She had broad nostrils, a straggling mouth which lay

open in a contented leer, and two projecting front teeth. As he

passed Lenehan took off his cap and, after about ten seconds,

Corley returned a salute to the air. This he did by raising his hand

vaguely and pensively changing the angle of position of his hat.


Lenehan walked as far as the Shelbourne Hotel where he halted

and waited. After waiting for a little time he saw them coming

towards him and, when they turned to the right, he followed them,

stepping lightly in his white shoes, down one side of Merrion

Square. As he walked on slowly, timing his pace to theirs, he

watched Corley's head which turned at every moment towards the

young woman's face like a big ball revolving on a pivot. He kept

the pair in view until he had seen them climbing the stairs of the

Donnybrook tram; then he turned about and went back the way he

had come.


Now that he was alone his face looked older. His gaiety seemed to

forsake him and, as he came by the railings of the Duke's Lawn, he

allowed his hand to run along them. The air which the harpist had

played began to control his movements His softly padded feet

played the melody while his fingers swept a scale of variations idly

along the railings after each group of notes.


He walked listlessly round Stephen's Green and then down Grafton

Street. Though his eyes took note of many elements of the crowd

through which he passed they did so morosely. He found trivial all

that was meant to charm him and did not answer the glances which

invited him to be bold. He knew that he would have to speak a

great deal, to invent and to amuse and his brain and throat were

too dry for such a task. The problem of how he could pass the

hours till he met Corley again troubled him a little. He could think

of no way of passing them but to keep on walking. He turned to the

left when he came to the corner of Rutland Square and felt more at

ease in the dark quiet street, the sombre look of which suited his

mood. He paused at last before the window of a poor-looking shop

over which the words Refreshment Bar were printed in white

letters. On the glass of the window were two flying inscriptions:

Ginger Beer and Ginger Ale. A cut ham was exposed on a great

blue dish while near it on a plate lay a segment of very light

plum-pudding. He eyed this food earnestly for some time and then,

after glancing warily up and down the street, went into the shop

quickly.


He was hungry for, except some biscuits which he had asked two

grudging curates to bring him, he had eaten nothing since

breakfast-time. He sat down at an uncovered wooden table

opposite two work-girls and a mechanic. A slatternly girl waited

on him.


"How much is a plate of peas?" he asked.


"Three halfpence, sir," said the girl.


"Bring me a plate of peas," he said, "and a bottle of ginger beer."


He spoke roughly in order to belie his air of gentility for his entry

had been followed by a pause of talk. His face was heated. To

appear natural he pushed his cap back on his head and planted his

elbows on the table. The mechanic and the two work-girls

examined him point by point before resuming their conversation in

a subdued voice. The girl brought him a plate of grocer's hot peas,

seasoned with pepper and vinegar, a fork and his ginger beer. He

ate his food greedily and found it so good that he made a note of

the shop mentally. When he had eaten all the peas he sipped his

ginger beer and sat for some time thinking of Corley's adventure.

In his imagination he beheld the pair of lovers walking along some

dark road; he heard Corley's voice in deep energetic gallantries and

saw again the leer of the young woman's mouth. This vision made

him feel keenly his own poverty of purse and spirit. He was tired

of knocking about, of pulling the devil by the tail, of shifts and

intrigues. He would be thirty-one in November. Would he never

get a good job? Would he never have a home of his own? He

thought how pleasant it would be to have a warm fire to sit by and

a good dinner to sit down to.