Samuel Beckett
Digital Manuscript Project
Molloy

MS-WU-MSS008-3-50-1

X
Segment 1

[0104] unmistakably, one small and one tall. [0105] They had left the town,
first one, then the other, and then the first, weary or
remembering a duty, had retraced his steps.
[0106] The air was sharp,
for they wore greatcoats.
[0107] They looked alike, but no more than
others do.
[0108] At first a wide space lay between them.

X
Segment 2

[0109] They couldn't
have seen each other, even had they raised their heads and looked
about, because of this wide space, and then because of the
undulating land, which caused the road to be in waves, not high,
but high enough, high enough.

X
Segment 3

[0110] But the moment came when together
they went down into the same trough and in this trough finally
met.
[0111] To say they knew each other, no, nothing warrants it. [0112] But
perhaps at the sound of their steps, or warned by some obscure
instinct, they raised their heads and observed each other, for
a good fifteen paces, before they stopped, breast to breast.

X
Segment 4

[0113] Yes,
they did not pass each other by, but halted, face to face, as in
the country, of an evening, on a deserted road, two wayfaring
strangers will, without there being anything extraordinary about
it.
[0114] But they knew each other perhaps.

X
Segment 5

[0115] Now in any case they do,
now I think they will know each other, greet each other, even in
the depths of the town.
[0116] They turned towards the sea which, far
in the east, beyond the fields, climbed high in the waning sky,
and exchanged a few words.
[0117] Then each went on his way.

X
Segment 6

[0118] Each went
on his way, A back towards the town, C on by ways he seemed
hardly to know, or not at all, for he went with uncertain step
and often stopped to look about him, like someone trying to fix
landmarks in his mind, for one day, perhaps, he may have to retrace
his steps, you never know.
[0119] The treacherous hills where fearfully
he ventured were no doubt only known to him from afar, seen

Transcription
  • Segments