MS-WU-MSS008-3-50-2

[3564] in Ballyba? [3565] But I also told myself, being only human, that the longer I
took to find Molloy the greater my chances of remembering what I was to do
with him. [3566] And ^{[place = supralinear] we} would have peacably pursued our way on foot, but for the
following incident.

[3567] One night, having finally succeeded in falling asleep beside my son
as usual, I woke with a start, feeling as if I had just been dealt a
violent blow. [3568] It's xxx ^{[place = overwritten] all} right, I am not going to tell you a dream properly
so called. [3569] It was pitch dark in the shelter. [3570] I listened attentively
without moving. [3571] I heard nothing save the snoring and gasping of my son.

[3572] I was about to conclude as usual that it was just another bad dream when
a fulgurating pain went through my knee. [3573] This then was the explanation of
my sudden awakening. [3574] The sensation could indeed well be compared to that
of a blow, such as I fancy a horse's hoof might give. [3575] I waited anxiously
for it to recur, motionless and hardly breathing, and of course sweating.

[3576] I acted in a word precisely as one does, if my information was correct,
at such a juncture. [3577] And sure enough thep ^{[place = margin left] [₰]}pain did recur a few minutes later,
but not so bad as the first time, as the second rather. [3578] Or did it only
seem less bad to me because I was expecting it? [3579] Or because I was getting
used to it already? [3580] I think not.

[3581] For it recurred again, several times,
and each time less bad than the time before, and finally subsided altogether, ^{[place = margin left] [₰]}
so that I was able to go ^{[place = supralinear] [⁁]get} to sleep again more or less read ^{[place = overwritten] s}sured. [3582] But before
going ^{[place = supralinear] getting} to sleep again I had time to remember that the pain in question was
not altogether new to me.

[3583] For I had felt it before, in my bathroom, when
giving my son his enema. [3584] But then it had only attacked me once and never
5 ^{[place = overwritten] r}ecurred, till now. [3585] And I went to sleep again wondering, by way of
lullaby, whether it had been the same knee then as the one which had just
excruciated me, or the other. [3586] And that is a thing I have never been able
to determine. [3587] And my son too, when asked, was incapable of telling me