Corley obtains a gold coin from the servant

Corley obtains a gold coin from the servant in a brief, carefully observed street encounter that resolves Lenehan’s anxious wait and exposes the material result of Corley’s pursuit. The woman’s covert return to the house and Corley’s silent display of the coin make the outcome legible without explaining the bargain in words.

The Wait and Its Reversal

Lenehan waits for Corley, worrying over whether his friend has managed his undertaking or has left him behind. He remembers Corley’s slowly revolving head and takes reassurance from it, but the reassurance gives way to suspicion when he sees no sign of the pair and wonders whether they have gone home by another route. He smokes his last cigarette nervously and watches each tram stop at the far corner of the square; when the cigarette paper breaks, he curses and throws it into the road.

The pair finally come towards him. Lenehan studies their manner as they walk: the young woman takes quick, short steps while Corley keeps beside her with his long stride, and they do not appear to be speaking. Their silence and movement give Lenehan an intimation of failure. He is convinced that Corley has not succeeded, though he cannot yet know what has happened.

The Encounter and the Coin

They turn down Baggot Street, with Lenehan following on the other footpath. When the pair stop, he stops too. After they talk briefly, the young woman goes down the steps into the area of a house; Corley remains at some distance from the front steps. The scene then narrows to a small sequence of furtive actions: the hall door opens cautiously, a woman runs down the steps and coughs, and Corley turns towards her. His broad figure hides her briefly. She reappears running up the steps, the door closes, and Corley walks swiftly towards Stephen’s Green.

Lenehan hurries after him through light rain, glancing back to make sure he is not observed. Anxiety and the run leave him panting as he calls to Corley. At the corner of Ely Place he asks whether the plan has come off; Corley does not answer, but swerves into a side street, his expression composed in stern calm. Lenehan presses him again, now with a note of menace in his voice. Corley halts beneath a lamp, stares grimly ahead, and extends his hand. He opens it slowly: a small gold coin shines in his palm.

What the Outcome Reveals

The coin is the scene’s decisive evidence. Lenehan’s expectation that Corley has failed is overturned by the visible proof of payment, while the woman’s quick return through the front door suggests the secrecy surrounding their exchange. The story does not spell out the terms or the woman’s thoughts; instead, it gives the reader the sequence of meeting, concealment, departure, and the final object in Corley’s hand. His grave, controlled gesture turns the coin into an answer to Lenehan’s questions without a spoken explanation.

The result also changes the meaning of the pursuit. What Lenehan had followed as a suspenseful test of Corley’s success ends not with an openly shared triumph but with a private transaction whose tangible reward is displayed to an admiring subordinate. The contrast between Lenehan’s restless uncertainty and Corley’s measured reveal gives the small coin unusual weight: it confirms that Corley has obtained something, while leaving the human and moral terms of the exchange unstated.