MS-WU-MSS008-3-50-1

[0207] by means of a string or an elastic. [0208] I took off my hat and looked
at it. [0209] It is fastened, it has always been fastened, to my
buttonhole, always the same buttonhole, at all seasons, by a long
lace. [0210] I am still alive then. [0211] That may come in useful. [0212] The hand
that held the hat I thrust as far as possible from me and moved in
an arc, to and fro. [0213] As I did so, I watched the lapel of my greatcoat
and saw it open and close.

[0214] I understand now why I never wore a
flower in my buttonhole, though it was large enough to hold a
whole nosegay. [0215] My m^buttonhole was set aside for my hat. [0216] It was my
hat that I beflor^wwered. [0217] Doubtless I shall speak of them later, when ^{But it is neither of my hat nor of my}
greatcoat that I hope to speak at present, it would be premature.
[0218] Doubtless I shall speak of them later, when the time comes to
draw up the inventory of my goods and possessions.

[0219] Unless I lose
them between now and then. [0220] But even lost they will have their
place, in the inventory of my possessions. [0221] But I am easy in my
mind, I shall not lose them. [0222] Nor my crutches, I shall not lose
my crutches either. [0223] But I shall perhaps one day throw them away.

[0224] I must have been on the top, or on the slopes, of some considerable
eminence, for otherwise how could I have seen, so far away, so near
at hand, so far beneath, so many things, fixed and moving. [0225] But
what was an eminence doing in this land with hardly a ripple? [0226] And
I, what was I doing there, and why come? [0227] These are things that we
shall try and discover.

[0228] But these are things we must not take
seriously. [0229] There is a little of everything, apparently, in nature,
and freaks are common. [0230] And I am perhaps confusing sef^veral different
occasions, and different times, deep down, and deep down is my
dwelling, oh not deepest down, somewhere between the mud and the
scum. [0231] And perhaps it was A one day at one place, then C another ^at