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312 J A M E S [ 1909-1911 ]find the house dark, the whole family having dispersed to opera andcinema; he continually tried to enforce a schedule which was as continuallybroken. He felt some jealousy too, at his brother's hold over Nora,whom he also found very attractive, and he was sensitive to her indifferenceto him.Many of these thoughts Stanislaus religiously put down in his diary.James asked to read it but Stanislaus refused; James undoubtedly knewthe kind of thing that was in it whether or not he read the diary clandestinelyas he had done in the past. But while the tensions in the mind ofStanislaus made him miserable, they made James comfortable, like aman who, having nourished a few doubts about the roundness of theearth, gets some excellent confirmation. Relations between men, he felt,must inevitably have this coloration of uncertainty, jealousy, hostility,and affection; the usual name for this hodgepodge was friendship. Fraternalrelations could scarcely be exempt from the general law. And inStanislaus, anger only proved dependence.Stanislaus was too intelligent not to grasp this situation, but he lackedthe will and the confidence in his own powers to extricate himself fromit. His brother could create, while he could only criticize. One day,nonetheless, he made a more spirited protest than usual at having to eatby himself; he threatened to dine at a restaurant henceforth. For a dayor two meals were served punctually, then on one pretext or anotherJoyce and Nora began to delay again. One Sunday night in July 1910,they entered the room just as Stanislaus was standing up to go away. Ina fit of anger, the younger brother swore he would never come near thehouse again. James characteristically started to dispute the lateness of thehour, but Nora said bluntly, 'Ah, let him go out of that.' S4The next daythey hoped to receive the forty pounds from the sale of the Volta, so shewas not in the mood for surrender.The money was not forthcoming, however, and after three days Evawrote Stanislaus a note saying, 'Jim says you'll have to leave him somemoney,' and James sent one, if you don't give us some money we muststarve.' Even Giorgio, meeting Stanislaus in the street, said to him inItalian, 'We had no dinner today. Keep that in your head.' The pressureupon the young man was very great, but he won support from the Franciniswho told him, after hearing the lamentable developments, that theyhad always felt he was mistreated in the house. 55If Stanislaus was unhappy, his brother's household was hungry. Eileenrecalled a typical emergency of this period: James was paid for a lessonand with the money, all there was in the house, was sent to buy food.He returned instead with a handpainted silk scarf for Nora, whose appetiteat the moment was not for finery. 56 This was one of the occasionswhen she threatened to go home to Galway and even went so far as towrite her mother to that effect. Joyce looked over her shoulder and commented,if you're going home at least write T with a capital letter.'