Two Gallants by James Joyce

This story is based in two men, Lenehan and Corley, walking through the streets of Dublin and talking about their lifes. Corley first talks about a date he has that evening with a maid that works in a wealthy house and gives him cigarettes and how he hasn’t told her his name. Then, they make up a plan to make the maid steal money from the house she works in. Corley and Lenehan meet the maid, and later that day they meet up again near the house where the maid works in. Corley and the maid leave and Lenehan stays alone and goes to drink to a pub. At the end, Lenehan follows Corley and the maid to a posh house and he watches as Corley stays outside the service’s entrance, the maid runs in and returns and gives something to Corley and then he starts running away. Lenehan calls after him, but Corley never stops, he just turns around and shows him a gold coin.

First of all, I don’t think Lenehan and Corley are two gallants because they made a woman steal, and that’s not something a gallant man would do. I can say I preferred the other two short stories that I’ve read; I didn’t find this one THAT interesting and it didn’t make me think about what would happen at the end, I just wasn’t expecting anything to happen.