The Annotated "Ulysses"/Page 060
— She got the things, she said.
He waited till she had laid the card aside and curled herself back slowly
with a snug sigh.
— Hurry up with that tea, she said. I’m parched.
— The kettle is boiling, he said.
But he delayed to clear the chair : her striped petticoat, tossed soiled
linen : and lifted all in an armful on to the foot of the bed.
As he went down the kitchen stairs she called :
— Poldy!
— What?
— Scald the teapot.
On the boil sure enough : a plume of steam from the spout. He scalded
and rinsed out the teapot and put in four full spoons of tea, tilting the kettle
then to let water flow in. Having set it to draw, he took off the kettle and
crushed the pan flat on the live coals and watched the lump of butter slide
and melt. While he unwrapped the kidney the cat mewed hungrily against
him. Give her too much meat she won’t mouse. Say they won’t eat pork.
Kosher. Here. He let the bloodsmeared paper fall to her and dropped the
kidney amid the sizzling butter sauce. Pepper. He sprinkled it through his
fingers, ringwise, from the chipped eggcup.
Then he slit open his letter, glancing down the page and over. Thanks :
new tam : Mr Coghlan : lough Owel picnic : young student : Blazes Boylan’s
seaside girls.
The tea was drawn. He filled his own moustachecup, sham crown Derby,
smiling. Silly Milly’s birthday gift. Only five she was then. No wait : four.
I gave her the amberoid necklace she broke. Putting pieces of folded brown
paper in the letterbox for her. He smiled, pouring.
- O, Milly Bloom, you are my darling.
- You are my looking glass from night to morning.
- I’d rather have you without a farthing
- Than Katey Keogh with her ass and garden.
Poor old professor Goodwin. Dreadful old case. Still he was a courteous
old chap. Oldfashioned way he used to bow Molly off the platform. And the
little mirror in his silk hat. The night Milly brought it into the parlour. O,