Page 236 - dubliners

For they are jolly gay fellows,
For they are jolly gay fellows,
For they are jolly gay fellows,
Which nobody can deny.

The acclamation which followed was taken up beyond
the door of the supper-room by many of the other guests
and renewed time after time, Freddy Malins acting as offi-
cer with his fork on high.

The piercing morning air came into the hall where they
were standing so that Aunt Kate said:
‘Close the door, somebody. Mrs. Malins will get her
death of cold.’
‘Browne is out there, Aunt Kate,’ said Mary Jane.
‘Browne is everywhere,’ said Aunt Kate, lowering her
voice.
Mary Jane laughed at her tone.
‘Really,’ she said archly, ‘he is very attentive.’
‘He has been laid on here like the gas,’ said Aunt Kate in
the same tone, ‘all during the Christmas.’
She laughed herself this time good-humouredly and then
added quickly:
‘But tell him to come in, Mary Jane, and close the door. I
hope to goodness he didn’t hear me.’
At that moment the hall-door was opened and Mr.
Browne came in from the doorstep, laughing as if his heart
would break. He was dressed in a long green overcoat with

236 Dubliners