Page 451 - ULYSSES

Ulysses

he should have just that fixed idea. Does he write anything
for your movement?
He sank two lumps of sugar deftly longwise through
the whipped cream. Buck Mulligan slit a steaming scone

in two and plastered butter over its smoking pith. He bit
off a soft piece hungrily.
—Ten years, he said, chewing and laughing. He is
going to write something in ten years.
—Seems a long way off, Haines said, thoughtfully
lifting his spoon. Still, I shouldn’t wonder if he did after
all.
He tasted a spoonful from the creamy cone of his cup.
—This is real Irish cream I take it, he said with
forbearance. I don’t want to be imposed on.
Elijah, skiff, light crumpled throwaway, sailed eastward
by flanks of ships and trawlers, amid an archipelago of
corks, beyond new Wapping street past Benson’s ferry,
and by the threemasted schooner Rosevean from
Bridgwater with bricks.

* * * * *

Almidano Artifoni walked past Holles street, past
Sewell’s yard. Behind him Cashel Boyle O’Connor

450 of 1305