolled up in your navel. Nicer if a nice girl did it. Also I think I. Yes I. Do it in the bath. Curious longing I. Water to water. Combine business with pleasure. Pity no time for massage. Feel fresh then all day. Funeral be rather glum.
-- Yes, sir, the chemist said. That was two and nine. Have you brought a bottle?
-- No, Mr Bloom said. Make it up, please. I'll call later in the day and I'll take one of those soaps. How much are they?
-- Fourpence, sir.
Mr Bloom raised a cake to his nostrils. Sweet lemony wax.
-- I'll take this one, he said. That makes three and a penny.
-- Yes, sir, the chemist said. You can pay all together, sir, when you come back.
-- Good, Mr Bloom said.
He strolled out of the shop,
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6、Chapter 6 Hades

MARTIN CUNNINGHAM, FIRST, POKED HIS SILKHATTED HEAD INTO the creaking carriage and, entering deftly, seated himself. Mr Power stepped in after him, curving his height with care.
-- Come on, Simon.
-- After you, Mr Bloom said.
Mr Dedalus covered himself quickly and got in, saying:
-- Yes, yes.
-- Are we all here now? Martin Cunningham asked. Come along, Bloom.
Mr Bloom entered and sat in the vacant place. He pulled the door to after him and slammed it tight till it shut tight. He passed an arm through the armstrap and looked seriously from the open carriage window at the lowered blinds of the avenue. One dragged aside: an old woman peeping. Nose whiteflattened against the pane. Thanking her stars she was passed over. Extraordinary the interest they take in a corpse. Glad to see us go we give them such trouble coming. Job seems to suit them. Huggermugger in corners. Slop about in slipper-slappers for fear he'd wake. Then getting it ready. Laying it out. Molly and Mrs Fleming making the bed. Pull it more to your side. Our windingsheet. Never know who will touch you dead. Wash and shampoo. I believe they clip the nails and the hair. Keep a bit in an envelope. Grow all the same after. Unclean job.
All waited. Nothing was said. Stowing in the wreaths probably. I am sitting on something hard. Ah, that soap in my hip pocket. Better shift it out of that. Wait for an opportunity.
All waited. Then wheels were heard from in front turning: then nearer: then horses' hoofs. A jolt. Their carriage began to move, creaking and swaying. Other hoofs and creaking wheels started behind. The blinds of the avenue passed and number nine with its craped knocker, door ajar. At walking pace.
They waited still, their knees jogging, till they had turned and were passing along the tramtracks. Tritonville road. Quicker. The wheels rattled rolling over the cobbled causeway and the crazy glasses shook rattling in the doorframes.
-- What way is he taking us? Mr Power asked through both windows.
-- Irishtown, Martin Cunningham said. Ringsend. Brunswick street.
Mr Dedalus nodded, looking out.
-- That's a fine old custom, he said. I am glad to see it has not died out.
All watched awhile through their windows caps and hats lifted by passers. Respect. The carriage swerved from the tramtrack to the smoother road past Watery lane. Mr Bloom at gaze saw a lithe young man, clad in mourning, a wide hat.
-- There's a friend of yours gone by, Dedalus, he said.
-- Who is that?
-- Your son and heir.
-- Where is he? Mr Dedalus said, stretching over across.
The carriage, passing the open drains and mounds of rippedup roadway before the tenement houses, lurched round the corner and, swerving back to the tramtrack, rolled on noisily with chattering wheels. Mr Dedalus fell back, saying:
-- Was that Mulligan cad with him? His fidus Achates?
-- No, Mr Bloom said. He was alone.
-- Down with his aunt Sally, I suppose, Mr Dedalus said, the Goulding faction, the drunken little cost-drawer and Crissie, papa's little lump of dung, the wise child that knows her own father.
Mr Bloom smiled joylessly on Ringsend road. Wallace Bros the bottleworks. Dodder bridge.
Richie Goulding and the legal bag. Goulding, Collis and Ward he calls the firm. His jokes are getting a bit damp. Great card he was. Waltzing in Stamer street with Ignatius Gallaher on a Sunday morning, the landlady's two hats pinned on his head. Out on the rampage all night. Beginning to tell on him now: that backache of his, I fear. Wife ironing his back. Thinks he'll cure it with pills. All breadcrumbs they are. About six hundred per cent profit.
-- He's in with a lowdown crowd, Mr Dedalus snarled. That Mulligan is a contaminated bloody doubledyed ruffian by all accounts. His name stinks all over Dublin. But with the help of God and His blessed mother I'Il make it my business to write a letter one of those days to his mother or his aunt or whatever she is that will open her eye as wide as a gate. I `Il tickle his catastrophe, believe you me.
He cried above the clatter of the wheels.
-- I won't have her bastard of a nephew ruin my son. A counter-jumper's son. Selling tapes in my cousin, Peter Paul M'Swiney's. Not likely.
He ceased. Mr Bloom glanced from his angry moustache to Mr Power's mild face and Martin Cunningham's eyes and beard, gravely shaking. Noisy selfwilled man. Full of his son. He is right. Something to hand on. If little Rudy had lived. See him grow up. Hear his voice in the house. Walking beside Molly in an Eton suit. My son. Me in his eyes. Strange feeling it would be. From me. Just a chance. Must have been that morning in Raymond terrace she was at the window, watching the two dogs at it by the wall of the cease to do evil. And the sergeant grinning up. She had that cream gown on with the rip she never stitched. Give us a touch, Poldy. God, I'm dying for it. How life begins.
Got big then. Had to refuse the Greystones concert. My son inside her. I could have helped him on in life. I could. Make him independent. Learn German too.
-- Are we late? Mr Power asked.
-- Ten minutes, Martin Cunningham said, looking at his watch
Molly. Milly. Same thing watered down. Her tomboy oaths. O jumping Jupiter! Ye gods and little fishes! Still, she's a dear girl. Soon be a woman. Mullingar. Dearest Papli. Young student. Yes, yes: a woman too. Life. Life.
The carriage heeled over and back, their four trunks swaying.
-- Corny might have given us a more commodious yoke, Mr Power said.
-- He might, Mr Dedalus said, if he hadn't that squint troubling him. Do you follow me?
He closed his left eye. Martin Cunningham began to brush away crustcrumbs from under his thighs.
-- What is this, he said, in the name of God? Crumbs?
-- Someone seems to have been making a picnic party here lately, Mr Power said.
All raised their thighs, eyed with disfavour the mildewed buttonless leather of the seats. Mr Dedalus, twisting his nose, frowned downward and said:
-- Unless I'm greatly mistaken. What do you think, Martin?
-- It struck me too, Martin Cunningham said.
Mr Bloom set his thigh down. Glad I took that bath. Feel my feet quite clean. But I wish Mrs Fleming had darned these socks better.
Mr Dedalus sighed resignedly.
-- After all, he said, it's the most natural thing in the world.
-- Did Tom Kernan turn up? Martin Cunningham asked, twirling the peak of his beard gently.
-- Yes, Mr Bloom answered. He's behind with Ned Lambert and Hynes.
-- And Corny Kelleher himself? Mr Power asked.
-- At the cemetery, Martin Cunningham said.
-- I met M'Coy this morning, Mr Bloom said. He said he'd try to come.
The carriage halted short.
-- What's wrong?
-- We're stopped.
-- Where are we?
Mr Bloom put his head out of the window.
-- The grand canal, he said.
Gasworks. Whooping cough they say it cures. Good job Milly never got it. Poor children! Doubles them up black and blue in convulsions. Shame really. Got off lightly with illness compared. Only measles. Flaxseed tea. Scarlatina, influenza epidemics. Canvassing for death. Don't miss this chance. Dogs' home over there. Poor old Athos! Be good to Athos, Leopold, is my last wish. Thy will be done. We obey them in the grave. A dying scrawl. He took it to heart, pined away. Quiet brute. Old men's dogs usually are.
A raindrop spat on his hat. He drew back and saw an instant of shower spray dots over the grey flags. Apart. Curious. Like through a colander. I thought it would. My boots were creaking I remember now.
-- The weather is changing, he said quietly.
-- A pity it did not keep up fine, Martin Cunningham said.
-- Wanted for the country, Mr Power said. There's the sun again coming out.
Mr Dedalus, peering through his glasses towards the veiled sun, hurled a mute curse at the sky.
-- It's as uncertain as a child's bottom, he said.
-- We're off again.
The carriage turned again its stiff wheels and their trunks swayed gently. Martin Cunningham twirled more quickly the peak of his beard.
-- Tom Kernan was immense last night, he said. And Paddy Leonard taking him off to his face.
-- O draw him out, Martin, Mr Power said eagerly. Wait till you hear him, Simon, on Ben Dollard's singing of The Croppy Boy.
-- Immense, Martin Cunningham said pompously. His singing of that simple ballad, Martin, is the most trenchant rendering I ever heard in the whole course of my experience.
-- Trenchant, Mr Power said laughing. He's dead nuts on that. And the retrospective arrangement.
-- Did you read Dan Dawson's speech? Martin Cunningham asked.
-- I did not then, Mr Dedalus said. Where is it?
-- In the paper this morning.
Mr Bloom took the paper from his inside pocket. That book I must change for her.
-- No, no, Mr Dedalus said quickly. Later on, please.
Mr Bloom's glance travelled down the edge of the paper, scanning the deaths. Callan, Coleman, Dignam, Fawcett, Lowry, Naumann, Peake, what Peake is that? is it the chap was in Crosbie and Alleyne's? no, Sexton, Urbright. Inked characters fast fading on the frayed breaking paper. Thanks to the Little Flower. Sadly missed. To the inexpressible grief of his. Aged 88 after a long and tedious illness. Month's mind. Quinlan. On whose soul Sweet Jesus have mercy.
It is now a month since dear Henry fled
To his home up above in the sky
While his family weeps and mourns his loss
Hoping some day to meet him on high.
I tore up the envelope? Yes. Where did I put her letter after I read it in the bath? He patted his waistcoat pocket. There all right. Dear Henry fled. Before my patience are exhausted.
National school. Meade's yard. The hazard. Only two there now. Nodding. Full as a tick. Too much bone in their skulls. The other trotting round with a fare. An hour ago I was passing there. The jarvies raised their hats.
A pointsman's back straightened itself upright suddenly against a tramway standard by Mr Bloom's window. Couldn't they invent something automatic so that the wheel itself much handler? Well but that fellow would lose his job then? Well but then another fellow would get a job making the new invention?
Antient concert rooms. Nothing on there. A man in a buff suit with a crape armlet. Not much grief there. Quarter mourning. People in law, perhaps.
They went past the bleak pulpit of Saint Mark's, under the railway bridge, past the Queen's theatre: in silence. Hoardings. Eugene Stratton. Mrs Bandman Palmer. Could I go to see Leah tonight, I wonder. I said I. Or the Lily of Killarney? Elster Grimes Opera company. Big powerful change. Wet bright bills for next week. Fun on the Bristol. Martin Cunningham could work a pass for the Gaiety. Have to stand a drink or two. As broad as it's long.
He's coming in the afternoon. Her songs.
Plasto's. Sir Philip Crampton's memorial fountain bust. Who was he?
-- How do you do? Martin Cunningham said, raising his palm to his brow in salute.
-- He doesn't see us, Mr Power said. Yes, he does. How do you do?
-- Who? Mr Dedalus asked.
-- Blazes Boylan, Mr Power said. There he is airing his quiff.
Just that moment I was thinking.
Mr Dedalus bent across to salute. From the door of the Red Bank the white disc of a straw hat flashed reply: passed.
Mr Bloom reviewed the nails of his left hand, then those of his right hand. The nails, yes. Is there anything more in him that they she sees? Fascination. Worst man in Dublin. That keeps him alive. They sometimes feel what a person Is. Instinct. But a type like that. My nails. I am just looking at them: well pared. And after: thinking alone. Body getting a bit softy. I would notice that from remembering. What causes that I suppose the skin can't contract quickly enough when the flesh falls off. But the shape is there. The shape is there still. Shoulders. Hips. Plump. Night of the dance dressing. Shift stuck between the cheeks behind.
He clasped his hands between his knees and, satisfied, sent his vacant glance over their faces.
Mr Power asked:
-- How is the concert tour getting on, Bloom?
-- O very well, Mr Bloom said. I hear great accounts of it. It's a good idea, you see .
-- Are you going yourself?
-- Well no, Mr Bloom said. In point of fact I have to go down to the county Clare on some private business. You see the idea is to tour the chief towns. What you lose on one you can make up on the other.
-- Quite so, Martin Cunningham said. Mary Anderson is up there now.
-- Have you good artists?
-- Louis Werner is touring her, Mr Bloom said. O yes, we'll have all topnobbers. J. C. Doyle and John MacCormack I hope and. The best, in fact.
-- And Madame, Mr Power said, smiling. Last but not least.
Mr Bloom unclasped his hands in a gesture of soft politeness and clasped them. Smith O'Brien. Someone has laid a bunch of flowers there. Woman. Must be his deathday. For many happy returns. The carriage wheeling by Farrell's statue united noiselessly their unresisting knees.
Oot: a dullgarbed old man from the curbstone tendered his wares, his mouth opening: oot.
-- Four bootlaces for a penny.
Wonder why he was struck off the rolls. Had his office in Hume street. Same house as Molly's namesake. Tweedy, crown solicitor for Waterford. Has that silk hat ever since. Relics of old decency. Mourning too. Terrible comedown, poor wretch! kicked about like snuff at a wake. O'Callaghan on his last legs.
And Madame. Twenty past eleven. Up. Mrs Fleming is in to clean. Doing her hair, humming: voglio e non vorrei. No: vorrei e non. Looking at the tips of her hairs to see if they are split. Mi trema un poco il. Beautiful on that tre her voice is: weeping tone. A thrust. A throstle. There is a word throstle that expressed that.
His eyes passed lightly over Mr Power's goodlooking face. Greyish over the ears. Madame: smiling. I smiled back. A smile does a long way. Only politeness perhaps. Nice fellow. Who knows is that true about the woman he keeps? Not pleasant for the wife. Yet they say, who was it told me, there is no carnal. You would imagine that would get played out pretty quick. Yes, it was Crofton met him one evening bringing her a pound of rumpsteak. What is this she was? Barmaid in Jury's. Or the Moira, was it?
They passed under the hugecloaked Liberator's form.
Martin Cunningham nudged Mr Power.
-- Of the tribe of Reuben, he said.
A tall blackbearded figure, bent on a stick, stumping round the corner of Elvery's elephant house showed them a curved hand open on his spine.
-- In all his pristine beauty, Mr Power said.
Mr Dedalus looked after the stumping figure and said mildly:
-- The devil break the hasp of your back!
Mr Power, collapsing in laughter, shaded his face from the window as the carriage passed Gray's statue.
-- We have all been there, Martin Cunningham said broadly.
His eyes met Mr Bloom's eyes. He caressed his beard, adding:
-- Well, nearly all of us.
Mr Bloom began to speak with sudden eagerness to his companions' faces. -- That's an awfully good one that's going the rounds about Reuben J. and the son.
-- About the boatman? Mr Power asked.
-- Yes. Isn't it awfully good?
-- What is that? Mr Dedalus asked. I didn't hear it.
-- There was a girl in the case, Mr Bloom began, and he determined to send him to the isle of Man out of harm's way but when they were both...
-- What? Mr Dedalus asked. That confirmed bloody hobbledehoy is it?
-- Yes, Mr Bloom said. They were both on the way to the boat and he tried to drown...
-- Drown Barabbas! Mr Dedalus cried. I wish to Christ he did!
Mr Power sent a long laugh down his shaded nostrils.
-- No, Mr Bloom said the son himself...
Martin Cunningham thwarted his speech rudely.
-- Reuben J. and the son were piking it down the quay next the river on their way to the isle of Man boat and the young chiseller suddenly got loose and over the wall with him into the Liffey.
-- For God's sake! Mr Dedalus exclaimed in fright. Is he dead?
-- Dead! Martin Cunningham cried. Not he! A boatman got a pole and fished him out by the slack of the breeches and he was landed up to the father on the quay. More dead than alive. Half the town was there.
-- Yes, Mr Bloom said. But the funny part is...
-- And Reuben J., Martin Cunningham said, gave the boatman a florin for saving his son's life.
A stifled sigh came from under Mr Power's hand.
-- O, he did, Martin Cunningham affirmed. Like a hero. A silver florin.
-- Isn't it awfully good? Mr Bloom said eagerly.
-- One and eightpence too much, Mr Dedalus said drily. Mr Power's choked laugh burst quietly in the carriage. Nelson's pillar.
-- Eight plums a penny! Eight for a penny!
-- We had better look a little serious, Martin Cunningham said.
Mr Dedalus sighed.
-- And then indeed, he said, poor little Paddy wouldn't grudge us a laugh. Many a good one he told himself.
-- The Lord forgive me! Mr Power said, wiping his wet eyes with his fingers. Poor Paddy! I little thought a week ago when I saw him last and he was in his usual health that I'd be driving after him like this. He's gone from us.
-- As decent a little man as ever wore a hat, Mr Dedalus said. He went very suddenly.
-- Breakdown, Martin Cunningham said. Heart.
He tapped his chest sadly.
Blazing face: redhot. Too much John Barleycorn. Cure for a red nose. Drink like the devil till it turns adelite. A lot of money he spent colouring it.
Mr Power gazed at the passing houses with rueful apprehension.
-- He had a sudden death, poor fellow, he said.
-- The best death, Mr Bloom said.
Their wide open eyes looked at him.
-- No suffering, he said. A moment and all is over. Like dying in sleep.
No-one spoke.
Dead side of the street this. Dull business by day, land agents, temperance hotel, Falconer's railway guide, civil service college, Gill's, catholic club, the industrious blind. Why? Some reason. Sun or wind. At night too. Chummies and slaveys. Under the patronage of the late Father Mathew. Foundation stone for Parnell. Breakdown. Heart.
White horses with white frontlet plumes came round the Rotunda corner, galloping. A tiny coffin flashed by. In a hurry to bury. A mourning coach. Unmarried. Black for the married. Piebald for bachelors. Dun for a nun.
-- Sad, Martin Cunningham said. A child.
A dwarf's face mauve and wrinkled like little Rudy's was. Dwarf's body, weak as putty, in a whitelined deal box. Burial friendly society pays. Penny a week for a sod of turf. Our. Little. Beggar. Baby. Meant nothing. Mistake of nature. If it's healthy it's from the mother. If not the man. Better luck next time.
-- Poor little thing, Mr Dedalus said. It's well out of it.
The carriage climbed more slowly the hill of Rutland square. Rattle his bones. Over the stones. Only a pauper. Nobody owns.
-- In the midst of life, Martin Cunningham said.
-- But the worst of all, Mr Power said, is the man who takes his own life.
Martin Cunningham drew out his watch briskly, coughed and put it back.
-- The greatest disgrace to have in the family, Mr Power added.
-- Temporary insanity, of course, Martin Cunningham said decisively. We must take a charitable view of it.
-- They say a man who does it is a coward, Mr Dedalus said.
-- It is not for us to judge, Martin Cunningham said.
Mr Bloom, about to speak, closed his lips again. Martin Cunningham's large eyes. Looking away now. Sympathetic human man he is. Intelligent. Like Shakespeare's face. Always a good word to say. They have no mercy on that here or infanticide. Refuse christian burial. They used to drive a stake of wood through his heart in the grave. As if it wasn't broken already. Yet sometimes they repent too late. Found in the riverbed clutching rushes. He looked at me. And that awful drunkard of a wife of his. Setting up house for her time after time and then pawning the furniture on him every Saturday almost. Leading him the life of the damned. Wear the heart out of a stone, that. Monday morning start afresh. Shoulder to the wheel. Lord, she must have looked a sight that night, Dedalus told me he was in there. Drunk about the place and capering with Martin's umbrella:
And they call me the jewel of Asia,
Of Asia,
The geisha.
He looked away from me. He knows. Rattle his bones.
That afternoon of the inquest. The redlabelled bottle on the table. The room in the hotel with hunting pictures. Stuffy it was. Sunlight through the slats of the Venetian blinds. The coroner's ears, big and hairy. Boots giving evidence. Thought he was asleep first. Then saw like yellow streaks on his face. Had slipped down to the foot of the bed. Verdict: overdose. Death by misadventure. The letter. For my son Leopold.
No more pain. Wake no more. Nobody owns.
The carriage rattled swiftly along Blessington street. Over the stones.
-- We are going the pace, I think, Martin Cunningham said.
-- God grant he doesn't upset us on the road, Mr Power said.
-- I hope not, Martin Cunningham said. That will be a great race tomorrow in Germany. The Gordon Bennett.
-- Yes, by Jove, Mr Dedalus said. That will be worth seeing, faith.
As they turned into Berkeley street a streetorgan near the Basin sent over and after them a rollicking rattling song of the halls. Has anybody here seen Kelly? Kay ee double ell wy. Dead march from Saul. He's as bad as old Antonio. He left me on my ownio. Pirouette! The Mater Misericordiae. Eccles street. My house down there. Big place. Ward for incurables there. Very encouraging. Our Lady's Hospice for the dying. Deadhouse handy underneath. Where old Mrs Riordan died. They look terrible the women. Her feeding cup and rubbing her mouth with the spoon. Then the screen round her bed for her to die. Nice young student that was dressed that bite the bee gave me. He's gone over to the lying-in hospital they told me. From one extreme to the other.
The carriage galloped round a corner: stopped.
-- What's wrong now?
A divided drove of branded cattle passed the windows, lowing, slouching by on padded hoofs, whisking their tails slowly on their clotted bony croups. Outside them and through them ran raddled sheep bleating their fear.
-- Emigrants, Mr Power said.
-- Huuuh! the drover's voice cried, his switch sounding on their flanks. Huuuh! Out of that!
Thursday of course. Tomorrow is killing day. Springers. Cuffe sold them about twentyseven quid each. For Liverpool probably. Roast beef for old England. They buy up all the juicy ones. And then the fifth quarter is lost: all that raw stuff, hide, hair, horns. Comes to a big thing in a year. Dead meat trade. Byproducts of the slaughterhouses for tanneries, soap, margarine. Wonder if that dodge works now getting dicky meat off the train at Clonsilla.
The carriage moved on through the drove.
-- I can't make out why the corporation doesn't run a tramline from the parkgate to the quays, Mr Bloom said. All those animals could be taken in trucks down to the boats.
-- Instead of blocking up the thoroughfare, Martin Cunningham said. Quite right. They ought to.
-- Yes, Mr Bloom said, and another thing I often thought is to have municipal funeral trams like they have in Milan, you know. Run the line out to the cemetery gates and have special trams, hearse and carriage and all. Don't you see what I mean?
-- O that be damned for a story, Mr Dedalus said. Pullman car and saloon diningroom.
-- A poor lookout for Corny, Mr Power added.
-- Why? Mr Bloom asked, turning to Mr Dedalus. Wouldn't it be more decent than galloping two abreast?
-- Well, there's something in that, Mr Dedalus granted.
-- And, Martin Cunningham said, we wouldn't have scenes like that when the hearse capsized round Dunphy's and upset the coffin on to the road.
-- That was terrible, Mr Power's shocked face said, and the corpse fell about the road. Terrible!
-- First round Dunphy's, Mr Dedalus aid, nodding. Gordon Bennett cup.
-- Praises be to God! Martin Cunningham said piously.
Bom! Upset. A coffin bumped out on to the road. Burst open. Paddy Dignam shot out and rolling over stiff in the dust in a brown habit too large for him. Red face: grey now. Mouth fallen open. Asking what's up now. Quite right to close it. Looks horrid open. Then the insides decompose quickly. Much better to close up all the orifices. Yes, also. With wax. The sphincter loose. Seal up all.
-- Dunphy's, Mr Power announced as the carriage turned right.
Dunphy's corner. Mourning coaches drawn up drowning their grief. A pause by the wayside. Tiptop position for a pub. Expect we'll pull up here on the way back to drink his health. Pass round the consolation. Elixir of life.
But suppose now it did happen. Would he bleed if a nail say cut him in the knocking about? He would and he wouldn't, I suppose. Depends on where. The circulation stops. Still some might ooze out of an artery. It would be better to bury them in red: a dark red.
In silence they drove along Phibsborough road. An empty hearse trotted by, coming from the cemetery: looks relieved.
Crossguns bridge: the royal canal.
Water rushed roaring through the sluices. A man stood on his dropping barge between clamps of turf. On the towpath by the lock a slacktethered horse. Aboard of the Bugabu.
Their eyes watched him. On the slow weedy waterway he had floated on his raft coastward over Ireland drawn by a haulage rope past beds of reeds, over slime, mud-choked bottles, carrion dogs. Athlone, Mullingar, Moyvalley, I could make a walking tour to see Milly by the canal. Or cycle down. Hire some old crock, safety. Wren had one the other day at the auction but a lady's. Developing waterways. James M'Cann's hobby to row me o'er the ferry. Cheaper transit. By easy stages. Houseboats. Camping out. Also hearses. To heaven by water. Perhaps I will without writing. Come as a surprise, Leixlip, Clonsilla. Dropping down, lock by lock to Dublin. With turf from the midland bogs. Salute. He lifted his brown strawhat, saluting Paddy Dignam.
They drove on past Brian Boroimhe house. Near it now.
-- I wonder how is our friend Fogarty getting on, Mr Power said.
-- Better ask Tom Kernan, Mr Dedalus said.
-- How is that? Martin Cunningham said. Left him weeping I suppose.
-- Though lost to sight, Mr Dedalus said, to memory dear.
The carriage steered left for Finglas road.
The stonecutter's yard on the right. Last lap. Crowded on the spit of land silent shapes appeared, white, sorrowful, holding out calm hands, knelt in grief, pointing. Fragments of shapes, hewn. In white silence: appealing. The best obtainable. Thos. H. Dennany, monumental builder and sculptor.
Passed.
On the curbstone before Jimmy Geary the sexton's an old tramp sat, grumbling, emptying the dirt and stones out of his huge dustbrown yawning boot. After life's journey.
Gloomy gardens then went by, one by one: gloomy houses.
Mr Power pointed.
-- That is where Childs was murdered, he said. The last house.
-- So it is, Mr Dedalus said. A gruesome case. Seymour Bushe got him off. Murdered his brother. Or so they said.
-- The crown had no evidence, Mr Power said.
-- Only circumstantial, Martin Cunningham said. That's the maxim of the law. Better for ninetynine guilty to escape than for one innocent person to be wrongfully condemned.
They looked. Murderer's ground. It passed darkly. Shuttered, tenantless, unweeded garden. Whole place gone to hell. Wrongfully condemned. Murder. The murderer's image in the eye of the murdered. They love reading about it. Man's head found in a garden. Her clothing consisted of. How she met her death. Recent outrage. The weapon used. Murderer is still at large. Clues. A shoelace. The body to be exhumed. Murder will out.
Cramped in this carriage. She mightn't like me to come that way without letting her know. Must be careful about women. Catch them once with their pants down. Never forgive you after. Fifteen.
The high railings of Prospects rippled past their gaze. Dark poplars, rare white forms. Forms more frequent, white shapes thronged amid the trees, white forms and fragments streaming by mutely, sustaining vain gestures on the air.
The felly harshed against the curbstone: stopped. Martin Cunningham put out his arm and, wrenching back the handle, shoved the door open with his knee. He stepped out. Mr Power and Mr Dedalus followed.
Change that soap now. Mr Bloom's hand unbuttoned his hip pocket swiftly and transferred the paperstuck soap to his inner handkerchief pocket. He stepped out of the carriage, replacing the newspaper his other hand still held.
Paltry funeral: coach and three carriages. It's all the same. Pallbearers, gold reins, requiem mass, firing a volley. Pomp of death. Beyond the hind carriage a hawker stood by his barrow of cakes and fruit. Simnel cakes those are, stuck together: cakes for the dead. Dogbiscuits. Who ate them? Mourners coming out.
He followed his companions. Mr Kernan and Ned Lambert followed, Hynes walking after them. Corny Kelleher stood by the opened hearse and took out the two wreaths. He handed one to the boy.
Where is that child's funeral disappeared to?
A team of horses passed from Finglas with toiling plodding tread, dragging through the funereal silence a creaking waggon on which lay a granite block. The waggoner marching at their head saluted.
Coffin now. Got here before us, dead as he is. Horse looking round at it with his plume skeowways. Dull eye: collar tight on his neck, pressing on a bloodvessel or something. Do they know what they cart out here every day? Must be twenty or thirty funerals every day. Then Mount Jerome for the protestants. Funerals all over the world everywhere every minute. Shovelling them under by the cartload doublequick. Thousands every hour. Too many in the world.
Mourners came out through the gates: woman and a girl. Leanjawed harpy, hard woman at a bargain, her bonnet awry. Girl's face stained with dirt and tears, holding the woman's arm looking up at her for a sign to cry. Fish's face, bloodless and livid.
The mutes shouldered the coffin and bore it in through the gates. So much dead weight. Felt heavier myself stepping out of that bath. First the stiff: then the friends of the stiff. Corny Kelleher and the boy followed with their wreaths. Who is that beside them? Ah, the brother-in-law.
All walked after.
Martin Cunningham whispered:
-- I was in mortal agony with you talking of suicide before Bloom.
-- What? Mr Power whispered. How so?
-- His father poisoned himself, Martin Cunningham whispered. Had the Queen's hotel in Ennis. You heard him say he was going to Clare. Anniversary.
-- O God! Mr Power whispered. First I heard of it. Poisoned himself!
He glanced behind him to where a face with dark thinking eyes followed towards the cardinal's mausoleum. Speaking.
-- Was he insured? Mr Bloom asked.
-- I believe so, Mr Kernan answered, but the policy was heavily mortgaged. Martin is trying to get the youngster into Artane.
-- How many children did he leave?
-- Five. Ned Lambert says he'll try to get one of the girls into Todd's.
-- A sad case, Mr Bloom said gently. Five young children.
-- A great blow to the poor wife, Mr Kernan added.
-- Indeed yes, Mr Bloom agreed.
Has the laugh at him now.
He looked down at the boots he had blacked and polished. She had outlived him, lost her husband. More dead for her than for me. One must outlive the other. Wise men say. There are more women than men in the world. Condole with her. Your terrible loss. I hope you'll soon follow him. For Hindu widows only. She would marry another. Him? No. Yet who knows after? Widowhood not the thing since the old queen died. Drawn on a guncarriage. Victoria and Albert. Frogmore memorial mourning. But in the end she put a few violets in her bonnet. Vain in her heart of hearts. All for a shadow. Consort not even a king. Her son was the substance. Something new to hope for not like the past she wanted back, waiting. It never comes. One must go first: alone under the ground: and lie no more in her warm bed.
-- How are you, Simon? Ned Lambert said softly, clasping hands. Haven't seen you for a month of Sundays.
-- Never better. How are all in Cork's own town?
-- I was down there for the Cork park races on Easter Monday, Ned Lambert said. Same old six and eightpence. Stopped with Dick Tivy.
-- And how is Dick, the solid man?
-- Nothing between himself and heaven, Ned Lambert answered.
-- By the holy Paul! Mr Dedalus said in subdued wonder.
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6、Chapter 6 Hades

MARTIN CUNNINGHAM, FIRST, POKED HIS SILKHATTED HEAD INTO the creaking carriage and, entering deftly, seated himself. Mr Power stepped in after him, curving his height with care.
-- Come on, Simon.
-- After you, Mr Bloom said.
Mr Dedalus covered himself quickly and got in, saying:
-- Yes, yes.
-- Are we all here now? Martin Cunningham asked. Come along, Bloom.
Mr Bloom entered and sat in the vacant place. He pulled the door to after him and slammed it tight till it shut tight. He passed an arm through the armstrap and looked seriously from the open carriage window at the lowered blinds of the avenue. One dragged aside: an old woman peeping. Nose whiteflattened against the pane. Thanking her stars she was passed over. Extraordinary the interest they take in a corpse. Glad to see us go we give them such trouble coming. Job seems to suit them. Huggermugger in corners. Slop about in slipper-slappers for fear he'd wake. Then getting it ready. Laying it out. Molly and Mrs Fleming making the bed. Pull it more to your side. Our windingsheet. Never know who will touch you dead. Wash and shampoo. I believe they clip the nails and the hair. Keep a bit in an envelope. Grow all the same after. Unclean job.
All waited. Nothing was said. Stowing in the wreaths probably. I am sitting on something hard. Ah, that soap in my hip pocket. Better shift it out of that. Wait for an opportunity.
All waited. Then wheels were heard from in front turning: then nearer: then horses' hoofs. A jolt. Their carriage began to move, creaking and swaying. Other hoofs and creaking wheels started behind. The blinds of the avenue passed and number nine with its craped knocker, door ajar. At walking pace.
They waited still, their knees jogging, till they had turned and were passing along the tramtracks. Tritonville road. Quicker. The wheels rattled rolling over the cobbled causeway and the crazy glasses shook rattling in the doorframes.
-- What way is he taking us? Mr Power asked through both windows.
-- Irishtown, Martin Cunningham said. Ringsend. Brunswick street.
Mr Dedalus nodded, looking out.
-- That's a fine old custom, he said. I am glad to see it has not died out.
All watched awhile through their windows caps and hats lifted by passers. Respect. The carriage swerved from the tramtrack to the smoother road past Watery lane. Mr Bloom at gaze saw a lithe young man, clad in mourning, a wide hat.
-- There's a friend of yours gone by, Dedalus, he said.
-- Who is that?
-- Your son and heir.
-- Where is he? Mr Dedalus said, stretching over across.
The carriage, passing the open drains and mounds of rippedup roadway before the tenement houses, lurched round the corner and, swerving back to the tramtrack, rolled on noisily with chattering wheels. Mr Dedalus fell back, saying:
-- Was that Mulligan cad with him? His fidus Achates?
-- No, Mr Bloom said. He was alone.
-- Down with his aunt Sally, I suppose, Mr Dedalus said, the Goulding faction, the drunken little cost-drawer and Crissie, papa's little lump of dung, the wise child that knows her own father.
Mr Bloom smiled joylessly on Ringsend road. Wallace Bros the bottleworks. Dodder bridge.
Richie Goulding and the legal bag. Goulding, Collis and Ward he calls the firm. His jokes are getting a bit damp. Great card he was. Waltzing in Stamer street with Ignatius Gallaher on a Sunday morning, the landlady's two hats pinned on his head. Out on the rampage all night. Beginning to tell on him now: that backache of his, I fear. Wife ironing his back. Thinks he'll cure it with pills. All breadcrumbs they are. About six hundred per cent profit.
-- He's in with a lowdown crowd, Mr Dedalus snarled. That Mulligan is a contaminated bloody doubledyed ruffian by all accounts. His name stinks all over Dublin. But with the help of God and His blessed mother I'Il make it my business to write a letter one of those days to his mother or his aunt or whatever she is that will open her eye as wide as a gate. I `Il tickle his catastrophe, believe you me.
He cried above the clatter of the wheels.
-- I won't have her bastard of a nephew ruin my son. A counter-jumper's son. Selling tapes in my cousin, Peter Paul M'Swiney's. Not likely.
He ceased. Mr Bloom glanced from his angry moustache to Mr Power's mild face and Martin Cunningham's eyes and beard, gravely shaking. Noisy selfwilled man. Full of his son. He is right. Something to hand on. If little Rudy had lived. See him grow up. Hear his voice in the house. Walking beside Molly in an Eton suit. My son. Me in his eyes. Strange feeling it would be. From me. Just a chance. Must have been that morning in Raymond terrace she was at the window, watching the two dogs at it by the wall of the cease to do evil. And the sergeant grinning up. She had that cream gown on with the rip she never stitched. Give us a touch, Poldy. God, I'm dying for it. How life begins.
Got big then. Had to refuse the Greystones concert. My son inside her. I could have helped him on in life. I could. Make him independent. Learn German too.
-- Are we late? Mr Power asked.
-- Ten minutes, Martin Cunningham said, looking at his watch
Molly. Milly. Same thing watered down. Her tomboy oaths. O jumping Jupiter! Ye gods and little fishes! Still, she's a dear girl. Soon be a woman. Mullingar. Dearest Papli. Young student. Yes, yes: a woman too. Life. Life.
The carriage heeled over and back, their four trunks swaying.
-- Corny might have given us a more commodious yoke, Mr Power said.
-- He might, Mr Dedalus said, if he hadn't that squint troubling him. Do you follow me?
He closed his left eye. Martin Cunningham began to brush away crustcrumbs from under his thighs.
-- What is this, he said, in the name of God? Crumbs?
-- Someone seems to have been making a picnic party here lately, Mr Power said.
All raised their thighs, eyed with disfavour the mildewed buttonless leather of the seats. Mr Dedalus, twisting his nose, frowned downward and said:
-- Unless I'm greatly mistaken. What do you think, Martin?
-- It struck me too, Martin Cunningham said.
Mr Bloom set his thigh down. Glad I took that bath. Feel my feet quite clean. But I wish Mrs Fleming had darned these socks better.
Mr Dedalus sighed resignedly.
-- After all, he said, it's the most natural thing in the world.
-- Did Tom Kernan turn up? Martin Cunningham asked, twirling the peak of his beard gently.
-- Yes, Mr Bloom answered. He's behind with Ned Lambert and Hynes.
-- And Corny Kelleher himself? Mr Power asked.
-- At the cemetery, Martin Cunningham said.
-- I met M'Coy this morning, Mr Bloom said. He said he'd try to come.
The carriage halted short.
-- What's wrong?
-- We're stopped.
-- Where are we?
Mr Bloom put his head out of the window.
-- The grand canal, he said.
Gasworks. Whooping cough they say it cures. Good job Milly never got it. Poor children! Doubles them up black and blue in convulsions. Shame really. Got off lightly with illness compared. Only measles. Flaxseed tea. Scarlatina, influenza epidemics. Canvassing for death. Don't miss this chance. Dogs' home over there. Poor old Athos! Be good to Athos, Leopold, is my last wish. Thy will be done. We obey them in the grave. A dying scrawl. He took it to heart, pined away. Quiet brute. Old men's dogs usually are.
A raindrop spat on his hat. He drew back and saw an instant of shower spray dots over the grey flags. Apart. Curious. Like through a colander. I thought it would. My boots were creaking I remember now.
-- The weather is changing, he said quietly.
-- A pity it did not keep up fine, Martin Cunningham said.
-- Wanted for the country, Mr Power said. There's the sun again coming out.
Mr Dedalus, peering through his glasses towards the veiled sun, hurled a mute curse at the sky.
-- It's as uncertain as a child's bottom, he said.
-- We're off again.
The carriage turned again its stiff wheels and their trunks swayed gently. Martin Cunningham twirled more quickly the peak of his beard.
-- Tom Kernan was immense last night, he said. And Paddy Leonard taking him off to his face.
-- O draw him out, Martin, Mr Power said eagerly. Wait till you hear him, Simon, on Ben Dollard's singing of The Croppy Boy.
-- Immense, Martin Cunningham said pompously. His singing of that simple ballad, Martin, is the most trenchant rendering I ever heard in the whole course of my experience.
-- Trenchant, Mr Power said laughing. He's dead nuts on that. And the retrospective arrangement.
-- Did you read Dan Dawson's speech? Martin Cunningham asked.
-- I did not then, Mr Dedalus said. Where is it?
-- In the paper this morning.
Mr Bloom took the paper from his inside pocket. That book I must change for her.
-- No, no, Mr Dedalus said quickly. Later on, please.
Mr Bloom's glance travelled down the edge of the paper, scanning the deaths. Callan, Coleman, Dignam, Fawcett, Lowry, Naumann, Peake, what Peake is that? is it the chap was in Crosbie and Alleyne's? no, Sexton, Urbright. Inked characters fast fading on the frayed breaking paper. Thanks to the Little Flower. Sadly missed. To the inexpressible grief of his. Aged 88 after a long and tedious illness. Month's mind. Quinlan. On whose soul Sweet Jesus have mercy.
It is now a month since dear Henry fled
To his home up above in the sky
While his family weeps and mourns his loss
Hoping some day to meet him on high.
I tore up the envelope? Yes. Where did I put her letter after I read it in the bath? He patted his waistcoat pocket. There all right. Dear Henry fled. Before my patience are exhausted.
National school. Meade's yard. The hazard. Only two there now. Nodding. Full as a tick. Too much bone in their skulls. The other trotting round with a fare. An hour ago I was passing there. The jarvies raised their hats.
A pointsman's back straightened itself upright suddenly against a tramway standard by Mr Bloom's window. Couldn't they invent something automatic so that the wheel itself much handler? Well but that fellow would lose his job then? Well but then another fellow would get a job making the new invention?
Antient concert rooms. Nothing on there. A man in a buff suit with a crape armlet. Not much grief there. Quarter mourning. People in law, perhaps.
They went past the bleak pulpit of Saint Mark's, under the railway bridge, past the Queen's theatre: in silence. Hoardings. Eugene Stratton. Mrs Bandman Palmer. Could I go to see Leah tonight, I wonder. I said I. Or the Lily of Killarney? Elster Grimes Opera company. Big powerful change. Wet bright bills for next week. Fun on the Bristol. Martin Cunningham could work a pass for the Gaiety. Have to stand a drink or two. As broad as it's long.
He's coming in the afternoon. Her songs.
Plasto's. Sir Philip Crampton's memorial fountain bust. Who was he?
-- How do you do? Martin Cunningham said, raising his palm to his brow in salute.
-- He doesn't see us, Mr Power said. Yes, he does. How do you do?
-- Who? Mr Dedalus asked.
-- Blazes Boylan, Mr Power said. There he is airing his quiff.
Just that moment I was thinking.
Mr Dedalus bent across to salute. From the door of the Red Bank the white disc of a straw hat flashed reply: passed.
Mr Bloom reviewed the nails of his left hand, then those of his right hand. The nails, yes. Is there anything more in him that they she sees? Fascination. Worst man in Dublin. That keeps him alive. They sometimes feel what a person Is. Instinct. But a type like that. My nails. I am just looking at them: well pared. And after: thinking alone. Body getting a bit softy. I would notice that from remembering. What causes that I suppose the skin can't contract quickly enough when the flesh falls off. But the shape is there. The shape is there still. Shoulders. Hips. Plump. Night of the dance dressing. Shift stuck between the cheeks behind.
He clasped his hands between his knees and, satisfied, sent his vacant glance over their faces.
Mr Power asked:
-- How is the concert tour getting on, Bloom?
-- O very well, Mr Bloom said. I hear great accounts of it. It's a good idea, you see .
-- Are you going yourself?
-- Well no, Mr Bloom said. In point of fact I have to go down to the county Clare on some private business. You see the idea is to tour the chief towns. What you lose on one you can make up on the other.
-- Quite so, Martin Cunningham said. Mary Anderson is up there now.
-- Have you good artists?
-- Louis Werner is touring her, Mr Bloom said. O yes, we'll have all topnobbers. J. C. Doyle and John MacCormack I hope and. The best, in fact.
-- And Madame, Mr Power said, smiling. Last but not least.
Mr Bloom unclasped his hands in a gesture of soft politeness and clasped them. Smith O'Brien. Someone has laid a bunch of flowers there. Woman. Must be his deathday. For many happy returns. The carriage wheeling by Farrell's statue united noiselessly their unresisting knees.
Oot: a dullgarbed old man from the curbstone tendered his wares, his mouth opening: oot.
-- Four bootlaces for a penny.
Wonder why he was struck off the rolls. Had his office in Hume street. Same house as Molly's namesake. Tweedy, crown solicitor for Waterford. Has that silk hat ever since. Relics of old decency. Mourning too. Terrible comedown, poor wretch! kicked about like snuff at a wake. O'Callaghan on his last legs.
And Madame. Twenty past eleven. Up. Mrs Fleming is in to clean. Doing her hair, humming: voglio e non vorrei. No: vorrei e non. Looking at the tips of her hairs to see if they are split. Mi trema un poco il. Beautiful on that tre her voice is: weeping tone. A thrust. A throstle. There is a word throstle that expressed that.
His eyes passed lightly over Mr Power's goodlooking face. Greyish over the ears. Madame: smiling. I smiled back. A smile does a long way. Only politeness perhaps. Nice fellow. Who knows is that true about the woman he keeps? Not pleasant for the wife. Yet they say, who was it told me, there is no carnal. You would imagine that would get played out pretty quick. Yes, it was Crofton met him one evening bringing her a pound of rumpsteak. What is this she was? Barmaid in Jury's. Or the Moira, was it?
They passed under the hugecloaked Liberator's form.
Martin Cunningham nudged Mr Power.
-- Of the tribe of Reuben, he said.
A tall blackbearded figure, bent on a stick, stumping round the corner of Elvery's elephant house showed them a curved hand open on his spine.
-- In all his pristine beauty, Mr Power said.
Mr Dedalus looked after the stumping figure and said mildly:
-- The devil break the hasp of your back!
Mr Power, collapsing in laughter, shaded his face from the window as the carriage passed Gray's statue.
-- We have all been there, Martin Cunningham said broadly.
His eyes met Mr Bloom's eyes. He caressed his beard, adding:
-- Well, nearly all of us.
Mr Bloom began to speak with sudden eagerness to his companions' faces. -- That's an awfully good one that's going the rounds about Reuben J. and the son.
-- About the boatman? Mr Power asked.
-- Yes. Isn't it awfully good?
-- What is that? Mr Dedalus asked. I didn't hear it.
-- There was a girl in the case, Mr Bloom began, and he determined to send him to the isle of Man out of harm's way but when they were both...
-- What? Mr Dedalus asked. That confirmed bloody hobbledehoy is it?
-- Yes, Mr Bloom said. They were both on the way to the boat and he tried to drown...
-- Drown Barabbas! Mr Dedalus cried. I wish to Christ he did!
Mr Power sent a long laugh down his shaded nostrils.
-- No, Mr Bloom said the son himself...
Martin Cunningham thwarted his speech rudely.
-- Reuben J. and the son were piking it down the quay next the river on their way to the isle of Man boat and the young chiseller suddenly got loose and over the wall with him into the Liffey.
-- For God's sake! Mr Dedalus exclaimed in fright. Is he dead?
-- Dead! Martin Cunningham cried. Not he! A boatman got a pole and fished him out by the slack of the breeches and he was landed up to the father on the quay. More dead than alive. Half the town was there.
-- Yes, Mr Bloom said. But the funny part is...
-- And Reuben J., Martin Cunningham said, gave the boatman a florin for saving his son's life.
A stifled sigh came from under Mr Power's hand.
-- O, he did, Martin Cunningham affirmed. Like a hero. A silver florin.
-- Isn't it awfully good? Mr Bloom said eagerly.
-- One and eightpence too much, Mr Dedalus said drily. Mr Power's choked laugh burst quietly in the carriage. Nelson's pillar.
-- Eight plums a penny! Eight for a penny!
-- We had better look a little serious, Martin Cunningham said.
Mr Dedalus sighed.
-- And then indeed, he said, poor little Paddy wouldn't grudge us a laugh. Many a good one he told himself.
-- The Lord forgive me! Mr Power said, wiping his wet eyes with his fingers. Poor Paddy! I little thought a week ago when I saw him last and he was in his usual health that I'd be driving after him like this. He's gone from us.
-- As decent a little man as ever wore a hat, Mr Dedalus said. He went very suddenly.
-- Breakdown, Martin Cunningham said. Heart.
He tapped his chest sadly.
Blazing face: redhot. Too much John Barleycorn. Cure for a red nose. Drink like the devil till it turns adelite. A lot of money he spent colouring it.
Mr Power gazed at the passing houses with rueful apprehension.
-- He had a sudden death, poor fellow, he said.
-- The best death, Mr Bloom said.
Their wide open eyes looked at him.
-- No suffering, he said. A moment and all is over. Like dying in sleep.
No-one spoke.
Dead side of the street this. Dull business by day, land agents, temperance hotel, Falconer's railway guide, civil service college, Gill's, catholic club, the industrious blind. Why? Some reason. Sun or wind. At night too. Chummies and slaveys. Under the patronage of the late Father Mathew. Foundation stone for Parnell. Breakdown. Heart.
White horses with white frontlet plumes came round the Rotunda corner, galloping. A tiny coffin flashed by. In a hurry to bury. A mourning coach. Unmarried. Black for the married. Piebald for bachelors. Dun for a nun.
-- Sad, Martin Cunningham said. A child.
A dwarf's face mauve and wrinkled like little Rudy's was. Dwarf's body, weak as putty, in a whitelined deal box. Burial friendly society pays. Penny a week for a sod of turf. Our. Little. Beggar. Baby. Meant nothing. Mistake of nature. If it's healthy it's from the mother. If not the man. Better luck next time.
-- Poor little thing, Mr Dedalus said. It's well out of it.
The carriage climbed more slowly the hill of Rutland square. Rattle his bones. Over the stones. Only a pauper. Nobody owns.
-- In the midst of life, Martin Cunningham said.
-- But the worst of all, Mr Power said, is the man who takes his own life.
Martin Cunningham drew out his watch briskly, coughed and put it back.
-- The greatest disgrace to have in the family, Mr Power added.
-- Temporary insanity, of course, Martin Cunningham said decisively. We must take a charitable view of it.
-- They say a man who does it is a coward, Mr Dedalus said.
-- It is not for us to judge, Martin Cunningham said.
Mr Bloom, about to speak, closed his lips again. Martin Cunningham's large eyes. Looking away now. Sympathetic human man he is. Intelligent. Like Shakespeare's face. Always a good word to say. They have no mercy on that here or infanticide. Refuse christian burial. They used to drive a stake of wood through his heart in the grave. As if it wasn't broken already. Yet sometimes they repent too late. Found in the riverbed clutching rushes. He looked at me. And that awful drunkard of a wife of his. Setting up house for her time after time and then pawning the furniture on him every Saturday almost. Leading him the life of the damned. Wear the heart out of a stone, that. Monday morning start afresh. Shoulder to the wheel. Lord, she must have looked a sight that night, Dedalus told me he was in there. Drunk about the place and capering with Martin's umbrella:
And they call me the jewel of Asia,
Of Asia,
The geisha.
He looked away from me. He knows. Rattle his bones.
That afternoon of the inquest. The redlabelled bottle on the table. The room in the hotel with hunting pictures. Stuffy it was. Sunlight through the slats of the Venetian blinds. The coroner's ears, big and hairy. Boots giving evidence. Thought he was asleep first. Then saw like yellow streaks on his face. Had slipped down to the foot of the bed. Verdict: overdose. Death by misadventure. The letter. For my son Leopold.
No more pain. Wake no more. Nobody owns.
The carriage rattled swiftly along Blessington street. Over the stones.
-- We are going the pace, I think, Martin Cunningham said.
-- God grant he doesn't upset us on the road, Mr Power said.
-- I hope not, Martin Cunningham said. That will be a great race tomorrow in Germany. The Gordon Bennett.
-- Yes, by Jove, Mr Dedalus said. That will be worth seeing, faith.
As they turned into Berkeley street a streetorgan near the Basin sent over and after them a rollicking rattling song of the halls. Has anybody here seen Kelly? Kay ee double ell wy. Dead march from Saul. He's as bad as old Antonio. He left me on my ownio. Pirouette! The Mater Misericordiae. Eccles street. My house down there. Big place. Ward for incurables there. Very encouraging. Our Lady's Hospice for the dying. Deadhouse handy underneath. Where old Mrs Riordan died. They look terrible the women. Her feeding cup and rubbing her mouth with the spoon. Then the screen round her bed for her to die. Nice young student that was dressed that bite the bee gave me. He's gone over to the lying-in hospital they told me. From one extreme to the other.
The carriage galloped round a corner: stopped.
-- What's wrong now?
A divided drove of branded cattle passed the windows, lowing, slouching by on padded hoofs, whisking their tails slowly on their clotted bony croups. Outside them and through them ran raddled sheep bleating their fear.
-- Emigrants, Mr Power said.
-- Huuuh! the drover's voice cried, his switch sounding on their flanks. Huuuh! Out of that!
Thursday of course. Tomorrow is killing day. Springers. Cuffe sold them about twentyseven quid each. For Liverpool probably. Roast beef for old England. They buy up all the juicy ones. And then the fifth quarter is lost: all that raw stuff, hide, hair, horns. Comes to a big thing in a year. Dead meat trade. Byproducts of the slaughterhouses for tanneries, soap, margarine. Wonder if that dodge works now getting dicky meat off the train at Clonsilla.
The carriage moved on through the drove.
-- I can't make out why the corporation doesn't run a tramline from the parkgate to the quays, Mr Bloom said. All those animals could be taken in trucks down to the boats.
-- Instead of blocking up the thoroughfare, Martin Cunningham said. Quite right. They ought to.
-- Yes, Mr Bloom said, and another thing I often thought is to have municipal funeral trams like they have in Milan, you know. Run the line out to the cemetery gates and have special trams, hearse and carriage and all. Don't you see what I mean?
-- O that be damned for a story, Mr Dedalus said. Pullman car and saloon diningroom.
-- A poor lookout for Corny, Mr Power added.
-- Why? Mr Bloom asked, turning to Mr Dedalus. Wouldn't it be more decent than galloping two abreast?
-- Well, there's something in that, Mr Dedalus granted.
-- And, Martin Cunningham said, we wouldn't have scenes like that when the hearse capsized round Dunphy's and upset the coffin on to the road.
-- That was terrible, Mr Power's shocked face said, and the corpse fell about the road. Terrible!
-- First round Dunphy's, Mr Dedalus aid, nodding. Gordon Bennett cup.
-- Praises be to God! Martin Cunningham said piously.
Bom! Upset. A coffin bumped out on to the road. Burst open. Paddy Dignam shot out and rolling over stiff in the dust in a brown habit too large for him. Red face: grey now. Mouth fallen open. Asking what's up now. Quite right to close it. Looks horrid open. Then the insides decompose quickly. Much better to close up all the orifices. Yes, also. With wax. The sphincter loose. Seal up all.
-- Dunphy's, Mr Power announced as the carriage turned right.
Dunphy's corner. Mourning coaches drawn up drowning their grief. A pause by the wayside. Tiptop position for a pub. Expect we'll pull up here on the way back to drink his health. Pass round the consolation. Elixir of life.
But suppose now it did happen. Would he bleed if a nail say cut him in the knocking about? He would and he wouldn't, I suppose. Depends on where. The circulation stops. Still some might ooze out of an artery. It would be better to bury them in red: a dark red.
In silence they drove along Phibsborough road. An empty hearse trotted by, coming from the cemetery: looks relieved.
Crossguns bridge: the royal canal.
Water rushed roaring through the sluices. A man stood on his dropping barge between clamps of turf. On the towpath by the lock a slacktethered horse. Aboard of the Bugabu.
Their eyes watched him. On the slow weedy waterway he had floated on his raft coastward over Ireland drawn by a haulage rope past beds of reeds, over slime, mud-choked bottles, carrion dogs. Athlone, Mullingar, Moyvalley, I could make a walking tour to see Milly by the canal. Or cycle down. Hire some old crock, safety. Wren had one the other day at the auction but a lady's. Developing waterways. James M'Cann's hobby to row me o'er the ferry. Cheaper transit. By easy stages. Houseboats. Camping out. Also hearses. To heaven by water. Perhaps I will without writing. Come as a surprise, Leixlip, Clonsilla. Dropping down, lock by lock to Dublin. With turf from the midland bogs. Salute. He lifted his brown strawhat, saluting Paddy Dignam.
They drove on past Brian Boroimhe house. Near it now.
-- I wonder how is our friend Fogarty getting on, Mr Power said.
-- Better ask Tom Kernan, Mr Dedalus said.
-- How is that? Martin Cunningham said. Left him weeping I suppose.
-- Though lost to sight, Mr Dedalus said, to memory dear.
The carriage steered left for Finglas road.
The stonecutter's yard on the right. Last lap. Crowded on the spit of land silent shapes appeared, white, sorrowful, holding out calm hands, knelt in grief, pointing. Fragments of shapes, hewn. In white silence: appealing. The best obtainable. Thos. H. Dennany, monumental builder and sculptor.
Passed.
On the curbstone before Jimmy Geary the sexton's an old tramp sat, grumbling, emptying the dirt and stones out of his huge dustbrown yawning boot. After life's journey.
Gloomy gardens then went by, one by one: gloomy houses.
Mr Power pointed.
-- That is where Childs was murdered, he said. The last house.
-- So it is, Mr Dedalus said. A gruesome case. Seymour Bushe got him off. Murdered his brother. Or so they said.
-- The crown had no evidence, Mr Power said.
-- Only circumstantial, Martin Cunningham said. That's the maxim of the law. Better for ninetynine guilty to escape than for one innocent person to be wrongfully condemned.
They looked. Murderer's ground. It passed darkly. Shuttered, tenantless, unweeded garden. Whole place gone to hell. Wrongfully condemned. Murder. The murderer's image in the eye of the murdered. They love reading about it. Man's head found in a garden. Her clothing consisted of. How she met her death. Recent outrage. The weapon used. Murderer is still at large. Clues. A shoelace. The body to be exhumed. Murder will out.
Cramped in this carriage. She mightn't like me to come that way without letting her know. Must be careful about women. Catch them once with their pants down. Never forgive you after. Fifteen.
The high railings of Prospects rippled past their gaze. Dark poplars, rare white forms. Forms more frequent, white shapes thronged amid the trees, white forms and fragments streaming by mutely, sustaining vain gestures on the air.
The felly harshed against the curbstone: stopped. Martin Cunningham put out his arm and, wrenching back the handle, shoved the door open with his knee. He stepped out. Mr Power and Mr Dedalus followed.
Change that soap now. Mr Bloom's hand unbuttoned his hip pocket swiftly and transferred the paperstuck soap to his inner handkerchief pocket. He stepped out of the carriage, replacing the newspaper his other hand still held.
Paltry funeral: coach and three carriages. It's all the same. Pallbearers, gold reins, requiem mass, firing a volley. Pomp of death. Beyond the hind carriage a hawker stood by his barrow of cakes and fruit. Simnel cakes those are, stuck together: cakes for the dead. Dogbiscuits. Who ate them? Mourners coming out.
He followed his companions. Mr Kernan and Ned Lambert followed, Hynes walking after them. Corny Kelleher stood by the opened hearse and took out the two wreaths. He handed one to the boy.
Where is that child's funeral disappeared to?
A team of horses passed from Finglas with toiling plodding tread, dragging through the funereal silence a creaking waggon on which lay a granite block. The waggoner marching at their head saluted.
Coffin now. Got here before us, dead as he is. Horse looking round at it with his plume skeowways. Dull eye: collar tight on his neck, pressing on a bloodvessel or something. Do they know what they cart out here every day? Must be twenty or thirty funerals every day. Then Mount Jerome for the protestants. Funerals all over the world everywhere every minute. Shovelling them under by the cartload doublequick. Thousands every hour. Too many in the world.
Mourners came out through the gates: woman and a girl. Leanjawed harpy, hard woman at a bargain, her bonnet awry. Girl's face stained with dirt and tears, holding the woman's arm looking up at her for a sign to cry. Fish's face, bloodless and livid.
The mutes shouldered the coffin and bore it in through the gates. So much dead weight. Felt heavier myself stepping out of that bath. First the stiff: then the friends of the stiff. Corny Kelleher and the boy followed with their wreaths. Who is that beside them? Ah, the brother-in-law.
All walked after.
Martin Cunningham whispered:
-- I was in mortal agony with you talking of suicide before Bloom.
-- What? Mr Power whispered. How so?
-- His father poisoned himself, Martin Cunningham whispered. Had the Queen's hotel in Ennis. You heard him say he was going to Clare. Anniversary.
-- O God! Mr Power whispered. First I heard of it. Poisoned himself!
He glanced behind him to where a face with dark thinking eyes followed towards the cardinal's mausoleum. Speaking.
-- Was he insured? Mr Bloom asked.
-- I believe so, Mr Kernan answered, but the policy was heavily mortgaged. Martin is trying to get the youngster into Artane.
-- How many children did he leave?
-- Five. Ned Lambert says he'll try to get one of the girls into Todd's.
-- A sad case, Mr Bloom said gently. Five young children.
-- A great blow to the poor wife, Mr Kernan added.
-- Indeed yes, Mr Bloom agreed.
Has the laugh at him now.
He looked down at the boots he had blacked and polished. She had outlived him, lost her husband. More dead for her than for me. One must outlive the other. Wise men say. There are more women than men in the world. Condole with her. Your terrible loss. I hope you'll soon follow him. For Hindu widows only. She would marry another. Him? No. Yet who knows after? Widowhood not the thing since the old queen died. Drawn on a guncarriage. Victoria and Albert. Frogmore memorial mourning. But in the end she put a few violets in her bonnet. Vain in her heart of hearts. All for a shadow. Consort not even a king. Her son was the substance. Something new to hope for not like the past she wanted back, waiting. It never comes. One must go first: alone under the ground: and lie no more in her warm bed.
-- How are you, Simon? Ned Lambert said softly, clasping hands. Haven't seen you for a month of Sundays.
-- Never better. How are all in Cork's own town?
-- I was down there for the Cork park races on Easter Monday, Ned Lambert said. Same old six and eightpence. Stopped with Dick Tivy.
-- And how is Dick, the solid man?
-- Nothing between himself and heaven, Ned Lambert answered.
-- By the holy Paul! Mr Dedalus said in subdued wonder.
[ 此帖被soneyky在2012-12-24 08:06重新编辑 ]
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怕相思,已思相,轮到相思没处辞,眉间露一丝
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6、马丁·坎宁翰首先把戴着丝质大礼帽的头...


马丁·坎宁翰首先把戴着丝质大礼帽的头伸进嘎嘎作响的马车,轻捷地进去落座了。鲍尔[1]先生小心翼翼地弯着修长的身躯,跟在他后面也上了车。
“来吧,西蒙。”
“您先上,”布卢姆先生说。
迪达勒斯先生匆匆戴上帽子,边上车边说:
“好的,好的。”
“人都齐了吗?”马丁·坎宁翰问:“上车吧,布卢姆。”
布卢姆先生上了车,在空位子上落座。他反手带上车门,咣噹了两下,直到把它撞严实了才撒手。他将一只胳膊套在拉手吊带里,神情严肃地从敞着的车窗里眺望马路旁那一扇扇拉得低低的百叶窗[2]。有一副帘子被拉到一边, 一个老妪正向外窥视。鼻子贴在玻璃窗上又白又扁。她在感谢命运这一遭儿总算饶过了自已。妇女们对尸体所表示的兴趣是异乎寻常的。我们来到世上时给了她们那么多麻烦,所以她们乐意看到我们走。她们好像适合于干这种活儿。在角落里鬼鬼祟祟的。趿拉着拖鞋,轻手轻脚地,生怕惊醒了他。然后给他装裹,以便入殓。摩莉和弗莱明大妈[3]在往棺材里面铺着什么。再往你那边拽拽呀。我们的包尸布。 你决不会知道自己死后谁会来摸你。洗身子啦,洗头啦。我相信她们还会给他剪指甲和头发,并且装在信封里保存一点儿。这之后,照样会长哩。这可是件脏活儿。
大家伫候着,谁也不吭一声儿。大概是在装花圈哪。我坐在硬邦邦的东西上面。唔,原来是我后裤兜儿里的那块香皂。最好把它挪一挪,等有机会再说。
大家全在伫候。过一会儿,前方传来了车轮的转动声,越来越挨近,接着就是马蹄声。车身颠簸了一下。他们的马车开始前进了,摇摇摆摆,吱嘎作响。后面也响起了另外一些马蹄的声音和车轱辘的吱吜声。马路旁的百叶窗向后移动;门环上蒙着黑纱的九号[4]那半掩着的大门,也以步行的速度过去了。
他们依然坐在那里一声不响,膝盖抖动着。直到车子拐了个弯,沿着电车轨道走去,这时才打破了沉寂。特里顿维尔路。速度加快了。车轮在卵石铺成的公路上咯噔咯噔地向前滚动,像是发了疯似的玻璃在车门框里咔嗒咔嗒地震颤着。
“他这是拉着咱们走哪条路啊?”鲍尔先生隔看车窗边东张西望,边问。
“爱尔兰区,”马丁·坎宁翰说,“这是林森德。布伦斯威克大街。”
迪达勒斯先生朝车窗外望着,点了点头。
“这是个古老的好风习[5],”他说,“我很高兴如今还没有废除。”
大家隔看车窗望了望。行人纷纷脱便帽或礼帽,表示敬意呢。马车径过沃特利巷后就离开电车轨道,走上较为平坦的路。布卢姆先生定睛望望,只见有个身材细溜、穿着丧服、头戴宽檐帽的青年。
“迪达勒斯,你的一个熟人刚刚走过去了,”他说。
“谁呀?”
“你的公子和继承人。”
“他在哪儿?”迪达勒斯说着,斜探过身子来。
马车正沿着一排公寓房子驰去,房前的路面上挖出一条条明沟,沟旁是一溜儿土堆。在拐角处车身蓦地歪了歪,又折回到电车轨道上了,车轮喧闹地咯噔咯噔向前滚动。迪达勒斯先生往后靠了靠身子,说:
“穆利根那家伙跟他在一道吗?他的忠实的阿卡帖斯[6]!”
“没有,”布卢姆先生说,“就他一个人。”
“大概是看他的萨莉舅妈去啦,”迪达勒斯说,“古尔丁那一伙儿,喝得醉醺醺的小成本会计师,还有克莉西,爸爸的小屎橛子,知父莫如聪明的小妞儿。”
布卢姆先生望着林森德路凄然一笑。华莱士兄弟瓶厂:多德尔桥。
里奇·古尔丁和律师用的公文包。他管这事务所叫作古尔丁-科利斯- 沃德[7]。他开的玩笑如今越来越没味儿了。从前他可是个大淘气包。一个星期天早晨,他用饰针把房东太太的两顶帽子别在头上,同伊格内修斯·加拉赫[8] 一道在斯塔默街上跳起华尔兹舞,通宵达旦地在外边疯闹。如今他可垮下来了,我看他的背痛,就是当年埋下的根子。老婆替他按摩背。他满以为服点药丸就能痊愈。其实那统统都只不过是面包渣子。利润高达百分之六百左右。
“他跟一帮下贱痞子鬼混,”迪达勒斯先生骂道,“大家都说,那个穆利根就是个坏透了的流氓,心肠狠毒,堕落到了极点。他的名字臭遍了整个都柏林城。在天主和圣母的佑助下,我迟早非写封信给他老娘、姑妈或是什么人不可。叫她看了,会把眼睛瞪得像门一样大。我要隔肢他屁股![9]我说话算数。”
他用大得足以压住车轮咯咯声的嗓门嚷着:
“我绝不能听任她那个杂种侄子毁掉我儿子。他爹是个站柜台的,在我表弟彼得·保罗·麦克斯威尼的店里卖棉线带。我决不让他得逞。”
他住了嘴。布卢姆先生把视线从他那愤怒的口髭,移到鲍尔先生那和蔼的面容,以及马丁·坎宁翰的眼睛和严肃地摇曳着的胡子上。好一个吵吵闹闹、固执己见的人。满脑子都是儿子。他说得对。总得有个继承人啊。倘若小鲁迪还在世的话,我就可以看看他长大。在家里能听到他的声音。他穿着一身伊顿[10]式的制服,和摩莉并肩而行。我的儿子。他眼中的我。那必然会是一番异样的感觉。我的子嗣。纯粹是出于偶然。准是那天早晨发生在雷蒙德高台街的事。她正从窗口眺望着两条狗在“停止作恶”[11]的墙边搞着。有个警官笑嘻嘻地仰望着。她穿的是那件奶油色长袍,已经绽了线,可她始终也没缝上。摸摸我,波尔迪。天哪,我想得要死。这就是生命的起源。
于是,她有了身孕。葛雷斯顿斯[12]音乐会的邀请也只好推掉。我的儿子在她肚子里。倘若他活着,我原是可以一直帮助他的。那是肯定的。让他能够自立,还学会德语。
“咱们来迟了吗?”鲍尔先生问。
“迟了十分钟,”马丁·坎宁翰边看看表边说。
摩莉。米莉。一个模子里刻出来的,就是单薄了一点。是个假小子,满嘴村话。呸,跳跳蹦蹦的朱庇特哪!你这天神和小鱼儿哪!可她毕竟是个招人疼的好姐儿,很快就要成为妇人啦。穆林加尔。最亲爱的爹爹。年轻学生。是啊,是啊,也是个妇人哩。人生啊,人生。
马车左摇右晃,他们四个人的身躯也跟着颠簸。
“科尼蛮可以给咱们套一辆更宽绰些的车嘛,”鲍尔先生说。
“他原是可以的,”迪达勒斯先生说,“要不是被那斜视症折腾的话。你懂我的意思吗?”
他阖上了左眼。马丁·坎宁翰开始把腿下的面包渣子撢掉。
“这是什么呀,”他说,“天哪,是面包渣儿吗?”
“想必新近有人在这儿举行过野餐哩,”鲍尔先生说。
大家都抬起腿来,厌恶地瞅着那散发着霉臭、扣子也脱落了的座位皮面。迪达勒斯先生抽着鼻子,蹙眉朝下望望说:
“除非是我完全误会了……你觉得怎么样,马丁?”
“我也这么认为,”马丁·坎宁翰说。
布卢姆先生把大腿放下来。亏得我洗了那个澡。脚上感到很清爽。可要是弗莱明大妈替我把这双短袜补得更细一点就好了。
迪达勒浙先生无可奈何地叹了口气。
“这毕竟是,”他说,“世界上最自然不过的事。”
“汤姆·克南露面了吗?”马丁·坎宁翰慢条斯理地捻着胡子梢儿,问道。
“来啦,”布卢姆先生回答说:“他跟内德·兰伯特[13]和海因斯[14]一道坐在后面哪。”
“还有科尼、凯莱赫本人呢?”鲍尔先生问。
“他到公墓去啦,”马丁·坎宁翰说。
“今天早晨我遇见了麦科伊,”布卢姆先生说,“他说他尽可能来。”
马车猛地停住了。
“怎么啦?”
“堵车了。”
“咱们这是在哪儿呢?”
布卢姆先生从车窗里探出头去。
“大运河,”他说。
煤气厂。听说这能治百日咳哩。亏得米莉从来没患上过。可怜的娃娃们! 痉挛得都蜷缩成一团了,脸上青一块紫一块的。真够受的。相形之下,她患的病倒比较轻,不过是麻疹而已。煎亚麻籽[15]。猩红热。流行性感冒。我这是在替死神兜揽广告哪。可别错过这个机会。狗收容所就在那边。可怜的老阿索斯[16]! 好好照料阿索斯,利奥波德,这是我最后的愿望。愿你的旨意实现[17]。对坟墓里的人们我们总是唯命是从。那是他弥留之际潦潦草草写下的。狗伤心得衰竭而死。那是一只温和驯顺的家畜。老人养的狗通常都是这样的。
吧嗒一声一滴雨点落在他的帽子上。他缩回脖子。接着,一阵骤雨嘀嘀嗒嗒地落在灰色的石板路上。奇怪,稀稀落落的,就像是漏勺滤下来的。我料到会下。想起来啦,我的靴子咯吱咯吱直响来着。
“变天啦,”他安详地说。
“可惜没一直晴下去,”马丁·坎宁翰说。
“乡下可盼着雨哪,”鲍尔先生说,“太阳又出来啦。”
迪达勒斯先生透过眼镜凝视着那遮着一层云彩的太阳,朝天空默默地发出诅咒。
“它就跟娃娃的屁股一样没准儿,”他说。
“咱们又走啦。”
马车又转动起那硬邦邦的轱辘了。他们的身子轻轻地晃悠着。马丁·坎宁翰加快了捻胡须梢儿的动作。
“昨天晚上汤姆·克南真了不起,”他说,“帕迪·伦纳德[18]当面学他那样儿取笑他。”
“噢,马丁,把他的话都引出来吧,”鲍尔先生起劲地说,“西蒙,你等着听克南对本·多拉德唱的《推平头的小伙子》[19]所做的评论吧。”
“了不起,”马丁·坎宁翰用夸张的口气说,“马丁啊,他把那支纯朴的民歌唱绝了,是我这辈子所听到的气势最为磅礴的演唱。”
“气势磅礴,”鲍尔先生笑着说,“他最喜欢用这个字眼,还爱说‘回顾性的编排’。”[20]
“你们读了丹·道森的演说吗?”马丁·坎宁翰问。
“我还没读呢,”迪达勒斯先生说,“登在哪儿啦?”
“今天早晨的报纸上。”
布卢姆先生从内兜里取出那张报。我得给她换那本书。
“别,别,”迪达勒斯先生连忙说,“回头再说吧。”
布卢姆先生的目光顺着报纸过往下扫视着讣闻栏:卡伦、科尔曼、 迪格纳穆、福西特、劳里、瑙曼、皮克。是哪个皮克[21]呢?是在克罗斯比——艾莱恩那儿工作的那家伙吗?不对,是厄布赖特教堂同事。报纸磨破了,上头的油墨字迹很快就模糊了。向“小花”[22]致以谢忱。深切的哀悼。遗族难以形容的悲恸。久患顽症,医治无效,终年八十八岁。为昆兰举行的周月追思弥撒。仁慈的耶稣,怜悯他的灵魂吧。
亲人亨利已遁去,
住进天室今月弥,
遗族哀伤并悲泣,
翘盼苍穹重相聚。
我把那个信封撕掉了吗?撕掉啦。我在澡堂子里看完她那封信之后,放在哪儿啦?他拍了拍背心上的兜。在这儿放得安安妥妥的。亲人亨利已遁去。趁着我的耐心还没有耗尽。
国立小学。米德木材堆放场。出租马车停车场。如今只剩下两辆了。马在打磕睡,肚子鼓得像壁虱。马的头盖上,骨头太多了。另一辆载着客人转悠哪。一个钟头以前,我曾打这儿经过。马车夫们举了举帽子。
在布卢姆先生这扇车窗旁边,一个弯着腰的扳道员忽然背着电车的电杆直起了身子。难道他们不能发明一种自动装置吗?那样,车轮转动得就更便当了。不过,那样一来就会砸掉此人饭碗了吧?但是另一个人都会捞到制造这种新发明的工作吧?
安蒂恩特音乐堂。眼下什么节目也没上演。有个身穿一套淡黄色衣服的男子,臂上佩带着黑纱。他服的是轻丧,不像是怎么悲伤的样子。兴许是个姻亲吧。
他们默默地经过铁道陆桥下圣马可教堂臒外秃秃的讲道坊, 又经过女王剧院。海报牌上是尤金·斯特拉顿[23]和班德曼·帕默夫人。也不晓得我今天晚上能不能去看《丽亚》。我原说是要去的。要么就去看《基拉尼的百合》[24]吧?由埃尔斯特·格莱姆斯歌剧团演出。做了大胆的革新。刚刚刷上去、色彩鲜艳的下周节目预告:《布里斯托尔号的愉快航行》[25]。马丁·坎宁翰总能替我弄到一张欢乐剧院的免费券吧。得请他喝上一两杯,反正是一个样。
下午他[26]就来了。她的歌儿。
普拉斯托帽店。纪念菲利普·克兰普顿爵士[27]的喷泉雕像。这是谁[28]呀?
“你好!”马丁·坎宁翰边说边把巴掌举到额头那儿行礼。
“他没瞧见咱们,”鲍尔先生说,“啊,他瞧见啦。你好!”
“是谁呀?”迪达勒斯先生问。
“是布莱泽斯·博伊兰,”鲍尔先生说,他正摘下帽子让他的鬈发透透风哪。
此刻我刚好想到了他。
迪达勒斯先生探过身去打招呼。红沙洲餐厅[29]的门口那儿,白色圆盘状的草帽闪了一下,作为回礼。潇洒的身影过去了。
布卢姆先生端详了一下自已左手的指甲,接着又看右手的。是呀,指甲。除了魅力而外,妇女们,她,在他身上还能看得到旁的什么呢?魅力。他是都柏林最坏的家伙,却凭着这一点活得欢欢势势。妇女们有时能够感觉出对方是个什么样的人。这是一种本能。然而像他那种类型的人嘛。我的指甲。我正瞅着指甲呢。修剪得整整齐齐。然后,我就独自在想着。浑身的皮肉有点儿松软了。我能发觉这一点,因为我记得原先是什么样子。这是怎么造成的呢?估计是肉掉了,而皮肤收缩得却没那么快。但是身材总算保持下来了。依然保持了身材。肩膀。臀部。挺丰满的。舞会的晚上换装时,衬衣后摆竟夹在屁股缝儿里了。
他十指交叉,夹在双膝之间,感到心满意足,茫然地环视着他们的脸。
鲍尔先生问:
“巡回音乐会进行得怎样啦,布卢姆?”
“哦,好极啦,”布卢姆先生说,“我听说,颇受重视哩。你瞧,这可真是个好主意……”
“你本人也去吗?”
“哦,不,”布卢姆先生说,“说实在的,我得到克莱尔郡[30]去办点私事。你要知道,这个计划是把几座主要城镇都转上一圈。这儿闹了亏空,可以上那儿去弥补。”
“可不是嘛,”马丁·坎宁翰说,“玛丽·安德森[31]眼下在北边哪。你们有能手吗?”
“路易斯·沃纳[32]是我老婆的经纪人,”布卢姆先生说,“啊,对呀, 所有那些第一流的我们都能邀来。我希望J·C.多伊尔和约翰·麦科马克[33]也会来。确实是出类拔萃的。”
“还有夫人[34]哪,”鲍尔先生笑眯眯地说,“压轴儿的。”
布卢姆先生松开手指,打了个谦恭和蔼的手势,随即双手交叉起来。史密斯·奥布赖恩[35]。有人在那儿放了一束鲜花。女人。准是他的忌日喽。多福多寿。[36]马车从法雷尔[37]所塑造的那座雕像跟前拐了个弯。于是,他们就听任膝头毫无声息地碰在一起。
“靴子……”
一个衣着不起眼的老人站在路边,举着他要卖的东西,张着嘴,靴。
“靴子带儿,一便士四根。”
不晓得此人是怎么被除名的。本来他在休姆街开过自己的事务所。跟与摩莉同姓的那位沃德福德郡政府律师特威迪在同一座房屋里。打那时候起,就有了那顶大礼帽。住昔体面身份的遗迹。[38]他还服着丧哪。可怜的苦命人,潦倒不堪!像是守灵夜的鼻烟似的,被人踢来踢去。[39]奥卡拉汉已经落魄了[40]。
还有夫人[41]哪。十一点二十分了。起床啦。弗莱明大妈已经来打扫了。她一边哼唱,一边梳理头发。我要,又不愿意。[42]不,应该是,我愿意,又不愿意。[43]她在端详自己的头发梢儿分叉了没有。我的心跳得快了一点儿。[44]唱到tre这个音节时,她的嗓音多么圆润,声调有多么凄切。鸫鸟。画眉。画眉一词正是用来形容这种歌喉的。
他悄悄地扫视了一下鲍尔先生那张五官端正的脸。鬓角已花白了。他是笑眯眯地提到夫人的,我也报以微笑。微微笑,顶大用。也许只是出于礼貌吧。蛮好的一个人。人家说他有外遇,谁晓得是真是假?反正对他老婆来说,这可不是什么愉快的事。然而他们又说——是什么人告诉我的来着?并没有发生肉体关系。谁都会认为,那样很快就会吹台的。对啦,是克罗夫顿[45]。有个傍晚撞见他正给她带去一磅牛腿扒。她是干什么的来着?朱里饭店的酒吧女招待,要么就是莫伊拉饭店的吧?
他们从那位披着八斗篷的解放者[46]的铜像下面经过。
马丁·坎宁翰用臂肘轻轻地碰了碰鲍尔先生。
“吕便支族的后裔[47],”他说。
一个留着黑胡须的高大身影,弯腰拄着拐棍,趔趔趄趄地绕过埃尔韦里的象记商店[48]拐角,只见一只张着的手巴掌弯过来放在脊梁上。
“保留了原始的全部英姿,”鲍尔先生说。
迪达勒斯先生目送着那抱着沉重脚步而去的背影,温和地说:
“就欠恶魔没弄断你那脊梁骨的大筋啦!”
鲍尔先生在窗边一手遮着脸,笑得弯了腰。这时马车正从格雷[49]的雕像前经过。
“咱们都到他那儿去过了,”马丁·坎宁翰直率地说。
他的目光同布卢姆先生的相遇。他捋捋胡子,补上一句:
“喏,差不多人人都去过啦。”
布卢姆先生望着那些同车人的脸,抽冷子热切地说了起来:
“关于吕便·杰和他儿子,有个非常精彩的传闻。”
“是船家那档子事吗?”鲍尔先生问。
“是啊。非常精彩吧?”
“什么事呀?”迪达勒斯先生问,“我没听说。”
“牵涉到一位姑娘,”布卢姆先生讲起来了,“于是为了安全起见,他打定主意把儿子送到曼岛[50]上去。可是爷儿俩正……”
“什么?就是那个声名狼藉的小伙子吗?”
“是啊,”布卢姆先生说,“爷儿俩正要去搭船,他却想跳下水去淹死……”
“淹死巴拉巴[51]!老天爷,我但愿他能淹死!”
鲍尔先生从那用手遮住的鼻孔里发出的笑声持续了好半晌。
“不是,”布卢姆先生说,“是儿子本人……”
马丁·坎宁翰粗暴地插嘴说,
“吕便·杰和他儿子沿着河边的码头往下走,正准备搭乘开往曼岛的船,那个小骗子忽然溜掉,翻过堤坝纵身跳进了利菲河。”
“天哪!”迪达勒斯先生惊吓得大吼一声,“他死了吗?”
“死!”马丁·坎宁翰大声说,“他可死不了!有个船夫弄来根竿子,钩住他的裤子,把他捞上岸,半死不活地拖到码头上他老子跟前。全城的人有一半都在那儿围观哪。”
“是啊,”布卢姆先生说,“最逗的是……”
“而吕便·杰呢,”马丁·坎宁翰说,“为了酬劳船夫救了他儿子一条命,给了他两个先令。”
从鲍尔先生手下传来一声低微的叹息。
“哦,可不是嘛,”马丁·坎宁翰斩钉截铁地说,“摆出大人物的架势,赏了他一枚两先令银币。”
“非常精彩,对吗?”布卢姆先生殷切地说。
“多付了一先令八便士,”迪达勒斯先生用冷漠的口吻说。
鲍尔先生忍俊不禁,马车里回荡着低笑声。
纳尔逊纪念柱[52]。
“八个李子一便士!八个才一便士!”
“咱们最好显得严肃一些,”马丁·坎宁翰说。
迪达勒斯先生叹了口气。
“不过,说实在的,”他说,“即便笑一笑,可怜的小帕狄也不会在意的。他自己就讲过不少非常逗趣儿的话。”
“天主宽恕我!”鲍尔先生用手指揩着盈眶的泪水说,“可怜的帕迪!一个星期前我最后一次见到他的时候,他还跟平素一样那么精神抖擞呢。我再也设想到会这么乘马车给他送葬。他撇下咱们走啦。”
“戴过帽子[53]的小个儿当中,难得找到这么正派的,”迪达勒斯先生说,“他走得着实突然。”
“衰竭,”马丁·坎宁翰说,“心脏。”
他悲痛地拍拍自己的胸口。
满脸通红,像团火焰。威士忌喝多了。红鼻头疗法。拼死拼活地灌,把鼻头喝成灰黄色的了。为了把鼻头变成那种颜色,他钱可没少花。
鲍尔先生定睛望着往后退去的那些房屋,黯然神伤。
“他死得真是突然,可怜的人,”他说。
“这样死再好不过啦,”布卢姆先生说。
大家对他膛目而视。
“一点儿也没受罪,”他说,“一眨眼就都完啦。就像在睡眠中死去了似的。”
没有人吭气。
街的这半边死气沉沉。就连白天,生意也是萧条的:土地经纪人,戒酒饭店[54],福尔克纳铁路问讯处,文职人员培训所,吉尔书店,天主教俱乐部,盲人习艺所。这是怎么回事呢?反正有个原因。不是太阳就是风的缘故。晚上也还是这样。只有一些扫烟囱的和做粗活的女佣。在已故的马修神父[55]的庇护下。巴涅尔纪念碑的基石。衰竭。心脏。[56]
前额饰有白色羽毛的几匹白马,在街角的圆形建筑那儿拐了个弯儿,飞奔而来。一口小小的棺材一闪而过。赶看去下葬哩。一辆送葬马车。去世的是未婚者。已婚者用黑马。单身汉用花斑马。修女用棕色的。
“实在可惜,”马丁·坎宁翰先生说,“还是个娃娃哩。”
一张侏儒的脸,像小鲁迪的那样紫红色而布满皱纹。一副侏儒的身躯,油灰一般软塌塌的,陈放在衬了白布的松木匣子里。费用是丧葬互相会给出的。每周付一便士,就能保证一小块草地。咱们这个小乞丐。小不点儿。无所谓。这是大自然的失误。娃娃要是健康的话,只能归功于妈妈。否则就要怪爸爸[57]。但愿下次走点运。
“可怜的小家伙,”迪达勒斯先生说,“他总算没尝到人世间的辛酸。”
马车放慢速度,沿着拉特兰广场的坡路往上走。骨骼咯咯响,颠簸石路上。不过是个穷人,没入肯认领[58]。
“在生存中,”[58]马丁·坎宁翰说。
“然而最要不得的是,”鲍尔先生说,“自寻短见的人。”
马丁·坎宁翰匆匆地掏出怀表,咳嗽一声,又塞了回去。
“给一家人带来莫大的耻辱,”鲍尔先生又补上一句。
“当然是一时的精神错乱,”马丁·坎宁翰斩钉截铁地说,“咱们应该用更宽厚的眼光看这个问题。”
“人家都说干这种事儿的是懦夫,”迪达勒斯先生说。
“那就不是咱们凡人所能判断的了,”马丁·坎宁翰说。
布卢姆先生欲言又止。马丁·坎宁翰那双大眼睛,而今把视线从我身上移开了。他通情达理,富于恻隐之心,天资聪颖。长得像莎士比亚。开口总是与人为善。本地人对那种事儿和杀婴是毫不留情的。不许作为基督教徒来埋葬。早先竟往坟墓中的死者心脏里打进一根木桩[60],惟恐他的心脏还没有破碎。其实,他们有时也会懊悔的,不过已经来不及了。在河床里发现他的时候,手里还死命地摸住芦苇呢。他[61]瞅我来着。还有他那娘儿们——一个不可救药的醉鬼。一次次地为她把家安顿好,然而几乎一到星期六她就把家具典当一空,让他去赎。他过着像是在地狱里一般的日子。即便是一颗石头做的心脏,也会消磨殆尽的。星期一早晨,他又用肩膀顶着轱辘重新打鼓另开张。老天爷,那天晚上她那副样子真有瞧头。迪达勒斯告诉过我,他刚好在场。她喝得醉醺醺的,抡着马丁的雨伞欢蹦乱跳。
他们称我作亚洲的珍宝,
亚洲的珍宝
日本的艺妓[62]。
他把视线从我身上移开了。他明白。骨骼咯咯响。
验尸的那个下午。桌上摆着个贴有红标签的瓶子。旅馆那个房间里挂着一幅幅狩猎图。令人窒息的气氛。阳光透过威尼新式软百叶帘射了进来。验尸官那双毛茸茸的大耳朵泍浴在阳光下。茶房作证。起先只当他还睡着呢。随后见到他脸上有些黄道道。已经滑落到床脚了。法医验明为:服药过量。意外事故致死。遗书:致吾儿利奥波德。
再也尝不到痛苦了。再也醒不过来了。无人肯认领。
马车沿着布莱辛顿街辘辘地疾驰着。颠簸石路上。
“我看咱们正飞跑着哪,”马丁·坎宁翰说。
“上天保佑,可别把咱们这车人翻在马路上,”鲍尔先生说。
“但愿不至于,”马丁·坎宁翰说,“明天在德国有一场大赛——戈登、贝纳特[63]。”
“唉呀,”迪达勒斯先生说,“那确实值得一看。”
当他脽驼进伯克利街时,水库附近一架手摇风琴迎面送来一阵喧闹快活的游艺场音乐,走过去后,乐声依然尾随着。这儿可曾有人见过凯利?[64]凯歌的凯,利益的利。接着就是《扫罗》中的送葬曲[65]。他坏得像老安东尼奥,撇下了我孤苦伶仃![66]足尖立地旋转!仁慈圣母玛利亚医院[67j。这是埃克尔斯街,我家就在前边。[68]一座庞大的建筑,那里为绝症患者所设的病房。真令人感到鼓舞。专收垂死者的圣母济贫院。太平间就在下面,很便当。赖尔登老太太[69]就是在那儿去世的。那些女人的样子好吓人呀。用杯子喂她东西吃,调羹在嘴边儿蹭来蹭去。然后周围屏遮起她的床,等着她咽气。那个年轻的学生[70]多好啊,那一次蜜蜂蜇了我,还是他替我包扎的。他们告诉我,如今他转到产科医院去了。从一个极端到了另一个极端。
马车急转了个弯,蓦地停住了。
“又出了什么事?”
身上打了烙印的牛,分两路从马车的车窗外走过去,哞哞叫着,无精打采地挪动着带脚垫的蹄子,尾巴在瘦骨嶙嶙、巴着粪的屁股上徐徐地甩来甩去。打了猪红色印证的羊,吓得咩咩直叫,在牛群外侧或当中奔跑。
“简直像是移民一样,”鲍尔先生说。
“嘚儿!”,马车夫一路吆喝着,挥鞭啪啪地打着牲口的侧腹。
“嘚儿!躲开!”[71]
这是星期四嘛。明天该是屠宰日啦。怀仔的母牛。卡夫[72]把它们按每头约莫二十七镑的代价出售。兴许是运到利物浦去的。给老英格兰的烤牛肉[73]。他们把肥嫩的牛统统买走了。这下子连七零八碎儿都没有了,所有那些生料——皮啦,毛啦,角啦。一年算下来,蛮可观哩,单打一的牛肉生意。屠宰场的下脚料还可以送到鞣皮厂去或者制造肥皂和植物黄油。不晓得那架起重机如今是不是还在克朗西拉[74]从火车上卸下那些次等的肉。
马车又穿过牲畜群继续前进了。
“我不明白市政府为什么不从公园大门口铺一条直通码头的电车道?”布卢姆先生说,“这么一来,所有这些牲口就都可以用货车运上船了。”
“那样也就不至于堵塞道路啦,”马丁·坎宁翰说。“完全对,他们应该这么做。”
“是啊,”布卢姆先生说,“找还常常转另外一个念头:要像米兰市那样搞起市营的殡仪电车[75],你们晓得吧。把路轨一直铺到公墓门口,设置专用电车——殡车、送葬车,全齐了。你们明白我的意思吧?”
“那可是个奇妙的主意,”迪达勒斯先生说,“再挂上一节软卧和高级餐车。”
“对科尼来说,前景可不美妙啊,”鲍尔先生补充了一句。
“怎么会呢?”布卢姆先生转向迪达勒斯先生问道,“不是比坐双驾马车奔去体面些吗?”
“嗯,说得有点儿道理,”迪达勒斯先生承认了。
“而且,”马丁·坎宁翰说,“有一次殡车在敦菲角[76]前面拐弯的时候翻啦,把棺材扣在马路上。像那样的事,也就不会发生了。”
“那回太可怕啦,”鲍尔先生面呈惧色地说,“尸首都滚到马路上去了。可怕啊!”
“敦菲领先,”迪达勒斯先生点着头说,“争夺戈登·贝纳特奖杯。”
“颂赞归于天主!”马丁·坎宁翰虔诚地说。
咕咚!车子翻了。一副棺材扑通一声跌到路上,崩开了。帕狄· 迪格纳穆身着过于肥大的褐色衣服,被抛出来,僵直地在尘埃中打滚。红脸膛如今已呈灰色。嘴巴咧开来,像是在问究竟出了啥事儿。完全应该替他把嘴阖上,张着的模样太吓人了。内脏也腐烂得快。把一切开口都堵上就好得多。对,那也堵起来。用蜡。括约肌松了,一古脑儿封上。
“敦菲酒馆到啦,”当马车向右拐的时候,鲍尔先生宣告说。
敦菲角。停看好几辆送葬回来的车。人们在借酒浇愁。可以在路过歇上一会儿。这是开酒店的上好地点。估计我脽烷途会在这儿停下来,喝上一杯,为他祝祝冥福,大家也聊以解忧。长生不老剂[77]。
然而假定现在发生了这样一档子事。倘若翻滚的当儿,他身子给钉子扎破了,他会不会流血呢?我猜想,也许流,也许不流。要看扎在什么部位了。血液循环已经停止了。然而碰着了动脉,就可能会渗出点儿血来。下葬时,装裹不如用红色的——深红色。
他们沿着菲布斯巴斯街默默前进。刚从公墓回来的一辆空殡车迎面擦过,马蹄嘚嘚嘚响着,一派轻松模样。
克罗斯冈斯桥;皇家运河。
河水咆哮着冲出闸门。一条驶向下游的驳船上,在一堆堆的泥炭当中,站着条汉子,船闸旁的纤路上,有一匹松松地系着缰绳的马。布加布出航[78]。
他们用眼睛盯着他。他乘了这条用一根纤绳拽着的木排,顺着涓涓流淌、杂草蔓生的河道,涉过苇塘,穿过烂泥,越过一只只堵满淤泥的细长瓶子,一具具腐烂的狗尸,从爱尔兰腹地漂向海岸。阿斯隆、穆林加尔、莫伊谷[79],我可以沿着运河徒步旅行去看望米莉。要么就骑自行车前往。租一匹老马,倒也安全。雷恩[80]上次拍卖的时候倒是有过一辆,不过是女车。发展水路交通。詹姆斯·麦卡恩[81]以用摆渡船把我送过渡口为乐。这种走法要便宜一些。慢悠悠地航行。是带篷的船。“可以坐去野营。还有灵柩船,从水路去升天堂。也许我不写信就突然露面。径由莱克斯利普和克朗西拉,通过一道接一道船闸顺流而下,直抵都柏林。从中部的沼泽地带运来了泥炭。致敬——他举起褐色草帽,向帕狄·迪格纳穆致敬。
他们的马车从布赖恩·勃罗马酒家[82]前经过。墓地快到了。
“不晓得咱们的朋友弗格蒂[83]情况怎样了,”鲍尔先生说。
“不如去问问汤姆·克南·”迪达勒斯先生说。
“怎么回事?”马丁·坎宁翰说,“把他撇下,听任他去抹眼泪吧,是吗?”
“形影虽消失,”迪达勒斯先生说,“记忆诚可贵[84]”。
马车向左拐,走上芬格拉斯路[85]。
右侧是石匠作坊。最后一段工序。狭长的场地,密密匝匝地挤满默默无言的雕像。白色的,悲恸的。有的安详地伸出双手,有的忧伤地下跪,手指着什么地方。还有削下来的石像碎片。在一片白色沉默中哀诉着。为您提供最佳产品。纪念碑建造师及石像雕刻师托马斯·H·登纳尼。
走过去了。
教堂同事吉米·吉尔里的房屋前,一个老流浪汉坐在人行道的栏石上,一边嘟囔着,一边从他那双开了口、脏成褐色的大靴 子里倒着泥土和石子儿。他已走到人生旅途的尽头。
车子经过一座接一座荒芜不堪的花园[86],一幢幢阴森森的房屋。
鲍尔先生用手指了指。
“那就是蔡尔兹被谋杀的地方,”他说,“最后那幢房子。”
“可不是嘛,”迪达勒斯先生说,“可怕的凶杀案。西摩·布希[87]让他免于诉讼。谋杀亲哥哥。或者据说是这样。”
“检查官没有掌握证据,”鲍尔先生说。
“只有旁证,”马丁·坎宁翰补充说,“司法界有这么一条准则,宁可让九十九个犯人逃脱法网,也不能错判一个无辜者有罪。[88]”
他们望了望。一座凶宅。它黑魆魆地向后退去。拉上了百叶窗,没有人住,花园里长满了杂草。这地方整个都完了。被冤枉地定了罪。凶杀。凶手的形象留在被害者的视网膜上。人们就喜欢读这类故事。在花园里发现了男人的脑袋啦。她的穿着打扮啦。她是怎样遇害的啦。新近发生的凶杀案。使用什么凶器。凶手依然逍遥法外。线索。一根鞋带。要掘墓验尸啦。谋杀的内情总会败露[89]。
这辆马车太挤了。她可能不愿意我事先不通知一声就这么忽然跑来。对女人总得谨慎一些。她们脱裤衩时,只要撞上一回,她们就永远也不会饶恕你。她已经十五岁了嘛。
前景公墓[90]的高栅栏像涟漪般地从他们的视野里淌过。幽暗的白杨树林,偶尔出现几座白色雕像。雕像越来越多起来,白色石像群集在树间,白色人像及其断片悄无声息地竖立着,在虚空中徒然保持着各种姿态。
车轮的钢圈嘎的一声蹭着人行道的栏石,停了下来。马丁·坎宁翰伸出胳膊,拧转把手,用膝盖顶开了车门。他下了马车,鲍尔先生和迪达勒斯先生跟着也下去了。
趁这会子把肥皂挪个窝儿吧。布卢姆先生的手麻利地解开裤子后兜上的钮扣,将巴在纸上的肥皂移到装手绢的内兜里。他边跨下马车,边把另一只手攥着的报纸放回兜里。
简陋的葬礼,一辆大马车,三辆小的。还不都是一样。抬棺人,金色缰绳,安魂弥撒,放吊炮。为死亡摆排场。殿后的马车对面站着个小贩,身旁的手推双轮车上放着糕点和水果。那是些西姆内尔糕饼[91],整个儿粘在一起了。那是给死者上供用的糕点。狗饼干[92]。谁吃?正从墓地往外走的送葬者。
他跟随着同伴们。接着就是克南先生和内德·兰伯特。海因斯也走在他们后面。科尼·凯莱赫站在敞着门的灵车旁边,取出一对花圈,并将其中的一个递给了男孩子。
刚才那个娃娃的送葬行列不知消失到哪儿去了?
从芬格拉斯[93]那边来了一群马,吃力地迈着沉重的步子,拖着一辆载有庞大花岗石的大车,发出的嘎嘎响声打破了葬礼的沉寂,走了过去。在前边领路的车把式向他们点头致意。如今是灵柩了。尽管他已死去,却比我们先到了。[94]马扭过头来望着棺材,头上那根羽毛饰斜插向天空。它两眼无神:轭具勒紧了脖子,像是压迫着一根血管还是什么的。这些马晓不晓得自己每天拉车运些什么到这儿来?每天准有二三十档子葬事。新教徒另有杰罗姆山公墓。普天之下,每分钟都在举行着葬礼。要是成车地用铁锨铲进土星,就会快上好几倍。每小时埋上成千上万。世界上人太多了。
送葬者从大门里走了出来。一个妇女和一个小姑娘。妇女的相貌刁悍,尖下巴颏儿,看上去是个胡乱讨价还价的那号人,歪戴着一顶软帽。小姑娘满脸灰尘和泪痕,她挽着妇人的臂,仰望着,等待要她号哭的信号。鱼一般的脸,铁青而毫无血色。
殡殓工们把棺材扛在肩上,抬进大门。尸体沉得很。方才我从浴缸里迈出来,也觉得自己的体重增加了。死者领先,接着是死者的朋友。科尼·凯莱赫和那个男孩子拿着花圈跟在后面。挨着他们的是谁?啊,是死者的内弟。
大家都跟着走。
马丁·坎宁翰悄声说:
“当你在布卢姆面前谈起自杀的事来时,我心里感到万分痛苦。”
“为什么?”鲍尔先生小声说,“怎么回事?”
“他父亲就是服毒自杀的,”马丁·坎宁翰跟他交头接耳地说,“生前在恩尼斯[95]开过皇后饭店。你不是也听见他说要去克莱尔吗?那是忌辰。”
“啊,天啊!”鲍尔先生压低嗓门说,“我这是头一回听说。是服毒吗?”
他回过头去,朝那张有着一双沉思的乌黑眼睛的脸望去。那人边说话,边跟着他们走向枢机主教的陵墓[96]。
“上保险了吗?”
“我想一定上啦,”克南先生说,“然而保险单已经抵押出去,借了一大笔钱。马丁正想办法把那个男孩子送到阿尔坦[97]去。”
“他撇下了几个孩子?”
“五个。内德·兰伯特说过,他要想方设法把一个女孩子送进托德[98]去。”
“真够惨的,”布卢姆轻声说,“五个幼小的孩子。”
“对可怜的妻子来说,是个很大的打击,”克南先生又补上一句。
“说得是啊,”布卢姆先生随声附和道。
如今,她胜利地活过了他。
他低头望了望自己涂油擦得锃亮的靴子。她的寿数比他长。失去了丈夫。对她来说,这死亡比对我关系重大。总有一个比另一个长寿。明智的人说,世上的女人比男人多。[99]安慰她吧:你的损失太惨重了。我希望你很快就跟随他而去。只有对信奉印度教的寡妇才能这么说。[100]她会再婚的。嫁给他吗?不。 然而谁晓得以后会怎样呢?老女王去世后,就不兴守寡了。用炮车运送。维多利亚和阿尔伯特。在福洛格摩举行的追悼仪式。[101]可后来她还是在软帽上插了几朵紫罗兰。 在心灵深处[102],她毕竟好虚荣的。这一切都是为了一个影子。女王的配偶而已, 连国王也不是。她儿子的位分才是实实在在的。那可以有新的指望[103];不像她想要唤回来而白白等待着的过去。过去是永远也不复返了。
总得有人先走。孤零零地入土,不再睡在她那温暖的床上了。
“你好吗,西蒙?”内德·兰伯特一边握手,一边柔声地说,“近一个月来,连星期天也一直没见着你啦。”
“从来没这么好过。科克这座城市[104]里,大家都好吗?”
“复活节的星期一,我去看科克公园的赛马[105]了,”内德·兰伯特说,“还是老一套,六先令八便士[106]。我是在狄克·蒂维家过的夜。”
“狄克这个实实在在的人,他好吗?”
“他的头皮和苍天之间己经毫无遮拦啦,”内德·兰伯特回答说。
“哎呀,我的圣保罗!”迪达勒斯先生抑制着心头的惊愕说,“狄克·蒂维歇顶了吗?”
“马丁正在为那些孩子们募集一笔捐款,”内德·兰伯特指着前边说,“每人几先令。让他们好歹维持到保险金结算为止。”
“对,对,”迪达勒斯先生迟迟疑疑地说,“最前面的那个是大 儿子吧?”
“是啊,”内德·兰伯特说,“挨着他舅舅。后面是约翰·亨利·
门顿[107]。他认捐了一镑。”
“我相信他会这么做的,”迪达勒斯先生说,“我经常对可怜的 帕狄说,他应该在自己那份工作上多下点儿心。约翰·亨利并不是世界上最坏的人。”
“他是怎么砸的饭碗?”内德·兰伯特问道,“酗酒,还是什么?”
“很多好人都犯这个毛病,”迪达勒斯先生叹了口气说。
他们在停尸所小教堂的门旁停下了。 布卢姆先生站在手执花圈的男孩儿后面,俯视着他那梳理得光光整整的头发和那系着崭新的硬领、有着凹沟的纤细脖颈。可怜的孩子!也不晓得当他爸爸咽气时,他在不在场? 双方都不曾意识到死神即将来临。弥留之际才回光返照,最后一次认出人来。多少未遂的意愿。我欠了奥格雷狄三先令[108]。他能领会吗?殡殓工把棺材抬进了小教堂。他的头在哪一端?
过了一会儿,他跟在别人后头走进去,在透过帘子射进来的日光下眨巴着眼儿。棺材停放在圣坛前的柩架上,四个角各点燃一支高高的黄蜡烛。它总是在我们的前边。科尼·凯莱赫在四个角各放了只花圈,然后向那男孩子打了个手势,让他跪下。送葬者东一个西一个地纷纷跪在祈祷桌前。布卢姆先生站在后面,离圣水盂不远。等大家都跪下后,才从兜里掏出报纸摊开来,小心翼翼地铺在地上,屈起右膝跪在上面。他将黑帽子轻轻地扣在左膝上,手扶帽檐,虔诚地弯下身去。
一名助祭提着盛有什么的黄铜桶[109],从一扇门后面走了进来, 白袍神父跟在后面。他一只手整理着祭带,另一只手扶着顶在他那癞哈蟆般的肚子上的一本小书。谁来读这本书?白嘴鸦说:我。[110]
他们在柩架前停下步子。神父嗄声流畅地读起他那本书来。
科菲神父。我晓得他的姓听上去像“棺材”[111]。哆咪内呐眯内[112]。他的嘴巴那儿显得盛气凌人。专横跋扈。健壮的基督教徒[113]。 任何人斜眼瞧他都要遭殃。因为他是神父嘛。你要称作彼得[114]。迪达勒斯曾说 ,他的肚子会横着撑破的,就像是尽情地吃了三叶草的羊似的。挺着那么个大肚子,活像一只被毒死的小狗。那个人找到了最有趣儿的说法。哼,横里撑破。
求你不要审问我,你的仆人。[115]
用拉下文为他们祷告,会使他们觉得自己的身价抬高了些。安魂弥撒。身穿绝妙的号丧者[116]。黑框信纸。你的名字已经列在祭坛名单[117]上。这地方凉飕飕的。可得吃点好的才行。在昏暗中一坐就是整个上午, 磕着脚后跟,恭候下一位。连眼睛都像是癞哈蟆的。是什么使他胀成这样呢?摩莉一吃包心菜就肚胀。兴许是此地的空气在作怪。看来弥漫着疠气。这一带必定充满了在地狱里般的疠气。就拿屠夫来说吧:他们变得像生牛排似的。是谁告诉我来着?是默文·布朗[118]。 圣沃伯格教堂有一架可爱的老风琴,已经历了一百五十个星霜。在教堂地下灵堂里,必须不时地在棺材上凿个窟窿,放出疠气,点燃烧掉。蓝色的,一个劲儿地往外冒。只要吸上一口,你就完蛋啦。
我的膝盖硌得疼了。唔。这样就好一些了。
神父从助祭提着的桶里取出一根顶端呈圆形的棍子,朝棺材上甩了甩。然后他走到另一头,又甩了甩。接着他踱了回来,将棍子放回桶里。你安息前怎样,如今还是怎样。一切都有明文规定,他照办就是了。
不要让我们受到诱惑。[119]
助祭尖声细气地应答着。[120]我常常觉得,家里不如雇个小男仆。最大不超过十五岁。再大了,自然就……
那想必是圣水。洒出来的是永眠。这份差事他准干腻了。成天朝送来的所有的尸首甩那牢什子。要是他能看到自己在往谁身上洒圣水,也不碍事嘛。每迎来一天,就有一批新的,中年汉子,老妪,娃娃,死于难产的孕妇,蓄胡子的男人,秃顶商人,胸脯小得像麻雀的结核病姑娘。他成年为他们作同样的祷告,并且朝他们洒圣水,安息吧。如今该轮到迪格纳穆了。
在天堂里。[121]
说是他即将升天堂或已升入天堂。对每个人都这么说。这是一份令人厌烦的差事。可是他总得说点儿什么。
神父阖上圣书走了,助祭跟在后面。科尼·凯莱赫打开侧门,掘墓工进来,重新抬起棺材,抬出去装在他们的手推车上。 科尼·凯莱赫把一只花圈递给男孩儿,另一只递给他舅舅。大家跟在他们后面, 走出侧门,来到外边柔和的灰色空气中。布卢姆先生殿后。他又把报纸折好,放回兜里,神情严肃地俯视着地面,直到运棺材的手推车向左拐去。金属轱辘磨在砂砾上,发出尖锐的嘎嘎声。一簇靴子跟在手推车后面踏出钝重的脚步声,沿着墓丛间的小径走去。
咯哩嗒啦咯哩嗒啦硲噜。主啊,我绝不可在这儿哼什么小曲儿。
“奥康内尔的圆塔[122],”迪达勒斯先生四下里望了望说。
鲍尔先生用柔和的目光仰望着那高耸的圆锥形塔的顶端。
“老丹·奥[123]在他的人民当中安息哪,”他说,“然而他的心脏却埋在罗马[124]。这儿埋葬了多少颗破碎的心啊,西蒙!”
“她[125]的坟墓就在那儿,杰克,”迪达勒斯先生说,“我不久就会神腿儿躺在她身边了。任凭天主高兴,随时把我接走吧。”
他的精神崩溃了,开始暗自哭泣,稍打着趔趄。鲍尔先生挽住他的胳膊。
“她在那儿安息更好,”他体贴地说。
“那倒也是,”迪达勒斯先生微弱地喘了口气说,“假若有天堂的话,我猜想她淮是在那里。”
科尼·凯莱赫从行列里跨到路边,让送葬者抱着沉重的脚步从他身旁踱过去。
“真是个令人伤心的场合,”克南先生彬彬有礼地开口说。
布卢姆先生阖上眼,悲恸地点了两下头。
“别人都戴上帽子啦,”克南先生说,“我想,咱们也可以戴了吧。咱们在后尾儿。在公墓里可不能大意。”
他们戴上了帽子。
“你不觉得神父先生念祷文念得太快了些吗?”克南先生用嗔怪的口吻说。
布卢姆先生注视着他那双敏锐的、挂满血丝的眼睛,肃然点了点头。诡谲的眼睛,洞察着内心的秘密。我猜想他薀筒济会的,可也拿不准。又挨着他了。咱们在末尾。同舟共济[126]。巴不得他说点儿旁的。
克南先生又加上一句:
“我敢说杰罗姆山公墓举行的爱尔兰圣公会[127]的仪式更简朴,给人的印象也更深。”
布卢姆先生谨慎地表示了同意。当然,语言又当作别论。[128]
克南先生一本正经地说:
“我就是复活,就是生命。[129]这话触动人的内心深处。”
“是啊,”布卢姆先生说。
也许会触动你的心,然而对于如今脚尖冲着雏菊、停在六英尺见长、二英尺见宽的棺材里面的那个人来说,又有什么价值呢?触动不了他的心。寄托感情之所在。一颗破碎了的心。终归是个泵而已,每天抽送成千上万加仑的血液。直到有一天堵塞了,也就完事大吉。此地到处都撂着这类器官,肺、心、肝。生了锈的老泵,仅此而已。复活与生命。人一旦死了,就是死了。末日的概念。[130]去敲一座座坟墓,把他们都喊起来。“拉撒路,出来!”[131]然而他是第五个出来的,所以失业了。[132]起来吧!这是末日!于是,每个人都四下里摸索自己的肝啦,肺啦以及其他内脏。那个早晨要是能把自己凑个齐全,那就再好不过了。颅骨里只有一英钱粉末。每英钱合十二克。金衡制[133]。
科尼·凯莱赫和他们并排走起来。
“一切都进行得头等顺利,”他说,“怎么样?”
他用眼睛不慌不忙地打量着他们。警察般的肩膀。吐啦噜吐啦噜地哼着小调儿。
“正应该这样,”克南先生说。
“什么?呃?”科尼·凯莱赫说。
克南先生请他放心。
“后面那个跟汤姆·克南一道走着的汉子是谁?”约翰·亨利·门顿问,“看来挺面熟。”
[ 此帖被soneyky在2012-12-24 08:08重新编辑 ]
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6、马丁·坎宁翰首先把戴着丝质大礼帽的头...


马丁·坎宁翰首先把戴着丝质大礼帽的头伸进嘎嘎作响的马车,轻捷地进去落座了。鲍尔[1]先生小心翼翼地弯着修长的身躯,跟在他后面也上了车。
“来吧,西蒙。”
“您先上,”布卢姆先生说。
迪达勒斯先生匆匆戴上帽子,边上车边说:
“好的,好的。”
“人都齐了吗?”马丁·坎宁翰问:“上车吧,布卢姆。”
布卢姆先生上了车,在空位子上落座。他反手带上车门,咣噹了两下,直到把它撞严实了才撒手。他将一只胳膊套在拉手吊带里,神情严肃地从敞着的车窗里眺望马路旁那一扇扇拉得低低的百叶窗[2]。有一副帘子被拉到一边, 一个老妪正向外窥视。鼻子贴在玻璃窗上又白又扁。她在感谢命运这一遭儿总算饶过了自已。妇女们对尸体所表示的兴趣是异乎寻常的。我们来到世上时给了她们那么多麻烦,所以她们乐意看到我们走。她们好像适合于干这种活儿。在角落里鬼鬼祟祟的。趿拉着拖鞋,轻手轻脚地,生怕惊醒了他。然后给他装裹,以便入殓。摩莉和弗莱明大妈[3]在往棺材里面铺着什么。再往你那边拽拽呀。我们的包尸布。 你决不会知道自己死后谁会来摸你。洗身子啦,洗头啦。我相信她们还会给他剪指甲和头发,并且装在信封里保存一点儿。这之后,照样会长哩。这可是件脏活儿。
大家伫候着,谁也不吭一声儿。大概是在装花圈哪。我坐在硬邦邦的东西上面。唔,原来是我后裤兜儿里的那块香皂。最好把它挪一挪,等有机会再说。
大家全在伫候。过一会儿,前方传来了车轮的转动声,越来越挨近,接着就是马蹄声。车身颠簸了一下。他们的马车开始前进了,摇摇摆摆,吱嘎作响。后面也响起了另外一些马蹄的声音和车轱辘的吱吜声。马路旁的百叶窗向后移动;门环上蒙着黑纱的九号[4]那半掩着的大门,也以步行的速度过去了。
他们依然坐在那里一声不响,膝盖抖动着。直到车子拐了个弯,沿着电车轨道走去,这时才打破了沉寂。特里顿维尔路。速度加快了。车轮在卵石铺成的公路上咯噔咯噔地向前滚动,像是发了疯似的玻璃在车门框里咔嗒咔嗒地震颤着。
“他这是拉着咱们走哪条路啊?”鲍尔先生隔看车窗边东张西望,边问。
“爱尔兰区,”马丁·坎宁翰说,“这是林森德。布伦斯威克大街。”
迪达勒斯先生朝车窗外望着,点了点头。
“这是个古老的好风习[5],”他说,“我很高兴如今还没有废除。”
大家隔看车窗望了望。行人纷纷脱便帽或礼帽,表示敬意呢。马车径过沃特利巷后就离开电车轨道,走上较为平坦的路。布卢姆先生定睛望望,只见有个身材细溜、穿着丧服、头戴宽檐帽的青年。
“迪达勒斯,你的一个熟人刚刚走过去了,”他说。
“谁呀?”
“你的公子和继承人。”
“他在哪儿?”迪达勒斯说着,斜探过身子来。
马车正沿着一排公寓房子驰去,房前的路面上挖出一条条明沟,沟旁是一溜儿土堆。在拐角处车身蓦地歪了歪,又折回到电车轨道上了,车轮喧闹地咯噔咯噔向前滚动。迪达勒斯先生往后靠了靠身子,说:
“穆利根那家伙跟他在一道吗?他的忠实的阿卡帖斯[6]!”
“没有,”布卢姆先生说,“就他一个人。”
“大概是看他的萨莉舅妈去啦,”迪达勒斯说,“古尔丁那一伙儿,喝得醉醺醺的小成本会计师,还有克莉西,爸爸的小屎橛子,知父莫如聪明的小妞儿。”
布卢姆先生望着林森德路凄然一笑。华莱士兄弟瓶厂:多德尔桥。
里奇·古尔丁和律师用的公文包。他管这事务所叫作古尔丁-科利斯- 沃德[7]。他开的玩笑如今越来越没味儿了。从前他可是个大淘气包。一个星期天早晨,他用饰针把房东太太的两顶帽子别在头上,同伊格内修斯·加拉赫[8] 一道在斯塔默街上跳起华尔兹舞,通宵达旦地在外边疯闹。如今他可垮下来了,我看他的背痛,就是当年埋下的根子。老婆替他按摩背。他满以为服点药丸就能痊愈。其实那统统都只不过是面包渣子。利润高达百分之六百左右。
“他跟一帮下贱痞子鬼混,”迪达勒斯先生骂道,“大家都说,那个穆利根就是个坏透了的流氓,心肠狠毒,堕落到了极点。他的名字臭遍了整个都柏林城。在天主和圣母的佑助下,我迟早非写封信给他老娘、姑妈或是什么人不可。叫她看了,会把眼睛瞪得像门一样大。我要隔肢他屁股![9]我说话算数。”
他用大得足以压住车轮咯咯声的嗓门嚷着:
“我绝不能听任她那个杂种侄子毁掉我儿子。他爹是个站柜台的,在我表弟彼得·保罗·麦克斯威尼的店里卖棉线带。我决不让他得逞。”
他住了嘴。布卢姆先生把视线从他那愤怒的口髭,移到鲍尔先生那和蔼的面容,以及马丁·坎宁翰的眼睛和严肃地摇曳着的胡子上。好一个吵吵闹闹、固执己见的人。满脑子都是儿子。他说得对。总得有个继承人啊。倘若小鲁迪还在世的话,我就可以看看他长大。在家里能听到他的声音。他穿着一身伊顿[10]式的制服,和摩莉并肩而行。我的儿子。他眼中的我。那必然会是一番异样的感觉。我的子嗣。纯粹是出于偶然。准是那天早晨发生在雷蒙德高台街的事。她正从窗口眺望着两条狗在“停止作恶”[11]的墙边搞着。有个警官笑嘻嘻地仰望着。她穿的是那件奶油色长袍,已经绽了线,可她始终也没缝上。摸摸我,波尔迪。天哪,我想得要死。这就是生命的起源。
于是,她有了身孕。葛雷斯顿斯[12]音乐会的邀请也只好推掉。我的儿子在她肚子里。倘若他活着,我原是可以一直帮助他的。那是肯定的。让他能够自立,还学会德语。
“咱们来迟了吗?”鲍尔先生问。
“迟了十分钟,”马丁·坎宁翰边看看表边说。
摩莉。米莉。一个模子里刻出来的,就是单薄了一点。是个假小子,满嘴村话。呸,跳跳蹦蹦的朱庇特哪!你这天神和小鱼儿哪!可她毕竟是个招人疼的好姐儿,很快就要成为妇人啦。穆林加尔。最亲爱的爹爹。年轻学生。是啊,是啊,也是个妇人哩。人生啊,人生。
马车左摇右晃,他们四个人的身躯也跟着颠簸。
“科尼蛮可以给咱们套一辆更宽绰些的车嘛,”鲍尔先生说。
“他原是可以的,”迪达勒斯先生说,“要不是被那斜视症折腾的话。你懂我的意思吗?”
他阖上了左眼。马丁·坎宁翰开始把腿下的面包渣子撢掉。
“这是什么呀,”他说,“天哪,是面包渣儿吗?”
“想必新近有人在这儿举行过野餐哩,”鲍尔先生说。
大家都抬起腿来,厌恶地瞅着那散发着霉臭、扣子也脱落了的座位皮面。迪达勒斯先生抽着鼻子,蹙眉朝下望望说:
“除非是我完全误会了……你觉得怎么样,马丁?”
“我也这么认为,”马丁·坎宁翰说。
布卢姆先生把大腿放下来。亏得我洗了那个澡。脚上感到很清爽。可要是弗莱明大妈替我把这双短袜补得更细一点就好了。
迪达勒浙先生无可奈何地叹了口气。
“这毕竟是,”他说,“世界上最自然不过的事。”
“汤姆·克南露面了吗?”马丁·坎宁翰慢条斯理地捻着胡子梢儿,问道。
“来啦,”布卢姆先生回答说:“他跟内德·兰伯特[13]和海因斯[14]一道坐在后面哪。”
“还有科尼、凯莱赫本人呢?”鲍尔先生问。
“他到公墓去啦,”马丁·坎宁翰说。
“今天早晨我遇见了麦科伊,”布卢姆先生说,“他说他尽可能来。”
马车猛地停住了。
“怎么啦?”
“堵车了。”
“咱们这是在哪儿呢?”
布卢姆先生从车窗里探出头去。
“大运河,”他说。
煤气厂。听说这能治百日咳哩。亏得米莉从来没患上过。可怜的娃娃们! 痉挛得都蜷缩成一团了,脸上青一块紫一块的。真够受的。相形之下,她患的病倒比较轻,不过是麻疹而已。煎亚麻籽[15]。猩红热。流行性感冒。我这是在替死神兜揽广告哪。可别错过这个机会。狗收容所就在那边。可怜的老阿索斯[16]! 好好照料阿索斯,利奥波德,这是我最后的愿望。愿你的旨意实现[17]。对坟墓里的人们我们总是唯命是从。那是他弥留之际潦潦草草写下的。狗伤心得衰竭而死。那是一只温和驯顺的家畜。老人养的狗通常都是这样的。
吧嗒一声一滴雨点落在他的帽子上。他缩回脖子。接着,一阵骤雨嘀嘀嗒嗒地落在灰色的石板路上。奇怪,稀稀落落的,就像是漏勺滤下来的。我料到会下。想起来啦,我的靴子咯吱咯吱直响来着。
“变天啦,”他安详地说。
“可惜没一直晴下去,”马丁·坎宁翰说。
“乡下可盼着雨哪,”鲍尔先生说,“太阳又出来啦。”
迪达勒斯先生透过眼镜凝视着那遮着一层云彩的太阳,朝天空默默地发出诅咒。
“它就跟娃娃的屁股一样没准儿,”他说。
“咱们又走啦。”
马车又转动起那硬邦邦的轱辘了。他们的身子轻轻地晃悠着。马丁·坎宁翰加快了捻胡须梢儿的动作。
“昨天晚上汤姆·克南真了不起,”他说,“帕迪·伦纳德[18]当面学他那样儿取笑他。”
“噢,马丁,把他的话都引出来吧,”鲍尔先生起劲地说,“西蒙,你等着听克南对本·多拉德唱的《推平头的小伙子》[19]所做的评论吧。”
“了不起,”马丁·坎宁翰用夸张的口气说,“马丁啊,他把那支纯朴的民歌唱绝了,是我这辈子所听到的气势最为磅礴的演唱。”
“气势磅礴,”鲍尔先生笑着说,“他最喜欢用这个字眼,还爱说‘回顾性的编排’。”[20]
“你们读了丹·道森的演说吗?”马丁·坎宁翰问。
“我还没读呢,”迪达勒斯先生说,“登在哪儿啦?”
“今天早晨的报纸上。”
布卢姆先生从内兜里取出那张报。我得给她换那本书。
“别,别,”迪达勒斯先生连忙说,“回头再说吧。”
布卢姆先生的目光顺着报纸过往下扫视着讣闻栏:卡伦、科尔曼、 迪格纳穆、福西特、劳里、瑙曼、皮克。是哪个皮克[21]呢?是在克罗斯比——艾莱恩那儿工作的那家伙吗?不对,是厄布赖特教堂同事。报纸磨破了,上头的油墨字迹很快就模糊了。向“小花”[22]致以谢忱。深切的哀悼。遗族难以形容的悲恸。久患顽症,医治无效,终年八十八岁。为昆兰举行的周月追思弥撒。仁慈的耶稣,怜悯他的灵魂吧。
亲人亨利已遁去,
住进天室今月弥,
遗族哀伤并悲泣,
翘盼苍穹重相聚。
我把那个信封撕掉了吗?撕掉啦。我在澡堂子里看完她那封信之后,放在哪儿啦?他拍了拍背心上的兜。在这儿放得安安妥妥的。亲人亨利已遁去。趁着我的耐心还没有耗尽。
国立小学。米德木材堆放场。出租马车停车场。如今只剩下两辆了。马在打磕睡,肚子鼓得像壁虱。马的头盖上,骨头太多了。另一辆载着客人转悠哪。一个钟头以前,我曾打这儿经过。马车夫们举了举帽子。
在布卢姆先生这扇车窗旁边,一个弯着腰的扳道员忽然背着电车的电杆直起了身子。难道他们不能发明一种自动装置吗?那样,车轮转动得就更便当了。不过,那样一来就会砸掉此人饭碗了吧?但是另一个人都会捞到制造这种新发明的工作吧?
安蒂恩特音乐堂。眼下什么节目也没上演。有个身穿一套淡黄色衣服的男子,臂上佩带着黑纱。他服的是轻丧,不像是怎么悲伤的样子。兴许是个姻亲吧。
他们默默地经过铁道陆桥下圣马可教堂臒外秃秃的讲道坊, 又经过女王剧院。海报牌上是尤金·斯特拉顿[23]和班德曼·帕默夫人。也不晓得我今天晚上能不能去看《丽亚》。我原说是要去的。要么就去看《基拉尼的百合》[24]吧?由埃尔斯特·格莱姆斯歌剧团演出。做了大胆的革新。刚刚刷上去、色彩鲜艳的下周节目预告:《布里斯托尔号的愉快航行》[25]。马丁·坎宁翰总能替我弄到一张欢乐剧院的免费券吧。得请他喝上一两杯,反正是一个样。
下午他[26]就来了。她的歌儿。
普拉斯托帽店。纪念菲利普·克兰普顿爵士[27]的喷泉雕像。这是谁[28]呀?
“你好!”马丁·坎宁翰边说边把巴掌举到额头那儿行礼。
“他没瞧见咱们,”鲍尔先生说,“啊,他瞧见啦。你好!”
“是谁呀?”迪达勒斯先生问。
“是布莱泽斯·博伊兰,”鲍尔先生说,他正摘下帽子让他的鬈发透透风哪。
此刻我刚好想到了他。
迪达勒斯先生探过身去打招呼。红沙洲餐厅[29]的门口那儿,白色圆盘状的草帽闪了一下,作为回礼。潇洒的身影过去了。
布卢姆先生端详了一下自已左手的指甲,接着又看右手的。是呀,指甲。除了魅力而外,妇女们,她,在他身上还能看得到旁的什么呢?魅力。他是都柏林最坏的家伙,却凭着这一点活得欢欢势势。妇女们有时能够感觉出对方是个什么样的人。这是一种本能。然而像他那种类型的人嘛。我的指甲。我正瞅着指甲呢。修剪得整整齐齐。然后,我就独自在想着。浑身的皮肉有点儿松软了。我能发觉这一点,因为我记得原先是什么样子。这是怎么造成的呢?估计是肉掉了,而皮肤收缩得却没那么快。但是身材总算保持下来了。依然保持了身材。肩膀。臀部。挺丰满的。舞会的晚上换装时,衬衣后摆竟夹在屁股缝儿里了。
他十指交叉,夹在双膝之间,感到心满意足,茫然地环视着他们的脸。
鲍尔先生问:
“巡回音乐会进行得怎样啦,布卢姆?”
“哦,好极啦,”布卢姆先生说,“我听说,颇受重视哩。你瞧,这可真是个好主意……”
“你本人也去吗?”
“哦,不,”布卢姆先生说,“说实在的,我得到克莱尔郡[30]去办点私事。你要知道,这个计划是把几座主要城镇都转上一圈。这儿闹了亏空,可以上那儿去弥补。”
“可不是嘛,”马丁·坎宁翰说,“玛丽·安德森[31]眼下在北边哪。你们有能手吗?”
“路易斯·沃纳[32]是我老婆的经纪人,”布卢姆先生说,“啊,对呀, 所有那些第一流的我们都能邀来。我希望J·C.多伊尔和约翰·麦科马克[33]也会来。确实是出类拔萃的。”
“还有夫人[34]哪,”鲍尔先生笑眯眯地说,“压轴儿的。”
布卢姆先生松开手指,打了个谦恭和蔼的手势,随即双手交叉起来。史密斯·奥布赖恩[35]。有人在那儿放了一束鲜花。女人。准是他的忌日喽。多福多寿。[36]马车从法雷尔[37]所塑造的那座雕像跟前拐了个弯。于是,他们就听任膝头毫无声息地碰在一起。
“靴子……”
一个衣着不起眼的老人站在路边,举着他要卖的东西,张着嘴,靴。
“靴子带儿,一便士四根。”
不晓得此人是怎么被除名的。本来他在休姆街开过自己的事务所。跟与摩莉同姓的那位沃德福德郡政府律师特威迪在同一座房屋里。打那时候起,就有了那顶大礼帽。住昔体面身份的遗迹。[38]他还服着丧哪。可怜的苦命人,潦倒不堪!像是守灵夜的鼻烟似的,被人踢来踢去。[39]奥卡拉汉已经落魄了[40]。
还有夫人[41]哪。十一点二十分了。起床啦。弗莱明大妈已经来打扫了。她一边哼唱,一边梳理头发。我要,又不愿意。[42]不,应该是,我愿意,又不愿意。[43]她在端详自己的头发梢儿分叉了没有。我的心跳得快了一点儿。[44]唱到tre这个音节时,她的嗓音多么圆润,声调有多么凄切。鸫鸟。画眉。画眉一词正是用来形容这种歌喉的。
他悄悄地扫视了一下鲍尔先生那张五官端正的脸。鬓角已花白了。他是笑眯眯地提到夫人的,我也报以微笑。微微笑,顶大用。也许只是出于礼貌吧。蛮好的一个人。人家说他有外遇,谁晓得是真是假?反正对他老婆来说,这可不是什么愉快的事。然而他们又说——是什么人告诉我的来着?并没有发生肉体关系。谁都会认为,那样很快就会吹台的。对啦,是克罗夫顿[45]。有个傍晚撞见他正给她带去一磅牛腿扒。她是干什么的来着?朱里饭店的酒吧女招待,要么就是莫伊拉饭店的吧?
他们从那位披着八斗篷的解放者[46]的铜像下面经过。
马丁·坎宁翰用臂肘轻轻地碰了碰鲍尔先生。
“吕便支族的后裔[47],”他说。
一个留着黑胡须的高大身影,弯腰拄着拐棍,趔趔趄趄地绕过埃尔韦里的象记商店[48]拐角,只见一只张着的手巴掌弯过来放在脊梁上。
“保留了原始的全部英姿,”鲍尔先生说。
迪达勒斯先生目送着那抱着沉重脚步而去的背影,温和地说:
“就欠恶魔没弄断你那脊梁骨的大筋啦!”
鲍尔先生在窗边一手遮着脸,笑得弯了腰。这时马车正从格雷[49]的雕像前经过。
“咱们都到他那儿去过了,”马丁·坎宁翰直率地说。
他的目光同布卢姆先生的相遇。他捋捋胡子,补上一句:
“喏,差不多人人都去过啦。”
布卢姆先生望着那些同车人的脸,抽冷子热切地说了起来:
“关于吕便·杰和他儿子,有个非常精彩的传闻。”
“是船家那档子事吗?”鲍尔先生问。
“是啊。非常精彩吧?”
“什么事呀?”迪达勒斯先生问,“我没听说。”
“牵涉到一位姑娘,”布卢姆先生讲起来了,“于是为了安全起见,他打定主意把儿子送到曼岛[50]上去。可是爷儿俩正……”
“什么?就是那个声名狼藉的小伙子吗?”
“是啊,”布卢姆先生说,“爷儿俩正要去搭船,他却想跳下水去淹死……”
“淹死巴拉巴[51]!老天爷,我但愿他能淹死!”
鲍尔先生从那用手遮住的鼻孔里发出的笑声持续了好半晌。
“不是,”布卢姆先生说,“是儿子本人……”
马丁·坎宁翰粗暴地插嘴说,
“吕便·杰和他儿子沿着河边的码头往下走,正准备搭乘开往曼岛的船,那个小骗子忽然溜掉,翻过堤坝纵身跳进了利菲河。”
“天哪!”迪达勒斯先生惊吓得大吼一声,“他死了吗?”
“死!”马丁·坎宁翰大声说,“他可死不了!有个船夫弄来根竿子,钩住他的裤子,把他捞上岸,半死不活地拖到码头上他老子跟前。全城的人有一半都在那儿围观哪。”
“是啊,”布卢姆先生说,“最逗的是……”
“而吕便·杰呢,”马丁·坎宁翰说,“为了酬劳船夫救了他儿子一条命,给了他两个先令。”
从鲍尔先生手下传来一声低微的叹息。
“哦,可不是嘛,”马丁·坎宁翰斩钉截铁地说,“摆出大人物的架势,赏了他一枚两先令银币。”
“非常精彩,对吗?”布卢姆先生殷切地说。
“多付了一先令八便士,”迪达勒斯先生用冷漠的口吻说。
鲍尔先生忍俊不禁,马车里回荡着低笑声。
纳尔逊纪念柱[52]。
“八个李子一便士!八个才一便士!”
“咱们最好显得严肃一些,”马丁·坎宁翰说。
迪达勒斯先生叹了口气。
“不过,说实在的,”他说,“即便笑一笑,可怜的小帕狄也不会在意的。他自己就讲过不少非常逗趣儿的话。”
“天主宽恕我!”鲍尔先生用手指揩着盈眶的泪水说,“可怜的帕迪!一个星期前我最后一次见到他的时候,他还跟平素一样那么精神抖擞呢。我再也设想到会这么乘马车给他送葬。他撇下咱们走啦。”
“戴过帽子[53]的小个儿当中,难得找到这么正派的,”迪达勒斯先生说,“他走得着实突然。”
“衰竭,”马丁·坎宁翰说,“心脏。”
他悲痛地拍拍自己的胸口。
满脸通红,像团火焰。威士忌喝多了。红鼻头疗法。拼死拼活地灌,把鼻头喝成灰黄色的了。为了把鼻头变成那种颜色,他钱可没少花。
鲍尔先生定睛望着往后退去的那些房屋,黯然神伤。
“他死得真是突然,可怜的人,”他说。
“这样死再好不过啦,”布卢姆先生说。
大家对他膛目而视。
“一点儿也没受罪,”他说,“一眨眼就都完啦。就像在睡眠中死去了似的。”
没有人吭气。
街的这半边死气沉沉。就连白天,生意也是萧条的:土地经纪人,戒酒饭店[54],福尔克纳铁路问讯处,文职人员培训所,吉尔书店,天主教俱乐部,盲人习艺所。这是怎么回事呢?反正有个原因。不是太阳就是风的缘故。晚上也还是这样。只有一些扫烟囱的和做粗活的女佣。在已故的马修神父[55]的庇护下。巴涅尔纪念碑的基石。衰竭。心脏。[56]
前额饰有白色羽毛的几匹白马,在街角的圆形建筑那儿拐了个弯儿,飞奔而来。一口小小的棺材一闪而过。赶看去下葬哩。一辆送葬马车。去世的是未婚者。已婚者用黑马。单身汉用花斑马。修女用棕色的。
“实在可惜,”马丁·坎宁翰先生说,“还是个娃娃哩。”
一张侏儒的脸,像小鲁迪的那样紫红色而布满皱纹。一副侏儒的身躯,油灰一般软塌塌的,陈放在衬了白布的松木匣子里。费用是丧葬互相会给出的。每周付一便士,就能保证一小块草地。咱们这个小乞丐。小不点儿。无所谓。这是大自然的失误。娃娃要是健康的话,只能归功于妈妈。否则就要怪爸爸[57]。但愿下次走点运。
“可怜的小家伙,”迪达勒斯先生说,“他总算没尝到人世间的辛酸。”
马车放慢速度,沿着拉特兰广场的坡路往上走。骨骼咯咯响,颠簸石路上。不过是个穷人,没入肯认领[58]。
“在生存中,”[58]马丁·坎宁翰说。
“然而最要不得的是,”鲍尔先生说,“自寻短见的人。”
马丁·坎宁翰匆匆地掏出怀表,咳嗽一声,又塞了回去。
“给一家人带来莫大的耻辱,”鲍尔先生又补上一句。
“当然是一时的精神错乱,”马丁·坎宁翰斩钉截铁地说,“咱们应该用更宽厚的眼光看这个问题。”
“人家都说干这种事儿的是懦夫,”迪达勒斯先生说。
“那就不是咱们凡人所能判断的了,”马丁·坎宁翰说。
布卢姆先生欲言又止。马丁·坎宁翰那双大眼睛,而今把视线从我身上移开了。他通情达理,富于恻隐之心,天资聪颖。长得像莎士比亚。开口总是与人为善。本地人对那种事儿和杀婴是毫不留情的。不许作为基督教徒来埋葬。早先竟往坟墓中的死者心脏里打进一根木桩[60],惟恐他的心脏还没有破碎。其实,他们有时也会懊悔的,不过已经来不及了。在河床里发现他的时候,手里还死命地摸住芦苇呢。他[61]瞅我来着。还有他那娘儿们——一个不可救药的醉鬼。一次次地为她把家安顿好,然而几乎一到星期六她就把家具典当一空,让他去赎。他过着像是在地狱里一般的日子。即便是一颗石头做的心脏,也会消磨殆尽的。星期一早晨,他又用肩膀顶着轱辘重新打鼓另开张。老天爷,那天晚上她那副样子真有瞧头。迪达勒斯告诉过我,他刚好在场。她喝得醉醺醺的,抡着马丁的雨伞欢蹦乱跳。
他们称我作亚洲的珍宝,
亚洲的珍宝
日本的艺妓[62]。
他把视线从我身上移开了。他明白。骨骼咯咯响。
验尸的那个下午。桌上摆着个贴有红标签的瓶子。旅馆那个房间里挂着一幅幅狩猎图。令人窒息的气氛。阳光透过威尼新式软百叶帘射了进来。验尸官那双毛茸茸的大耳朵泍浴在阳光下。茶房作证。起先只当他还睡着呢。随后见到他脸上有些黄道道。已经滑落到床脚了。法医验明为:服药过量。意外事故致死。遗书:致吾儿利奥波德。
再也尝不到痛苦了。再也醒不过来了。无人肯认领。
马车沿着布莱辛顿街辘辘地疾驰着。颠簸石路上。
“我看咱们正飞跑着哪,”马丁·坎宁翰说。
“上天保佑,可别把咱们这车人翻在马路上,”鲍尔先生说。
“但愿不至于,”马丁·坎宁翰说,“明天在德国有一场大赛——戈登、贝纳特[63]。”
“唉呀,”迪达勒斯先生说,“那确实值得一看。”
当他脽驼进伯克利街时,水库附近一架手摇风琴迎面送来一阵喧闹快活的游艺场音乐,走过去后,乐声依然尾随着。这儿可曾有人见过凯利?[64]凯歌的凯,利益的利。接着就是《扫罗》中的送葬曲[65]。他坏得像老安东尼奥,撇下了我孤苦伶仃![66]足尖立地旋转!仁慈圣母玛利亚医院[67j。这是埃克尔斯街,我家就在前边。[68]一座庞大的建筑,那里为绝症患者所设的病房。真令人感到鼓舞。专收垂死者的圣母济贫院。太平间就在下面,很便当。赖尔登老太太[69]就是在那儿去世的。那些女人的样子好吓人呀。用杯子喂她东西吃,调羹在嘴边儿蹭来蹭去。然后周围屏遮起她的床,等着她咽气。那个年轻的学生[70]多好啊,那一次蜜蜂蜇了我,还是他替我包扎的。他们告诉我,如今他转到产科医院去了。从一个极端到了另一个极端。
马车急转了个弯,蓦地停住了。
“又出了什么事?”
身上打了烙印的牛,分两路从马车的车窗外走过去,哞哞叫着,无精打采地挪动着带脚垫的蹄子,尾巴在瘦骨嶙嶙、巴着粪的屁股上徐徐地甩来甩去。打了猪红色印证的羊,吓得咩咩直叫,在牛群外侧或当中奔跑。
“简直像是移民一样,”鲍尔先生说。
“嘚儿!”,马车夫一路吆喝着,挥鞭啪啪地打着牲口的侧腹。
“嘚儿!躲开!”[71]
这是星期四嘛。明天该是屠宰日啦。怀仔的母牛。卡夫[72]把它们按每头约莫二十七镑的代价出售。兴许是运到利物浦去的。给老英格兰的烤牛肉[73]。他们把肥嫩的牛统统买走了。这下子连七零八碎儿都没有了,所有那些生料——皮啦,毛啦,角啦。一年算下来,蛮可观哩,单打一的牛肉生意。屠宰场的下脚料还可以送到鞣皮厂去或者制造肥皂和植物黄油。不晓得那架起重机如今是不是还在克朗西拉[74]从火车上卸下那些次等的肉。
马车又穿过牲畜群继续前进了。
“我不明白市政府为什么不从公园大门口铺一条直通码头的电车道?”布卢姆先生说,“这么一来,所有这些牲口就都可以用货车运上船了。”
“那样也就不至于堵塞道路啦,”马丁·坎宁翰说。“完全对,他们应该这么做。”
“是啊,”布卢姆先生说,“找还常常转另外一个念头:要像米兰市那样搞起市营的殡仪电车[75],你们晓得吧。把路轨一直铺到公墓门口,设置专用电车——殡车、送葬车,全齐了。你们明白我的意思吧?”
“那可是个奇妙的主意,”迪达勒斯先生说,“再挂上一节软卧和高级餐车。”
“对科尼来说,前景可不美妙啊,”鲍尔先生补充了一句。
“怎么会呢?”布卢姆先生转向迪达勒斯先生问道,“不是比坐双驾马车奔去体面些吗?”
“嗯,说得有点儿道理,”迪达勒斯先生承认了。
“而且,”马丁·坎宁翰说,“有一次殡车在敦菲角[76]前面拐弯的时候翻啦,把棺材扣在马路上。像那样的事,也就不会发生了。”
“那回太可怕啦,”鲍尔先生面呈惧色地说,“尸首都滚到马路上去了。可怕啊!”
“敦菲领先,”迪达勒斯先生点着头说,“争夺戈登·贝纳特奖杯。”
“颂赞归于天主!”马丁·坎宁翰虔诚地说。
咕咚!车子翻了。一副棺材扑通一声跌到路上,崩开了。帕狄· 迪格纳穆身着过于肥大的褐色衣服,被抛出来,僵直地在尘埃中打滚。红脸膛如今已呈灰色。嘴巴咧开来,像是在问究竟出了啥事儿。完全应该替他把嘴阖上,张着的模样太吓人了。内脏也腐烂得快。把一切开口都堵上就好得多。对,那也堵起来。用蜡。括约肌松了,一古脑儿封上。
“敦菲酒馆到啦,”当马车向右拐的时候,鲍尔先生宣告说。
敦菲角。停看好几辆送葬回来的车。人们在借酒浇愁。可以在路过歇上一会儿。这是开酒店的上好地点。估计我脽烷途会在这儿停下来,喝上一杯,为他祝祝冥福,大家也聊以解忧。长生不老剂[77]。
然而假定现在发生了这样一档子事。倘若翻滚的当儿,他身子给钉子扎破了,他会不会流血呢?我猜想,也许流,也许不流。要看扎在什么部位了。血液循环已经停止了。然而碰着了动脉,就可能会渗出点儿血来。下葬时,装裹不如用红色的——深红色。
他们沿着菲布斯巴斯街默默前进。刚从公墓回来的一辆空殡车迎面擦过,马蹄嘚嘚嘚响着,一派轻松模样。
克罗斯冈斯桥;皇家运河。
河水咆哮着冲出闸门。一条驶向下游的驳船上,在一堆堆的泥炭当中,站着条汉子,船闸旁的纤路上,有一匹松松地系着缰绳的马。布加布出航[78]。
他们用眼睛盯着他。他乘了这条用一根纤绳拽着的木排,顺着涓涓流淌、杂草蔓生的河道,涉过苇塘,穿过烂泥,越过一只只堵满淤泥的细长瓶子,一具具腐烂的狗尸,从爱尔兰腹地漂向海岸。阿斯隆、穆林加尔、莫伊谷[79],我可以沿着运河徒步旅行去看望米莉。要么就骑自行车前往。租一匹老马,倒也安全。雷恩[80]上次拍卖的时候倒是有过一辆,不过是女车。发展水路交通。詹姆斯·麦卡恩[81]以用摆渡船把我送过渡口为乐。这种走法要便宜一些。慢悠悠地航行。是带篷的船。“可以坐去野营。还有灵柩船,从水路去升天堂。也许我不写信就突然露面。径由莱克斯利普和克朗西拉,通过一道接一道船闸顺流而下,直抵都柏林。从中部的沼泽地带运来了泥炭。致敬——他举起褐色草帽,向帕狄·迪格纳穆致敬。
他们的马车从布赖恩·勃罗马酒家[82]前经过。墓地快到了。
“不晓得咱们的朋友弗格蒂[83]情况怎样了,”鲍尔先生说。
“不如去问问汤姆·克南·”迪达勒斯先生说。
“怎么回事?”马丁·坎宁翰说,“把他撇下,听任他去抹眼泪吧,是吗?”
“形影虽消失,”迪达勒斯先生说,“记忆诚可贵[84]”。
马车向左拐,走上芬格拉斯路[85]。
右侧是石匠作坊。最后一段工序。狭长的场地,密密匝匝地挤满默默无言的雕像。白色的,悲恸的。有的安详地伸出双手,有的忧伤地下跪,手指着什么地方。还有削下来的石像碎片。在一片白色沉默中哀诉着。为您提供最佳产品。纪念碑建造师及石像雕刻师托马斯·H·登纳尼。
走过去了。
教堂同事吉米·吉尔里的房屋前,一个老流浪汉坐在人行道的栏石上,一边嘟囔着,一边从他那双开了口、脏成褐色的大靴 子里倒着泥土和石子儿。他已走到人生旅途的尽头。
车子经过一座接一座荒芜不堪的花园[86],一幢幢阴森森的房屋。
鲍尔先生用手指了指。
“那就是蔡尔兹被谋杀的地方,”他说,“最后那幢房子。”
“可不是嘛,”迪达勒斯先生说,“可怕的凶杀案。西摩·布希[87]让他免于诉讼。谋杀亲哥哥。或者据说是这样。”
“检查官没有掌握证据,”鲍尔先生说。
“只有旁证,”马丁·坎宁翰补充说,“司法界有这么一条准则,宁可让九十九个犯人逃脱法网,也不能错判一个无辜者有罪。[88]”
他们望了望。一座凶宅。它黑魆魆地向后退去。拉上了百叶窗,没有人住,花园里长满了杂草。这地方整个都完了。被冤枉地定了罪。凶杀。凶手的形象留在被害者的视网膜上。人们就喜欢读这类故事。在花园里发现了男人的脑袋啦。她的穿着打扮啦。她是怎样遇害的啦。新近发生的凶杀案。使用什么凶器。凶手依然逍遥法外。线索。一根鞋带。要掘墓验尸啦。谋杀的内情总会败露[89]。
这辆马车太挤了。她可能不愿意我事先不通知一声就这么忽然跑来。对女人总得谨慎一些。她们脱裤衩时,只要撞上一回,她们就永远也不会饶恕你。她已经十五岁了嘛。
前景公墓[90]的高栅栏像涟漪般地从他们的视野里淌过。幽暗的白杨树林,偶尔出现几座白色雕像。雕像越来越多起来,白色石像群集在树间,白色人像及其断片悄无声息地竖立着,在虚空中徒然保持着各种姿态。
车轮的钢圈嘎的一声蹭着人行道的栏石,停了下来。马丁·坎宁翰伸出胳膊,拧转把手,用膝盖顶开了车门。他下了马车,鲍尔先生和迪达勒斯先生跟着也下去了。
趁这会子把肥皂挪个窝儿吧。布卢姆先生的手麻利地解开裤子后兜上的钮扣,将巴在纸上的肥皂移到装手绢的内兜里。他边跨下马车,边把另一只手攥着的报纸放回兜里。
简陋的葬礼,一辆大马车,三辆小的。还不都是一样。抬棺人,金色缰绳,安魂弥撒,放吊炮。为死亡摆排场。殿后的马车对面站着个小贩,身旁的手推双轮车上放着糕点和水果。那是些西姆内尔糕饼[91],整个儿粘在一起了。那是给死者上供用的糕点。狗饼干[92]。谁吃?正从墓地往外走的送葬者。
他跟随着同伴们。接着就是克南先生和内德·兰伯特。海因斯也走在他们后面。科尼·凯莱赫站在敞着门的灵车旁边,取出一对花圈,并将其中的一个递给了男孩子。
刚才那个娃娃的送葬行列不知消失到哪儿去了?
从芬格拉斯[93]那边来了一群马,吃力地迈着沉重的步子,拖着一辆载有庞大花岗石的大车,发出的嘎嘎响声打破了葬礼的沉寂,走了过去。在前边领路的车把式向他们点头致意。如今是灵柩了。尽管他已死去,却比我们先到了。[94]马扭过头来望着棺材,头上那根羽毛饰斜插向天空。它两眼无神:轭具勒紧了脖子,像是压迫着一根血管还是什么的。这些马晓不晓得自己每天拉车运些什么到这儿来?每天准有二三十档子葬事。新教徒另有杰罗姆山公墓。普天之下,每分钟都在举行着葬礼。要是成车地用铁锨铲进土星,就会快上好几倍。每小时埋上成千上万。世界上人太多了。
送葬者从大门里走了出来。一个妇女和一个小姑娘。妇女的相貌刁悍,尖下巴颏儿,看上去是个胡乱讨价还价的那号人,歪戴着一顶软帽。小姑娘满脸灰尘和泪痕,她挽着妇人的臂,仰望着,等待要她号哭的信号。鱼一般的脸,铁青而毫无血色。
殡殓工们把棺材扛在肩上,抬进大门。尸体沉得很。方才我从浴缸里迈出来,也觉得自己的体重增加了。死者领先,接着是死者的朋友。科尼·凯莱赫和那个男孩子拿着花圈跟在后面。挨着他们的是谁?啊,是死者的内弟。
大家都跟着走。
马丁·坎宁翰悄声说:
“当你在布卢姆面前谈起自杀的事来时,我心里感到万分痛苦。”
“为什么?”鲍尔先生小声说,“怎么回事?”
“他父亲就是服毒自杀的,”马丁·坎宁翰跟他交头接耳地说,“生前在恩尼斯[95]开过皇后饭店。你不是也听见他说要去克莱尔吗?那是忌辰。”
“啊,天啊!”鲍尔先生压低嗓门说,“我这是头一回听说。是服毒吗?”
他回过头去,朝那张有着一双沉思的乌黑眼睛的脸望去。那人边说话,边跟着他们走向枢机主教的陵墓[96]。
“上保险了吗?”
“我想一定上啦,”克南先生说,“然而保险单已经抵押出去,借了一大笔钱。马丁正想办法把那个男孩子送到阿尔坦[97]去。”
“他撇下了几个孩子?”
“五个。内德·兰伯特说过,他要想方设法把一个女孩子送进托德[98]去。”
“真够惨的,”布卢姆轻声说,“五个幼小的孩子。”
“对可怜的妻子来说,是个很大的打击,”克南先生又补上一句。
“说得是啊,”布卢姆先生随声附和道。
如今,她胜利地活过了他。
他低头望了望自己涂油擦得锃亮的靴子。她的寿数比他长。失去了丈夫。对她来说,这死亡比对我关系重大。总有一个比另一个长寿。明智的人说,世上的女人比男人多。[99]安慰她吧:你的损失太惨重了。我希望你很快就跟随他而去。只有对信奉印度教的寡妇才能这么说。[100]她会再婚的。嫁给他吗?不。 然而谁晓得以后会怎样呢?老女王去世后,就不兴守寡了。用炮车运送。维多利亚和阿尔伯特。在福洛格摩举行的追悼仪式。[101]可后来她还是在软帽上插了几朵紫罗兰。 在心灵深处[102],她毕竟好虚荣的。这一切都是为了一个影子。女王的配偶而已, 连国王也不是。她儿子的位分才是实实在在的。那可以有新的指望[103];不像她想要唤回来而白白等待着的过去。过去是永远也不复返了。
总得有人先走。孤零零地入土,不再睡在她那温暖的床上了。
“你好吗,西蒙?”内德·兰伯特一边握手,一边柔声地说,“近一个月来,连星期天也一直没见着你啦。”
“从来没这么好过。科克这座城市[104]里,大家都好吗?”
“复活节的星期一,我去看科克公园的赛马[105]了,”内德·兰伯特说,“还是老一套,六先令八便士[106]。我是在狄克·蒂维家过的夜。”
“狄克这个实实在在的人,他好吗?”
“他的头皮和苍天之间己经毫无遮拦啦,”内德·兰伯特回答说。
“哎呀,我的圣保罗!”迪达勒斯先生抑制着心头的惊愕说,“狄克·蒂维歇顶了吗?”
“马丁正在为那些孩子们募集一笔捐款,”内德·兰伯特指着前边说,“每人几先令。让他们好歹维持到保险金结算为止。”
“对,对,”迪达勒斯先生迟迟疑疑地说,“最前面的那个是大 儿子吧?”
“是啊,”内德·兰伯特说,“挨着他舅舅。后面是约翰·亨利·
门顿[107]。他认捐了一镑。”
“我相信他会这么做的,”迪达勒斯先生说,“我经常对可怜的 帕狄说,他应该在自己那份工作上多下点儿心。约翰·亨利并不是世界上最坏的人。”
“他是怎么砸的饭碗?”内德·兰伯特问道,“酗酒,还是什么?”
“很多好人都犯这个毛病,”迪达勒斯先生叹了口气说。
他们在停尸所小教堂的门旁停下了。 布卢姆先生站在手执花圈的男孩儿后面,俯视着他那梳理得光光整整的头发和那系着崭新的硬领、有着凹沟的纤细脖颈。可怜的孩子!也不晓得当他爸爸咽气时,他在不在场? 双方都不曾意识到死神即将来临。弥留之际才回光返照,最后一次认出人来。多少未遂的意愿。我欠了奥格雷狄三先令[108]。他能领会吗?殡殓工把棺材抬进了小教堂。他的头在哪一端?
过了一会儿,他跟在别人后头走进去,在透过帘子射进来的日光下眨巴着眼儿。棺材停放在圣坛前的柩架上,四个角各点燃一支高高的黄蜡烛。它总是在我们的前边。科尼·凯莱赫在四个角各放了只花圈,然后向那男孩子打了个手势,让他跪下。送葬者东一个西一个地纷纷跪在祈祷桌前。布卢姆先生站在后面,离圣水盂不远。等大家都跪下后,才从兜里掏出报纸摊开来,小心翼翼地铺在地上,屈起右膝跪在上面。他将黑帽子轻轻地扣在左膝上,手扶帽檐,虔诚地弯下身去。
一名助祭提着盛有什么的黄铜桶[109],从一扇门后面走了进来, 白袍神父跟在后面。他一只手整理着祭带,另一只手扶着顶在他那癞哈蟆般的肚子上的一本小书。谁来读这本书?白嘴鸦说:我。[110]
他们在柩架前停下步子。神父嗄声流畅地读起他那本书来。
科菲神父。我晓得他的姓听上去像“棺材”[111]。哆咪内呐眯内[112]。他的嘴巴那儿显得盛气凌人。专横跋扈。健壮的基督教徒[113]。 任何人斜眼瞧他都要遭殃。因为他是神父嘛。你要称作彼得[114]。迪达勒斯曾说 ,他的肚子会横着撑破的,就像是尽情地吃了三叶草的羊似的。挺着那么个大肚子,活像一只被毒死的小狗。那个人找到了最有趣儿的说法。哼,横里撑破。
求你不要审问我,你的仆人。[115]
用拉下文为他们祷告,会使他们觉得自己的身价抬高了些。安魂弥撒。身穿绝妙的号丧者[116]。黑框信纸。你的名字已经列在祭坛名单[117]上。这地方凉飕飕的。可得吃点好的才行。在昏暗中一坐就是整个上午, 磕着脚后跟,恭候下一位。连眼睛都像是癞哈蟆的。是什么使他胀成这样呢?摩莉一吃包心菜就肚胀。兴许是此地的空气在作怪。看来弥漫着疠气。这一带必定充满了在地狱里般的疠气。就拿屠夫来说吧:他们变得像生牛排似的。是谁告诉我来着?是默文·布朗[118]。 圣沃伯格教堂有一架可爱的老风琴,已经历了一百五十个星霜。在教堂地下灵堂里,必须不时地在棺材上凿个窟窿,放出疠气,点燃烧掉。蓝色的,一个劲儿地往外冒。只要吸上一口,你就完蛋啦。
我的膝盖硌得疼了。唔。这样就好一些了。
神父从助祭提着的桶里取出一根顶端呈圆形的棍子,朝棺材上甩了甩。然后他走到另一头,又甩了甩。接着他踱了回来,将棍子放回桶里。你安息前怎样,如今还是怎样。一切都有明文规定,他照办就是了。
不要让我们受到诱惑。[119]
助祭尖声细气地应答着。[120]我常常觉得,家里不如雇个小男仆。最大不超过十五岁。再大了,自然就……
那想必是圣水。洒出来的是永眠。这份差事他准干腻了。成天朝送来的所有的尸首甩那牢什子。要是他能看到自己在往谁身上洒圣水,也不碍事嘛。每迎来一天,就有一批新的,中年汉子,老妪,娃娃,死于难产的孕妇,蓄胡子的男人,秃顶商人,胸脯小得像麻雀的结核病姑娘。他成年为他们作同样的祷告,并且朝他们洒圣水,安息吧。如今该轮到迪格纳穆了。
在天堂里。[121]
说是他即将升天堂或已升入天堂。对每个人都这么说。这是一份令人厌烦的差事。可是他总得说点儿什么。
神父阖上圣书走了,助祭跟在后面。科尼·凯莱赫打开侧门,掘墓工进来,重新抬起棺材,抬出去装在他们的手推车上。 科尼·凯莱赫把一只花圈递给男孩儿,另一只递给他舅舅。大家跟在他们后面, 走出侧门,来到外边柔和的灰色空气中。布卢姆先生殿后。他又把报纸折好,放回兜里,神情严肃地俯视着地面,直到运棺材的手推车向左拐去。金属轱辘磨在砂砾上,发出尖锐的嘎嘎声。一簇靴子跟在手推车后面踏出钝重的脚步声,沿着墓丛间的小径走去。
咯哩嗒啦咯哩嗒啦硲噜。主啊,我绝不可在这儿哼什么小曲儿。
“奥康内尔的圆塔[122],”迪达勒斯先生四下里望了望说。
鲍尔先生用柔和的目光仰望着那高耸的圆锥形塔的顶端。
“老丹·奥[123]在他的人民当中安息哪,”他说,“然而他的心脏却埋在罗马[124]。这儿埋葬了多少颗破碎的心啊,西蒙!”
“她[125]的坟墓就在那儿,杰克,”迪达勒斯先生说,“我不久就会神腿儿躺在她身边了。任凭天主高兴,随时把我接走吧。”
他的精神崩溃了,开始暗自哭泣,稍打着趔趄。鲍尔先生挽住他的胳膊。
“她在那儿安息更好,”他体贴地说。
“那倒也是,”迪达勒斯先生微弱地喘了口气说,“假若有天堂的话,我猜想她淮是在那里。”
科尼·凯莱赫从行列里跨到路边,让送葬者抱着沉重的脚步从他身旁踱过去。
“真是个令人伤心的场合,”克南先生彬彬有礼地开口说。
布卢姆先生阖上眼,悲恸地点了两下头。
“别人都戴上帽子啦,”克南先生说,“我想,咱们也可以戴了吧。咱们在后尾儿。在公墓里可不能大意。”
他们戴上了帽子。
“你不觉得神父先生念祷文念得太快了些吗?”克南先生用嗔怪的口吻说。
布卢姆先生注视着他那双敏锐的、挂满血丝的眼睛,肃然点了点头。诡谲的眼睛,洞察着内心的秘密。我猜想他薀筒济会的,可也拿不准。又挨着他了。咱们在末尾。同舟共济[126]。巴不得他说点儿旁的。
克南先生又加上一句:
“我敢说杰罗姆山公墓举行的爱尔兰圣公会[127]的仪式更简朴,给人的印象也更深。”
布卢姆先生谨慎地表示了同意。当然,语言又当作别论。[128]
克南先生一本正经地说:
“我就是复活,就是生命。[129]这话触动人的内心深处。”
“是啊,”布卢姆先生说。
也许会触动你的心,然而对于如今脚尖冲着雏菊、停在六英尺见长、二英尺见宽的棺材里面的那个人来说,又有什么价值呢?触动不了他的心。寄托感情之所在。一颗破碎了的心。终归是个泵而已,每天抽送成千上万加仑的血液。直到有一天堵塞了,也就完事大吉。此地到处都撂着这类器官,肺、心、肝。生了锈的老泵,仅此而已。复活与生命。人一旦死了,就是死了。末日的概念。[130]去敲一座座坟墓,把他们都喊起来。“拉撒路,出来!”[131]然而他是第五个出来的,所以失业了。[132]起来吧!这是末日!于是,每个人都四下里摸索自己的肝啦,肺啦以及其他内脏。那个早晨要是能把自己凑个齐全,那就再好不过了。颅骨里只有一英钱粉末。每英钱合十二克。金衡制[133]。
科尼·凯莱赫和他们并排走起来。
“一切都进行得头等顺利,”他说,“怎么样?”
他用眼睛不慌不忙地打量着他们。警察般的肩膀。吐啦噜吐啦噜地哼着小调儿。
“正应该这样,”克南先生说。
“什么?呃?”科尼·凯莱赫说。
克南先生请他放心。
“后面那个跟汤姆·克南一道走着的汉子是谁?”约翰·亨利·门顿问,“看来挺面熟。”
[ 此帖被soneyky在2012-12-24 08:08重新编辑 ]
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英:
7、Chapter 7 Aeolus

In the Heart of the Hibernian Metropolis
BEFORE NELSON'S PILLAR TRAILS SLOWED, SHUNTED, CHANGED TROLLEY, started for Blackrock, Kingstown and Dalkey, Clonskea, Rathgar and Terenure, Palmerston park and upper Rathmines, Sandymount Green, Rathmines, Ringsend and Sandymount Tower, Harold's Cross. The hoarse Dublin United Tramway Company's timekeeper bawled them off:
-- Rathgar and Terenure!
-- Come on, Sandymount Green!
Right and left parallel clanging ringing a doubledecker and a singledeck moved from their railheads, swerved to the down line, glided parallel.
-- Start, Palmerston park!
The Wearer of the Crown
Under the porch of the general post office shoeblacks called and polished. Parked in North Prince's street His Majesty's vermilion mailcars, bearing on their sides the royal initials, E. R., received loudly flung sacks of letters, postcards, lettercards, parcels, insured and paid, for local, provincial, British and overseas delivery.
Gentlemen of the Press
Grossbooted draymen rolled barrels dullthudding out of Prince's stores and bumped them up on the brewery float. On the brewery float bumped dullthudding barrels rolled by grossbooted draymen out of Prince's stores.
-- There it is Red Murray said. Alexander Keyes.
-- Just cut it out, will you? Mr Bloom said, and I'll take it round to the Telegraph office.
The-door of Ruttledge's office creaked again. Davy Stephens, minute in a large capecoat, a small felt hat crowning his ringlets, passed out with a roll of papers under his cape, a king's courier.
Red Murray's long shears sliced out the advertisement from the newspaper in four clean strokes. Scissors and paste.
-- I'll go through the printing works, Mr Bloom said, taking the cut square.
-- Of course, if he wants a par, Red Murray said earnestly, a pen behind his ear, we can do him one.
-- Right, Mr Bloom said with a nod. I'll rub that in. We.
William Brayden, Esquire, of Oaklands, Sandymount
Red Murray touched Mr Bloom's arm with the shears and whispered:
-- Brayden.
Mr Bloom turned and saw the liveried porter raise his lettered cap as a stately figure entered between the newsboards of the Weekly Freeman and National Press and the Freeman's Journal and National Press. Dullthudding Guinness's barrels. It passed stately up the staircase steered by an umbrella, a solemn beardframed face. The broadcloth back ascended each step: back. All his brains are in the nape of his neck, Simon Dedalus says. Welts of flesh behind on him. Fat folds of neck, fat, neck, fat, neck.
-- Don't you think his face is like Our Saviour? Red Murray whispered.
The door of Ruttledge's office whispered: ee: cree. They always build one door opposite another for the wind to. Way in. Way out.
Our Saviour: beardframed oval face: talking in the dusk Mary, Martha. Steered by an umbrella sword to the footlights: Mario the tenor.
-- Or like Mario, Mr Bloom said.
-- Yes, Red Murray agreed. But Mario was said to be the picture of Our Saviour.
Jesus Mario with rougy cheeks, doublet and spindle legs. Hand on his heart. In Martha.
Co-ome thou lost one,
Co-ome thou dear one.
The Crozier and the Pen
-- His grace phoned down twice this morning, Red Murray said gravely.
They watched the knees, legs, boots vanish. Neck.
A telegram boy stepped in nimbly, threw an envelope on the counter and stepped off posthaste with a word.
-- Freeman!
Mr Bloom said slowly:
-- Well, he is one of our saviours also.
A meek smile accompanied him as he lifted the counterflap, as he passed in through the sidedoor and along the warm dark stairs and passage, along the now reverberating boards. But will he save the circulation? Thumping, thumping.
He pushed in the glass swingdoor and entered, stepping over strewn packing paper. Through a lane of clanking drums he made his way towards Nannetti's reading closet.
With Unfeigned Regret it is we announce the of a most respected Dublin Burgess
Hynes here too: account of the funeral probably. Thumping thump. This morning the remains of the late Mr Patrick Dignam. Machines. Smash a man to atoms if they got him caught. Rule the world today. His machineries are pegging away too. Like these, got out of hand: fermenting. Working away, tearing away. And that old grey rat tearing to get in.
How a Great Daily Organ is turned out
Mr Bloom halted behind the foreman's spare body, admiring a glossy crown.
Strange he never saw his real country. Ireland my country. Member for College green. He boomed that workaday worker tack for all it was worth. It's the ads ad side features sell a weekly not the stale news in the official gazette. Queen Anne is dead. Published by authority in the year one thousand and. Demesne situate in the townland of Rosenallis, barony of Tinnachinch. To all whom it may concern schedule pursuant to statute showing return of number of mules and jennets exported from Ballina. Nature notes. Cartoons. Phil Blake's weekly Pat and Bull story. Uncle' Toby's page for tiny tots. Country bumpkin's queries. Dear Mr Editor, what is a good cure for flatulence? I'd like that part. Learn a lot teaching others. The personal note M.A. P. Mainly all pictures. Shapely bathers on golden strand. World's biggest balloon. Double marriage of sisters celebrated. Two bridegrooms laughing heartily at each other. Cuprani too, printer. More Irish than the Irish.
The machines clanked in threefour time. Thump, thump, thurap. Now if he got paralysed there and no one knew how to stop them they'd clank on and on the same, print it over and over and up and back. Monkeydoodle the whole thing. Want a cool head.
-- Well, get it into the evening edition, councillor, Hynes said.
Soon be calling him my lord mayor. Long John is backing him they say.
The foreman, without answering, scribbled press on a corner of the sheet and made a sign to a typesetter. He handed the sheet silently over the dirty glass screen.
-- Right: thanks, Hynes said moving off.
Mr Bloom stood in his way.
-- If you want to draw the cashier is just going to lunch, he said, pointing backward with his thumb.
-- Did you? Hynes asked.
-- Mm, Mr Bloom said. Look sharp and you'll catch him.
-- Thanks, old man, Hynes said. I'll tap him too.
He hurried on eagerly towards the Freeman's Journal.
Three bob I lent him in Meagher's. Three weeks. Third hint.
We see the Canvasser at work
Mr Bloom laid his cutting on Mr Nannetti's desk.
-- Excuse me, councillor, he said. This ad, you see. Keyes, you remember.
Mr Nannetti considered the cutting a while and nodded.
-- He wants it in for July, Mr Bloom said.
He doesn't hear it. Nannan. Iron nerves.
The foreman moved his pencil towards it.
-- But wait, Mr Bloom said. He wants it changed. Keyes, you see. He wants two keys at the top.
Hell of a racket they make. Maybe he understands what I.
The foreman turned round to hear patiently and, lifting an elbow, began to scratch slowly in the armpit of his alpaca jacket.
-- Like that, Mr Bloom said, crossing his forefingers at the top.
Let him take that in first.
Mr Bloom, glancing sideways up from the cross he had made, saw the foreman's sallow face, think he has a touch of jaundice, and beyond the obedient reels feeding in huge webs of paper. Clank it. Clank it. Miles of it unreeled. What becomes of it after? O, wrap up meat, parcels: various uses, thousand and one things.
Slipping his words deftly into the pauses of the clanking he drew swiftly on the scarred-woodwork.
House of Key(e)s
-- Like that, see. Two crossed keys here. A circle. Then here the name Alexander Keyes, tea, wine and spirit merchant. So on.
Better not teach him his own business.
-- You know yourself, councillor, just what he wants. Then round the top in leaded: the house of keys. You see? Do you think that's a good idea?
The foreman moved his scratching hand to his lower ribs and scratched there quietly.
-- The idea, Mr Bloom said, is the house of keys. You know, councillor, the Manx parliament. Innuendo of home rule. Tourists, you know, from the isle of Man. Catches the eye, you see. Can you do that?
I could ask him perhaps about how to pronounce that voglio. But then if he didn't know only make it awkward for him. Better not.
-- We can do that, the foreman said. Have you the design?
-- I can get it, Mr Bloom said. It was in a Kilkenny paper. He has a house there too. I'll just run out and ask him. Well, you can do that and just a little par calling attention. You know the usual. High class licensed premises. Longfelt want. So on.
The foreman thought for an instant.
-- We can do that, he said. Let him give us a three months' renewal.
A typesetter brought him a limp galleypage. He began to check it silently. Mr Bloom stood by, hearing the loud throbs of cranks, watching the silent typesetters at their cases.
Orthographical
Want to be sure of his spelling. Proof fever. Martin Cunningham forgot to give us his spellingbee conundrum this morning. It is amusing to view the unpar one ar alleled embarra two ars is it? double ess ment of a harassed pedlar while gauging au the symmetry of a peeled pear under a cemetery wall. Silly, isn't it? Cemetery put in of course on account of the symmetry.
I could have said when he clapped on his topper. Thank you. I ought to have said something about an old hat or something. No, I could have said. Looks as good as new now. See his phizthen.
Sllt. The nethermost deck of the first machine jogged forwards its flyboard with slit the first batch of quirefolded papers. Sllt. Almost human the way it sllt to call attention. Doing its level best to speak. That door too slit creaking, asking to be shut. Everything speaks in its own way. Sllt.
Noted Churchman an Occasional Contributor
The foreman handed back the galleypage suddenly, saying:
-- Wait. Where's the archbishop's letter? It's to be repeated in the Telegraph. Where's what's his name?
He looked about him round his loud unanswering machines.
-- Monks, sir? a voice asked from the castingbox.
-- Ay. Where's Monks?
-- Monks!
Mr Bloom took up his cutting. Time to get out.
-- Then I'll get the design, Mr Nannetti, he said, and you'll give it a good place I know.
-- Monks!
-- Yes, sir.
Three months' renewal. Want to get some wind off my chest first. Try it anyhow. Rub in August: good idea: horseshow month. Ballsbridge. Tourists over for the show.
A Dayfather
He walked on through the caseroom, passing an old man, bowed, spectacled, aproned. Old Monks, the dayfather. Queer lot of stuff he must have put through his hands in his time: obituary notices, pubs' ads, speeches, divorce suits, found drowned. Nearing the end of his tether now. Sober serious man with a bit in the savings-bank I'd say. Wife a good cook and washer. Daughter working the machine in the parlour. Plain Jane, no damn nonsense.
And it was the Feast of the Passover
He stayed in his walk to watch a typesetter neatly distributing type. Reads it backwards first. Quickly he does it. Must require some practice that. mangiD. kcirtaP. Poor papa with his hagadah book, reading backwards with his finger to me. Pessach. Next year in Jerusalem. Dear, O dear! All that long business about that brought us out of the land of Egypt and into the house of bondage alleluia. Shema Israel Adonai Elohenu. No, that's the other. Then the twelve brothers, Jacob's sons. And then the lamb and the cat and the dog and the stick and the water and the butcher and then the angel of death kills the butcher and he kills the ox and the dog kills the cat. Sounds a bit silly till you come to look into it well. Justice it means but it's everybody eating everyone else. That's what life is after all. How quickly he does that job. Practice makes perfect. Seems to see with his fingers.
Mr Bloom passed on out of the clanking noises through the gallery on to the landing. Now am I going to tram it out all the way and then catch him out perhaps? Better phone him up first. Number? Same as Citron's house. Twentyeight. Twentyeight double four.
Only once more that soap
He went down the house staircase. Who the deuce scrawled all over these walls with matches? Looks as if they did it for a bet. Heavy greasy smell there always is in those works. Lukewarm glue in Thom's next door when I was there.
He took out his handkerchief to dab his nose. Citronlemon? Ah, the soap I put there. Lose it out of that pocket. Putting back his handkerchief he took out the soap and stowed it away, buttoned into the hip pocket of his trousers.
What perfume does your wife use? I could go home still: tram: something I forgot. Just to see before dressing. No. Here. No.
A sudden screech of laughter came from the Evening Telegraph office. Know who that is. What's up? Pop in a minute to phone. Ned Lambert it is.
He entered softly.
Erin, Green Gem of the Silver Sea
-- The ghost walks, professor Macllugh murmured softly, biscuitfully to the dusty windowpane.
Mr Dedalus, staring from the empty fireplace at Ned Lambert's quizzing face, asked of it sourly:
-- Agonising Christ, wouldn't it give you a heartburn on your arse?
Ned Lambert, seated on the table, read on:
-- Or again, note the meanderings of some purling rill as it babbles on its way, fanned by gentlest zephyrs tho' quarrelling with the stony obstacles, to the tumbling waters of Neptune's blue domain, mid mossy banks, played on by the glorious sunlight or 'neath the shadows cast o'er its pensive bosom by the overarching leafage of the giants of the forest. What about that, Simon? he asked over the fringe of his newspaper. How's that for high?
-- Changing his drink, Mr Dedalus said.
Ned Lambert, laughing, struck the newspaper on his knees, repeating:
-- The pensive bosom and the overarsing leafage. O boys! O boys!
-- And Xenophon looked upon Marathon, Mr Dedalus said, looking again on the fireplace and to the window, and Marathon looked on the sea.
-- That will do, professor MacHugh cried from the window. I don't want to hear any more of the stuff.
He ate off the crescent of water biscuit he had been nibbling and, hungered, made ready to nibble the biscuit in his other hand.
High falutin stuff. Bladderbags. Ned Lambert is taking a day off I see. Rather upsets a man's day a funeral does. He has influence they say. Old Chatterton, the vice-chancellor, is his granduncle or his greatgranduncle. Close on ninety they say. Subleader for his death written this long time perhaps. Living to spite them. Might go first himself. Johnny, make room for your uncle. The right honourable Hedges Eyre Chatterton. Daresay he writes him an odd shaky cheque or two on gale days. Windfall when he kicks out. Alleluia.
-- Just another spasm, Ned Lambert said.
-- What is it? Mr Bloom asked.
-- A recently discovered fragment of Cicero's, professor MacHugh answered with pomp of tone. Our lovely land.
Short but to the Point
-- Whose land? Mr Bloom said simply.
-- Most pertinent question, the professor said between his chews. With an accent on the whose.
-- Dan Dawson's land, Mr Dedalus said.
-- Is it his speech last night? Mr Bloom asked.
Ned Lambert nodded.
-- But listen to this, he said.
The doorknob hit Mr Bloom in the small of the back as the door was pushed in.
-- Excuse me, J.J. O'Molloy said, entering.
Mr Bloom moved nimbly aside.
-- I beg yours, he said.
-- Good day, Jack.
-- Come in. Come in.
-- Good day.
-- How are you, Dedalus?
-- Well. And yourself?
J.J. O'Molloy shook his head.
Sad
Cleverest fellow at the junior bar he used to be. Decline poor chap. That hectic flush spells finis for a man. Touch and go with him. What's in the wind, I wonder. Money worry.
-- Or again if we but climb the serried mountain peaks.
-- You're looking extra.
-- Is the editor to be seen? J.J. O'Molloy asked, looking towards the inner door.
-- Very much so, professor MacHugh said. To be seen and heard. He's in his sanctum with Lenehan.
J.J. O'Molloy strolled Jo the sloping desk and began to turn back the pink pages of the file.
Practice dwindling. A mighthavebeen. Losing heart. Gambling. Debts of honour. Reaping the whirlwind. Used to get good retainers from D. and T. Fitzgerald. Their wigs to show their grey matter. Brains on their sleeve like the statue in Glasnevin. Believe he does some literary work for the Express with Gabriel Conroy. Wellread fellow. Myles Crawford began on the Independent. Funny the way those newspaper men veer about when they get wind of a new opening. Weathercocks. Hot and cold in the same breath. Wouldn't know which to believe. One story good till you hear the next. Go for one another baldheaded in the papers and then all blows over. Hailfellow well met the next moment.
-- Ah, listen to this for God's sake, Ned Lambert pleaded. Or again if we but climb the serried mountain peaks...
-- Bombast! the professor broke in testily. Enough of the inflated windbag!
-- Peaks, Ned Lambert went on, towering high on high, to bathe our souls, as it were...
-- Bathe his lips, Mr Dedalus said. Blessed and eternal God! Yes? Is he taking anything for it?
-- As 'twere, in the peerless panorama of Ireland's portfolio, unmatched, despite their wellpraised prototypes in other vaunted prize regions, for very beauty, of bosky grove and undulating plain and luscious pastureland of vernal green, steeped in the transcendent translucent glow of our mild mysterious Irish twilight...
His Native Doric
-- The moon, professor MacHugh said. He forgot Hamlet.
-- That mantles the vista far and wide and wait till the glowing orb of the moon shines forth to irradiate her silver effulgence.
-- O! Mr Dedalus cried, giving vent to a hopeless groan, shite and onions! That'll do, Ned. Life is too short.
He took off his silk hat and, blowing out impatiently his bushy moustache, welshcombed his hair with raking fingers.
Ned Lambert tossed the newspaper aside, chuckling with delight. An instant after a hoarse bark of laughter burst over professor MacHugh's unshaven black-spectacled face.
-- Doughy Daw! he cried.
What Wetherup said
All very fine to jeer at it now in cold print but it goes down like hot cake that stuff. He was in the bakery line too wasn't he? Why they call him Doughy Daw. Feathered his nest well anyhow. Daughter engaged to that chap in the inland revenue office with the motor. Hooked that nicely. Entertainments open house. Big blow out. Wetherup always said that. Get a grip of them by the stomach.
The inner door was opened violently and a scarlet beaked face, crested by a comb of feathery hair, thrust itself in. The bold blue eyes stared about them and the harsh voice asked:
-- What is it?
-- And here comes the sham squire himself, professor MacHugh said grandly.
-- Getououthat, you bloody old pedagogue! the editor said in recognition.
-- Come, Ned, Mr Dedalus said, putting on his hat. I must get a drink after that.
-- Drink! the editor cried. No drinks served before mass.
-- Quite right too, Mr Dedalus said, going out. Come on, Ned.
Ned Lambert sidled down from the table. The editor's blue eyes roved towards Mr Bloom's face, shadowed by a smile.
-- Will you join us, Myles? Ned Lambert asked.
Memorable Battles Recalled
-- North Cork militia! the editor cried, striding to the mantelpiece. We won every time! North Cork and Spanish officers!
-- Where was that, Myles? Ned Lambert asked with a reflective glance at his toecaps.
-- In Ohio! the editor shouted.
-- So it was, begad, Ned Lambert agreed.
Passing out, he whispered to J.J. O'Molloy:
-- Incipient jigs. Sad case.
-- Ohio! the editor crowed in high treble from his uplifted scarlet face. My Ohio!
-- A Perfect cretic! the professor said. Long, short and long.
O, Harp Eolian
He took a reel of dental floss from his waistcoat pocket and, breaking off a piece, twanged it smartly between two and two of his resonant unwashed teeth.
-- Bingbang, bangbang.
Mr Bloom, seeing the coast clear, made for the inner door.
-- Just a moment, Mr Crawford, he said. I just want to phone about an ad.
He went in.
-- What about that leader this evening? professor MacHugh asked, coming to the editor and laying a firm hand on his shoulder.
-- That'll be all right, Myles Crawford said more calmly. Never you fret. Hello, Jack. That's all right.
-- Good day, Myles. J.J. O'Molloy said, letting the pages he held slip limply back on the file. Is that Canada swindle case on today?
The telephone whirred inside.
-- Twenty eight... No, twenty... Double four . Yes.
Spot the Winner
Lenehan came out of the inner office with Sports tissues.
-- Who wants a dead cert for the Gold cup? he asked. Sceptre with O. Madden up.
He tossed the tissues on to the table.
Screams of newsboys barefoot in the hall rushed near and the door was flung open.
-- Hush, Lenehan said. I hear feetstoops.
Professor MacHugh strode across the room and seized the cringing urchin by the collar as the others scampered out of the hall and down the steps. The tissues rustled up in the draught, floated softly in the air blue scrawls and under the table came to earth.
-- It wasn't me, sir. It was the big fellow shoved me, sir.
-- Throw him out and shut the door, the editor said. There's a hurricane blowing.
Lenehan began to paw the tissues up from the floor, grunting as he stooped twice.
-- Waiting for the racing special, sir, the newsboy said. It was Pat Farrel shoved me, sir.
He pointed to two faces peering in round the door-frame.
-- Him, sir.
-- Out of this with you, professor MacHugh said gruffly.
He hustled the boy out and banged the door to.
J.J. O'Molloy turned the files crackingly over, murmuring, seeking:
-- Continued on page six, column four.
-- Yes... Evening Telegraph here, Mr Bloom phoned from the inner office. Is the boss... ? Yes, Telegraph... To where?... Aha! Which auction rooms?... Aha! I see... Right. I'll catch him.
A Collision ensues
The bell whirred again as he rang off. He came in quickly and bumped against Lenehan who was struggling up with the second tissue.
-- Pardon, monsieur, Lenehan said, clutching him for an instant and making a grimace.
-- My fault, Mr Bloom said, suffering his grip. Are you hurt? I'm in a hurry.
-- Knee, Lenehan said.
He made a comic face and whined, rubbing his knee.
-- The accumulation of the anno Domini.
-- Sorry, Mr Bloom said.
He went to the door and, holding it ajar, paused. J.J. O'Molloy slapped the heavy pages over. The noise of two shrill voices, a mouthorgan, echoed in the bare hallway from the newsboys squatted on the doorsteps:
We are the boys of Wexford
Who fought with heart and hand.
Exit Bloom
-- I'm just running round to Bachelor's walk, Mr Bloom said, about this ad of Keyes's. Want to fix it up. They tell me he's round there in Dillon's.
He looked indecisively for a moment at their faces. The editor who, leaning against the mantelshelf, had propped his head on his hand suddenly stretched forth an arm amply.
-- Begone! he said. The world is before you.
-- Back in no time, Mr Bloom said, hurrying out.
J.J. O'Molloy took the tissues from Lenehan's hand and read them, blowing them apart gently, without comment.
-- He'll get that advertisement, the professor said, staring through his blackrimmed spectacles over the crossblind. Look at the young scamps after him.
-- Show! Where? Lenehan cried, running to the window.
A Street Cortege
Both smiled over the crossblind at the file of capering newsboys in Mr Bloom's wake, the last zigzagging white on the breeze a mocking kite, a tail of white bowknots.
-- Look at the young guttersnipe behind him hue and cry, Lenehan said, and you'll kick. O, my rib risible! Taking off his flat spaugs and the walk. Small nines. Steal upon larks.
He began to mazurka in swift caricature across the floor on sliding feet past the fireplace to J.J. O'Molloy who placed the tissues in his receiving hands.
-- What's that? Myles Crawford said with a start. Where are the other two gone?
-- Who? the professor said, turning. They're gone round to the Oval for a drink. Paddy Hooper is there with Jack Hall. Came over last night.
-- Come on then, Myles Crawford said. Where's my hat?
He walked jerkily into the office behind, parting the vent of his jacket, jingling his keys in his back pocket. They jingled then in the air and against the wood as he locked his desk drawer.
-- He's pretty well on, professor MacHugh said in a low voIce.
-- Seems to be, J.J. O'Molloy said, taking out a cigarette case in murmuring meditation, but it is not always as it seems. Who has the most matches?
The Calumet of Peace
He offered a cigarette to the professor and took one himself. Lenehan promptly struck a match for them and lit their cigarettes in turn. J.J. O'Molloy opened his case again and offered it.
-- Thanky vous, Lenehan said, helping himself.
The editor came from the inner office, a straw hat awry on his brow. He declaimed in song, pointing sternly at professor MacHugh:
'Twas rank and fame that tempted thee,
'Twas empire charmed thy heart.
The professor grinned, locking his long lips.
-- Eh? You bloody old Roman empire? Myles Crawford said.
He took a cigarette from the open case. Lenehan, lighting it for him with quick grace, said:
-- Silence for my brandnew riddle!
-- Imperium romanum, J.J. O'Molloy said gently. It sounds nobler than British or Brixton. The word reminds one somehow of fat in the fire.
Myles Crawford blew his first puff violently towards the ceiling.
-- That's it, he said. We are the fat. You and I are the fat in the fire. We haven't got the chance of a snowball in hell.
The Grandeur that was Rome
-- Wait a moment, professor MacHugh said, raising two quiet claws. We mustn't be led away by words, by sounds of words. We think of Rome, imperial, imperious, imperative.
He extended elocutionary arms from frayed stained shirtcuffs, pausing:
-- What was their civilisation? Vast, I allow: but vile. Cloac&Aelig;: sewers. The Jews in the wilderness and on the mountaintop said: It is meet to be here. Let us build an altar to Jehovah. The Roman, like the Englishman who follows in his footsteps, brought to every new shore on which he set his foot (on our shore he never set it) only his cloacal obsession. He gazed about him in his toga and he said: It is meet to be here. Let us construct a watercloset.
-- Which they accordingly did do, Lenehan said. Our old ancient ancestors, as we read in the first chapter of Guinness's, were partial to the running stream.
-- They were nature's gentlemen, J.J. O'Molloy murmured. But we have also Roman law.
-- And Pontius Pilate is its prophet, professor MacHugh responded.
-- Do you know that story about chief Baron Palles? J.J. O'Molloy asked. It was at the royal university dinner. Everything was going swimmingly.
-- First my riddle, Lenehan said. Are you ready?
Mr O'Madden Burke, tall in copious grey of Donegal tweed, came in from the hallway. Stephen Dedalus, behind him, uncovered as he entered.
-- Entrez, mes enfants! Lenehan cried.
-- I escort a suppliant, Mr O'Madden Burke said melodiously. Youth led by Experience visits Notoriety.
-- How do you do? the editor said, holding out a hand. Come in. Your governor is just gone.
? ? ?
Lenehan said to all:
-- Silence! What opera resembles a railway line? Reflect, ponder, excogitate, reply.
Stephen handed over the typed sheets, pointing to the title and signature.
-- Who? the editor asked.
Bit torn off.
-- Mr Garrett Deasy, Stephen said:
-- That old pelters, the editor said. Who tore it? Was he short taken.
On swift sail flaming
From storm and south
He comes, pale vampire,
Mouth to my mouth.
-- Good day, Stephen, the professor said, coming to peer over their shoulders. Foot and mouth? Are you turned... ?
Bullockbefriending bard.
Shindy in wellknown Restaurant
-- Good day, sir, Stephen answered, blushing. The letter is not mine. Mr Garrett Deasy asked me to...
-- O, I know him, Myles Crawford said, and knew his wife too. The bloodiest old tartar God ever made. By Jesus, she had the foot and mouth disease and no mistake! The night she threw the soup in the waiter's face in the Star and Garter. Oho!
A woman brought sin into the world. For Helen, the runaway wife of Menelaus, ten years the Greeks. O'Rourke, prince of Breffni.
-- Is he a widower? Stephen asked.
-- Ay, a grass one, Myles Crawford said, his eye running down the typescript. Emperor's horses. Habsburg. An Irishman saved his life on the ramparts of Vienna. Don't you forget! Maximilian Karl O'Donnell, graf von Tirconnel in Ireland. Sent his heir over to make the king an Austrian fieldmarshal now. Going to be trouble there one day. Wild geese. O yes, every time. Don't you forget that!
-- The moot point is did he forget it? J.J. O'Molloy said quietly, turning a horseshoe paperweight. Saving princes is a thank you job.
Professor MacHugh turned on him.
-- And if not? he said.
-- I'll tell you how it was, Myles Crawford began. Hungarian it was one day...
Lost Causes Noble Marquess mentioned
We were always loyal to lost causes, the professor said. Success for us is the death of the intellect and of the imagination. We were never loyal to the successful. We serve them. I teach the blatant Latin language. I speak the tongue of a race the acme of whose mentality is the maxim: time is money. Material domination. Dominus! Lord! Where is the spirituality? Lord Jesus! Lord Salisbury. A sofa in a westend club. But the Greek!
Kyrie Eleison!
A smile of light brightened his darkrimmed eyes, lengthened his long lips.
-- The Greek! he said again. Kyrios! Shining word! The vowels the Semite and the Saxon know not. Kyrie! The radiance of the intellect. I ought to profess Greek, the language of the mind. Kyrie eleison! The closetmaker and the cloacamaker will never be lords of our spirit. We are liege subjects of the catholic chivalry of Europe that foundered at Trafalgar and of the empire of the spirit, not an imperium, that went under with the Athenian fleets at &Aelig;gospotami. Yes, yes. They went under. Pyrrhus, misled by an oracle, made a last attempt to retrieve the fortunes of Greece. Loyal to a lost cause.
He strode away from them towards the window.
-- They went forth to battle, Mr O'Madden Burke said greyly, but they always fell.
-- Boohoo! Lenehan wept with a little noise. Owing to a brick received in the latter half of the matinée. Poor, poor, poor Pyrrhus!
He whispered then near Stephen's ear:
Lenehan's Limerick
There's a ponderous pundit MacHugh
Who wears goggles of ebony hue.
As he mostly sees double
To wear them why trouble?
I can't see the Joe Miller. Can you?
In mourning for Sallust, Mulligan says. Whose mother is beastly dead.
Myles Crawford crammed the sheets into a sidepocket.
-- That'll be all right, he said. I'll read the rest after. That'll be all right.
Lenehan extended his hands in protest.
-- But my riddle! he said. What opera is like a railway line?
-- Opera? Mr O'Madden Burke's sphinx face reriddled.
Lenehan announced gladly:
-- The Rose of Castille. See the wheeze? Rows of cast steel. Gee!
He poked Mr O'Madden Burke mildly in the spleen. Mr O'Madden Burke fell back with grace on his umbrella, feigning a gasp.
-- Help! he sighed. I feel a strong weakness.
Lenehan, rising to tiptoe, fanned his face rapidly with the rustling tissues.
The professor, returning by way of the files, swept his hand across Stephen's and Mr O'Madden Burke's loose ties.
-- Paris, past and present, he said. You look like communards.
-- Like fellows who had blown up the bastille, J.J. O'Molloy said in quiet mockery. Or was it you shot the lord lieutenant of Finland between you? You look as though you had done the deed. General Bobrikoff.
Omnium Gatherum
-- We were only thinking about it, Stephen said.
-- All the talents, Myles Crawford said. Law, the classics.
-- The turf, Lenehan put in.
-- Literature, the press.
-- If Bloom were here, the professor said. The gentle art of advertisement.
-- And Madam Bloom, Mr O'Madden Burke added. The vocal muse. Dublin's prime favourite.
Lenehan gave a loud cough.
-- Ahem! he said very softly. O, for a fresh of breath air! I caught a cold in the park. The gate was open.
You can do it!
The editor laid a nervous hand on Stephen's shoulder.
-- I want you to
[ 此帖被soneyky在2012-12-24 08:21重新编辑 ]
soneyky

ZxID:3593304


等级: 文学之神
怕相思,已思相,轮到相思没处辞,眉间露一丝
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中:
7、在希勃尼亚首都中心一辆辆电车...

在希勃尼亚[1]首都中心一辆辆电车在纳尔逊纪念柱前减慢了速度,转入岔轨,调换触轮, 重新发车,驶往黑岩、国王镇和多基、克朗斯基亚、拉思加尔和特勒努尔、帕默斯顿公园、上拉思曼斯、沙丘草地、拉思曼斯、林森德和沙丘塔以及哈罗德十字路口。都柏林市联合电车公司那个嗓音嘶哑的调度员咆哮着把电车撵走:
“开到拉思加尔和特勒努尔去!”
“下一辆开往沙丘草地!”
右边是双层电车,左边是辆单层电车。车身咣咣地晃悠着,铃铛丁零零地响着,一辆辆地分别从轨道终点发车,各自拐进下行线,并排驶去。
“开往帕默斯顿公园的,发车!
王冠佩带者
中央邮局的门廊下,擦皮鞋的边吆喝着边擦。亲王北街上是一溜儿朱红色王室邮车,车帮上标着今上御称的首字E·R·[2]。成袋成袋的挂号以及贴了邮票的函件、明信片、邮筒和邮包,都乒啷乓啷地被扔上了车,不是寄往本市或外埠,就是寄往英国本土或外国的。
新闻界人士
穿粗笨靴子的马车夫从亲王货栈[3]里推出酒桶,滚在地上发出钝重的响声,又哐噹哐噹码在啤酒厂的平台货车上。由穿粗笨靴子的马车夫从亲王货栈里推滚出来的酒桶,在啤酒厂的货车上发出一片钝重的咕咚咕咚声。
“在这儿哪,”红穆雷[4]说,“亚历山大·凯斯。”
“请你给剪下来,好吗?”布卢姆先生说,“我把它送到电讯报报馆去。”
拉特利奇的办公室的门嘎地又响了一声。小个子戴维·斯蒂芬斯[5]严严实实地披着一件大斗篷,鬈发上是一顶小毡帽,斗篷下抱着一卷报纸,摆出一副国王信使的架势踱了出去。
红穆雷利利索索地用长剪刀将广告从报纸上铰了下来。剪刀和浆糊。
“我到印刷车间去一趟,”布卢姆先生拿着铰下来的广告说。
“好哇,要是他需要一块补白的话,”红穆雷将钢笔往耳朵上一夹,热切地说,“我们想法安排一下吧。”
“好的,”布卢姆先生点点头说,“我去说说看。”
我们。
沙丘奥克兰兹的
威廉·布雷登[6]阁下
红穆雷用那把大剪刀碰了碰布卢姆先生的胳膊,悄悄地说:
“布雷登。”
布卢姆先生回过头去,看见穿着制服的司阍摘了摘他那顶印有字母的帽子。这当儿,一个仪表堂堂的人[7]从《自由人周刊·国民新闻》和《自由人报·国民新闻》的两排阅报栏之间走过来。发出钝重响声的吉尼斯啤酒[8]桶。他用雨伞开路,庄重地踏上楼梯,长满络腮胡子的脸上是一派严肃神色。他那穿着高级绒面呢上衣的脊背,一步步地往上升。脊背。西蒙·迪达勒斯说,他的脑子全都长在后颈里头了。他背后隆起一棱棱的肉。脖颈上,脂肪起着褶皱。脂肪,脖子,脂肪,脖子。
“你不觉得他长得像咱们的救世主吗?”红穆雷悄悄地说。
拉特利奇那间办公室的门吱吜吜地低声响着。为了通风起见,他们总是把两扇门安得对开着。一进一出。
咱们的救世主。周围镶着络腮胡子的鸭蛋脸,在暮色苍茫中说着话儿。玛丽和玛尔塔。男高音歌手马里奥[9]用剑一般的雨伞探路,来到脚光跟前。
“要么就像马里奥,”布卢姆先生说。
“对,”红穆雷表示同意,“然而人家说,马里奥活脱儿就像咱们的救世主哩。”
红脸蛋的耶稣·马里奥穿着紧身上衣,两条腿又细又长。他把一只手按在胸前,在歌剧《玛尔塔》[10]中演唱着:
回来吧,迷失的你,
回来吧,亲爱的你![11]
牧杖与钢笔
“主教大人今儿早晨来过两次电话,”[12]红穆雪板着面孔说。 他们望着那膝盖、小腿、靴子依次消失。脖子。
一个送电报的少年脚步轻盈地踅进来,往柜台上扔下一封电报,只打了声招呼就匆匆地走了,
“《自由人报》!”
布卢姆先生慢条斯理地说:
“喏,他也是咱们的救世主之一。”
他掀起柜台的活板,穿过一扇侧门,并沿着暖和而昏暗的楼梯和过道走去,还经过如今正回荡着噪音的一个个车间,一路脸上泛着柔和的微笑。然而,难道他挽救得了发行额下跌的局面吗?咣噹噹。咣噹噹。
他推开玻璃旋转门,走了进去,迈过散布在地上的包装纸,穿过一道轮转机铿锵作响的甬路,走向南尼蒂[13]的校对室。
海因斯也在这里,也许是来结讣告的账吧。咣噹噹。咣噹。
讣告
一位至为可敬的都柏林市民仙逝
谨由衷地表示哀悼
今天早晨,已故帕特里克·迪格纳穆先生的遗体。机器。倘若被卷了进去,就会碾成齑粉。如今支配着整个世界。他[14]这部机器也起劲地开动着。就像这些机器一样,控制不住了,一片混乱。一个劲儿地干着,沸腾着。又像那只拼命要钻进去的灰色老鼠。
一份伟大的日报是怎样编印出来的
布卢姆先生在工长瘦削的身子后面停下脚步来,欣赏着他那贼亮的秃脑瓢儿。
奇怪的是他从未见过真正的祖国。爱尔兰啊,我的祖国。学院草地的议员。他竭力以普通一工人的身份,使报纸兴旺起来。[15]周刊全靠广告和各种专栏来增加销数,并非靠官方公报[16]发布的那些陈旧新闻。诸如一千XX年政府发行的官报。安妮女王驾崩[17]等等。罗森纳利斯镇区的地产,廷纳欣奇男爵领地[18]。有关人士注意:根据官方统计从巴利纳出口的骡子与母驴的数目一览表[19]。园艺琐记[20]。漫画[21]。菲尔·布莱克在周刊上连载的《帕特和布尔》的故事。托比大叔为小娃娃开辟的专页。乡下佬问讯栏。亲爱的编辑先生,有没有治肚胀的灵丹妙剂?编这一栏倒不赖,一边教人,一边也学到很多东西。人间花絮。《人物》[22]。大多是照片[23]。黄金海岸上,丽人们穿着泳装婷婷玉立。世界上最大的氢气球。一对姐妹同时举行婚礼,双喜临门。两位新郎脸对着脸,开怀大笑。其中一个就是排字工人卡普拉尼[24],比爱尔兰人还更富于爱尔兰气质。
机器以四分之三拍开动着。咣噹,咣噹,咣噹。倘若他在那儿突然中了风,谁都不晓得该怎样关机器,那它就会照样开动下去,一遍遍地反反复复印刷,整个儿弄得一塌糊涂。可真得要一副冷静的头脑。
“喏,请把这排在晚报的版面上,参议员先生,”海因斯说。
过不久就会称他作市长大人[25]啦。据说,高个儿约翰[26]是他的后台。
工长没有答话。他只在纸角上潦潦草草地写上“付排”二字,并对排字工人打了个手势。他一声不响地从肮脏的玻璃隔板上面把稿纸递过去。
“好,谢谢啦,”海因斯边说边走开。
布卢姆先生挡住了他的去路。
“假若你想领钱,出纳员可正要去吃午饭哪,”他说着,翘起大拇指朝后指了指。
“你领了吗?”海因斯问。
“唔,”布卢姆先生说,“赶快去,还来得及。”
“谢谢,老伙计,”海因斯说,“我也去领。”
他急切地朝《自由人报》编辑部奔去。
我曾在弥尔酒店里借给他三先令。已经过了三个星期。这是第三回提醒他了。
我们看见广告兜揽员在工作
布卢姆先生将剪报放在南尼蒂先生的写字台上。
“打扰您一下,参议员,”他说,“这条广告是凯斯的,您还记得吗?”
南尼蒂对着那则广告沉吟片刻,点了点头。
“他希望七月里登出来,”布卢姆先生说。
工长把铅笔朝剪报移动。
“等一等,”布卢姆先生说,“他想改动一下。您知道,凯斯,他想在上端再添两把钥匙。”
这噪音真讨厌。他听不见啊,南南。得有钢铁般的神经才行。兴许他能理解我的意思。
工长掉过身来,好耐着性子去倾听。他举起一只胳膊肘,开始慢慢地挠他身上那件羊驼呢夹克的腋窝底下。
“就像这个样子,”布卢姆先生在剪报上端交叉起两个食指比划着。
让他首先领会这一点。布卢姆先生从他用指头交叉成的十字上斜望过去,只见工长脸色灰黄,暗自思量他大概有点儿病。那边,恭顺的大卷筒在往轮转机里输送大卷大卷的印刷用纸。铿锵锵、铿锵锵地闹腾吧。那纸要是打开来,总得有好几英里长。印完之后呢?哦,包肉啦,打包裹啦,足能派上一千零一种用场。
每逢噪音间歇的当儿,他就乖巧地插上一言半语,并在遍体斑痕的木桌上,麻利地面起图样。
钥匙议院[27]
“您瞧,是这样的,这儿有两把十字交叉的钥匙[28]。再加上个圈儿,字号写在这儿:亚历山大·凯斯,茶叶、葡萄酒及烈酒商什么的。”
对他的业务,最好不要去多嘴多舌。
“参议员,您自己晓得他的要求。然后在上端,把钥匙议院这几个铅字排成个圆圈。您明白吧?您不觉得这是个好主意吗?”
工长把挠个不停的手移到下肋部,又悄悄地挠着那儿。
“这个主意,”布卢姆先生说,“是从钥匙议院得来的。您晓得,参议员,是曼克斯议会。这暗示着自治。从曼岛会引来游客的,您瞧,会引人注目的。您能办得到吗?”
也许我可以问问他“voglio”[29]这个字该怎样发音。可要是他不晓得,那只不过是把他弄得很尴尬而已。还是不要问为好。
“我们能办到,”工长说,“你有图案吗?”
“我可以弄来,”布卢姆先生说,“基尔肯尼的一家报纸上禑妄。他在那儿也开了一家店。我跑一趟去问问他就是了。喏,您可以那么办,再附上一小段,引起注意就成了。您知道通常的写法是:‘店内经特许供应高级酒类,以满足顾客多时的愿望’什么的。”
工长沉吟了片刻。
“我们能办到,”他说,“每隔三个月让他跟我们续订一次合同吧。”
这时,一个排字工人给他送来一份软塌塌的毛样。他一声不响地开始校对。布卢姆先生站在他身边,听着机器发出的震响,望着那些在活字分格盘旁一声不响地操作着的排字工人。
缀字校正
他自己非拼写得准确无讹不可。校对热。今天早晨马丁·坎宁翰忘记给我们出他那个拼写比赛的难题了。“看一个焦虑不安的行商在墓地的墙下,测量一只削了皮的梨有多么匀称所感到的无比困惑,是饶有趣味的。”[30]有些莫名其妙,对不?把“墓地”一词加进去,当然是为了“匀称”。[31]
当他戴上那顶大礼帽时,我本该说声谢谢。我应该扯一扯旧帽子什么的。可不,我本来可以这么说:“看上去还跟新的一样哩。”倒想看看他脸上会有什么反应。
吱。第一部印刷机那最下面的平台把拨纸器吱的一声推了出来,上面托着第一撂对折的报纸。它就这样吱的一声来引起注意,差不多像个活人了。它竭尽全力来说着话。连那扇门也吱吱响着,在招呼人把它关上。每样东西都用各自的方式说话。吱。
著名的神职人员
不定期的撰稿者
工长突如其来地把毛样递过来说:
“等一下。大主教的信在哪儿呢?还得在{电讯报}上重登一遍。那个叫什么名字来着的人在哪儿?”
他朝周围那一部部只顾轰鸣却毫无反响的机器望了望。
“先生,是蒙克斯吗?”铸宇间一个声音问道。
“嗯。蒙克斯在哪儿?”
“蒙克斯!”
布卢姆先生拿起他那份剪报。该走了。
“那么,我把图案弄来,南尼蒂先生,”他说,“我知道你准会给它安排个好位置。”
“蒙克斯!”[33]
“哦,先生。”
每隔三个月,续订一次合同。我先得去吸口新鲜空气。好歹试试看吧。八月见报吧。是个好主意:在巴尔斯布里奇举办马匹 展示会[32]的月份。旅游者会前来参加展示会的。
排字房的老领班
穿过排字房时,他从一个戴眼镜、系了围裙的驼背老人身边走过。那就是排字房的老领班蒙克斯。他这辈子想必亲手排了许多五花八门的消息:讣告、酒店广告、讲演、离婚诉讼、打捞到溺死者。如今,快要走到生命尽头了。我敢说,这是个处世稳重、一丝不苟的人,银行里多少总有些积蓄。老婆做得一手好菜,衣服洗得干净。闺女在客厅里踩着缝纫机。相貌平庸的简,从不惹是生非。
逾越节[34]到了
他停下脚步,望着一个排字工人利利索索地分字模。先得倒过来读。他读起来快得很。这功夫是练出来的。穆纳格迪·克里特怕。可怜的爸爸曾经拿着{哈加达}书[35],用手指倒指着念给我听。逾越节[36]。明年在耶路撒冷。 唷,哎呀!经过漫长的岁月,吃尽了苦头。我们终于被领出埃及的士地,进入了为奴之家[37]。哈利路亚[38]。以色列人哪,你们要留心听!上主是我们的上帝。[39]不,那是另一档子事。还有那十二个弟兄,雅各的儿子们[40]再就是羔羊[41]、猫、狗、杖[42]、水[43]和屠夫。然后,死亡的天使杀了屠夫,屠夫杀了公牛,狗杀了猫[44]。乍一听好像有点儿莫名其妙,其实再探究一下就会明白,这意味着正义:大家都在相互你吃我,我吃你。这毕竟就是人生。这活儿他干得多快啊。熟能生巧。他像在用指头读着原稿似的。
布卢姆先生从那咣噹咣噹的噪音中踱出,穿过走廊,来到楼梯平台。现在我打算一路搭电车前往。也许能找到他吧。不如先给他挂个电话。号码呢?跟西特伦家的门牌号码一样:二八。二八四四。
只再挪一次,那块肥皂
他走下露天的楼梯。是哪个讨厌鬼用火柴在墙上乱涂一气?看上去仿佛是为了打赌而干的。这些厂房里总是弥漫着浓烈的油脂气味。当我呆在汤姆[45]隔壁的时候,就老是闻到这种温吞吞的鳔胶气味。
他掏出手绢来搌了搌鼻孔。香橼柠檬?啊,我还在那儿放了块肥皂呢。在那个兜儿里会弄丢的。他放回手绢时取出肥皂,然后把它塞进裤后兜,扣上钮扣。
你太太使用哪一种香水?我还来得及乘电车回家一趟。借口说忘了点儿东西。在她换衣服之前,瞧上一眼。不。这儿。不。
抽冷子从《电讯晚报》的编辑部里传出一阵刺耳的尖笑声。我知道那是谁。怎么啦?溜进去一会儿,打个电话吧。那是内德·兰伯特。
他踅了进去。
爱琳[46],银海上的绿宝石
“幽灵走来了,”[47]麦克休教授嘴里塞满饼干,朝那积着尘埃的窗玻璃低声咕依。
迪达勒斯先生从空洞洞的壁炉旁朝内德·兰伯特那张泛着冷笑的脸望去,尖酸地问:
“真够呛,这会不会使你的屁股感到烟薰火燎呢?”
内德·兰伯特坐在桌子上,继续读下去:
“再则,请注意那打着漩涡蜿蜒曲折地哗哗淌去的泪泪溪流与拦住去路的岩石搏斗,在习习西风轻拂下,冲向海神所支配的波涛汹涌的蔚蓝领国;沿途,水面上荡漾着灿烂的阳光,两边的堤岸爬满青苔,森林中的巨树那架成拱形的繁叶[48],将荫影投射于溪流那忧郁多思的胸脯上。怎么样,西蒙?”他从报纸的上端望着问,“挺出色吧?”
“他调着样儿喝酒,”迪达勒斯先生说。
内德·兰伯特边笑边用报纸拍着自己的膝盖,重复着:
“忧郁多思的胸脯和蒙在屁股上的繁叶。真够绝的了!”
“色诺芬[49]俯瞰马拉松[50],”迪达勒斯先生说,他又瞧了瞧壁炉和窗户,“马拉松濒临大海。[51]”
“行啦,”麦克休教授从窗旁人声说,“我再也不想听那套啦。”
他把啃成月牙形的薄脆饼干吃掉,还觉得饿,正准备再去啃拿在另一只手里的饼干。
咬文嚼字的玩艺儿。吹牛皮,空空洞洞。依我看,内德·兰伯特准备请一天假。每逢举行葬礼,这一天就整个儿被打乱了。人家说,他有势力。大学副校长——老查特顿[52]是他的伯祖父或曾伯祖父。据说眼看就九旬了。也许报馆为这位副校长的噩耗所写的短评老早就准备好了。他简直就是为了刁难他们才活得这么长。说不定他自己倒会先死哩。约翰尼,替你伯父让路吧[53]。赫奇斯·艾尔·查特顿阁下。每逢该交租金的日子,老人就用他那颤巍巍的手给他签上一两张字迹古怪的支票。老人一旦踹了腿,他就可以发一笔横财。哈利路亚。
“又一阵发作吧,”内德·兰伯特说。
“什么呀?”布卢姆先生说。
“新近发现的西塞罗[54]断简残篇,”麦克休教授煞有介事地回答说,“《我们美丽的国土》。”
简单然而扼要
“谁的国土?”布卢姆先生简捷地问。
“问得再中肯不过了,”教授边咀嚼着边说,“并且在‘谁的’上加重了语气。”
“丹·道森[55]的国土,”迪达勒斯先生说。
“指的是他昨天晚上的演说吗?”布卢姆先生问。
内德·兰伯特点了点头。
“且听听这个,”他说。
这当儿,门被推开了,球形的门把手碰着了布卢姆先生的腰部。
“对不起,”杰·杰·奥莫洛伊边走进来边说。
布卢姆先生敏捷地往旁边一闪。
“不客气,”他说。
“你好,杰克。”
“请进,请进。”
“你好。”
“你好吗,迪达勒斯?”
“蛮好。你呢?”
杰·杰·奥莫洛伊摇了摇头。
伤 心
在年轻一辈的律师中间他曾经是最精明强干的一位。如今患了肺病,可怜的伙计。从他脸上那病态的潮红看,这个人已经病入膏肓,随时都可能一命呜呼。究竟是怎么回事?为金钱发愁吧。
“或者,倘若我们攀登重岩叠嶂的峰巅。”
“你的气色异常地好。”
“能见见主编吗?”杰·杰·奥莫洛伊边往里屋瞅边问。
“当然可以,”麦克休教授说,“可以见他并且谈谈。他正在自己屋里跟利内翰[56]在一起。”
杰·杰·奥莫洛伊踱到办公室里那张斜面写字台前,从后往前翻看着用浅粉色纸印刷的报纸合订本。
本来或许可以有所成就的,可是业务荒疏了,灰心丧气,贪起赌来。弄得债台高筑。播下风,收割的是暴风。[57]过去,狄·与托·菲茨杰拉德[58]事务所常常付给他优厚的预约辩护费。他们是为了显示智力而戴假发的。就像是坐落于葛拉斯涅文的竖像似的,炫耀着自己的头脑。他想必是跟加布里埃尔·康罗伊一道为《快报》[59]撰写一些文章。此人博学。迈尔斯·克劳福德是以在《独立报》[60]上写文章起家的。那些报人只要一听说哪儿有空子可钻,马上就见风使舵,煞是可笑。风信鸡。嘴里一会儿吹热气,一会儿又吹冷风![61]不知道该相信哪个好了。听到第二个故事之前,觉得头一个也蛮好。在报上彼此猛烈地开笔仗,然后一切都被淡忘。一转眼就又握手言欢。
“喂,请你们务必听听吧,”内德·兰伯特央求说。“或者,倘若我们攀登重岩叠嶂的峰巅……”
“言过其实!”教授暴躁地插嘴说,“这种夸夸其谈的空话己经听够啦!”
内德·兰伯特继续读下去:
“峰巅,巍然耸立。我们的灵魂恍若沫浴于……”
“还不如沫浴一下他的嘴巴呢,”迪达勒斯先生说,“永恒的上帝,难道他还能从中得到些报酬吗?”
“沫浴于爱尔兰全景那无与伦比的风光中。论美,尽管在其他以秀丽见称的宝地也能找到被人广为称颂的典型,然而我们温柔、神秘的爱尔兰在黄昏中那无可比拟的半透明光辉,照耀着郁郁葱葱的森林,绵延起伏的田野,和煦芬芳的绿色牧场。所有这些,真是举世无双的……”
“月亮,”麦克休教授说,“他忘记了《哈姆莱特》[62]。”
他家乡的土话
黄昏辽远而广阔地笼罩着这片景色,直到月亮那皎洁的球体喷薄欲出,闪烁出它那银色的光辉……
“哦!”迪达勒斯先生绝望地呻吟着,大声说,“狗屁不值!足够啦,内德,人一生时光有限啊!”
他摘下大礼帽,不耐烦地吹着他那浓密的口髭,把手指扎煞开来,活像一把威尔士梳子[63]梳理着头发。
内德·兰伯特把报纸甩到一旁,高兴地暗自笑着。过了一会儿,麦克休教授那架着黑框眼镜、胡子拉碴的脸上,也漾起刺耳的哄笑。
“夹生面包·大傻瓜[64]!”他大声说。
韦瑟厄普[65]如是说
此文如今白纸黑字己经印了出来,自然尽可以挖苦它一通,可是这类货色就像刚出锅的热饼一样脍炙人口哩。他干过面包糕点这一行,对吧?所以大家才管他叫作“夹生面包·大傻瓜”。反正他也己经赚足了。闺女跟内地税务署的那个拥有小轿车的家伙订了婚。乖巧地让他上了钩,还大张宴席,应酬款待。韦瑟厄普一向说:用酒肉把他们置于掌心。
里屋的门猛地开了,一张有着鹰钩鼻子的红脸膛伸了进来,头上是一撮羽毛似的头发,活像个鸡冠。一双蓝色、盛气凌人的眼睛环视着他们,并且粗声粗气地问:
“什么事?”
“冒牌乡绅[66]亲自光临!”麦克休教授堂哉皇哉地说。
“去你的吧,你这该死的老教书匠!”主编说,算是跟他打了招呼。
“来,内德,”迪达勒浙先生边戴帽子边说,“这事完了之后[67],我非得去喝上一盅不可啦。”
“喝酒!”主编大声说,“望完弥撒之前,什么也别想喝。”
“说得蛮对,”迪达勒斯先生说着就往外走,“来呀,内德。”
内德·兰伯特贴着桌边哧溜了下来。主编的一双蓝眼睛朝着布卢姆先生那张隐隐含着一丝笑意的脸上瞟去。
“你也跟我们一道来吗,迈尔斯?”内德·兰伯特问。
回顾难忘的战役
“北科克义勇军!”主编跨着大步走到壁炉台跟前,大声嚷着,“咱们连战连胜!北科克和西班牙军官们!”
“是在哪儿呀,迈尔斯?”内德·兰伯特若有所思地望着自己的鞋尖问。
“在俄亥俄!”主编吼道。
“可不是嘛,没错儿,”内德·兰伯特表示同意。 ·
他一面往外走,一面跟杰·杰·奥莫洛伊打耳喳说:
“酒精中毒,真可悲。”
“俄亥俄!”主编仰起红脸膛儿,用尖锐的最高音嚷道,“我的俄亥俄[68]!”
“地地道道的扬抑扬音步!”教授说,“长,短,长。”
哦,风鸣琴[69]!
他从背心兜里掏出一卷清除牙缝的拉线[70],扯下一截,灵巧地用它在那未刷过的两对牙齿之间奏出声来:
“乒乓,乒乓。"”
布卢姆先生看见时机正好,就走向里屋。
“借光,克劳福德先生,”他说,“为了一件广告的事,我想打个电话。”
他走了进去。
“今天晚上那篇社论怎么样?”麦克休教授问。他走到主编前,一只手牢牢地按在他的肩头。
“那样就行啦。”迈尔斯·克劳福德较为平静地说,“喂,杰克,不用着急。那样就可以啦。”
“你好,迈尔斯,”杰·杰·奥莫洛伊说,他手一松,合订本的几页报纸就又软塌塌地滑回去了, “加拿大诈骗案[71]今出登来了吗?”
里屋电话铃在丁零零响着。
“二八……不,二0……四四……对。”
看准赢家
利内翰拿着《体育》[72]的毛样从里面的办公室走了出来。
“谁想知道哪匹马准能得金杯奖?”他问,“就是奥马登所骑的那匹“权杖”。”
他把毛样朝桌上一掼。
打赤脚沿着过道跑来的报童的尖叫声忽然挨近了,门猛地被推开。
“安静点儿,”利内翰说,“我听到脚步声啦。”
麦克休教授跨大步走过去,一把拽住那个战战兢兢的少年的脖领,旁的孩子们赶紧沿着过道往外逃,冲下楼梯。那些毛样被穿堂风刮得沙沙响,蓝色的潦草字迹在空中飘荡,然后落到桌子底下。
“不是我,先生。是我背后那个大个子猛推了我一下,先生。”
“把他赶出去,关上门,”主编说, “正在刮台风哪。”
利内翰开始从地板上抓起毛样,两次蹲下去时全嘟嘟嚷嚷的。
“我们在等赛马特辑哪,先生,”报童说,“帕特·法雷尔猛推了我一把,先生。”
他指了指从门框后面窥伺着的两张脸。
“就是他,先生。”
“快给我滚,”麦克休教授粗暴地说。
他把少年胡乱搡出去,砰的一声关上了门。
杰·杰·奥莫洛伊沙沙地翻着那合订本,边咕哝边查找:
“下接第六页第四栏。”
“对,这里是《电讯晚报》,”布卢姆先生在里间办公室里打着电话,“老板呢?……是的,《电讯》 ……到哪儿去啦?澳!哪家拍卖行?……啊!我明白啦。好的,我一定能找到他。”
接着是一次相撞
他刚挂上电话,那铃又丁零一声响了。他赶忙走进外屋,恰好跟又一次捡起毛样正在直起腰来的利内翰撞了个满怀。
“对不起,先生[73],”利内翰说,他紧紧抓了布卢姆先生一把,做了个鬼脸。
“都怪我,”布卢姆先生说,他听任对方抓住自己。“没伤着你吗?都怪我太急啦。”
“我的膝盖,”利内翰说。
他做出一副滑稽相,边揉着膝盖边哼哼卿卿地说:
“年岁[74]不饶人啊。”
“对不起,”布卢姆先生说。
他走到门边,把门推开一半,又停下来了。杰·杰·奥莫洛伊还在翻看着那沉甸甸的纸页。两个蹲在大门外台阶上的报童发出的尖声喊叫和一只口琴吹奏出的音响,在空洞洞的过道里回荡着:
我们是韦克斯福德的男子汉,
凭着胆量和双臂酣战。[75]
布卢姆退场
“我要跑一趟巴切勒步道,”布卢姆先生说,“张罗一下凯斯这则广告。想把它定下来。听说他正在狄龙拍卖行那儿哪。”
他望着他们的脸,迟疑了片刻。主编一手支着头,倚着壁炉架,突然将一只臂往前一伸。
“走吧!”他说,“世界在你前面呢。”[76]
“一会儿就回来,”布卢姆边说边匆匆往外走。
杰·杰·奥莫洛伊从利内翰手里接过毛样来读。他轻轻地把它们一页页地吹开,不加评论。
“他准能拉到那宗广告,”他透过黑框眼镜,从半截儿窗帘上端眺望着说,“瞧,那帮小无赖跟在他后面呢。”
“在哪儿?让我瞧瞧。”利内翰边说,边朝窗口跑去。
街头行列
他们两个人面泛微笑,从半截儿窗帘上端眺望那些跳跳蹦蹦地尾随着布卢姆先生的报童们。最后一个少年在和风中放着一只尾巴由一串白色蝴蝶结组成的风筝,像是嘲弄一般在东倒西歪地摆来摆去。
“瞧,那群流浪儿跟在他后面大喊大叫,”利内翰说,“真逗!快把人笑死了。喔,肋骨都笑拧了!学他那扁平足的走法。耍着各种小把戏,乖巧得连云雀都逮得着。”
他以矫捷而滑稽的玛祖卡舞步从壁炉前滑过,来到杰·杰·奥莫洛伊跟前。奥莫洛伊把毛样递到他那摊开来的手里。
“怎么啦?”迈尔斯·克劳福德吃惊地说,“另外两位哪儿去啦?”
“谁?”教授转过身来说,“他们到椭圆酒家[77]喝点儿什么去了。帕迪·胡珀[78]和杰克·霍尔[79]也在那儿。是昨天晚上来的。”
“那就走吧,”迈尔斯·克劳福德说,“我的帽子呢?”
他趔趔趄趄地走进后面的办公室,撩起背心后面的衩口,玎玲噹啷地从后兜里掏出钥匙。钥匙又在半空中响了一下,当他锁书桌抽屉时,它们碰在木桌上又响了。
“他的病情不轻哪,”麦克休教授低声说。
“看来是这样,”杰·杰·奥莫洛伊说。他掏出个香烟盒,若有所思地念叨着,“然而也未必如此。谁的火柴最多?”
和平的旱烟袋[80]
他敬一支烟给教授,自己也拿了一支。利内翰赶紧划了根火柴,依次为他们点燃了香烟。杰·杰·奥莫洛伊又打开烟盒来让。
“谢谢你[81]”利内翰说着,拿了一支。
主编从里面的办公室走了出来,草帽歪戴在额头上。他凛然地指着麦克休教授,背诵了两句歌词:
地位名声将你蛊惑,
使你醉心的是帝国[82]。
教授那长嘴唇抿得紧紧的,嘻笑着。
“呃?你这暴戾的老罗马帝国?”迈尔斯·克劳福德说。
他从开着盖儿的烟盒里取了一支香烟。利内翰立刻殷勤地为他点上,并且说:
“静一静,听听我这崭新的谜语!”
“罗马帝国[83]呗。”杰·杰·奥莫洛伊安详地说,“听上去要比不列颠的或布里克斯顿[84]文雅一些。这个词儿不知怎地使人想到火里的脂肪。”
迈尔斯·克劳福德噗的一声猛地朝天花板喷出第一口烟。
“对呀,”他说,“咱们是脂肪。你和我就是火星的脂肪。咱们的处境甚至还不如地狱里的雪球呢。”
罗马往昔的辉煌[85]
“且慢,”麦克休教授从从容容地举起瘦削得像爪子一样的两只手说,“咱们可不能被词藻,被词藻的音调牵着鼻子走。咱们心目中的罗马是帝国的,专制的,专横的[86]。”
稍顿了顿,他又以雄辩家的派头,摊开那双从又脏又破的衬衫袖口里伸出的胳膊:
“他们的文明是什么?我承认它是庞大的,然而是粗鄙的。厕所[87]。下水道。犹太人在荒野里以及山顶上说,‘这是个适当的地 方,我们为耶和华筑一座圣坛吧。’罗马人,正如跟他亦步亦趋的英格兰人一样,每当踏上新岸(他从未踏上过我们的岸边),就一味地执着于修厕所。身穿宽大长袍的他,四下里打量了一下,然后说,‘这是个适当的地方,我们装个抽水马桶吧。’”
“他们这么说,也就这么做了,”利内翰说,“据《吉尼斯》第一章[88]咱脽团老的祖先对流水曾有过偏爱。”
“他们生来就是绅士,”杰·杰、奥莫洛伊咕依道,然而,咱们也有·《罗马法》[89]。”
“而庞修斯·彼拉多[90]那部法典的先知,”麦克休教授回答说。
“你晓得税务法庭庭长帕利斯[91]那档子事吗?”杰·杰·奥莫洛伊问;“ “那是在王家大学[92]的宴会上。一切都进行得顺顺当当
“先听我的谜语吧,”利内翰说, “你们准备好了吗?”
身着宽松的多尼格尔[93]灰色花呢衣服、个子高高的奥马登·伯克[94]先生从过道里走了进来。斯蒂芬·迪达勒斯跟在他后面,边进屋边摘下帽子。
“请进,小伙子们!”[95]利内翰大声说。
“我是前来护送一个求情者的,”奥马登·伯克先生悦耳的声调说,“这位青年在饱有经验者的引导下,来拜访一名声名狼藉者了。”
“你好吗?”主编说着,伸出一只手来, “请进。你家老爷子刚走。”
? ? ?
利内翰对大家说:
“静一静!哪一出歌剧跟铁路线相似?考虑,沉思,默想,解决了再回答我。”
斯蒂芬一面把打字信稿递过去,一面指着标题和署名。
“谁?”主编问。
撕掉了一个角儿。
“加勒特·迪希先生,”斯蒂芬说。
“又是那个矫情鬼,”主编说,“这是谁撕的?他忽然想解手了吗?”
扬起火焰般的帆,
从南方的风暴中乘快船,
他来了,苍白的吸血鬼,
跟我嘴对嘴地亲吻。[96]
“你好,斯蒂芬,”教授说,他凑过来,隔着他们的肩膀望去,“口蹄疫?你改行了吗?……”
阉牛之友派“大诗人”[97]呐。
在一家著名餐馆里闹起的纠纷
“您好,先生,”斯蒂芬涨红了脸回答说,“这封信不是我写的。加勒特·迪希先生托我……”
“哦,我认识他,”迈尔斯·克劳福德说,“我也认识他老婆。 是个举世无双的凶悍老泼妇。天哪,她淮是害上了口蹄疫!那天晚上,她在‘金星嘉德’饭店里,把一盆汤全泼到侍者脸上啦。哎呀!”
一个女人把罪恶带到人世间。为了墨涅拉俄斯那个跟人私奔了的妻子海伦,希腊人竟足足打了十年仗。布雷夫尼大公奥鲁尔克。[98]
“他是个鳏夫吗?”斯蒂芬问。
“啊,跟老婆分居着哪,”迈尔斯·克劳福德边浏览着打字信稿边说。“御用马群。哈布斯堡[99]。一个爱尔兰人在维也纳的城堡跟前救了皇帝一命。可不要忘记!爱尔兰的封蒂尔柯涅尔伯爵马克西米连·卡尔·奥唐奈。[100]为了封国王作奥地利陆军元帅,而今把他的嗣子派了来。[101]那儿迟早总有一天会出事。‘野鹅’[102]。啊,是的,每一次都是这样。可不要忘记这一点!”
“关键在于他忘没忘记,”杰·杰·奥莫洛伊把马蹄形的镇纸翻了个过儿,安详地说,“拯救了王侯,也不过赢得一声道谢而已。”
麦克休教授朝他转过身来。
“不然的话呢?”他说。
“我把事情的来龙去脉说一说吧,”迈尔斯·克劳福德开口说,“有一天,一个匈牙利人[103]……”
失 败 者
被提名的高贵的侯爵
“我们一向忠于失败者[104],”教授说,“对我们来说,成功乃是智慧与想象力的灭亡。我们从来不曾效忠于成功者。只不过侍奉他们就是了。我教的是刺耳的拉丁文。我讲的是这样一个民族的语言,他们的智力的顶点乃是‘一寸光阴一寸金’这么一条格言。物质占支配地位。主啊![105]主啊!这句话的灵性何在?主耶稣还是索尔兹伯里勋爵[106]?伦敦西区一家俱乐部里的沙发[107]。然而希腊文却不同!”
主啊,怜悯我们吧![108]
开朗的微笑使他那戴着黑框眼镜的两眼炯炯有神,长嘴唇咧得更长了。
“希腊文!”他又说,“主![109]辉煌的字眼!闪米特族和撒克逊族都不晓得的母音[110]。主啊[111]!智慧的光辉。我应该教希腊文——教这心灵的语言。主啊,怜悯我们吧![112]修厕所的和挖下水道的[113]永远不能成为我们精神上的主宰。我们是溃败于特拉法尔加[114]的欧洲天主教骑士精神的忠实仆从,又是在伊哥斯波塔米随着雅典舰队一道沉没了的精神帝国[115]——而不是统治权[116]——的忠实仆从。对,对,他们沉没了。皮勒斯被神谕所哄骗[117],孤注一掷,试图挽回希腊的命运。这是对于失败者的效忠啊。”
他离开了他们,跨着大步走向窗口。
“他们开赴战场,”奥马登·伯克先生用阴郁的口吻说,“然而总吃败仗。”[118]
“呜呜!”利内翰低声哭泣着,“演出[119]快要结束的时候,竟被一片瓦击中。[120]可怜的、可怜的、可怜的皮勒斯!”
然后,他跟斯蒂芬打起耳喳来。
利内翰的五行打油诗
学究麦克休好气派,
黑框眼镜成天戴,
醉得瞧啥皆双影,
何必费事把它戴?
我看不出这有啥可笑[121],你呢?
穆利根说,这是为了悼念萨卢斯特[122]。他母亲死得像头牲口[123]。
迈尔斯·克劳福德把那几张信稿塞进侧兜里。
“这样就可以啦,”他说,“回头我再读其余的部分。这样就可以啦。”
利内翰摊开双手表示抗议。
“还有我的谜语呢!”他说,“哪一出歌剧跟铁路线相似?”
“歌剧?”奥马登·伯克先生那张斯芬克斯般的脸把谜语重复了一遍。
利内翰欢欢喜喜地宣布说”
“《卡斯蒂利亚的玫瑰》。你懂得它俏皮在什么地方吗?谜底是,并排的铸铁。嘻嘻嘻。”[124]
他轻轻戳了一下奥马登·伯克先生的侧腹。奥马登·伯克先生假装连气儿都透不过来了,手拄阳伞,风度优雅地朝后一仰。
“帮我一把!”他叹了口气,“我虚弱得很。”
利内翰踮起脚尖,赶紧用毛样沙沙沙地扇了搧他的脸。
教授沿着合订本的架子往回走的时候,用手掠了一下斯蒂芬和奥莫洛伊先生那系得稀松的领带。
“过去和现在的巴黎,”他说,“你们活像是巴黎公社社员。”
“像是炸掉巴士底狱的家伙[125],”杰·杰·奥莫洛伊用安详的口吻挖苦说,“要不然,芬兰总督就是你们暗杀的吧?看上去你们仿佛干了这档子事——干掉了博布里科夫将军。[126]”
“我们仅仅有过这样的念头罢了,”斯蒂芬说。
万紫千红[127]
“这里人材济济,”迈尔斯·克劳福德先生说,“法律方面啦,古典方面啦……”
“赛马啦,”利内翰插嘴道。
“文学,新闻界。”
“要是布卢姆在场的话,”教授说,“还有广告这高雅的一行哩。”
“还有布卢姆夫人,”奥马登·伯克先生加上一句,“声乐女神。都柏林的首席歌星。”
利内翰大咳一声。
“啊嗨!”他用极其细柔的嗓音说,“哎,缺口新鲜空气!我在公园里感冒了,大门是敞着的。”
“你能胜任!”
主编将一只手神经质地搭在斯蒂芬的肩上。
“我想请你写点东西,”他说,“带点刺儿的。你准能胜任!一看你的脸就知道。青春的词汇里[128]……”
从你的脸上就看得出来。从你的眼神里也看得出来。你是个懒散、吊儿郎当的小调皮鬼。[129]
“口蹄疫!”主编用轻蔑口吻谩骂道,“民族主义党在勃里斯-因-奥索里召开大会[130]。真荒唐!威胁民众!得刺他们两下!把我们统统写进去,让灵魂见鬼去吧。圣父圣子和圣灵,还有茅坑杰克·麦卡锡[131]。”
“咱们都能提供精神食粮,”奥马登·伯克先生说。
斯蒂芬抬起两眼,目光与那大胆而鲁莽的视线相遇。
“他[132]要把你拉进记者帮呢!”杰·杰·奥莫洛伊说。
了不起的加拉赫[133]
“你能胜任,”迈尔斯·克劳福德为了加强语气,还擦起拳头,又说了一遍,“等着瞧吧,咱们会使欧洲大吃一惊。还是依格内修斯·加拉赫丢了差事之后,在克拉伦斯[134]当台球记分员时经常说的。加拉赫才算得上是个新闻记者呢。 那才叫作笔杆子。你晓得他是怎样一举成名的吗?我告诉你吧。 那可是报界有史以来最精采的一篇特讯哩。八一年[135]五月六日,‘常胜军’时期, 凤凰公园发生了暗杀事件[136]。你那时大概还没有出生[137]呢。我找给你看看。”
他推开人们,踱向报纸合订本。
“喂,瞧瞧,”他回过头来说,“《纽约世界报》[138]拍了封海底电报来约一篇特稿。你还记得当时的事吗?”
麦克休教授点了点头。
“《纽约世界报》哩,”主编兴奋地把草帽往后推了推说,“案件发生的地点。蒂姆·凯里,我的意思是说,还有卡瓦纳、乔·布雷迪[139]和其他那些人。‘剥山羊皮’[140]赶马车经过的路程。写明整个路程,明白吧?”
“‘剥山羊皮’,”奥马登·伯克先生说,“就是菲茨哈里斯。听说他在巴特桥那儿经营着一座马车夫棚[141]。是霍罗翰告诉我的。你认识霍罗翰吗?”
“那个一瘸一拐的吧?”迈尔斯·克劳福德说。
“他告诉我说,可怜的冈穆利也在那儿,替市政府照看石料,守夜的。”
斯蒂芬惊愕地回过头来。
“冈穆利?”他说。“真的吗?那不是家父的一个朋友吗?”
“不必管什么冈穆利了!”迈尔斯·克劳福德气愤地大声说,“就让冈穆利去守着他那石头吧,免得它们跑掉。瞧这个。依纳爵·加拉赫做了什么? 我告诉你。凭着天才和灵感,他马上就拍了海底电报。你有二月十七号的《自由人周刊》吗? 对,翻到了吗?”
他把合订本胡乱往回翻着,将手指戳在一个地方。
“掀到第四版,请看布朗梦想[142]的广告。找到了吗?对。”
电话铃响了。
远方的声音
“我去接,”教授边走向里屋,边说。
“B代表公园大门[143]。对。”
他的手指颤悠悠地跳跃着,从一个点戳到另一个点上。
“T代表总督府。 C是行凶地点。 K是诺克马龙大门[144l。”
他颈部那松弛的筋肉像公鸡的垂肉般颤悠着。没有浆好的衬衫假前脑一下子翘了起来,他猛地将它掖回背心里面。
“喂?是《电讯晚报》。喂?……哪一位?……是的……是的……是的。”
“F至P是‘剥山羊皮’为了证明他们当时不在犯罪现场而赶车走边的路线。英奇科尔、圆镇、风亭、帕默斯顿公园、拉尼拉。符号是F·A·B·P·。懂了吧?X是上利森街的戴维酒吧[145]。”
教授出现在里屋门口。
“是布卢姆打来的,”他说。
“叫他下地狱去吧,”主编立刻说,“X戴维酒吧,晓得了吧?”
伶俐极了
“伶俐……”利内翰说,“极了。”
“趁热给他们端上来,”迈尔斯·克劳福德说,“血淋淋地和盘托出。”
你永远不会从这场恶梦中苏醒过来。[146]
“我瞧见了,”主编自豪地说,“我刚好在场。迪克·亚当斯[147]是天主把生命的气吹进去[148]的科克人当中心地最他妈善良的一位。他和我本人都在场。”
利内翰朝空中的身影鞠了一躬,宣布说:
“太太,我是亚当。在见到夏娃之前曾经是亚伯。”[149]
“历史!”迈尔斯·克劳福德大声说,“亲王街的老太婆[150]打头阵。读了这篇特稿,哀哭并咬牙切齿。[151]特稿是插在广告里的。格雷戈尔·格雷[152]设计的图案。他从此就扶摇直上。后来帕迪·胡珀在托·鲍面前替他说项,托·鲍就把他拉进了《星报》[153]。如今他和布卢门菲尔德[154]打得火热。这才叫报业呢!这才叫天才呢!派亚特[155]!他简直就是大家的老爹!”
“黄色报纸的老爹,”利内翰加以证实说,“又是克里斯·卡利南[156]的姻亲。”
“喂?听得见吗?嗯,他还在这儿哪。你自已过来吧。”
“如今晚儿,你可到哪儿去找这样的新闻记者呀,呃?”主编大声说。
他呼啦一下把合订本合上了。
“很得鬼,”[157]利内翰对奥马登·伯克先生说。
“非常精明,”奥马登·伯克先生说。
麦克休教授从里面的办公室走了出来。
“说起‘常胜军’,”他说,“你们晓得吗,一些小贩被市记录法官[158]传了去……”
“可不是嘛,”杰·杰·奥莫洛伊热切地说,“达德利夫人[159]为了瞧瞧被去年那场旋风[160]刮倒了的树,穿过公园走回家去。她打算买一张都柏林市一览图。原来那竟是纪念乔·布雷迪或是‘老大哥’[161]或是‘剥山羊皮’的明信片。而且就在总督府大门外出售
着哩,想想看!”
“如今晚儿这帮家伙净抓些鸡毛蒜皮,”迈尔斯·克劳福德说,“呸!报业和律师业都是这样!现在吃律师这碗饭的,哪里还有像怀持赛德[162]、 像伊萨克·巴特[163]、像口才流利的奥黑根[164那样的人呢?呃?哎,真是荒唐透顶!呸!只不过是撮堆儿真的货色!”
他没再说下去。嘴唇却一个劲儿地抽搐着,显示出神经质的嘲讽。
难道会有人愿意跟那么个嘴唇接吻吗?你怎么知道呢?那么你为什么又把这写下来呢?
韵律与理性
冒斯,扫斯。冒斯和扫斯之间多少有些关联吧?要么,难道扫斯就是一种冒斯吗?准是有点儿什么。扫斯,泡特,奥特,少特,芝欧斯。[165]押:两个人身穿一样的衣服,长得一模一样,并立着。[166]
……给你太平日子,
……听你喜悦的话语,
趁现在风平浪静的一刻。[167]
但丁瞥见少女们三个三个地走了过来。着绿色、玫瑰色、枯叶色的衣服,相互搂着;穿过了这样幽暗的地方[168],身着紫红色、紫色的衣服,打着那和平的金光旗[169],使人更加恳切地注视[170]的金光灿烂的军旗,走了过来。可我瞧见的却是一些年迈的男人,在黯夜中,忏悔着自己的罪行,抱着铅一般沉重的脚步:冒斯、扫斯;拖姆、卧姆。[171]
“说说你的高见吧,”奥马登·伯克先生说。
一天应付一天的就够了……
杰·杰·奥莫洛伊那苍白的脸上泛着微笑,应战了。
“亲爱的迈尔斯,”他说,一边丢掉纸烟,“你曲解了我的话。就我目前掌握的情况而言,我并不认为第三种职业[172]这整个行当都是值得辩护的。 然而你的科克腿[173]被感情驱使着哪。为什么不把亨利·格拉顿[174]弗勒德[175], 以及狄靡西尼[176]和埃德蒙·伯克[177]也抬出来呢?我们全都晓得伊格内修斯· 加拉赫,还有他那个老板,在查佩利佐德出版小报的哈姆斯沃思[178]; 再有就是他那个出版鲍厄里通俗报纸的美国堂弟[179]。《珀迪·凯利要闻汇编》、《皮尤纪事》以及我们那反映敏捷的朋友《斯基勃林之鹰》[180],就更不用说了。 何必扯到怀特赛德这么个法庭辩论场上的雄辩家呢?编报纸,一天应付一天的就够了[181]。”
同往昔岁月的联系
“格拉顿和弗勒德都为这家报纸撰过稿,”主编朝着他嚷道,“爱尔兰义勇军[182]。你们如今都哪儿去啦?一七六三年创刊的。卢卡斯大夫。像约翰·菲尔波特·柯伦[183]这样的人,如今上哪儿去找呀?呸!”
“喏,”杰·杰·奥莫洛伊说,“比方说,英国皇家法律顾问布什[184]。”
“布什?”主编说,“啊,对。布什,对。他有这方面的气质。肯德尔·布什[185]我指的是西摩·布什。”
“他老早就该升任法官了,”教授说,“要不是……唉,算啦。”
杰·杰·奥莫洛伊转向斯蒂芬,安详而慢腾腾地说:
“在我听到过的申辩演说中,最精采的正是出自西摩·布什之口。那是在审理杀兄事件一一蔡尔兹凶杀案。布什替他辩护来着。”
注入我的耳腔之内。[186]
顺便问一下,是怎样发觉的呢?他是正在睡着的时候死的呀。还有另外那个双背禽兽[187]的故事呢?
“演说的内容是什么?”教授问。
意大利,艺术的女王[188]
“他谈的是《罗马法》的证据法,”杰·杰·奥莫洛伊说, “把它拿来跟古老的《摩西法典》一一也就是说,跟《同态复仇法》[189]一一相对照。于是,他就举出安置于罗马教廷的米开朗琪罗的雕塑《摩西》作例证。”
“嗬。”
“讲几句恰当的话,”利内翰作了开场白,“请肃静!”
静场,杰·杰·奥莫洛伊掏出他的香烟盒。
虚妄的肃静。其实不过是些老生常谈。
那位致开场白的取出他的火柴盒,若有所思地点上一支香烟。
从此,我[190]经常回顾那奇怪的辰光,并发现,划火柴本身固然是很小的一个动作,它却决定了我们两个人那以后的生涯。
干锤百炼的掉尾句
杰·杰·奥莫洛伊字斟句酌地说下去:
“他是这么说的:那座堪称为冻结的音乐[191]的石像, 那个长了犄角的可怕的半神半人的形象[192],那智慧与预言的永恒象征。 倘若雕刻家凭着想象力和技艺,用大理石雕成的那些净化了的灵魂和正在净化着的灵魂的化身,作为艺术品有永垂不朽的价值的话,它是当之无愧的。”
[ 此帖被soneyky在2012-12-24 08:21重新编辑 ]
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英:
8、Chapter 8 Lestrygonians


PINEAPPLE ROCK, LEMON PLATT, BUTTER SCOTCH. A SUGARSTICKY GIRL shovelling scoopfuls of creams for a christian brother. Some school treat. Bad for their tummies. Lozenge and comfit manufacturer to His Majesty the King. God. Save. Our. Sitting on his throne, sucking red jujubes white.
A sombre Y.M.C.A. young man, watchful among the warm sweet fumes of Graham Lemon's, placed a throwaway in a hand of Mr Bloom.
Heart to heart talks.
Bloo... Me? No.
Blood of the Lamb.
His slow feet walked him riverward, reading. Are you saved? All are washed in the blood of the lamb. God wants blood victim. Birth, hymen, martyr, war, foundation of a building, sacrifice, kidney burntoffering, druid's altars. Elijah is coming. Dr John Alexander Dowie, restorer of the church in Zion, is coming.
Is coming! Is coming!! Is coming!!!
All heartily welcome.
Paying game. Torry and Alexander last year. Polygamy. His wife will put the stopper on that. Where was that ad some Birmingham firm the luminous crucifix? Our Saviour. Wake up in the dead of night and see him on the wall, hanging. Pepper's ghost idea. Iron nails ran in.
Phosphorus it must be done with. If you leave a bit of codfish for instance. I could see the bluey silver over it. Night I went down to the pantry in the kitchen. Don't like all the smells in it waiting to rush out. What was it she wanted? The Malaga raisins. Thinking of Spain. Before Rudy was born. The phosphorescence, that bluey greeny. Very good for the brain.
From Butler's monument house corner he glanced along Bachelor's walk. Dedalus' daughter there still outside Dillon's auctionrooms. Must be selling off some old furniture. Knew her eyes at once from the father. Lobbing about waiting for him. Home always breaks up when the mother goes. Fifteen children he had. Birth every year almost. That's in their theology or the priest won't give the poor woman the confession, the absolution. Increase and multiply. Did you ever hear such an idea? Eat you out of house and home. No families themselves to feed. Living on the fat of the land. Their butteries and larders. I'd like to see them do the black fast Yom Kippur. Crossbuns. One meal and a collation for fear he'd collapse on the altar. A housekeeper of one of those fellows If you could pick it out of her. Never pick it out of her. Like getting L. s. d. out of him. Does himself well. No guests. All for number one. Watching his water. Bring your own bread and butter. His reverence. Mum's the word.
Good Lord, that poor child's dress is in flitters. Underfed she looks too. Potatoes and marge, marge and potatoes. It's after they feel it. Proof of the pudding. Undermines the constitution.
As he set foot on O'Connell bridge a puffball of smoke plumed up from the parapet. Brewery barge with export stout. England. Sea air sours it, I heard. Be interesting some day get a pass through Hancock to see the brewery. Regular world in itself. Vats of porter, wonderful. Rats get in too. Drink themselves bloated as big as a collie floating. Dead drunk on the porter. Drink till they puke again like christians. Imagine drinking that! Rats: vats. Well of course if we knew all the things.
Looking down he saw flapping strongly, wheeling between the gaunt quay walls, gulls. Rough weather outside. If I threw myself down? Reuben J's son must have swallowed a good bellyful of that sewage. One and eightpence too much. Hhhhm. It's the droll way he comes out with the things. Knows how to tell a story too.
They wheeled lower. Looking for grub. Wait.
He threw down among them a crumpled paper ball. Elijah thirtytwo feet per sec is com. Not a bit. The ball bobbed unheeded on the wake of swells, floated under by the bridge piers. Not such damn fools. Also the day I threw that stale cake out of the Erin's King picked it up in the wake fifty yards astern. Live by their wits. They wheeled, flapping.
The hungry famished gull
Flaps o'er the waters dull.
That is how poets write, the similar sounds. But then Shakespeare has no rhymes: blank verse. The flow of the language it is. The thoughts. Solemn.
Hamlet, I am thy father's spirit
Doomed for a certain time to walk the earth.
-- Two apples a penny! Two for a penny!
His gaze passed over the glazed apples serried on her stand. Australians they must be this time of year. Shiny peels: polishes them up with a rag or a handkerchief.
Wait. Those poor birds.
He halted again and bought from the old applewoman two Banbury cakes for a penny and broke the brittle paste and threw its fragments down into the Liffey. See that? The gulls swooped silently two, then all, from their heights, pouncing on prey. Gone. Every morsel.
Aware of their greed and cunning he shook the powdery crumb from his hands. They never expected that. Manna. Live on fishy flesh they have to, all sea birds, gulls, seagoose. Swans from Anna Liffey swim down here sometimes to preen themselves. No accounting for tastes. Wonder what kind is swanmeat. Robinson Crusoe had to live on them.
They wheeled, flapping weakly. I'm not going to throw any more. Penny quite enough. Lot of thanks I get. Not even a caw. They spread foot and mouth disease too. If you cram a turkey, say, on chestnut meal it tastes like that. Eat pig like pig. But then why is it that saltwater fish are not salty? How is that?
His eyes sought answer from the river and saw a rowboat rock at anchor on the treacly swells lazily its plastered board.
Kino's
11/-
Trousers.
Good idea that. Wonder if he pays rent to the corporation. How can you own water really? It's always flowing in a stream, never the same, which in the stream of life we trace. Because life is a stream. All kind of places are good for ads. That quack doctor for the clap used to be stuck up in all the greenhouses. Never see it now. Strictly confidential. Dr Hy Franks. Didn't cost him a red like Maginni the dancing master self advertisement. Got fellows to stick them up or stick them up himself for that matter on the q.t. running in to loosen a button. Fly by night. Just the place too. POST NO BILLS. POST 110 PILLS. Some chap with a dose burning him.
If he...
O!
Eh?
No... No.
No, no. I don't believe it. He wouldn't surely?
No, no.
Mr Bloom moved forward raising his troubled eyes. Think no more about that. After one. Timeball on the ballast office is down. Dunsink time. Fascinating little book that is of sir Robert Ball's. Parallax. I never exactly understood. There's a priest. Could ask him. Par it's Greek: parallel, parallax. Met him pikehoses she called it till I told her about the transmigration. O rocks!
Mr Bloom smiled O rocks at two windows of the ballast office. She's right after all. Only big words for ordinary things on account of the sound. She's not exactly witty. Can be rude too. Blurt out what I was thinking. Still I don't know. She used to say Ben Dollard had a base barreltone voice. He has legs like barrels and you'd think he was singing into a barrel. Now, isn't that wit? They used to call him big Ben. Not half as witty as calling him base barreltone. Appetite like an albatross. Get outside of a baron of beef. Powerful man he was at storing away number one Bass. Barrel of Bass. See? it all works out.
A procession of whitesmocked men marched slowly towards him along the gutter, scarlet sashes across their boards. Bargains. Like that priest they are this morning: we have sinned: we have suffered. He read the scarlet letters on their five tall white hats: H. E. L. Y. S. Wisdom Hely's. Y lagging behind drew a chunk of bread from under his foreboard, crammed it into his mouth and munched as he walked. Our staple food. Three bob a day, walking along the gutters, street after street. Just keep skin and bone together, bread and skilly. They are not Boyl: no: M'Glade's men. Doesn't bring in any business either. I suggested to him about a transparent show cart with two smart girls sitting inside writing letters, copybooks, envelopes, blotting paper. I bet that would have caught on. Smart girls writing something catch the eye at once. Everyone dying to know what she's writing. Get twenty of them round you if you stare at nothing. Have a finger in the pie. Women too. Curiosity. Pillar of salt, Wouldn't have it of course because he didn't think of it himself first. Or the inkbottle I suggested with a false stain of black celluloid. His ideas for ads like Plumtree's potted under the obituaries, cold meat department. You can't lick 'em. What? Our envelopes. Hello! Jones, where are you going? Can't stop, Robinson, I am hastening to purchase the only reliable inkeraser Kansell, sold by Hely's Ltd, 85 Dame Street. Well out of that ruck I am. Devil of a job it was collecting accounts of those convents. Tranquilla convent. That was a nice nun there, really sweet face. Wimple suited her small head. Sister? Sister? I am sure she was crossed in love by her eyes. Very hard to bargain with that sort of woman. I disturbed her at her devotions that morning. But glad to communicate with the outside world. Our great day, she said. Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Sweet name too: caramel. She knew, I think she knew by the way she. If she had married she would have changed. I suppose they really were short of money. Fried everything in the best butter all the same. No lard for them. My heart's broke eating dripping. They like buttering themselves in and out. Molly tasting it, her veil up. Sister? Pat Claffey, the pawnbroker's daughter. It was a nun they say invented barbed wire.
He crossed Westmoreland street when apostrophe S had plodded by. Rover cycleshop. Those races are on today. How long ago is that? Year Phil Gilligan died. We were in Lombard street west. Wait, was in Thom's. Got the job in Wisdom Hely's year we married. Six years. Ten years ago: ninetyfour he died, yes that's right, the big fire at Arnott's. Val Dillon was lord mayor. The Glencree dinner. Alderman Robert O'Reilly emptying the port into his soup before the flag fell, Bobbob lapping it for the inner alderman. Couldn't hear what the band played. For what we have already received may the Lord make us. Milly was a kiddy then. Molly had that elephantgrey dress with the braided frogs. Mantailored with self-covered buttons. She didn't like it because I sprained my ankle first day she wore choir picnic at the Sugarloaf. As if that. Old Goodwin's tall hat done up with some sticky stuff. Flies' picnic too. Never put a dress on her back like it. Fitted her like a glove, shoulder and hips. Just beginning to plump it out well. Rabbit pie we had that day. People looking after her.
Happy. Happier then. Snug little room that was with the red wallpaper, Dockrell's, one and ninepence a dozen. Milly's tubbing night. American soap I bought: elderflower. Cosy smell of her bathwater. Funny she looked soaped all over. Shapely too. Now photography. Poor papa's daguerreotype atelier he told me of. Hereditary taste.
He walked along the curbstone.
Stream of life. What was the name of that priestylooking chap was always squinting in when he passed? Weak eyes, woman. Stopped in Citron's saint Kevin's parade. Pen something. Pendennis? My memory is getting. Pen... ? Of course it's years ago. Noise of the trams probably. Well, if he couldn't remember the dayfather's name that he sees every day.
Bartell d'Arcy was the tenor, just coming out then. Seeing her home after practice. Conceited fellow with his waxedup moustache. Gave her that song Winds that blow from the south.
Windy night that was I went to fetch her there was that lodge meeting on about those lottery tickets after Goodwin's concert in the supper room or oakroom of the mansion house. He and I behind. Sheet of her music blew out of my hand against the high school railings. Lucky it didn't. Thing like that spoils the effect of a night for her. Professor Goodwin linking her in front. Shaky on his pins, poor old sot. His farewell concerts. Positively last appearance on any stage. May be for months and may be for never. Remember her laughing at the wind, her blizzard collar up. Corner of Harcourt road remember that gust? Brrfoo! Blew up all her skirts and her boa nearly smothered old Goodwin. She did get flushed in the wind. Remember when we got home raking up the fire and frying up those pieces of lap of mutton for her supper with the Chutney sauce she liked. And the mulled rum. Could see her in the bedroom from the hearth unclamping the busk of her stays. White.
Swish and soft flop her stays made on the bed. Always warm from her. Always liked to let herself out. Sitting there after till near two, taking out her hairpins. Milly tucked up in beddyhouse. Happy. Happy. That was the night.
-- O, Mr Bloom, how do you do?
-- Oh, how do you do, Mrs Breen?
-- No use complaining. How is Molly those times? Haven't seen her for ages.
-- In the pink, Mr Bloom said gaily, Milly has a position down in Mullingar, you know.
-- Go away! Isn't that grand for her?
-- Yes, in a photographer's there. Getting on like a house on fire. How are all your charges?
-- All on the baker's list, Mrs Breen said.
How many has she? No other in sight.
-- You're in black I see. You have no...
-- No, Mr Bloom said. I have just come from a funeral.
Going to crop up all day, I foresee. Who's dead, when and what did he die of? Turn up like a bad penny.
-- o dear me, Mrs Breen said, I hope it wasn't any near relation.
May as well get her sympathy.
-- Dignam, Mr Bloom said. An old friend of mine. He died quite suddenly, poor fellow. Heart trouble, I believe. Funeral was this morning.
Your funeral's tomorrow
While you're coming through the rye.
Diddlediddle dumdum
Diddlediddle...
-- Sad to lose the old friends, Mrs Breen's womaneyes said melancholily.
Now that's quite enough about that. Just quietly: husband.
-- And your lord and master?
Mrs Breen turned up her two large eyes. Hasn't lost them anyhow.
-- O, don't be talking, she said. He's a caution to rattlesnakes. He's in there now with his lawbooks finding out the law of libel. He has me heartscalded. Wait till I show you.
Hot mockturtle vapour and steam of newbaked jampuffs rolypoly poured out from Harrison's. The heavy noonreek tickled the top of Mr Bloom's gullet. Want to make good pastry, butter, best flour, Demerara sugar, or they'd taste it with the hot tea. Or is it from her? A barefoot arab stood over the grating, breathing in the fumes. Deaden the gnaw of hunger that way. Pleasure or pain is it? Penny dinner. Knife and fork chained to the table.
Opening her handbag, chipped leather, hatpin: ought to have a guard on those things. Stick it in a chap's eye in the tram. Rummaging. Open. Money. Please take one. Devils if they lose sixpence. Raise Cain. Husband barging. Where's the ten shillings I gave you on Monday? Are you feeding your little brother's family? Soiled handkerchief: medicinebottle. Pastile that was fell. What is she?...
-- There must be a new moon out, she said. He's always bad then. Do you know what he did last night?
Her hand ceased to rummage. Her eyes fixed themselves on him wide in alarm, yet smiling.
-- What? Mr Bloom asked.
Let her speak. Look straight in her eyes. I believe you. Trust me.
-- Woke me up in the night, she said. Dream he had, a nightmare.
Indiges.
-- Said the ace of spades was walking up the stairs.
-- The ace of spades! Mr Bloom said.
She took a folded postcard from her handbag.
-- Read that, she said. He got it this morning.
-- What is it? Mr Bloom asked, taking the card. U.P.?
-- U.P.: up, she said. Someone taking a rise out of him. It's a great shame for them whoever he is.
-- Indeed it is, Mr Bloom said.
She took back the card, sighing.
-- And now he's going round to Mr Menton's office. He's going to take an action for ten thousand pounds, he says.
She folded the card into her untidy bag and snapped the catch.
Same blue serge dress she had two years ago, the nap bleaching. Seen its best days. Wispish hair over her ears. And that dowdy toque, three old grapes to take the harm out of it. Shabby genteel. She used to be a tasty dresser. Lines round her mouth. Only a year or so older than Molly.
See the eye that woman gave her, passing. Cruel. The unfair sex.
He looked still at her, holding back behind his look his discontent. Pungent mockturtle oxtail mulligatawny. I'm hungry too. Flakes of pastry on the gusset of her dress: daub of sugary flour stuck to her cheek. Rhubarb tart with liberal fillings, rich fruit interior. Josie Powell that was. In Luke Doyle's long ago, Dolphin's Barn, the charades. U.P.: up.
Change the subject.
-- Do you ever see anything of Mrs Beaufoy, Mr Bloom asked.
-- Mina Purefoy? she said.
Philip Beaufoy I was thinking. Playgoers' club. Matcham often thinks of the masterstroke. Did I pull the chain? Yes. The last act.
-- Yes.
-- I just called to ask on the way in is she over it. She's in the lying-in hospital in Holles street. Dr Horne got her in. She's three days bad now.
-- O, Mr Bloom said. I'm sorry to hear that.
-- Yes, Mrs Breen said. And a houseful of kids at home. It's a very stiff birth, the nurse told me.
-- O, Mr Bloom said.
His heavy pitying gaze absorbed her news. His tongue clacked in compassion. Dth! Dth!
-- I'm sorry to hear that, he said. Poor thing! Three days! That's terrible for her.
Mrs Breen nodded.
-- She was taken bad on the Tuesday...
Mr Bloom touched her funnybone gently, warning her.
-- Mind! Let this man pass.
A bony form strode along the curbstone from the river, staring with a rapt gaze into the sunlight through a heavy stringed glass. Tight as a skullpiece a tiny hat gripped his head. From his arm a folded dustcoat, a stick and an umbrella dangled to his stride.
-- Watch him, Mr Bloom said. He always walks outside the lampposts. Watch!
-- Who is he if it's a fair question, Mrs Breen asked. Is he dotty?
-- His name is Cashel Boyle O'Connor Fitzmaurice Tisdall Farrell, Mr Bloom said, smiling. Watch!
-- He has enough of them, she said. Denis will be like that one of these days.
She broke off suddenly.
-- There he is, she said. I must go after him. Goodbye. Remember me to Molly, won't you?
-- I will, Mr Bloom said.
He watched her dodge through passers towards the shop-fronts. Denis Breen in skimpy frockcoat and blue canvas shoes shuffled out of Harrison's hugging two heavy tomes to his ribs. Blown in from the bay. Like old times. He suffered her to overtake him without surprise and thrust his dull grey beard towards her, his loose jaw wagging as he spoke earnestly.
Meshuggah. Off his chump.
Mr Bloom walked on again easily, seeing ahead of him in sunlight the tight skullpiece, the dangling stick, umbrella, dustcoat. Going the two days. Watch him! Out he goes again. One way of getting on in the world. And that other old mosey lunatic in those duds. Hard time she must have with him.
U.P.: up. I'll take my oath that's Alf Bergan or Richie Goulding. Wrote it for a lark in the Scotch house, I bet anything. Round to Menton's office. His oyster eyes staring at the postcard. Be a feast for the gods.
He passed the Irish Times. There might be other answers lying there. Like to answer them all. Good system for criminals. Code. At their lunch now. Clerk with the glasses there doesn't know me. O, leave them there to simmer. Enough bother wading through forty-four of them. Wanted smart lady typist to aid gentleman in literary work. I called you naughty darling because I do not like that other world. Please tell me what is the meaning. Please tell me what perfume does your wife. Tell me who made the world. The way they spring those questions on you. And the other one Lizzie Twigg. My literary efforts have had the good fortune to meet with the approval of the eminent poet A. E. (Mr Geo Russell). No time to do her hair drinking sloppy tea with a book of poetry.
Best paper by long chalks for a small ad. Got the provinces now. Cook and general, exc cuisine, housemaid kept. Wanted live man for spirit counter. Resp girl (R. C.) wishes to hear of post in fruit or pork shop. James Carlisle made that. Six and a half percent dividend. Made a big deal on Coates's shares. Ca'canny. Cunning old Scotch hunks. All the toady news. Our gracious and popular vicereine. Bought the Irish Field now. Lady Mountcashel has quite recovered after her confinement and rode out with the Ward Union staghounds at the enlargement yesterday at Rathoath. Uneatable fox. Pothunters too. Fear injects juices make it tender enough for them. Riding astride. Sit her horse like a man. Weightcarrying huntress. No sidesaddle or pillion for her, not for Joe. First to the meet and in at the death. Strong as a brood mare some of those horsey women. Swagger around livery stables. Toss off a glass of brandy neat while you'd say knife. That one at the Grosvenor this morning. Up with her on the car: wishwish. Stonewall or fivebarred gate put her mount to it. Think that pugnosed driver did it out of spite. Who is this she was like? O yes? Mrs Miriam Dandrade that sold me her old wraps and black underclothes in the Shelbourne hotel. Divorced Spanish American. Didn't take a feather out of her my handling them. As if I was her clotheshorse. Saw her in the viceregal party when Stubbs the park ranger got me in with Whelan of the Express. Scavenging what the quality left. High tea. Mayonnaise I poured on the plums thinking it was custard. Her ears ought to have tingled for a few weeks after. Want to be a bull for her. Born courtesan. No nursery work for her, thanks.
Poor Mrs Purefoy! Methodist husband. Method in his madness. Saffron bun and milk and soda lunch in the educational dairy. Eating with a stopwatch, thirtytwo chews to the minute. Still his muttonchop whiskers grew. Supposed to be well connected. Theodore's cousin in Dublin Castle. One tony relative in every family. Hardy annuals he presents her with. Saw him out at the Three Jolly Topers marching along bareheaded and his eldest boy carrying one in a marketnet. The squallers. Poor thing! Then having to give the breast year after year all hours of the night. Selfish those t.t's are. Dog in the manger. Only one lump of sugar in my tea, if you please.
He stood at Fleet street crossing. Luncheon interval a sixpenny at Rowe's? Must look up that ad in the national library. An eightpenny in the Burton. Better. On my way.
He walked on past Bolton's Westmoreland house. Tea. Tea. Tea. I forgot to tap Tom Kernan.
Sss. Dth, dth, dth! Three days imagine groaning on a bed with a vinegared handkerchief round her forehead, her belly swollen out! Phew! Dreadful simply! Child's head too big: forceps. Doubled up inside her trying to butt its way out blindly, groping for the way out. Kill me that would. Lucky Molly got over hers lightly. They ought to invent something to stop that. Life with hard labour. Twilightsleep idea: queen Victoria was given that. Nine she had. A good layer. Old woman that lived in a shoe she had so many children. Suppose he was consumptive. Time someone thought about it instead of gassing about the what was it the pensive bosom of the silver effulgence. Flapdoodle to feed fools on. They could easily have big establishments. Whole thing quite painless out of all the taxes give every child born five quid at compound interest up to twentyone, five per cent is a hundred shillings and five tiresome pounds, multiply by twenty decimal system, encourage people to put by money save hundred and ten and a bit twentyone years want to work it out on paper come to a tidy sum, more than you think.
Not stillborn of course. They are not even registered. Trouble for nothing.
Funny sight two of them together, their bellies out. Molly and Mrs Moisel. Mothers' meeting. Phthisis retires for the time being, then returns. How flat they look after all of a sudden! Peaceful eyes. Weight off their minds. Old Mrs Thornton was a jolly old soul. All my babies, she said. The spoon of pap in her mouth before she fed them. O, that's nyumyum. Got her hand crushed by old Tom Wall's son. His first bow to the public. Head like a prize pumpkin. Snuffy Dr Murren. People knocking them up at all hours. For God'sake doctor. Wife In her throes. Then keep them waiting months for their fee. To attendance on your wife. No gratitude in people. Humane doctors, most of them.
Before the huge high door of the Irish house of parliament a flock of pigeons flew. Their little frolic after meals. Who will we do it on? I pick the fellow in black. Here goes. Here's good luck. Must be thrilling from the air. Apjohn, myself and Owen Goldberg up in the trees near Goose green playing the monkeys. Mackerel they called me.
A squad of constables debouched from College street, marching in Indian file. Goose step. Foodheated faces, sweating helmets, patting their truncheons. After their feed with a good load of fat soup under their belts. Policeman's lot is oft a happy one. They split up into groups and scattered, saluting towards their beats. Let out to graze. Best moment to attack one in pudding time. A punch in his dinner. A squad of others, marching irregularly, rounded Trinity railings, making for the station. Bound for their troughs. Prepare to receive cavalry. Prepare to receive soup.
He crossed under Tommy Moore's roguish finger. They did right to put him up over a urinal: meeting of the waters. Ought to be places for women. Running into cakeshops. Settle my hat straight. There is not in this wide world a vallee. Great song of Julia Morkan's. Kept her voice up to the very last. Pupil of Michael Balfe's wasn't she?
He gazed after the last broad tunic. Nasty customers to tackle. Jack Power could a tale unfold: father a G man. If a fellow gave them trouble being lagged they let him have it hot and heavy in the bridewell. Can't blame them after all with the job they have especially the young hornies. That horse policeman the day Joe Chamberlain was given his degree in Trinity he got a run for his money. My word he did! His horse's hoofs clattering after us down Abbey street. Luck I had the presence of mind to dive into Manning's or I was souped. He did come a wallop, by George. Must have cracked his skull on the cobblestones. I oughtn't to have got myself swept along with those medicals. And the Trinity jibs in their mortar-boards. Looking for trouble. Still I got to know that young Dixon who dressed that sting for me in the Mater and now he's in Holles street where Mrs Purefoy. Wheels within wheels. Police whistle in my ears still. All skedaddled. Why he fixed on me. Give me in charge. Right here it began.
-- Up the Boers!
-- Three cheers for De Wet!
-- We'll hang Joe Chamberlain on a sourapple tree.
Silly billies: mob of young cubs yelling their guts out. Vinegar hill. The Butter exchange band. Few years' time half of them magistrates and civil servants. War comes on: into the army helterskelter: same fellows used to whether on the scaffold high.
Never know who you're talking to. Corny Kelleher he has Harvey Duff in his eye. Like that Peter or Denis or James Carey that blew the gaff on the invincibles. Member of the corporation too. Egging raw youths on to get in the know. All the time drawing secret service pay from the castle. Drop him like a hot potato. Why those plain clothes men are always courting slaveys. Easily twig a man used to uniform. Square-pushing up against a backdoor. Maul her a bit. Then the next thing on the menu. And who is the gentleman does be visiting there? Was the young master saying anything? Peeping Tom through the keyhole. Decoy duck. Hotblooded young student fooling round her fat arms ironing.
-- Are those yours, Mary?
-- I don't wear such things... Stop or I'll tell the missus on you. Out half the night.
-- There are great times coming, Mary. Wait till you see.
-- Ah, get along with your great times coming. Barmaids too. Tobacco shopgirls.
James Stephens' idea was the best. He knew them. Circles of ten so that a fellow couldn't round on more than his own ring. Sinn Fein. Back out you get the knife. Hidden hand. Stay in, the firing squad. Turnkey's daughter got him out of Richmond, off from Lusk. Putting up in the Buckingham Palace hotel under their very noses. Garibaldi.
You must have a certain fascination: Parnell, Arthur Griffith is a squareheaded fellow but he has no go in him for the mob. Want to gas about our lovely land. Gammon and spinach. Dublin Bakery Company's tearoom. Debating societies. That republicanism is the best form of government. That the language question should take precedence of the economic question. Have your daughters inveigling them to your house. Stuff them up with meat and drink. Michaelmas goose. Here's a good lump of thyme seasoning under the apron for you. Have another quart of goosegrease before it gets too cold. Halffed enthusiasts. Penny roll and a walk with the band. No grace for the carver. The thought that the other chap pays best sauce in the world. Make themselves thoroughly at home. Shove us over those apricots, meaning peaches. The not far distant day. Home Rule sun rising up in the northwest.
His smile faded as he walked, a heavy cloud hiding the sun slowly, shadowing Trinity's surly front. Trams passed one another, ingoing, outgoing, clanging. Useless words. Things go on same; day after day: squads of police marching out, back: trams in, out. Those two loonies mooching about. Dignam carted off. Mina Purefoy swollen belly on a bed groaning to have a child tugged out of her. One born every second somewhere. Other dying every second. Since I fed the birds five minutes. Three hundred kicked the bucket. Other three hundred born, washing the blood off, all are washed in the blood of the lamb, bawling maaaaaa.
Cityful passing away, other cityful coming, passing away too: other coming on, passing on. Houses, lines of houses, streets, miles of pavements, piledup bricks, stones. Changing hands. This owner, that. Landlord never dies they say. Other steps into his shoes when he gets his notice to quit. They buy the place up with gold and still they have all the gold. Swindle in it somewhere. Piled up in cities, worn away age after age. Pyramids in sand. Built on bread and onions. Slaves. Chinese wall. Babylon. Big stones left. Round towers. Rest rubble, sprawling suburbs, jerrybuilt, Kerwan's mushroom houses, built of breeze. Shelter for the night.
No one is anything.
This is the very worst hour of the day. Vitality. Dull, gloomy: hate this hour. Feel as if I had been eaten and spewed.
Provost's house. The reverend Dr Salmon: tinned salmon. Well tinned in there. Wouldn't live in it if they paid me. Hope they have liver and bacon today. Nature abhors a vacuum.
The sun freed itself slowly and lit glints of light among the silver ware in Walter Sexton's window opposite by which John Howard Parnell passed, unseeing.
There he is: the brother. Image of him. Haunting face. Now that's a coincidence. Course hundreds of times you think of a person and don't meet him. Like a man walking in his sleep. No-one knows him. Must be a corporation meeting today. They say he never put on the city marshal's uniform since he got the job. Charley Boulger used to come out on his high horse, cocked hat, puffed, powdered and shaved. Look at the woebegone walk of him. Eaten a bad egg. Poached eyes on ghost. I have a pain. Great man's brother: his brother's brother. He'd look nice on the city charger. Drop into the D. B. C. probably for his coffee, play chess there. His brother used men as pawns. Let them all go to pot. Afraid to pass a remark on him. Freeze them up with that eye of his. That's the fascination: the name. All a bit touched. Mad Fanny and his other sister Mrs Dickinson driving about with scarlet harness. Bolt upright like surgeon M'Ardle. Still David Sheehy beat him for south Meath. Apply for the Chiltern Hundreds and retire into public life. The patriot's banquet. Eating orangepeels in the park. Simon Dedalus said when they put him in parliament that Parnell would come back from the grave and lead him out of the House of Commons by the arm.
Of the twoheaded octop
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英:
8、Chapter 8 Lestrygonians


PINEAPPLE ROCK, LEMON PLATT, BUTTER SCOTCH. A SUGARSTICKY GIRL shovelling scoopfuls of creams for a christian brother. Some school treat. Bad for their tummies. Lozenge and comfit manufacturer to His Majesty the King. God. Save. Our. Sitting on his throne, sucking red jujubes white.
A sombre Y.M.C.A. young man, watchful among the warm sweet fumes of Graham Lemon's, placed a throwaway in a hand of Mr Bloom.
Heart to heart talks.
Bloo... Me? No.
Blood of the Lamb.
His slow feet walked him riverward, reading. Are you saved? All are washed in the blood of the lamb. God wants blood victim. Birth, hymen, martyr, war, foundation of a building, sacrifice, kidney burntoffering, druid's altars. Elijah is coming. Dr John Alexander Dowie, restorer of the church in Zion, is coming.
Is coming! Is coming!! Is coming!!!
All heartily welcome.
Paying game. Torry and Alexander last year. Polygamy. His wife will put the stopper on that. Where was that ad some Birmingham firm the luminous crucifix? Our Saviour. Wake up in the dead of night and see him on the wall, hanging. Pepper's ghost idea. Iron nails ran in.
Phosphorus it must be done with. If you leave a bit of codfish for instance. I could see the bluey silver over it. Night I went down to the pantry in the kitchen. Don't like all the smells in it waiting to rush out. What was it she wanted? The Malaga raisins. Thinking of Spain. Before Rudy was born. The phosphorescence, that bluey greeny. Very good for the brain.
From Butler's monument house corner he glanced along Bachelor's walk. Dedalus' daughter there still outside Dillon's auctionrooms. Must be selling off some old furniture. Knew her eyes at once from the father. Lobbing about waiting for him. Home always breaks up when the mother goes. Fifteen children he had. Birth every year almost. That's in their theology or the priest won't give the poor woman the confession, the absolution. Increase and multiply. Did you ever hear such an idea? Eat you out of house and home. No families themselves to feed. Living on the fat of the land. Their butteries and larders. I'd like to see them do the black fast Yom Kippur. Crossbuns. One meal and a collation for fear he'd collapse on the altar. A housekeeper of one of those fellows If you could pick it out of her. Never pick it out of her. Like getting L. s. d. out of him. Does himself well. No guests. All for number one. Watching his water. Bring your own bread and butter. His reverence. Mum's the word.
Good Lord, that poor child's dress is in flitters. Underfed she looks too. Potatoes and marge, marge and potatoes. It's after they feel it. Proof of the pudding. Undermines the constitution.
As he set foot on O'Connell bridge a puffball of smoke plumed up from the parapet. Brewery barge with export stout. England. Sea air sours it, I heard. Be interesting some day get a pass through Hancock to see the brewery. Regular world in itself. Vats of porter, wonderful. Rats get in too. Drink themselves bloated as big as a collie floating. Dead drunk on the porter. Drink till they puke again like christians. Imagine drinking that! Rats: vats. Well of course if we knew all the things.
Looking down he saw flapping strongly, wheeling between the gaunt quay walls, gulls. Rough weather outside. If I threw myself down? Reuben J's son must have swallowed a good bellyful of that sewage. One and eightpence too much. Hhhhm. It's the droll way he comes out with the things. Knows how to tell a story too.
They wheeled lower. Looking for grub. Wait.
He threw down among them a crumpled paper ball. Elijah thirtytwo feet per sec is com. Not a bit. The ball bobbed unheeded on the wake of swells, floated under by the bridge piers. Not such damn fools. Also the day I threw that stale cake out of the Erin's King picked it up in the wake fifty yards astern. Live by their wits. They wheeled, flapping.
The hungry famished gull
Flaps o'er the waters dull.
That is how poets write, the similar sounds. But then Shakespeare has no rhymes: blank verse. The flow of the language it is. The thoughts. Solemn.
Hamlet, I am thy father's spirit
Doomed for a certain time to walk the earth.
-- Two apples a penny! Two for a penny!
His gaze passed over the glazed apples serried on her stand. Australians they must be this time of year. Shiny peels: polishes them up with a rag or a handkerchief.
Wait. Those poor birds.
He halted again and bought from the old applewoman two Banbury cakes for a penny and broke the brittle paste and threw its fragments down into the Liffey. See that? The gulls swooped silently two, then all, from their heights, pouncing on prey. Gone. Every morsel.
Aware of their greed and cunning he shook the powdery crumb from his hands. They never expected that. Manna. Live on fishy flesh they have to, all sea birds, gulls, seagoose. Swans from Anna Liffey swim down here sometimes to preen themselves. No accounting for tastes. Wonder what kind is swanmeat. Robinson Crusoe had to live on them.
They wheeled, flapping weakly. I'm not going to throw any more. Penny quite enough. Lot of thanks I get. Not even a caw. They spread foot and mouth disease too. If you cram a turkey, say, on chestnut meal it tastes like that. Eat pig like pig. But then why is it that saltwater fish are not salty? How is that?
His eyes sought answer from the river and saw a rowboat rock at anchor on the treacly swells lazily its plastered board.
Kino's
11/-
Trousers.
Good idea that. Wonder if he pays rent to the corporation. How can you own water really? It's always flowing in a stream, never the same, which in the stream of life we trace. Because life is a stream. All kind of places are good for ads. That quack doctor for the clap used to be stuck up in all the greenhouses. Never see it now. Strictly confidential. Dr Hy Franks. Didn't cost him a red like Maginni the dancing master self advertisement. Got fellows to stick them up or stick them up himself for that matter on the q.t. running in to loosen a button. Fly by night. Just the place too. POST NO BILLS. POST 110 PILLS. Some chap with a dose burning him.
If he...
O!
Eh?
No... No.
No, no. I don't believe it. He wouldn't surely?
No, no.
Mr Bloom moved forward raising his troubled eyes. Think no more about that. After one. Timeball on the ballast office is down. Dunsink time. Fascinating little book that is of sir Robert Ball's. Parallax. I never exactly understood. There's a priest. Could ask him. Par it's Greek: parallel, parallax. Met him pikehoses she called it till I told her about the transmigration. O rocks!
Mr Bloom smiled O rocks at two windows of the ballast office. She's right after all. Only big words for ordinary things on account of the sound. She's not exactly witty. Can be rude too. Blurt out what I was thinking. Still I don't know. She used to say Ben Dollard had a base barreltone voice. He has legs like barrels and you'd think he was singing into a barrel. Now, isn't that wit? They used to call him big Ben. Not half as witty as calling him base barreltone. Appetite like an albatross. Get outside of a baron of beef. Powerful man he was at storing away number one Bass. Barrel of Bass. See? it all works out.
A procession of whitesmocked men marched slowly towards him along the gutter, scarlet sashes across their boards. Bargains. Like that priest they are this morning: we have sinned: we have suffered. He read the scarlet letters on their five tall white hats: H. E. L. Y. S. Wisdom Hely's. Y lagging behind drew a chunk of bread from under his foreboard, crammed it into his mouth and munched as he walked. Our staple food. Three bob a day, walking along the gutters, street after street. Just keep skin and bone together, bread and skilly. They are not Boyl: no: M'Glade's men. Doesn't bring in any business either. I suggested to him about a transparent show cart with two smart girls sitting inside writing letters, copybooks, envelopes, blotting paper. I bet that would have caught on. Smart girls writing something catch the eye at once. Everyone dying to know what she's writing. Get twenty of them round you if you stare at nothing. Have a finger in the pie. Women too. Curiosity. Pillar of salt, Wouldn't have it of course because he didn't think of it himself first. Or the inkbottle I suggested with a false stain of black celluloid. His ideas for ads like Plumtree's potted under the obituaries, cold meat department. You can't lick 'em. What? Our envelopes. Hello! Jones, where are you going? Can't stop, Robinson, I am hastening to purchase the only reliable inkeraser Kansell, sold by Hely's Ltd, 85 Dame Street. Well out of that ruck I am. Devil of a job it was collecting accounts of those convents. Tranquilla convent. That was a nice nun there, really sweet face. Wimple suited her small head. Sister? Sister? I am sure she was crossed in love by her eyes. Very hard to bargain with that sort of woman. I disturbed her at her devotions that morning. But glad to communicate with the outside world. Our great day, she said. Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Sweet name too: caramel. She knew, I think she knew by the way she. If she had married she would have changed. I suppose they really were short of money. Fried everything in the best butter all the same. No lard for them. My heart's broke eating dripping. They like buttering themselves in and out. Molly tasting it, her veil up. Sister? Pat Claffey, the pawnbroker's daughter. It was a nun they say invented barbed wire.
He crossed Westmoreland street when apostrophe S had plodded by. Rover cycleshop. Those races are on today. How long ago is that? Year Phil Gilligan died. We were in Lombard street west. Wait, was in Thom's. Got the job in Wisdom Hely's year we married. Six years. Ten years ago: ninetyfour he died, yes that's right, the big fire at Arnott's. Val Dillon was lord mayor. The Glencree dinner. Alderman Robert O'Reilly emptying the port into his soup before the flag fell, Bobbob lapping it for the inner alderman. Couldn't hear what the band played. For what we have already received may the Lord make us. Milly was a kiddy then. Molly had that elephantgrey dress with the braided frogs. Mantailored with self-covered buttons. She didn't like it because I sprained my ankle first day she wore choir picnic at the Sugarloaf. As if that. Old Goodwin's tall hat done up with some sticky stuff. Flies' picnic too. Never put a dress on her back like it. Fitted her like a glove, shoulder and hips. Just beginning to plump it out well. Rabbit pie we had that day. People looking after her.
Happy. Happier then. Snug little room that was with the red wallpaper, Dockrell's, one and ninepence a dozen. Milly's tubbing night. American soap I bought: elderflower. Cosy smell of her bathwater. Funny she looked soaped all over. Shapely too. Now photography. Poor papa's daguerreotype atelier he told me of. Hereditary taste.
He walked along the curbstone.
Stream of life. What was the name of that priestylooking chap was always squinting in when he passed? Weak eyes, woman. Stopped in Citron's saint Kevin's parade. Pen something. Pendennis? My memory is getting. Pen... ? Of course it's years ago. Noise of the trams probably. Well, if he couldn't remember the dayfather's name that he sees every day.
Bartell d'Arcy was the tenor, just coming out then. Seeing her home after practice. Conceited fellow with his waxedup moustache. Gave her that song Winds that blow from the south.
Windy night that was I went to fetch her there was that lodge meeting on about those lottery tickets after Goodwin's concert in the supper room or oakroom of the mansion house. He and I behind. Sheet of her music blew out of my hand against the high school railings. Lucky it didn't. Thing like that spoils the effect of a night for her. Professor Goodwin linking her in front. Shaky on his pins, poor old sot. His farewell concerts. Positively last appearance on any stage. May be for months and may be for never. Remember her laughing at the wind, her blizzard collar up. Corner of Harcourt road remember that gust? Brrfoo! Blew up all her skirts and her boa nearly smothered old Goodwin. She did get flushed in the wind. Remember when we got home raking up the fire and frying up those pieces of lap of mutton for her supper with the Chutney sauce she liked. And the mulled rum. Could see her in the bedroom from the hearth unclamping the busk of her stays. White.
Swish and soft flop her stays made on the bed. Always warm from her. Always liked to let herself out. Sitting there after till near two, taking out her hairpins. Milly tucked up in beddyhouse. Happy. Happy. That was the night.
-- O, Mr Bloom, how do you do?
-- Oh, how do you do, Mrs Breen?
-- No use complaining. How is Molly those times? Haven't seen her for ages.
-- In the pink, Mr Bloom said gaily, Milly has a position down in Mullingar, you know.
-- Go away! Isn't that grand for her?
-- Yes, in a photographer's there. Getting on like a house on fire. How are all your charges?
-- All on the baker's list, Mrs Breen said.
How many has she? No other in sight.
-- You're in black I see. You have no...
-- No, Mr Bloom said. I have just come from a funeral.
Going to crop up all day, I foresee. Who's dead, when and what did he die of? Turn up like a bad penny.
-- o dear me, Mrs Breen said, I hope it wasn't any near relation.
May as well get her sympathy.
-- Dignam, Mr Bloom said. An old friend of mine. He died quite suddenly, poor fellow. Heart trouble, I believe. Funeral was this morning.
Your funeral's tomorrow
While you're coming through the rye.
Diddlediddle dumdum
Diddlediddle...
-- Sad to lose the old friends, Mrs Breen's womaneyes said melancholily.
Now that's quite enough about that. Just quietly: husband.
-- And your lord and master?
Mrs Breen turned up her two large eyes. Hasn't lost them anyhow.
-- O, don't be talking, she said. He's a caution to rattlesnakes. He's in there now with his lawbooks finding out the law of libel. He has me heartscalded. Wait till I show you.
Hot mockturtle vapour and steam of newbaked jampuffs rolypoly poured out from Harrison's. The heavy noonreek tickled the top of Mr Bloom's gullet. Want to make good pastry, butter, best flour, Demerara sugar, or they'd taste it with the hot tea. Or is it from her? A barefoot arab stood over the grating, breathing in the fumes. Deaden the gnaw of hunger that way. Pleasure or pain is it? Penny dinner. Knife and fork chained to the table.
Opening her handbag, chipped leather, hatpin: ought to have a guard on those things. Stick it in a chap's eye in the tram. Rummaging. Open. Money. Please take one. Devils if they lose sixpence. Raise Cain. Husband barging. Where's the ten shillings I gave you on Monday? Are you feeding your little brother's family? Soiled handkerchief: medicinebottle. Pastile that was fell. What is she?...
-- There must be a new moon out, she said. He's always bad then. Do you know what he did last night?
Her hand ceased to rummage. Her eyes fixed themselves on him wide in alarm, yet smiling.
-- What? Mr Bloom asked.
Let her speak. Look straight in her eyes. I believe you. Trust me.
-- Woke me up in the night, she said. Dream he had, a nightmare.
Indiges.
-- Said the ace of spades was walking up the stairs.
-- The ace of spades! Mr Bloom said.
She took a folded postcard from her handbag.
-- Read that, she said. He got it this morning.
-- What is it? Mr Bloom asked, taking the card. U.P.?
-- U.P.: up, she said. Someone taking a rise out of him. It's a great shame for them whoever he is.
-- Indeed it is, Mr Bloom said.
She took back the card, sighing.
-- And now he's going round to Mr Menton's office. He's going to take an action for ten thousand pounds, he says.
She folded the card into her untidy bag and snapped the catch.
Same blue serge dress she had two years ago, the nap bleaching. Seen its best days. Wispish hair over her ears. And that dowdy toque, three old grapes to take the harm out of it. Shabby genteel. She used to be a tasty dresser. Lines round her mouth. Only a year or so older than Molly.
See the eye that woman gave her, passing. Cruel. The unfair sex.
He looked still at her, holding back behind his look his discontent. Pungent mockturtle oxtail mulligatawny. I'm hungry too. Flakes of pastry on the gusset of her dress: daub of sugary flour stuck to her cheek. Rhubarb tart with liberal fillings, rich fruit interior. Josie Powell that was. In Luke Doyle's long ago, Dolphin's Barn, the charades. U.P.: up.
Change the subject.
-- Do you ever see anything of Mrs Beaufoy, Mr Bloom asked.
-- Mina Purefoy? she said.
Philip Beaufoy I was thinking. Playgoers' club. Matcham often thinks of the masterstroke. Did I pull the chain? Yes. The last act.
-- Yes.
-- I just called to ask on the way in is she over it. She's in the lying-in hospital in Holles street. Dr Horne got her in. She's three days bad now.
-- O, Mr Bloom said. I'm sorry to hear that.
-- Yes, Mrs Breen said. And a houseful of kids at home. It's a very stiff birth, the nurse told me.
-- O, Mr Bloom said.
His heavy pitying gaze absorbed her news. His tongue clacked in compassion. Dth! Dth!
-- I'm sorry to hear that, he said. Poor thing! Three days! That's terrible for her.
Mrs Breen nodded.
-- She was taken bad on the Tuesday...
Mr Bloom touched her funnybone gently, warning her.
-- Mind! Let this man pass.
A bony form strode along the curbstone from the river, staring with a rapt gaze into the sunlight through a heavy stringed glass. Tight as a skullpiece a tiny hat gripped his head. From his arm a folded dustcoat, a stick and an umbrella dangled to his stride.
-- Watch him, Mr Bloom said. He always walks outside the lampposts. Watch!
-- Who is he if it's a fair question, Mrs Breen asked. Is he dotty?
-- His name is Cashel Boyle O'Connor Fitzmaurice Tisdall Farrell, Mr Bloom said, smiling. Watch!
-- He has enough of them, she said. Denis will be like that one of these days.
She broke off suddenly.
-- There he is, she said. I must go after him. Goodbye. Remember me to Molly, won't you?
-- I will, Mr Bloom said.
He watched her dodge through passers towards the shop-fronts. Denis Breen in skimpy frockcoat and blue canvas shoes shuffled out of Harrison's hugging two heavy tomes to his ribs. Blown in from the bay. Like old times. He suffered her to overtake him without surprise and thrust his dull grey beard towards her, his loose jaw wagging as he spoke earnestly.
Meshuggah. Off his chump.
Mr Bloom walked on again easily, seeing ahead of him in sunlight the tight skullpiece, the dangling stick, umbrella, dustcoat. Going the two days. Watch him! Out he goes again. One way of getting on in the world. And that other old mosey lunatic in those duds. Hard time she must have with him.
U.P.: up. I'll take my oath that's Alf Bergan or Richie Goulding. Wrote it for a lark in the Scotch house, I bet anything. Round to Menton's office. His oyster eyes staring at the postcard. Be a feast for the gods.
He passed the Irish Times. There might be other answers lying there. Like to answer them all. Good system for criminals. Code. At their lunch now. Clerk with the glasses there doesn't know me. O, leave them there to simmer. Enough bother wading through forty-four of them. Wanted smart lady typist to aid gentleman in literary work. I called you naughty darling because I do not like that other world. Please tell me what is the meaning. Please tell me what perfume does your wife. Tell me who made the world. The way they spring those questions on you. And the other one Lizzie Twigg. My literary efforts have had the good fortune to meet with the approval of the eminent poet A. E. (Mr Geo Russell). No time to do her hair drinking sloppy tea with a book of poetry.
Best paper by long chalks for a small ad. Got the provinces now. Cook and general, exc cuisine, housemaid kept. Wanted live man for spirit counter. Resp girl (R. C.) wishes to hear of post in fruit or pork shop. James Carlisle made that. Six and a half percent dividend. Made a big deal on Coates's shares. Ca'canny. Cunning old Scotch hunks. All the toady news. Our gracious and popular vicereine. Bought the Irish Field now. Lady Mountcashel has quite recovered after her confinement and rode out with the Ward Union staghounds at the enlargement yesterday at Rathoath. Uneatable fox. Pothunters too. Fear injects juices make it tender enough for them. Riding astride. Sit her horse like a man. Weightcarrying huntress. No sidesaddle or pillion for her, not for Joe. First to the meet and in at the death. Strong as a brood mare some of those horsey women. Swagger around livery stables. Toss off a glass of brandy neat while you'd say knife. That one at the Grosvenor this morning. Up with her on the car: wishwish. Stonewall or fivebarred gate put her mount to it. Think that pugnosed driver did it out of spite. Who is this she was like? O yes? Mrs Miriam Dandrade that sold me her old wraps and black underclothes in the Shelbourne hotel. Divorced Spanish American. Didn't take a feather out of her my handling them. As if I was her clotheshorse. Saw her in the viceregal party when Stubbs the park ranger got me in with Whelan of the Express. Scavenging what the quality left. High tea. Mayonnaise I poured on the plums thinking it was custard. Her ears ought to have tingled for a few weeks after. Want to be a bull for her. Born courtesan. No nursery work for her, thanks.
Poor Mrs Purefoy! Methodist husband. Method in his madness. Saffron bun and milk and soda lunch in the educational dairy. Eating with a stopwatch, thirtytwo chews to the minute. Still his muttonchop whiskers grew. Supposed to be well connected. Theodore's cousin in Dublin Castle. One tony relative in every family. Hardy annuals he presents her with. Saw him out at the Three Jolly Topers marching along bareheaded and his eldest boy carrying one in a marketnet. The squallers. Poor thing! Then having to give the breast year after year all hours of the night. Selfish those t.t's are. Dog in the manger. Only one lump of sugar in my tea, if you please.
He stood at Fleet street crossing. Luncheon interval a sixpenny at Rowe's? Must look up that ad in the national library. An eightpenny in the Burton. Better. On my way.
He walked on past Bolton's Westmoreland house. Tea. Tea. Tea. I forgot to tap Tom Kernan.
Sss. Dth, dth, dth! Three days imagine groaning on a bed with a vinegared handkerchief round her forehead, her belly swollen out! Phew! Dreadful simply! Child's head too big: forceps. Doubled up inside her trying to butt its way out blindly, groping for the way out. Kill me that would. Lucky Molly got over hers lightly. They ought to invent something to stop that. Life with hard labour. Twilightsleep idea: queen Victoria was given that. Nine she had. A good layer. Old woman that lived in a shoe she had so many children. Suppose he was consumptive. Time someone thought about it instead of gassing about the what was it the pensive bosom of the silver effulgence. Flapdoodle to feed fools on. They could easily have big establishments. Whole thing quite painless out of all the taxes give every child born five quid at compound interest up to twentyone, five per cent is a hundred shillings and five tiresome pounds, multiply by twenty decimal system, encourage people to put by money save hundred and ten and a bit twentyone years want to work it out on paper come to a tidy sum, more than you think.
Not stillborn of course. They are not even registered. Trouble for nothing.
Funny sight two of them together, their bellies out. Molly and Mrs Moisel. Mothers' meeting. Phthisis retires for the time being, then returns. How flat they look after all of a sudden! Peaceful eyes. Weight off their minds. Old Mrs Thornton was a jolly old soul. All my babies, she said. The spoon of pap in her mouth before she fed them. O, that's nyumyum. Got her hand crushed by old Tom Wall's son. His first bow to the public. Head like a prize pumpkin. Snuffy Dr Murren. People knocking them up at all hours. For God'sake doctor. Wife In her throes. Then keep them waiting months for their fee. To attendance on your wife. No gratitude in people. Humane doctors, most of them.
Before the huge high door of the Irish house of parliament a flock of pigeons flew. Their little frolic after meals. Who will we do it on? I pick the fellow in black. Here goes. Here's good luck. Must be thrilling from the air. Apjohn, myself and Owen Goldberg up in the trees near Goose green playing the monkeys. Mackerel they called me.
A squad of constables debouched from College street, marching in Indian file. Goose step. Foodheated faces, sweating helmets, patting their truncheons. After their feed with a good load of fat soup under their belts. Policeman's lot is oft a happy one. They split up into groups and scattered, saluting towards their beats. Let out to graze. Best moment to attack one in pudding time. A punch in his dinner. A squad of others, marching irregularly, rounded Trinity railings, making for the station. Bound for their troughs. Prepare to receive cavalry. Prepare to receive soup.
He crossed under Tommy Moore's roguish finger. They did right to put him up over a urinal: meeting of the waters. Ought to be places for women. Running into cakeshops. Settle my hat straight. There is not in this wide world a vallee. Great song of Julia Morkan's. Kept her voice up to the very last. Pupil of Michael Balfe's wasn't she?
He gazed after the last broad tunic. Nasty customers to tackle. Jack Power could a tale unfold: father a G man. If a fellow gave them trouble being lagged they let him have it hot and heavy in the bridewell. Can't blame them after all with the job they have especially the young hornies. That horse policeman the day Joe Chamberlain was given his degree in Trinity he got a run for his money. My word he did! His horse's hoofs clattering after us down Abbey street. Luck I had the presence of mind to dive into Manning's or I was souped. He did come a wallop, by George. Must have cracked his skull on the cobblestones. I oughtn't to have got myself swept along with those medicals. And the Trinity jibs in their mortar-boards. Looking for trouble. Still I got to know that young Dixon who dressed that sting for me in the Mater and now he's in Holles street where Mrs Purefoy. Wheels within wheels. Police whistle in my ears still. All skedaddled. Why he fixed on me. Give me in charge. Right here it began.
-- Up the Boers!
-- Three cheers for De Wet!
-- We'll hang Joe Chamberlain on a sourapple tree.
Silly billies: mob of young cubs yelling their guts out. Vinegar hill. The Butter exchange band. Few years' time half of them magistrates and civil servants. War comes on: into the army helterskelter: same fellows used to whether on the scaffold high.
Never know who you're talking to. Corny Kelleher he has Harvey Duff in his eye. Like that Peter or Denis or James Carey that blew the gaff on the invincibles. Member of the corporation too. Egging raw youths on to get in the know. All the time drawing secret service pay from the castle. Drop him like a hot potato. Why those plain clothes men are always courting slaveys. Easily twig a man used to uniform. Square-pushing up against a backdoor. Maul her a bit. Then the next thing on the menu. And who is the gentleman does be visiting there? Was the young master saying anything? Peeping Tom through the keyhole. Decoy duck. Hotblooded young student fooling round her fat arms ironing.
-- Are those yours, Mary?
-- I don't wear such things... Stop or I'll tell the missus on you. Out half the night.
-- There are great times coming, Mary. Wait till you see.
-- Ah, get along with your great times coming. Barmaids too. Tobacco shopgirls.
James Stephens' idea was the best. He knew them. Circles of ten so that a fellow couldn't round on more than his own ring. Sinn Fein. Back out you get the knife. Hidden hand. Stay in, the firing squad. Turnkey's daughter got him out of Richmond, off from Lusk. Putting up in the Buckingham Palace hotel under their very noses. Garibaldi.
You must have a certain fascination: Parnell, Arthur Griffith is a squareheaded fellow but he has no go in him for the mob. Want to gas about our lovely land. Gammon and spinach. Dublin Bakery Company's tearoom. Debating societies. That republicanism is the best form of government. That the language question should take precedence of the economic question. Have your daughters inveigling them to your house. Stuff them up with meat and drink. Michaelmas goose. Here's a good lump of thyme seasoning under the apron for you. Have another quart of goosegrease before it gets too cold. Halffed enthusiasts. Penny roll and a walk with the band. No grace for the carver. The thought that the other chap pays best sauce in the world. Make themselves thoroughly at home. Shove us over those apricots, meaning peaches. The not far distant day. Home Rule sun rising up in the northwest.
His smile faded as he walked, a heavy cloud hiding the sun slowly, shadowing Trinity's surly front. Trams passed one another, ingoing, outgoing, clanging. Useless words. Things go on same; day after day: squads of police marching out, back: trams in, out. Those two loonies mooching about. Dignam carted off. Mina Purefoy swollen belly on a bed groaning to have a child tugged out of her. One born every second somewhere. Other dying every second. Since I fed the birds five minutes. Three hundred kicked the bucket. Other three hundred born, washing the blood off, all are washed in the blood of the lamb, bawling maaaaaa.
Cityful passing away, other cityful coming, passing away too: other coming on, passing on. Houses, lines of houses, streets, miles of pavements, piledup bricks, stones. Changing hands. This owner, that. Landlord never dies they say. Other steps into his shoes when he gets his notice to quit. They buy the place up with gold and still they have all the gold. Swindle in it somewhere. Piled up in cities, worn away age after age. Pyramids in sand. Built on bread and onions. Slaves. Chinese wall. Babylon. Big stones left. Round towers. Rest rubble, sprawling suburbs, jerrybuilt, Kerwan's mushroom houses, built of breeze. Shelter for the night.
No one is anything.
This is the very worst hour of the day. Vitality. Dull, gloomy: hate this hour. Feel as if I had been eaten and spewed.
Provost's house. The reverend Dr Salmon: tinned salmon. Well tinned in there. Wouldn't live in it if they paid me. Hope they have liver and bacon today. Nature abhors a vacuum.
The sun freed itself slowly and lit glints of light among the silver ware in Walter Sexton's window opposite by which John Howard Parnell passed, unseeing.
There he is: the brother. Image of him. Haunting face. Now that's a coincidence. Course hundreds of times you think of a person and don't meet him. Like a man walking in his sleep. No-one knows him. Must be a corporation meeting today. They say he never put on the city marshal's uniform since he got the job. Charley Boulger used to come out on his high horse, cocked hat, puffed, powdered and shaved. Look at the woebegone walk of him. Eaten a bad egg. Poached eyes on ghost. I have a pain. Great man's brother: his brother's brother. He'd look nice on the city charger. Drop into the D. B. C. probably for his coffee, play chess there. His brother used men as pawns. Let them all go to pot. Afraid to pass a remark on him. Freeze them up with that eye of his. That's the fascination: the name. All a bit touched. Mad Fanny and his other sister Mrs Dickinson driving about with scarlet harness. Bolt upright like surgeon M'Ardle. Still David Sheehy beat him for south Meath. Apply for the Chiltern Hundreds and retire into public life. The patriot's banquet. Eating orangepeels in the park. Simon Dedalus said when they put him in parliament that Parnell would come back from the grave and lead him out of the House of Commons by the arm.
Of the twoheaded octop
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怕相思,已思相,轮到相思没处辞,眉间露一丝
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8、菠萝味硬虩望,蜜饯柠檬,黄油糖块


菠萝味硬虩望,蜜饯柠檬,黄油糖块。一个被糖弄得黏糊糊的姑娘正在为基督教兄弟会的在俗修士[1]一满杓一满杓地舀着奶油。学校里要举行什么集会吧。让学童享一次口福吧,可是对他们的肠胃并不好。国王陛下御用[2]菱形虩望及糖衣果仁制造厂。上帝拯救我们的……[3]坐在宝座上,把红色的枣味胶糖嘬到发白为止。
一个神色阴郁的基督教青年会[4]的小伙子,站在格雷厄姆·莱蒙的店铺溢出来的温馨、芳香的水蒸气里,留心观察着过往行人,把一张传单塞到布卢姆先生手里。
推心置腹的谈话。
布卢……指的是我吗?不是。
羔羊的血。[5]
他边读边迈着缓慢的步子朝河边走去。你得到拯救了吗?在羔羊的血里洗涤了一切罪愆。上主要求以血做牺牲。分娩,处女膜,殉教,战争,被活埋在房基下者,献身,肾脏的燔祭,德鲁伊特的祭台。[6]。以利亚来了。[7]锡安教会的复兴者约翰·亚历山大·道维博士[8]来了。
来了!来了!!来啦!!!
大家衷心欢迎。
这行当挺划算。去年,托里和亚历山大[9]来了。一夫多妻主义。他的妻子会阻拦的。我是在哪儿见到伯明翰某商行那个夜光十字架的广告来看?我们的救世主。半夜醒来,瞥见他悬挂在墙上。佩珀显灵的手法。[10]把铁钉扎了进去。[11]
那准是用磷做的。比方说,倘若你留下一段鳕鱼,就能看见上面泛起一片蓝糊糊的银光。那天夜里我下楼到厨房的食橱去。那里弥漫着各种气味,一打开橱门就冲过来,可不好闻。她想要吃什么来看?乌拉加葡萄干[12]。她在思念西班牙。那是鲁迪出生以前的事。那种蓝糊糊、发绿的玩艺儿就是磷光。对大脑非常有益。
他从巴特勒这座纪念碑房[13]的拐角处眺望巴切勒步道。迪达勒斯的闺女还呆在狄龙的拍卖行外面呢。准是出售什么旧家具来了。她那双眼睛跟她父亲的一模一样,所以一下子就认得出来。她闲荡着,等候父亲出来。母亲一死,一个家必然就不成其为家了。他有十五个孩子,几乎每年生一个。这就是他们的教义[14],否则神父就不让那可怜的女人忏悔,更不给她赦罪。生养并繁殖吧[15]。你可曾听到过如此荒唐的想法?连家带产都吃个精光。神父本人反正用不着养家糊口。他们享受丰足的生活[16]。神父的酒窖和食品库。我倒是想看看他们在赎罪日[17]是否严格遵守绝食的规定。十字面包[18]。先吃上一顿饭,再着补一道茶点,免得晕倒在祭坛前。你可以去问问一位神父所雇用的管家婆。绝对打听不出来的。正如从她的主人那里讨不到英镑、先令或便士。他独自过得蛮富裕,从来不请客。对旁人一毛不拔。连家里的水都看得很严。你得自带黄油抹面包。[19]神父大人,闭上你的嘴。
天哪,那个可怜的小妞儿,衣服破破烂烂的。她看上去好像营养也不良。成天是土豆和人造黄油,人造黄油和土豆。[20]当他们感觉到的时候,就已来不及了。布丁好坏,一尝便知。这样,身体会垮的。
当他来到奥康内尔桥头时,一大团烟像羽毛般地从栏杆处袅袅升起。那是啤酒厂的一艘驳船,载有供出口的烈性黑啤酒,正驶向英国。我听说海风会使啤酒变酸的。哪一天我要是能通过汉考克弄到一张参观券就好啦,去看看那家啤酒公司[21]该多么有趣。它本身就是个井然有序的世界。排列着大桶大桶的黑啤酒,一派宏伟景象。老鼠也蹿了进来,把肚皮喝得胀鼓鼓的,大得宛若一条柯利狗[22],漂在酒面上。啤酒喝得烂醉如泥。一直喝到像个基督徒那样[23]呕吐出来。想想看,让我们喝这玩艺儿!老鼠,大桶。喏,倘若我们晓得这一切,可就……
他朝下面望去,瞥见几只海鸥使劲拍着翅膀,在萧瑟的码头岸壁间兜着圈子。外面正闹着天气。倘若我纵身跳下去,又将会怎样?吕便·杰的儿子想必就曾灌进一肚子那样的污水。多给了一先令八便士[24]。嘻嘻嘻。西蒙·迪达勒斯的话说得就是这样俏皮。他也确实会讲故事。
海鸥兜着圈子,越飞越低,在寻找猎物。等一等。
他把揉成一团的纸[25]朝海鸥群中掷去。以利亚以每秒三十二英尺的速度前来。海鸥们根本不予理睬。受冷落的纸团落在汹涌浪涛的尾波上,沿着桥墩漂向下游。它们才不是什么大笨蛋呢。有一天我从爱琳王号[26]上也扔了块陈旧的点心,海鸥竟在船后五十码的尾流中把它叼住了。它脽湍翼兜着圈子飞翔,就这样凭着智慧生存下来。
海鸥啊饿得发慌,
飞翔在沉滞的水上。
诗人就这样合辙押韵。莎士比亚却不用韵体。他写的是无韵诗。语言流畅,思想宏伟。
哈姆莱特,我是你父亲的灵魂,
注定在地上游行相当一个时期。[27]
“两个苹果一便士!两个一便士!”
他的视线扫过排列在货摊上那些光溜溜的苹果。这个季节嘛,准是从澳大利亚运来的。果皮发亮,想必是用抹布或手绢擦的。
且慢。还有那些可怜的鸟儿哪。
他又停下脚步来,花一便士从卖苹果的老妪手里买了两块班伯里[28]点心,掰开那酥脆的糕饼,一块块地扔进利菲河。瞧见了吗?起初是两只,紧接着所有的海鸥都悄悄地从高处朝猎物猛扑过去,全吃光了。一丁点儿也没剩。他意识到它们的贪婪和诡诈,就将手上沾的点心渣儿掸下去。它们未曾指望会有这样的口福。吗哪[29]。所有的海鸟——海鸥也罢,海鹅也罢,都靠食鱼而生,连肉都带鱼腥味了。安娜·利菲[30]的白天鹅有时顺流而下,游到这里,就用嘴梳理自己的羽毛,炫耀一番。人各有所好。也不晓得天鹅的肉是什么滋味儿。鲁滨孙·克鲁索只得靠它们的肉为生呢。[31]
它们有气无力地拍翅兜着圈子。我再也不去给你们啦。一便士的就蛮够啦。你们本该好好地向我道声谢的,可是连“呱”的一声都没叫。而且它们还传染口蹄疫。倘若净用栗子粉来喂火鸡,肉也会变成栗子味的。吃猪就像猪。然而咸水鱼为什么不咸呢?究竟是怎么回事?
他扫视着河面,想寻求个答案。只见一般划艇停泊在形似糖浆的汹涌浪涛上,懒洋洋地摇晃着它那灰胶纸拍板。
吉诺批发店[32]
11
裤子
那倒是个好主意。也不晓得吉诺向市政府当局交租金不。你怎么可能真正拥有水呢?它不断地流,随时都变动着,我们在流逝的人生中追溯着它的轨迹。因为生命是流动的。任何场所统统适合禑豌告。每一应公用厕所都有治淋病的庸医的招贴。而今完全看不到了。严加保密。亨利·弗兰克斯大夫[33]。跟舞蹈师傅马金尼[34]的自我广告一样,一分钱也不用花。要么托人去贴,要么趁着深更半夜悄悄跑进去,借解钮扣的当儿,自己把它贴上。麻利得就像夜晚躲债的。这地方再合适不过了。“禁止张贴广告”、“邮寄一百零十粒药丸”。有人服下去,心里火烧火燎的。
倘若他……
哦!
呃?
不……不。
不,不。我不相信。他该不至于吧?
不,不。
布卢姆先生抬起神情困惑的眼睛,向前踱去。不要再想这个了。一点钟过了。港务总局的报时球已经降下来了。邓辛克[35]标准时间。罗伯特·鲍尔爵士[36]的那本小书饶有趣味。视差。我始终也没弄清楚这个词的意思。那儿有个神父,可以去问问他。这词儿是希腊文:平行,视差。我告诉她什么叫作“轮回”之前,她管它叫“遇见了他尖头胶皮管”[37]。哦,别转文啦!
布卢姆先生想起“哦,别转文啦!”这句话,朝着港务总居的两扇窗户泛出微笑。她的话毕竟是对的。用夸张的字眼来表达平凡的事物,只不过是取其音调而已。她讲话并不俏皮,有时候还挺粗鲁。我只是心里想想的话,她却脱口捅了出来。但是倒也不尽然。她常说,本·多拉德有着一副下贱的桶音[38]。他那两条腿款跟桶一样,他仿佛在往桶里唱歌。喏,这话不是说得蛮俏皮吗!他们通常管他叫“大本钟”[39]。远不如称他作“下贱的桶音”来得俏皮。他们饭量大如信天翁。一头牛的脊肉,一顿就吃光。他喝上等巴斯啤酒的本事也不含糊。是只啤酒桶。怎么样?俏皮话说得都很贴切吧。
一排穿白罩褂、胸前背后挂着广告牌的人正沿着明沟慢慢地朝他走来。每个人都在广告牌上斜系着一条猩红的饰带。大甩卖。他们正像今天早晨那位神父一样:我们犯了罪。我们受了苦[40]。他读着分别写在他们那五顶白色高帽上的红字母:H·E·L·Y·’S。威兹德姆。希利商店。[41]帽子上写着Y的男子放慢脚步,从胸前的广告牌下面取出一大块面包塞到嘴里,边走边狼吞虎咽着。我们每天在主食上花三先令,沿着明沟,穿街走巷。靠面包和稀稀的麦片粥,勉强把皮和骨连在一起。他们不是博伊——不,而是默·格拉德[42]的伙计。反正招徕不了多少顾客。我曾向他建议,让两个美女坐在一辆透明的陈列车里写信,并摆上笔记本、信封和吸墨纸。我敢断定,那准会轰动。美女写字,马上就会引人注目。人人都渴望知道她在写什么。要是你站在那里望空发楞,就会有二十个人围上来。谁都想参与别人的事,女人也是如此。好奇心。盐柱[43]。希利不肯接受这个主意,因为这不是他首先想出来的。找还建议做个墨水瓶的广告,用黑色赛璐珞充当流出来的墨水渍。他在广告方面的想法就像在讣告栏底下刊登李树商标肉罐头,冷肉部。你不能小看它们。什么?敝店的信封。——喂,琼斯,你到哪儿去呀?——鲁滨孙,我不能耽误,得赶紧去买唯一靠得住的坎塞尔牌消字灵,戴姆街八十五号希利商店出售的。幸而我不再在那儿干了。去那些修道院收帐可真是件苦差事。特兰奎拉女修道院[44]。那儿有个漂亮的修女,一张脸长得可真俊。小小的头上包着尖头巾,非常合适。修女?修女?从她的眼神来看,我敢说她曾失过恋。跟那种女人是很难讨价还价的。那天早晨她正在祈祷的时候,我打扰了她。但是她好像蛮乐意跟外界接触。她说,这是我们的大日子。迦密山[45]的圣母节。名字也挺甜,像糖蜜[46]。她认识我,从她那副样子也看得出,她认识我。要是她结了婚,就不会这样了。我估计修女们确实缺钱。尽管如此,不论煎什么,她们仍旧用上等黄油。她们可不用猪油。吃大油吃得我直烧心。她们喜欢里里外外抹黄油。摩莉掀起头巾,在品尝黄油。修女?她叫帕特·克拉费伊,是当铺的女儿。人们说,铁蒺藜就是一位尼姑发明的[47]。
当那个帽子上写着带有撇号的S字[48]的人拖着深重的脚步走过去后,他才横穿过韦斯特莫兰街。罗弗自行车铺。今天举行赛车会[49]。那是多久以前的事儿来看?是菲尔·吉利根[50]去世的那一年。我们住在伦巴德西街。且慢,当时我正在汤姆[51]的店铺来着。我们结婚那一年,我在威兹德姆·希利的店里找到了工作。六年。他是十年前——九四年[52]死的。对,就是阿诺特公司着大火的那一年。维尔·狄龙正任市长[53]。格伦克里的午餐会[54]。市参议员罗伯特·奥赖利在比赛开始前,将葡萄酒全倒进汤里。吧唧吧唧替内在的参议员把它舔干净[55]。简直听不清乐队在演奏什么。主啊,所赐万惠,我等……[56]那时候,米莉还是个小娃娃哩。摩莉身穿那件钉着盘花饰扣的灰象皮色衣服。那是男裁缝的手艺,钉了包扣。她不喜欢这身衣服,因为她头一回穿它去参加合唱队在糖锥山[57]举行的野餐会那一天,我把脚脖子扭伤了。就好像该怪它似的。老古德温的大礼帽仿佛是用什么黏糊糊的东西修补过的。那也是给苍蝇开的野餐会哩。她从未穿过剪裁这么得体的衣服。不论肩膀还是臀部,都像戴手套一样,刚好合身。那阵子她的体态开始丰腴了。当天我们吃的是兔肉馅饼。大家都追着她看。
幸福啊。当时我们可比现在幸福。舒适的小房间,四周糊着红色墙纸。是在多克雷尔那家店[58]里买的,每打一先令九便士。给米莉洗澡的那个晚上,我买了一块美国香皂,接骨木花的。澡水散发出馨香的气味。她浑身涂满肥皂,真逗。身材也蛮好。如今她正干着照相这一行。我那可怜的爹告诉我,他曾搞过一间银板照相的暗室[59]。这也是一种祖传的兴趣吧。
他沿着人行道的边石走去。
生命的长河[60]。那个活像是神父的家伙姓什么来着?每逢路过的时候,他总是斜眼望着我们家。视力不佳,女人。曾在圣凯文步道的西特伦[61]家住过一阵子。姓彭什么的。是彭迪尼斯吗?近来我的记性简直。彭……?当然喽,那是多年以前的事啦。也许是电车的噪音闹的。哦,要是连每天见面的排字房老领班姓什么都记不起来的话[62]。
巴特尔·达西[63]是当时开始出名的男高音歌手。排练后,总送她回家。他是个自命不凡的家伙,用发蜡把胡子捻得挺拔。他教会了她《南方刮来的风》这首歌。
风刮得很猛的那个晚上,我去接她。古德温的演奏会刚在市长官邸的餐厅或橡木室里举行完毕。分会正在那里为彩票的事开着碰头会[64]。他和我跟在后面走。我手里拿着她的乐谱,其中一张被刮得贴在高中校舍的栏杆上。幸亏没刮跑。这种事会破坏她整个儿晚上的情绪。古德温教授跟她相互挽着臂走在前面。可怜的老酒鬼摇摇晃晃,脚步蹒跚。这是他的告别演奏会了,肯定是最后一次在任何舞台上露面。也许几个月,也许是永远地[65]。我还记得她冲着风畅笑,竖起挡风雪的领子。记得吧?在哈考特街角上,一阵狂风。呜呜呜!她的裙子整个儿被掀起,她那圆筒形皮毛围巾把老古德温勒得几乎窒息而死。她被风刮得涨红了脸。记得回家后,我把火捅旺,替她煎了几片羊腿肉当晚餐,并浇上她爱吃的酸辣酱。还有加了糖和香料、烫热了的甘蔗酒。从壁炉那儿可以瞥见她在卧室里正解开紧身褡的金属卡子。雪白的。
她的紧身褡嗖的一声轻飘飘地落在床上。总是带着她的体温。她一向喜欢松开一切束缚。她在那儿坐到将近两点钟,一根根地摘下发卡。米莉严严实实地裹在小床里。幸福啊,幸福,就在那个夜晚……
“哦,布卢姆先生,你好吗?”
“哦,你好吗,布林太太[66]?”
“抱怨也是白搭。摩莉近来怎么样?我好久没见着她啦。”
“精神抖擞,”布卢姆先生快活地说,“喏,知道吗,米莉在穆林加尔找到工作啦。”
“离开家啦?可真了不起!”
“可不是嘛,在一家照相馆里干活儿。像火场一样忙得团团转。您府上的孩子们好吗?”
“个个都有一张吃饭的嘴,”布林太太说。
她究竟有多少儿女呢?眼下倒不像是在身怀六甲。
“你戴着孝哪。难道是……?”
“没有,”布卢姆先生说,“我刚刚参加了一场丧礼。”
可以想象,今天一整天都会不断有人问起,谁死啦?什么时候怎么死的?反正躲也躲不掉。
“嗳呀妈呀!”布林太太说,“我希望总不是什么近亲。”
倒也不妨让她表表同情。
“姓迪格纳穆的,”布卢姆先生说,“是我的一位老朋友。他死得十分突然,可怜的人哪。我相信得的是心脏病。葬礼是今天早晨举行的。”
你的葬礼在明天,
当你穿过裸麦田[67]。
嗨唷嗬,咿呀嗨,
嗨唷嗬……
“老朋友死了真令人伤心,”布林太太说,她那女性的眼睛里露出悲怆的神色。
这个话题就说到这儿吧。还是适可而止。轻轻地问候一声她老公吧。
“你先生——当家的好吗?”
布林太太抬起她那双大眼睛。她的眼神倒还没失去往日的光泽。
“哦。可别提他啦!”她说,“他这个人哪,连响尾蛇都会被他吓倒的。眼下他在餐馆里拿着法律书正在查找着诽谤罪的条例哪。我这条命早晚会送在他手里。等一等,我给你看个东西。”
一股热腾腾的仿甲鱼汤蒸气同刚烤好的酥皮果酱馅饼和果酱布丁卷的热气从哈里森饭馆里直往外冒。浓郁的午餐气味刺激着布卢姆先生的胃口。为了做美味的油酥点心,就需要黄油、上等面粉和德梅拉拉沙糖[68]。要么就和滚烫的红茶一道吃。气味或许是这个妇女身上散发出来的吧?一个赤脚的流浪儿站在格子窗跟前,嗅着那一股股香味。借此来缓和一下饥饿的煎熬。这究竟是快乐还是痛苦呢?廉价午餐。刀叉都锁在桌上[69]。
她打开薄皮制成的手提包。帽子上的饰针:对这玩艺儿得当心点儿——在电车里可别戳着什么人的眼睛。乱找一气。敞着口儿。钱币。请自己拿一枚吧。她们要是丢了六便士,那可就麻烦啦。惊天动地。丈夫吵吵嚷嚷:“星期一我给你的十先令哪儿去啦?难道你在养活你弟弟一家人吗?脏手绢。药瓶。刚掉下去的是喉咙片。这个女人要干什么?……
“准是升起了新月,”她说,”一到这时候老毛病就犯啦。你猜他昨儿晚上干什么来着?”
她不再用手翻找了。她惊愕地睁大了一双眼睛盯着他,十分惊愕,可还露着笑意。
“怎么啦?”布卢姆先生问。
让她说吧。直勾勾地盯着她的眼睛。我相信你的话,相信我吧。
“夜里,他把我叫醒啦,”她说,“他做了个梦,一场噩梦。”
消化不良呗。
“他说,黑桃幺[70]走上楼梯来啦。”
“黑桃幺!”布卢姆先生说。
她从手提包里掏出一张折叠起来的明信片。
“念念看,”她说,“他今天早晨接到的。”
“这是什么?”布卢姆先生边接过明信片,边说,“万事休矣。”
“万事休矣:完蛋[71],”她说,“有人在捉弄他。不论是谁干的,真是太缺德啦。”
“确实是这样,”布卢姆先生说。
她把明信片收回去,叹了口气。
“他这会子就要到门顿先生的事务所去。他说他要起诉,要求赔偿一万镑。”
她把明信片叠好,放回她那凌乱的手提包,啪的一声扣上金属卡口。
两年前她穿的也是这件蓝哔叽衣服,料子已经褪色了。从前它可风光过。耳朵上有一小绺蓬乱的头发。还有那顶式样俗气的无檐女帽上头还缀了三颗古色古香的葡萄珠,这才勉强戴得出去。一位寒酸的淑女。从前她可讲究穿戴啦。如今嘴边已经出现了皱纹。才比摩莉大上一两岁。
那个女人从她身旁走过去的时候,曾用怎样的眼神瞅她!残酷啊。不公正的女性[72]。
他依然盯着她,竭力不把心头的不悦形之于色。仿甲鱼汤、牛尾汤、咖哩鸡肉汤的气味冲鼻。我也饿了。她那衣服的贴边上还沾着点心屑呢,腮帮子上也巴着糖渣子。填满了各色果品馅儿的大黄酥皮饼[73]。那时候她叫乔西·鲍威尔。那是好久以前的事了,在海豚仓的卢克·多伊尔家玩过哑剧字谜[74]。万事休矣,完蛋。
换个话题吧。
“最近你见着博福伊太太了吗?”布卢姆先生问。
“米娜·普里福伊吗?”她说。
我脑子里想的是非利普·博福伊。戏迷俱乐部。马查姆经常想起那一妙举[75]。我拉没拉那链儿呢?[76]拉了,那是最后一个动作。
“是的。”
“我刚才顺路去探望了她一下,看看她是不是已分娩了。眼下她住进了霍利斯街的妇产医院。是霍恩大夫[72]让她住院的。她已足足折腾了三天。”
“哦,”布卢姆先生说,“我听了很难过。”
“可不是嘛,”布林太太说,“家里还有一大帮娃娃哪。护士告诉我,是不常见的难产。”
“哎呀,”布卢姆先生说。
他的目光表露着深切的怜悯,全神贯注地倾听她这个消息,同情地砸着舌头:“啧!啧!”
“我听了很难过,”他说,“怪可怜的!三天啦!够她受的!”
布林太太点了点头。
“从星期二起,阵痛就开始啦……”
布卢姆先生轻轻地碰了一下她的胳膊肘尖儿,提醒她说:
“当心!让这个人过去吧。”
一个瘦骨嶙峋的人从河边沿着人行道的边石大步流星地走了过来,隔着系有沉甸甸的带子的单片眼镜,茫然地凝视着阳光。一顶小帽像头巾一般紧紧地箍在他头上。迈一步,夹在腋下的那件折叠起来的风衣、拐杖和雨伞就晃荡一阵。
“瞧他,”布卢姆先生说,“总是在街灯外侧走路。瞧啊!”
“我可以问一下他是谁吗?”布林太太说,“他是个半疯儿吗?”
“他名叫卡什尔·博伊尔·奥康内尔·菲茨莫里斯·蒂斯代尔·法雷尔[78],”布卢姆先生笑眯眯地说,“瞧啊!”
“这串儿够长的啦,”她说,“丹尼斯迟早也会变成这个样子。”
她突然闭上了嘴。
“他出来啦,”她说,“我得跟着他走。再见吧。请代我向摩莉问候一声,好吗?”
“好的,”布卢姆先生说。
他望着她一路躲闪着行人,走到店铺前面去。丹尼斯·布林身穿紧巴巴的长礼服,脚登蓝色帆布鞋,腋下紧紧地夹着两部沉甸甸的大书,从哈里森饭馆里抱着脚步走了出来。像往常一样,仿佛是一阵风把他从海湾刮来的似的。他听任她赶上自己,并没有感到意外,一路朝她掀起他那脏巴兮兮的灰胡子,摆动着皮肉松弛的下巴,热切地说着什么。
疯狂[79]。完全疯啦。
布卢姆先生继续轻松愉快地走去。瞥见前面阳光下那顶像头巾一般紧紧地箍在头上的小帽,还有那大摇大摆地晃荡着的拐杖、雨伞和风衣。瞧瞧他!又离开了人行道。这也是在世上鬼混的一种方式。还有另一个披头散发、衣衫槛褛的老疯子,到处闲荡。如果跟这种人一道过日子,必然够呛。
万事休矣,完蛋。那准是阿尔夫·柏根或里奇·古尔丁干的。毫无疑问,是在苏格兰屋[80]开着玩笑写的。他正前往门顿的事务所。一路用那双牡蛎般的眼睛瞪着明信片的那副样子,足以让众神人饱眼福。
他从爱尔兰时报[81]社前走过。那儿兴许还放着其他应征者的回信哩。我倒巴不得统统给答复了。这制度倒是替罪犯大开方便之门:暗码。现在正是吃午饭的时候。那边那个戴眼镜的职员并不认识我。啊,就把他们先撂在那儿,慢慢儿来吧。光是把那四十四封信测览一遍就够费事的了。招聘一名精干的女打字员,协助一位先生从事文字工作。找曾管你叫淘气鬼,因为我不喜欢那另一个世界。请告诉我它的含意。请告诉我,你太太使用哪一种香水[82]。告诉我世界是谁创造的。她们就像这样劈头盖脑地向你提出各种问题。另外一个叫莉齐·特威格[83],说是,我的文学作品有幸受到著名诗人A·E·(乔·拉塞尔先生)的赞赏。她边呷着浑浊的茶,边翻看一本诗集,连梳理头发的工夫都没有。
这家报纸登小广告赛过任何一家。如今扩大到各郡。聘请厨师兼总管家,一级烹调,并有女仆打下手。征聘性格活泼的酒柜侍者。今有品行端正的女青年(罗马天主教徒),愿在水果店或猪肉铺觅职。那份报纸是詹姆斯·卡莱尔[84]创办的,百分之六点五的股息。买科茨公司的股票大赚了一笔。一步一步地来。老奸巨滑的苏格兰守财奴。净写一些溜须拍马的报道。我们这位宽厚而深孚众望的总督夫人啦。如今,他连《爱尔兰狞猎报》[85]也给买下来了。蒙卡什尔夫人产后已完全康复,昨日率领医院俱乐部的一批猎犬骑马前往拉思奥斯参加放猎大会[86]。不能食用的狐狸[87]。也有专为果腹而狞猎的。恐怖感能使猎物的肉变得松软多汁。她的骑法就跟男子汉一样,叉开腿跨在马背上。这是一位能够拔山扛鼎的女狞猎家。侧鞍也罢,后鞍也罢,她一概不骑,乔可决不要[88]!集合时她首先赶了来。及至杀死猎物时,她也亲临现场。有些女骑手简直健壮得像母种马一样。她们在马房周围大摇大摆地转悠。一眨眼的工夫就把一杯不兑水的白兰地一饮而尽。今天早晨呆在格罗夫纳饭店前的那个女人嗖的一下就上了马车。嘘——嘘。她敢骑在马上跨过一道石墙或有着五根横木的障碍物[89]。那个瘪鼻子的电车司机想必薀褪意使的坏。[90]她究竟长得像谁呢?对啦!像是曾经在谢尔本饭店把自己的旧罩衫和黑色衬衣卖给我的那位米莉亚姆·丹德拉德太太[91]。离了婚的西班牙裔美国人。我摆弄它们时,她毫不理会。大概把我看成她的衣服架子了。我是在总督的宴会上遇到她的。公园护林人斯塔布新[92]把我和《快报》[93]的维兰带进去参加了。吃的是那些达官贵人的残羹剩汤。一顿有肉食的茶点。我把蛋黄酱当炸乳蛋羹,浇在李子布丁上了。打那以后,她一定耳鸣了好几个星期。我恨不得当她的公牛。她是个天生的花魁。谢天谢地,看孩子可别找她。
可怜的普里福伊太太!丈夫是个循道公会[94]教徒。他说的虽然是疯话,其中却包含着哲理[95]。中午吃教育奶场[96]所生产的番红花甜面包,喝牛奶和汽水。基督教青年会。边吃边看着记秒表,每分钟嚼三十二下,然而他那上细下圆的羊排状络腮胡子还是长得密密匝匝。据说他的后台挺硬。酉奥多的堂弟在都柏林堡[97]。家家都有个显赫的亲戚。每年他总给她一株茁壮的一年生植物[98]。有一次,我看见他光着头正领着一家人从“三个快乐的醉汉”酒馆前大踏步走边。大儿子还用买东西的网兜提着一个。娃娃们大哭大叫。可怜的女人!她得年复一年,整日整夜地喂奶。这些禁酒主义者是自私自利的。马槽里的狗[99]。劳驾,红茶里我只要一块糖就够了。
他在舰队街的十字路口停下来。该吃午饭的时候了。到罗依[100]吃上一客六便士的份饭吧?还得到国立图书馆去查阅那条广告呢。倒不如到伯顿[101]去吃那八便士一客的,刚好路过那里。
他从博尔顿的韦斯特莫兰店[102]前走边。茶。茶。茶。我忘了向汤姆·克南定购茶叶啦。
咂咂咂,嗞嗞嗞!想想看,她在床上哼了三天,额头上绑着一条泡了醋的手绢,挺着个大肚子。唉!简直太可怕了!胎儿的脑袋大大啦,得用钳子。在她肚子里弯曲着身子,摸索着出口,盲目地试图往外冲。要是我的话,准把命送啦。幸而摩莉十分顺产。他们应该发明点办法来避免这样。生命始于分娩的痛苦。昏睡分娩法。维多利亚女王就使用过这种办法。她生了九胎[103]。一只多产的母鸡。老婆婆以鞋为家,生下一大群娃娃[104]。倘若他患的是肺病呢。现在该是考虑这些的时候了,而别去写什么“忧郁多思的胸脯闪着银白色光辉”[105]这类的空话了。那是哄傻子的空话。他们完全不用伤筋动骨,三下两下就能盖起一座大医院。从各种税收中,按复利借给每一个出生的娃娃五镑。按五分利计算,到了二十一岁就积累成一百零五先令了。英镑挺麻烦的,得用十进法乘二十。要鼓励大家存钱。二十一年内可存上一百一十多先令[106]。想在纸上好好计算一下。数目相当可观哩,比你想像的要多。
死胎当然不算数。连户口都不给上嘛。那是徒劳。
两个大腹便便的孕妇呆在一起,煞是可笑。摩莉和莫依塞尔太太[107]。母亲们的聚会。肺结核暂且收敛,随后又回来了。分娩后,她们的肚皮一下子就扁平了!温和的眼神。卸下了个大包袱的感觉。产婆桑顿老大娘是个快活的人儿[108]。她说:这些都是我的娃娃。喂娃娃之前,她总先把奶面糊糊的肚子放在自己嘴里尝尝。哦,好吃,好吃。替老汤姆·沃尔的儿子接生的时候,她把手扭伤了。那是他头一次亮相。脑袋活像个获奖的老倭瓜。爱生气的穆伦大夫[109]。人们随时都来敲门喊醒他。“求求您啦,大夫。我内人开始阵痛啦。”至于谢礼呢,一连拖欠几个月。那是你老婆的出诊费呀。净是些忘恩负义的家伙。医生大多是好心肠的。
爱尔兰国会大厦[110]那老高老大的门前,一簇鸽子在飞来飞去。它们吃饱了在嬉戏。咱们撒到哪个人身上呢?我挑那个穿黑衣服的家伙。撒了。好运道。从空中往下撒,该是多么过瘾啊。有一回,阿普约翰、我本人和欧文·戈德堡[111]爬上古斯草地附近的树,学猴子玩。他们叫我青花鱼[112]。
一队警察排成纵队,迈着正步从学院路走了过来。一个个吃得脸上发热,汗水顺着钢盔往下淌,轻轻地拍打着警棍。饭后,皮带底下塞满了油汪汪的浓汤。警察的日子通常过得蛮快活[113]。他们分成几股散开来,边敬礼边回到各自的地段上去。放他们出去填饱肚子。最好是在吃布丁的时候去袭击,正进餐的当儿给他一拳头。另一队警察三三两两地分散开来,绕过三一学院的栅栏,走向派出所。饲料槽在等着他们。准备迎接骑兵队。准备迎接浓汤。
他从汤米·穆尔那捣鬼[114]的指头底下横穿过去。他们把他这座铜像竖在一座小便池上,倒是做对了。众水汇合[115]。应该给妇女也修几座厕所。她们总是跑进点心铺,佯说是:“整理一下我的帽子。”世界纵然辽阔,惟数此峡……这是朱莉娅·莫尔坎[116]演唱的拿手歌曲。直到最后的时刻,她的嗓音始终都保持得洪亮如初。她是迈克尔·巴尔夫[117]的女弟子吧?
他目送着最后一名警察那穿着宽宽的制服上衣的背影。干这行当,就得对付一批棘手的主顾。杰克·鲍尔可以告诉你一桩事[118]。他爹就是一名便衣刑警。要是一个家伙在被抓的时候给了他们麻烦,等那人进了拘留所,就狠狠地让他尝尝厉害。干的是那种差事嘛,倒也难怪他们。尤其是年轻警察。乔·张伯伦在三一学院被授予学位的那一天,那个骑警为他可费了大事[119]。这是千真万确!他的马蹄沿着阿贝街一路嘚嘚嘚地朝我们逼来。幸而我灵机一动,一个箭步蹿进曼宁酒吧去,不然我准会惹上麻烦。他真是飞奔而来,想必是栽在人行道的鹅卵石上撞破了脑壳。我悔不该被卷进那批医学院学生当中。还有三一学院那些戴学士帽的一年级学生。反正就是想闹事。不过,这下子我倒结识了小迪克森。我被蜜蜂蜇了的那回,就是他在仁慈圣母医院替我包扎的。如今他在霍利斯街,普里福伊太太就在那儿。轮中套轮。[120]警笛的响声至今还萦回在我耳际。大家仓惶逃走。他为什么单单盯上了我呢?他对我说,你被捕了。事情就是这样开始的。
“支持布尔人[121]!”
“为德威特[122]三欢呼!”
“把乔·张伯伦吊死在酸苹果树上![123]”
蠢才们。成群的野小子们声嘶力竭地喊叫。醋山岗[124]。奶油交易所的乐队[125]。不出几年,其中半数就必然将成为治安法官[126]和公务员。一打起仗来,就手忙脚乱地参军。就是这些人,过去经常说,哪怕上高高的断头台。[127]
你决不知道自己在跟什么人说话。科尼·凯莱赫的眼神活像薀威维·达夫[128]。活像是那个密告“常胜军”计划的彼得——不对,是丹尼斯——不对,是詹姆斯·凯里[129],其实他是市政府的官员。他煽动莽撞的小伙子去刺探情报,暗地里地却不断从都柏林堡领取情报活动津贴。快别再跟他来往了吧,危险哩。这些穿便衣的家伙怎么老是缠住女佣啊?平素穿惯制服的人,一眼就认得出来。把女佣推得紧紧贴着后门,粗鲁地挑逗一番。接着就干起正事了。来的那位先生是谁呀?少爷说过什么没有?从钥匙孔里偷看的汤姆[130]。做囮子的野鸭。血气方刚的年轻大学生抚摩着正在熨衣服的她那丰腴的胳膊,同她起腻。
“这些是你的吗,玛丽?”
“我才不穿这样的呢,……住手,不然我就向太太告你的状。深更半夜还在外面游荡。”
“好日子快要到来了,玛丽。你等着瞧吧。[131]”
“喏,你同那快要到来的好日子一道给我滚吧。”
还有酒吧间的女招待。纸烟店的姑娘。
詹姆斯·斯蒂芬斯的主意再高明不过了。他了解对方。他们每十个人分作一组,所以一个成员就是告密也超不出本组范围[132]。新芬[133]。要是想开小差,就准会挨一刀。有只看不见的手。[134]留在党内呢,迟早会被刑警队熗杀。看守的闺女帮助他从里奇蒙越狱,乘船离开拉斯科[135]。他曾在警察的鼻子底下住进白金汉宫饭店[136]。加里波第[137]。
你得有点儿个人魅力才行,像巴涅尔那样。阿瑟·格里菲思是个奉公守法的人,然而不孚众望。要么就海阔天空地谈论“我们可爱的祖国”。腊肉烧菠菜[138]。都柏林面包公司的茶馆。那些讨论会[139]。说共和制乃是最好的政治制度,又说什么国语问题应该优先于经济问题。[140]还说你的女儿们可曾把他脽痛引到你家来呢?肉啊酒的,让他们填饱肚子。米迦勒节的鹅[141]。为你准备了一大堆调好了味的麝香草,塞在鹅的肚皮里。趁热再吃一夸脱鹅油吧。半饥半饱的宗教狂们。揣上个一便士的面包卷[142],就跟着乐队走它一遭儿。东道主忙于切肉,顾不得作感恩祷告啦。一想到另一个人会为你付钱,就吃得格外香。毫不客气。请把那些杏子——其实是桃子一一递过来。那个日子不太遥远了。爱尔兰自治的太阳正从西北方冉冉升起。
走着走着,他脸上的笑容消失了。乌云徐徐地遮住太阳,三一学院那阴郁的正面被暗影所笼罩。电车一辆接一辆地往返行驶,叮叮当当响着。说什么也是白搭。日复一日,事物毫无变化。一队警察开出去,又开回来。电车来来往往。那两个疯子到处徘徊。迪格纳穆被车载走了。麦娜·普里福伊挺着大肚皮躺在床上,呻吟着,等着娃娃从她肚子里被拽出来。每秒钟都有一个人在什么地方出生,每秒钟另外又有一个死去。自从我喂了那些鸟儿,已经过了五分钟。三百人翘了辫子,另外又有三百个呱呱落地,洗掉血迹。人人都在羔羊的血泊中被洗涤,[143]妈啊啊啊地叫着。
整整一座城市的人都死去了,又生下另一城人,然后也死去。另外又生了,也死去。房屋,一排排的房屋;街道,多少英里的人行道。堆积起来的砖,石料。易手。主人转换着。人们说,房产主是永远不会死的。此人接到搬出去的通知,另一个便来接替。他们用黄金买下了这个地方,而所有的黄金还都在他们手里。也不知道在哪个环节上诈骗的。日积月累发展成城市,又逐年消耗掉。沙中的金字塔。是啃着面包洋葱[144]盖起来的。奴隶们修筑的中国万里长城。巴比伦。而今只剩下巨石。圆塔。此外就是瓦砾,蔓延的郊区,偷工减料草草建成的屋舍。柯万用微风盖起来的那一应蘑菇般的房子[145]。只够睡上一夜的蔽身处。
大是毫无价值的。
这是一天当中最糟糕的时辰。活力。慵懒,忧郁。我就恨这个时辰。只觉得像是被谁吞下去又吐了出来似的。
学院院长的宅第。可敬的萨蒙博士。鲤鱼[146]罐头。严严实实地装在那个罐头里[147]。活像是小教堂的停尸所。即便给我钱,我也不愿意去住那样的地方。今天要是有肝和熏猪肉就好了。大自然讨厌真空状态。
太阳徐徐从云彩间钻出,使街道对面沃尔特·塞克斯顿店那橱窗里的银器熠熠发光。约翰·霍华德·巴涅尔连看也没看一眼就从橱窗前走过去了。
这是那一位的弟弟[148],跟他长得一模一样。那张脸总是在我眼前晃。这是个巧合。当然,有时你也会想到某人数百次,可就是碰不见他。他那走路的样儿,活像个梦游者。没有人认识他。今天市政府准是在召开什么会议。据说自从他就职以来,连一次也没穿过市政典礼官的制服。他的前任查理·卡瓦纳总是戴着翘角帽,头发上撒了粉,刮了胡子,得意洋洋地骑着高头大马上街。然而,瞧瞧他走路时那副狼狈相,仿佛是个在事业上一败涂地的人。一对荷包蛋般的幽灵的眼睛。我好苦恼。啊,伟人的老弟。乃兄的胞弟。他要是跨上了市政典礼官的坐骑,那才神气呢。兴许还要到都柏林面包公司去喝杯咖啡,在那儿下下象棋。他哥哥曾把部下当作“卒”来使用。对他们一概见死不救。人们吓得不敢说他一句什么。他那眼神让人见了毛骨悚然。这就是他引人瞩目的地方。名气。整个家族都有点儿神经病。疯子范妮[149],另外一个妹妹就是迪金森太太[150],给马套上猩红色挽具,赶着车子到处跑。她昂首挺胸,活像是马德尔外科医生[151]。然而在南米斯郡,这位弟弟还是败在大卫·希伊[152]手下了。他曾申请补上奇尔特恩分区·的空缺[153],然后引退成为官吏。爱国主义者的盛宴,在公园里剥桔皮吃[154]。西蒙·迪达勒斯曾经说过,他们要是把这个弟弟拉进议会,巴涅尔就会从坟墓里回来,抓住他的胳膊将他拖出下议院。
“说到这双头章鱼[155],一个脑袋长在世界的尽头忘记来到的地方,而另一个脑袋则用苏格兰口音讲话。上面长的八腕……”
有两个人沿着便道的边石走,从背后赶到布卢姆先生前面去了。胡子[156]和自行车,还有一位年轻女人。
哎呀,他也在那儿。这可真是凑巧了。是第二回。未来的事情早有过预兆。[157]承蒙著名诗人乔·拉塞尔先生的赞赏。跟他走在一起的说不定就是莉齐·特威格哩。A·E·[158]究竟是什么意思呢?兴许是名姓的首字:艾伯特、爱德华[159],阿瑟·埃德蒙[160],阿方萨斯·埃比或埃德或埃利[161]或阁下[162]。他说什么来着?世界的两端用苏格兰口音讲话。八腕:章鱼。大概是什么玄妙的法术或象征含义吧。他在滔滔不绝地说着。她一声不响地聆听着。给一位从事文字工作的先生当个助手。
他目送着那位穿手织呢衣服[163]的高个子,以及他的胡子和那辆自行车,还有他身旁那仔细聆听着的女人。他们是从素饭馆[164]走出来的,只吃了些蔬菜和水果,不吃牛排。你要是吃了,那头母牛的双眼就会永远盯着你。他们说,素食更有益于健康。不过,老是放屁撒尿。我试过。成天净跑厕所了。跟患气胀病[165]一样糟糕。通宵达旦地做梦。他们为什么把给我吃的那玩艺儿叫作坚果排[166]呢?坚果主义者,果食主义者。让你觉得你吃的像是牛腿扒。真荒谬。而且咸得很。是用苏打水煮的[167]。害得你整晚守在自来水笼头旁边。
她那双长袜松垮垮地卷在脚脖子上。我最讨厌这个样子,太不雅观了。他们统统是搞文学、有灵气的人。梦幻般的,朦朦胧胧的,象征主义的。他们是唯美主义者。就算是你所看到的食物会造成那种富于诗意的脑波,我也毫不以为奇。就拿那些连衬衫都被爱尔兰土豆洋葱炖羊肉般的黏汗浸透了的警察来说吧,你从他们当中的任何一个也挤不出一行诗来。他甚至不晓得诗是什么。非得沉浸在某种情绪里才行。
梦幻一般朦胧的海鸥,
在沉滞的水土飞翔。[168]
他在纳索街角穿过马路,站在耶茨父子公司[169]的橱窗前,估计着双筒望远镜的价码。要么我到老哈里斯家去串门,跟小辛克莱[170]聊一聊吧?他是个文质彬彬的人。此刻多半正吃着午饭哪。得把我那架旧望远镜送去修理啦。戈埃兹棱镜片要六基尼。德国人到处钻。他们靠优惠条件来占领市场。削价抢生意。兴许能从铁路遗失物品管理处买上一架。人们忘掉在火车上和小件寄存处的物品之多,简直惊人。脑子里都在想些什么呢?女人也是这样。真是难以置信。去年到恩尼斯去旅行的时候,我只好替那个农场主的女儿捡起她的手提包,在利默里克[171]换车的当儿交给了她。还有无人认领的钱呢。银行屋顶上有一块小表[172],是用来测试这些望远镜的。
他把眼睑一直耷拉到虹膜的底边。瞧不见。倘若你设想着表在那儿,你就好像能看见似的。然而还是瞧不见。
他掉转身去,站在两个布篷之间,朝太阳伸直了右臂,张开手。他已多次想这么尝试一下了。是啊,很完整。用小指头尖儿遮着太阳的圆盘[173]。淮薀外线在这里聚焦的缘故。我要是有副墨镜就好了。那该多么有趣呀。我们住在伦巴德西街的时候,关于太阳的黑子,大家议论纷纷。那是可怕的爆炸形成的。今年将有日全蚀,秋季不定什么时候。
现在我才想起来。原来那个报时球是按照格林威治标准时间下降的。从邓辛克接上一根电线,用来操纵时钟。我一定得在某月的第一个星期六去看一趟。我要是能弄到一封给乔利教授[174]的介绍信,或是找到一些有关他的家谱的资料才好呢。叫他出其不意地受到恭维。这挺灵。他会感到怡然自得。贵族总以做国王情妇的后裔为荣。他的女祖先。反正竭力阿谀。脱帽鞠躬,必然畅通无阻。[175]可不能一进去就信口开河地说些明知道不该说的话:视差是什么?结果款是:把这位先生领出去。
哎呀。
他又把右手垂到身边了。
关于这些,完全不摸头脑。纯粹是浪费时间。一个个气体球儿旋转着。相互交错,然后消失。亘古及今,周而复始。起初是气体,接着就薀吞体,然后是世界。冷却了,死去的硬壳四处漂流,冻僵的岩石宛如菠萝糖块[176]。月亮。她说:淮是升起了新月。我也相信是这样。
他从克莱尔屋[177]前走过。
且慢。两周前的星期日我们在那儿时是满月,所以今天应该刚好是新月。我们沿着托尔卡河往下游走去。费尔维尤那里适宜观赏月色。[178]她低吟着:五月的新月喜洋洋,宝贝。那个男人走在她的另一侧。肘。胳膊。他。萤光灯一闪一闪的,宝贝。[179]互相触摸。指头。这个提出要求。那个回答:好的。
别想下去了,别想下去了。既然必须这样,那就只好这样坝。必须[180]。
布卢姆先生呼吸急促,放慢脚步穿过亚当小巷。
他的心情好容易才宁静下来,神态安详地放眼望去。大白天在这条街上走着的,正是肩膀颇像酒瓶的鲍勃·多兰[181]。麦科伊曾说,他一年一度痛饮一遭。他们纵酒是为了说点什么或者做点什么,要么就是为了追女人[182]。跟相公们和妓女们在库姆街鬼混一阵,一年里的其他日子就像法官那么清醒。
对,果然不出所料。他正溜进帝国酒馆。消失了。光喝苏打水有益于他的健康。在惠特布雷德经营女王剧院之前,这里原是帕特·金塞拉开哈普剧院[183]的地方。他仍保持着孩子气。按照戴恩·鲍西考尔待[184]的派头,在秋月般的脸上扣着一顶式样俗气的无檐圆帽。《三个俊俏姑娘放学了》。[185]日子过得真快啊。呃?他的裙子底下露出长长的红裤子。酒徒们喝啊,笑啊,忽而喷溅出酒沫子,忽而又给酒呛住了。再给我满上吧,帕特。刺眼的红色。醉鬼门寻欢作乐。哄堂大笑,喷烟吐雾。摘下那顶白帽子。[186]他那双喝得挂满了血红的眼睛。现在他到哪儿去啦?在什么地方当叫化子呢。那把竖琴害得我们大家挨过饿。[187]
那阵子我更幸福一些。可那时的我究竟是我吗?或许难道现在的我才是我吗?当时我二十八,她二十三。我们从伦巴德西街搬走之后[188],起了点儿变化。鲁迪一死,再也不能像往常那样啦。没法叫时光倒流。那就像是想用手去攥住水似的。难道你想回到那个时期吗?刚开始的那个时期。真想吗?你在自己家里不幸福吗,你这可怜的小淘气鬼?她恨不得替我钉钮扣哩。我得写封回信。到图书馆去写吧。
格拉夫顿街上,花花哨哨地张挂着商店的遮阳篷,使他眼花·镣乱。平纹印花细布,穿绸衣的太太们和上了岁数的贵妇,还有发出一片叮当声的挽具,在灼热的街道[189]上低低地响着的马蹄声。那个穿白袜子的女人有着一双粗腿。但愿下场雨,把她弄得满脚烂泥。士里土气的乡巴佬。那些胖到脚后跟的统统都来啦。女人一发福,腿就那么臃肿。摩莉的腿看上去也不直溜。
他遛遛达达地从布朗·托马斯开的那爿绸缎铺的橱窗前走过。瀑布般的飘带。中国薄绢。从一只倾斜的雍口里垂下血红色的府绸。红艳艳的血。是胡格诺派教徒带进来的。事业是神圣的。嗒啦。嗒啦。那个合唱可精彩啦。嗒咧,嗒啦。得用雨水来洗。梅耶贝尔。咯啦。嘣嘣嘣。[190]
针插。我老早就催老婆去买一个了。她到处乱插。窗帘上也插了好儿根。
他挽了挽左袖:蜇的痕迹差不多看不见啦。今天就算了吧。得折回去取化妆水。也许等她过生日那天再去买吧。六、七、八,九月八日。差不多还有三个月呢。何况她未必喜欢。女人不肯捡起针来,说是那样就会把爱情断送掉。[191]
闪亮的绸缎,搭在纤细黄铜栏杆上一条条的衬裙,摆成辐射状的扁平长筒丝袜闪闪发光。
回忆过去是徒然的。该当怎样就怎样。把一切都向我讲了吧。
高嗓门。被太阳晒暖了的绸缎。马具叮当响。一切都是为了一个女人:家庭和房子,丝织品,银器,多汗的水果,来自雅法的香料。移民垦殖公司[192]。全世界的财富。
一个温馨、丰腴的肉体在他的头脑里安顿下来。他的脑子屈服了,拥抱的芳香从四面八方向他袭来。他的肉体隐然感到如饥似渴,默默地渴望着热烈的爱。
公爵街。终于到了。必须吃点儿什么。伯顿饭馆。那样就会舒坦一点。
他在剑桥[193]的犄綗驼了弯,依然被那种感觉纠缠着。叮当声,马蹄
[ 此帖被soneyky在2012-12-24 08:34重新编辑 ]
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8、菠萝味硬虩望,蜜饯柠檬,黄油糖块


菠萝味硬虩望,蜜饯柠檬,黄油糖块。一个被糖弄得黏糊糊的姑娘正在为基督教兄弟会的在俗修士[1]一满杓一满杓地舀着奶油。学校里要举行什么集会吧。让学童享一次口福吧,可是对他们的肠胃并不好。国王陛下御用[2]菱形虩望及糖衣果仁制造厂。上帝拯救我们的……[3]坐在宝座上,把红色的枣味胶糖嘬到发白为止。
一个神色阴郁的基督教青年会[4]的小伙子,站在格雷厄姆·莱蒙的店铺溢出来的温馨、芳香的水蒸气里,留心观察着过往行人,把一张传单塞到布卢姆先生手里。
推心置腹的谈话。
布卢……指的是我吗?不是。
羔羊的血。[5]
他边读边迈着缓慢的步子朝河边走去。你得到拯救了吗?在羔羊的血里洗涤了一切罪愆。上主要求以血做牺牲。分娩,处女膜,殉教,战争,被活埋在房基下者,献身,肾脏的燔祭,德鲁伊特的祭台。[6]。以利亚来了。[7]锡安教会的复兴者约翰·亚历山大·道维博士[8]来了。
来了!来了!!来啦!!!
大家衷心欢迎。
这行当挺划算。去年,托里和亚历山大[9]来了。一夫多妻主义。他的妻子会阻拦的。我是在哪儿见到伯明翰某商行那个夜光十字架的广告来看?我们的救世主。半夜醒来,瞥见他悬挂在墙上。佩珀显灵的手法。[10]把铁钉扎了进去。[11]
那准是用磷做的。比方说,倘若你留下一段鳕鱼,就能看见上面泛起一片蓝糊糊的银光。那天夜里我下楼到厨房的食橱去。那里弥漫着各种气味,一打开橱门就冲过来,可不好闻。她想要吃什么来看?乌拉加葡萄干[12]。她在思念西班牙。那是鲁迪出生以前的事。那种蓝糊糊、发绿的玩艺儿就是磷光。对大脑非常有益。
他从巴特勒这座纪念碑房[13]的拐角处眺望巴切勒步道。迪达勒斯的闺女还呆在狄龙的拍卖行外面呢。准是出售什么旧家具来了。她那双眼睛跟她父亲的一模一样,所以一下子就认得出来。她闲荡着,等候父亲出来。母亲一死,一个家必然就不成其为家了。他有十五个孩子,几乎每年生一个。这就是他们的教义[14],否则神父就不让那可怜的女人忏悔,更不给她赦罪。生养并繁殖吧[15]。你可曾听到过如此荒唐的想法?连家带产都吃个精光。神父本人反正用不着养家糊口。他们享受丰足的生活[16]。神父的酒窖和食品库。我倒是想看看他们在赎罪日[17]是否严格遵守绝食的规定。十字面包[18]。先吃上一顿饭,再着补一道茶点,免得晕倒在祭坛前。你可以去问问一位神父所雇用的管家婆。绝对打听不出来的。正如从她的主人那里讨不到英镑、先令或便士。他独自过得蛮富裕,从来不请客。对旁人一毛不拔。连家里的水都看得很严。你得自带黄油抹面包。[19]神父大人,闭上你的嘴。
天哪,那个可怜的小妞儿,衣服破破烂烂的。她看上去好像营养也不良。成天是土豆和人造黄油,人造黄油和土豆。[20]当他们感觉到的时候,就已来不及了。布丁好坏,一尝便知。这样,身体会垮的。
当他来到奥康内尔桥头时,一大团烟像羽毛般地从栏杆处袅袅升起。那是啤酒厂的一艘驳船,载有供出口的烈性黑啤酒,正驶向英国。我听说海风会使啤酒变酸的。哪一天我要是能通过汉考克弄到一张参观券就好啦,去看看那家啤酒公司[21]该多么有趣。它本身就是个井然有序的世界。排列着大桶大桶的黑啤酒,一派宏伟景象。老鼠也蹿了进来,把肚皮喝得胀鼓鼓的,大得宛若一条柯利狗[22],漂在酒面上。啤酒喝得烂醉如泥。一直喝到像个基督徒那样[23]呕吐出来。想想看,让我们喝这玩艺儿!老鼠,大桶。喏,倘若我们晓得这一切,可就……
他朝下面望去,瞥见几只海鸥使劲拍着翅膀,在萧瑟的码头岸壁间兜着圈子。外面正闹着天气。倘若我纵身跳下去,又将会怎样?吕便·杰的儿子想必就曾灌进一肚子那样的污水。多给了一先令八便士[24]。嘻嘻嘻。西蒙·迪达勒斯的话说得就是这样俏皮。他也确实会讲故事。
海鸥兜着圈子,越飞越低,在寻找猎物。等一等。
他把揉成一团的纸[25]朝海鸥群中掷去。以利亚以每秒三十二英尺的速度前来。海鸥们根本不予理睬。受冷落的纸团落在汹涌浪涛的尾波上,沿着桥墩漂向下游。它们才不是什么大笨蛋呢。有一天我从爱琳王号[26]上也扔了块陈旧的点心,海鸥竟在船后五十码的尾流中把它叼住了。它脽湍翼兜着圈子飞翔,就这样凭着智慧生存下来。
海鸥啊饿得发慌,
飞翔在沉滞的水上。
诗人就这样合辙押韵。莎士比亚却不用韵体。他写的是无韵诗。语言流畅,思想宏伟。
哈姆莱特,我是你父亲的灵魂,
注定在地上游行相当一个时期。[27]
“两个苹果一便士!两个一便士!”
他的视线扫过排列在货摊上那些光溜溜的苹果。这个季节嘛,准是从澳大利亚运来的。果皮发亮,想必是用抹布或手绢擦的。
且慢。还有那些可怜的鸟儿哪。
他又停下脚步来,花一便士从卖苹果的老妪手里买了两块班伯里[28]点心,掰开那酥脆的糕饼,一块块地扔进利菲河。瞧见了吗?起初是两只,紧接着所有的海鸥都悄悄地从高处朝猎物猛扑过去,全吃光了。一丁点儿也没剩。他意识到它们的贪婪和诡诈,就将手上沾的点心渣儿掸下去。它们未曾指望会有这样的口福。吗哪[29]。所有的海鸟——海鸥也罢,海鹅也罢,都靠食鱼而生,连肉都带鱼腥味了。安娜·利菲[30]的白天鹅有时顺流而下,游到这里,就用嘴梳理自己的羽毛,炫耀一番。人各有所好。也不晓得天鹅的肉是什么滋味儿。鲁滨孙·克鲁索只得靠它们的肉为生呢。[31]
它们有气无力地拍翅兜着圈子。我再也不去给你们啦。一便士的就蛮够啦。你们本该好好地向我道声谢的,可是连“呱”的一声都没叫。而且它们还传染口蹄疫。倘若净用栗子粉来喂火鸡,肉也会变成栗子味的。吃猪就像猪。然而咸水鱼为什么不咸呢?究竟是怎么回事?
他扫视着河面,想寻求个答案。只见一般划艇停泊在形似糖浆的汹涌浪涛上,懒洋洋地摇晃着它那灰胶纸拍板。
吉诺批发店[32]
11
裤子
那倒是个好主意。也不晓得吉诺向市政府当局交租金不。你怎么可能真正拥有水呢?它不断地流,随时都变动着,我们在流逝的人生中追溯着它的轨迹。因为生命是流动的。任何场所统统适合禑豌告。每一应公用厕所都有治淋病的庸医的招贴。而今完全看不到了。严加保密。亨利·弗兰克斯大夫[33]。跟舞蹈师傅马金尼[34]的自我广告一样,一分钱也不用花。要么托人去贴,要么趁着深更半夜悄悄跑进去,借解钮扣的当儿,自己把它贴上。麻利得就像夜晚躲债的。这地方再合适不过了。“禁止张贴广告”、“邮寄一百零十粒药丸”。有人服下去,心里火烧火燎的。
倘若他……
哦!
呃?
不……不。
不,不。我不相信。他该不至于吧?
不,不。
布卢姆先生抬起神情困惑的眼睛,向前踱去。不要再想这个了。一点钟过了。港务总局的报时球已经降下来了。邓辛克[35]标准时间。罗伯特·鲍尔爵士[36]的那本小书饶有趣味。视差。我始终也没弄清楚这个词的意思。那儿有个神父,可以去问问他。这词儿是希腊文:平行,视差。我告诉她什么叫作“轮回”之前,她管它叫“遇见了他尖头胶皮管”[37]。哦,别转文啦!
布卢姆先生想起“哦,别转文啦!”这句话,朝着港务总居的两扇窗户泛出微笑。她的话毕竟是对的。用夸张的字眼来表达平凡的事物,只不过是取其音调而已。她讲话并不俏皮,有时候还挺粗鲁。我只是心里想想的话,她却脱口捅了出来。但是倒也不尽然。她常说,本·多拉德有着一副下贱的桶音[38]。他那两条腿款跟桶一样,他仿佛在往桶里唱歌。喏,这话不是说得蛮俏皮吗!他们通常管他叫“大本钟”[39]。远不如称他作“下贱的桶音”来得俏皮。他们饭量大如信天翁。一头牛的脊肉,一顿就吃光。他喝上等巴斯啤酒的本事也不含糊。是只啤酒桶。怎么样?俏皮话说得都很贴切吧。
一排穿白罩褂、胸前背后挂着广告牌的人正沿着明沟慢慢地朝他走来。每个人都在广告牌上斜系着一条猩红的饰带。大甩卖。他们正像今天早晨那位神父一样:我们犯了罪。我们受了苦[40]。他读着分别写在他们那五顶白色高帽上的红字母:H·E·L·Y·’S。威兹德姆。希利商店。[41]帽子上写着Y的男子放慢脚步,从胸前的广告牌下面取出一大块面包塞到嘴里,边走边狼吞虎咽着。我们每天在主食上花三先令,沿着明沟,穿街走巷。靠面包和稀稀的麦片粥,勉强把皮和骨连在一起。他们不是博伊——不,而是默·格拉德[42]的伙计。反正招徕不了多少顾客。我曾向他建议,让两个美女坐在一辆透明的陈列车里写信,并摆上笔记本、信封和吸墨纸。我敢断定,那准会轰动。美女写字,马上就会引人注目。人人都渴望知道她在写什么。要是你站在那里望空发楞,就会有二十个人围上来。谁都想参与别人的事,女人也是如此。好奇心。盐柱[43]。希利不肯接受这个主意,因为这不是他首先想出来的。找还建议做个墨水瓶的广告,用黑色赛璐珞充当流出来的墨水渍。他在广告方面的想法就像在讣告栏底下刊登李树商标肉罐头,冷肉部。你不能小看它们。什么?敝店的信封。——喂,琼斯,你到哪儿去呀?——鲁滨孙,我不能耽误,得赶紧去买唯一靠得住的坎塞尔牌消字灵,戴姆街八十五号希利商店出售的。幸而我不再在那儿干了。去那些修道院收帐可真是件苦差事。特兰奎拉女修道院[44]。那儿有个漂亮的修女,一张脸长得可真俊。小小的头上包着尖头巾,非常合适。修女?修女?从她的眼神来看,我敢说她曾失过恋。跟那种女人是很难讨价还价的。那天早晨她正在祈祷的时候,我打扰了她。但是她好像蛮乐意跟外界接触。她说,这是我们的大日子。迦密山[45]的圣母节。名字也挺甜,像糖蜜[46]。她认识我,从她那副样子也看得出,她认识我。要是她结了婚,就不会这样了。我估计修女们确实缺钱。尽管如此,不论煎什么,她们仍旧用上等黄油。她们可不用猪油。吃大油吃得我直烧心。她们喜欢里里外外抹黄油。摩莉掀起头巾,在品尝黄油。修女?她叫帕特·克拉费伊,是当铺的女儿。人们说,铁蒺藜就是一位尼姑发明的[47]。
当那个帽子上写着带有撇号的S字[48]的人拖着深重的脚步走过去后,他才横穿过韦斯特莫兰街。罗弗自行车铺。今天举行赛车会[49]。那是多久以前的事儿来看?是菲尔·吉利根[50]去世的那一年。我们住在伦巴德西街。且慢,当时我正在汤姆[51]的店铺来着。我们结婚那一年,我在威兹德姆·希利的店里找到了工作。六年。他是十年前——九四年[52]死的。对,就是阿诺特公司着大火的那一年。维尔·狄龙正任市长[53]。格伦克里的午餐会[54]。市参议员罗伯特·奥赖利在比赛开始前,将葡萄酒全倒进汤里。吧唧吧唧替内在的参议员把它舔干净[55]。简直听不清乐队在演奏什么。主啊,所赐万惠,我等……[56]那时候,米莉还是个小娃娃哩。摩莉身穿那件钉着盘花饰扣的灰象皮色衣服。那是男裁缝的手艺,钉了包扣。她不喜欢这身衣服,因为她头一回穿它去参加合唱队在糖锥山[57]举行的野餐会那一天,我把脚脖子扭伤了。就好像该怪它似的。老古德温的大礼帽仿佛是用什么黏糊糊的东西修补过的。那也是给苍蝇开的野餐会哩。她从未穿过剪裁这么得体的衣服。不论肩膀还是臀部,都像戴手套一样,刚好合身。那阵子她的体态开始丰腴了。当天我们吃的是兔肉馅饼。大家都追着她看。
幸福啊。当时我们可比现在幸福。舒适的小房间,四周糊着红色墙纸。是在多克雷尔那家店[58]里买的,每打一先令九便士。给米莉洗澡的那个晚上,我买了一块美国香皂,接骨木花的。澡水散发出馨香的气味。她浑身涂满肥皂,真逗。身材也蛮好。如今她正干着照相这一行。我那可怜的爹告诉我,他曾搞过一间银板照相的暗室[59]。这也是一种祖传的兴趣吧。
他沿着人行道的边石走去。
生命的长河[60]。那个活像是神父的家伙姓什么来着?每逢路过的时候,他总是斜眼望着我们家。视力不佳,女人。曾在圣凯文步道的西特伦[61]家住过一阵子。姓彭什么的。是彭迪尼斯吗?近来我的记性简直。彭……?当然喽,那是多年以前的事啦。也许是电车的噪音闹的。哦,要是连每天见面的排字房老领班姓什么都记不起来的话[62]。
巴特尔·达西[63]是当时开始出名的男高音歌手。排练后,总送她回家。他是个自命不凡的家伙,用发蜡把胡子捻得挺拔。他教会了她《南方刮来的风》这首歌。
风刮得很猛的那个晚上,我去接她。古德温的演奏会刚在市长官邸的餐厅或橡木室里举行完毕。分会正在那里为彩票的事开着碰头会[64]。他和我跟在后面走。我手里拿着她的乐谱,其中一张被刮得贴在高中校舍的栏杆上。幸亏没刮跑。这种事会破坏她整个儿晚上的情绪。古德温教授跟她相互挽着臂走在前面。可怜的老酒鬼摇摇晃晃,脚步蹒跚。这是他的告别演奏会了,肯定是最后一次在任何舞台上露面。也许几个月,也许是永远地[65]。我还记得她冲着风畅笑,竖起挡风雪的领子。记得吧?在哈考特街角上,一阵狂风。呜呜呜!她的裙子整个儿被掀起,她那圆筒形皮毛围巾把老古德温勒得几乎窒息而死。她被风刮得涨红了脸。记得回家后,我把火捅旺,替她煎了几片羊腿肉当晚餐,并浇上她爱吃的酸辣酱。还有加了糖和香料、烫热了的甘蔗酒。从壁炉那儿可以瞥见她在卧室里正解开紧身褡的金属卡子。雪白的。
她的紧身褡嗖的一声轻飘飘地落在床上。总是带着她的体温。她一向喜欢松开一切束缚。她在那儿坐到将近两点钟,一根根地摘下发卡。米莉严严实实地裹在小床里。幸福啊,幸福,就在那个夜晚……
“哦,布卢姆先生,你好吗?”
“哦,你好吗,布林太太[66]?”
“抱怨也是白搭。摩莉近来怎么样?我好久没见着她啦。”
“精神抖擞,”布卢姆先生快活地说,“喏,知道吗,米莉在穆林加尔找到工作啦。”
“离开家啦?可真了不起!”
“可不是嘛,在一家照相馆里干活儿。像火场一样忙得团团转。您府上的孩子们好吗?”
“个个都有一张吃饭的嘴,”布林太太说。
她究竟有多少儿女呢?眼下倒不像是在身怀六甲。
“你戴着孝哪。难道是……?”
“没有,”布卢姆先生说,“我刚刚参加了一场丧礼。”
可以想象,今天一整天都会不断有人问起,谁死啦?什么时候怎么死的?反正躲也躲不掉。
“嗳呀妈呀!”布林太太说,“我希望总不是什么近亲。”
倒也不妨让她表表同情。
“姓迪格纳穆的,”布卢姆先生说,“是我的一位老朋友。他死得十分突然,可怜的人哪。我相信得的是心脏病。葬礼是今天早晨举行的。”
你的葬礼在明天,
当你穿过裸麦田[67]。
嗨唷嗬,咿呀嗨,
嗨唷嗬……
“老朋友死了真令人伤心,”布林太太说,她那女性的眼睛里露出悲怆的神色。
这个话题就说到这儿吧。还是适可而止。轻轻地问候一声她老公吧。
“你先生——当家的好吗?”
布林太太抬起她那双大眼睛。她的眼神倒还没失去往日的光泽。
“哦。可别提他啦!”她说,“他这个人哪,连响尾蛇都会被他吓倒的。眼下他在餐馆里拿着法律书正在查找着诽谤罪的条例哪。我这条命早晚会送在他手里。等一等,我给你看个东西。”
一股热腾腾的仿甲鱼汤蒸气同刚烤好的酥皮果酱馅饼和果酱布丁卷的热气从哈里森饭馆里直往外冒。浓郁的午餐气味刺激着布卢姆先生的胃口。为了做美味的油酥点心,就需要黄油、上等面粉和德梅拉拉沙糖[68]。要么就和滚烫的红茶一道吃。气味或许是这个妇女身上散发出来的吧?一个赤脚的流浪儿站在格子窗跟前,嗅着那一股股香味。借此来缓和一下饥饿的煎熬。这究竟是快乐还是痛苦呢?廉价午餐。刀叉都锁在桌上[69]。
她打开薄皮制成的手提包。帽子上的饰针:对这玩艺儿得当心点儿——在电车里可别戳着什么人的眼睛。乱找一气。敞着口儿。钱币。请自己拿一枚吧。她们要是丢了六便士,那可就麻烦啦。惊天动地。丈夫吵吵嚷嚷:“星期一我给你的十先令哪儿去啦?难道你在养活你弟弟一家人吗?脏手绢。药瓶。刚掉下去的是喉咙片。这个女人要干什么?……
“准是升起了新月,”她说,”一到这时候老毛病就犯啦。你猜他昨儿晚上干什么来着?”
她不再用手翻找了。她惊愕地睁大了一双眼睛盯着他,十分惊愕,可还露着笑意。
“怎么啦?”布卢姆先生问。
让她说吧。直勾勾地盯着她的眼睛。我相信你的话,相信我吧。
“夜里,他把我叫醒啦,”她说,“他做了个梦,一场噩梦。”
消化不良呗。
“他说,黑桃幺[70]走上楼梯来啦。”
“黑桃幺!”布卢姆先生说。
她从手提包里掏出一张折叠起来的明信片。
“念念看,”她说,“他今天早晨接到的。”
“这是什么?”布卢姆先生边接过明信片,边说,“万事休矣。”
“万事休矣:完蛋[71],”她说,“有人在捉弄他。不论是谁干的,真是太缺德啦。”
“确实是这样,”布卢姆先生说。
她把明信片收回去,叹了口气。
“他这会子就要到门顿先生的事务所去。他说他要起诉,要求赔偿一万镑。”
她把明信片叠好,放回她那凌乱的手提包,啪的一声扣上金属卡口。
两年前她穿的也是这件蓝哔叽衣服,料子已经褪色了。从前它可风光过。耳朵上有一小绺蓬乱的头发。还有那顶式样俗气的无檐女帽上头还缀了三颗古色古香的葡萄珠,这才勉强戴得出去。一位寒酸的淑女。从前她可讲究穿戴啦。如今嘴边已经出现了皱纹。才比摩莉大上一两岁。
那个女人从她身旁走过去的时候,曾用怎样的眼神瞅她!残酷啊。不公正的女性[72]。
他依然盯着她,竭力不把心头的不悦形之于色。仿甲鱼汤、牛尾汤、咖哩鸡肉汤的气味冲鼻。我也饿了。她那衣服的贴边上还沾着点心屑呢,腮帮子上也巴着糖渣子。填满了各色果品馅儿的大黄酥皮饼[73]。那时候她叫乔西·鲍威尔。那是好久以前的事了,在海豚仓的卢克·多伊尔家玩过哑剧字谜[74]。万事休矣,完蛋。
换个话题吧。
“最近你见着博福伊太太了吗?”布卢姆先生问。
“米娜·普里福伊吗?”她说。
我脑子里想的是非利普·博福伊。戏迷俱乐部。马查姆经常想起那一妙举[75]。我拉没拉那链儿呢?[76]拉了,那是最后一个动作。
“是的。”
“我刚才顺路去探望了她一下,看看她是不是已分娩了。眼下她住进了霍利斯街的妇产医院。是霍恩大夫[72]让她住院的。她已足足折腾了三天。”
“哦,”布卢姆先生说,“我听了很难过。”
“可不是嘛,”布林太太说,“家里还有一大帮娃娃哪。护士告诉我,是不常见的难产。”
“哎呀,”布卢姆先生说。
他的目光表露着深切的怜悯,全神贯注地倾听她这个消息,同情地砸着舌头:“啧!啧!”
“我听了很难过,”他说,“怪可怜的!三天啦!够她受的!”
布林太太点了点头。
“从星期二起,阵痛就开始啦……”
布卢姆先生轻轻地碰了一下她的胳膊肘尖儿,提醒她说:
“当心!让这个人过去吧。”
一个瘦骨嶙峋的人从河边沿着人行道的边石大步流星地走了过来,隔着系有沉甸甸的带子的单片眼镜,茫然地凝视着阳光。一顶小帽像头巾一般紧紧地箍在他头上。迈一步,夹在腋下的那件折叠起来的风衣、拐杖和雨伞就晃荡一阵。
“瞧他,”布卢姆先生说,“总是在街灯外侧走路。瞧啊!”
“我可以问一下他是谁吗?”布林太太说,“他是个半疯儿吗?”
“他名叫卡什尔·博伊尔·奥康内尔·菲茨莫里斯·蒂斯代尔·法雷尔[78],”布卢姆先生笑眯眯地说,“瞧啊!”
“这串儿够长的啦,”她说,“丹尼斯迟早也会变成这个样子。”
她突然闭上了嘴。
“他出来啦,”她说,“我得跟着他走。再见吧。请代我向摩莉问候一声,好吗?”
“好的,”布卢姆先生说。
他望着她一路躲闪着行人,走到店铺前面去。丹尼斯·布林身穿紧巴巴的长礼服,脚登蓝色帆布鞋,腋下紧紧地夹着两部沉甸甸的大书,从哈里森饭馆里抱着脚步走了出来。像往常一样,仿佛是一阵风把他从海湾刮来的似的。他听任她赶上自己,并没有感到意外,一路朝她掀起他那脏巴兮兮的灰胡子,摆动着皮肉松弛的下巴,热切地说着什么。
疯狂[79]。完全疯啦。
布卢姆先生继续轻松愉快地走去。瞥见前面阳光下那顶像头巾一般紧紧地箍在头上的小帽,还有那大摇大摆地晃荡着的拐杖、雨伞和风衣。瞧瞧他!又离开了人行道。这也是在世上鬼混的一种方式。还有另一个披头散发、衣衫槛褛的老疯子,到处闲荡。如果跟这种人一道过日子,必然够呛。
万事休矣,完蛋。那准是阿尔夫·柏根或里奇·古尔丁干的。毫无疑问,是在苏格兰屋[80]开着玩笑写的。他正前往门顿的事务所。一路用那双牡蛎般的眼睛瞪着明信片的那副样子,足以让众神人饱眼福。
他从爱尔兰时报[81]社前走过。那儿兴许还放着其他应征者的回信哩。我倒巴不得统统给答复了。这制度倒是替罪犯大开方便之门:暗码。现在正是吃午饭的时候。那边那个戴眼镜的职员并不认识我。啊,就把他们先撂在那儿,慢慢儿来吧。光是把那四十四封信测览一遍就够费事的了。招聘一名精干的女打字员,协助一位先生从事文字工作。找曾管你叫淘气鬼,因为我不喜欢那另一个世界。请告诉我它的含意。请告诉我,你太太使用哪一种香水[82]。告诉我世界是谁创造的。她们就像这样劈头盖脑地向你提出各种问题。另外一个叫莉齐·特威格[83],说是,我的文学作品有幸受到著名诗人A·E·(乔·拉塞尔先生)的赞赏。她边呷着浑浊的茶,边翻看一本诗集,连梳理头发的工夫都没有。
这家报纸登小广告赛过任何一家。如今扩大到各郡。聘请厨师兼总管家,一级烹调,并有女仆打下手。征聘性格活泼的酒柜侍者。今有品行端正的女青年(罗马天主教徒),愿在水果店或猪肉铺觅职。那份报纸是詹姆斯·卡莱尔[84]创办的,百分之六点五的股息。买科茨公司的股票大赚了一笔。一步一步地来。老奸巨滑的苏格兰守财奴。净写一些溜须拍马的报道。我们这位宽厚而深孚众望的总督夫人啦。如今,他连《爱尔兰狞猎报》[85]也给买下来了。蒙卡什尔夫人产后已完全康复,昨日率领医院俱乐部的一批猎犬骑马前往拉思奥斯参加放猎大会[86]。不能食用的狐狸[87]。也有专为果腹而狞猎的。恐怖感能使猎物的肉变得松软多汁。她的骑法就跟男子汉一样,叉开腿跨在马背上。这是一位能够拔山扛鼎的女狞猎家。侧鞍也罢,后鞍也罢,她一概不骑,乔可决不要[88]!集合时她首先赶了来。及至杀死猎物时,她也亲临现场。有些女骑手简直健壮得像母种马一样。她们在马房周围大摇大摆地转悠。一眨眼的工夫就把一杯不兑水的白兰地一饮而尽。今天早晨呆在格罗夫纳饭店前的那个女人嗖的一下就上了马车。嘘——嘘。她敢骑在马上跨过一道石墙或有着五根横木的障碍物[89]。那个瘪鼻子的电车司机想必薀褪意使的坏。[90]她究竟长得像谁呢?对啦!像是曾经在谢尔本饭店把自己的旧罩衫和黑色衬衣卖给我的那位米莉亚姆·丹德拉德太太[91]。离了婚的西班牙裔美国人。我摆弄它们时,她毫不理会。大概把我看成她的衣服架子了。我是在总督的宴会上遇到她的。公园护林人斯塔布新[92]把我和《快报》[93]的维兰带进去参加了。吃的是那些达官贵人的残羹剩汤。一顿有肉食的茶点。我把蛋黄酱当炸乳蛋羹,浇在李子布丁上了。打那以后,她一定耳鸣了好几个星期。我恨不得当她的公牛。她是个天生的花魁。谢天谢地,看孩子可别找她。
可怜的普里福伊太太!丈夫是个循道公会[94]教徒。他说的虽然是疯话,其中却包含着哲理[95]。中午吃教育奶场[96]所生产的番红花甜面包,喝牛奶和汽水。基督教青年会。边吃边看着记秒表,每分钟嚼三十二下,然而他那上细下圆的羊排状络腮胡子还是长得密密匝匝。据说他的后台挺硬。酉奥多的堂弟在都柏林堡[97]。家家都有个显赫的亲戚。每年他总给她一株茁壮的一年生植物[98]。有一次,我看见他光着头正领着一家人从“三个快乐的醉汉”酒馆前大踏步走边。大儿子还用买东西的网兜提着一个。娃娃们大哭大叫。可怜的女人!她得年复一年,整日整夜地喂奶。这些禁酒主义者是自私自利的。马槽里的狗[99]。劳驾,红茶里我只要一块糖就够了。
他在舰队街的十字路口停下来。该吃午饭的时候了。到罗依[100]吃上一客六便士的份饭吧?还得到国立图书馆去查阅那条广告呢。倒不如到伯顿[101]去吃那八便士一客的,刚好路过那里。
他从博尔顿的韦斯特莫兰店[102]前走边。茶。茶。茶。我忘了向汤姆·克南定购茶叶啦。
咂咂咂,嗞嗞嗞!想想看,她在床上哼了三天,额头上绑着一条泡了醋的手绢,挺着个大肚子。唉!简直太可怕了!胎儿的脑袋大大啦,得用钳子。在她肚子里弯曲着身子,摸索着出口,盲目地试图往外冲。要是我的话,准把命送啦。幸而摩莉十分顺产。他们应该发明点办法来避免这样。生命始于分娩的痛苦。昏睡分娩法。维多利亚女王就使用过这种办法。她生了九胎[103]。一只多产的母鸡。老婆婆以鞋为家,生下一大群娃娃[104]。倘若他患的是肺病呢。现在该是考虑这些的时候了,而别去写什么“忧郁多思的胸脯闪着银白色光辉”[105]这类的空话了。那是哄傻子的空话。他们完全不用伤筋动骨,三下两下就能盖起一座大医院。从各种税收中,按复利借给每一个出生的娃娃五镑。按五分利计算,到了二十一岁就积累成一百零五先令了。英镑挺麻烦的,得用十进法乘二十。要鼓励大家存钱。二十一年内可存上一百一十多先令[106]。想在纸上好好计算一下。数目相当可观哩,比你想像的要多。
死胎当然不算数。连户口都不给上嘛。那是徒劳。
两个大腹便便的孕妇呆在一起,煞是可笑。摩莉和莫依塞尔太太[107]。母亲们的聚会。肺结核暂且收敛,随后又回来了。分娩后,她们的肚皮一下子就扁平了!温和的眼神。卸下了个大包袱的感觉。产婆桑顿老大娘是个快活的人儿[108]。她说:这些都是我的娃娃。喂娃娃之前,她总先把奶面糊糊的肚子放在自己嘴里尝尝。哦,好吃,好吃。替老汤姆·沃尔的儿子接生的时候,她把手扭伤了。那是他头一次亮相。脑袋活像个获奖的老倭瓜。爱生气的穆伦大夫[109]。人们随时都来敲门喊醒他。“求求您啦,大夫。我内人开始阵痛啦。”至于谢礼呢,一连拖欠几个月。那是你老婆的出诊费呀。净是些忘恩负义的家伙。医生大多是好心肠的。
爱尔兰国会大厦[110]那老高老大的门前,一簇鸽子在飞来飞去。它们吃饱了在嬉戏。咱们撒到哪个人身上呢?我挑那个穿黑衣服的家伙。撒了。好运道。从空中往下撒,该是多么过瘾啊。有一回,阿普约翰、我本人和欧文·戈德堡[111]爬上古斯草地附近的树,学猴子玩。他们叫我青花鱼[112]。
一队警察排成纵队,迈着正步从学院路走了过来。一个个吃得脸上发热,汗水顺着钢盔往下淌,轻轻地拍打着警棍。饭后,皮带底下塞满了油汪汪的浓汤。警察的日子通常过得蛮快活[113]。他们分成几股散开来,边敬礼边回到各自的地段上去。放他们出去填饱肚子。最好是在吃布丁的时候去袭击,正进餐的当儿给他一拳头。另一队警察三三两两地分散开来,绕过三一学院的栅栏,走向派出所。饲料槽在等着他们。准备迎接骑兵队。准备迎接浓汤。
他从汤米·穆尔那捣鬼[114]的指头底下横穿过去。他们把他这座铜像竖在一座小便池上,倒是做对了。众水汇合[115]。应该给妇女也修几座厕所。她们总是跑进点心铺,佯说是:“整理一下我的帽子。”世界纵然辽阔,惟数此峡……这是朱莉娅·莫尔坎[116]演唱的拿手歌曲。直到最后的时刻,她的嗓音始终都保持得洪亮如初。她是迈克尔·巴尔夫[117]的女弟子吧?
他目送着最后一名警察那穿着宽宽的制服上衣的背影。干这行当,就得对付一批棘手的主顾。杰克·鲍尔可以告诉你一桩事[118]。他爹就是一名便衣刑警。要是一个家伙在被抓的时候给了他们麻烦,等那人进了拘留所,就狠狠地让他尝尝厉害。干的是那种差事嘛,倒也难怪他们。尤其是年轻警察。乔·张伯伦在三一学院被授予学位的那一天,那个骑警为他可费了大事[119]。这是千真万确!他的马蹄沿着阿贝街一路嘚嘚嘚地朝我们逼来。幸而我灵机一动,一个箭步蹿进曼宁酒吧去,不然我准会惹上麻烦。他真是飞奔而来,想必是栽在人行道的鹅卵石上撞破了脑壳。我悔不该被卷进那批医学院学生当中。还有三一学院那些戴学士帽的一年级学生。反正就是想闹事。不过,这下子我倒结识了小迪克森。我被蜜蜂蜇了的那回,就是他在仁慈圣母医院替我包扎的。如今他在霍利斯街,普里福伊太太就在那儿。轮中套轮。[120]警笛的响声至今还萦回在我耳际。大家仓惶逃走。他为什么单单盯上了我呢?他对我说,你被捕了。事情就是这样开始的。
“支持布尔人[121]!”
“为德威特[122]三欢呼!”
“把乔·张伯伦吊死在酸苹果树上![123]”
蠢才们。成群的野小子们声嘶力竭地喊叫。醋山岗[124]。奶油交易所的乐队[125]。不出几年,其中半数就必然将成为治安法官[126]和公务员。一打起仗来,就手忙脚乱地参军。就是这些人,过去经常说,哪怕上高高的断头台。[127]
你决不知道自己在跟什么人说话。科尼·凯莱赫的眼神活像薀威维·达夫[128]。活像是那个密告“常胜军”计划的彼得——不对,是丹尼斯——不对,是詹姆斯·凯里[129],其实他是市政府的官员。他煽动莽撞的小伙子去刺探情报,暗地里地却不断从都柏林堡领取情报活动津贴。快别再跟他来往了吧,危险哩。这些穿便衣的家伙怎么老是缠住女佣啊?平素穿惯制服的人,一眼就认得出来。把女佣推得紧紧贴着后门,粗鲁地挑逗一番。接着就干起正事了。来的那位先生是谁呀?少爷说过什么没有?从钥匙孔里偷看的汤姆[130]。做囮子的野鸭。血气方刚的年轻大学生抚摩着正在熨衣服的她那丰腴的胳膊,同她起腻。
“这些是你的吗,玛丽?”
“我才不穿这样的呢,……住手,不然我就向太太告你的状。深更半夜还在外面游荡。”
“好日子快要到来了,玛丽。你等着瞧吧。[131]”
“喏,你同那快要到来的好日子一道给我滚吧。”
还有酒吧间的女招待。纸烟店的姑娘。
詹姆斯·斯蒂芬斯的主意再高明不过了。他了解对方。他们每十个人分作一组,所以一个成员就是告密也超不出本组范围[132]。新芬[133]。要是想开小差,就准会挨一刀。有只看不见的手。[134]留在党内呢,迟早会被刑警队熗杀。看守的闺女帮助他从里奇蒙越狱,乘船离开拉斯科[135]。他曾在警察的鼻子底下住进白金汉宫饭店[136]。加里波第[137]。
你得有点儿个人魅力才行,像巴涅尔那样。阿瑟·格里菲思是个奉公守法的人,然而不孚众望。要么就海阔天空地谈论“我们可爱的祖国”。腊肉烧菠菜[138]。都柏林面包公司的茶馆。那些讨论会[139]。说共和制乃是最好的政治制度,又说什么国语问题应该优先于经济问题。[140]还说你的女儿们可曾把他脽痛引到你家来呢?肉啊酒的,让他们填饱肚子。米迦勒节的鹅[141]。为你准备了一大堆调好了味的麝香草,塞在鹅的肚皮里。趁热再吃一夸脱鹅油吧。半饥半饱的宗教狂们。揣上个一便士的面包卷[142],就跟着乐队走它一遭儿。东道主忙于切肉,顾不得作感恩祷告啦。一想到另一个人会为你付钱,就吃得格外香。毫不客气。请把那些杏子——其实是桃子一一递过来。那个日子不太遥远了。爱尔兰自治的太阳正从西北方冉冉升起。
走着走着,他脸上的笑容消失了。乌云徐徐地遮住太阳,三一学院那阴郁的正面被暗影所笼罩。电车一辆接一辆地往返行驶,叮叮当当响着。说什么也是白搭。日复一日,事物毫无变化。一队警察开出去,又开回来。电车来来往往。那两个疯子到处徘徊。迪格纳穆被车载走了。麦娜·普里福伊挺着大肚皮躺在床上,呻吟着,等着娃娃从她肚子里被拽出来。每秒钟都有一个人在什么地方出生,每秒钟另外又有一个死去。自从我喂了那些鸟儿,已经过了五分钟。三百人翘了辫子,另外又有三百个呱呱落地,洗掉血迹。人人都在羔羊的血泊中被洗涤,[143]妈啊啊啊地叫着。
整整一座城市的人都死去了,又生下另一城人,然后也死去。另外又生了,也死去。房屋,一排排的房屋;街道,多少英里的人行道。堆积起来的砖,石料。易手。主人转换着。人们说,房产主是永远不会死的。此人接到搬出去的通知,另一个便来接替。他们用黄金买下了这个地方,而所有的黄金还都在他们手里。也不知道在哪个环节上诈骗的。日积月累发展成城市,又逐年消耗掉。沙中的金字塔。是啃着面包洋葱[144]盖起来的。奴隶们修筑的中国万里长城。巴比伦。而今只剩下巨石。圆塔。此外就是瓦砾,蔓延的郊区,偷工减料草草建成的屋舍。柯万用微风盖起来的那一应蘑菇般的房子[145]。只够睡上一夜的蔽身处。
大是毫无价值的。
这是一天当中最糟糕的时辰。活力。慵懒,忧郁。我就恨这个时辰。只觉得像是被谁吞下去又吐了出来似的。
学院院长的宅第。可敬的萨蒙博士。鲤鱼[146]罐头。严严实实地装在那个罐头里[147]。活像是小教堂的停尸所。即便给我钱,我也不愿意去住那样的地方。今天要是有肝和熏猪肉就好了。大自然讨厌真空状态。
太阳徐徐从云彩间钻出,使街道对面沃尔特·塞克斯顿店那橱窗里的银器熠熠发光。约翰·霍华德·巴涅尔连看也没看一眼就从橱窗前走过去了。
这是那一位的弟弟[148],跟他长得一模一样。那张脸总是在我眼前晃。这是个巧合。当然,有时你也会想到某人数百次,可就是碰不见他。他那走路的样儿,活像个梦游者。没有人认识他。今天市政府准是在召开什么会议。据说自从他就职以来,连一次也没穿过市政典礼官的制服。他的前任查理·卡瓦纳总是戴着翘角帽,头发上撒了粉,刮了胡子,得意洋洋地骑着高头大马上街。然而,瞧瞧他走路时那副狼狈相,仿佛是个在事业上一败涂地的人。一对荷包蛋般的幽灵的眼睛。我好苦恼。啊,伟人的老弟。乃兄的胞弟。他要是跨上了市政典礼官的坐骑,那才神气呢。兴许还要到都柏林面包公司去喝杯咖啡,在那儿下下象棋。他哥哥曾把部下当作“卒”来使用。对他们一概见死不救。人们吓得不敢说他一句什么。他那眼神让人见了毛骨悚然。这就是他引人瞩目的地方。名气。整个家族都有点儿神经病。疯子范妮[149],另外一个妹妹就是迪金森太太[150],给马套上猩红色挽具,赶着车子到处跑。她昂首挺胸,活像是马德尔外科医生[151]。然而在南米斯郡,这位弟弟还是败在大卫·希伊[152]手下了。他曾申请补上奇尔特恩分区·的空缺[153],然后引退成为官吏。爱国主义者的盛宴,在公园里剥桔皮吃[154]。西蒙·迪达勒斯曾经说过,他们要是把这个弟弟拉进议会,巴涅尔就会从坟墓里回来,抓住他的胳膊将他拖出下议院。
“说到这双头章鱼[155],一个脑袋长在世界的尽头忘记来到的地方,而另一个脑袋则用苏格兰口音讲话。上面长的八腕……”
有两个人沿着便道的边石走,从背后赶到布卢姆先生前面去了。胡子[156]和自行车,还有一位年轻女人。
哎呀,他也在那儿。这可真是凑巧了。是第二回。未来的事情早有过预兆。[157]承蒙著名诗人乔·拉塞尔先生的赞赏。跟他走在一起的说不定就是莉齐·特威格哩。A·E·[158]究竟是什么意思呢?兴许是名姓的首字:艾伯特、爱德华[159],阿瑟·埃德蒙[160],阿方萨斯·埃比或埃德或埃利[161]或阁下[162]。他说什么来着?世界的两端用苏格兰口音讲话。八腕:章鱼。大概是什么玄妙的法术或象征含义吧。他在滔滔不绝地说着。她一声不响地聆听着。给一位从事文字工作的先生当个助手。
他目送着那位穿手织呢衣服[163]的高个子,以及他的胡子和那辆自行车,还有他身旁那仔细聆听着的女人。他们是从素饭馆[164]走出来的,只吃了些蔬菜和水果,不吃牛排。你要是吃了,那头母牛的双眼就会永远盯着你。他们说,素食更有益于健康。不过,老是放屁撒尿。我试过。成天净跑厕所了。跟患气胀病[165]一样糟糕。通宵达旦地做梦。他们为什么把给我吃的那玩艺儿叫作坚果排[166]呢?坚果主义者,果食主义者。让你觉得你吃的像是牛腿扒。真荒谬。而且咸得很。是用苏打水煮的[167]。害得你整晚守在自来水笼头旁边。
她那双长袜松垮垮地卷在脚脖子上。我最讨厌这个样子,太不雅观了。他们统统是搞文学、有灵气的人。梦幻般的,朦朦胧胧的,象征主义的。他们是唯美主义者。就算是你所看到的食物会造成那种富于诗意的脑波,我也毫不以为奇。就拿那些连衬衫都被爱尔兰土豆洋葱炖羊肉般的黏汗浸透了的警察来说吧,你从他们当中的任何一个也挤不出一行诗来。他甚至不晓得诗是什么。非得沉浸在某种情绪里才行。
梦幻一般朦胧的海鸥,
在沉滞的水土飞翔。[168]
他在纳索街角穿过马路,站在耶茨父子公司[169]的橱窗前,估计着双筒望远镜的价码。要么我到老哈里斯家去串门,跟小辛克莱[170]聊一聊吧?他是个文质彬彬的人。此刻多半正吃着午饭哪。得把我那架旧望远镜送去修理啦。戈埃兹棱镜片要六基尼。德国人到处钻。他们靠优惠条件来占领市场。削价抢生意。兴许能从铁路遗失物品管理处买上一架。人们忘掉在火车上和小件寄存处的物品之多,简直惊人。脑子里都在想些什么呢?女人也是这样。真是难以置信。去年到恩尼斯去旅行的时候,我只好替那个农场主的女儿捡起她的手提包,在利默里克[171]换车的当儿交给了她。还有无人认领的钱呢。银行屋顶上有一块小表[172],是用来测试这些望远镜的。
他把眼睑一直耷拉到虹膜的底边。瞧不见。倘若你设想着表在那儿,你就好像能看见似的。然而还是瞧不见。
他掉转身去,站在两个布篷之间,朝太阳伸直了右臂,张开手。他已多次想这么尝试一下了。是啊,很完整。用小指头尖儿遮着太阳的圆盘[173]。淮薀外线在这里聚焦的缘故。我要是有副墨镜就好了。那该多么有趣呀。我们住在伦巴德西街的时候,关于太阳的黑子,大家议论纷纷。那是可怕的爆炸形成的。今年将有日全蚀,秋季不定什么时候。
现在我才想起来。原来那个报时球是按照格林威治标准时间下降的。从邓辛克接上一根电线,用来操纵时钟。我一定得在某月的第一个星期六去看一趟。我要是能弄到一封给乔利教授[174]的介绍信,或是找到一些有关他的家谱的资料才好呢。叫他出其不意地受到恭维。这挺灵。他会感到怡然自得。贵族总以做国王情妇的后裔为荣。他的女祖先。反正竭力阿谀。脱帽鞠躬,必然畅通无阻。[175]可不能一进去就信口开河地说些明知道不该说的话:视差是什么?结果款是:把这位先生领出去。
哎呀。
他又把右手垂到身边了。
关于这些,完全不摸头脑。纯粹是浪费时间。一个个气体球儿旋转着。相互交错,然后消失。亘古及今,周而复始。起初是气体,接着就薀吞体,然后是世界。冷却了,死去的硬壳四处漂流,冻僵的岩石宛如菠萝糖块[176]。月亮。她说:淮是升起了新月。我也相信是这样。
他从克莱尔屋[177]前走过。
且慢。两周前的星期日我们在那儿时是满月,所以今天应该刚好是新月。我们沿着托尔卡河往下游走去。费尔维尤那里适宜观赏月色。[178]她低吟着:五月的新月喜洋洋,宝贝。那个男人走在她的另一侧。肘。胳膊。他。萤光灯一闪一闪的,宝贝。[179]互相触摸。指头。这个提出要求。那个回答:好的。
别想下去了,别想下去了。既然必须这样,那就只好这样坝。必须[180]。
布卢姆先生呼吸急促,放慢脚步穿过亚当小巷。
他的心情好容易才宁静下来,神态安详地放眼望去。大白天在这条街上走着的,正是肩膀颇像酒瓶的鲍勃·多兰[181]。麦科伊曾说,他一年一度痛饮一遭。他们纵酒是为了说点什么或者做点什么,要么就是为了追女人[182]。跟相公们和妓女们在库姆街鬼混一阵,一年里的其他日子就像法官那么清醒。
对,果然不出所料。他正溜进帝国酒馆。消失了。光喝苏打水有益于他的健康。在惠特布雷德经营女王剧院之前,这里原是帕特·金塞拉开哈普剧院[183]的地方。他仍保持着孩子气。按照戴恩·鲍西考尔待[184]的派头,在秋月般的脸上扣着一顶式样俗气的无檐圆帽。《三个俊俏姑娘放学了》。[185]日子过得真快啊。呃?他的裙子底下露出长长的红裤子。酒徒们喝啊,笑啊,忽而喷溅出酒沫子,忽而又给酒呛住了。再给我满上吧,帕特。刺眼的红色。醉鬼门寻欢作乐。哄堂大笑,喷烟吐雾。摘下那顶白帽子。[186]他那双喝得挂满了血红的眼睛。现在他到哪儿去啦?在什么地方当叫化子呢。那把竖琴害得我们大家挨过饿。[187]
那阵子我更幸福一些。可那时的我究竟是我吗?或许难道现在的我才是我吗?当时我二十八,她二十三。我们从伦巴德西街搬走之后[188],起了点儿变化。鲁迪一死,再也不能像往常那样啦。没法叫时光倒流。那就像是想用手去攥住水似的。难道你想回到那个时期吗?刚开始的那个时期。真想吗?你在自己家里不幸福吗,你这可怜的小淘气鬼?她恨不得替我钉钮扣哩。我得写封回信。到图书馆去写吧。
格拉夫顿街上,花花哨哨地张挂着商店的遮阳篷,使他眼花·镣乱。平纹印花细布,穿绸衣的太太们和上了岁数的贵妇,还有发出一片叮当声的挽具,在灼热的街道[189]上低低地响着的马蹄声。那个穿白袜子的女人有着一双粗腿。但愿下场雨,把她弄得满脚烂泥。士里土气的乡巴佬。那些胖到脚后跟的统统都来啦。女人一发福,腿就那么臃肿。摩莉的腿看上去也不直溜。
他遛遛达达地从布朗·托马斯开的那爿绸缎铺的橱窗前走过。瀑布般的飘带。中国薄绢。从一只倾斜的雍口里垂下血红色的府绸。红艳艳的血。是胡格诺派教徒带进来的。事业是神圣的。嗒啦。嗒啦。那个合唱可精彩啦。嗒咧,嗒啦。得用雨水来洗。梅耶贝尔。咯啦。嘣嘣嘣。[190]
针插。我老早就催老婆去买一个了。她到处乱插。窗帘上也插了好儿根。
他挽了挽左袖:蜇的痕迹差不多看不见啦。今天就算了吧。得折回去取化妆水。也许等她过生日那天再去买吧。六、七、八,九月八日。差不多还有三个月呢。何况她未必喜欢。女人不肯捡起针来,说是那样就会把爱情断送掉。[191]
闪亮的绸缎,搭在纤细黄铜栏杆上一条条的衬裙,摆成辐射状的扁平长筒丝袜闪闪发光。
回忆过去是徒然的。该当怎样就怎样。把一切都向我讲了吧。
高嗓门。被太阳晒暖了的绸缎。马具叮当响。一切都是为了一个女人:家庭和房子,丝织品,银器,多汗的水果,来自雅法的香料。移民垦殖公司[192]。全世界的财富。
一个温馨、丰腴的肉体在他的头脑里安顿下来。他的脑子屈服了,拥抱的芳香从四面八方向他袭来。他的肉体隐然感到如饥似渴,默默地渴望着热烈的爱。
公爵街。终于到了。必须吃点儿什么。伯顿饭馆。那样就会舒坦一点。
他在剑桥[193]的犄綗驼了弯,依然被那种感觉纠缠着。叮当声,马蹄
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英:
9、Chapter 9 Scylla and Charybdis

URBANE, TO COMFORT THEM, THE QUAKER LIBRARIAN PURRED:
-- And we have, have we not, those priceless pages of Wilhelm Meister? A great poet on a great brother poet. A hesitating soul taking arms against a sea of troubles, torn by conflicting doubts, as one sees in real life.
He came a step a sinkapace forward on neatsleather creaking and a step backward a sinkapace on the solemn floor.
A noiseless attendant, setting open the door but slightly, made him a noiseless beck.
-- Directly, said he, creaking to go, albeit lingering. The beautiful ineffectual dreamer who comes to grief against hard facts. One always feels that Goethe's judgments are so true. True in the larger analysis.
Twicreakingly analysis he corantoed off. Bald, most zealous by the door he gave his large ear all to the attendant's words: heard them: and was gone.
Two left.
-- Monsieur de la Palisse, Stephen sneered, was alive fifteen minutes before his death.
-- Have you found those six brave medicals, John Eglinton asked with elder's gall, to write Paradise Lost at your dictation? The Sorrows of Satan he calls it.
Smile. Smile Cranly's smile.
First he tickled her
Then he patted her
Then he passed the female catheter.
For he was a medical
jolly old medi.
-- I feel you would need one more for Hamlet. Seven is dear to the mystic mind. The shining seven W. B. calls them.
Glittereyed, his rufous skull close to his greencapped desklamp sought the face, bearded amid darkgreener shadow, an ollav, holyeyed. He laughed low: a sizar's laugh of Trinity: unanswered.
Orchestral Satan, weeping many a rood
Tears such as angels weep.
Ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta.
He holds my follies hostage.
Cranly's eleven true Wicklowmen to free their sireland. Gaptoothed Kathleen, her four beautiful green fields, the stranger in her house. And one more to hail him: ave, rabbi. The Tinahely twelve. In the shadow of the glen he cooees for them. My soul's youth I gave him, night by night. Godspeed. Good hunting.
Mulligan has my telegram.
Folly. Persist.
-- Our young Irish bards, John Eglinton censured, have yet to create a figure which the world will set beside Saxon Shakespeare's Hamlet though I admire him, as old Ben did, on this side idolatry.
-- All these questions are purely academic, Russell oracled out of his shadow. I mean, whether Hamlet is Shakespeare or James I or Essex. Clergymen's discussions of the historicity of Jesus. Art has to reveal to us ideas, formless spiritual essences. The supreme question about a work of art is out of how deep a life does it spring. The painting of Gustave Moreau is the painting of ideas. The deepest poetry of Shelley, the words of Hamlet bring our mind into contact with the eternal wisdom, Plato's world of ideas. All the rest is the speculation of schoolboys for schoolboys.
A. E. has been telling some yankee interviewer. Wall, tarnation strike me!
-- The schoolmen were schoolboys first, Stephen said superpolitely. Aristotle was once Plato's schoolboy.
-- And has remained so, one should hope, John Eglinton sedately said. One can see him, a model schoolboy with his diploma under his arm.
He laughed again at the now smiling bearded face.
Formless spiritual. Father, Word and Holy Breath. Allfather, the heavenly man. Hiesos Kristos, magician of the beautiful, the Logos who suffers in us at every moment. This verily is that. I am the fire upon the altar. I am the sacrificial butter.
Dunlop, Judge, the noblest Roman of them all, A. E., Arval, the Name Ineffable, in heaven hight, K. H., their master, whose identity is no secret to adepts. Brothers of the great white lodge always watching to see if they can help. The Christ with the bridesister, moisture of light, born of an ensouled virgin, repentant sophia, departed to the plane of buddhi. The life esoteric is not for ordinary person. O. P. must work off bad karma first. Mrs Cooper Oakley once glimpsed our very illustrious sister H. P. B's elemental.
O, fie! Out on't! Pfuiteufel! You naughtn't to look, missus, so you naughtn't when a lady's ashowing of her elemental.
Mr Best entered, tall, young, mild, light. He bore in his hand with grace a notebook, new, large, clean, bright.
-- That model schoolboy, Stephen said, would find Hamlet's musings about the afterlife of his princely soul, the improbable, insignificant and undramatic monologue, as shallow as Plato's.
John Eglinton, frowning, said, waxing wroth:
-- Upon my word it makes my blood boil to hear anyone compare Aristotle with Plato.
-- Which of the two, Stephen asked, would have banished me from his commonwealth?
Unsheathe your dagger definitions. Horseness is the whatness of allhorse. Streams of tendency and eons they worship. God: noise in the street: very peripatetic. Space: what you damn well have to see. Through spaces smaller than red globules of man's blood they creepycrawl after Blake's buttocks into eternity of which this vegetable world is but a shadow. Hold to the now, the here, through which all future plunges to the past.
Mr Best came forward, amiable, towards his colleague.
-- Haines is gone, he said.
-- Is he?
-- I was showing him Jubainville's book. He's quite enthusiastic, don't you know, about Hyde's Lovesongs of Connacht. I couldn't bring him in to hear the discussion. He's gone to Gill's to buy it.
Bound thee forth, my booklet, quick
To greet the callous public.
Writ, I ween, 'twas not my wish
In lean unlovely English.
The peatsmoke is going to his head, John Eglinton opined.
We feel in England. Penitent thief. Gone. I smoked his baccy. Green twinkling stone. An emerald set in the ring of the sea.
-- People do not know how dangerous lovesongs can be, the auric egg of Russell warned occultly. The movements which work revolutions in the world are born out of the dreams and visions in a peasant's heart on the hillside. For them the earth is not an exploitable ground but the living mother. The rarefied air of the academy and the arena produce the sixshilling novel, the musichall song, France produces the finest flower of corruption in Mallarmé but the desirable life is revealed only to the poor of heart, the life of Homer's Ph&Aelig;acians.
From these words Mr Best turned an unoffending face to Stephen.
-- Mallarmé, don't you know, he said, has written those wonderful prose poems Stephen MacKenna used to read to me in Paris. The one about Hamlet. He says: il se promène, lisant au livre de lui-même, don't you know, reading the book of himself. He describes Hamlet given in a French town, don't you know, a provincial town. They advertised it.
His free hand graciously wrote tiny signs in air.
HAMLET
ou
LE DISTRAIT
Pièce de Shakespeare
He repeated to John Eglinton's newgathered frown:
-- Piéce de Shakespeare, don't you know. It's so French, the French point of view. Hamlet ou...
-- The absentminded beggar, Stephen ended.
John Eglinton laughed.
-- Yes, I suppose it would be, he said. Excellent people, no doubt, but distressingly shortsighted in some matters.
Sumptuous and stagnant exaggeration of murder.
-- A deathsman of the soul Robert Greene called him, Stephen said. Not for nothing was he a butcher's son wielding the sledded poleaxe and spitting in his palm. Nine lives are taken off for his father's one, Our Father who art in purgatory. Khaki Hamlets don't hesitate to shoot. The bloodboltered shambles in act five is a forecast of the concentration camp sung by Mr Swinburne.
Cranly, I his mute orderly, following battles from afar.
Whelps and dams of murderous foes whom none
But we had spared...
Between the Saxon smile and yankee yawp. The devil and the deep sea.
-- He will have it that Hamlet is a ghoststory, John Eglinton said for Mr Best's behoof. Like the fat boy in Pickwick he wants to make our flesh creep.
List! List! O List!
My flesh hears him: creeping, hears.
If thou didst ever...
-- What is a ghost? Stephen said with tingling energy. One who has faded into impalpability through death, through absence, through change of manners. Elizabethan London lay as far from Stratford as corrupt Paris lies from virgin Dublin. Who is the ghost from limbo patrum, returning to the world that has forgotten him? Who is king Hamlet?
John Eglinton shifted his spare body, leaning back to judge:
Lifted.
-- It is this hour of a day in mid June, Stephen said, begging with a swift glance their hearing. The flag is up on the playhouse by the bankside. The bear Sackerson growls in the pit near it, Paris garden. Canvasclimbers who sailed with Drake chew their sausages among the groundlings.
Local colour. Work in all you know. Make them accomplices.
-- Shakespeare has left the huguenot's house in Silver street and walks by the swanmews along the riverbank. But he does not stay to feed the pen chivying her game of cygnets towards the rushes. The swan of Avon has other thoughts.
Composition of place. Ignatius Loyola, make haste to help me!
-- The play begins. A player comes on under the shadow, made up in the castoff mail of a court buck, a wellset man with a bass voice. It is the ghost, the king, a king and no king, and the player is Shakespeare who has studied Hamlet all the years of his life which were not vanity in order to play the part of the spectre. He speaks the words to Burbage, the young player who stands before him beyond the rack of cerecloth, calling him by a name:
Hamlet, I am thy father's spirit
bidding him list. To a son he speaks, the son of his soul, the prince, young Hamlet and to the son of his body, Hamnet Shakespeare, who has died in Stratford that his namesake may live for ever.
-- Is it possible that that player Shakespeare, a ghost by absence, and in the vesture of buried Denmark, a ghost by death, speaking his own words to his own son's name (had Hamnet Shakespeare lived he would have been prince Hamlet's twin) is it possible, I want to know, or probable that he did not draw or foresee the logical conclusion of those premises: you are the dispossessed son: I am the murdered father: your mother is the guilty queen. Ann Shakespeare, born Hathaway?
-- But this prying into the family life of a great man, Russell began impatiently.
Art thou there, truepenny?
-- Interesting only to the parish clerk. I mean, we have the plays. I mean when we read the poetry of King Lear what is it to us how the poet lived? As for living, our servants can do that for us, Villiers de l'Isle has said. Peeping and prying into greenroom gossip of the day, the poet's drinking, the poet's debts. We have King Lear: and it is immortal.
Mr Best's face appealed to, agreed.
Flow over them with your waves and with your waters,
Mananaan, Mananaan MacLir...
How now, sirrah, that pound he lent you when you were hungry?
Marry, I wanted it.
Take thou this noble.
Go to! You spent most of it in Georgina Johnson's bed, clergyman's daughter. Agenbite of inwit.
Do you intend to pay it back?
O, yes.
When? Now?
Well... no.
When, then?
I paid my way. I paid my way.
Steady on. He's from beyant Boyne water. The northeast corner. You owe it.
Wait. Five months. Molecules all change. I am other I now. Other I got pound.
Buzz. Buzz.
But I, entelechy, form of forms, am I by memory because under everchanging forms.
I that sinned and prayed and fasted.
A child Conmee saved from pandies.
I, I and I. I.
A.E.I.O.U.
-- Do you mean to fly in the face of the tradition of three centuries? John Eglinton's carping voice asked. Her ghost at least has been laid for ever. She died, for literature at least, before she was born.
-- She died, Stephen retorted, sixtyseven years after she was born. She saw him into and out of the world. She took his first embraces. She bore his children and she laid pennies on his eyes to keep his eyelids closed when he lay on his deathbed.
Mother's deathbed. Candle. The sheeted mirror. Who brought me into this world lies there, bronzelidded, under few cheap flowers. Liliata rutilantium.
I wept alone.
John Eglinton looked in the tangled glowworm of his lamp.
-- The world believes that Shakespeare made a mistake, he said, and got out of it as quickly and as best he could.
-- Bosh! Stephen said rudely. A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.
Portals of discovery opened to let in the quaker librarian, softcreakfooted, bald, eared and assiduous.
-- A shrew, John Eglinton said shrewdly, is not a useful portal of discovery, one should imagine. What useful discovery did Socrates learn from Xanthippe?
-- Dialectic, Stephen answered: and from his mother how to bring thoughts into the world. What he learnt from his other wife Myrto (absit nomen!) Socratididion's Epipsychidion, no man, not a woman, will ever know. But neither the midwife's lore nor the caudlectures saved him from the archons of Sinn Fein and their noggin of hemlock.
-- But Ann Hathaway? Mr Best's quiet voice said forgetfully. Yes, we seem to be forgetting her as Shakespeare himself forgot her.
His look went from brooder's beard to carper's skull, to remind, to chide them not unkindly, then to the baldpink lollard costard, guiltless though maligned.
-- He had a good groatsworth of wit, Stephen said, and no truant memory. He carried a memory in his wallet as he trudged to Romeville whistling The girl I left behind me. If the earthquake did not time it we should know where to place poor Wat, sitting in his form, the cry of hounds, the studded bridle and her blue windows. That memory, Venus and Adonis, lay in the bedchamber of every light-of-love in London. Is Katharine the shrew illfavoured? Hortensio calls her young and beautiful. Do you think the writer of Antony and Cleopatra, a passionate pilgrim, had his eyes in the back of his head that he chose the ugliest doxy in all Warwickshire to lie withal? Good: he left her and gained the world of men. But his boywomen are the women of a boy. Their life, thought, speech are lent them by males. He chose badly? He was chosen, it seems to me. If others have their will Ann hath a way. By cock, she was to blame. She put the comether on him, sweet and twentysix. The greyeyed goddess who bends over the boy Adonis, stooping to conquer, as prologue to the swelling act, is a boldfaced Stratford wench who tumbles in a cornfield a lover younger than herself.
And my turn? When?
Come!
-- Ryefield, Mr Best said brightly, gladly, raising his new book, gladly brightly.
He murmured then with blonde delight for all:
Between the acres of the rye
These pretty countryfolk would lie.
Paris: the wellpleased pleaser.
A tall figure in bearded homespun rose from shadow and unveiled its cooperative watch.
-- I am afraid I am due at the Homestead.
Whither away? Exploitable ground.
-- Are you going, John Eglinton's active eyebrows asked. Shall we see you at Moore's tonight? Piper is coming.
-- Piper! Mr Best piped. Is Piper back?
Peter Piper pecked a peck of pick of peck of pickled pepper.
-- I don't know if I can. Thursday. We have our meeting. If I can get away in time.
Yogibogeybox in Dawson chambers. Isis Unveiled. Their Pali book we tried to pawn. Crosslegged under an umbrel umbershoot he thrones an Aztec logos, functioning on astral levels, their oversoul, mahamahatma. The faithful hermetists await the light, ripe for chelaship, ringroundabout him. Louis H. Victory. T. Caulfield Irwin. Lotus ladies tend them i'the eyes, their pineal glands aglow. Filled with his god he thrones, Buddh under plantain. Gulfer of souls, engulfer. Hesouls, shesouls, shoals of souls. Engulfed with wailing creecries, whirled, whirling, they bewail.
In quintessential triviality
For years in this fleshcase a shesoul dwelt.
-- They say we are to have a literary surprise, the quaker librarian said, friendly and earnest. Mr Russell, rumour has it, is gathering together a sheaf of our younger poets' verses. We are all looking forward anxiously.
Anxiously he glanced in the cone of lamplight where three faces, lighted, shone.
See this. Remember.
Stephen looked down on a wide headless caubeen, hung on his ashplanthandle over his knee. My casque and sword. Touch lightly with two index fingers. Aristotle's experiment. One or two? Necessity is that in virtue of which it is impossible that one can be otherwise. Argai, one hat is one hat.
Listen.
Young Colum and Starkey. George Roberts is doing the commercial part. Longworth will give it a good puff in the Express. O, will he? I liked Colum's Drover. Yes, I think he has that queer thing, genius. Do you think he has genius really? Yeats admired his line: As in wild earth a Grecian vase. Did he? I hope you'll be able to come tonight. Malachi Mulligan is coming too. Moore asked him to bring Haines. Did you hear Miss Mitchell's joke about Moore and Martyn? That Moore is Martyn's wild oats? Awfully clever, isn't it? They remind one of don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Our national epic has yet to be written, Dr Sigerson says. Moore is the man for it. A knight of the rueful countenance here in Dublin. With a saffron kilt? O'Neill Russell? O, yes, he must speak the grand old tongue. And his Dulcinea? James Stephens is doing some clever sketches. We are becoming important, it seems.
Cordelia. Cordoglio. Lir's loneliest daughter.
Nookshotten. Now your best French polish.
-- Thank you very much, Mr Russell, Stephen said, rising. If you will be so kind as to give the letter to Mr Norman...
-- O, yes. If he considers it important it will go in. We have so much correspondence.
-- I understand, Stephen said. Thanks.
Good ild you. The pigs' paper. Bullockbefriending.
-- Synge has promised me an article for Dana too. Are we going to be read? I feel we are. The Gaelic league wants something in Irish. I hope you will come round tonight. Bring Starkey.
Stephen sat down.
The quaker librarian came from the leavetakers. Blushing his mask said:
-- Mr Dedalus, your views are most illuminating.
He creaked to and fro, tiptoing up nearer heaven by the altitude of a chopine, and, covered by the noise of outgoing, said low:
-- Is it your view, then, that she was not faithful to the poet?
Alarmed face asks me. Why did he come? Courtesy or an inward light?
-- Where there is a reconciliation, Stephen said, there must have been first a sundering.
-- Yes.
Christfox in leather trews, hiding, a runaway in blighted treeforks from hue and cry. Knowing no vixen, walking lonely in the chase. Women he won to him, tender people, a whore of Babylon, ladies of justices, bully tapsters' wives. Fox and geese. And in New Place a slack dishonoured body that once was comely, once as sweet, as fresh as cinnamon, now her leaves falling, all, bare, frighted of the narrow grave and unforgiven.
-- Yes. So you think.
The door closed behind the outgoer.
Rest suddenly possessed the discreet vaulted cell, rest of warm and brooding air.
A vestal's lamp.
Here he ponders things that were not: what Caesar would have lived to do had he believed the soothsayer: what might have been: possibilities of the possible as possible: things not known: what name Achilles bore when he lived among women.
Coffined thoughts around me, in mummycases, embalmed in spice of words. Thoth, god of libraries, a birdgod, moonycrowned. And I heard the voice of that Egyptian highpriest. In painted chambers loaded with tilebooks.
They are still. Once quick in the brains of men. Still: but an itch of death is in them, to tell me in my ear a maudlin tale, urge me to wreak their will.
-- Certainly, John Eglinton mused, of all great men he is the most enigmatic. We know nothing but that he lived and suffered. Not even so much. Others abide our question. A shadow hangs over all the rest.
-- But Hamlet is so personal, isn't it? Mr Best pleaded. I mean, a kind of private paper, don't you know, of his private life. I mean I don't care a button, don't you know, who is killed or who is guilty...
He rested an innocent book on the edge of the desk, smiling his defiance. His private papers in the original. Ta an bad ar an tir. Taim imo shagart. Put beurla on it, littlejohn.
Quoth littlejohn Eglinton:
-- I was prepared for paradoxes from what Malachi Mulligan told us but I may as well warn you that if you want to shake my belief that Shakespeare is Hamlet you have a stern task before you.
Bear with me.
Stephen withstood the bane of miscreant eyes, glinting stern under wrinkled brows. A basilisk. E quando vede l'uomo l'attosca. Messer Brunetto, I thank thee for the word.
-- As we, or mother Dana, weave and unweave our bodies, Stephen said, from day to day, their molecules shuttled to and fro, so does the artist weave and unweave his image. And as the mole on my right breast is where it was when I was born, though all my body has been woven of new stuff time after time, so through the ghost of the unquiet father the image of the unliving son looks forth. In the intense instant of imagination, when the mind, Shelley says, is a fading coal, that which I was is that which I am and that which in possibility I may come to be. So in the future, the sister of the past, I may see myself as I sit here now but by reflection from that which then I shall be.
Drummond of Hawthornden helped you at that stile.
-- Yes, Mr Best said youngly, I feel Hamlet quite young. The bitterness might be from the father but the passages with Ophelia are surely from the son.
Has the wrong sow by the lug. He is in my father. I am in his son.
-- That mole is the last to go, Stephen said, laughing.
John Eglinton made a nothing pleasing mow.
-- If that were the birthmark of genius, he said, genius would be a drug in the market. The plays of Shakespeare's later years which Renan admired so much breathe another spirit.
-- The spirit of reconciliation, the quaker librarian breathed.
-- There can be no reconciliation, Stephen said, if there has not been a sundering.
Said that.
-- If you want to know what are the events which cast their shadow over the hell of time of King Lear, Othello, Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida, look to see when and how the shadow lifts. What softens the heart of a man, Shipwrecked in storms dire, Tried, like another Ulysses, Pericles, prince of Tyre?
Head, redconecapped, buffeted, brineblinded.
-- A child, a girl placed in his arms, Marina.
-- The leaning of sophists towards the bypaths of apocrypha is a constant quantity, John Eglinton detected. The highroads are dreary but they lead to the town.
Good Bacon: gone musty. Shakespeare Bacon's wild oats. Cypherjugglers going the highroads. Seekers on the great quest. What town good masters? Mummed in names: A. E., eon: Magee, John Eglinton. East of the sun, west of the moon: Tir na n-og. Booted the twain and staved.
How many miles to Dublin?
Three score and ten, sir.
Will we be there by candlelight?
-- Mr Brandes accepts it, Stephen said, as the first play of the closing period.
-- Does he? What does Mr Sidney Lee, or Mr Simon Lazarus, as some aver his name is, say of it?
-- Marina, Stephen said, a child of storm, Miranda, a wonder, Perdita, that which was lost. What was lost is given back to him: his daughter's child. My dearest wife, Pericles says, was like this maid. Will any man love the daughter it he has not loved the mother?
-- The art of being a grandfather, Mr Best gan murmur. L'art d'être grand...
-- His own image to a man with that queer thing genius is the standard of all experience, material and moral. Such an appeal will touch him. The images of other males of his blood will repel him. He will see in them grotesque attempts of nature to foretell or repeat himself.
The benign forehead of the quaker librarian enkindled rosily with hope.
-- I hope Mr Dedalus will work out his theory for the enlightenment of the public. And we ought to mention another Irish commentator, Mr George Bernard Shaw. Nor should we forget Mr Frank Harris. His articles on Shakespeare in the Saturday Review were surely brilliant. Oddly enough he too draws for us an unhappy relation with the dark lady of the sonnets. The favoured rival is William Herbert, earl of Pembroke. I own that if the poet must be rejected, such a rejection would seem more in harmony with - what shall I say? - our notions of what ought not to have been.
Felicitously he ceased and held a meek head among them, auk's egg, prize of their fray.
He thous and thees her with grave husbandwords. Dost love, Miriam? Dost love thy man?
-- That may be too, Stephen said. There is a saying of Goethe's which Mr Magee likes to quote. Beware of what you wish for in youth because you will get it in middle life. Why does he send to one who is a buonaroba, a bay where all men ride, a maid of honour with a scandalous girlhood, a lordling to woo for him? He was himself a lord of language and had made himself a coistrel gentleman and had written Romeo and Juliet. Why? Belief in himself has been untimely killed. He was overborne in a cornfield first (ryefield, I should say) and he will never be a victor in his own eyes after nor play victoriously the game of laugh and lie down. Assumed dongiovannism will not save him. No later undoing will undo the first undoing. The tusk of the boar has wounded him there-where love lies ableeding. If the shrew is worsted yet there remains to her woman's invisible weapon. There is, I feel in the words, some goad of the flesh driving him into a new passion, a darker shadow of the first, darkening even his own understanding of himself. A life fate awaits him and the two rages commingle in a whirlpool.
They list. And in the porches of their ears I pour.
-- The soul has been before stricken mortally, a poison poured in the porch of a sleeping ear. But those who are done to death in sleep cannot know the manner of their quell unless their Creator endow their souls with that knowledge in the life to come. The poisoning and the beast with two backs that urged it king Hamlet's ghost could not know of were he not endowed with knowledge by his creator. That is why the speech (his lean unlovely English) is always turned elsewhere, backward. Ravisher and ravished, what he would but would not, go with him from Lucrece's bluecircled ivory globes to Imogen's breast, bare, with its mole cinquespotted. He goes back, weary of the creation he has piled up to hide him from himself, an old dog licking an old sore. But, because loss is his gain, he passes on towards eternity in undiminished personality, untaught by the wisdom he has written or by the laws he has revealed. His beaver is up. He is a ghost, a shadow now, the wind by Elsinore's rocks or what you will, the sea's voice, a voice heard only in the heart of him who is the substance of his shadow, the son consubstantial with the father.
-- Amen! responded from the doorway.
Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?
Entr'acte.
A ribald face, sullen as a dean's, Buck Mulligan came forwards then blithe in motley, towards the greeting of their smiles. My telegram.
-- You were speaking of the gaseous vertebrate, if I mistake not? he asked of Stephen.
Primrosevested he greeted gaily with his doffed Panama as with a bauble.
They make him welcome. Was Din verlachst wirst Du noch dienen.
Brodd of mockers: Photius, pseudomalachi, Johann Most.
He Who Himself begot, middler the Holy Ghost, and Himself sent himself, Agenbuyer, between Himself and others, Who, put upon by His fiends, stripped and whipped, was nailed like bat to barndoor, starved on crosstree, Who let Him bury, stood up, harrowed hell, fared into heaven and there these nineteen hundred years sitteth on the right hand of His Own Self but yet shall come in the latter day to doom the quick and dead when all the quick shall be dead already.
He lifts hands. Veils fall. O, flowers! Bells with bells with bells aquiring.
-- Yes, indeed, the quaker librarian said. A most instructive discussion, Mr Mulligan, I'll be bound, has his theory too of the play and of Shakespeare. All sides of life should be represented.
He smiled on all sides equally.
Buck Mulligan thought, puzzled:
-- Shakespeare? he said. I seem to know the name.
A flying sunny smile rayed in his loose features.
-- To be sure, he said, remembering brightly. The chap that writes like Synge.
Mr Best turned to him:
-- Haines missed you, he said. Did you meet him? He'll see you after at the D. B. C. He's gone to Gill's to buy Hyde's Lovesongs of Connacht.
-- I came through the museum, Buck Mulligan said. Was he here?
-- The bard's fellowcountrymen, John Eglinton answered, are rather tired perhaps of our brilliancies of theorising. I hear that an actress played Hamlet for the fourhundredandeighth time last night in Dublin. Vining held that the prince was a woman. Has no-one made him out to be an Irishman? Judge Barton, I believe, is searching for some clues. He swears (His Highness not His Lordship) by saint Patrick.
-- The most brilliant of all is that story of Wilde's, Mr Best said, lifting his brilliant notebook. That Portrait of Mr W. H. where he proves that the sonnets were written by a Willie Hughes, a man all hues.
-- For Willie Hughes, is it not? the quaker librarian asked.
Or Hughie Wills. Mr William Himself. W. H.: who am I?
-- I mean, for Willie Hughes, Mr Best said, amending his gloss easily. Of course it's all paradox, don't you know, Hughes and hews and hues the colour, but it's so typical the way he works it out. It's the very essence of Wilde, don't you know. The light touch.
His glance touched their faces lightly as he smiled, a blond ephebe. Tame essence of Wilde.
You're darned witty. Three drams of usquebaugh you drank with Dan Deasy's ducats.
How much did I spend? O, a few shillings.
For a plump of pressmen. Humour wet and dry.
Wit. You would give your five wits for youth's proud livery he pranks in. Lineaments of gratified desire.
There be many mo. Take her for me. In pairing time. Jove, a cool ruttime send them. Yea, turtledove her.
Eve. Naked wheatbellied sin. A snake coils her, fang in's kiss.
-- Do you think it is only a paradox, the quaker librarian was asking. The mocker is never taken seriously when he is most serious.
They talked seriously of mocker's seriousness.
Buck Mulligan's again heavy face eyed Stephen awhile. Then, his head wagging, he came near, drew a folded telegram from his pocket. His mobile lips read, smiling with new delight.
-- Telegram! he said. Wonderful inspiration! Telegram! A papal bull!
He sat on a corner of the unlit desk, reading aloud joyfully:
-- The sentimentalist is he who would enjoy without incurring the immense debtorship for a thing done. Signed: Dedalus. Where did you launch it from? The kips? No. College Green. Have you drunk the four quid? The aunt is going to call on your unsubstantial father. Telegram! Malachi Mulligan, the Ship, lower Abbey street. O, you peerless mummer! O, you priestified kinchite!
Joyfully he thrust the message and envelope into a pocket but keened in querulous brogue:
-- It's what I'm telling you, mister honey, it's queer and sick we were, Haines and myself, the time himself brought it in. 'Twas murmur we did for a gallus potion would rouse a friar, I'm thinking, and he limp with leching. And we one hour and two hours and three hours in Connery's sitting civil waiting for pints apiece.
He wailed!
-- And we to be there, mavrone, and you to be unbeknownst sending us your conglomerations the way we to have our tongues out a yard long like the drouthy clerics do be fainting for a pussful.
Stephen laughed. Quickly, warningfully Buck Mulligan bent down:
-- The tramper Synge is looking for you, he said, to murder you. He heard you pissed on his halldoor in Glasthule. He's out in pampooties to murder you.
-- Me! Stephen exclaimed. That was your contribution to literature.
Buck Mulligan gleefully bent back, laughing to the dark eavesdropping ceiling.
-- Murder you! he laughed.
Harsh gargoyle face that warred against me over our mess of hash of lights in rue Saint-André-des-Arts. In words of words for words, palabras. Oisin with Patrick. Faunman he met in Clamart woods, brandishing a winebottle, C'est vendredi saint! Murthering Irish. His image, wandering, he met. I mine. I met a fool i' the forest.
-- Mr Lyster, an attendant said from the door ajar.
-- ... in which everyone can find his
[ 此帖被soneyky在2012-12-24 08:35重新编辑 ]
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