Page:Ulysses, 1922.djvu/499

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(Cowed.) Exuberant female. Enormously I desiderate your domination. I am exhausted, abandoned, no more young. I stand, so to speak, with an unposted letter bearing the extra regulation fee before the too late box of the general postoffice of human life. The door and window open at a right angle cause a draught of thirtytwo feet per second according to the law of falling bodies. I have felt this instant a twinge of sciatica in my left glutear muscle. It runs in our family. Poor dear papa, a widower, was a regular barometer from it. He believed in animal heat. A skin of tabby lined his winter waistcoat. Near the end, remembering king David and the Sunamite, he shared his bed with Athos, faithful after death. A dog’s spittle, as you probably… (He winces.) Ah!

(Bagweighted, passes the door.) Mocking is catch. Best value in Dub. Fit for a prince’s liver and kidney.

(Tapping.) All things end. Be mine. Now.

(Undecided.) All now? I should not have parted with my talisman. Rain, exposure at dewfall on the sea rocks, a peccadillo at my time of life. Every phenomenon has a natural cause.

(Points downwards slowly.) You may.

(Looks downwards and perceives her unfastened bootlace.) We are observed.

(Points downwards quickly.) You must.

(With desire, with reluctance.) I can make a true black knot. Learned when