Page 791 - ULYSSES
P. 791
Ulysses
She has it, she got it,
Wherever she put it,
The leg of the duck.
(Stephen, flourishing the ashplant in his left hand, chants with
joy the introit for paschal time. Lynch, his jockeycap low on his
brow, attends him, a sneer of discontent wrinkling his face.)
STEPHEN: Vidi aquam egredientem de templo a latere
dextro. Alleluia.
(The famished snaggletusks of an elderly bawd protrude from a
doorway.)
THE BAWD: (Her voice whispering huskily) Sst! Come
here till I tell you. Maidenhead inside. Sst!
STEPHEN: (Altius aliquantulum) Et omnes ad quos
pervenit aqua ista.
THE BAWD: (Spits in their trail her jet of venom) Trinity
medicals. Fallopian tube. All prick and no pence.
(Edy Boardman, sniffling, crouched with bertha supple, draws
her shawl across her nostrils.)
EDY BOARDMAN: (Bickering) And says the one: I
seen you up Faithful place with your squarepusher, the
greaser off the railway, in his cometobed hat. Did you,
says I. That’s not for you to say, says I. You never seen me
in the mantrap with a married highlander, says I. The likes
of her! Stag that one is! Stubborn as a mule! And her
790 of 1305