The honourable Mrs Mervyn Talboys:
(Unbuttoning her gauntlet violently)
I’ll do no such thing. Pigdog and always
was ever since he was pupped! To dare address
me! I’ll flog him black and blue in the
public streets. I’ll dig my spurs in him
up to the rowel. He is a wellknown cuckold. (She
SWISHES her HUNTINGCROP savagely in
the air) Take down his trousers without
loss of time. Come here, sir! Quick!
Ready?
Bloom: (Trembling, beginning to
obey) The weather has been so warm.
(Davy Stephens, RINGLETTED, passes
with A bevy of barefoot newsboys.)
Davy Stephens: Messenger of
the sacred heart and evening telegraph
with Saint Patrick’s Day supplement. Containing
the new addresses of all the cuckolds in Dublin.
(The very reverend canon O’HANLON
in cloth of gold cope elevates
and exposes A marble timepiece.
Before him father Conroy and
the reverend John Hughes S.J.
Bend low.)
Cuckoo.
Cuckoo.
Cuckoo.
(THE BRASS QUOITS OF A BED ARE HEARD TO JINGLE.)
The quoits: Jigjag. Jigajiga.
Jigjag.
(A panel of fog rolls back
rapidly, revealing rapidly in the
JURYBOX the
faces of Martin Cunningham, foreman,
silkhatted, Jack power, Simon
Dedalus, Tom Kernan, Ned Lambert,
John Henry Menton Myles Crawford,
Lenehan, Paddy Leonard, nosey Flynn,
M’COY and the featureless face
of A nameless one.)
The nameless one: Bareback riding.
Weight for age. Gob, he organised her.
The jurors: (All their heads
turned to his voice) Really?
The nameless one: (Snarls)
Arse over tip. Hundred shillings to five.
The jurors: (All their heads
lowered in assent) Most of us thought
as much.
First watch: He is a marked man.
Another girl’s plait cut. Wanted: Jack
the Ripper. A thousand pounds reward.
Second watch: (Awed, whispers)
And in black. A mormon. Anarchist.
