Dubliners - James Joyce [84]
`Do you know Trinity College?'
`Yes, sir,' said the cabman.
`Well, drive bang up against Trinity College gates,' said Mr Browne, `and then we'll tell you where to go. You understand now?'
`Yes, sir,' said the cabman.
`Make like a bird for Trinity College.'
`Right, sir,' said the cabman.
The horse was whipped up and the cab rattled off along the quay amid a chorus of laughter and adieux.
Gabriel had not gone to the door with the others. He was in a dark part of the hall gazing up the staircase. A woman was standing near the top of the first flight, in the shadow also. He could not see her face but he could see the terra-cotta and salmon- pink panels of her skirt which the shadow made appear black and white. It was his wife. She was leaning on the banisters, listening to something. Gabriel was surprised at her stillness and strained his ear to listen also. But he could hear little save the noise of laughter and dispute on the front steps, a few chords struck on the piano and a few notes of a man's voice singing.
He stood still in the gloom of the hall, trying to catch the air that the voice was singing and gazing up at his wife. There was grace and mystery in her attitude as if she were a symbol of something. He asked himself what is a woman standing on the stairs in the shadow, listening to distant music, a symbol of. If he were a painter he would paint her in that attitude. Her blue felt hat would show off the bronze of her hair against the darkness and the dark panels of her skirt would show off the light ones. Distant Music he would call the picture if he were a painter.
The hall-door was closed, and Aunt Kate, Aunt Julia, and Mary Jane came down the hall, still laughing.
`Well, isn't Freddy terrible?' said Mary Jane. `He's really terrible.'
Gabriel said nothing, but pointed up the stairs towards where his wife was standing. Now that the hall-door was closed the voice and the piano could be heard more clearly. Gabriel held up his hand for them to be silent. The song seemed to be in the old Irish tonality and the singer seemed uncertain both of his words and of his voice. The voice, made plaintive by distance and by the singer's hoarseness, faintly illuminated the cadence of the air with words expressing grief:
O, the rain falls on my heavy locks And the dew wets my skin, My babe lies cold...
`O,' exclaimed Mary Jane. `It's Bartell D'Arcy singing, and he wouldn't sing all the night. O, I'll get him to sing a song before he goes.'
`O, do, Mary Jane,' said Aunt Kate.
Mary Jane brushed past the others and ran to the staircase, but before she reached it the singing stopped and the piano was closed abruptly.
`O, what a pity!' she cried. `Is he coming down, Gretta?'
Gabriel heard his wife answer yes and saw her come down towards them. A few steps behind her were Mr Bartell D'Arcy and Miss O'Callaghan.
`O, Mr D'Arcy,' cried Mary Jane, `it's downright mean of you to break off like that when we were all in raptures listening to you.'
`I have been at him all the evening,' said Miss O'Callaghan, `and Mrs Conroy, too, and he told us he had a dreadful cold and couldn't sing.'
`O, Mr D'Arcy,' said Aunt Kate, `now that was a great fib to tell.'
`Can't you see that I'm as hoarse as a crow?' said Mr D'Arcy roughly.
He went into the pantry hastily and put on his overcoat. The others, taken back by his rude speech, could find nothing to say. Aunt Kate wrinkled her brows and made signs to the others to drop the subject. Mr D'Arcy stood swathing