Pulp Fiction, 1922 · page 48 of 126
Photoplay Magazine Cover — page 48: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page 48 of Photoplay Magazine This page contains story prose illustrated with a black-and-white photograph showing three people in what appears to be a domestic interior scene. A man in a suit stands near a doorway on the left, while a woman in a dress stands on the right near a small table with a chair. The text describes a dramatic domestic conflict involving characters named Shane, Moyna, and Delia. The narrative concerns Moyna's distress over Shane's unexplained absence and her uncertainty about their relationship, with discussion of a potential marriage arrangement with a priest. The passage conveys tension and emotional turmoil among the characters, though the specific plot context remains unclear from this excerpt alone.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
————— | EOE eee eer SS = =P — eee 48 Photoplay Magazine *T can explain.” cried Shane. But Moyna ran out of the room over the state of affairs with her daughter while together they cleaned the house preparatory to the expected arrival of her husband and his mother. It was while they were talking that a second knock came at the door and they opcned it to greet Moyna, who had been too impatient to wait for the others and had come on in a taxi, She had only one thing to say in response to their excited, amazed and slightly worried exclama- tions, and that was—‘‘Is Shane home?” URRIEDLY, Delia answered, but her mind was in a tur- moil as she thought of Judy’s remark, that very morning, and of Shane’s answer! ‘“He’s away at his work,’’ she answered, and then to change the subject, “shure, it’s a born blossom you are! Shure you've had the use of the May dew on yer cheeks!” Moyna waved aside the compliment. She felt somehow that Shane should have been there to greet her, even though her coming was a surprise, “Ooh! the slathers of beautiful ladies I passed on the streets, she said sadly, “better dressed in a week day than I'll be in Heaven. I misdoubt Shane will blush for me!” Delia and her daughter exchanged a glance fraught with meaning. Frankly they were nonplused, worried. Moyna was strangely excited, and suspicious. And they real- ized the fact. The morning dragged on. Michael Mornahan and his mother were held up by the customs and in the Mornahan flat the time passed heavily. Moyna became more and more upset, Delia and Kate more and more nervous. And, just as the un- rest was becoming unbearable, the door was thrown open and Judy Dugan came breezily into the room. Almost ignoring Moyna, who had been hurriedly introduced to her, she asked for Shane. And, when told that he was not at home, she left a message for him. “Tell him,’ she said briskly, “that I’ve talked with my father and forced him to give his consent, and we'll all three meet at the priest’s at four o’clock.” And then she hurried out, leaving a white faced girl and two inarticulate women who did not know how to comfort her. “They're goin’ to th’ priest to arrange to be married,” said Moyna, and her voice shook, “to have the banns called. Oh! this is the beyant the beyants!” She burst into tears, but after a minute she spoke again. “Oh! it’s a bitter day for me,” she sobbed, “that I ever set foot on the ocean. Is it a heart Shane keeps in his breast, or is it a hotel?” she paused, and then— “But why,” she cried in sudden anger, “should he care for me when there’s queens like her about?” Striving to calm her, Delia took the overwrought girl in her arms. But Moyna tore herself free of the comforting embrace. “Tl be going,” she cried. “It’s not blamin’ you I am, Ma’am dear—but I can’t stay anywhere where Shane is at all!” Without waiting to put on her hat she started for the door. Delia stood aghast. But Kate, her daughter, spoke. “Where will you be afther spendin’ th’ night?” she ques- tioned, Moyna’s hand was upon the door knob, but she half turned to answer. “I've a brother in Chicago,” she said. “Ill go over there for the night, or push on to Boston!” And the door closed with a bang behind her. OYNA had scarcely run from the flat when Shane came in. His head was bent in dejection, for the firm who had employed him since he had gotten his motor driver’s license had gone into bankruptcy and he was again without work. As he came in at the door, he smiled at Delia ruefully. “T lost me job as usual,” he said, trying to make his tone light and cheerful. “It died on me, and thin I went to the church as I promised Judy.” It was then that Delia, almost hysterical, told Shane what had happened. She told him of Moyna’s pilgrimage to sur- prise him, and of Judy’s call. As she talked, Shane went white with astonishment and fear. Without an explanation he dashed out, leaving Delia and her daughter in a state of col- lapse—a state from which she woke suddenly with the thought of her policeman son. Going to the telephone, she called him and told him to give in a general alarm for a red-headed, grey- eyed girl with a wild look about her. With Shane and Moyna bophy sCotpay evovo) aautete