
[2823] about to start at last.
[2824] It was then that the sound of a gong, struck with violence, filled
the house.
[2825] True enough, it was nine o'clock.
[2826] I got up, adjusted my
clothes and hurried down.
[2827] To give notice that the soup was on the table in,
nay, that it had begun to coagulate, was always for Martha a little
triumph and a great satisfaction.
[2828] For as a rule I was at table, my
napkin tucked into mhy collar, crumbling the bread, fiddling with the
cover, playing with the knife-rest, waiting to be served, a few minutes
before the appointed hour.
[2829] I attacked [myself]the soup.
[2830] [t]Where is Jacques? I said.
[2831] She shrugged her shoulders.
[2832] Detestable slavish gesture.
[2833] Tell him to come
down at once, I said.
[2834] The soup before me had stopped steaming.
[2835] Had it
ever steamed?
[2836] She came back.
[2837] He won't come down, she said.
[2838] I laid down
my spoon.
[2839] Tell me, Martha, I said, what is this preparation?
[2840] She named
it.
[2841] Have I had it before? I said.
[2842] She assured me I had.
[2844] I then made a
joke which pleased me enormously, I laughed so much I began to hiccup.
[2845] It
was lost on Martha who stared at me dazedly.
[2846] Tell him to come down, I
said at last.
[2847] What? said Martha.
[2848] I repeated my phrase.
[2849] She still looked
genuinely perplexed.
[2850] There are three of us in this charming home, I said,
you, my son and finally myself.
[2851] What I said was, Tell him to come down.
[2852] But he's sick, said Martha.
[2853] Were he dying, I said, down he must [⁁]come.
[2854] Anger
led me sometimes to slight indiscretions excesses of language.
[2855] I could not regret
them.
[2856] It seemed to me that all language was an excess of language.
[2857] Naturally I confessed them.
[2858] I was short of sins.
[2859] Jacques was scarlet in the face.
[2860] Eat your soup, I said, and tell me
what you think of it.
[2861] I'm not hungry, he said.
[2862] Eat your soup, I said.
[2863] I saw he would not eat it.
[2864] What ails you? I said.
[2865] I don't feel well, he
said.
[2866] What an abominable thing is youth.
[2867] Try and be more explicit, I
- Segments
Molloy © 2016 Samuel Beckett Digital Manuscript Project.
Editors: Magessa O'Reilly, Dirk Van Hulle, Pim Verhulst and Vincent Neyt