f he cared to, could
easily have. Added to which of course would be the pecuniary emolument
by no means to be sneezed at, going hand in hand with his tuition
fees. Not, he parenthesised, that for the sake of filthy lucre he need
necessarily embrace the lyric platform as a walk in life for any lengthy
space of time. But a step in the required direction it was beyond yea or
nay and both monetarily and mentally it contained no reflection on his
dignity in the smallest and it often turned in uncommonly handy to
be handed a cheque at a muchneeded moment when every little helped.
Besides, though taste latterly had deteriorated to a degree, original
music like that, different from the conventional rut, would rapidly
have a great vogue as it would be a decided novelty for Dublin's musical
world after the usual hackneyed run of catchy tenor solos foisted on a
confiding public by Ivan St Austell and Hilton St Just and their _genus
omne_. Yes, beyond a shadow of a doubt he could with all the cards in
his hand and he had a capital opening to make a name for himself and win
a high place in the city's esteem where he could command a stiff figure
and, booking ahead, give a grand concert for the patrons of the King
street house, given a backerup, if one were forthcoming to kick him
upstairs, so to speak, a big _if_, however, with some impetus of the
goahead sort to obviate the inevitable procrastination which often
tripped-up a too much feted prince of good fellows. And it need not
detract from the other by one iota as, being his own master, he would
have heaps of time to practise literature in his spare moments when
desirous of so doing without its clashing with his vocal career or
containing anything derogatory whatsoever as it was a matter for himself
alone. In fact, he had the ball at his feet and that was the very reason
why the other, possessed of a remarkably sharp nose for smelling a rat
of any sort, hung on to him at all.

The horse was just then. And later on at a propitious opportunity he
purposed (Bloom did), without anyway prying into his private affairs on
the _fools step in where angels_ principle, advising him to sever his
connection with a certain budding practitioner who, he noticed, was
prone to disparage and even to a slight extent with some hilarious
pretext when not present, deprecate him, or whatever you like to call it
which in Bloom's humble opinion threw a nasty sidelight on that side of
a person's character,