LITMIR.BIZ

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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 and 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 illnesses 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 waistcoatpocket. 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 handier? 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 Bandmann 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: spruce figure: 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,

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