"the brandnew braintrust"

(528.14-530.22)  We begin today with one of the old men (identified by McHugh as Mark) wrapping up the passage involving Isabel.  He compares her to the Virgin Mary, tracing her life through Vico's stages:  "Think of a maiden, Presentacion.  [Youth]  Double her, Annupciacion.  [Marriage]  Take your first thoughts away from her, Immacolacion.  [Death]"  Isabel will be ever shining, yet the old man suggests that she should be hidden or cloistered away, or at least veiled.

The remainder of today's reading consists of a long interruption of sorts by Matthew (as identified by McHugh, which makes sense because he refers to the other three old men near the beginning of his speech).  "Jump the railchairs or take them, as you pleace, but and, sir, my queskins first, foxyjack!" says Matthew, asking for a chance to examine the witness.  Before he gets to his list of questions, though, a type of shift occurs.  The four old men morph into four "bright young chaps of the brandnew braintrust," and the questioning takes on a slightly different, seemingly more inquisitive, tone.  His questions are rather lengthy and come at a rapid-fire pace, giving Shaun no chance to reply.  First, he wonders about the story behind the two young women, here identified as "Misses Mirtha and Merry, the two dreeper's assistents."  Were they on the up-and-up, having their papers signed by their previous employer?  And how, Matthew asks, did HCE (here called "O'Bejorumsen or Mockmacmahonitch," indicating his foreignness) find himself running a pub ("come into the awful position of the barrel of bellywash")?  Where were the three soldiers ("the doughboys, three by nombres, won in ziel") -- who, incidentally, he says were acting "contrary to military rules" -- when they happened upon HCE?  Is it true that HCE is co-owner of a circus (to which Matthew will be taking his children when the tickets are half-price) and that he ("the shamshemshowman") sought assistance from the police when he claimed he was being molested by women in the city?  And, finally, did HCE send his son to get a jar of porter to give ALP while HCE caroused around town?

With these (and a few other) questions rattled off, Matthew calls for Sackerson, who "reported on the whole hoodlum," to testify.