asked.

Cranly came out through the door of the entrance hall, his hat thrust back on the nape of his neck and picking his teeth with care.

-And here’s the wiseacre, said Temple. Do you know that about the Forsters?

He paused for an answer. Cranly dislodged a figseed from his teeth on the point of his rude toothpick and gazed at it intently.

-The Forster family, Temple said, is descended from Baldwin the First, king of Flanders. He was called the Forester. Forester and Forster are the same name. A descendant of Baldwin the First, captain Francis Forster, settled in Ireland and married the daughter of the last chieftain of Clanbrassil. Then there are the Blake Forsters. That’s a different branch.

-From Baldhead, king of Flanders, Cranly repeated, rooting again deliberately at his gleaming uncovered teeth.

-Where did you pick up all that history? O’Keeffe asked.

-I know all the history of your family too, Temple said, turning to Stephen. Do you know what Giraldus Cambrensis says about your family?

-Is he descended from Baldwin too? asked a tall consumptive student with dark eyes.

-Baldhead, Cranly repeated, sucking at a crevice in his teeth.

-Pernobilis et pervetusta familia, Temple said to Stephen.

The stout student who stood below them on the steps farted briefly. Dixon turned towards him saying in a soft voice:

-Did an angel speak?

Cranly turned also and said vehemently but without anger:

-Goggins, you’re the flamingest dirty devil I ever met, do you know.

-I had it on my mind to say that, Goggins answered firmly. It did no one any harm, did it?

-We hope, Dixon said suavely, that it was not of the kind known to science as a paulo, post futurum.

-Didn’t I tell you he was a smiler? said Temple, turning right and left. Didn’t I give him that name?

-You did. We’re not deaf, said the tall consumptive.

Cranly still frowned at the stout student below him. Then, with a snort of disgust, he shoved him violently down the steps.

-Go away from here, he said rudely. Go away, you stinkpot. And you are a stinkpot.

Goggins skipped down on to the gravel and at once returned to his place with good humour. Temple turned back to Stephen and asked:

-Do you believe in the law of heredity?

-Are you drunk or what are you or what are you trying to say?