hanks.
Mr Bloom turned his largelidded eyes with unhasty friendliness.
--My wife too, he said. She's going to sing at a swagger affair in the
Ulster Hall, Belfast, on the twenty-fifth.
--That so? M'Coy said. Glad to hear that, old man. Who's getting it up?
Mrs Marion Bloom. Not up yet. Queen was in her bedroom eating bread and.
No book. Blackened court cards laid along her thigh by sevens. Dark lady
and fair man. Letter. Cat furry black ball. Torn strip of envelope.
_Love's
Old
Sweet
Song
Comes lo-ove's old..._
--It's a kind of a tour, don't you see, Mr Bloom said thoughtfully.
_Sweeeet song_. There's a committee formed. Part shares and part
profits.
M'Coy nodded, picking at his moustache stubble.
--O, well, he said. That's good news.
He moved to go.
--Well, glad to see you looking fit, he said. Meet you knocking around.
--Yes, Mr Bloom said.
--Tell you what, M'Coy said. You might put down my name at the funeral,
will you? I'd like to go but I mightn't be able, you see. There's a
drowning case at Sandycove may turn up and then the coroner and myself
would have to go down if the body is found. You just shove in my name if
I'm not there, will you?
--I'll do that, Mr Bloom said, moving to get off. That'll be all right.
--Right, M'Coy said brightly. Thanks, old man. I'd go if I possibly
could. Well, tolloll. Just C. P. M'Coy will do.
--That will be done, Mr Bloom answered firmly.
Didn't catch me napping that wheeze. The quick touch. Soft mark. I'd
like my job. Valise I have a particular fancy for. Leather. Capped
corners, rivetted edges, double action lever lock. Bob Cowley lent him
his for the Wicklow regatta concert last year and never heard tidings of
it from that good day to this.
Mr Bloom, strolling towards Brunswick street, smiled. My missus has just
got an. Reedy freckled soprano. Cheeseparing nose. Nice enough in its
way: for a little ballad. No guts in it. You and me, don't you know:
in the same boat. Softsoaping. Give you the needle that would. Can't
he hear the difference? Think he's that way inclined a bit. Against
my grain somehow. Thought that Belfast would fetch him. I hope that
smallpox up there doesn't get worse. Suppose she wouldn't let herself be
vaccinated again. Your wife and my wife.
Wonder is he pimping after me?
Mr Bloom stood at the corner, his eyes wandering over the multicoloured
hoardings. Cantrell and Cochrane's Ginger Ale (A
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