Page 87 - a-portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-man

vincial.
Father Dolan and I, when I told them all at dinner about
it, Father Dolan and I had a great laugh over it. YOU BET-
TER MIND YOURSELF FATHER DOLAN, said I, OR
YOUNG DEDALUS WILL SEND YOU UP FOR TWICE
NINE. We had a famous laugh together over it. Ha! Ha!
Ha!
Mr Dedalus turned to his wife and interjected in his nat-
ural voice:
—Shows you the spirit in which they take the boys there.
O, a jesuit for your life, for diplomacy!
He reassumed the provincial’s voice and repeated:
—I TOLD THEM ALL AT DINNER ABOUT IT AND
FATHER DOLAN AND I AND ALL OF US WE HAD A
HEARTY LAUGH TOGETHER OVER IT. HA! HA! HA!
*****
The night of the Whitsuntide play had come and Ste-
phen from the window of the dressing-room looked out
on the small grass-plot across which lines of Chinese lan-
terns were stretched. He watched the visitors come down
the steps from the house and pass into the theatre. Stewards
in evening dress, old Belvedereans, loitered in groups about
the entrance to the theatre and ushered in the visitors with
ceremony. Under the sudden glow of a lantern he could rec-
ognize the smiling face of a priest.
The Blessed Sacrament had been removed from the tab-
ernacle and the first benches had been driven back so as
to leave the dais of the altar and the space before it free.
Against the walls stood companies of barbells and Indian

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