
[2272] was done[₰], he who never smoked.
[2273] And everyone said he was most broadminded. broad.
[2274] I asked him if he had noticed my son at the last mass.
[2275] Certainly, he said,
we even spoke together.
[2276] I must have looked surprised.
[2277] Yes, he said, not
seeing you at your place, in the front row, I freared you were ill.
[2278] So I
called for the dear child, who reassured me.
[2279] A most untimely visitor,
I said, whom I could not get rid of shake off in time.
[2280] So your son explained to me,
he said.
[2281] He added, But let us sit down, we have no train to catch.
[2282] He
laughed and sat down, hitching up his heavy cassock.
[2283] May I offer you a
little glass of something? he said.
[2284] I was in a quandary.
[2285] Had Jacques let
slip an allusion to the lager.
[2286] He was quite capable of it.
[2287] I came to ask
you a favour, I said.
[2288] Granted, he said.
[2289] We observed each other. [2290] It's
this, I said, Sunday for me without the Body and Blood is like —.
[2291] He
raised his hand.
[2292] Above all no profane comparisons, he said.
[2293] Perhaps he
was thinking of the kiss without a moustache or beef without mustard.
[2294] I
dislike being interrupted.
[2295] I sulked.
[2296] Say no more, he said, a wink is as
good as a nod, you want to take[₰] communion.
[2297] I bowed my head.
[2298] It's a little
unusual, he said.
[2299] I wondered if he had fed.
[2300] I knew he was given to
prolonged fasts, by way of mortification certainly, and then because his
doctor advised it.
[2301] Thus he killed two birds with one stone.
[2302] Not a word
to a soul, he saieed, let it remain between us and —.
[2303] He broke off,
raising a finger, and his eyes, to the ceiling.
[2304] Heavens, he said, what is
that stain?
[2305] I looked in turn at the ceiling.
[2306] Damp, I said.
[2307] Tut tut, he
said, how annoying.
[2308] The words tut tut seemed to me the maddest I had heard[.]
[2309] There are times, he said, when one is tempted to abandon hope [⁁]feels like weeping..
[2310] He got up.
[2311] I'll go and get my kit, he said.
[2312] He called that his kit.
[2313] Alone, my hands
clasped until it seemed my knuckles would crack, I asked the Lord for
guidance.
[2314] Without result.
[2315] That was some consolation.
[2316] As for Father
Ambrose, considering in view of his alacrity to fetch his kit, it seemed evident to me
- Segments
Molloy © 2016 Samuel Beckett Digital Manuscript Project.
Editors: Magessa O'Reilly, Dirk Van Hulle, Pim Verhulst and Vincent Neyt