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[Aetat. 57-58] J O Y C E 7 2 9Joyce's asking Leon's brother-in-law, Ponisovsky, to request that Leonreturn him his publishing contracts. Leon telephoned on November 19to findout if Joyce meant this, and when Joyce said he did, Leon wrotehim a cold letter saying he would leave the contracts with Ponisovsky andasking Joyce to acknowledge their receipt. A friendship of ten years wasapparently broken.Helen's condition grew worse, and she had to be hospitalized at Suresnes.Stephen was taken by his grandparents to the Hotel Lutetia. InNovember Joyce telephoned Maria Jolas to say he was sending Stephendown to her at Saint-Gerand-le-Puy. Mrs. Jolas suggested that Joyce,George, and Nora come later to spend Christmas with her. Joyce hesitated,then accepted. He was drinking and spending heavily; to Beckett,who saw him before he left, he said, with something like satisfaction inhis voice, 'We're going downhill fast.' 22He kept traces of the self-abandonmentwhich had characterized his father.On December 24 the Joyces arrived at the nearest railway station, Saint-Germain-des-Fosses, and Mrs. Jolas brought them, in the only taxi to behad in the area, to their rooms at the Hotel de la Paix in Saint-Gerand.Scarcely had Joyce arrived when he was seized by stomach pains so violentas to send him to bed. Everyone assumed that his trouble was 'nervesagain, as his doctor in Paris had long ago suggested, and Joyce was gladto accept this diagnosis. Dr. O'Brien at La Baule had suggested livertrouble, an idea which Joyce apparently kept in his mind but did notmention to anyone. Whatever the cause of the pain had been in the past,it was now connected with the duodenal ulcer which was to prove fatal.Joyce did not consult a doctor again.Christmas dinner began sadly enough; Joyce scarcely ate anything, onlydrank white wine, bending before his glass as if overwhelmed, MariaJolas thought, by physical and mental anguish. His pain, his daughter atPornichet, his daughter-in-law at Suresnes, and the war were pressinghim down. If spoken to directly, he gave the shortest possible answer andlapsed back into silence, staring blankly ahead. After dinner Mrs. Jolasplayed the piano and in solo or chorus everyone sang carols in English,French, and German. Suddenly Joyce rose to his feet. Mrs. Jolas left thepiano at once and asked, 'Are you going to play for us?' Joyce joined herin singing 'Ye Banks and Braes,' then launched into Irish and Englishsongs, encouraging the others to sing too. At the evening's end he had asudden explosion of gaiety, and began to dance on the narrow stairs tothe tune of an old waltz. He approached Maria Jolas and said, 'Comeon, let's dance a little.' There was so little room, and his sight was sobad, that she hesitated. 'Come on then,' he said, putting his arm aroundher, 'you know very well that it's the last Christmas.' After the dance hehad to be quieted down to permit the guests to leave. Next day, stillpleased with the party, he wrote Eugene Jolas in New York an eight-pageaccount of the festivities that Jolas had had to miss. 23George Joyce had no desire to remain at Saint-Gerand, and returned