[p. 71r]
[1408] this coat literally sweep the ground and rustle like a train, when he walks.
[1409] And indeed this coat terminates ina in a fringe, like certain curtains, and the thread of the sleeves too is bare and frayed into long waving strands that flutter in the wind.
[1410] And the hands too are hidden. For the sleeves of this vast rag are of a piece with its other parts.
[1411] But the collar has remained intact, being of velvet or perhaps shag.
[1412] Now as to the colour of this coat, for colour too is an important consideration, there is no good denying it, all that can be said is that green predominates.
[1413] And it might safely be wagered that this coat, when new, was of a fine plain green colour, what you might call cab green, but for there used to be cabs and carriages rattling through the town with panels of a handsome bottle green, I must have seen them myself, and even driven in them, I would not put it past me.
[1414] But perhaps I am wrong to call this coat a greatcoat and perhaps I should r rather call it an overcoat or even cover-me-down, for that is indeed the impression it gives, that it covers the whole body all over, with the exception obviosuly obviously of the head which emerges, lofty and impassive, clear of its embrace.
[1415] Yes, passion has marked the face, action too possibly, but it seems to have ceased from suffering, for the time being.
[1416] But one never knows, does one? [1417] Now with regard to the buttons of this coat, they are not so much genuine buttons as little wooden cylinders two or three inches l long, with a hole in the middle for the thread, for one hole is ample, though two and even four are more usual, and this because of the inordinate distension of the button-holes consequent on wear and tear.
[1418] And cylinders is perhaps an exaggeration, for if
[p. 72r]
[1418] some of these little sticks or pegs are in fact cylindrical, still more have no definable form.
[1419] But all are roughly two and a half inches long and thus prevent the lappets from flying apart, all have this feature in common.
[1420] Now with regard to the material of t this coat, all that can be said is that it looks like felt.
[1421] And the various dints and bulges inflicted upon it by the spasms and contortions of the body subsist long after the fit is past.
[1422] So much for this coat.
[1423] I'll tell myself stories about the boots another time, if I can.
[1424] The hat, as hard as iron, superbly domed above its narrow guttered rim, is marred by a wide crack or rent extending in front from the crown down and intended probably to facilitate the introduction of the skull.
[1425] For coat and hat have this much in common, that whereas the coat is too big, the hat is too small.
[1426] And though the edges of the split brim close on the brow like the jaws of a trap, neverthless 
the hat is attached, by a string, for safety, to the topmost button of the coat, because, never mind.
[1427] And were there nothing more to be said about the structure of this hat, the important thing would still remain unsaid, meaning of course its colour, of which all that can be said is this, that a strong sun full upon it brings out shimmers of buff and pearl grey and that otherwise it verges on black, without however ever really approaching it.
[1428] And it would not surprise me to learn that this hat once belonged to a sporting gentleman, a racegoer turf-man or breeder of rams.
[1429] And if we now turn to consider this coat and this chat, no longer separately, but in relation to each other, we are very soon agreeabley surprised to
[p. 73r]
[1429] see how well thatey are assorted.
[1430] And it would not surprise me to lear,n that they had been bought, one at the hatter's, the other at the tailor's, perhaps the same day and by the same toff, for such men exist, I mean fine handsome men six foot tall and over and all in keeping but the head, small from over-breeding.
[1431] And it is a pleasure to find oneself again in the presence of one of those immutable relations between harmoniously perishing terms and the effect of which is this, that when weary to death one is almost resigned to I was going to say to the immortality of the soul, but I don't see the connexion.
[1432] But to pass on now to the garments that really matter, subjacent and even intimate, all that can be said is that this of for the moment is delicate ground.
[1433] For Sapo - no, I can't call him that any more, and I even wonder how I was able to stomach such a name till now.
[1434] So then for, let me see, for Macmann, that's not much better but there is no time to lose, for Macmann might be stark staring naked under this this surtout for all anyone would be any the wiser.
[1435] The trouble is he does not stir.
[1436] Since morning he has been here and now it is evening.
[1438] The tugs, their black funnels striped with red, tow to their moorings the last barges, frzeighted with empty barrels.
[1439] The water cradles already the distant fires of the sunset, orange, rose and green, quenches them in its ruffles and then in trembling pools spreads them bright again.
[1440] His back is turned to the river, but perhaps it appears to him in the dreadful cries of the gulls that evening assembles, in frenzies paroxysms of hunger, round the outflow of the sewers, opposite the Bellevue Hotel.
[1441] Yes, they too, in a last frenzy before night and its high crags, swoop ravening about the offal.
[1442] But his
[p. 74r]
[1442] face is towards the people that throng the streets at this hour, their long day ended and the whole long evening before them.
[1443] The doors open and spew them out, each door its contingent.
[1444] For an instant they cluster in a daze, huddled on the sidewalk or in the gutter, then set off singly on their appointed ways.
[1445] And even those who know themselves condemned, at the outset, to the same direction, for the choice of directions at the outset is not great, take leave of one another and part, but politely, with some polite excuse, otr xwithout a word, for they all know one another's little ways.
[1446] And God help him who longs, for once, in his recovered freedom, to walk a little way with a fellow-creature, no matter which, unless of course by a mervciful chance he stumble on one in the same plight.
[1447] Then they take a few paces happily side by side, then part, each one muttering perhaps, Now there will be no holding him.
[1448] At this hour then erotic craving accounts for the majority of couples. But these are few compared to the solitaries pressing forward through the throng, obstructing the access to places of amusement, bowed over the parapets, propped against vacant walls.
[1449] But soon they come to the appointed place, at home or at some other home, or abroad, as the saying is, in a public place, or in a doorway in view of possible rain.
[1450] And the first to arrive have seldom long to wait, for all hasten towards one another, knowing how short the time in which to say all the things that lie heavy on the heart and conscience and to do all the things they have to do together, things one cannot do alone.
[1451] So there they are for a few hours in safety.
[1452] Then the drowsiness, the little memorandum book with its little special pencil, the yawned g
[p. 75r]
[1452] um book with its little special pencil, the yawned goodbyes.
[1453] Some even take a cab to get more quickly to the rendezvous or, when the fun is over, home or to the hotel, where their comfortable bed is waiting for them.
[1454] Then you see the last stage of the horse, between its recent career as a pet horse, or a race-horse, or a pack-horse, or a plough-horse, and the shambles.
[1455] It spends most of its time standing still in an attitude of dejection, its head hanging as low as the shafts and harness permit, that is to say almost tot eh to the bcobble-stones.
[1456] But once in motion it is transformed, momentarily, perhaps because of the memories that motion revives, for the mere fact of running and plulling cannot give it much satisfaction, under such conditions.
[1457] But when the shafts tilt up, announcing that a fare has been taken on board, or when on the contrary the back-band begins to gall the its spine, according as the passenger is seated facing the way he is going or, what is perhaps even more restful, with his back to it, then it rears its head, stiffens its houghs and looks almost content.
[1458] And you see the cabman too, all alone on his box ten feet from the ground, his knees covered at all seasons and in all weathers with a kind of rug as a rule originally brown, the same precisely which he has just snatched from the rump of his horse.
[1459] Furious and livid perhaps from want of passengers, the least fare seems to excite him to a frenzy.
[1460] Then with his huge exasperated hands he tears at the reins or, half rising and leaning out over his horse, brings them down with a c crack all along its back.
[1461] And he launches his equipage blindly