Page 1119 - ULYSSES

Ulysses

How many previous encounters proved their
preexisting acquaintance?
Two. The first in the lilacgarden of Matthew Dillon’s
house, Medina Villa, Kimmage road, Roundtown, in

1887, in the company of Stephen’s mother, Stephen being
then of the age of 5 and reluctant to give his hand in
salutation. The second in the coffeeroom of Breslin’s hotel
on a rainy Sunday in the January of 1892, in the company
of Stephen’s father and Stephen’s granduncle, Stephen
being then 5 years older.
Did Bloom accept the invitation to dinner given then
by the son and afterwards seconded by the father?
Very gratefully, with grateful appreciation, with sincere
appreciative gratitude, in appreciatively grateful sincerity
of regret, he declined.
Did their conversation on the subject of these
reminiscences reveal a third connecting link between
them?
Mrs Riordan (Dante), a widow of independent means,
had resided in the house of Stephen’s parents from 1
September 1888 to 29 December 1891 and had also
resided during the years 1892, 1893 and 1894 in the City
Arms Hotel owned by Elizabeth O’Dowd of 54 Prussia
street where, during parts of the years 1893 and 1894, she

1118 of 1305