about when you’re alone now.” He grinned. He looked very handsome when he smiled, his mother thought fondly. Despite reddish-brown hair which wouldn’t stay flat, those freckles on his nose, he really was classically good-looking, and when Jack Foley smiled he would break any heart. Lilly Foley wondered would he fall in love easily, or did the rugby take so much time that he would just be satisfied with the distant adulation of the girls who watched and cheered the games.
She wondered would he be as hard to catch as his father had been. What would some wily girl see in him that he would respond to? She had captured his father by promising an elegant uncluttered life-style very different from the neglected unhappy home he had come from. But this would not be the way to lure away her Jack. He was happy and well looked after in this home. He wouldn’t want to flee the nest for a long time yet.
“Are you sure you won’t take a lift?” Dr. John Foley would have been proud to drive his eldest son up to Earlsfort Terrace and wave him into his first day at University.
“No, Dad, I told a few of the lads …”
His mother seemed to understand. “It’s not like school, it’s sort of more gradual isn’t it. There’s no bell saying you all have to be there at such a time.”
“I know, I know. I’ve been there, remember.” Dr. Foley was testy.
“It’s just that I said …”
“No, your mother is right, you want to be with your own friends on a day like this, and the best of luck to you son, may it turn out for you just as well as you ever hoped. Even if you’re not doing medicine.”
“Ah, go on, you’re relieved. Think of all the malpractice suits.”
“You can get those in law just as well as medicine. Anyway, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t pick a law student for the rugby first fifteen.”
“Give me a bit of time, Dad.”
“After the way you played in the Schools Cup? They’re not blind in there. You’ll be playing in the Colors match in December.”
“They never have freshers for that.”
“They’ll have you, Jack.”
Jack stood up. “I’ll be on it next year. Will that do you?”
“All right, if you play for UCD in 1958 that’ll do me. I’m a very reasonable, undemanding man,” said Dr. Foley.
When Benny got off the bus on the quays, she saw Eve waiting, with her raincoat collar turned up against the rain. She looked cold and pale.
“God, you really will end up in hospital this way,” Benny said. She was alarmed by the look in Eve’s eyes and the uncertainty of the future.
“Oh, shut up will you. Do you have an umbrella?”
“Do I have an umbrella? We’re lucky that I don’t havea plastic bubble encasing me, the weather was tested all night, I think. I have a folding mac that makes me look like a haystack in the rain, I have an umbrella that would fit most of Dublin under it.”
“Well, put it up then,” Eve said, shivering. They crossed O’Connell Bridge together.
“What are you going to do?” Benny asked.
“Anything. I can’t stay there. I tried.”
“You didn’t try very hard, less than a week.”
“If you saw it, if you
saw
Mother Clare!”
“You’re the one who’s always telling me that things will pass, and to make the best of them. You’re the one who says we can stick anything if we know where we’re going.”
“That was before I met Mother Clare, and anyway I don’t know where I am going.”
“This is Trinity. We just keep following the railings, and up one of the streets to the Green …” Benny explained.
“No, I don’t mean here. I mean, where I’m going really.”
“You’re going to get a job and get shot of them as quick as possible. Wasn’t that the plan?”
Eve made no reply. Benny had never seen her friend so low.
“Isn’t there anyone nice there? I’d have thought you’d have made lots of friends.”
“There’s a nice lay Sister in the kitchen. Sister Joan, she’s got chapped hands and a streaming
She wondered would he be as hard to catch as his father had been. What would some wily girl see in him that he would respond to? She had captured his father by promising an elegant uncluttered life-style very different from the neglected unhappy home he had come from. But this would not be the way to lure away her Jack. He was happy and well looked after in this home. He wouldn’t want to flee the nest for a long time yet.
“Are you sure you won’t take a lift?” Dr. John Foley would have been proud to drive his eldest son up to Earlsfort Terrace and wave him into his first day at University.
“No, Dad, I told a few of the lads …”
His mother seemed to understand. “It’s not like school, it’s sort of more gradual isn’t it. There’s no bell saying you all have to be there at such a time.”
“I know, I know. I’ve been there, remember.” Dr. Foley was testy.
“It’s just that I said …”
“No, your mother is right, you want to be with your own friends on a day like this, and the best of luck to you son, may it turn out for you just as well as you ever hoped. Even if you’re not doing medicine.”
“Ah, go on, you’re relieved. Think of all the malpractice suits.”
“You can get those in law just as well as medicine. Anyway, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t pick a law student for the rugby first fifteen.”
“Give me a bit of time, Dad.”
“After the way you played in the Schools Cup? They’re not blind in there. You’ll be playing in the Colors match in December.”
“They never have freshers for that.”
“They’ll have you, Jack.”
Jack stood up. “I’ll be on it next year. Will that do you?”
“All right, if you play for UCD in 1958 that’ll do me. I’m a very reasonable, undemanding man,” said Dr. Foley.
When Benny got off the bus on the quays, she saw Eve waiting, with her raincoat collar turned up against the rain. She looked cold and pale.
“God, you really will end up in hospital this way,” Benny said. She was alarmed by the look in Eve’s eyes and the uncertainty of the future.
“Oh, shut up will you. Do you have an umbrella?”
“Do I have an umbrella? We’re lucky that I don’t havea plastic bubble encasing me, the weather was tested all night, I think. I have a folding mac that makes me look like a haystack in the rain, I have an umbrella that would fit most of Dublin under it.”
“Well, put it up then,” Eve said, shivering. They crossed O’Connell Bridge together.
“What are you going to do?” Benny asked.
“Anything. I can’t stay there. I tried.”
“You didn’t try very hard, less than a week.”
“If you saw it, if you
saw
Mother Clare!”
“You’re the one who’s always telling me that things will pass, and to make the best of them. You’re the one who says we can stick anything if we know where we’re going.”
“That was before I met Mother Clare, and anyway I don’t know where I am going.”
“This is Trinity. We just keep following the railings, and up one of the streets to the Green …” Benny explained.
“No, I don’t mean here. I mean, where I’m going really.”
“You’re going to get a job and get shot of them as quick as possible. Wasn’t that the plan?”
Eve made no reply. Benny had never seen her friend so low.
“Isn’t there anyone nice there? I’d have thought you’d have made lots of friends.”
“There’s a nice lay Sister in the kitchen. Sister Joan, she’s got chapped hands and a streaming
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