MS-WU-MSS008-3-50-2

[2174] there on the watch for Jacques. [2175] Coming from church he would appear on my
right, on my left if he came from the slaughter-house. [2176] A neighbour passed.
A free-thinker. [2177] Well well, he said, no worship today? [2178] He knew my habits,
my Sunday habits I mean. [2179] Everyone knew them and the chief perhaps better
than any, in spite of his remoteness.

[2180] You look as if you had seen a ghost,
said the neighbour. [2181] Worse than that, I said, you. [2182] I went in, at my back
the dutifully hideous smile. [2183] I could see him running to his concubine
with the news, You know that poor bastard Moran, ^you should have heard me,
I had him lepping! [2184] Couldn't speak! [2185] Took to his heels!

[2186] Jacques came back soon afterwards. [2187] No trace of frolic. [2188] He said he
had been to church alone. [2189] I asked him a few pertinent questions concerning
the march of the ceremony. [2190] His answers were plausible. [2191] I told him to
wash his hands and sit down to his lunch. [2192] I went back ^to the kitchen. [2193] I
did nothing but go to and fro. [2194] You may ^dish up, I said. [2195] She had wept.

[2196] I peered into the pots. [2197] Irish stew. [2198] A nourishing and economical dish, if
a little indigestible. [2199] All honour to the land it ^[⁁]has brought before the world.
[2200] I shall sit down at four o'clock, I said. [2201] I did not need to add sharp. [2202] I
liked punctuality, all thos^e whom my roof sheltered had to like it too. [2203] I
went up to my room. [2204] And there, stretched on my bed, the curtains drawn,
I made a first attempt to grasp the Molloy affair.

[2205] My concern at first was only with its immediate vexations and the
preparations they demanded of me. [2206] The kernel of the affair I continued to
shirk. [2207] I felt a great confusion coming over me.

[2208] Should I set out on my autocycle? [2209] This was the question with which I
began. [2210] I had a methodical mind and never set out on a mission without
prolonged reflection as to the best way of setting out. [2211] It was the first
problem to solve, at the outset of each enquiry, and I never moved until