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[ Aetat. 23-24 ] J O Y C E 213had one centesimo between them, and asked whether any money was leftfrom his trip. Five years later Stanislaus was to write his father—in aharsh letter which he decided not to send—that James had 'asked me veryfew other questions of importance concerning myself since I came here.'Next day he took up the position at the Scuola Berlitz, for which hereceived 40 crowns ($8, or 33/4)* a week. He agreed that James shoulduse his salary to pay household expenses, and for some weeks turned overhis pay as soon as they reached the school door. Eventually, to simplifymatters, Joyce began to sign the paybook for Stanislaus and to take themoney directly. With the 42 crowns that James earned, their combinedpay was $17 (£3/8/4), a sum ample enough at the time if managed sensibly,which it never was. Such 'necessities' as dining out every night,even at a cheap socialist restaurant, kept them in the vestibule of poverty,for which James at least had a certain predilection. James borrowed apair of Stanislaus's trousers and kept them, and trivial exploitations ofthis kind, to which Stanislaus consented at first cordially, later moreslowly, and finallywith the utmost reluctance, marked their relationshipfrom the start. James saw no reason to limit his brother's sacrifices togenius, especially when genius had a family to support. Stanislaus wasbound to James by affection and respect, but also by indignity and pain.Living, eating, and working together, they quickly got on each other'snerves. Joyce's drinking was the main source of tension. Nora, and FranciniBruni too, were both relieved when Stanislaus appeared, for he resolutelyapplied himself to dragging his brother away from the workers'cafes in the Citta Vecchia. 3James offered no physical resistance, but histhoughts turned once more to escape, t The pinch of responsibility waspainful enough, Stanislaus's reproachful looks made it worse. His brother'sarrival had wrought no miracles and Joyce felt himself being shoulderedrelentlessly into something dangerously like stability. It seemed that hehad flown by the net of his father's family only to catch himself in oneof his own. He recalled a rumor that Henrik Ibsen, dying now in Christiana,had ended his marriage by leaving his wife, 4and the precedentseemed at times inviting enough. sStanislaus was disturbed by his view of the Joyces at home. He confidedin a letter card to his cousin Katsy that he longed to hear themournful foghorn of the Pigeon House again. 6More important, he wroteseveral letters in November to Aunt Josephine, the wise woman ofDrumcondra, complaining of the behavior of James and Nora towardseach other and towards him. He was especially disconcerted by James'sgrowing habit of silence with him. Then James wrote to A.unt Josephinetoo, ostensibly to inform her that he was planning to leave Nora, butprobably with the half-conscious motive of having Mrs. Murray dissuade* The Austrian crown was worth about 20 cents, the British shilling about 25 cents,t Stendhal had felt the same boredom when he was in Trieste in 1831.