Page 66 - a-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-man

doors that were the doors of the rooms of the community.
He peered in front of him and right and left through the
gloom and thought that those must be portraits. It was dark
and silent and his eyes were weak and tired with tears so
that he could not see. But he thought they were the portraits
of the saints and great men of the order who were looking
down on him silently as he passed: saint Ignatius Loyola
holding an open book and pointing to the words AD MA-
JOREM DEI GLORIAM in it; saint Francis Xavier pointing
to his chest; Lorenzo Ricci with his berretta on his head like
one of the prefects of the lines, the three patrons of holy
youth—saint Stanislaus Kostka, saint Aloysius Gonzago,
and Blessed John Berchmans, all with young faces because
they died when they were young, and Father Peter Kenny
sitting in a chair wrapped in a big cloak.
He came out on the landing above the entrance hall and
looked about him. That was where Hamilton Rowan had
passed and the marks of the soldiers’ slugs were there. And
it was there that the old servants had seen the ghost in the
white cloak of a marshal.
An old servant was sweeping at the end of the landing.
He asked him where was the rector’s room and the old ser-
vant pointed to the door at the far end and looked after him
as he went on to it and knocked.
There was no answer. He knocked again more loudly and
his heart jumped when he heard a muffled voice say:
—Come in!
He turned the handle and opened the door and fumbled
for the handle of the green baize door inside. He found it

66 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man