In an example of foreshadowing, Lenehan asks Corley early in the story if he’ll “be able to pull it off all right,” and Corley responds, “I know the way to get around her, man.” Though Lenehan asks different versions of this question as they walk aimlessly through the Dublin streets, readers are never quite sure to what he or Corley is referring until the final lines of the story:
– Well? [Lenehan] said. Did it come off?
[…]
Corley halted at the first lamp and stared grimly before him. Then with a grave gesture he extended a hand towards the light and, smiling, opened it slowly to the gaze of his disciple. A small gold coin shone in the palm.
Though subtle, Lenehan’s original question effectively foreshadows the final reveal—that the “it” Corley has been trying to pull off is manipulating the maid with whom he has a sexual relationship to steal money from her employer for him. That Corley smiles while revealing the “small gold coin” in his hand shows that this was his intention all along.
It is notable that Corley is so thrilled over a coin that the narrator describes as “small”—this hints that, for all of his scheming and betrayal, he is not actually getting much out of this situation. Not only is he morally bankrupt for manipulating this woman, but he also remains financially insecure as well. Though he has seemingly “won” something here, Joyce is showing how, amongst the Irish lower classes during England’s colonial rule, no one is ever really a winner.
