Ulysses

(Barry) #1

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not by him should by him not be told.
Why was the host (reluctant, unresisting) still?
In accordance with the law of the conservation of en-
ergy.
Why was the host (secret infidel) silent?
He weighed the possible evidences for and against ritu-
al murder: the incitations of the hierarchy, the superstition
of the populace, the propagation of rumour in continued
fraction of veridicity, the envy of opulence, the influence of
retaliation, the sporadic reappearance of atavistic delinquen-
cy, the mitigating circumstances of fanaticism, hypnotic
suggestion and somnambulism.
From which (if any) of these mental or physical disorders
was he not totally immune?
From hypnotic suggestion: once, waking, he had not
recognised his sleeping apartment: more than once, wak-
ing, he had been for an indefinite time incapable of moving
or uttering sounds. From somnambulism: once, sleeping,
his body had risen, crouched and crawled in the direction
of a heatless fire and, having attained its destination, there,
curled, unheated, in night attire had lain, sleeping.
Had this latter or any cognate phenomenon declared it-
self in any member of his family?
Twice, in Holles street and in Ontario terrace, his daugh-
ter Millicent (Milly) at the ages of 6 and 8 years had uttered
in sleep an exclamation of terror and had replied to the
interrogations of two figures in night attire with a vacant
mute expression.
What other infantile memories had he of her?

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