<p>Yes because he never did a thing like that before as ask to get his
breakfast in bed with a couple of eggs since the <i>City Arms</i> hotel
when he used to be pretending to be laid up with a sick voice doing his
highness to make himself interesting for that old faggot Mrs Riordan that
he thought he had a great leg of and she never left us a farthing all for
masses for herself and her soul greatest miser ever was actually afraid to
lay out 4d for her methylated spirit telling me all her ailments she had
too much old chat in her about politics and earthquakes and the end of the
world let us have a bit of fun first God help the world if all the women
were her sort down on bathingsuits and lownecks of course nobody wanted
her to wear them I suppose she was pious because no man would look at her
twice I hope Ill never be like her a wonder she didnt want us to cover our
faces but she was a welleducated woman certainly and her gabby talk about
Mr Riordan here and Mr Riordan there I suppose he was glad to get shut of
her and her dog smelling my fur and always edging to get up under my
petticoats especially then still I like that in him polite to old women
like that and waiters and beggars too hes not proud out of nothing but not
always if ever he got anything really serious the matter with him its much
better for them to go into a hospital where everything is clean but I
suppose Id have to dring it into him for a month yes and then wed have a
hospital nurse next thing on the carpet have him staying there till they
throw him out or a nun maybe like the smutty photo he has shes as much a
nun as Im not yes because theyre so weak and puling when theyre sick they
want a woman to get well if his nose bleeds youd think it was O tragic and
that dyinglooking one off the south circular when he sprained his foot at
the choir party at the sugarloaf Mountain the day I wore that dress Miss
Stack bringing him flowers the worst old ones she could find at the bottom
of the basket anything at all to get into a mans bedroom with her old
maids voice trying to imagine he was dying on account of her to never see
thy face again though he looked more like a man with his beard a bit grown
in the bed father was the same besides I hate bandaging and dosing when he
cut his toe with the razor paring his corns afraid hed get bloodpoisoning
but if it was a thing I was sick then wed see what attention only of
course the woman hides it not to give all the trouble they do yes he came
somewhere Im sure by his appetite anyway love its not or hed be off his
feed thinking of her so either it was one of those night women if it was
down there he was really and the hotel story he made up a pack of lies to
hide it planning it Hynes kept me who did I meet ah yes I met do you
remember Menton and who else who let me see that big babbyface I saw him
and he not long married flirting with a young girl at Pooles Myriorama and
turned my back on him when he slinked out looking quite conscious what
harm but he had the impudence to make up to me one time well done to him
mouth almighty and his boiled eyes of all the big stupoes I ever met and
thats called a solicitor only for I hate having a long wrangle in bed or
else if its not that its some little bitch or other he got in with
somewhere or picked up on the sly if they only knew him as well as I do
yes because the day before yesterday he was scribbling something a letter
when I came into the front room to show him Dignams death in the paper as
if something told me and he covered it up with the blottingpaper
pretending to be thinking about business so very probably that was it to
somebody who thinks she has a softy in him because all men get a bit like
that at his age especially getting on to forty he is now so as to wheedle
any money she can out of him no fool like an old fool and then the usual
kissing my bottom was to hide it not that I care two straws now who he
does it with or knew before that way though Id like to find out so long as
I dont have the two of them under my nose all the time like that slut that
Mary we had in Ontario terrace padding out her false bottom to excite him
bad enough to get the smell of those painted women off him once or twice I
had a suspicion by getting him to come near me when I found the long hair
on his coat without that one when I went into the kitchen pretending he
was drinking water 1 woman is not enough for them it was all his fault of
course ruining servants then proposing that she could eat at our table on
Christmas day if you please O no thank you not in my house stealing my
potatoes and the oysters 2/6 per doz going out to see her aunt if you
please common robbery so it was but I was sure he had something on with
that one it takes me to find out a thing like that he said you have no
proof it was her proof O yes her aunt was very fond of oysters but I told
her what I thought of her suggesting me to go out to be alone with her I
wouldnt lower myself to spy on them the garters I found in her room the
Friday she was out that was enough for me a little bit too much her face
swelled up on her with temper when I gave her her weeks notice I saw to
that better do without them altogether do out the rooms myself quicker
only for the damn cooking and throwing out the dirt I gave it to him
anyhow either she or me leaves the house I couldnt even touch him if I
thought he was with a dirty barefaced liar and sloven like that one
denying it up to my face and singing about the place in the W C too
because she knew she was too well off yes because he couldnt possibly do
without it that long so he must do it somewhere and the last time he came
on my bottom when was it the night Boylan gave my hand a great squeeze
going along by the Tolka in my hand there steals another I just pressed
the back of his like that with my thumb to squeeze back singing the young
May moon shes beaming love because he has an idea about him and me hes not
such a fool he said Im dining out and going to the Gaiety though Im not
going to give him the satisfaction in any case God knows hes a change in a
way not to be always and ever wearing the same old hat unless I paid some
nicelooking boy to do it since I cant do it myself a young boy would like
me Id confuse him a little alone with him if we were Id let him see my
garters the new ones and make him turn red looking at him seduce him I
know what boys feel with that down on their cheek doing that frigging
drawing out the thing by the hour question and answer would you do this
that and the other with the coalman yes with a bishop yes I would because
I told him about some dean or bishop was sitting beside me in the jews
temples gardens when I was knitting that woollen thing a stranger to
Dublin what place was it and so on about the monuments and he tired me out
with statues encouraging him making him worse than he is who is in your
mind now tell me who are you thinking of who is it tell me his name who
tell me who the german Emperor is it yes imagine Im him think of him can
you feel him trying to make a whore of me what he never will he ought to
give it up now at this age of his life simply ruination for any woman and
no satisfaction in it pretending to like it till he comes and then finish
it off myself anyway and it makes your lips pale anyhow its done now once
and for all with all the talk of the world about it people make its only
the first time after that its just the ordinary do it and think no more
about it why cant you kiss a man without going and marrying him first you
sometimes love to wildly when you feel that way so nice all over you you
cant help yourself I wish some man or other would take me sometime when
hes there and kiss me in his arms theres nothing like a kiss long and hot
down to your soul almost paralyses you then I hate that confession when I
used to go to Father Corrigan he touched me father and what harm if he did
where and I said on the canal bank like a fool but whereabouts on your
person my child on the leg behind high up was it yes rather high up was it
where you sit down yes O Lord couldnt he say bottom right out and have
done with it what has that got to do with it and did you whatever way he
put it I forget no father and I always think of the real father what did
he want to know for when I already confessed it to God he had a nice fat
hand the palm moist always I wouldnt mind feeling it neither would he Id
say by the bullneck in his horsecollar I wonder did he know me in the box
I could see his face he couldnt see mine of course hed never turn or let
on still his eyes were red when his father died theyre lost for a woman of
course must be terrible when a man cries let alone them Id like to be
embraced by one in his vestments and the smell of incense off him like the
pope besides theres no danger with a priest if youre married hes too
careful about himself then give something to H H the pope for a penance I
wonder was he satisfied with me one thing I didnt like his slapping me
behind going away so familiarly in the hall though I laughed Im not a
horse or an ass am I I suppose he was thinking of his fathers I wonder is
he awake thinking of me or dreaming am I in it who gave him that flower he
said he bought he smelt of some kind of drink not whisky or stout or
perhaps the sweety kind of paste they stick their bills up with some
liqueur Id like to sip those richlooking green and yellow expensive drinks
those stagedoor johnnies drink with the opera hats I tasted once with my
finger dipped out of that American that had the squirrel talking stamps
with father he had all he could do to keep himself from falling asleep
after the last time after we took the port and potted meat it had a fine
salty taste yes because I felt lovely and tired myself and fell asleep as
sound as a top the moment I popped straight into bed till that thunder
woke me up God be merciful to us I thought the heavens were coming down
about us to punish us when I blessed myself and said a Hail Mary like
those awful thunderbolts in Gibraltar as if the world was coming to an end
and then they come and tell you theres no God what could you do if it was
running and rushing about nothing only make an act of contrition the
candle I lit that evening in Whitefriars street chapel for the month of
May see it brought its luck though hed scoff if he heard because he never
goes to church mass or meeting he says your soul you have no soul inside
only grey matter because he doesnt know what it is to have one yes when I
lit the lamp because he must have come 3 or 4 times with that tremendous
big red brute of a thing he has I thought the vein or whatever the dickens
they call it was going to burst though his nose is not so big after I took
off all my things with the blinds down after my hours dressing and
perfuming and combing it like iron or some kind of a thick crowbar
standing all the time he must have eaten oysters I think a few dozen he
was in great singing voice no I never in all my life felt anyone had one
the size of that to make you feel full up he must have eaten a whole sheep
after whats the idea making us like that with a big hole in the middle of
us or like a Stallion driving it up into you because thats all they want
out of you with that determined vicious look in his eye I had to halfshut
my eyes still he hasnt such a tremendous amount of spunk in him when I
made him pull out and do it on me considering how big it is so much the
better in case any of it wasnt washed out properly the last time I let him
finish it in me nice invention they made for women for him to get all the
pleasure but if someone gave them a touch of it themselves theyd know what
I went through with Milly nobody would believe cutting her teeth too and
Mina Purefoys husband give us a swing out of your whiskers filling her up
with a child or twins once a year as regular as the clock always with a
smell of children off her the one they called budgers or something like a
nigger with a shock of hair on it Jesusjack the child is a black the last
time I was there a squad of them falling over one another and bawling you
couldnt hear your ears supposed to be healthy not satisfied till they have
us swollen out like elephants or I dont know what supposing I risked
having another not off him though still if he was married Im sure hed have
a fine strong child but I dont know Poldy has more spunk in him yes thatd
be awfully jolly I suppose it was meeting Josie Powell and the funeral and
thinking about me and Boylan set him off well he can think what he likes
now if thatll do him any good I know they were spooning a bit when I came
on the scene he was dancing and sitting out with her the night of Georgina
Simpsons housewarming and then he wanted to ram it down my neck it was on
account of not liking to see her a wallflower that was why we had the
standup row over politics he began it not me when he said about Our Lord
being a carpenter at last he made me cry of course a woman is so sensitive
about everything I was fuming with myself after for giving in only for I
knew he was gone on me and the first socialist he said He was he annoyed
me so much I couldnt put him into a temper still he knows a lot of mixedup
things especially about the body and the inside I often wanted to study up
that myself what we have inside us in that family physician I could always
hear his voice talking when the room was crowded and watch him after that
I pretended I had a coolness on with her over him because he used to be a
bit on the jealous side whenever he asked who are you going to and I said
over to Floey and he made me the present of Byron's poems and the three
pairs of gloves so that finished that I could quite easily get him to make
it up any time I know how Id even supposing he got in with her again and
was going out to see her somewhere Id know if he refused to eat the onions
I know plenty of ways ask him to tuck down the collar of my blouse or
touch him with my veil and gloves on going out I kiss then would send them
all spinning however alright well see then let him go to her she of course
would only be too delighted to pretend shes mad in love with him that I
wouldnt so much mind Id just go to her and ask her do you love him and
look her square in the eyes she couldnt fool me but he might imagine he
was and make a declaration to her with his plabbery kind of a manner like
he did to me though I had the devils own job to get it out of him though I
liked him for that it showed he could hold in and wasnt to be got for the
asking he was on the pop of asking me too the night in the kitchen I was
rolling the potato cake theres something I want to say to you only for I
put him off letting on I was in a temper with my hands and arms full of
pasty flour in any case I let out too much the night before talking of
dreams so I didnt want to let him know more than was good for him she used
to be always embracing me Josie whenever he was there meaning him of
course glauming me over and when I said I washed up and down as far as
possible asking me and did you wash possible the women are always egging
on to that putting it on thick when hes there they know by his sly eye
blinking a bit putting on the indifferent when they come out with
something the kind he is what spoils him I dont wonder in the least
because he was very handsome at that time trying to look like Lord Byron I
said I liked though he was too beautiful for a man and he was a little
before we got engaged afterwards though she didnt like it so much the day
I was in fits of laughing with the giggles I couldnt stop about all my
hairpins falling out one after another with the mass of hair I had youre
always in great humour she said yes because it grigged her because she
knew what it meant because I used to tell her a good bit of what went on
between us not all but just enough to make her mouth water but that wasnt
my fault she didnt darken the door much after we were married I wonder
what shes got like now after living with that dotty husband of hers she
had her face beginning to look drawn and run down the last time I saw her
she must have been just after a row with him because I saw on the moment
she was edging to draw down a conversation about husbands and talk about
him to run him down what was it she told me O yes that sometimes he used
to go to bed with his muddy boots on when the maggot takes him just
imagine having to get into bed with a thing like that that might murder
you any moment what a man well its not the one way everyone goes mad Poldy
anyhow whatever he does always wipes his feet on the mat when he comes in
wet or shine and always blacks his own boots too and he always takes off
his hat when he comes up in the street like then and now hes going about
in his slippers to look for 10000 pounds for a postcard U p up O
sweetheart May wouldnt a thing like that simply bore you stiff to
extinction actually too stupid even to take his boots off now what could
you make of a man like that Id rather die 20 times over than marry another
of their sex of course hed never find another woman like me to put up with
him the way I do know me come sleep with me yes and he knows that too at
the bottom of his heart take that Mrs Maybrick that poisoned her husband
for what I wonder in love with some other man yes it was found out on her
wasnt she the downright villain to go and do a thing like that of course
some men can be dreadfully aggravating drive you mad and always the worst
word in the world what do they ask us to marry them for if were so bad as
all that comes to yes because they cant get on without us white Arsenic
she put in his tea off flypaper wasnt it I wonder why they call it that if
I asked him hed say its from the Greek leave us as wise as we were before
she must have been madly in love with the other fellow to run the chance
of being hanged O she didnt care if that was her nature what could she do
besides theyre not brutes enough to go and hang a woman surely are they</p>
<p>theyre all so different Boylan talking about the shape of my foot he
noticed at once even before he was introduced when I was in the D B C with
Poldy laughing and trying to listen I was waggling my foot we both ordered
2 teas and plain bread and butter I saw him looking with his two old maids
of sisters when I stood up and asked the girl where it was what do I care
with it dropping out of me and that black closed breeches he made me buy
takes you half an hour to let them down wetting all myself always with
some brandnew fad every other week such a long one I did I forgot my suede
gloves on the seat behind that I never got after some robber of a woman
and he wanted me to put it in the Irish times lost in the ladies lavatory
D B C Dame street finder return to Mrs Marion Bloom and I saw his eyes on
my feet going out through the turning door he was looking when I looked
back and I went there for tea 2 days after in the hope but he wasnt now
how did that excite him because I was crossing them when we were in the
other room first he meant the shoes that are too tight to walk in my hand
is nice like that if I only had a ring with the stone for my month a nice
aquamarine Ill stick him for one and a gold bracelet I dont like my foot
so much still I made him spend once with my foot the night after Goodwins
botchup of a concert so cold and windy it was well we had that rum in the
house to mull and the fire wasnt black out when he asked to take off my
stockings lying on the hearthrug in Lombard street west and another time
it was my muddy boots hed like me to walk in all the horses dung I could
find but of course hes not natural like the rest of the world that I what
did he say I could give 9 points in 10 to Katty Lanner and beat her what
does that mean I asked him I forget what he said because the stoppress
edition just passed and the man with the curly hair in the Lucan dairy
thats so polite I think I saw his face before somewhere I noticed him when
I was tasting the butter so I took my time Bartell dArcy too that he used
to make fun of when he commenced kissing me on the choir stairs after I
sang Gounods <i>Ave Maria</i> what are we waiting for O my heart kiss me
straight on the brow and part which is my brown part he was pretty hot for
all his tinny voice too my low notes he was always raving about if you can
believe him I liked the way he used his mouth singing then he said wasnt
it terrible to do that there in a place like that I dont see anything so
terrible about it Ill tell him about that some day not now and surprise
him ay and Ill take him there and show him the very place too we did it so
now there you are like it or lump it he thinks nothing can happen without
him knowing he hadnt an idea about my mother till we were engaged
otherwise hed never have got me so cheap as he did he was lo times worse
himself anyhow begging me to give him a tiny bit cut off my drawers that
was the evening coming along Kenilworth square he kissed me in the eye of
my glove and I had to take it off asking me questions is it permitted to
enquire the shape of my bedroom so I let him keep it as if I forgot it to
think of me when I saw him slip it into his pocket of course hes mad on
the subject of drawers thats plain to be seen always skeezing at those
brazenfaced things on the bicycles with their skirts blowing up to their
navels even when Milly and I were out with him at the open air fete that
one in the cream muslin standing right against the sun so he could see
every atom she had on when he saw me from behind following in the rain I
saw him before he saw me however standing at the corner of the Harolds
cross road with a new raincoat on him with the muffler in the Zingari
colours to show off his complexion and the brown hat looking slyboots as
usual what was he doing there where hed no business they can go and get
whatever they like from anything at all with a skirt on it and were not to
ask any questions but they want to know where were you where are you going
I could feel him coming along skulking after me his eyes on my neck he had
been keeping away from the house he felt it was getting too warm for him
so I halfturned and stopped then he pestered me to say yes till I took off
my glove slowly watching him he said my openwork sleeves were too cold for
the rain anything for an excuse to put his hand anear me drawers drawers
the whole blessed time till I promised to give him the pair off my doll to
carry about in his waistcoat pocket <i>O Maria Santisima</i> he did look a
big fool dreeping in the rain splendid set of teeth he had made me hungry
to look at them and beseeched of me to lift the orange petticoat I had on
with the sunray pleats that there was nobody he said hed kneel down in the
wet if I didnt so persevering he would too and ruin his new raincoat you
never know what freak theyd take alone with you theyre so savage for it if
anyone was passing so I lifted them a bit and touched his trousers outside
the way I used to Gardner after with my ring hand to keep him from doing
worse where it was too public I was dying to find out was he circumcised
he was shaking like a jelly all over they want to do everything too quick
take all the pleasure out of it and father waiting all the time for his
dinner he told me to say I left my purse in the butchers and had to go
back for it what a Deceiver then he wrote me that letter with all those
words in it how could he have the face to any woman after his company
manners making it so awkward after when we met asking me have I offended
you with my eyelids down of course he saw I wasnt he had a few brains not
like that other fool Henny Doyle he was always breaking or tearing
something in the charades I hate an unlucky man and if I knew what it
meant of course I had to say no for form sake dont understand you I said
and wasnt it natural so it is of course it used to be written up with a
picture of a womans on that wall in Gibraltar with that word I couldnt
find anywhere only for children seeing it too young then writing every
morning a letter sometimes twice a day I liked the way he made love then
he knew the way to take a woman when he sent me the 8 big poppies because
mine was the 8th then I wrote the night he kissed my heart at Dolphins
barn I couldnt describe it simply it makes you feel like nothing on earth
but he never knew how to embrace well like Gardner I hope hell come on
Monday as he said at the same time four I hate people who come at all
hours answer the door you think its the vegetables then its somebody and
you all undressed or the door of the filthy sloppy kitchen blows open the
day old frostyface Goodwin called about the concert in Lombard street and
I just after dinner all flushed and tossed with boiling old stew dont look
at me professor I had to say Im a fright yes but he was a real old gent in
his way it was impossible to be more respectful nobody to say youre out
you have to peep out through the blind like the messengerboy today I
thought it was a putoff first him sending the port and the peaches first
and I was just beginning to yawn with nerves thinking he was trying to
make a fool of me when I knew his tattarrattat at the door he must have
been a bit late because it was l/4 after 3 when I saw the 2 Dedalus girls
coming from school I never know the time even that watch he gave me never
seems to go properly Id want to get it looked after when I threw the penny
to that lame sailor for England home and beauty when I was whistling there
is a charming girl I love and I hadnt even put on my clean shift or
powdered myself or a thing then this day week were to go to Belfast just
as well he has to go to Ennis his fathers anniversary the 27th it wouldnt
be pleasant if he did suppose our rooms at the hotel were beside each
other and any fooling went on in the new bed I couldnt tell him to stop
and not bother me with him in the next room or perhaps some protestant
clergyman with a cough knocking on the wall then hed never believe the
next day we didnt do something its all very well a husband but you cant
fool a lover after me telling him we never did anything of course he didnt
believe me no its better hes going where he is besides something always
happens with him the time going to the Mallow concert at Maryborough
ordering boiling soup for the two of us then the bell rang out he walks
down the platform with the soup splashing about taking spoonfuls of it
hadnt he the nerve and the waiter after him making a holy show of us
screeching and confusion for the engine to start but he wouldnt pay till
he finished it the two gentlemen in the 3rd class carriage said he was
quite right so he was too hes so pigheaded sometimes when he gets a thing
into his head a good job he was able to open the carriage door with his
knife or theyd have taken us on to Cork I suppose that was done out of
revenge on him O I love jaunting in a train or a car with lovely soft
cushions I wonder will he take a 1st class for me he might want to do it
in the train by tipping the guard well O I suppose therell be the usual
idiots of men gaping at us with their eyes as stupid as ever they can
possibly be that was an exceptional man that common workman that left us
alone in the carriage that day going to Howth Id like to find out
something about him l or 2 tunnels perhaps then you have to look out of
the window all the nicer then coming back suppose I never came back what
would they say eloped with him that gets you on on the stage the last
concert I sang at where its over a year ago when was it St Teresas hall
Clarendon St little chits of missies they have now singing Kathleen
Kearney and her like on account of father being in the army and my singing
the absentminded beggar and wearing a brooch for Lord Roberts when I had
the map of it all and Poldy not Irish enough was it him managed it this
time I wouldnt put it past him like he got me on to sing in the <i>Stabat
Mater</i> by going around saying he was putting Lead Kindly Light to music
I put him up to that till the jesuits found out he was a freemason
thumping the piano lead Thou me on copied from some old opera yes and he
was going about with some of them Sinner Fein lately or whatever they call
themselves talking his usual trash and nonsense he says that little man he
showed me without the neck is very intelligent the coming man Griffiths is
he well he doesnt look it thats all I can say still it must have been him
he knew there was a boycott I hate the mention of their politics after the
war that Pretoria and Ladysmith and Bloemfontein where Gardner lieut
Stanley G 8th Bn 2nd East Lancs Rgt of enteric fever he was a lovely
fellow in khaki and just the right height over me Im sure he was brave too
he said I was lovely the evening we kissed goodbye at the canal lock my
Irish beauty he was pale with excitement about going away or wed be seen
from the road he couldnt stand properly and I so hot as I never felt they
could have made their peace in the beginning or old oom Paul and the rest
of the other old Krugers go and fight it out between them instead of
dragging on for years killing any finelooking men there were with their
fever if he was even decently shot it wouldnt have been so bad I love to
see a regiment pass in review the first time I saw the Spanish cavalry at
La Roque it was lovely after looking across the bay from Algeciras all the
lights of the rock like fireflies or those sham battles on the 15 acres
the Black Watch with their kilts in time at the march past the 10th
hussars the prince of Wales own or the lancers O the lancers theyre grand
or the Dublins that won Tugela his father made his money over selling the
horses for the cavalry well he could buy me a nice present up in Belfast
after what I gave him theyve lovely linen up there or one of those nice
kimono things I must buy a mothball like I had before to keep in the
drawer with them it would be exciting going round with him shopping buying
those things in a new city better leave this ring behind want to keep
turning and turning to get it over the knuckle there or they might bell it
round the town in their papers or tell the police on me but theyd think
were married O let them all go and smother themselves for the fat lot I
care he has plenty of money and hes not a marrying man so somebody better
get it out of him if I could find out whether he likes me I looked a bit
washy of course when I looked close in the handglass powdering a mirror
never gives you the expression besides scrooching down on me like that all
the time with his big hipbones hes heavy too with his hairy chest for this
heat always having to lie down for them better for him put it into me from
behind the way Mrs Mastiansky told me her husband made her like the dogs
do it and stick out her tongue as far as ever she could and he so quiet
and mild with his tingating cither can you ever be up to men the way it
takes them lovely stuff in that blue suit he had on and stylish tie and
socks with the skyblue silk things on them hes certainly well off I know
by the cut his clothes have and his heavy watch but he was like a perfect
devil for a few minutes after he came back with the stoppress tearing up
the tickets and swearing blazes because he lost 20 quid he said he lost
over that outsider that won and half he put on for me on account of
Lenehans tip cursing him to the lowest pits that sponger he was making
free with me after the Glencree dinner coming back that long joult over
the featherbed mountain after the lord Mayor looking at me with his dirty
eyes Val Dillon that big heathen I first noticed him at dessert when I was
cracking the nuts with my teeth I wished I could have picked every morsel
of that chicken out of my fingers it was so tasty and browned and as
tender as anything only for I didnt want to eat everything on my plate
those forks and fishslicers were hallmarked silver too I wish I had some I
could easily have slipped a couple into my muff when I was playing with
them then always hanging out of them for money in a restaurant for the bit
you put down your throat we have to be thankful for our mangy cup of tea
itself as a great compliment to be noticed the way the world is divided in
any case if its going to go on I want at least two other good chemises for
one thing and but I dont know what kind of drawers he likes none at all I
think didnt he say yes and half the girls in Gibraltar never wore them
either naked as God made them that Andalusian singing her Manola she didnt
make much secret of what she hadnt yes and the second pair of silkette
stockings is laddered after one days wear I could have brought them back
to Lewers this morning and kicked up a row and made that one change them
only not to upset myself and run the risk of walking into him and ruining
the whole thing and one of those kidfitting corsets Id want advertised
cheap in the Gentlewoman with elastic gores on the hips he saved the one I
have but thats no good what did they say they give a delightful figure
line 11/6 obviating that unsightly broad appearance across the lower back
to reduce flesh my belly is a bit too big Ill have to knock off the stout
at dinner or am I getting too fond of it the last they sent from ORourkes
was as flat as a pancake he makes his money easy Larry they call him the
old mangy parcel he sent at Xmas a cottage cake and a bottle of hogwash he
tried to palm off as claret that he couldnt get anyone to drink God spare
his spit for fear hed die of the drouth or I must do a few breathing
exercises I wonder is that antifat any good might overdo it the thin ones
are not so much the fashion now garters that much I have the violet pair I
wore today thats all he bought me out of the cheque he got on the first O
no there was the face lotion I finished the last of yesterday that made my
skin like new I told him over and over again get that made up in the same
place and dont forget it God only knows whether he did after all I said to
him 111 know by the bottle anyway if not I suppose 111 only have to wash
in my piss like beeftea or chickensoup with some of that opoponax and
violet I thought it was beginning to look coarse or old a bit the skin
underneath is much finer where it peeled off there on my finger after the
burn its a pity it isnt all like that and the four paltry handkerchiefs
about 6/- in all sure you cant get on in this world without style all
going in food and rent when I get it Ill lash it around I tell you in fine
style I always want to throw a handful of tea into the pot measuring and
mincing if I buy a pair of old brogues itself do you like those new shoes
yes how much were they Ive no clothes at all the brown costume and the
skirt and jacket and the one at the cleaners 3 whats that for any woman
cutting up this old hat and patching up the other the men wont look at you
and women try to walk on you because they know youve no man then with all
the things getting dearer every day for the 4 years more I have of life up
to 35 no Im what am I at all 111 be 33 in September will I what O well
look at that Mrs Galbraith shes much older than me I saw her when I was
out last week her beautys on the wane she was a lovely woman magnificent
head of hair on her down to her waist tossing it back like that like Kitty
OShea in Grantham street 1st thing I did every morning to look across see
her combing it as if she loved it and was full of it pity I only got to
know her the day before we left and that Mrs Langtry the jersey lily the
prince of Wales was in love with I suppose hes like the first man going
the roads only for the name of a king theyre all made the one way only a
black mans Id like to try a beauty up to what was she 45 there was some
funny story about the jealous old husband what was it at all and an oyster
knife he went no he made her wear a kind of a tin thing round her and the
prince of Wales yes he had the oyster knife cant be true a thing like that
like some of those books he brings me the works of Master Francois
Somebody supposed to be a priest about a child born out of her ear because
her bumgut fell out a nice word for any priest to write and her a—e
as if any fool wouldnt know what that meant I hate that pretending of all
things with that old blackguards face on him anybody can see its not true
and that Ruby and Fair Tyrants he brought me that twice I remember when I
came to page 5 o the part about where she hangs him up out of a hook with
a cord flagellate sure theres nothing for a woman in that all invention
made up about he drinking the champagne out of her slipper after the ball
was over like the infant Jesus in the crib at Inchicore in the Blessed
Virgins arms sure no woman could have a child that big taken out of her
and I thought first it came out of her side because how could she go to
the chamber when she wanted to and she a rich lady of course she felt
honoured H R H he was in Gibraltar the year I was born I bet he found
lilies there too where he planted the tree he planted more than that in
his time he might have planted me too if hed come a bit sooner then I
wouldnt be here as I am he ought to chuck that Freeman with the paltry few
shillings he knocks out of it and go into an office or something where hed
get regular pay or a bank where they could put him up on a throne to count
the money all the day of course he prefers plottering about the house so
you cant stir with him any side whats your programme today I wish hed even
smoke a pipe like father to get the smell of a man or pretending to be
mooching about for advertisements when he could have been in Mr Cuffes
still only for what he did then sending me to try and patch it up I could
have got him promoted there to be the manager he gave me a great mirada
once or twice first he was as stiff as the mischief really and truly Mrs
Bloom only I felt rotten simply with the old rubbishy dress that I lost
the leads out of the tails with no cut in it but theyre coming into
fashion again I bought it simply to please him I knew it was no good by
the finish pity I changed my mind of going to Todd and Bums as I said and
not Lees it was just like the shop itself rummage sale a lot of trash I
hate those rich shops get on your nerves nothing kills me altogether only
he thinks he knows a great lot about a womans dress and cooking mathering
everything he can scour off the shelves into it if I went by his advices
every blessed hat I put on does that suit me yes take that thats alright
the one like a weddingcake standing up miles off my head he said suited me
or the dishcover one coming down on my backside on pins and needles about
the shopgirl in that place in Grafton street I had the misfortune to bring
him into and she as insolent as ever she could be with her smirk saying Im
afraid were giving you too much trouble what shes there for but I stared
it out of her yes he was awfully stiff and no wonder but he changed the
second time he looked Poldy pigheaded as usual like the soup but I could
see him looking very hard at my chest when he stood up to open the door
for me it was nice of him to show me out in any case Im extremely sorry
Mrs Bloom believe me without making it too marked the first time after him
being insulted and me being supposed to be his wife I just half smiled I
know my chest was out that way at the door when he said Im extremely sorry
and Im sure you were</p>
<p>yes I think he made them a bit firmer sucking them like that so long he
made me thirsty titties he calls them I had to laugh yes this one anyhow
stiff the nipple gets for the least thing Ill get him to keep that up and
Ill take those eggs beaten up with marsala fatten them out for him what
are all those veins and things curious the way its made 2 the same in case
of twins theyre supposed to represent beauty placed up there like those
statues in the museum one of them pretending to hide it with her hand are
they so beautiful of course compared with what a man looks like with his
two bags full and his other thing hanging down out of him or sticking up
at you like a hatrack no wonder they hide it with a cabbageleaf that
disgusting Cameron highlander behind the meat market or that other wretch
with the red head behind the tree where the statue of the fish used to be
when I was passing pretending he was pissing standing out for me to see it
with his babyclothes up to one side the Queens own they were a nice lot
its well the Surreys relieved them theyre always trying to show it to you
every time nearly I passed outside the mens greenhouse near the Harcourt
street station just to try some fellow or other trying to catch my eye as
if it was I of the 7 wonders of the world O and the stink of those rotten
places the night coming home with Poldy after the Comerfords party oranges
and lemonade to make you feel nice and watery I went into r of them it was
so biting cold I couldnt keep it when was that 93 the canal was frozen yes
it was a few months after a pity a couple of the Camerons werent there to
see me squatting in the mens place meadero I tried to draw a picture of it
before I tore it up like a sausage or something I wonder theyre not afraid
going about of getting a kick or a bang of something there the woman is
beauty of course thats admitted when he said I could pose for a picture
naked to some rich fellow in Holles street when he lost the job in Helys
and I was selling the clothes and strumming in the coffee palace would I
be like that bath of the nymph with my hair down yes only shes younger or
Im a little like that dirty bitch in that Spanish photo he has nymphs used
they go about like that I asked him about her and that word met something
with hoses in it and he came out with some jawbreakers about the
incarnation he never can explain a thing simply the way a body can
understand then he goes and burns the bottom out of the pan all for his
Kidney this one not so much theres the mark of his teeth still where he
tried to bite the nipple I had to scream out arent they fearful trying to
hurt you I had a great breast of milk with Milly enough for two what was
the reason of that he said I could have got a pound a week as a wet nurse
all swelled out the morning that delicate looking student that stopped in
no 28 with the Citrons Penrose nearly caught me washing through the window
only for I snapped up the towel to my face that was his studenting hurt me
they used to weaning her till he got doctor Brady to give me the
belladonna prescription I had to get him to suck them they were so hard he
said it was sweeter and thicker than cows then he wanted to milk me into
the tea well hes beyond everything I declare somebody ought to put him in
the budget if I only could remember the I half of the things and write a
book out of it the works of Master Poldy yes and its so much smoother the
skin much an hour he was at them Im sure by the clock like some kind of a
big infant I had at me they want everything in their mouth all the
pleasure those men get out of a woman I can feel his mouth O Lord I must
stretch myself I wished he was here or somebody to let myself go with and
come again like that I feel all fire inside me or if I could dream it when
he made me spend the 2nd time tickling me behind with his finger I was
coming for about 5 minutes with my legs round him I had to hug him after O
Lord I wanted to shout out all sorts of things fuck or shit or anything at
all only not to look ugly or those lines from the strain who knows the way
hed take it you want to feel your way with a man theyre not all like him
thank God some of them want you to be so nice about it I noticed the
contrast he does it and doesnt talk I gave my eyes that look with my hair
a bit loose from the tumbling and my tongue between my lips up to him the
savage brute Thursday Friday one Saturday two Sunday three O Lord I cant
wait till Monday</p>
<p>frseeeeeeeefronnnng train somewhere whistling the strength those engines
have in them like big giants and the water rolling all over and out of
them all sides like the end of Loves old sweeeetsonnnng the poor men that
have to be out all the night from their wives and families in those
roasting engines stifling it was today Im glad I burned the half of those
old Freemans and Photo Bits leaving things like that lying about hes
getting very careless and threw the rest of them up in the W C 111 get him
to cut them tomorrow for me instead of having them there for the next year
to get a few pence for them have him asking wheres last Januarys paper and
all those old overcoats I bundled out of the hall making the place hotter
than it is that rain was lovely and refreshing just after my beauty sleep
I thought it was going to get like Gibraltar my goodness the heat there
before the levanter came on black as night and the glare of the rock
standing up in it like a big giant compared with their 3 Rock mountain
they think is so great with the red sentries here and there the poplars
and they all whitehot and the smell of the rainwater in those tanks
watching the sun all the time weltering down on you faded all that lovely
frock fathers friend Mrs Stanhope sent me from the B Marche paris what a
shame my dearest Doggerina she wrote on it she was very nice whats this
her other name was just a p c to tell you I sent the little present have
just had a jolly warm bath and feel a very clean dog now enjoyed it wogger
she called him wogger wd give anything to be back in Gib and hear you sing
Waiting and in old Madrid Concone is the name of those exercises he bought
me one of those new some word I couldnt make out shawls amusing things but
tear for the least thing still there lovely I think dont you will always
think of the lovely teas we had together scrumptious currant scones and
raspberry wafers I adore well now dearest Doggerina be sure and write soon
kind she left out regards to your father also captain Grove with love yrs
affly Hester x x x x x she didnt look a bit married just like a girl he
was years older than her wogger he was awfully fond of me when he held
down the wire with his foot for me to step over at the bullfight at La
Linea when that matador Gomez was given the bulls ear these clothes we
have to wear whoever invented them expecting you to walk up Killiney hill
then for example at that picnic all staysed up you cant do a blessed thing
in them in a crowd run or jump out of the way thats why I was afraid when
that other ferocious old Bull began to charge the banderilleros with the
sashes and the 2 things in their hats and the brutes of men shouting bravo
toro sure the women were as bad in their nice white mantillas ripping all
the whole insides out of those poor horses I never heard of such a thing
in all my life yes he used to break his heart at me taking off the dog
barking in bell lane poor brute and it sick what became of them ever I
suppose theyre dead long ago the 2 of them its like all through a mist
makes you feel so old I made the scones of course I had everything all to
myself then a girl Hester we used to compare our hair mine was thicker
than hers she showed me how to settle it at the back when I put it up and
whats this else how to make a knot on a thread with the one hand we were
like cousins what age was I then the night of the storm I slept in her bed
she had her arms round me then we were fighting in the morning with the
pillow what fun he was watching me whenever he got an opportunity at the
band on the Alameda esplanade when I was with father and captain Grove I
looked up at the church first and then at the windows then down and our
eyes met I felt something go through me like all needles my eyes were
dancing I remember after when I looked at myself in the glass hardly
recognised myself the change he was attractive to a girl in spite of his
being a little bald intelligent looking disappointed and gay at the same
time he was like Thomas in the shadow of Ashlydyat I had a splendid skin
from the sun and the excitement like a rose I didnt get a wink of sleep it
wouldnt have been nice on account of her but I could have stopped it in
time she gave me the Moonstone to read that was the first I read of Wilkie
Collins East Lynne I read and the shadow of Ashlydyat Mrs Henry Wood Henry
Dunbar by that other woman I lent him afterwards with Mulveys photo in it
so as he see I wasnt without and Lord Lytton Eugene Aram Molly bawn she
gave me by Mrs Hungerford on account of the name I dont like books with a
Molly in them like that one he brought me about the one from Flanders a
whore always shoplifting anything she could cloth and stuff and yards of
it O this blanket is too heavy on me thats better I havent even one decent
nightdress this thing gets all rolled under me besides him and his fooling
thats better I used to be weltering then in the heat my shift drenched
with the sweat stuck in the cheeks of my bottom on the chair when I stood
up they were so fattish and firm when I got up on the sofa cushions to see
with my clothes up and the bugs tons of them at night and the mosquito
nets I couldnt read a line Lord how long ago it seems centuries of course
they never came back and she didnt put her address right on it either she
may have noticed her wogger people were always going away and we never I
remember that day with the waves and the boats with their high heads
rocking and the smell of ship those Officers uniforms on shore leave made
me seasick he didnt say anything he was very serious I had the high
buttoned boots on and my skirt was blowing she kissed me six or seven
times didnt I cry yes I believe I did or near it my lips were taittering
when I said goodbye she had a Gorgeous wrap of some special kind of blue
colour on her for the voyage made very peculiarly to one side like and it
was extremely pretty it got as dull as the devil after they went I was
almost planning to run away mad out of it somewhere were never easy where
we are father or aunt or marriage waiting always waiting to guiiiide him
toooo me waiting nor speeeed his flying feet their damn guns bursting and
booming all over the shop especially the Queens birthday and throwing
everything down in all directions if you didnt open the windows when
general Ulysses Grant whoever he was or did supposed to be some great
fellow landed off the ship and old Sprague the consul that was there from
before the flood dressed up poor man and he in mourning for the son then
the same old bugles for reveille in the morning and drums rolling and the
unfortunate poor devils of soldiers walking about with messtins smelling
the place more than the old longbearded jews in their jellibees and
levites assembly and sound clear and gunfire for the men to cross the
lines and the warden marching with his keys to lock the gates and the
bagpipes and only captain Groves and father talking about Rorkes drift and
Plevna and sir Garnet Wolseley and Gordon at Khartoum lighting their pipes
for them everytime they went out drunken old devil with his grog on the
windowsill catch him leaving any of it picking his nose trying to think of
some other dirty story to tell up in a corner but he never forgot himself
when I was there sending me out of the room on some blind excuse paying
his compliments the Bushmills whisky talking of course but hed do the same
to the next woman that came along I suppose he died of galloping drink
ages ago the days like years not a letter from a living soul except the
odd few I posted to myself with bits of paper in them so bored sometimes I
could fight with my nails listening to that old Arab with the one eye and
his heass of an instrument singing his heah heah aheah all my compriments
on your hotchapotch of your heass as bad as now with the hands hanging off
me looking out of the window if there was a nice fellow even in the
opposite house that medical in Holles street the nurse was after when I
put on my gloves and hat at the window to show I was going out not a
notion what I meant arent they thick never understand what you say even
youd want to print it up on a big poster for them not even if you shake
hands twice with the left he didnt recognise me either when I half frowned
at him outside Westland row chapel where does their great intelligence
come in Id like to know grey matter they have it all in their tail if you
ask me those country gougers up in the City Arms intelligence they had a
damn sight less than the bulls and cows they were selling the meat and the
coalmans bell that noisy bugger trying to swindle me with the wrong bill
he took out of his hat what a pair of paws and pots and pans and kettles
to mend any broken bottles for a poor man today and no visitors or post
ever except his cheques or some advertisement like that wonderworker they
sent him addressed dear Madam only his letter and the card from Milly this
morning see she wrote a letter to him who did I get the last letter from O
Mrs Dwenn now what possessed her to write from Canada after so many years
to know the recipe I had for pisto madrileno Floey Dillon since she wrote
to say she was married to a very rich architect if Im to believe all I
hear with a villa and eight rooms her father was an awfully nice man he
was near seventy always goodhumoured well now Miss Tweedy or Miss
Gillespie theres the piannyer that was a solid silver coffee service he
had too on the mahogany sideboard then dying so far away I hate people
that have always their poor story to tell everybody has their own troubles
that poor Nancy Blake died a month ago of acute neumonia well I didnt know
her so well as all that she was Floeys friend more than mine poor Nancy
its a bother having to answer he always tells me the wrong things and no
stops to say like making a speech your sad bereavement symphathy I always
make that mistake and newphew with 2 double yous in I hope hell write me a
longer letter the next time if its a thing he really likes me O thanks be
to the great God I got somebody to give me what I badly wanted to put some
heart up into me youve no chances at all in this place like you used long
ago I wish somebody would write me a loveletter his wasnt much and I told
him he could write what he liked yours ever Hugh Boylan in old Madrid
stuff silly women believe love is sighing I am dying still if he wrote it
I suppose thered be some truth in it true or no it fills up your whole day
and life always something to think about every moment and see it all round
you like a new world I could write the answer in bed to let him imagine me
short just a few words not those long crossed letters Atty Dillon used to
write to the fellow that was something in the four courts that jilted her
after out of the ladies letterwriter when I told her to say a few simple
words he could twist how he liked not acting with precipat precip itancy
with equal candour the greatest earthly happiness answer to a gentlemans
proposal affirmatively my goodness theres nothing else its all very fine
for them but as for being a woman as soon as youre old they might as well
throw you out in the bottom of the ashpit.</p>
<p>Mulveys was the first when I was in bed that morning and Mrs Rubio brought
it in with the coffee she stood there standing when I asked her to hand me
and I pointing at them I couldnt think of the word a hairpin to open it
with ah horquilla disobliging old thing and it staring her in the face
with her switch of false hair on her and vain about her appearance ugly as
she was near 80 or a loo her face a mass of wrinkles with all her religion
domineering because she never could get over the Atlantic fleet coming in
half the ships of the world and the Union Jack flying with all her
carabineros because 4 drunken English sailors took all the rock from them
and because I didnt run into mass often enough in Santa Maria to please
her with her shawl up on her except when there was a marriage on with all
her miracles of the saints and her black blessed virgin with the silver
dress and the sun dancing 3 times on Easter Sunday morning and when the
priest was going by with the bell bringing the vatican to the dying
blessing herself for his Majestad an admirer he signed it I near jumped
out of my skin I wanted to pick him up when I saw him following me along
the Calle Real in the shop window then he tipped me just in passing but I
never thought hed write making an appointment I had it inside my petticoat
bodice all day reading it up in every hole and corner while father was up
at the drill instructing to find out by the handwriting or the language of
stamps singing I remember shall I wear a white rose and I wanted to put on
the old stupid clock to near the time he was the first man kissed me under
the Moorish wall my sweetheart when a boy it never entered my head what
kissing meant till he put his tongue in my mouth his mouth was sweetlike
young I put my knee up to him a few times to learn the way what did I tell
him I was engaged for for fun to the son of a Spanish nobleman named Don
Miguel de la Flora and he believed me that I was to be married to him in 3
years time theres many a true word spoken in jest there is a flower that
bloometh a few things I told him true about myself just for him to be
imagining the Spanish girls he didnt like I suppose one of them wouldnt
have him I got him excited he crushed all the flowers on my bosom he
brought me he couldnt count the pesetas and the perragordas till I taught
him Cappoquin he came from he said on the black water but it was too short
then the day before he left May yes it was May when the infant king of
Spain was born Im always like that in the spring Id like a new fellow
every year up on the tiptop under the rockgun near OHaras tower I told him
it was struck by lightning and all about the old Barbary apes they sent to
Clapham without a tail careering all over the show on each others back Mrs
Rubio said she was a regular old rock scorpion robbing the chickens out of
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