The Dead
James Joyce
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Lily, the caretaker’s daughter, was literally run off her feet. Hardly had she brought one gentleman into the…
It was always a great affair, the Misses Morkan’s annual dance. Everybody who knew them came to it,…
Of course they had good reason to be fussy on such a night. And then it was long…
“O, Mr Conroy,” said Lily to Gabriel when she opened the door for him, “Miss Kate and Miss…
“I’ll engage they did,” said Gabriel, “but they forget that my wife here takes three mortal hours to…
He stood on the mat, scraping the snow from his goloshes, while Lily led his wife to the…
“Miss Kate, here’s Mrs Conroy.”
Kate and Julia came toddling down the dark stairs at once. Both of them kissed Gabriel’s wife, said…
“Here I am as right as the mail, Aunt Kate! Go on up. I’ll follow,” called out Gabriel…
He continued scraping his feet vigorously while the three women went upstairs, laughing, to the ladies’ dressing-room. A…
“Is it snowing again, Mr Conroy?” asked Lily.
She had preceded him into the pantry to help him off with his overcoat. Gabriel smiled at the…
“Yes, Lily,” he answered, “and I think we’re in for a night of it.”
He looked up at the pantry ceiling, which was shaking with the stamping and shuffling of feet on…
“Tell me, Lily,” he said in a friendly tone, “do you still go to school?”
“O no, sir,” she answered. “I’m done schooling this year and more.”
“O, then,” said Gabriel gaily, “I suppose we’ll be going to your wedding one of these fine days…
The girl glanced back at him over her shoulder and said with great bitterness:
“The men that is now is only all palaver and what they can get out of you.”
Gabriel coloured as if he felt he had made a mistake and, without looking at her, kicked off…
He was a stout tallish young man. The high colour of his cheeks pushed upwards even to his…
When he had flicked lustre into his shoes he stood up and pulled his waistcoat down more tightly…
“O Lily,” he said, thrusting it into her hands, “it’s Christmas-time, isn’t it? Just ... here’s a little....”
He walked rapidly towards the door.
“O no, sir!” cried the girl, following him. “Really, sir, I wouldn’t take it.”
“Christmas-time! Christmas-time!” said Gabriel, almost trotting to the stairs and waving his hand to her in deprecation.
The girl, seeing that he had gained the stairs, called out after him:
“Well, thank you, sir.”
He waited outside the drawing-room door until the waltz should finish, listening to the skirts that swept against…
Just then his aunts and his wife came out of the ladies’ dressing-room. His aunts were two small…
They both kissed Gabriel frankly. He was their favourite nephew, the son of their dead elder sister, Ellen,…
“Gretta tells me you’re not going to take a cab back to Monkstown tonight, Gabriel,” said Aunt Kate.
“No,” said Gabriel, turning to his wife, “we had quite enough of that last year, hadn’t we? Don’t…
Aunt Kate frowned severely and nodded her head at every word.
“Quite right, Gabriel, quite right,” she said. “You can’t be too careful.”
“But as for Gretta there,” said Gabriel, “she’d walk home in the snow if she were let.”
Mrs Conroy laughed.
“Don’t mind him, Aunt Kate,” she said. “He’s really an awful bother, what with green shades for Tom’s…
She broke out into a peal of laughter and glanced at her husband, whose admiring and happy eyes…
“Goloshes!” said Mrs Conroy. “That’s the latest. Whenever it’s wet underfoot I must put on my goloshes. Tonight…
Gabriel laughed nervously and patted his tie reassuringly while Aunt Kate nearly doubled herself, so heartily did she…
“And what are goloshes, Gabriel?”
“Goloshes, Julia!” exclaimed her sister. “Goodness me, don’t you know what goloshes are? You wear them over your…
“Yes,” said Mrs Conroy. “Guttapercha things. We both have a pair now. Gabriel says everyone wears them on…
“O, on the continent,” murmured Aunt Julia, nodding her head slowly.
Gabriel knitted his brows and said, as if he were slightly angered:
“It’s nothing very wonderful but Gretta thinks it very funny because she says the word reminds her of…
“But tell me, Gabriel,” said Aunt Kate, with brisk tact. “Of course, you’ve seen about the room. Gretta…
“O, the room is all right,” replied Gabriel. “I’ve taken one in the Gresham.”
“To be sure,” said Aunt Kate, “by far the best thing to do. And the children, Gretta, you’re…
“O, for one night,” said Mrs Conroy. “Besides, Bessie will look after them.”
“To be sure,” said Aunt Kate again. “What a comfort it is to have a girl like that,…
Gabriel was about to ask his aunt some questions on this point but she broke off suddenly to…
“Now, I ask you,” she said almost testily, “where is Julia going? Julia! Julia! Where are you going?”
Julia, who had gone half way down one flight, came back and announced blandly:
“Here’s Freddy.”
At the same moment a clapping of hands and a final flourish of the pianist told that the…
“Slip down, Gabriel, like a good fellow and see if he’s all right, and don’t let him up…
Gabriel went to the stairs and listened over the banisters. He could hear two persons talking in the…
“It’s such a relief,” said Aunt Kate to Mrs Conroy, “that Gabriel is here. I always feel easier…
A tall wizen-faced man, with a stiff grizzled moustache and swarthy skin, who was passing out with his…
“And may we have some refreshment, too, Miss Morkan?”
“Julia,” said Aunt Kate summarily, “and here’s Mr Browne and Miss Furlong. Take them in, Julia, with Miss…
“I’m the man for the ladies,” said Mr Browne, pursing his lips until his moustache bristled and smiling…
He did not finish his sentence, but, seeing that Aunt Kate was out of earshot, at once led…
Mr Browne led his charges thither and invited them all, in jest, to some ladies’ punch, hot, strong…
“God help me,” he said, smiling, “it’s the doctor’s orders.”
His wizened face broke into a broader smile, and the three young ladies laughed in musical echo to…
“O, now, Mr Browne, I’m sure the doctor never ordered anything of the kind.”
Mr Browne took another sip of his whisky and said, with sidling mimicry:
“Well, you see, I’m like the famous Mrs Cassidy, who is reported to have said: ‘Now, Mary Grimes,…
His hot face had leaned forward a little too confidentially and he had assumed a very low Dublin…
A red-faced young woman, dressed in pansy, came into the room, excitedly clapping her hands and crying:
“Quadrilles! Quadrilles!”
Close on her heels came Aunt Kate, crying:
“Two gentlemen and three ladies, Mary Jane!”
“O, here’s Mr Bergin and Mr Kerrigan,” said Mary Jane. “Mr Kerrigan, will you take Miss Power? Miss…
“Three ladies, Mary Jane,” said Aunt Kate.
The two young gentlemen asked the ladies if they might have the pleasure, and Mary Jane turned to…
“O, Miss Daly, you’re really awfully good, after playing for the last two dances, but really we’re so…
“I don’t mind in the least, Miss Morkan.”
“But I’ve a nice partner for you, Mr Bartell D’Arcy, the tenor. I’ll get him to sing later…
“Lovely voice, lovely voice!” said Aunt Kate.
As the piano had twice begun the prelude to the first figure Mary Jane led her recruits quickly…
“What is the matter, Julia?” asked Aunt Kate anxiously. “Who is it?”
Julia, who was carrying in a column of table-napkins, turned to her sister and said, simply, as if…
“It’s only Freddy, Kate, and Gabriel with him.”
In fact right behind her Gabriel could be seen piloting Freddy Malins across the landing. The latter, a…
“Good-evening, Freddy,” said Aunt Julia.
Freddy Malins bade the Misses Morkan good-evening in what seemed an offhand fashion by reason of the habitual…
“He’s not so bad, is he?” said Aunt Kate to Gabriel.
Gabriel’s brows were dark but he raised them quickly and answered:
“O, no, hardly noticeable.”
“Now, isn’t he a terrible fellow!” she said. “And his poor mother made him take the pledge on…
Before leaving the room with Gabriel she signalled to Mr Browne by frowning and shaking her forefinger in…
“Now, then, Teddy, I’m going to fill you out a good glass of lemonade just to buck you…
Freddy Malins, who was nearing the climax of his story, waved the offer aside impatiently but Mr Browne,…
Gabriel could not listen while Mary Jane was playing her Academy piece, full of runs and difficult passages,…
Gabriel’s eyes, irritated by the floor, which glittered with beeswax under the heavy chandelier, wandered to the wall…
He knew that Mary Jane must be near the end of her piece for she was playing again…
Lancers were arranged. Gabriel found himself partnered with Miss Ivors. She was a frank-mannered talkative young lady, with…
When they had taken their places she said abruptly:
“I have a crow to pluck with you.”
“With me?” said Gabriel.
She nodded her head gravely.
“What is it?” asked Gabriel, smiling at her solemn manner.
“Who is G. C.?” answered Miss Ivors, turning her eyes upon him.
Gabriel coloured and was about to knit his brows, as if he did not understand, when she said…
“O, innocent Amy! I have found out that you write for _The Daily Express_. Now, aren’t you ashamed…
“Why should I be ashamed of myself?” asked Gabriel, blinking his eyes and trying to smile.
“Well, I’m ashamed of you,” said Miss Ivors frankly. “To say you’d write for a paper like that.…
A look of perplexity appeared on Gabriel’s face. It was true that he wrote a literary column every…
When their turn to cross had come he was still perplexed and inattentive. Miss Ivors promptly took his…
“Of course, I was only joking. Come, we cross now.”
When they were together again she spoke of the University question and Gabriel felt more at ease. A…
“O, Mr Conroy, will you come for an excursion to the Aran Isles this summer? We’re going to…
“Her people are,” said Gabriel shortly.
“But you will come, won’t you?” said Miss Ivors, laying her warm hand eagerly on his arm.
“The fact is,” said Gabriel, “I have just arranged to go——”
“Go where?” asked Miss Ivors.
“Well, you know, every year I go for a cycling tour with some fellows and so——”
“But where?” asked Miss Ivors.
“Well, we usually go to France or Belgium or perhaps Germany,” said Gabriel awkwardly.
“And why do you go to France and Belgium,” said Miss Ivors, “instead of visiting your own land?”
“Well,” said Gabriel, “it’s partly to keep in touch with the languages and partly for a change.”
“And haven’t you your own language to keep in touch with—Irish?” asked Miss Ivors.
“Well,” said Gabriel, “if it comes to that, you know, Irish is not my language.”
Their neighbours had turned to listen to the cross-examination. Gabriel glanced right and left nervously and tried to…
“And haven’t you your own land to visit,” continued Miss Ivors, “that you know nothing of, your own…
“O, to tell you the truth,” retorted Gabriel suddenly, “I’m sick of my own country, sick of it!”
“Why?” asked Miss Ivors.
Gabriel did not answer for his retort had heated him.
“Why?” repeated Miss Ivors.
They had to go visiting together and, as he had not answered her, Miss Ivors said warmly:
“Of course, you’ve no answer.”
Gabriel tried to cover his agitation by taking part in the dance with great energy. He avoided her…
“West Briton!”
When the lancers were over Gabriel went away to a remote corner of the room where Freddy Malins’…
He saw his wife making her way towards him through the waltzing couples. When she reached him she…
“Gabriel, Aunt Kate wants to know won’t you carve the goose as usual. Miss Daly will carve the…
“All right,” said Gabriel.
“She’s sending in the younger ones first as soon as this waltz is over so that we’ll have…
“Were you dancing?” asked Gabriel.
“Of course I was. Didn’t you see me? What row had you with Molly Ivors?”
“No row. Why? Did she say so?”
“Something like that. I’m trying to get that Mr D’Arcy to sing. He’s full of conceit, I think.”
“There was no row,” said Gabriel moodily, “only she wanted me to go for a trip to the…
His wife clasped her hands excitedly and gave a little jump.
“O, do go, Gabriel,” she cried. “I’d love to see Galway again.”
“You can go if you like,” said Gabriel coldly.
She looked at him for a moment, then turned to Mrs Malins and said:
“There’s a nice husband for you, Mrs Malins.”
While she was threading her way back across the room Mrs Malins, without adverting to the interruption, went…
Gabriel hardly heard what she said. Now that supper was coming near he began to think again about…
He ran over the headings of his speech: Irish hospitality, sad memories, the Three Graces, Paris, the quotation…
A murmur in the room attracted his attention. Mr Browne was advancing from the door, gallantly escorting Aunt…
“I was just telling my mother,” he said, “I never heard you sing so well, never. No, I…
Aunt Julia smiled broadly and murmured something about compliments as she released her hand from his grasp. Mr…
“Miss Julia Morkan, my latest discovery!”
He was laughing very heartily at this himself when Freddy Malins turned to him and said:
“Well, Browne, if you’re serious you might make a worse discovery. All I can say is I never…
“Neither did I,” said Mr Browne. “I think her voice has greatly improved.”
Aunt Julia shrugged her shoulders and said with meek pride:
“Thirty years ago I hadn’t a bad voice as voices go.”
“I often told Julia,” said Aunt Kate emphatically, “that she was simply thrown away in that choir. But…
She turned as if to appeal to the good sense of the others against a refractory child while…
“No,” continued Aunt Kate, “she wouldn’t be said or led by anyone, slaving there in that choir night…
“Well, isn’t it for the honour of God, Aunt Kate?” asked Mary Jane, twisting round on the piano-stool…
Aunt Kate turned fiercely on her niece and said:
“I know all about the honour of God, Mary Jane, but I think it’s not at all honourable…
She had worked herself into a passion and would have continued in defence of her sister for it…
“Now, Aunt Kate, you’re giving scandal to Mr Browne who is of the other persuasion.”
Aunt Kate turned to Mr Browne, who was grinning at this allusion to his religion, and said hastily:
“O, I don’t question the pope’s being right. I’m only a stupid old woman and I wouldn’t presume…
“And besides, Aunt Kate,” said Mary Jane, “we really are all hungry and when we are hungry we…
“And when we are thirsty we are also quarrelsome,” added Mr Browne.
“So that we had better go to supper,” said Mary Jane, “and finish the discussion afterwards.”
On the landing outside the drawing-room Gabriel found his wife and Mary Jane trying to persuade Miss Ivors…
“But only for ten minutes, Molly,” said Mrs Conroy. “That won’t delay you.”
“To take a pick itself,” said Mary Jane, “after all your dancing.”
“I really couldn’t,” said Miss Ivors.
“I am afraid you didn’t enjoy yourself at all,” said Mary Jane hopelessly.
“Ever so much, I assure you,” said Miss Ivors, “but you really must let me run off now.”
“But how can you get home?” asked Mrs Conroy.
“O, it’s only two steps up the quay.”
Gabriel hesitated a moment and said:
“If you will allow me, Miss Ivors, I’ll see you home if you are really obliged to go.”
But Miss Ivors broke away from them.
“I won’t hear of it,” she cried. “For goodness’ sake go in to your suppers and don’t mind…
“Well, you’re the comical girl, Molly,” said Mrs Conroy frankly.
“_Beannacht libh_,” cried Miss Ivors, with a laugh, as she ran down the staircase.
Mary Jane gazed after her, a moody puzzled expression on her face, while Mrs Conroy leaned over the…
At the moment Aunt Kate came toddling out of the supper-room, almost wringing her hands in despair.
“Where is Gabriel?” she cried. “Where on earth is Gabriel? There’s everyone waiting in there, stage to let,…
“Here I am, Aunt Kate!” cried Gabriel, with sudden animation, “ready to carve a flock of geese, if…
A fat brown goose lay at one end of the table and at the other end, on a…
Gabriel took his seat boldly at the head of the table and, having looked to the edge of…
“Miss Furlong, what shall I send you?” he asked. “A wing or a slice of the breast?”
“Just a small slice of the breast.”
“Miss Higgins, what for you?”
“O, anything at all, Mr Conroy.”
While Gabriel and Miss Daly exchanged plates of goose and plates of ham and spiced beef Lily went…
When everyone had been well served Gabriel said, smiling:
“Now, if anyone wants a little more of what vulgar people call stuffing let him or her speak.”
A chorus of voices invited him to begin his own supper and Lily came forward with three potatoes…
“Very well,” said Gabriel amiably, as he took another preparatory draught, “kindly forget my existence, ladies and gentlemen,…
He set to his supper and took no part in the conversation with which the table covered Lily’s…
“Have you heard him?” he asked Mr Bartell D’Arcy across the table.
“No,” answered Mr Bartell D’Arcy carelessly.
“Because,” Freddy Malins explained, “now I’d be curious to hear your opinion of him. I think he has…
“It takes Teddy to find out the really good things,” said Mr Browne familiarly to the table.
“And why couldn’t he have a voice too?” asked Freddy Malins sharply. “Is it because he’s only a…
Nobody answered this question and Mary Jane led the table back to the legitimate opera. One of her…
“Oh, well,” said Mr Bartell D’Arcy, “I presume there are as good singers today as there were then.”
“Where are they?” asked Mr Browne defiantly.
“In London, Paris, Milan,” said Mr Bartell D’Arcy warmly. “I suppose Caruso, for example, is quite as good,…
“Maybe so,” said Mr Browne. “But I may tell you I doubt it strongly.”
“O, I’d give anything to hear Caruso sing,” said Mary Jane.
“For me,” said Aunt Kate, who had been picking a bone, “there was only one tenor. To please…
“Who was he, Miss Morkan?” asked Mr Bartell D’Arcy politely.
“His name,” said Aunt Kate, “was Parkinson. I heard him when he was in his prime and I…
“Strange,” said Mr Bartell D’Arcy. “I never even heard of him.”
“Yes, yes, Miss Morkan is right,” said Mr Browne. “I remember hearing of old Parkinson but he’s too…
“A beautiful pure sweet mellow English tenor,” said Aunt Kate with enthusiasm.
Gabriel having finished, the huge pudding was transferred to the table. The clatter of forks and spoons began…
“Well, I hope, Miss Morkan,” said Mr Browne, “that I’m brown enough for you because, you know, I’m…
All the gentlemen, except Gabriel, ate some of the pudding out of compliment to Aunt Julia. As Gabriel…
“And do you mean to say,” asked Mr Browne incredulously, “that a chap can go down there and…
“O, most people give some donation to the monastery when they leave.” said Mary Jane.
“I wish we had an institution like that in our Church,” said Mr Browne candidly.
He was astonished to hear that the monks never spoke, got up at two in the morning and…
“That’s the rule of the order,” said Aunt Kate firmly.
“Yes, but why?” asked Mr Browne.
Aunt Kate repeated that it was the rule, that was all. Mr Browne still seemed not to understand.…
“I like that idea very much but wouldn’t a comfortable spring bed do them as well as a…
“The coffin,” said Mary Jane, “is to remind them of their last end.”
As the subject had grown lugubrious it was buried in a silence of the table during which Mrs…
“They are very good men, the monks, very pious men.”
The raisins and almonds and figs and apples and oranges and chocolates and sweets were now passed about…
The patting at once grew louder in encouragement and then ceased altogether. Gabriel leaned his ten trembling fingers…
He began:
“Ladies and Gentlemen,
“It has fallen to my lot this evening, as in years past, to perform a very pleasing task…
“No, no!” said Mr Browne.
“But, however that may be, I can only ask you tonight to take the will for the deed…
“Ladies and Gentlemen, it is not the first time that we have gathered together under this hospitable roof,…
He made a circle in the air with his arm and paused. Everyone laughed or smiled at Aunt…
“I feel more strongly with every recurring year that our country has no tradition which does it so…
A hearty murmur of assent ran round the table. It shot through Gabriel’s mind that Miss Ivors was…
“Ladies and Gentlemen,
“A new generation is growing up in our midst, a generation actuated by new ideas and new principles.…
“Hear, hear!” said Mr Browne loudly.
“But yet,” continued Gabriel, his voice falling into a softer inflection, “there are always in gatherings such as…
“Therefore, I will not linger on the past. I will not let any gloomy moralising intrude upon us…
The table burst into applause and laughter at this allusion. Aunt Julia vainly asked each of her neighbours…
“He says we are the Three Graces, Aunt Julia,” said Mary Jane.
Aunt Julia did not understand but she looked up, smiling, at Gabriel, who continued in the same vein:
“Ladies and Gentlemen,
“I will not attempt to play tonight the part that Paris played on another occasion. I will not…
Gabriel glanced down at his aunts and, seeing the large smile on Aunt Julia’s face and the tears…
“Let us toast them all three together. Let us drink to their health, wealth, long life, happiness and…
All the guests stood up, glass in hand, and turning towards the three seated ladies, sang in unison,…
For they are jolly gay fellows, For they are jolly gay fellows, For they are jolly gay fellows,…
Aunt Kate was making frank use of her handkerchief and even Aunt Julia seemed moved. Freddy Malins beat…
Unless he tells a lie, Unless he tells a lie.
Then, turning once more towards their hostesses, they sang:
For they are jolly gay fellows, For they are jolly gay fellows, For they are jolly gay fellows,…
The acclamation which followed was taken up beyond the door of the supper-room by many of the other…
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…
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…
At that moment the hall-door was opened and Mr Browne came in from the doorstep, laughing as if…
“Teddy will have all the cabs in Dublin out,” he said.
Gabriel advanced from the little pantry behind the office, struggling into his overcoat and, looking round the hall,…
“Gretta not down yet?”
“She’s getting on her things, Gabriel,” said Aunt Kate.
“Who’s playing up there?” asked Gabriel.
“Nobody. They’re all gone.”
“O no, Aunt Kate,” said Mary Jane. “Bartell D’Arcy and Miss O’Callaghan aren’t gone yet.”
“Someone is fooling at the piano anyhow,” said Gabriel.
Mary Jane glanced at Gabriel and Mr Browne and said with a shiver:
“It makes me feel cold to look at you two gentlemen muffled up like that. I wouldn’t like…
“I’d like nothing better this minute,” said Mr Browne stoutly, “than a rattling fine walk in the country…
“We used to have a very good horse and trap at home,” said Aunt Julia sadly.
“The never-to-be-forgotten Johnny,” said Mary Jane, laughing.
Aunt Kate and Gabriel laughed too.
“Why, what was wonderful about Johnny?” asked Mr Browne.
“The late lamented Patrick Morkan, our grandfather, that is,” explained Gabriel, “commonly known in his later years as…
“O now, Gabriel,” said Aunt Kate, laughing, “he had a starch mill.”
“Well, glue or starch,” said Gabriel, “the old gentleman had a horse by the name of Johnny. And…
“The Lord have mercy on his soul,” said Aunt Kate compassionately.
“Amen,” said Gabriel. “So the old gentleman, as I said, harnessed Johnny and put on his very best…
Everyone laughed, even Mrs Malins, at Gabriel’s manner and Aunt Kate said:
“O now, Gabriel, he didn’t live in Back Lane, really. Only the mill was there.”
“Out from the mansion of his forefathers,” continued Gabriel, “he drove with Johnny. And everything went on beautifully…
Gabriel paced in a circle round the hall in his goloshes amid the laughter of the others.
“Round and round he went,” said Gabriel, “and the old gentleman, who was a very pompous old gentleman,…
The peal of laughter which followed Gabriel’s imitation of the incident was interrupted by a resounding knock at…
“I could only get one cab,” he said.
“O, we’ll find another along the quay,” said Gabriel.
“Yes,” said Aunt Kate. “Better not keep Mrs Malins standing in the draught.”
Mrs Malins was helped down the front steps by her son and Mr Browne and, after many manœuvres,…
“Do you know Trinity College?”
“Yes, sir,” said the cabman.
“Well, drive bang up against Trinity College gates,” said Mr Browne, “and then we’ll tell you where to…
“Yes, sir,” said the cabman.
“Make like a bird for Trinity College.”
“Right, sir,” said the cabman.
The horse was whipped up and the cab rattled off along the quay amid a chorus of laughter…
Gabriel had not gone to the door with the others. He was in a dark part of the…
He stood still in the gloom of the hall, trying to catch the air that the voice was…
The hall-door was closed; and Aunt Kate, Aunt Julia and Mary Jane came down the hall, still laughing.
“Well, isn’t Freddy terrible?” said Mary Jane. “He’s really terrible.”
Gabriel said nothing but pointed up the stairs towards where his wife was standing. Now that the hall-door…
O, the rain falls on my heavy locks And the dew wets my skin, My babe lies cold....
“O,” exclaimed Mary Jane. “It’s Bartell D’Arcy singing and he wouldn’t sing all the night. O, I’ll get…
“O do, Mary Jane,” said Aunt Kate.
Mary Jane brushed past the others and ran to the staircase, but before she reached it the singing…
“O, what a pity!” she cried. “Is he coming down, Gretta?”
Gabriel heard his wife answer yes and saw her come down towards them. A few steps behind her…
“O, Mr D’Arcy,” cried Mary Jane, “it’s downright mean of you to break off like that when we…
“I have been at him all the evening,” said Miss O’Callaghan, “and Mrs Conroy too and he told…
“O, Mr D’Arcy,” said Aunt Kate, “now that was a great fib to tell.”
“Can’t you see that I’m as hoarse as a crow?” said Mr D’Arcy roughly.
He went into the pantry hastily and put on his overcoat. The others, taken aback by his rude…
“It’s the weather,” said Aunt Julia, after a pause.
“Yes, everybody has colds,” said Aunt Kate readily, “everybody.”
“They say,” said Mary Jane, “we haven’t had snow like it for thirty years; and I read this…
“I love the look of snow,” said Aunt Julia sadly.
“So do I,” said Miss O’Callaghan. “I think Christmas is never really Christmas unless we have the snow…
“But poor Mr D’Arcy doesn’t like the snow,” said Aunt Kate, smiling.
Mr D’Arcy came from the pantry, fully swathed and buttoned, and in a repentant tone told them the…
“Mr D’Arcy,” she said, “what is the name of that song you were singing?”
“It’s called _The Lass of Aughrim_,” said Mr D’Arcy, “but I couldn’t remember it properly. Why? Do you…
“_The Lass of Aughrim_,” she repeated. “I couldn’t think of the name.”
“It’s a very nice air,” said Mary Jane. “I’m sorry you were not in voice tonight.”
“Now, Mary Jane,” said Aunt Kate, “don’t annoy Mr D’Arcy. I won’t have him annoyed.”
Seeing that all were ready to start she shepherded them to the door, where good-night was said:
“Well, good-night, Aunt Kate, and thanks for the pleasant evening.”
“Good-night, Gabriel. Good-night, Gretta!”
“Good-night, Aunt Kate, and thanks ever so much. Good-night, Aunt Julia.”
“O, good-night, Gretta, I didn’t see you.”
“Good-night, Mr D’Arcy. Good-night, Miss O’Callaghan.”
“Good-night, Miss Morkan.”
“Good-night, again.”
“Good-night, all. Safe home.”
“Good-night. Good-night.”
The morning was still dark. A dull yellow light brooded over the houses and the river; and the…
She was walking on before him with Mr Bartell D’Arcy, her shoes in a brown parcel tucked under…
She was walking on before him so lightly and so erect that he longed to run after her…
“Is the fire hot, sir?”
But the man could not hear with the noise of the furnace. It was just as well. He…
A wave of yet more tender joy escaped from his heart and went coursing in warm flood along…
Like distant music these words that he had written years before were borne towards him from the past.…
“Gretta!”
Perhaps she would not hear at once: she would be undressing. Then something in his voice would strike…
At the corner of Winetavern Street they met a cab. He was glad of its rattling noise as…
As the cab drove across O’Connell Bridge Miss O’Callaghan said:
“They say you never cross O’Connell Bridge without seeing a white horse.”
“I see a white man this time,” said Gabriel.
“Where?” asked Mr Bartell D’Arcy.
Gabriel pointed to the statue, on which lay patches of snow. Then he nodded familiarly to it and…
“Good-night, Dan,” he said gaily.
When the cab drew up before the hotel, Gabriel jumped out and, in spite of Mr Bartell D’Arcy’s…
“A prosperous New Year to you, sir.”
“The same to you,” said Gabriel cordially.
She leaned for a moment on his arm in getting out of the cab and while standing at…
An old man was dozing in a great hooded chair in the hall. He lit a candle in…
The porter led them along a corridor and opened a door. Then he set his unstable candle down…
“Eight,” said Gabriel.
The porter pointed to the tap of the electric-light and began a muttered apology but Gabriel cut him…
“We don’t want any light. We have light enough from the street. And I say,” he added, pointing…
The porter took up his candle again, but slowly for he was surprised by such a novel idea.…
A ghostly light from the street lamp lay in a long shaft from one window to the door.…
“Gretta!”
She turned away from the mirror slowly and walked along the shaft of light towards him. Her face…
“You looked tired,” he said.
“I am a little,” she answered.
“You don’t feel ill or weak?”
“No, tired: that’s all.”
She went on to the window and stood there, looking out. Gabriel waited again and then, fearing that…
“By the way, Gretta!”
“What is it?”
“You know that poor fellow Malins?” he said quickly.
“Yes. What about him?”
“Well, poor fellow, he’s a decent sort of chap after all,” continued Gabriel in a false voice. “He…
He was trembling now with annoyance. Why did she seem so abstracted? He did not know how he…
“When did you lend him the pound?” she asked, after a pause.
Gabriel strove to restrain himself from breaking out into brutal language about the sottish Malins and his pound.…
“O, at Christmas, when he opened that little Christmas-card shop in Henry Street.”
He was in such a fever of rage and desire that he did not hear her come from…
“You are a very generous person, Gabriel,” she said.
Gabriel, trembling with delight at her sudden kiss and at the quaintness of her phrase, put his hands…
He stood, holding her head between his hands. Then, slipping one arm swiftly about her body and drawing…
“Gretta, dear, what are you thinking about?”
She did not answer nor yield wholly to his arm. He said again, softly:
“Tell me what it is, Gretta. I think I know what is the matter. Do I know?”
She did not answer at once. Then she said in an outburst of tears:
“O, I am thinking about that song, _The Lass of Aughrim_.”
She broke loose from him and ran to the bed and, throwing her arms across the bed-rail, hid…
“What about the song? Why does that make you cry?”
She raised her head from her arms and dried her eyes with the back of her hand like…
“Why, Gretta?” he asked.
“I am thinking about a person long ago who used to sing that song.”
“And who was the person long ago?” asked Gabriel, smiling.
“It was a person I used to know in Galway when I was living with my grandmother,” she…
The smile passed away from Gabriel’s face. A dull anger began to gather again at the back of…
“Someone you were in love with?” he asked ironically.
“It was a young boy I used to know,” she answered, “named Michael Furey. He used to sing…
Gabriel was silent. He did not wish her to think that he was interested in this delicate boy.
“I can see him so plainly,” she said after a moment. “Such eyes as he had: big, dark…
“O then, you were in love with him?” said Gabriel.
“I used to go out walking with him,” she said, “when I was in Galway.”
A thought flew across Gabriel’s mind.
“Perhaps that was why you wanted to go to Galway with that Ivors girl?” he said coldly.
She looked at him and asked in surprise:
“What for?”
Her eyes made Gabriel feel awkward. He shrugged his shoulders and said:
“How do I know? To see him, perhaps.”
She looked away from him along the shaft of light towards the window in silence.
“He is dead,” she said at length. “He died when he was only seventeen. Isn’t it a terrible…
“What was he?” asked Gabriel, still ironically.
“He was in the gasworks,” she said.
Gabriel felt humiliated by the failure of his irony and by the evocation of this figure from the…
He tried to keep up his tone of cold interrogation, but his voice when he spoke was humble…
“I suppose you were in love with this Michael Furey, Gretta,” he said.
“I was great with him at that time,” she said.
Her voice was veiled and sad. Gabriel, feeling now how vain it would be to try to lead…
“And what did he die of so young, Gretta? Consumption, was it?”
“I think he died for me,” she answered.
A vague terror seized Gabriel at this answer as if, at that hour when he had hoped to…
“It was in the winter,” she said, “about the beginning of the winter when I was going to…
She paused for a moment and sighed.
“Poor fellow,” she said. “He was very fond of me and he was such a gentle boy. We…
“Well; and then?” asked Gabriel.
“And then when it came to the time for me to leave Galway and come up to the…
She paused for a moment to get her voice under control and then went on:
“Then the night before I left I was in my grandmother’s house in Nuns’ Island, packing up, and…
“And did you not tell him to go back?” asked Gabriel.
“I implored of him to go home at once and told him he would get his death in…
“And did he go home?” asked Gabriel.
“Yes, he went home. And when I was only a week in the convent he died and he…
She stopped, choking with sobs and, overcome by emotion, flung herself face downward on the bed, sobbing in…
She was fast asleep.
Gabriel, leaning on his elbow, looked for a few moments unresentfully on her tangled hair and half-open mouth,…
Perhaps she had not told him all the story. His eyes moved to the chair over which she…
The air of the room chilled his shoulders. He stretched himself cautiously along under the sheets and lay…
Generous tears filled Gabriel’s eyes. He had never felt like that himself towards any woman but he knew…
A few light taps upon the pane made him turn to the window. It had begun to snow…