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1As the piano had twice begun the prelude to the first figure Mary Jane led her recruits quickly from the room. They had
2hardly gone when Aunt Julia wandered slowly into the room, looking behind her at something. "What is the matter, Julia?"
3asked Aunt Kate anxiously. "Who is it?" Julia, who was carrying in a column of table-napkins, turned to her sister and
4said, simply, as if the question had surprised her: "It's only Freddy, Kate, and Gabriel with him." In fact right behind
5her Gabriel could be seen piloting Freddy Malins across the landing. The latter, a young man of about forty, was of
6Gabriel's size and build, with very round shoulders. His face was fleshy and pallid, touched with colour only at the
7thick hanging lobes of his ears and at the wide wings of his nose. He had coarse features, a blunt nose, a convex and
8receding brow, tumid and protruded lips. His heavy-lidded eyes and the disorder of his scanty hair made him look sleepy.
9He was laughing heartily in a high key at a story which he had been telling Gabriel on the stairs and at the same time
10rubbing the knuckles of his left fist backwards and forwards into his left eye. "Good-evening, Freddy," said Aunt Julia.
11Freddy Malins bade the Misses Morkan good-evening in what seemed an offhand fashion by reason of the habitual catch in
12his voice and then, seeing that Mr Browne was grinning at him from the sideboard, crossed the room on rather shaky legs
13and began to repeat in an undertone the story he had just told to Gabriel. "He's not so bad, is he?" said Aunt Kate to
14Gabriel. Gabriel's brows were dark but he raised them quickly and answered: "O, no, hardly noticeable." "Now, isn't he a
15terrible fellow!" she said. "And his poor mother made him take the pledge on New Year's Eve. But come on, Gabriel, into
16the drawing-room." Before leaving the room with Gabriel she signalled to Mr Browne by frowning and shaking her
17forefinger in warning to and fro. Mr Browne nodded in answer and, when she had gone, said to Freddy Malins: "Now, then,
18Teddy, I'm going to fill you out a good glass of lemonade just to buck you up." Freddy Malins, who was nearing the
19climax of his story, waved the offer aside impatiently but Mr Browne, having first called Freddy Malins' attention to a
20disarray in his dress, filled out and handed him a full glass of lemonade. Freddy Malins' left hand accepted the glass
21mechanically, his right hand being engaged in the mechanical readjustment of his dress. Mr Browne, whose face was once
22more wrinkling with mirth, poured out for himself a glass of whisky while Freddy Malins exploded, before he had well
23reached the climax of his story, in a kink of high-pitched bronchitic laughter and, setting down his untasted and
24overflowing glass, began to rub the knuckles of his left fist backwards and forwards into his left eye, repeating words
25of his last phrase as well as his fit of laughter would allow him. Gabriel could not listen while Mary Jane was playing
26her Academy piece, full of runs and difficult passages, to the hushed drawing-room. He liked music but the piece she was
27playing had no melody for him and he doubted whether it had any melody for the other listeners, though they had begged
28Mary Jane to play something. Four young men, who had come from the refreshment-room to stand in the doorway at the sound
29of the piano, had gone away quietly in couples after a few minutes. The only persons who seemed to follow the music were
30Mary Jane herself, her hands racing along the keyboard or lifted from it at the pauses like those of a priestess in
31momentary imprecation, and Aunt Kate standing at her elbow to turn the page. Gabriel's eyes, irritated by the floor,
32which glittered with beeswax under the heavy chandelier, wandered to the wall above the piano. A picture of the balcony
33scene in Romeo and Juliet hung there and beside it was a picture of the two murdered princes in the Tower which Aunt
34Julia had worked in red, blue and brown wools when she was a girl. Probably in the school they had gone to as girls that
35kind of work had been taught for one year. His mother had worked for him as a birthday present a waistcoat of purple
36tabinet, with little foxes' heads upon it, lined with brown satin and having round mulberry buttons. It was strange that
37his mother had had no musical talent though Aunt Kate used to call her the brains carrier of the Morkan family. Both she
38and Julia had always seemed a little proud of their serious and matronly sister. Her photograph stood before the
39pierglass. She held an open book on her knees and was pointing out something in it to Constantine who, dressed in a
40man-o'-war suit, lay at her feet. It was she who had chosen the name of her sons for she was very sensible of the
41dignity of family life. Thanks to her, Constantine was now senior curate in Balbrigan and, thanks to her, Gabriel
42himself had taken his degree in the Royal University. A shadow passed over his face as he remembered her sullen
43opposition to his marriage. Some slighting phrases she had used still rankled in his memory; she had once spoken of
44Gretta as being country cute and that was not true of Gretta at all. It was Gretta who had nursed her during all her
45last long illness in their house at Monkstown. He knew that Mary Jane must be near the end of her piece for she was
46playing again the opening melody with runs of scales after every bar and while he waited for the end the resentment died
47down in his heart. The piece ended with a trill of octaves in the treble and a final deep octave in the bass. Great
48applause greeted Mary Jane as, blushing and rolling up her music nervously, she escaped from the room. The most vigorous
49clapping came from the four young men in the doorway who had gone away to the refreshment-room at the beginning of the
50piece but had come back when the piano had stopped. Lancers were arranged. Gabriel found himself partnered with Miss
51Ivors. She was a frank-mannered talkative young lady, with a freckled face and prominent brown eyes. She did not wear a
52low-cut bodice and the large brooch which was fixed in the front of her collar bore on it an Irish device and motto.
53When they had taken their places she said abruptly: "I have a crow to pluck with you." "With me?" said Gabriel. She
54nodded her head gravely. "What is it?" asked Gabriel, smiling at her solemn manner. "Who is G. C.?" answered Miss Ivors,
55turning her eyes upon him. Gabriel coloured and was about to knit his brows, as if he did not understand, when she said
56bluntly: "O, innocent Amy! I have found out that you write for The Daily Express. Now, aren't you ashamed of yourself?"
57"Why should I be ashamed of myself?" asked Gabriel, blinking his eyes and trying to smile. "Well, I'm ashamed of you,"
58said Miss Ivors frankly. "To say you'd write for a paper like that. I didn't think you were a West Briton." A look of
59perplexity appeared on Gabriel's face. It was true that he wrote a literary column every Wednesday in The Daily Express,
60for which he was paid fifteen shillings. But that did not make him a West Briton surely. The books he received for
61review were almost more welcome than the paltry cheque. He loved to feel the covers and turn over the pages of newly
62printed books. Nearly every day when his teaching in the college was ended he used to wander down the quays to the
63second-hand booksellers, to Hickey's on Bachelor's Walk, to Webb's or Massey's on Aston's Quay, or to O'Clohissey's in
64the by-street. He did not know how to meet her charge. He wanted to say that literature was above politics. But they
65were friends of many years' standing and their careers had been parallel, first at the university and then as teachers:
66he could not risk a grandiose phrase with her. He continued blinking his eyes and trying to smile and murmured lamely
67that he saw nothing political in writing reviews of books. When their turn to cross had come he was still perplexed and
68inattentive. Miss Ivors promptly took his hand in a warm grasp and said in a soft friendly tone: "Of course, I was only
69joking. Come, we cross now."
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