The Project Gutenberg eBook of Three Plays: The Fiddler's House, The Land, Thomas Muskerry This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: Three Plays: The Fiddler's House, The Land, Thomas Muskerry Author: Padraic Colum Release date: April 1, 2004 [eBook #11878] Most recently updated: December 26, 2020 Language: English Credits: Produced by Distributed Proofreaders *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE PLAYS: THE FIDDLER'S HOUSE, THE LAND, THOMAS MUSKERRY *** Produced by Distributed Proofreaders. THREE PLAYS THE FIDDLER'S HOUSE THE LAND THOMAS MUSKERRY BY PADRAIC COLUM BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1916 TO MY FRIEND THOMAS HUGHES KELLY THESE THREE IRISH PLAYS _AUTHOR'S NOTE_ I have been asked to say something about the intentions and ideas that underlie the three short plays in this volume. These plays were conceived in the early days of the Irish National Theatre. I had been one of the group that formed the National Theatre Society and I wrote plays for players who were my colleagues and my instructors; I wrote them for a small, barely-furnished stage in a small theatre; I wrote them, too, for an audience that was tremendously interested in every expression of national character. "The Land" was written to celebrate the redemption of the soil of Ireland--an event made possible by the Land Act of 1903. This event, as it represented the passing of Irish acres from an alien landlordism, was considered to be of national importance. "The Land" also dealt with a movement that ran counter to the rooting of the Celtic people in the soil--emigration--the emigration to America of the young and the fit. In "The Land" I tried to show that it was not altogether an economic necessity that was driving young men and women out of the Irish rural districts; the lack of life and the lack of freedom there had much to do with emigration. "The Land" touched upon a typical conflict, the conflict between the individual and that which, in Ireland, has much authority, the family group. This particular conflict was shown again in "The Fiddler's House." where the life, not of the actual peasants, but of rural people with artistic and aristocratic traditions, was shown. I tried to show the same conflict working out more tragically in the play of middle-class life, "Thomas Muskerry." Here I went above the peasant and the wandering artist and came to the official. I had intended to make plays about the merchant, the landowner, the political and the intellectual leader and so write a chapter in an Irish Human Comedy. But while I was thinking of the play that is third in this volume my connection with the National Theatre Society was broken off. "Thomas Muskerry" was produced in the Abbey Theatre after I had ceased to be a member of the group that had founded it. PADRAIC COLUM NEW YORK _August, 1916_ _CONTENTS_ AUTHOR'S NOTE THE FIDDLER'S HOUSE THE LAND: AN AGRARIAN COMEDY IN THREE ACTS THOMAS MUSKERRY _THE FIDDLER'S HOUSE_ _CHARACTERS_ CONN HOURICAN, a Fiddler. MAIRE (Mary) [1] HOURICAN, his daughter. ANNE HOURICAN, a younger daughter. BRIAN MACCONNELL, a younger farmer. JAMES MOYNIHAN, a farmer's son. The action passes in the Houricans' house in the Irish Midlands. [Footnote 1: The name is pronounced as if written "Maurya."] ACT I SCENE: _The interior of a farmer's cottage; the kitchen. The entrance is at the back right. To the left is the fire-place, an open hearth, with a fire of peat. There is a room door to the right, a pace below the entrance; and another room door below the fire-place. Between the room door and the entrance there is a row of wooden pegs, on which men's coats hang. Below this door is a dresser containing pretty delpht. There is a small window at back, a settle bed folded into a high bench; a small mirror hangs right of the window. A backed chair and some stools are about the hearth. A table to the right with cloth and tea things on it. The cottage looks pretty and comfortable. It is towards the close of an Autumn day_. _James Moynihan has finished tea; Anne Hourican is at the back, seated on the settle knitting, and watching James. James Moynihan is about twenty-eight. He has a good forehead, but his face is indeterminate. He has been working in the fields, and is dressed in trousers, shirt, and heavy boots. Anne Hourican is a pretty, dark-haired girl of about nineteen_. _James Moynihan rises_. ANNE And so you can't stay any longer, James? JAMES _(with a certain solemnity)_ No, Anne. I told my father I'd be back while there was light, and I'm going back. _(He goes to the rack, takes his coat, and puts it on him)_ Come over to our house to-night, Anne. I'll be watching the girls coming in, and thinking on yourself; there's none of them your match for grace and favour. My father wanted me to see a girl in Arvach. She has three hundred pounds, besides what the priest, her uncle, will leave her. "Father," says I, "listen to me now. Haven't I always worked for you like a steady, useful boy?" "You have," says he. "Did I ever ask you for anything unreasonable?" says I. "No," says he. "Well then," says I, "don't ask me to do unreasonable things. I'm fond of Anne Hourican, and not another girl will I marry. What's money, after all?" says I, "there's gold on the whin-bushes if you only knew it." And he had to leave it at that. ANNE You always bring people around. JAMES The quiet, reasonable way is the way that people like. ANNE Still, with all, I'm shy of going into your house. JAMES Don't doubt but there'll be a welcome before you; come round with Maire. _Anne rises, and comes to him. She has graceful, bird-like movements._ ANNE _(putting her hands on James' shoulders)_ Maybe we won't have a chance of seeing each other after all. _James Moynihan kisses her reverently_ JAMES Sit down now, Anne, because there's something I want to show you. Do you ever see "The Shamrock"? ANNE Very seldom. _James and Anne go to the settle; they sit down_. JAMES There be good pieces in it sometimes. There's a poem of mine in it this week. ANNE Of yours, James? Printed, do you mean? JAMES Ay, printed. _(He takes a paper out of his pocket, and opens it)_ It's a poem to yourself, though your name doesn't come into it. _(Gives paper)_ Let no one see it, Anne, at least not for the present. And now, good-bye. _Goes to the door. Anne continues reading the verse eagerly. At the door James turns and recites_:-- When lights are failing, and skies are paling, And leaves are sailing a-down the air, O, it's then that love lifts my heart above My roving thoughts and my petty care; And though the gloom be like the tomb, Where there's no room for my love and me, O, still I'll find you, and still I'll bind you, My wild sweet rose of Aughnalee! That's the first stanza. Good-bye. _James goes out. Anne continues reading, then she leaves the paper down with a sigh_. ANNE O, it's lovely! _(She takes the paper up again, rises and goes to the door. She remains looking out. Some one speaks to her)_ No, Brian, Maire's not back yet. Ay, I'll engage she'll give you a call when she does come back. _(Anne turns back. She opens drawer in the dresser and puts paper in. She begins to clear table, putting the delpht back on dresser. To herself, anxiously)_ I hope Maire won't forget to call at the mill. _(Room door right opens, and Conn Hourican comes down. Conn Hourican is a man of about fifty, with clear-cut, powerful features, his face is clean-shaven, his expression vehement. His dress is old-fashioned. He wears knee-breeches, a frieze coat rather long, a linen shirt with a little linen collar and a black string for bow. He carries a slick and moves about restlessly)_ ANNE Had Maire any talk of going to the mill, father? CONN I heard nothing of it. ANNE I hope she'll mind of it. We must get the meal there, and not be going to the shop so often. CONN I suppose we must. _He moves about restlessly_. ANNE And I was just thinking that one of us ought to go to Arvach on Tuesday, and get the things there. CONN The mean, odious creatures! _Anne is startled. She turns from dresser_. ANNE What are you thinking of, father? CONN That den of robbers. Well, well, I'm finished with them now; but I'm a proud man, and a passionate man, and I'll be even with them yet. ANNE There's no comfort in going into rough places. CONN You know nothing at all about it. Were the men in yet? ANNE James Moynihan was here, because he had to go away early; but Brian MacConnell is outside still. Father, you were home late two nights this week. CONN And is a man to have no life to himself? But sure you know nothing at all about it. I'm going out now to give Brian MacConnell a hand. ANNE It's hardly worth while going out now. CONN There's still light enough to do a bit of mowing, and you ought to know that it isn't right to neglect the boy that's come to do a day's work with you. _(Going to the door)_ Many's the day I put in with the scythe in Ireland, and in England too; I did more than stroll with the fiddle, and I saw more places than where fiddling brought me. _(Brian MacConnell comes to the door)_ I was just going out to you, Brian. I was telling the girl here that it's not right to neglect the boy that's giving you a day's work out of his own goodness. BRIAN I'm only coming in for a light. CONN As you're here now, rest yourself. _Brian MacConnell comes in, and goes over to the hearth. He is dark and good-looking, and has something reckless in his look. He wears corduroy trousers, and a shirt loose at the neck. Anne comes to Brian. Conn stands at entrance, his back turned_. BRIAN _(lighting his pipe with a coal)_ When do you expect Maire back? ANNE She'll be here soon. Shell give you a call if you're outside, BRIAN How is it you couldn't keep James Moynihan? ANNE It's because you didn't say the good word for me, I must think. Be sure you praise me the next time you're working together. BRIAN Will you do as much for me? ANNE Indeed, I will, Brian. Myself and another are making a devotion to Saint Anthony. BRIAN And what would that be for? ANNE That the Saint might send us good comrades. BRIAN I thought it was Saint Joseph did that for the girls. ANNE Sure we couldn't be asking the like from him. We couldn't talk to Saint Joseph that way. We want a nice young saint to be looking at. _Conn turns from the door_. CONN _(bitterly)_ It'll be a poor season, Brian MacConnell. BRIAN The season's not so bad, after all. CONN God help them that are depending on the land and the weather for the bit they put into their heads. It's no wonder that the people here are the sort they are, harassed, anxious people. ANNE The people here mind their own business, and they're a friendly people besides. CONN People that would leave the best fiddler at the fair to go and look at a bullock. ANNE _(to Brian)_ He's not satisfied to have this shelter, Brian. CONN _(to Brian)_ I'm saying, Brian, that her mother had this shelter, and she left it to go the roads with myself. ANNE That God may rest my mother. It's a pity she never lived to come back to the place. But we ought to be praising grandmother night and day, for leaving this place to Maire. CONN Your grandmother did that as she did everything else. ANNE _(to Brian)_ Now, Brian, what would you do with a man that would say the like? _Anne goes outside._ CONN _(to Brian)_ It's small blame to the girl here for thinking something of the place; but I saw the time, Brian MacConnell, when I could make more playing at one fair than working a whole season in this bit of a place. BRIAN Girls like the shelter, Conn. CONN Ay, but the road for the fiddler. I'm five years settled here, and I come to be as well known as the begging ass, and there is as much thought about me. Fiddling, let me tell you, isn't like a boy's whistling. It can't be kept up on nothing. BRIAN I understand that, Conn. CONN I'm getting that I can't stand the talk you hear in houses, wars and Parliaments, and the devil knows what _ramais_. BRIAN There's still a welcome for the man of art, somewhere. CONN That somewhere's getting further and further away, Brian. BRIAN You were not in the town last night? CONN I was not, Brian. God help me, I spent the night my lone. BRIAN There's Sligomen in the town. CONN Is there, now? It would be like our times to play for them. _(Anne comes in with some peat)_ Anne, would you bring me down my spectacles? They're in the room, daughter. _(Anne goes to room. Conn turns to Brian eagerly) I_ suppose the Sligomen will be in Flynn's. BRIAN They were there last night. CONN Listen, Brian, I've a reason for not going to Flynn's. Would you believe it, Brian, Flynn spoke to me about the few shillings I owe him? BRIAN That was shabby of him. He got a lot out of you in the way of playing. CONN It's just like them. Besides, Maire keeps us tight enough, and I often have to take treats from the men. They're drovers and rambling labourers and the like, though, as you say, they've the song and music, and the proper talk. Listen, Brian, could you leave a few shillings on the dresser for me? BRIAN To be sure I will, Conn. _Brian goes to the dresser, and puts money on a shelf_. CONN _(with dignity)_ Thank you, Brian. There's few I'd let put me under a compliment; but I take it from you. Maire, as I said, is a careful girl, but some of us must have our freedom. Besides, Brian, the bird that sings lone sings slow. The man of art must have his listeners. _(Conn takes the money off dresser)_ Anne, daughter, what's keeping you there? Sure the spectacles were in my pocket the whole time, child. _(Anne comes dawn)_ When I spoke against the people about here, I was leaving you out of it, Brian. BRIAN I'm fond of tune, though it wasn't here I got fond of it. _Brian goes to the door_. ANNE _(going to Brian)_ You won't be rambling again, Brian? BRIAN I'm settled here, Anne; I made it up with my brothers. ANNE They used to say that a MacConnell quarrel was a lasting quarrel. BRIAN Maybe we're working the bad blood out of us. ANNE Don't be staying out long, Brian. BRIAN Till Maire gives me the call. _Brian MacConnell goes out_. ANNE We oughtn't to take another clay from Brian MacConnell. There's only the patch at the back to be mown, and you could do that yourself. CONN You can depend on me for the mowing. I'm going up now, to go over an oul' tune I have. ANNE James Moynihan would come over and stack for us. CONN James Moynihan is a decent boy, too. ANNE You won't be going out to-night, father? CONN Now, how's a man to know what he'll be doing? ANNE It leaves me very anxious. CONN I'll give you this advice, and it's proper advice to give to a girl thinking of marrying. Never ask of your menkind where they're going. ANNE The like of that brings bad luck on a house. CONN You have too much dead knowledge, and the shut fist never caught a bird. ANNE I only wish you were settled down. CONN Sure I am settled down. ANNE I can't speak to you, after all. CONN You're a good girl, Anne, and he'll be lucky that gets you. And don't be grieving that you're not bringing James Moynihan a fortune. You're bringing him the decency of birth and rearing. You're like the lone pigeon I often think--the pet that doesn't fly, and keeps near the house. ANNE That's the way you always treat me, and I never can talk to you. CONN _(at window)_ Hush now, here's the other, your sister Maire. She's like the wild pigeon of the woods. _(Maire Hourican comes in)_ We were discoursing on affairs, Maire. We won't be bringing Brian MacConnell here tomorrow; there's only the bit at the back to be mown, and I'll do that myself. _Conn Hourican goes into the room right; soon after the fiddle is heard. Anne goes to the settle, and takes up her knitting. Maire takes her shawl off, and hangs it on the rack. Maire Hourican is over twenty. She is tall, and has easy, graceful movements; her features are fine and clear-cut; the nose is rather blunted, the mouth firm. Her gaze is direct and clear. She has heavy auburn hair, loose now, and falling. Maire comes down to the table, opens basket, and takes some flowers from top. She turns to dresser and arranges some of the flowers in a jar_. MAIRE We'd have no right to take another day from Brian. And when there's no one here to-morrow, you and me could draw some of the turf. ANNE Your hair is loose, Maire. _Maire goes to the mirror and fixes her hair_. MAIRE The wind blew it about me, and then I let it down. I came home by the long way, just to feel young again with my hair about me. ANNE And did you meet any one? MAIRE Indeed I did. I met James Moynihan. ANNE James had to go early. They're building at his place. MAIRE Indeed they ought to let James build a house for himself. ANNE Some day they will, Maire. MAIRE But we must not let some day be a far day. ANNE _(hesitatingly)_ I think I'll show you something. MAIRE What is it, daughter? _Anne rises and goes to the dresser. She opens drawer. Maire watches her_. MAIRE _(waiting)_ I made a good girl out of you, anyway. ANNE You wouldn't let me use stroller words when we were on the road. Do you mind of that? MAIRE I kept you to the mannerly ways. I have that to my credit. ANNE _(showing Maire the verses)_ Read that, Maire. It was James that made it. MAIRE It's a song, I declare. ANNE No, Maire, it's a poem. MAIRE A poem? O, that's grand! _She begins to read it eagerly_. ANNE And, Maire-- MAIRE Well? ANNE James says it's about me. MAIRE About you? O, I wish some one would put me into a song, or into a poem; I suppose a poem would be best. You might ask James. No, I'll coax him myself. Ah, no I won't, Anne. ANNE You may keep it for a while, but don't let any one know. MAIRE He must be very fond of you, and I thinking him so quiet. ANNE _(happy)_ He has grand thoughts about me. MAIRE Well, you'll be seeing him to-night. ANNE I don't know that I'll go out to-night. MAIRE Sure Grace Moynihan asked us to go over. ANNE I'm shy of going into James'. MAIRE Anne, you're the only one of us that has any manners. Maybe you're right not to go. ANNE I'll stay in to-night. MAIRE Then Brian and myself will go to Moynihan's. ANNE You'd get an indulgence, Maire, if you missed a dance. MAIRE Would it be so hard to get an indulgence? _(She takes flowers from dresser and puts them in window)_ The house looks nice this evening. We'll keep Brian here for a while, and then we'll go to Moynihan's. ANNE Father will be going out to-night. MAIRE _(turning suddenly from window)_ Will he? ANNE He will. I think I ought to stay in. Maire, father was in only a while before you the night before last and another night. MAIRE O, and I thinking things were going so well with us. He's drinking again. ANNE He's going to Flynn's again. MAIRE Disgracing us again. ANNE I'll stay in to-night. MAIRE I'm tired of this. ANNE Don't say it that way, Maire. MAIRE What will people say of us two now? ANNE I'll talk to him to-night. MAIRE No, you're going out--you're going to Moynihan's--you're going to see your sweetheart. ANNE I think you're becoming a stranger to us, Maire. MAIRE You're going to Moynihan's to-night, and I'm going, too. But I'm going to settle this first. Once and for all I'm going to settle this. _The fiddle has ceased. As Maire goes towards the room, Conn Hourican comes down, the fiddle in his hand_. CONN Were you listening to the tune I was playing? Ah, that was a real oul tune, if there was anyone that knew it. Maire, my jewel, were you listening? MAIRE I heard you. CONN It was a real oul' tune, and while I was playing it a great scheme came into my head. Now, listen to me, Maire; and you listen, too, Anne. Both of you would like to see your father having what's his due after all, honour and respect. MAIRE Both of us would like to see our father earn the same. CONN I could earn the same, ay, and gold and silver cups besides, if I had the mind to earn them. _He puts fiddle on table and prepares to speak impressively_. CONN Let ye listen to me now; I've a scheme to put before ye. When I was going over the oul tune, I remembered that I'd heard of a Feis [2] that's coming on soon, the Feis of Ardagh. I'm thinking of going there. There will be great prizes for some one; I don't doubt but I'd do at Ardagh better than I did at the Feis of Granard, where people as high as bishops were proud and glad to know Conn Hourican the Fiddler. [Footnote 2: Feis, pronounced Fesh, a musical or literary gathering, with competitions.] ANNE Father, you've a place to mind. CONN I'm tired of that kind of talk; sure I'm always thinking of the place. Maire hasn't little notions. What do you say to it, Maire, my girl? MAIRE What do I say? I say you're not a rambler now, though indeed you behave like one. CONN You have something against me, Maire. MAIRE I have. CONN What has she against me, Anne? MAIRE All the promises you broke. CONN You were listening to what the town is saying. MAIRE What does the town know? Does it know that you stripped us of stock and crop the year after we came here? Does it know that Anne and myself, two girls of the roads, had to struggle ever since to keep a shelter? CONN _(bitterly)_ It knows that. It couldn't help but know it, maybe. But does it know all the promises you made and broke? CONN _(angrily)_ Hush now; I'll hear no more. I went my own way always, and I'll go my own way always. _He goes to the entrance, and remains with his back turned. Maire goes to Anne_. MAIRE _(raising her voice)_ Ay, he'll go his own way always. What was the good of working and saving here? ANNE Be quiet with him. MAIRE He'll go his own way always, and it's foolish of us to be fretting for him night and day. _Maire sits on stool and puts her hands across her face_. CONN _(turning his head)_ Fretting for me. It was too easy that I reared you. ANNE God help Maire! She kept the house together at the worst, and she is always fretting for us. CONN I'm oul' enough to mind myself. Let her remember that. ANNE It's you that ought to remember that. CONN _(going to Maire)_ Did I ever give the harsh word to you, child? _No answer_. CONN There, there; I never could see tears in a woman's eyes; there, there, colleen. I'm an oul' man; I won't be a trouble to you long. MAIRE _(rising)_ Why need you play in Flynn's? You're as good as any that goes there. CONN I know that. I'm disgusted with Flynn. May hell loosen his knees for him! I'll go in and throw his money on the counter. MAIRE Some one else can do that. Promise me you won't go near the place. CONN You'll have me promise. I promise. MAIRE Take this in your hand and promise. It's a medal that belonged to mother. _She takes a medal from her neck_ CONN _(taking the medal)_ I'm disgusted with Flynn. I promise you, Maire. MAIRE Now you've honour and respect. CONN And what about Ardagh, Maire? MAIRE Sure, you're not the rambling fiddler any more. CONN That would be the good rambling. I see the trees making shadows across the roads. MAIRE We'll talk about it again. ANNE Brian MacConnell will be coming in now. CONN I'm going out to Brian MacConnell. _He goes to the door_. ANNE Tell Brian to come in now. _Conn Hourican goes out. There is a pause. Maire hums a tune as she goes to the mirror_. MAIRE Am I looking well to-day? ANNE _(rather distantly)_ You're looking your best, I think. _(Seriously)_ Maire, I didn't like the way you talked to father. MAIRE _(petulantly)_ What have you against it? ANNE You're becoming a stranger to us, Maire. MAIRE _(as an apology)_ I'm out often, I know, but I think as much as ever of the house, and about you and father. You know we couldn't let him go to the Feis at Ardagh. We couldn't let him go off like a rambling fiddler. ANNE We couldn't let him go off by himself. MAIRE You're going to Moynihan's. ANNE Maybe I'll go. MAIRE Anne, honey, do something for me. ANNE What will I do? MAIRE You'll meet father coming up with Brian, and take him away. ANNE And will you tell me everything to-night? MAIRE Who else would I talk to but yourself, Nancy? _(Anne goes out)_ I wish Anne hadn't spoken to me like that. I feel the like of that. _(Desperately)_ Well, I'll pray for nothing now but to look my best. _(She goes to the fire. Brian MacConnell comes in)_ You're welcome, Brian. BRIAN We didn't finish to-day. I'll come in to-morrow and finish. MAIRE O no, Brian, we won't take another day from you. BRIAN Well, what's a day after all? Many's the day and night I put in thinking on you. MAIRE But did you do what I asked you to do? BRIAN I did. I made it up with my brothers. It was never my way before. What I wanted I took with the strong hand; or if I mightn't put the strong hand on it, I left it alone. MAIRE _(eagerly)_ Tell me what your brother said to you. BRIAN When I came up to the door, Hugh came out to meet me. "What destruction are you bringing me?" he said. "There's my hand," says I, "and I take your offer." MAIRE Ah, that's settled. You could settle anything, Brian. _(She goes to the settle and sits down)_ I wonder could you settle something for us? BRIAN What is it, Maire? MAIRE It's my father. He wants to be rambling again. He wants to be going to some Feis. BRIAN Sure, let him go. _He takes her hand_. MAIRE I couldn't, Brian. Couldn't you help us? Couldn't you keep father's mind on the right things? BRIAN Sure, let the fiddler go on the roads. MAIRE You might stay here this evening with ourselves. Father would be glad to talk with you. BRIAN _(putting his arm around her)_ But I want the two of us to be seen in Moynihan's to-night. MAIRE _(resistance in her voice)_ Stay here with us, and let all that go by. BRIAN Hugh will be there with that woman that brought him the big fortune; and I want you to take the shine out of her. MAIRE _(rising)_ I was out often lately. You know that, Brian. _She goes to chair at table, and sits away from him_. BRIAN _(rising and going to her)_ But this night above all you must be with me. MAIRE _(turning to him impulsively)_ Stay here and I'll be as nice to you as if we were in another house. _(He kisses her. She rises and goes from him)_ If you knew me at all, Brian MacConnell, that's not the way you'd treat me. BRIAN Are you not coming out with me? MAIRE You must leave me to myself now. _(Conn Hourican comes in)_ Is Anne with you, father? CONN She's gathering posies or something like that. Brian, did you hear about the Feis at Ardagh? MAIRE _(with vehemence)_ Oh, what's the good of talking about that? You can't go. CONN Can't go, did you say, girl? MAIRE Oh, how could you go? CONN Is that the way? Well, God help us. Give me that fiddle till I leave it up. _He takes the fiddle off dresser, and turns to go_. MAIRE Father, let me be with you to-night; oh, I'm sorry if I vexed you. _(No reply)_ Well, stay with Brian MacConnell; I'm going out to Anne. _Maire goes out. Brian goes to rack, and puts on his coat_. BRIAN Are you coming, Conn? I'm off. CONN Where to, man? BRIAN To Flynn's. CONN I can't be going, I'm sorry to say. BRIAN I'm going anyway. It's a great thing to be in the company of men. CONN Ay, in troth. Women, Brian, leave the heart of one very lonesome. BRIAN _(masterfully)_ Why can't you come out? I thought you were going to-night. CONN I can't, Brian, and that reminds me. Give these few shillings to Flynn for me. I'll owe them to you still. BRIAN I'm not going to be bothered by the like. Why can't you come? CONN I promised Maire. _Brian strides away. He turns, comes back deliberately, and sits on table beside Conn_. BRIAN They'll be all looking out for you at Flynn's. CONN Well, the next time they see me they may respect me. BRIAN Some of the boys will take it very unkindly. CONN They're decent enough fellows, some of them. BRIAN And above all nights they'll be watching out for you this night, on account of the Sligomen. CONN They're decent enough fellows, as I said, and I'll be sorry to disappoint them. BRIAN The Sligomen will have great stories about Shawn Heffernan. CONN Shawn Heffernan! Is that impostor still alive? BRIAN He is, and for fiddling these Sligomen think there's not the like of him in the whole of Ireland. CONN God help them if that's all they know. We played against each other at the Granard Feis. He got the prize, but everybody knew that it was me played the best. BRIAN There's few of them alive now that mind of the Granard Feis. He got the prize, and there's no talk of you at all. CONN No talk of me at all? BRIAN It's said that since you settled down you lost your art. CONN And what had the men at Flynn's to say about that? BRIAN They bragged about you for a while, but the Sligomen put them down. CONN I wonder would we have time to go up, play a few tunes, and come back, while Maire would be doing something? It would be a pity not to give them fellows a lesson and close their ignorant mouths for them. I wonder would we have time? _(Anne comes in with Maire)_ I thought you went somewhere and left Brian and myself here. ANNE We're going somewhere and Brian might come with us. MAIRE Every one is going to Moynihan's. CONN It's a pleasant house, a pleasant house. Brian will make his _ceilidh [3]_ with me. We might go over a few tunes. ANNE Let Brian come where there are girls that might miss him. MAIRE Anne, you're a great one for keeping up the story that girls are always thinking about men. ANNE And so they are. Just as men are always thinking about girls. MAIRE You'd make a good ribbonman.[4] You'd put a face on anything you said. [Footnote 3: Celidh, pronounced cayley, a visit.] [Footnote 4: A ribbonman--a member of a secret agrarian society.] ANNE Ribbonism and secret societies were denounced off the altar. MAIRE Goodness! The men will begin to think they've secrets worth telling. ANNE Have you secrets worth telling, Brian? MAIRE I daresay he has. There are foolish women in the world. ANNE Are you coming to Moynihan's, Brian? BRIAN No. I'm going where there's men. MAIRE Come, Anne, till I deck you out. Come here, daughter, don't wear flowers. I think they're unlucky. Here I am talking like this, and I going to a dance. I suppose I'll dance with seven or eight and forget what's on my mind.... Everyone is going to Moynihan's except the men here. Are you going out, father? CONN I'm making a _ceilidh_ with Brian. MAIRE Well, God be with you both. Come on, Anne. _Maire takes down her shawl, and puts it over her head. She stands at the door, watching Anne, who goes to Brian._ ANNE Brian, what have you against Moynihan's? BRIAN Nothing at all. I may go in. MAIRE Come on, Anne. God be with you both. _Maire and Anne go out. They are heard talking for a while. Conn goes to the door_. CONN Maire and Anne are turning the bohereen. [5] Come on now. _He takes his fiddle and begins to wrap it up eagerly_. BRIAN Ay, let's go. CONN _(at door)_ I never forget, I never forget. The Granard Feis is as fresh in my mind as the day I played at it. Shawn Heffernan, indeed! I never forget. I never forget. _Conn Hourican and Brian MacConnell go out_. [Footnote 5: Bohereen--the little path going from the cottage to the main road.] CURTAIN ACT II _The next day: The scene is as in previous Act. It is now in the forenoon. Maire Hourican is seated at the fire in a listless attitude. Anne is busy at the dresser. Maire rises_. MAIRE We shouldn't have stayed at Moynihan's so late. ANNE Indeed it would have been better to go home, but I was sure that Brian MacConnell would come in. MAIRE Well, it was his own loss if he didn't come. Maybe there was one there that I liked better. ANNE You couldn't have liked Connor Gilpatrick better than Brian MacConnell. MAIRE Connor's the best-looking boy in the country. Was it noticed that we were together often? ANNE _(significantly)_ Peggy Carroll noticed it. MAIRE Well, the boy was glad to talk to me. Connor's a good dancer, and he has fine talk besides. If Brian MacConnell had come to the door, I wouldn't have turned my head towards him. ANNE Sure, you wouldn't compare a young boy like Connor Gilpatrick with Brian MacConnell? MAIRE I wouldn't have turned my head towards Brian. O! never expect kindness from men. Why did you let me stay on? I'm afraid to look at myself in the glass to-day. _(She goes over to the mirror)_ You were hard on me, Anne, yesterday. ANNE I didn't like the way you talked to father. MAIRE I think I'm getting different to what I used to be. Well, I've reason to be sorry for what I did yesterday. _(She is at window)_ Was Peggy Carroll vexed at the way I went on? ANNE She never took her eyes off the pair of you. You know she's very fond of Connor. MAIRE Anne, never remind me of my foolishness, I'm heartsick of myself to-day. ANNE I'll comb out your hair for you, and you'll look well enough. MAIRE Then you're expecting Brian MacConnell? ANNE It's likely he'll come in to see if there's anything to be done. MAIRE I suppose he'll come in. Gracious, how did father get out? He's coming up the path. ANNE _(coming to Maire)_ Father's not up, surely? Maire, be easy with Brian MacConnell when he comes in. MAIRE Father's coming up the path. Anne! ANNE What is it, Maire? MAIRE Father wasn't in at all, last night. ANNE Then he went to Flynn's, after all. MAIRE Ay, he went to Flynn's. _She goes to Anne_. ANNE O Maire, what will become of us all? MAIRE I don't know. _Maire goes to the settle, and sits down_. ANNE What will we do with him at all? _Conn Hourican comes in_. CONN God save you! _(He looks around)_ Well, I came back to ye. ANNE You did, God help us! And we depending on you. It's the bad way you always treated us. CONN Did you hear what happened to me, before you attack me? ANNE What happened to you? What always happens to you? CONN I wonder that a man comes in at all! The complaints against him are like the Queen's Speech, prepared beforehand. ANNE Ever since I can remember, you treated us like that. Bringing us into drinking-places and we little. It's well we got to know anything, or got into the way of being mannerly at all. CONN You know too much. I always said that. Is James Moynihan coming here to-day? ANNE No, he isn't coming here to-day. CONN Well, we can do without him. There's something to be done to-day. I said I'd do the bit of mowing, and I was thinking of that all along. _(He looks at Maire)_ Did you hear what happened to me, Maire? MAIRE It's no matter at all. CONN I went over to Flynn's, I may tell you. ANNE In troth we might have known that. CONN But did you hear what happened to me? ANNE How could we hear? It was Maire went to the door, and there you were coming up the path; and we thinking you were in bed, resting yourself. CONN I went over to Flynn's, but I had good reason for going there. _(He puts the fiddle down on the table)_ Didn't you hear there were Sligomen in the town, Maire? Well, one of them was in the way of rewarding the prizes. I told you about the Feis; well, it's no matter now, I'll say no more about that. At all events the man I mentioned wanted to know what music was in the country, so he sent a message to myself. ANNE _(as satirical as she can be)_ That was kind of him. CONN It was. I could do no less than go. I'll rest myself now, and then get ready for the mowing. _(He goes to the room door; he turns again and watches Maire)_ Maire, I'm sorry you weren't on the spot. You might have advised me. I couldn't think of where you went or I'd have followed you. I had to make haste. MAIRE It's no matter at all now. CONN I'll stretch myself on the bed before I begin work. Anne, did you say you were leaving something in the room for me? ANNE I suppose I'll have to leave the tea in the room for you. _She gets the tea ready. Maire remains motionless_. CONN Well, I have the pattern of daughters, anyway. I wouldn't give this house for the praise of Ireland, no, not if they carried me on their backs. _(Anne takes the tea up to the room)_ It's a pity you weren't there, Maire, though of course I wouldn't bring you into such a place. But they were decent fellows, decent, warm-hearted fellows. If you were to see their faces when I played _An Chaitin Donn_. I'll warrant they'll be whistling it, though they never heard the tune before. And the manners they have! I offered the fiddle to one of them. "No," says he, "not a string will I touch while the master of us is here." That's something like the spirit. _(Maire has turned to him and is attentive)_ But there, I won't fill myself up with false music telling you about it all. _He turns to the room_. MAIRE Bring up your fiddle. CONN _(taking fiddle and going towards room again)_ It will be as good as sound sleeping for me. I'll never forget it. Flynn will never forget it. It will be the making of Flynn. _Maire rises_. MAIRE You've only your fiddle; we shouldn't forget that. _Conn goes up to the room. Maire turns to the fire. Anne comes down_. ANNE O Maire, what will become of us at all? MAIRE He is very pleased with himself. He has only his fiddle, we shouldn't forget that. ANNE It will be a long time till he does the like again. MAIRE It will be a long time, I suppose. Both of us might be in a different house and have different cares. ANNE That would be terrible. I'll never leave him, Maire. MAIRE You can't say the like now. ANNE Why? MAIRE How could you take such things upon you and life stretching out before you? You're not young enough, Anne. Besides, it's not what we say; it's what we feel. No, it's not what we feel either; it's what grows up in us. ANNE He might never do the like again. MAIRE Many's the time mother said that, and she and me lying together. ANNE Will we ever get out of it, Maire? _James enters_. MAIRE You have only a while to stay with us. ANNE O James, what will your father say if he hears of you giving us another day? JAMES My father took a stick in his hand this morning, and went off with himself. MAIRE You're welcome, James. It was a pleasant time we had in your house last evening. JAMES I hope you liked the company, Maire. I'm afraid there was very little to be called refined or scholarly, and the conversation at times was homely enough. But we did our best, and we were proud to see you. MAIRE Sit down, James. _James sits on chair, near table. Maire is seated at fire, left of James. Anne leans against table, right of him_. JAMES Your father is outside, maybe? MAIRE No. He's above in the room. JAMES Yes. Practising, I suppose. Them that have the gift have to mind the gift. In this country there isn't much thought for poetry, or music, or scholarship. Still, a few of us know that a while must be spared from the world if we are to lay up riches in the mind. ANNE I hope there's nothing wrong at home? JAMES _(turning to Anne)_ To tell you the truth, Anne, and to keep nothing back, there is. MAIRE And what is it, James? JAMES _(turning to Maire)_ Anne was talking to my father last night. ANNE Indeed I was, and I thought him very friendly to me. JAMES Ay, he liked you well enough, I can tell you that, Anne. This morning when he took a stick in his hand, I knew he was making ready for a journey, for the horse is laid up. "Walk down a bit with me," said he, "and we'll go over a few things that are in my mind." Well, I walked down with him, and indeed we had a serious conversation. ANNE Well? JAMES "Anne Hourican is too young," said my father; "she's a nice girl, and a good girl, but she's too young." MAIRE Sure in a while Anne will be twenty. JAMES _(turning to Maire)_ Ten years from this father would still think Anne too young. And late marriages, as everybody knows, is the real weakness of the country. ANNE I thought your father liked me. JAMES He likes you well enough, but, as he says, "what would she be doing here and your sisters years older than herself?" There's truth in that, mind you. I always give in to the truth. MAIRE James? JAMES _(turning to Maire)_ Well, Maire? MAIRE Is Anne a girl to be waiting twenty years for a man, like Sally Cassidy? JAMES God forbid, Maire Hourican, that I'd ask your sister to wait that length. MAIRE She hasn't got a fortune. We were brought up different to farmers, and maybe we never gave thought to the like. JAMES She has what's better than a fortune. MAIRE Why aren't your sisters married off? JAMES Big fortunes are expected with them. MAIRE And they look to your wife to bring a big fortune into the house? JAMES Ay, they do that. MAIRE You, James, ought to have some control in the house. You're the only son. Your father is well off. Get him to fortune off your sisters, and then bring Anne to the house. JAMES But how could I get father to fortune off the girls? MAIRE How? By wakening up. You have the right. When we have the right, we ought to be able to do anything we like with the people around us. JAMES I give in to the truth of that, Maire. MAIRE What will come of you giving in to the truth of it? But sure you ought to remember, Anne. ANNE _(taking James's hand)_ James has the good way with people. MAIRE Well, I suppose it will come out right for you in the end. You are both very deserving. _(She rises)_ But some time or another we have to take things into our own hands. JAMES Indeed that's true, Maire. _Maire goes to back_. ANNE _(holding James's hand)_ Did you make any more songs, James? JAMES I have a song in my head since last night. ANNE The one in the paper is lovely. I know it by heart. JAMES The next I make will be ten times better. _Conn Hourican comes down_. CONN I heard your voice, James, and I thought I'd come down. It's very good of you to come here again. I'll be out with you to-day. JAMES It'll be a good day from this on. Were you practising above, Mister Hourican? CONN Well, no, James, I wasn't practising. I was at a big gathering last night, and my hands are unstrung like. We'll talk for a while, and then I'll go out with you. ANNE _(taking James's arm)_ Come out with me for a minute, James. JAMES _(going off)_ I'll see you again, Mister Hourican. _James and Anne go out_, CONN Well, God help us. _(He turns to go back to the room. Maire comes down from back)_ Are you going out, Maire? MAIRE No, I'm staying here. CONN _(aggrieved)_ Do you mind them two, how they went out together. I think I'll go out and see what's to be done about the place. _Conn goes towards the entrance. Maire goes towards the fire_. CONN _(pausing at door)_ I broke my word to you, Maire. MAIRE I don't know what to say to you now. CONN It was the music and the strange faces that drew me. MAIRE I know that now. CONN It will be a long time till I break my word to you again. MAIRE I'll never ask for your word again. CONN _(warmly)_ I can tell you this, Maire. There's many's the place in Ireland where Conn Hourican's word would be respected. MAIRE I'll never ask for your word again. You have only your fiddle, and you must go among people that will praise you. When I heard you talking of your listeners, I knew that. I was frightened before that. When I saw you coming, I went and sat there, and I thought the walls of the house were crowding in on me. CONN You were partly to blame, Maire. You left me there very lonesome. MAIRE I was to blame, I suppose. I should have treated you differently. Well, I know you better now. Let you sit down and we'll talk together. _(Conn sits on chair to right of table)_ What's to become of myself I don't know. Anne and James Moynihan will marry, I hope. Neither of us have fortunes, and for that reason our house should be well spoken of. CONN Sure I know that. I wouldn't bring the shadow of a disgrace near ye. MAIRE If the father isn't well spoken of, how could the house be well spoken of? They're big drinkers that go to Flynn's, and it's easy for the fiddler to get into the way of drinking. CONN I won't go to Flynn's when you put it that way. MAIRE I'll ask for no word. I'll let you know the real way of the house, and then trust you. CONN You're a good girl, Maire. I should have been said by you. MAIRE From this out there will be dances at the schoolhouse and the like of that. You could be playing at them. CONN None of the oul' people go to the like, and the young don't understand me nor my ways. God knows will I ever play again. That thought is often with me of late, and it makes me very lonesome. MAIRE That's foolishness. CONN I was very lonesome when you left me. You don't know how I was tempted, Maire. There was Brian MacConnell putting on his coat to go to Flynn's, and talking of the Sligomen. MAIRE _(startled)_ And was it to Flynn's that Brian MacConnell went? CONN It was Brian that brought me to Flynn's. MAIRE Was it Brian MacConnell that brought you to Flynn's? CONN It was. MAIRE _(passionately)_ You must never go to Flynn's. CONN I'm ashamed of myself. Didn't I say that, Maire? MAIRE _(with hardness)_ You must never go again. CONN And is a man to have no life to himself? MAIRE That's talk just. It's time you thought of your own place and your own children. It's time you gave up caring for the praise of foolish people, CONN Foolish people, did you say? MAIRE Ay, foolish people. You had all your life to yourself, and you went here and there, straying from place to place, and caring only for the praise of foolish people. CONN God help you, if that's your way of thinking! Sure the world knows that a man is born with the gift, and isn't the gift then the sign of the grace of God? Foolish people, indeed! Them that know the gift have some of the grace of God, no matter how poor they may be. MAIRE You're always thinking of them. You never think of your own. Many's the time your own cried tears over your playing. CONN _(passionately, starting up)_ I'll go out of the house. MAIRE Let you stay here. CONN _(going towards entrance)_ I'll go out of the house, I tell you. MAIRE No. _Conn goes over to the fire._ CONN God help me that ever came into this country at all. _(He sits down on the armchair, his hands resting on his stick)_ I had friends once, and was well thought of; I can tell you that, my daughter. MAIRE I know that. CONN Well, you can have your own way with me now. MAIRE Why can't you stay here? There's lots to be done here. Our fields are a laughing-stock to the neighbours, they're that poor and wasted. Let us put all our minds into working, and have a good place of our own. CONN Ay, and the grabbers and informers of this place would think well of you then. MAIRE Who do you call grabbers and informers? CONN The people of this place. The people _you_ want to shine before. MAIRE I don't want to shine before the people. CONN I'm not saying against you, Maire. MAIRE You're wrong in thinking I want to shine at all. CONN Sure you go to every dance and ceilidh; and to every house where you can show off your face, and dancing, and conversation. MAIRE Do I? Maybe I do. Every girl does the like. CONN I'm not saying against it. _Pause._ MAIRE You think I'm like yourself, wanting the praise of the people. CONN And what's the harm if you do? MAIRE No harm at all. But I don't go to houses to show myself off. CONN Troth and you do, Maire. _He rises and goes towards the entrance, and remains looking out_. MAIRE I won't believe it. _She goes to the settle. Anne comes in. Anne goes to the glass to fix her hair_. CONN Had you a good night at Moynihan's, Anne? ANNE A sort of a good night. CONN I was going to tell you about a man I met last night. He had a song about your grandmother. ANNE Was grandmother a great beauty, father? CONN Honor Gilroy had good looks, and indeed she made the most of them. MAIRE It's likely there was some to tell her that she was showing off. CONN No one was to her liking unless they praised her. ANNE Ah well, a fiddler ought to forgive that to a woman. MAIRE Fiddlers and women are all alike, but don't say that to him. _Anne goes to Maire and sits beside her_. CONN _(speaking to both)_ Well, Honor Gilroy wasn't the worst, maybe. MAIRE And fiddlers and women oughtn't be hard on each other. CONN Do you say that, Maire? MAIRE _(rising and going to him)_ I say it, father. CONN God forgive me if I vexed you, Maire. ANNE It's clearing up now, father, and you ought to go out to James. _(Conn turns to the door. He remains in the doorway. Anne rises and goes to Maire)_ What did you say to him? MAIRE _(looking at Conn)_ He doesn't feel it at all. Father will always be the fiddler, no matter what we say. ANNE Maire. Come and talk to me. _(They sit at fire)_ I was talking to James. He'll never be happy until we're under the one roof. _Maire clasps Anne's hands passionately_. MAIRE _(with cry)_ Anne, daughter, I'll be very lonesome for you. ANNE But sure I won't be far off, Maire. MAIRE Ay, but it's terrible to face things alone. _James has come to the door. Conn and James have been talking. They turn in_. CONN But I'll be glad enough to have the scythe in my hands after it all, James. JAMES Anne was telling me how you took the victory from Connaught. CONN Still I'm sorry for him! That poor Heffernan! He'll never hold up his head again. JAMES Sure I'd have it in a ballad that would be sung in his own town. It would be well worth putting into a ballad. CONN Well indeed, it would make a right good ballad, James. JAMES I'd like to make a ballad about it, that would be sung all over Connaught. CONN And why wouldn't you do it, James Moynihan? Sure it would be the making of you. It would be sung all over Ireland, and your name to it. Do you hear that, Maire? Do you hear that, Anne? JAMES I'm saying that I'd like to do a ballad about your father's victory. CONN Maybe you could have it this night week, James? ANNE Will it be a poem or a ballad, James? _Anne goes to him_. CONN If you had it this night week, we could bring the boys to the place. What do you say to that, Maire? We'll bring the boys here this night week to hear James Moynihan's ballad. MAIRE I was thinking of the Feis at Ardagh. CONN The Feis at Ardagh? MAIRE Maybe you'll be going to it this night week. CONN Sure you're not joking with me, Maire? MAIRE No. _She rises_. CONN God forgive me, Maire, if I vexed you. _Maire goes up to Conn's room_. CONN Anne, jewel, had Maire anything to say about Ardagh? ANNE We weren't talking about that at all. JAMES Play me a rouse on the fiddle and maybe the ballad will come into my head. _Maire comes down, a fiddle in her hands_. MAIRE Here's the fiddle that was your favourite, the Granard fiddle. CONN And this is the fiddle I'll bring with me to Ardagh. ANNE And is he going to Ardagh? JAMES And what about the ballad, Mister Hourican? CONN I leave it all to Maire now. How well she bethought of the Granard fiddle. MAIRE Father, we were always together. _She hands him the fiddle. Conn, Maire, James, Anne, are at table_. CURTAIN _ACT III_ _A week later: The scene is as in previous Acts. The table is near entrance. It is laid for a meal. The time is near sunset. Conn Hourican, Maire Hourican, and James Moynihan are seated at table. Maire Hourican rises. She goes to entrance and remains looking out. Conn and James go on eating_. CONN However it is, I could never play my best in this place. The houses are too scattered, I often think. And it doesn't do for the fiddler to remain too long in the one place. The people get too used to him. Virgil made better songs than any man, but if Virgil was sung in the fairs constant, divil much heed would be given to his songs. JAMES Now, I often thought of that. CONN Another thing, James Moynihan, Ribbonism and the Land League ruined the country. _Maire goes out_. JAMES But sure we must be doing something for the Cause. CONN They were all Fenians here when I came into this country first, over twenty years ago. _He rises and goes into room_. JAMES Well, he's a great man, Conn Hourican. _(James rises and goes to fire. Conn comes out of room, carrying a greatcoat)_ How do you think you'll do at Ardagh? CONN I think I'll do very well at Ardagh, James. _He leaves coat on settle_. JAMES Everything's ready for the start. CONN Ay, and it's near time for going. I'm playing very well lately, James. It's the thought of being before people who'll know music. If I was staying in this place any longer, James, I'd put my fiddle in the thatch, and leave it there for the birds to pick holes in. JAMES But won't you be back here after the Feis at Ardagh? CONN Well, I will, for a while anyway. JAMES And would you be going off again after a while? CONN I'm thinking that when my daughters are settled I'll have the years before me. I was reared in a place south of this, and I'd like to go back there for a while. JAMES But wouldn't you come back to us? CONN There's many's the place in Ireland that I never saw, town and countryside. _(He takes the greatcoat off settle and puts it on him)_ Tell me, James Moynihan, is your father satisfied with the settlement that Maire's making for yourself and Anne? JAMES My father is very well satisfied. CONN _(going towards his room)_ And so he ought to be, James Moynihan. _Goes into his room_. JAMES My father had always a great liking for Anne. _(Anne comes out of the other room. James Moynihan goes to her)_ May you never think, Anne, that you made the bad choice when you took James Moynihan. _They sit on settle_. ANNE Sure I was never fond of any one but yourself. JAMES And I never cared for any one after I saw you. ANNE I used to hear that you were fond of another girl. JAMES I was fond of the girl that used to be in the newspaper shop in the town. ANNE And used you to talk with her? JAMES The elbows were worn out of my coat with leaning on the counter to talk with her. But she married a policeman after that. He was a friend of mine, too. It was me that got him the words and music for "I'll hang my harp on a willow tree"--a song that he was always looking for. ANNE Did you make any songs about the girl? JAMES I did not. ANNE Oh, James, I'm glad of that. I'm glad you made no songs about her. JAMES Are you content to marry me in the town of Ardagh, after the Feis, as Maire wishes? ANNE It will be strange to be married in Ardagh, away from the people I know. JAMES It will be lucky getting married after the Feis. ANNE James, it's a great trial for a girl to face marriage; but, James, I'm very fond of you. _James kisses her_. JAMES I don't know what to think of them writers who say that the Irish girls haven't the heart for love. ANNE Is Maire outside? JAMES She went out. ANNE It's a wonder that Brian MacConnell isn't here before this. _Anne rises. Maire comes in_. ANNE Is there no one coming here? MAIRE There is no one on the road. ANNE Brian MacConnell is late in coming. _Maire comes up to the fire. Anne stands with her. James goes to entrance, and remains looking out_. MAIRE I saw Brian yesterday. ANNE And did you tell him that you were going at the sunset? MAIRE I told him we were going in the evening. ANNE Maybe you were distant with Brian? MAIRE He looked like a man that something had happened to. Connor Gilpatrick came up, and then I went away. _Conn Hourican comes out of room. He has left the greatcoat in room. He brings the fiddle with him. Maire and Anne go to the settle. They talk._ JAMES _(to Conn)_ What would you think of a row of trees planted before the door? _Conn leaves fiddle on dresser, and comes to him_. CONN They might be very becoming, James. JAMES My father was saying that the front looked very bare. CONN A row of trees, when they'd grow, would make a great difference. JAMES That's what my father was saying. _They talk, Conn leaning on the half-door._ ANNE I'm glad to be here. It would be very strange for me to be married, and in another house. MAIRE I was thinking, Anne, that father and myself ought to stay a while on the road, till you and James get settled here. ANNE Listen, Maire. James says that he'll be giving this place back to you after a while. With this start he'll be able to get a house and land near his father's place. He has fine schemes for making this place prosperous. James, come here. _(James turns from door)_ Come here, James, and talk with Maire. _James comes to girls, leaving Conn looking out. Maire rises._ JAMES I'll make a path down to the road, and, with a row of trees before the door, the place will be well worth looking at. MAIRE We won't know the place after a while. JAMES We can never forget, Maire, that it is to you that we owe the place and the start in life. MAIRE I never looked on the place as my own. JAMES And now that the land is in Anne's name, my father will be glad to stock the place. MAIRE You have all our will of the place. Father, speak to James and tell him that he has your will of the place. CONN _(turning from door)_ Indeed you have, James, and we're overglad to have Anne settled with a steady boy. JAMES Well, long life to you, Conn; and may the man of art never want fame nor a friend. CONN _(going to dresser)_ Drink to that, James. _He takes up a bottle and fills two glasses_. JAMES I never touch anything, Conn; but if Anne won't think bad of me, I'll drink to your prosperity. ANNE I won't be watching you at all. _(She goes to door. To Maire)_ I'm going down the road, and if there's any one coming here, I'll let you know. _Anne goes out. James takes the glass from Conn_. JAMES Here's to the fiddler, first of all. May it be again like in the days of Ireland's glory, when the men of art had their rights and their dues. _He drinks_. CONN Long life to yourself, James Moynihan. _(Conn drinks)_ I know you a long time now, and I know nothing to your discredit. You're one of the few people here that are to my liking. Well, if I'm nothing to them, they're nothing to me. I lived my own life, and I had the gift. JAMES _(with excitement)_ If Anne was here, I'd drink to her. I must go after Anne. May she never repent of her choice. _(He goes to the door, then turns round)_ But sure I'm forgetting the jewel of them all, yourself, Maire Hourican. Long may you reign in splendour and success, and in the wish of your heart. _James Moynihan goes out. Conn Hourican goes back to the door, and remains looking out. Maire stands at fire_. CONN It's strange to be looking across that door, and the sun setting for our journey. And now we're letting the place go out of our hands. Well, Honor Gilroy's bit of land has been brought to a great many people. _He comes down to dresser. Maire goes up to window, and remains looking out_. CONN Is there any one coming here, Maire? MAIRE There is no one coming. It's no wonder James's father thought the place was bare-looking. CONN Well, the bit of land is going to James, and I was saying that it has been brought to a great many people. _Maire takes paper out, and looks at it_. CONN What paper is that, Maire? MAIRE It's a paper that I have to put my name to. _(She goes and sits at table)_ There's a pen and ink near your hand on the dresser, and you might give them to me. It's about giving this place to Anne, and James's father wants my name on the paper. CONN Well, isn't James's father the councillor, with his paper and his signing? _(He brings pen and ink from dresser, and leaves them on table. Maire makes preparations for writing. Conn lights candle at fire, and brings it over to table)_ And does that give the place to Anne for ever? MAIRE It gives it to herself. _(Maire signs the paper with the slowness of one unaccustomed to writing)_ It will be a great change for us when we come back to this place. CONN _(going to chair at fire)_ It will be a great change for you and me, no matter what we say. MAIRE And now that James's father is putting stock on the land, the Moynihans will have great call to the place. CONN Maire, your father is thinking of taking to the road. MAIRE And how long would you be staying on the roads? CONN Ah, what is there to bring me back to this country, Maire? MAIRE Sure you're not thinking of going on the roads altogether? CONN The road for the fiddler. MAIRE Would you leave the shelter and the settled life? Would you go on the road by yourself? CONN Anne and yourself will be settled, and I'll have the years before me. MAIRE Then you'd go on the roads by yourself? CONN Sure I did it before, Maire. MAIRE Ah, but do you not remember the prayers that mother used to say for us to get some shelter? Do you not remember how proud and glad we were when we come by a place of our own? CONN The shelter was for Anne and yourself. What had I to do with it? MAIRE The Moynihans are not the sort to make us feel strangers in the place. CONN The place was your own, Maire, and you gave it to your sister rather than see her waiting years and years. MAIRE I came to give it to her after I saw how hard I was on yourself. CONN Listen, my jewel, even if the Moynihans had nothing to do with the place, what would Conn Hourican the fiddler be doing in this country? MAIRE Ah, there are many you might play to; there are lots that know about music. There's Michael Gilpatrick and John Molloy-- CONN And that's all, Maire. MAIRE You might go to Flynn's an odd time. CONN And what do they know about music in Flynn's? Young Corney Myles was up there a while ago, and you'd think, from what the men said, that there was never the like of Corney for playing, and the boy isn't three years at the fiddle, MAIRE Father, stay here where the shelter is. CONN Sure, I'd be getting ould, and staying in the chimney-corner, with no one to talk to me, for you'd be going to a place of your own, and Anne? after a while, would have too much to mind. MAIRE The people here are kinder than you think. CONN But what has Conn Hourican to do with them anyhow? The very greatest were glad of my playing, and were proud to know me. MAIRE I know that, father. CONN Well, one is always meeting new life upon the roads, and I want to spend the years I have before me going from place to place. MAIRE _(going to him)_ If you took to the roads, I'd think I ought to go with you, for we were always together. CONN Ah, Maire, there are some that would keep you here. MAIRE Do you know who would keep me here? CONN Brian MacConnell is very fond of you. MAIRE Do you know that, father? CONN And I know that you are fond of Brian. _(There is no answer)_ That my jewel may have luck and prosperity. _(Goes towards room door, leaving Maire standing there)_ I'll be taking this fiddle, Maire. MAIRE Oh, are we going on the roads? CONN To Ardagh, Maire. MAIRE To Ardagh. CONN I'll go up now, and make ready. _He takes candle off table, and goes back towards room door._ MAIRE Oh, what do I know about Brian MacConnell, after all? CONN Brian is wild, but he is free-handed. MAIRE Wild and free-handed! Are all men like that? Wild and free-handed! But that's not the sort of man I want to look to now. CONN That's nothing to Brian's discredit. MAIRE Ah, what do I know about Brian MacConnell, except that he's a man of quarrels and broken words? _Conn holds up his hand warningly. Brian MacConnell comes to door_. CONN _(opening half-door)_ You're welcome, Brian. BRIAN Thank you for the good word, Conn. _He comes in_. MAIRE You're welcome, Brian MacConnell. CONN _(taking candle off dresser)_ I was going up to the room to make ready, but Maire will be glad to speak to you. I knew you wouldn't let us go without wishing us the luck of the road. _Goes up to room. Maire goes and sits on settle_. MAIRE Brian MacConnell has come to us again. BRIAN I'm before you again. Let me tell you what I was doing since I was here last. MAIRE What were you doing, Brian? Making quarrels, may be? BRIAN _(startled)_ Why do you say that? MAIRE I'm thinking that you were doing what would become you, Brian MacConnell, with the free hand and the wild heart. BRIAN They were telling you about me? MAIRE I know you, Brian MacConnell. BRIAN You don't know how I care for you, or you couldn't talk to me like that. Many's the time I left the spade in the ground, and went across the bogs and the rushes, to think of you. You come between me and the work I'd be doing. Ay, and if Heaven opened out before me, you would come between me and Heaven itself. MAIRE It's easy taking a girl's heart. BRIAN And I long to have more than walls and a roof to offer you. I'd have jewels and gold for you. I'd have ships on the sea for you. MAIRE It's easy to take a girl's heart with the words of a song. BRIAN I'm building a house for you, Maire. I'm raising it day by day. MAIRE You left me long by myself. BRIAN It's often I came to see the light in the window. MAIRE Brian, my father wants to go back to the roads. _Brian goes and sits by her_. BRIAN I know that Conn would like to go back. MAIRE He wants to go on the roads, to go by himself from place to place. BRIAN Maybe he has the right to go. MAIRE He has the right to go. It's the life of a fiddler to be on the roads. BRIAN But you won't go on the roads. MAIRE Oh, what am I to do, Brian? BRIAN Do you think of me at all, Maire? MAIRE Indeed I think of you. Until to-day I'd neither laugh nor cry but on account of you. BRIAN I'm building a house, and it will be white and fine, and it's for you that I'm building the house. MAIRE You're going to ask for my promise. BRIAN Give me your promise before you go to Ardagh. _Maire rises_. MAIRE If I gave you my promise now, I'd have great delight in coming back to this place again. BRIAN You won't deny me, my jewel of love? MAIRE Oh, I'm very fond of Aughnalee. I feel that I was reared in the place. I'd like to live all my life in the place. BRIAN And why would you go from it? MAIRE You might come with us to Ardagh, Brian. BRIAN Your father might stay with us when he'd be in this country. MAIRE That's true; I'm glad to think on that. BRIAN Give me your promise, Maire. MAIRE We'll talk on the road. There's the blackbird. I'll hear him every evening on the road, and I'll think I'm a day nearer home. BRIAN Sure you'd leave them all to come with me. MAIRE Ay, I think I would. _(She takes up a new kerchief, and puts it on her, standing before the mirror)_ Do you know where I saw you first, Brian? BRIAN Where was it, Maire? MAIRE In a field by the road. You were breaking a horse. BRIAN I was always a good hand with a horse. MAIRE The poor beast was covered with foam and sweat, and at last you made it still. I thought it was grand then. _She sings_. I know where I'm going, I know who's going with me, I know who I love, But the dear knows who I'll marry. Are your brothers with you, Brian? BRIAN Is it building with me? MAIRE Building with you? _She sings_. Some say he's dark, I say he's bonny. He's the flower of the flock, My charming, coaxing Johnny. BRIAN _(with sombre passion)_ No. My brothers are not with me. I quarrelled with them all and I am nearly heart broken for what I did. MAIRE Ah, Brian MacConnell, I don't know what to say to you at all. BRIAN You'll give me your promise, Maire? MAIRE Promise. I've no promise to give to any man. BRIAN Remember that these days past I had only yourself to think on. MAIRE There was never a man but failed me some time. They all leave me to face the world alone. BRIAN You said that I might go with you as far as Ardagh. MAIRE No. You're not to come. Myself and my father go to Ardagh by ourselves. BRIAN How was I to know that you would take that quarrel to heart? MAIRE I thought you were strong, but I see now that you are only a man who forces himself to harsh behaviour. I have my own way to go; my father wants to go back to the roads, and it's right that I should be with him, to watch over him. BRIAN What shelter will you have on the road? MAIRE I'll have the quiet of evening, and my own thoughts, and I'll follow the music; I'll laugh and hold up my head again. BRIAN Maire Hourican, would you leave me? MAIRE What can I do for you, Brian MacConnell? _Brian goes to settle, and puts his hands before his eyes. She goes to him_. BRIAN You have thought for your father, and you have no thought for me. MAIRE Indeed I have thought for you. BRIAN O Maire, my jewel, do you care for me at all? _She kisses him_. BRIAN Maire! _She rises_. MAIRE I'm going to call my father. BRIAN You go to him, and you go from me. MAIRE You are both my care: my father and yourself. BRIAN What will become of me when you go? MAIRE Isn't it right, Brian, that I should be with my father on the roads? Even if I was in your house, I would be thinking that I should watch over him. BRIAN Then it's good-bye you'd be saying? MAIRE Good-bye, Brian MacConnell. BRIAN _(at door)_ Good-bye, Maire Hourican; gold and jewels, ships on the sea, may you have them all. _He goes out. With a cry Maire follows him to the door. She stands before door for a minute, then she goes back to table, and throwing herself down, remains with her head buried in her hands. James Moynihan comes in. Maire raises her head, and remains looking before her. James comes to table, and puts flowers beside Maire_. JAMES We gathered them for you, Maire. They're the woodbine. We were saying that you would be glad of the flower of the road. _(Maire puts her hand on the flowers. James goes to the fire)_ Anne remembers a good deal about the road. She minds of the grassy ditches, where the two of you used to catch the young birds. MAIRE I mind of them too. JAMES And the women that used to be with your mother, that used to tell you the stories. MAIRE And the things we used to talk about after a story! There's the turn of the road, and who's waiting for you? If it's your sweetheart, what will you say to him? JAMES I'm often taken with the thought of the road! Going to the fair on a bright morning, I'd often wish to leave everything aside and follow the road. _A fiddle is heard outside. Conn Hourican comes down, dressed for the road. He has on the greatcoat. He carries fiddle. He puts fiddle on dresser_. CONN What music is that, James? JAMES Some of the boys are coming to meet you, and they have a fiddle with them. CONN Well, now, that's friendly of the boys. JAMES I'll go out now, and let them know that you're coming. _(He goes to door)_ Brian MacConnell turned the other way, and Anne went after him. _He goes out_. CONN _(anxiously)_ Why did Brian MacConnell go away? MAIRE We didn't agree; no, not after all you said. CONN Maybe we'll see Brian at Ardagh. MAIRE How would he ever come back when I bid him go from me? CONN You bid Brian go from you! _(He goes to the window)_ And there was myself that had the mind to go on the road that I see stretched out before me. MAIRE _(going to him)_ You need never come back here. CONN I'll come back with yourself. MAIRE I remember the time when we were on the roads. I remember sights we used to see! Little towns here, and big towns far away, and always the road. CONN And the lasting kindness of the road! MAIRE There is no need for you to come back here, father. CONN And would you follow the road? MAIRE Go back to the fiddler's life, and I'll go back with you. Well see Anne and James at Ardagh, and we'll be at their marriage. _(She turns round as though to take farewell of the house)_ It's right that this place should go to Anne. The house wasn't for you, and it wasn't for me either, I begin to think. _Anne comes in_. ANNE _(with a cry)_ Maire, you are going on the roads! MAIRE How do you know that? ANNE You bid Brian MacConnell go from you, and where else would you go but on the roads? _She goes to the settle and throws herself down, her hands before her face. Maire puts cloak on. Conn goes to Anne. He takes her hands from her face and holds them_. CONN Don't be grieving that we're going from you, Anne. When you come back here again, your own care will begin. I know that you grieve for Maire going from you, and my own heart is unquiet for her. _(He goes to dresser, takes fiddle and wraps it up. He puts hat on. Maire goes to settle, and sits beside Anne)_ Well, here's Conn Hourican the fiddler going on his travels again. No man knows how his own life will end; but them who have the gift have to follow the gift. I'm leaving this house behind me; and maybe the time will come when I'll be climbing the hills and seeing this little house with the tears in my eyes. I'm leaving the land behind me, too; but what's land after all against the music that comes from the far, strange places, when the night is on the ground, and the bird in the grass is quiet? _The fiddle is heard again. Conn Hourican goes to door. Maire embraces Anne again, rises and goes to door. Anne follows slowly. Conn goes out. Maire turns to Anne_. MAIRE Tell Brian MacConnell that when we meet again maybe we can be kinder to each other. _Maire Hourican goes out with Conn. Anne is left standing at the door in the dusk_. _END OF PLAY_ THE FIDDLER'S HOUSE was first produced on 21st March, 1907, by the Theatre of Ireland, in the Rotunda, Dublin, with the following cast: -- CONN HOURICAN Joseph Goggin MAIRE HOURICAN Maire MacShiubhlaigh ANNE HOURICAN Eileen O'Doherty BRIAN MACCONNELL Ed. Keegan JAMES MOYNIHAN P. MacShiubhlaigh. _THE LAND: AN AGRARIAN COMEDY IN THREE ACTS_ CHARACTERS MURTAGH COSGAR, a farmer MATT, his son SALLY, his daughter MARTIN DOURAS, a farmer CORNELIUS, his son ELLEN, his daughter A group of men, A group of boys and girls. The scene is laid in the Irish Midlands, present time. _ACT I_ _The interior of Murtagh Cosgar's. It is a large flagged kitchen with the entrance on the right. The dresser is below the entrance. There is a large fireplace in the back, and a room door to the left of the fireplace; the harness-rack is between room door and fireplace. The yard door is on the left. The table is down from the room door. There are benches around fireplace_. _It is the afternoon of a May day. Sally Cosgar is kneeling, near the entrance chopping up cabbage-leaves with a kitchen-knife. She is a girl of twenty-five, dark, heavily built, with the expression of a half-awakened creature. She is coarsely dressed, and has a sacking apron. She is quick at work, and rapid and impetuous in speech. She is talking to herself_. SALLY Oh, you may go on grunting, yourself and your litter, it won't put me a bit past my own time. You oul' black baste of a sow, sure I'm slaving to you all the spring. We'll be getting rid of yourself and your litter soon enough, and may the devil get you when we lose you. _Cornelius comes to the door. He is a tall young man with a slight stoop. His manners are solemn, and his expression somewhat vacant_. CORNELIUS Good morrow, Sally. May you have the good of the day. _(He comes in)_ SALLY _(impetuously)_ Ah, God reward you, Cornelius Douras, for coming in. I'm that busy keeping food to a sow and a litter of pigs that I couldn't get beyond the gate to see any one. CORNELIUS _(solemnly)_ You're a good girl, Sally. You're not like some I know. There are girls in this parish who never put hands to a thing till evening, when the boys do be coming in. Then they begin to stir themselves the way they'll be thought busy and good about a house. SALLY _(pleased and beginning to chop again with renewed energy)_ Oh, it's true indeed for you, Cornelius. There are girls that be decking themselves, and sporting are themselves all day. CORNELIUS I may say that I come over to your father's, Murtagh Cosgar's house, this morning, thinking to meet the men. SALLY What men, Cornelius Douras? CORNELIUS Them that are going to meet the landlord's people with an offer for the land. We're not buying ourselves, unfortunately, but this is a great day--the day of the redemption, my father calls it--and I'd like to have some hand in the work if it was only to say a few words to the men. SALLY It's a wonder Martin, your father isn't on the one errand with you. CORNELIUS We came out together, but the priest stopped father and us on the road. Father Bartley wanted his advice, I suppose. Ah, it's a pity the men won't have some one like my father with them! He was in gaol for the Cause. Besides, he's a well-discoursed man, and a reading man, and, moreover, a man with a classical knowledge of English, Latin, and the Hibernian vernacular. _Martin Douras comes in. He is a man of about sixty, with a refined, scholarly look. His manner is subdued and nervous. He has a stoop, and is clean-shaven._ CORNELIUS I was just telling Sally here what a great day it is, father. MARTIN DOURAS Ay, it's a great day, no matter what our own troubles may be. I should be going home again. _(He takes a newspaper out of his pocket, and leaves it on the table)_ CORNELIUS Wait for the men, father. MARTIN DOURAS Maybe they'll be here soon. Is Murtagh in, Sally? _Cornelius takes the paper up, and begins to read it_. SALLY He's down at the bottoms, Martin. MARTIN DOURAS He's going to Arvach Fair, maybe. SALLY He is in troth. MARTIN DOURAS I'll be asking him for a lift. He'll be going to the Fair when he come back from the lawyer's, I suppose? Ay, he'll be going to-night. _(She gathers the chopped cabbage into her apron, and goes to the door)_ SALLY _(at the door)_ Cornelius. _Cornelius puts down the paper, and goes to the door. Sally goes out_. MARTIN DOURAS Cornelius! _Cornelius goes to Martin_. SALLY _(outside)_ Cornelius, give me a hand with this. _Cornelius turns again_. MARTIN DOURAS Cornelius, I want to speak to you. _Cornelius goes to him_. MARTIN DOURAS There is something on my mind, Cornelius. CORNELIUS What is it, father? MARTIN DOURAS It's about our Ellen. Father Bartley gave me news for her. "I've heard of a school that'll suit Ellen," says he. "It's in the County Leitrim." CORNELIUS If it was in Dublin itself, Ellen is qualified to take it on. And won't it be grand to have one of our family teaching in a school? MARTIN DOURAS _(with a sigh)_ I wouldn't stand in her way, Cornelius; I wouldn't stand in her way. But won't it be a poor thing for an old man like me to have no one to discourse with in the long evenings? For when I'm talking with you, Cornelius, I feel like a boy who lends back all the marbles he's won, and plays again, just for the sake of the game. CORNELIUS We were in dread of Ellen going to America at one time, and then she went in for the school. Now Matt Cosgar may keep her from the school. Maybe we won't have to go further than this house to see Ellen. MARTIN DOURAS I'm hoping it'll be like that; but I'm in dread that Murtagh Cosgar will never agree to it. He's a hard man to deal with. Still Murtagh and myself will be on the long road to-night, and we might talk of it. I'm afeard of Ellen going. CORNELIUS _(at the door)_ It's herself that's coming here, father. MARTIN DOURAS Maybe she has heard the news and is coming to tell us. _Ellen comes in. She has a shawl over her head which she lays aside. She is about twenty-five, slightly built, nervous, emotional_. ELLEN Is it only ourselves that's here? MARTIN DOURAS Only ourselves. Did you get any news to bring you over, Ellen? ELLEN No news. It was the shine of the day that brought me out; and I was thinking, too, of the girls that are going to America in the morning, and that made me restless. _Martin and Cornelius look significantly at each other_. MARTIN DOURAS And did you see Matt, Ellen? ELLEN He was in the field and I coming up; but I did not wait for him, as I don't want people to see us together. _(Restlessly)_ I don't know how I can come into this house, for it's always like Murtagh Cosgar. There's nothing of Matt in it at all. If Matt would come away. There are little labourers' houses by the side of the road. Many's the farmer's son became a labourer for the sake of a woman he cared for! CORNELIUS And are you not thinking about the school at all, Ellen? ELLEN I'll hear about it some time, I suppose. MARTIN DOURAS You're right to take it that way, Ellen. School doesn't mean scholarship now. Many's the time I'm telling Cornelius that a man farming the land, with a few books on his shelf and a few books in his head, has more of the scholar's life about him than the young fellows who do be teaching in schools and teaching in colleges. CORNELIUS That's all very well, father. School and scholarship isn't the one. But think of the word "Constantinople!" I could leave off herding and digging every time I think on that word! MARTIN DOURAS Ah, it's a great word. A word like that would make you think for days. And there are many words like that. ELLEN It's not so much the long words that we've to learn and teach now. When will you be home, father? Will Cornelius be with you? MARTIN DOURAS Ellen, I have news for you. There is a school in Leitrim that Father Bartley can let you have. ELLEN In Leitrim! Did you tell Matt about it? MARTIN DOURAS I did not. _Sally is heard calling "Cornelius." Cornelius goes to the door._ CORNELIUS Here's Matt now. The benefit of the day to you, Matt. _He stands aside to let Matt enter. Matt Cosgar is a young peasant of about twenty-eight. He is handsome and well-built. He is dressed in a trousers, shirt, and coat, and has a felt hat on. Cornelius goes out._ MATT _(going to Ellen)_ You're welcome, Ellen. Good morrow, Martin. It's a great day for the purchase, Martin. MARTIN DOURAS A great day, indeed, thank God. MATT Ah, it's a great thing to feel the ownership of the land, Martin. MARTIN DOURAS I don't doubt but it is. MATT Look at the young apple-trees, Ellen. Walking up this morning, I felt as glad of them as a young man would be glad of the sweetheart he saw coming towards him. ELLEN Ay, there's great gladness and shine in the day. MATT It seems to trouble you. ELLEN It does trouble me. MATT Why? ELLEN Everything seems to be saying, "There's something here, there's something going." MATT Ay, a day like this often makes you feel that way. It's a great day for the purchase though. How many years ought we to offer, Ellen? _Martin goes out_. ELLEN Twenty years, I suppose---_(suddenly)_ Matt! MATT What is it, Ellen? ELLEN I have got an offer of a school in the County Leitrim. MATT I wish they'd wait, Ellen. I wish they'd wait till I had something to offer you. ELLEN I'm a long time waiting here, Matt. MATT Sure we're both young. ELLEN This is summer now. There will be autumn in a month or two. The year will have gone by without bringing me anything. MATT He'll be letting me have my own way soon, my father will. ELLEN Murtagh Cosgar never let a child of his have their own way. MATT When the land's bought out, he'll be easier to deal with. ELLEN When he owns the land, he'll never let a son of his marry a girl without land or fortune. MATT Ellen, Ellen, I'd lose house and land for you. Sure you know that, Ellen. My brothers and sisters took their freedom. They went from this house and away to the ends of the world. Maybe I don't differ from them so much. But I've put my work into the land, and I'm beginning to know the land. I won't lose it, Ellen. Neither will I lose you. ELLEN O Matt, what's the land after all? Do you ever think of America? The streets, the shops, the throngs? MATT The land is better than that when you come to know it, Ellen. ELLEN May be it is. MATT I've set my heart on a new house. Ay and he'll build one for us when he knows my mind. ELLEN Do you think he'd build a new house for us, Matt? I could settle down if we were by ourselves. Maybe it's true that there are things stirring and we could begin a new life, even here. MATT We can, Ellen, we can. Hush! father's without. _Martin Douras and Murtagh Cosgar are heard exchanging greetings. Then Murtagh comes in, Martin behind him. Murtagh Cosgar is about sixty. He is a hard, strong man, seldom-spoken, but with a flow of words and some satirical power. He is still powerful, mentally and physically. He is clean shaven, and wears a sleeved waistcoat, heavy boots, fell hat. He goes towards Ellen._ MURTAGH Good morrow to you. _(Turning to Matt)_ When I get speaking to that Sally again, she'll remember what I say. Giving cabbage to the pigs, and all the bad potatoes in the house. And I had to get up in the clouds of the night to turn the cows out of the young meadow. No thought, no care about me. Let you take the harness outside and put a thong where there's a strain in it. _Murtagh goes to the fire. Matt goes to the harness-rack. Martin Douras and Ellen are at the door._ MARTIN DOURAS Ellen, I'll have news for you when I see you again. I've made up my mind to that. ELLEN Are you going to the fair, father? MARTIN DOURAS Ay, with Murtagh. ELLEN God be with you, father. _(She goes out)_ MARTIN DOURAS What purchase are you thinking of offering, Murtagh? MURTAGH COSGAR Twenty years. MARTIN DOURAS It's fair enough. Oh, it's a great day for the country, no matter what our own troubles may be. _Matt has taken down the harness. He takes some of it up and goes out to yard._ MURTAGH COSGAR _(with some contempt)_ It's a pity you haven't a share in the day after all. MARTIN DOURAS Ay, it's a pity indeed. _Murtagh goes to the door._ MURTAGH COSGAR _(with suppressed enthusiasm)_ From this day out we're planted in the soil. MARTIN DOURAS Ay, we're planted in the soil. MURTAGH COSGAR God, it's a great day. _Cornelius comes back._ CORNELIUS This is a memorial occasion, Murtagh Cosgar, and I wish you the felicitations of it. I met the delegates and I coming in, and I put myself at the head of them. It's the day of the redemption, Murtagh Cosgar. _Murtagh, without speaking, goes up to the room._ CORNELIUS He's gone up to get the papers. Father, we must give the men understanding for this business. They must demand the mineral rights. Here they are. Men of Ballykillduff, I greet your entrance. _Six men enter discussing._ FIRST MAN We'll leave it to Murtagh Cosgar. Murtagh Cosgar isn't a grazier or a shopkeeper. SECOND MAN It's the graziers and shopkeepers that are putting a business head on this. THIRD MAN If we're all on the one offer, we can settle it at the lawyer's. FOURTH MAN Sure it's settled for twenty years on the first-term rents. FIFTH MAN There are some here that would let it go as high as twenty-three. SIXTH MAN What does Murtagh Cosgar say? SOME OF THE MEN Well take the word from him. MARTIN DOURAS He mentioned twenty years. SECOND MAN Not as a limit, surely? OTHER MEN We're not for any higher offer. SECOND MAN Well, men, this is all I have to say. If you can get it for twenty, take it, and my blessing with it. But I want to be dealing with the Government, and not with landlords and agents. To have a straight bargain between myself and the Government, I'd put it up to twenty-three, ay, up to twenty-five years' purchase. THIRD MAN More power to you, Councillor. There's some sense in that. SIXTH MAN I'm with the Councillor. FIRST MAN It's all very well for graziers and shopkeepers to talk, but what about the small farmer? FOURTH MAN The small farmer. That's the man that goes under. FIFTH MAN _(knocking at the table)_ Murtagh Cosgar! Murtagh Cosgar! CORNELIUS I tell you, men, that Murtagh Cosgar is in agreement with myself. Twenty years, I say, first term, no more. Let my father speak. MARTIN DOURAS There's a great deal to be said on both sides, men. FIRST MAN Here's Murtagh now. MURTAGH COSGAR Twenty years first term, that's what I agreed to. SECOND MAN And if they don't rise to that, Murtagh? MURTAGH COSGAR Let them wait. We can wait. I won't be going with you, men. I had a few words with the agent about the turbary this morning, and maybe you're better without me. FIRST MAN All right, Murtagh. We can wait. FOURTH MAN We know our own power now. FIFTH MAN Come on, men. MURTAGH COSGAR If they don't rise to it, bide a while. We can make a new offer. SECOND MAN We want to be settled by the Fall. THIRD MAN The Councillor is right. We must be settled by the Fall. SIXTH MAN A man who's a farmer only has little sense for a business like this. SECOND MAN We'll make the offer, Murtagh Cosgar, and bide a while. But we must be settled this side of the Fall. We'll offer twenty years first term. MURTAGH COSGAR Do, and God speed you. CORNELIUS _(to the men going out)_ I told you Murtagh Cosgar and myself are on the one offer. And Murtagh is right again when he says that you can bide your time. But make sure of the mineral rights, men; make sure of the mineral rights. _The men go out; Cornelius follows them._ MURTAGH COSGAR _(with irony)_ Musha, but that's a well-discoursed lad. It must be great to hear the two of you at it. MARTIN DOURAS God be good to Cornelius. There's little of the world's harm in the boy. MURTAGH COSGAR He and my Sally would make a great match of it. She's a bright one, too. MARTIN DOURAS Murtagh Cosgar, have you no feeling for your own flesh and blood? MURTAGH COSGAR Too much feeling, maybe. _(He stands at the door in silence. With sudden enthusiasm)_ Ah, but that's the sight to fill one's heart. Lands ploughed and spread. And all our own; all our own. MARTIN DOURAS All our own, ay. But we made a hard fight for them. MURTAGH COSGAR Ay. MARTIN DOURAS Them that come after us will never see them as we're seeing them now. MURTAGH COSGAR _(turning round)_ Them that come after us. Isn't that a great thought, Martin Douras? and isn't it a great thing that we're able to pass this land on to them, and it redeemed for ever? Ay, and their manhood spared the shame that our manhood knew. Standing in the rain with our hats off to let a landlord--ay, or a landlord's dog-boy--pass the way! MARTIN DOURAS _(mournfully)_ May it be our own generation that will be in it. Ay, but the young are going fast; the young are going fast. MURTAGH COSGAR _(sternly)_ Some of them are no loss. MARTIN DOURAS Ten of your own children went, Murtagh Cosgar. MURTAGH COSGAR I never think of them. When they went from my control, they went from me altogether. There's the more for Matt. MARTIN DOURAS _(moistening his mouth, and beginning very nervously)_ Ay, Matt. Matt's a good lad. MURTAGH COSGAR There's little fear of him leaving now. MARTIN DOURAS _(nervously)_ Maybe, maybe. But, mind you, Murtagh Cosgar, there are things--little things, mind you. Least, ways, what we call little things. And, after all, who are we to judge whether a thing-- MURTAGH COSGAR Is there anything on your mind, Martin Douras? MARTIN DOURAS _(hurriedly)_ No; oh, no. I was thinking--I was thinking, maybe you'd give me a lift towards Arvach, if you'd be going that way this night. MURTAGH COSGAR Ay, why not? MARTIN DOURAS And we could talk about the land, and about Matt, too. Wouldn't it be a heart-break if any of our children went--because of a thing we might-- MURTAGH COSGAR _(fiercely)_ What have you to say about Matt? MARTIN DOURAS _(stammering)_ Nothing except in a--in what you might call a general way. There's many a young man left house and land for the sake of some woman, Murtagh Cosgar. MURTAGH COSGAR There's many a fool did it. MARTIN DOURAS _(going to door)_ Ay, maybe; maybe. I'll be going now, Murtagh. MURTAGH COSGAR Stop! _(clutching him)_ You know about Matt. What woman is he thinking of? MARTIN DOURAS _(frightened)_ We'll talk about it again, Murtagh. I said I'd be back. MURTAGH COSGAR We'll talk about it now. Who is she? What name has she? MARTIN DOURAS _(breaking from him and speaking with sudden dignity)_ It's a good name, Murtagh Cosgar; it's my own name. MURTAGH COSGAR Your daughter! Ellen! You're-- MARTIN DOURAS Ay, a good name, and a good girl. MURTAGH COSGAR And do you think a son of mine would marry a daughter of yours? MARTIN DOURAS What great difference is between us, after all? MURTAGH COSGAR _(fiercely)_ The daughter of a man who'd be sitting over his fire reading his paper, and the clouds above his potatoes, and the cows trampling his oats. _(Martin is beaten down)_ Do you know me at all, Martin Douras? I came out of a little house by the roadway and built my house on a hill. I had many children. Coming home in the long evenings, or kneeling still when the prayers would be over, I'd have my dreams. A son in Aughnalee, a son in Ballybrian, a son in Dunmore, a son of mine with a shop, a son of mine saying Mass in Killnalee. And I have a living name--a name in flesh and blood. MARTIN DOURAS God help you, Murtagh Cosgar. MURTAGH COSGAR But I've a son still. It's not your daughter he'll be marrying. _(He strides to the door and calls Matt)_ MARTIN DOURAS _(going to him)_ Murtagh Cosgar--for God's sake--we're both old men, Murtagh Cosgar. MURTAGH COSGAR You've read many stories, Martin Douras, and you know many endings. You'll see an ending now, and it will be a strong ending, and a sudden ending. _Matt comes in_. MURTAGH COSGAR You're wanted here. MATT I heard you call. _(He sits on table)_ So they're sticking to the twenty years. MARTIN DOURAS _(eagerly)_ Twenty years, Matt, and they'll get it for twenty. O, it's a great day for you both! Father and son, you come into a single inheritance. What the father wins the son wields. MURTAGH COSGAR What the father wins, the son wastes. MATT What's the talk of father and son? MARTIN DOURAS They're the one flesh and blood. There's no more strife between them than between the right hand and the left hand. MURTAGH COSGAR _(to Matt)_ We were talking about you. We were fixing a match for you. MATT _(startled, looking at Martin Douras)_ Fixing a match for me? _(He rises)_ MURTAGH COSGAR Ay, Matt. Don't you think it's time to be making a match for you? MATT _(sullenly, going to the door)_ Maybe it is. When you have chosen the woman, call. I'll be without. MURTAGH COSGAR _(going to him)_ We haven't chosen yet. But it won't be Martin Douras' daughter, anyhow. MATT Stop. You drove all your living children away, except Sally and myself. You think Sally and myself are the one sort. MURTAGH COSGAR _(tauntingly)_ Martin's daughter, Corney's sister. That's the girl for you! MATT We're not the one sort, I tell you. Martin Douras, isn't he a foolish old man that would drive all his children from him? What would his twenty years' purchase be to him then? MURTAGH COSGAR It wasn't for my children I worked. No, no; thank God; it wasn't for my children I worked. Go, if you will. I can be alone. MARTIN DOURAS O Murtagh, Murtagh, sure you know you can't be alone. We're two old men, Murtagh. MURTAGH COSGAR He daren't go. MATT Because I'm the last of them he thinks he can dare me like that. MURTAGH COSGAR There was more of my blood in the others. MATT Do you say that? MARTIN DOURAS Don't say it again. For God's sake, don't say it again, Murtagh. MURTAGH COSGAR I do say it again. Them who dared to go had more of my blood in them! MATT Ah, you have put me to it now, and I'm glad, glad. A little house, a bit of land. Do you think they could keep me here? MURTAGH COSGAR _(to Martin Douras)_ It's his own way he wants. I never had my own way. _(To Matt)_ You're my last son. You're too young to know the hardship there was in rearing you. MATT _(exultantly)_ Your last son; that won't keep me here. I'm the last of my name, but that won't keep me here. I leave you your lands, your twenty years' purchase. Murtagh Cosgar, Murtagh Cosgar! isn't that a great name, Martin Douras--a name that's well planted, a name for generations? Isn't he a lucky man that has a name for generations? _(He goes out)_ MURTAGH COSGAR He can't go. How could he go and he the last of the name. Close the door, I say. MARTIN DOURAS He'll go to Ellen, surely. We'll lose both of them. Murtagh Cosgar, God comfort you and me. MURTAGH COSGAR Ellen; who's Ellen? Ay, that daughter of yours. Close the door, I say. _He sits down at fireplace. Martin Douras closes door and goes to him_. CURTAIN ACT II _Interior of Martin Douras'. The entrance is at back left. There is a dresser against wall back; a table down from dresser; room doors right and left. The fireplace is below the room door right; there are stools and chairs about it. There is a little bookcase left of the dresser, and a mirror beside it. There are patriotic and religious pictures on the wall. There are cups and saucers on table, and a teapot beside fire. It is afternoon still. Ellen Douras is near the fire reading. Cornelius comes in slowly_. CORNELIUS I left the men down the road a bit. We ought to take great pride out of this day, Ellen. Father did more than any of them to bring it about. ELLEN He suffered more than any of them. And it's little we'll get out of the day. CORNELIUS It's a great thing to have prophesied it, even. We'll be here to see a great change. ELLEN There will be no change to make things better! CORNELIUS Will you be taking that school, Ellen? ELLEN I'll wait a while. _Sally coming in; she is hurried_. SALLY _(breathlessly)_ Oh, God save you, Cornelius. Tell me, is my father gone? I dread going back and he there! It was all over that baste of a sow that has kept me slaving all through the spring till I don't know whether greens or potatoes is the fittest for her! CORNELIUS He didn't go, Sally. I went down a bit of the road myself with the men. SALLY Oh, God help me! And I'll have to be going back to boil meal for her now. How are you, Ellen. _(She goes to Ellen)_ ELLEN Sit down for a while, Sally; it's a long time since I was speaking to you. _Sally sits down beside Ellen_. CORNELIUS I'll leave this paper where they won't be looking for pipe-lights. There are things in that paper I'd like to be saying. _(He takes a newspaper out of his pocket and goes to room right)_ ELLEN _(to Sally, who has been watching Cornelius)_ Tell me, Sally, are they always that busy in your house? Is your father as harsh as they say? SALLY Father 'ud keep us all working. He's a powerful great man. ELLEN Matt will be bringing a wife into the house soon from all I hear. How would your father treat her? SALLY Oh, he'd have his way, and she'd have her way, I suppose. ELLEN And do you think your father will let him marry? SALLY Sure he must if the boy likes. ELLEN What would he say if Matt married a girl without a fortune? SALLY In my mother's country there are lots of girls with fortunes that Matt could have. ELLEN Supposing he wanted a girl that had no fortune? SALLY Oh, I suppose father would give in in the end. It wouldn't be clay against flint when Matt and father would be to it. ELLEN You're a good girl, Sally. If I was Matt's wife, do you think you'd be fond of me? SALLY I'd like you as well as another, Ellen. _Cornelius comes down from room_. CORNELIUS I suppose they'll be here soon. ELLEN I have tea ready for them. SALLY Who's coming at all? CORNELIUS Some of the boys and girls that are for America. They are going to Gilroy's to-night, and are leaving from that in the morning. They are coming in to see Ellen on their way down. SALLY There are a good many going this flight. The land never troubles them in America, and they can wear fine clothes, and be as free as the larks over the bogs. It's a wonder you never thought of going, Ellen. ELLEN Father wouldn't like me to be far from him, and so I went in for the school instead. SALLY And now you've got a fine boy like Matt. It was lucky for you to be staying here. ELLEN Hush, Sally. SALLY Oh, I knew all about it before you talked to me at all. Matt always goes to the place where he thinks you'd be. ELLEN _(rising)_ I'll be in the room when the girls come, Cornelius. _She goes into room left_. SALLY _(going to Cornelius)_ God help us, but she's the silent creature. Isn't it a wonder she's not filled with talk of him after seeing him to-day? But Ellen's right. We shouldn't be talking about men, nor thinking about them either; and that's the way to keep them on our hands on the long run. I'll be going myself. _She goes towards door_. CORNELIUS _(going to her)_ Don't be minding Ellen at all, Sally. SALLY Well, as high as she is, and as mighty as she is, she came into his own house to see Matt. God between us and harm, Cornelius, maybe they'll be saying I came into your house to see you. CORNELIUS Who'll know you came at all? And what isn't seen won't be spoken of. SALLY Would you like me to stay, Cornelius? CORNELIUS Ay, I would. SALLY Divil mind the sow, _They sit down together_. SALLY _(after a pause)_ Would you like me to knit you a pair of socks, Cornelius? CORNELIUS Oh, I would, Sally; I'd love to wear them. SALLY I'll knit them. We'll be getting rid of the sow tonight, maybe, and I'll have time after that. CORNELIUS And you come along the road when I'm herding. I don't want to be going near your father's house. SALLY O Cornelius, it won't be lucky for us when father hears about Ellen and Matt. CORNELIUS That's true. No man sees his house afire but looks to his rick. SALLY Come down a bit of the road with me, Cornelius. The sow will be grunting and grunting, reminding father that I'm away. Och, a minute ago I was as contented as if there was no land or pigs, or harsh words to trouble one. _(She goes to the door)_ The boys and girls for America are coming here. CORNELIUS Give me your hands to hold, Sally. _(She gives him her hands)_ We are as young as any of them after all. _They hold each other's hands, then stand apart_. SALLY It's a fine time for them to be going when the leaves are opening on the trees. _Three boys and three girls enter. They are dressed for going away_. SALLY God save you, girls. Good-bye, Cornelius. I'll have to run like a redshank. _Sally goes out_. CORNELIUS I'll call Ellen down to you. _(He goes to the room door and calls)_ I'm going herding myself. Herding is pleasant when you have thoughts with you. _He takes up the rod and goes out. The girls begin whispering, then chattering_. FIRST GIRL Sure I know. Every night I'm dreaming of the sea and the great towns. Streets and streets of houses and every street as crowded as the road outside the chapel when the people do be coming from Mass. I could watch the crowd in the street; I would think it better than any sight I ever knew. SECOND GIRL And the shops and the great houses. SECOND BOY There's no stir here. There's no fine clothes, nor fine manners, nor fine things to be seen. THIRD BOY There's no money. One could never get a shilling together here. In America there's money to have and to spend and to send home. THIRD GIRL Every girl gets married in America. _Ellen comes down_. ELLEN I'm glad you came. I have tea ready for you. I can't go to Gilroy's to-night. _Some come to the table and some remain near the door_. A GIRL _(at table, to Ellen)_ They say that a peat fire like that will seem very strange to us after America. Bridget wondered at it when she came back. "Do civilized people really cook at the like of them?" said she. A BOY It's the little houses with only three rooms in them that will seem strange. I'm beginning to wonder myself at their thatch and their mud walls. ANOTHER GIRL Houses in bogs and fields. It was a heart-break trying to keep them as we'd like to keep them. A GIRL _(at door)_ Ah, but I'll never forget Gortan and the little road to Aughnalee. ANOTHER GIRL I think I'll be lonesome for a long time. I'll be thinking on my brothers and sisters. I nursed and minded all the little ones. FIRST BOY A girl like you, Ellen, is foolish to be staying here. SECOND BOY She'll be coming in the fall. We'll be glad to see you, Ellen. ELLEN I have no friends in America. FIRST GIRL I have no friends there, either. But I'll get on. You could get on better than any of us, Ellen. SECOND GIRL She's waiting for her school. It will be a little place by the side of a bog. THIRD GIRL _(going to Ellen)_ There would be little change in that. And isn't it a life altogether different from this life that we have been longing for? To be doing other work, and to be meeting strange people. And instead of bare roads and market-towns, to be seeing streets, and crowds, and theaters. ELLEN _(passionately)_ O what do you know about streets and theaters? You have only heard of them. They are finer than anything you could say. They are finer than anything you could think of, after a story, when you'd be A GIRL You'll be going after all, Ellen. ELLEN I won't be going. FIRST GIRL Well, maybe you'll be down at Gilroy's. We must go now. _The girls go to the door. Ellen goes with them_. ONE OF THE BOYS Phil said that an egg was all he could touch while he was on the sea. SECOND BOY God help us, if that was all Phil could take. THIRD BOY Light your pipes now, and we'll go. _Ellen has parted with the girls. The boys light their pipes at fire. They go to door, and shake hands with Ellen. The boys go out_. ELLEN Theaters! What do they know of theaters? And it's their like will be enjoying them. _Sally comes back. She is more hurried than before_. SALLY Ellen! Ellen! I have wonders to tell. Where is Cornelius, at all? He's never here when you have wonders to tell. ELLEN What have you to tell? SALLY Oh, I don't know how I'll get it all out! Matt and father had an _odious_ falling out, and it was about you. And Matt's going to America; and he's to bring you with him. And Cornelius was saying that if father found out about yourself and Matt-- ELLEN Sally, Sally, take breath and tell it. SALLY Matt is going to America, like the others, and he's taking you with him. ELLEN Sally, Sally, is it the truth you're telling? SALLY It is the truth. Honest as day, it is the truth. ELLEN And I thought I'd be content with a new house. Now we can go away together. I can see what I longed to see. I have a chance of knowing what is in me. _(She takes Sally's hands)_ It's great news you've brought me. No one ever brought me such news before. Take this little cross. You won't have a chance of getting fond of me after all. _(She wears a cross at her throat; she breaks the string, and gives it to Sally)_ SALLY I don't know why I was so fervent to tell you. There's the stool before me that myself and Cornelius were sitting on, and he saying--_(She goes to the door)_ Here's Matt! Now we'll hear all about it. ELLEN So soon; so soon. _(She goes to the mirror. After a pause, turning to Sally)_ Go down the road a bit, when he comes in. Sally, you have a simple mind; you might be saying a prayer that it will be for the best. SALLY _(going to the door muttering)_ Go down the road a bit! 'Deed and I will not till I know the whole ins and outs of it. Sure I'm as much concerned in it as herself! "No man sees his house afire but watches his rick," he was saying. Ah, there's few of them could think of as fine a thing as that. _Matt comes in._ MATT Well, Sally, were you home lately? SALLY I was--leastways as far as the door. Father and oul' Martin were discoursing. MATT I've given them something to discourse about. Maybe you'll be treated better from this day. Sally. SALLY O Matt, I'm sorry. _She goes out._ MATT _(going to Ellen)_ It happened at last, Ellen; the height of the quarrel came. ELLEN It was bound to come. I knew it would come, Matt. MATT He was a foolish man to put shame on me after all I did for the land. ELLEN You had too much thought for the land. MATT I had in troth. The others went when there was less to be done. They could not stand him. Even the girls stole away. ELLEN There was the high spirit in the whole of you. MATT I showed it to him. "Stop," said I; "no more, or I fling lands and house and everything aside." ELLEN You said that. MATT Ay. "Your other children went for less," said I; "do you think there's no blood in me at all?" ELLEN What happened then? MATT "I'm your last son," I said; "keep your land and your twenty years' purchase. I'm with the others; and it's poor your land will leave you, and you without a son to bring down your name. A bit of land, a house," said I; "do you think these will keep me here?" ELLEN I knew they could not keep you here, Matt. You have broken from them at last; and now the world is before us. Think of all that is before us--the sea, and the ships, the strange life, and the great cities. MATT Ay--there before us--if we like. ELLEN Surely we like. MATT I was always shy of crowds. I'm simple, after all, Ellen, and have no thought beyond the land. ELLEN You said that house and land could not keep you. You told him you were going as your brothers went. MATT And I felt I was going. I frightened him. He'll be glad to see me back. It will be long before he treats me that way again. ELLEN _(suddenly)_ Matt! MATT What is it, Ellen? ELLEN I don't know--I was upset--thinking of the quarrel _(putting her hands on his shoulders)_ My poor Matt. It was about me you quarrelled. MATT Ay, he spoke against you. I couldn't put up with that. ELLEN He does not know your high spirit. He does not know your strength. MATT Ellen, it's no shame for a man to have harsh words said to him when it's about a woman like you. ELLEN Let nothing come between us now. I saw you in the winter making drains and ditches, and it wet. It's a poor story, the life of a man on the land. MATT I had too much thought for the land. ELLEN You had. Have thought for me now. There is no one in fair or market but would notice me. I was never a favourite. I lived to myself. I did not give my love about. You have never offered me anything. In the song a man offers towns to his sweetheart. You can offer me the sights of great towns, and the fine manners, and the fine life. MATT Ellen! _(He draws a little away)_ It's not me that could offer the like of that. I never had anything to my hand but a spade. ELLEN Your brothers--think of them. MATT They all left some one behind them. I am the last of my name. ELLEN Why should that keep you back? MATT His name is something to a man. Could you hear of your own name melting away without unease? And you are a woman. A man feels it more. ELLEN I do not understand men. Will you go back to your father's house after he shaming you out of it? MATT He'll be glad to see me back. He'll never cast it up to me that I went. ELLEN Matt, your father said words against me. Will you go to him and take his hand after that? MATT It was little he said against you. It was against your father he spoke. ELLEN _(sinking down on a chair, and putting hands before her face)_ My God! After all my waiting, you talk like that. MATT _(going to her)_ Ellen, Ellen, tell me what I can do for you? There's land and houses to be had here. Father will let me have my own way after this. ELLEN _(rising, with anger)_ What does it matter to me whether he lets you have your own way or not? Do you think I could go into a farmer's house? MATT Ellen! ELLEN It's a bad hand I'd make of a farmer's house. I'm not the sort to be in one. I'm not like Sally. MATT _(getting angry)_ Don't be talking that way, Ellen Douras. ELLEN _(with great vehemence)_ I must be talking like this. If you take me, you will have to go from your father's house. I always knew it. You ought to know it now, Matt Cosgar. MATT You didn't know it always. And you have let some one come between us when you talk like that. ELLEN I'm not one to be listening to what people say about you. Nor do I be talking in the markets about you. MATT I suppose not. You wouldn't have people think you gave any thought to me; I'm not good enough for you. The people you know are better. ELLEN You are foolish to be talking like that. You are foolish, I say. MATT I know I am foolish. Fit only to be working in drains and ditches in the winter. That's what you think. ELLEN Maybe it is. MATT Ellen Douras! Ellen Douras! A farmer's roof will be high enough for you some day. ELLEN May I never see the day. Go back, go back. Make it up with your father. Your father will be glad of a labourer. MATT Maybe you won't be glad if I go back; thinking on what you've said. ELLEN I said too much. We don't know each other at all. Go back. You have made your choice. _She goes up to room left._ MATT Very well, then. God above, am I to be treated everywhere like a heifer strayed into a patch of oats? Neither man nor woman will make me put up with this any longer. _(Going to door)_ When Ellen Douras wants me, she knows the place to send to. _(He stands at door. There is no sound from room. Going back he speaks loudly)_ I'll be waiting two days or three days to hear from Ellen Douras. _There is no sound. Matt goes out. The room door is thrown open, and Ellen comes down._ ELLEN _(furiously)_ Two days or three days he'll wait for me. As if I'd go into Murtagh Cosgar's house. As if I'd go into any farmer's house. As if I'd get married at all, and the world before me. Two days or three days you'll wait. Maybe it's lonesome, weary years you'll be waiting, Matt Cosgar. CURTAIN ACT III _Interior of Murtagh Cosgar's. It is towards sunset. Murtagh Cosgar is standing before the door looking out. Martin Douras is sitting at the fire in an armchair._ MARTIN DOURAS It's getting late, Murtagh Cosgar. MURTAGH COSGAR Ay, it's getting late. MARTIN DOURAS It's time for me to be going home. I should be seeing Ellen. _(He rises)_ MURTAGH COSGAR Stay where you are. _(Turning round)_ We're two old men, as you say. We should keep each other's company for a bit. MARTIN DOURAS I should be going home to see Ellen. MURTAGH COSGAR If she's going, you can't stay her. Let you keep here. MARTIN DOURAS She'll be wondering what happened to me. MURTAGH COSGAR Divil a bit it will trouble her. You're going to the fair anyway? MARTIN DOURAS I have no heart to be going into a fair. MURTAGH COSGAR It's myself used to have the great heart. Driving in on my own side-car, and looking down on the crowd of them. It's twenty years since I took a sup of drink. Oh, we'll have drinking to-morrow that will soften the oul' skin of you. You'll be singing songs about the Trojans to charm every baste in the fair. MARTIN DOURAS We're both old men, Murtagh Cosgar. MURTAGH COSGAR And is there any reason in your scholarship why oul' men should be dry men? Answer me that! MARTIN DOURAS I won't answer you at all, Murtagh Cosgar. There's no use in talking to you. MURTAGH COSGAR Put it down on a piece of paper that oul' men should have light hearts when their care is gone from them. They should be like-- MARTIN DOURAS There's nothing in the world like men with their rearing gone from them, and they old. _Sally comes to the door. She enters stealthily._ MURTAGH COSGAR Ha, here's one of the clutch home. Well, did you see that brother of yours? SALLY I did. He'll be home soon, father. MURTAGH COSGAR What's that you say? Were you talking to him? Did he say he'd be home? SALLY I heard him say it, father. MARTIN DOURAS God bless you for the news, Sally. MURTAGH COSGAR How could he go and he the last of them? Sure it would be against nature. Where did you see him, Sally? SALLY At Martin Douras's, father. MURTAGH COSGAR It's that Ellen Douras that's putting him up to all this. Don't you be said by her, Sally. SALLY No, father. MURTAGH COSGAR You're a good girl, and if you haven't wit, you have sense. He'll be home soon, did you say? SALLY He was coming home. He went round the long way, I'm thinking. Ellen Douras was vexed with him, father. She isn't going either, Matt says, but I'm thinking that you might as well try to keep a corncrake in the meadow for a whole winter, as to try to keep Ellen Douras in Aughnalee. MURTAGH COSGAR Make the place tidy for him to come into. He'll have no harsh words from me. _(He goes up to the room)_ SALLY Father's surely getting ould. MARTIN DOURAS _(sitting down)_ He's gone up to rest himself, God help him. Sally, _a stor_, I'm that fluttered, I dread going into my own house. SALLY I'll get ready now, and let you have a good supper before you go to the fair. MARTIN DOURAS Sit down near me, and let me hear everything, Sally. Was it Matt that told you, or were you talking to Ellen herself? SALLY O, indeed, I had a talk with Ellen, but she won't give much of her mind away. It was Matt that was telling me. "Indeed she's not going," said he, "and a smart young fellow like myself thinking of her. Ellen is too full of notions." Here's Matt himself. Father won't have a word to say to him. He's getting mild as he's getting ould, and maybe it's a fortune he'll be leaving to myself. _Matt comes to the door. He enters_. MATT Where is he? He's not gone to the fair so early? SALLY He's in the room. MATT Were you talking to him at all? Were you telling him you saw myself? SALLY I was telling him that you were coming back. MATT How did he take it? SALLY Very quiet. God help us all; I think father's losing his spirit. MATT _(going to Martin)_ Well, you see I've come back, Martin. MARTIN DOURAS Ay, you're a good lad. I always said you were a good lad. MATT How did father take it, Martin? MARTIN DOURAS Quietly, quietly. You saw Ellen? MATT Ay, I saw Ellen _(gloomily)_. She shouldn't talk the way she talks, Martin. What she said keeps coming into my mind, and I'm troubled. God knows I've trouble enough on my head. MARTIN DOURAS _(eagerly)_ What did she say, Matt Cosgar? MATT It wasn't what she said. She has that school in her mind, I know. MARTIN DOURAS And is there anything to keep her here, Matt Cosgar? MATT I don't know that she thinks much of me now. We had a few words, but there's nothing in the world I put above Ellen Douras. MARTIN DOURAS I should be going to her. MATT Wait a bit, and I'll be going with you. Wait a bit. Let us talk it over. She wouldn't go from you, and you old. MARTIN DOURAS God forgive my age, if it would keep her here. Would I have my Ellen drawing turf, or minding a cow, or feeding pigs? MATT I'm fond of her, Martin. She couldn't go, and I so fond of her. What am I doing here? I should be making it up with her. What good will anything be if Ellen Douras goes? _(He turns to the door, then stops)_ I came to settle with him. I mustn't be running about like a frightened child. _The room door opens, and Murtagh Cosgar is seen. Sally has hung a pot over the fire, and is cleaning the dishes at the dresser_. MURTAGH COSGAR _(at the room door)_ Sally, it's time to be putting on the meal. If you have any cabbage left, put it through the meal. _(To Matt)_ You put the thong in the harness? MATT I did _(pause)_ Well, I've come back to you. MURTGAH COSGAR You're welcome. We were making ready for the fair. MATT I'll be going out again before nightfall. MURTAGH COSGAR I'll not be wanting you here, or at the fair. MATT _(sullenly)_ There's no good talking to me like that. MURTAGH COSGAR You said, "I've come back," and I said, "you're welcome." You said, "I'm going out again," and I said, "I'll not be wanting you." MATT Father, have you no feeling for me at all? MURTAGH COSGAR Sure the wild raven on the tree has thought for her young. MATT Ay, but do you feel for me, and I standing here, trying to talk to you? MURTAGH COSGAR You're my son, and so I feel sorry for you; and you beginning to know your own foolishness. _(He turns to Sally)_ I'm not taking the pigs. Put a fresh bedding under them to-night. SALLY I will, father. MURTAGH COSGAR Be up early, and let the cows along the road, or they'll be breaking into the young meadow. SALLY I'll do that, too. MURTAGH COSGAR Be sure to keep enough fresh milk for the young calf. SALLY I'll be sure to do it, father. _She goes out. Martin takes out his paper, and begins to read it again_. MATT _(turning on Murtag)_ Before I go out again there's something I want settled. MURTAGH COSGAR What is it you want? MATT Would you have me go, or would you have me stay? MURTAGH COSGAR Don't be talking of going or staying, and you the last of them. MATT But I will be talking of it. You must treat me differently if you want me to stay. You must treat me differently to the way you treat Sally. MURTAGH COSGAR You were always treated differently, Matt. In no house that ever I remember was there a boy treated as well as you are treated here. MATT The houses that you remember are different from the houses that are now. Will you have me go, or will you have me stay? MURTAGH COSGAR You're very threatening. I'd have you stay. For the sake of the name, I'd have you stay. MATT Let us take hands on it, then. MURTAGH COSGAR Wait, we'll see what you want first. MATT You have no feeling. I'd go out of this house, only I want to give you a chance. MURTAGH COSGAR Stop. We can have kindness in this. We needn't be beating each other down, like men at a fair. MATT We're not men at a fair. May God keep the kindness in our hearts. _Martin rises_. MURTAGH COSGAR Don't be going, Martin Douras. MATT Don't be going yet. I'll be with you, when you're going. _Martin sits down_. MURTAGH COSGAR _(to Matt)_ You'll be getting married, I suppose, if you stay? MATT Maybe I will. MURTAGH COSGAR _(bitterly)_ In the houses that are now, the young marry where they have a mind to. It's their own business, they say. MATT Maybe it is their own business. I'm going to marry Ellen Douras, if she'll have me. MURTAGH COSGAR Ellen is a good girl, and clever, I'm told. But I would not have you deal before you go into the fair. MATT I'm going to marry Ellen Douras. MURTAGH COSGAR Her father is here, and we can settle it now. What fortune will you be giving Ellen, Martin? That 100 pounds that was saved while you were in Maryborough gaol? _Martin shakes his head_. MATT _(stubbornly)_ I'm going to marry Ellen Douras, with or without a fortune. MURTAGH COSGAR _(passionately)_ Boy, your father built this house. He got these lands together. He has a right to see that you and your generations are in the way of keeping them together. MATT I'll marry Ellen Douras, with or without a fortune. MURTAGH COSGAR Marry her, then. Marry Ellen Douras. MATT Now, Martin, we mustn't let an hour pass without going to her. _(He takes Martin's arm, and they go to the door)_ MURTAGH COSGAR Marry Ellen Douras, I bid you. Break what I have built, scatter what I have put together. That is what all the young will be doing, _Ellen Douras comes to the door as Matt and Martin reach it_. MATT Ellen! _She shrinks back_. ELLEN It's my father I came to speak to. MURTAGH COSGAR _(going to the door, and drawing the bolt from the half-door)_ When you come to my house, Ellen Douras, you are welcome within. _Ellen comes in_, ELLEN It's right that I should speak to you all. Matt Cosgar, I am going from here. MATT Ellen, Ellen, don't be saying that. Don't be thinking of the few words between us. It's all over now. Father agrees to us marrying. Speak, father, and let her hear yourself say it. ELLEN I can't go into a farmer's house. MATT You said that out of passion. Don't keep your mind on it any longer. ELLEN It's true, it's true. I can't go into a farmer's house. This place is strange to me. MATT How can you talk like that? I'm always thinking of you. ELLEN I've stayed here long enough. I want my own way; I want to know the world. MATT If you go, how will I be living, day after day? The heart will be gone out of me. MURTAGH COSGAR You'll be owning the land, Matt Cosgar. MATT _(passionately)_ I've worked on the land all my days. Don't talk to me about it now. _Ellen goes to Martin. Murtagh goes up to the door, and then turns and speaks_. MURTAGH COSGAR Listen to me, Matt Cosgar; and you listen too, Ellen Douras. It's a new house you want maybe. This house was built for me and my generations; but I'll build a new house for you both. It's hard for a man to part with his land before the hour of his death; and it's hard for a man to break his lands; but I'll break them, and give a share of land to you. ELLEN You were never friendly to me; but you have the high spirit, and you deserve a better daughter than I would make. The land and house you offer would be a drag on me. _(She goes to the door)_ MATT Ellen, what he offers is nothing, after all; but I care for you. Sure you won't go from me like that? ELLEN Oh, can't you let me go? I care for you as much as I care for any one. But it's my freedom I want. MATT Then you're going surely? ELLEN I am. Good-bye. _She goes out, Martin follows her. Matt stands dazed. Murtagh closes the door, then goes and takes Matt's arm, and brings him down_. MURTAGH COSGAR Be a man. We offered her everything, and she went. There's no knowing what the like of her wants. The men will be in soon, and we'll drink to the new ownership. MATT Oh, what's the good in talking about that now? If Ellen was here, we might be talking about it. MURTAGH COSGAR To-morrow you and me might go together. Ay, the bog behind the meadow is well drained by this, and we might put the plough over it. There will be a fine, deep soil in it, I'm thinking. Don't look that way, Matt, my son. MATT When I meet Ellen Douras again, it's not a farmer's house I'll be offering her, nor life in a country place. MURTAGH COSGAR No one could care for you as I care for you. I know the blood between us, and I know the thoughts I had as I saw each of you grow up. _Matt moves to the door_. MURTAGH COSGAR Where are you going? MATT To see the boys that are going away. MURTAGH COSGAR Wait till the fall and I'll give you money to go and come back. Farrell Kavanagh often goes to America. You could go with him. MATT I'll go by myself, unless Ellen Douras comes now. The creamery owes me money for the carting, and I'll get it. MURTAGH COSGAR Then go. Good-bye to you, Matt Cosgar. MATT Good-bye to you. _He goes out. Murtagh stands, then moves about vaguely_ MURTAGH COSGAR The floor swept, the hearth tidied. It's a queer end to it all. Twenty years I bid them offer. Twenty years, twenty years! _Martin comes back_. MURTAGH COSGAR The men will be coming back. MARTIN DOURAS I suppose they will. MURTAGH COSGAR You're a queer fellow, Martin Douras. You went to gaol for some meeting. MARTIN DOURAS Ay. MURTAGH COSGAR Them was the stirring times. I can't help but think of you in gaol, and by yourself. What brings you back now? MARTIN DOURAS Ellen told me to go back. I should say something to Matt, I think. MURTAGH COSGAR He went out as you came in. MARTIN DOURAS I'll go in when the house is quiet. I'll have a few prayers to be saying this night. MURTAGH COSGAR I'm going to the fair. MARTIN DOURAS I won't be going to the fair. MURTAGH COSGAR Why won't you be going to the fair? Didn't you ask me for a lift? You'll be going with me. MARTIN DOURAS I won't be going, and don't be overbearing me now, Murtagh Cosgar. MURTAGH COSGAR You will be going to the fair, if it was only to be showing that, seemly face of yours. _(Going to the door, he calls)_ "Sally!" _(He turns to Martin Douras)_ I've a daughter still, Martin Douras. MARTIN DOURAS You have, and I have a son. MURTAGH COSGAR What would you say to a match between them, Martin Douras? MARTIN DOURAS I have nothing to say again it. MURTAGH COSGAR Then a match it will be. _Sally comes in from yard_. SALLY If you fed that baste on honey, she'd turn on you. Cabbage I gave her and got into trouble for it, and now she's gone and trampled the bad potatoes till they're hardly worth the boiling. I'll put the bush in the gap when I'm going out again, father. MURTAGH COSGAR Ay. Is that Cornelius Douras that's coming up the path? SALLY O faith it is. I'll get him to give me a hand with the trough. _Cornelius comes in_. CORNELIUS Well, Murtagh Cosgar, a great and memorial day is ended. May you live long to enjoy the fruits of it. Twenty years on the first term, and the land is ours and our children's. I met the men. MURTAGH COSGAR Ours and our children's, ay. We've been making a match between yourself and Sally. CORNELIUS Between me and Sally? SALLY Between Cornelius and myself? MURTAGH COSGAR Ay, shake hands on it now. CORNELIUS And tell me one thing, Murtagh Cosgar. Is it true that Matt's going to America, and that Ellen will wait for him for a year at the school? I met them together, and they told me that. MURTAGH COSGAR What they say is true, I'm sure. The land is yours and your children's. SALLY _(wiping her hands in her apron)_ O Cornelius. CORNELIUS Aren't they foolish to be going away like that, father, and we at the mouth of the good times? The men will be coming in soon, and you might say a few words. _(Martin shakes his head)_ Indeed you might, father; they'll expect it of you. _(Martin shakes his head. Murtagh and Sally try to restrain him)_ "Men of Ballykillduff," you might say, "stay on the land, and you'll be saved body and soul; you'll be saved in the man and in the nation. The nation, men of Ballykillduff, do you ever think of it at all? Do you ever think of the Irish nation that is waiting all this time to be born?" _He becomes more excited; he is seen to be struggling with words_. END OF PLAY THE LAND was first produced at the Abbey Theater, Dublin, in June, 1905, by The Irish National Theater Society, under the direction of W.G. Fay, with the following cast:-- MURTAGH COSGAR W. G. Fay MATT Proinsias MacSiubhlaigh SALLY Sara Allgood MARTIN DOURAS F.J. Fay CORNELIUS Arthur Sinclair ELLEN Maire Ni Gharbhaigh. _THOMAS MUSKERRY_ CHARACTERS THOMAS MUSKERRY The Master of Garrisowen Workhouse MRS. CRILLY His Daughter CROFTON CRILLY His Son-in-law ALBERT CRILLY His Grandson ANNA CRILLY His Granddaughter JAMES SCOLLARD Thomas Muskerry's Successor FELIX TOURNOUR The Porter at Workhouse Lodge MYLES GORMAN A Blind Piper CHRISTY CLARKE A Boy reared in the Workhouse SHANLEY | MICKIE CRIPES | Paupers in Workhouse AN OLD MAN | SCENE: _Garrisowen, a town in the Irish Midlands_. ACT FIRST _The Master's office in Garrisowen Workhouse. It is partly an office, partly a living room. To the right is a door opening on corridor, and in the back, left, a door leading to the Master's apartments. There is an iron stove down from back and towards right, and a big grandfather's clock back towards door of apartments. A basket arm chair down from stove, and a wooden chair beside it. There is a desk against wall, left, and an office stool before it. Down from this desk a table on which is a closed desk. On table are books, papers, and files. On a wooden chair beside the arm chair is a heap of newspapers and periodicals. There is a rack beside corridor door, and on rack a shawl, an old coat, a hat, and a bunch of big keys. In the corner, right, is a little cabinet, and on it a small mirror. Above door of apartments a picture of Daniel O'Connell. The grandfather's clock is ticking audibly. It is 8.45 p.m. The gas over desk is lighted_. _Christy Clarke, a youth of about seventeen, is seated in the armchair reading a periodical. His clothes are threadbare, but brushed and clean. He looks studious, and has intellectual possibilities. The clock ticks on, the boy reads, but with little attention. At the corridor door there is a knocking. Christy Clarke turns slightly. The door opens, and a tall man in the ugly dress of a pauper is seen. The man is Felix Tournour. He carries in a bucket of coal. He performs this action like one who has acquired the habit of work under an overseer. He is an ugly figure in his pauper dress. His scanty beard is coal black. He has a wide mouth and discoloured teeth. His forehead is narrow and bony. He is about forty-five._ TOURNOUR _(in a harsh voice, after looking around)_ Is he not back yet? CHRISTY _(without stirring)_ Is who not back yet? TOURNOUR The master I'm talking about. I don't know where he does be going those evenings. _He shovels coal into the stove_. CHRISTY And what is it to you where he does be going? TOURNOUR Don't talk to me like that, young fellow. You're poorhouse rearing, even though you are a pet. Will he be sitting up here to-night, do you know? CHRISTY What's that to you whether he will or not? TOURNOUR If he's sitting up late he'll want more coal to his fire. CHRISTY Well, the abstracts will have to be finished to-night. TOURNOUR Then he will be staying up. He goes out for a walk in the evenings now, and I don't know where he does be going. CHRISTY He goes out for a walk in the country. _(Tournour makes a leer of contempt)_ Do you never go for a walk in the country, Felix Tournour? TOURNOUR They used to take me out for walks when I was a little fellow, but they never got me out into the country since. CHRISTY I suppose, now that you're in the porter's lodge, you watch every one that goes up and down the road? TOURNOUR It gratifies me to do so--would you believe that now? CHRISTY You know a lot, Felix Tournour. TOURNOUR We're told to advance in knowledge, young fellow. How long is Tom Muskerry the Master of Garrisowen Workhouse? CHRISTY Thirty years this spring. TOURNOUR Twenty-nine years. CHRISTY He's here thirty years according to the books. TOURNOUR Twenty-nine years. CHRISTY Thirty years. TOURNOUR Twenty-nine years. I was born in the workhouse, and I mind when the Master came in to it. Whist now, here he is, and time for him. _He falls into an officious manner. He closes up the stove and puts bucket away. Then he goes over to desk, and, with his foot on the rung of the office stool, he turns the gas on full. Christy Clarke gets out of armchair, and begins to arrange the periodicals that are on wooden chair. The corridor door opens. The man who appears is not the Master, however. He is the blind piper, Myles Gorman, who is dressed in the pauper garb. Myles Gorman is a Gael of the West of Ireland, with a face full of intellectual vigour. He is about sixty, and carries himself with energy. His face is pale and he has a fringe of a white beard. The eye-balls in his head are contracted, but it is evident he has some vestiges of sight. Before the others are aware who he is, he has advanced into the room. He stands there now turning the attentive face of the blind_. GORMAN Mister Muskerry! Are you there, Mister Muskerry? TOURNOUR What do you want, my oul' fellow? GORMAN _(with a puzzled look)_ Well, now, I've a favour to ask of your honour. TOURNOUR Be off out of this to your ward. GORMAN Is that Mister Muskerry? CHRISTY Mister Muskerry isn't here. GORMAN And who am I talking to? CHRISTY You are talking to Felix Tournour. GORMAN Felix Tournour! Ay, ay. Good night, Felix Tournour. When will the Master be back? TOURNOUR _(coming to him)_ Not till you're out of this, and back in your ward. GORMAN Wasn't there a boy speaking to me? CHRISTY Yes _(speaking as if to a deaf man)_ The Master will be going the rounds in a while, and you can speak to him in the ward. GORMAN I've a favour to ask the Master, and I don't want to ask it before the others. _(To Christy)_ Will the Master be here soon, a vick vig? [6] TOURNOUR _(taking him by the shoulders)_ Here, now, come on, this is your way out. _He turns Gorman to the door. As he is putting him out Thomas Muskerry enters_ TOURNOUR This oul' fellow came into the office, and I was leading him back into his ward. MUSKERRY Leave the man alone. _Tournour retreats to the stove and takes up the bucket; after a look behind he goes out and closes the corridor door. Christy Clarke takes the periodicals over to table and sits down. Myles Gorman has been eager and attentive. Thomas Muskerry stands with his back to the stove. He is over sixty. He is a large man, fleshy in face and figure, sanguine and benevolent in disposition. He has the looks and movements of one in authority. His hair is white and long; his silver beard is trimmed. His clothes are loosely fitting. He wears no overcoat, but has a white knitted muffler round his neck. He has on a black, broad-brimmed hat, and carries a walking-stick._ [Footnote 6: _A mhic bhig,_ my little son.] MUSKERRY Well, my good man? GORMAN I'm here to ask a favour from you, Master. MUSKERRY You should proffer your request when I'm in the ward. However, I'm ready to give you my attention. GORMAN I'm a blinded man, Master, and when you're in the ward I can't get you by yourself conveniently. I can't come up to you like the other oul' men and speak to you private like. MUSKERRY Well, now, what can I do for you? GORMAN _(eagerly)_ They tell me that to-morrow's the market-day, and I thought that you might give me a pass, and let me go out about the town. MUSKERRY We'll consider it, Gorman. GORMAN Master, let me out in the town on the market-day. MUSKERRY We couldn't let you out to play your pipes through the town. GORMAN I'm not thinking of the music at all, Master, but to be out in the day and to feel the throng moving about, and to be talking to the men that do be on the roads. MUSKERRY We'll consider it, Gorman. _(He takes off muffler, and puts it on back of armchair)_ GORMAN Well, I'm very much obliged to your honour. Good night to you, Master. _(He passes Muskerry and goes towards the door. Muskerry has been regarding him)_ MUSKERRY Tell me this, Gorman, were you always on the roads? GORMAN I was driving cattle, and I was dealing in horses. Then I took up with an oul' man, and he taught me the pipes. I'm playing the pipes ever since, and that's thirty years ago. Well, the eyes began to wither up on me, and now I've only a stim of sight. I'm a blinded man from this out, Master. MUSKERRY And what will you do? GORMAN Oh, sure the roads of Ireland are before me when I leave this; I'll be playing my bit of music. _(He moves to the door)_ MUSKERRY Tell me; have you any family yourself? GORMAN Ne'er a chick nor child belonging to me. Ne'er a woman lay by me. I went the road by myself. Will you think of what I asked you, Master? MUSKERRY I'll consider it. GORMAN Good night to your honour. Remember my name, Master--Gorman, Myles Gorman. _Muskerry stands looking after Gorman_. MUSKERRY Now, Christy Clarke, I consider that the man gone out is a very exceptional man. CHRISTY Is it Myles Gorman? MUSKERRY Yes. I'd even say that, considering his station in life, Myles Gorman is a very superior man. CHRISTY They say he's not a good musician. MUSKERRY And maybe he's not. I consider, however, that there's great intelligence in his face. He stands before you, and you feel that he has the life of a young colt, and then you're bound to think that, in spite of the fact that he's blind and a wanderer, the man has not wasted his life. _(Muskerry settles himself in the armchair)_ CHRISTY Will you give leave for to-morrow? MUSKERRY No, Christy, I will not. CHRISTY Why not, Mister Muskerry? MUSKERRY That man would break bounds and stay away. CHRISTY Do you think he would? MUSKERRY He'd fly off, like the woodquest flying away from the tame pigeons. CHRISTY He and his brother had a farm between them. His brother was married, and one day the brother told Myles to go to Dublin to see a comrade of his who was sick. Myles was home in a week, and when he came back he found that his brother had sold the place and was gone out of the country. MUSKERRY His brother did wrong, but he didn't do so much wrong to Myles Gorman. CHRISTY How is that, Mister Muskerry? MUSKERRY He sent Myles Gorman to his own life. He's a man who went his own way always; a man who never had any family nor any affairs; a man far different from me, Christy Clarke. I was always in the middle of affairs. Then, too, I busied myself about other people. It was for the best, I think; but that's finished. On the desk under your hand is a letter, and I want you to bring it to me. CHRISTY _(going through papers idly)_ "I am much obliged for your favour--" MUSKERRY That's not it. CHRISTY _(reading another letter)_ "I am about to add to the obligations under which I stand to you, by recommending to your notice my grandson, Albert Crilly--" MUSKERRY That's the letter. It's the last of its kind. Bring it to me. _(Christy Clarke brings over the letter)_ There comes a turn in the blood and a turn in the mind, Christy. This while back I've been going out to the country instead of into the town, and coming back here in the evenings I've seen the workhouse with the big wall around it, and the big gate going into it, and I've said to myself that Thomas Muskerry ought to be as secure and contented here as if he was in his own castle. CHRISTY And so you ought, Mister Muskerry. MUSKERRY Look round at the office, Christy. I've made it as fit for me as the nest for the wren. I'll spend a few more years here, and then I'll go out on pension. I won't live in the town, I've seen a place in the country I'd like, and the people will be leaving it in a year or two. CHRISTY Where is it, Mister Muskerry? MUSKERRY I'll say no more about it now, but it's not far from this, and its near the place, where I was reared. CHRISTY And so you'll go back to your own place? MUSKERRY As Oliver Goldsmith my fellow county man, and I might almost say, my fellow parishioner, says--What's this the lines are about the hare, Christy? CHRISTY "And like the Hare whom Hounds and Horns pursue Pants to the place from whence at first he flew." MUSKERRY Aye. "And like the Hare whom Hounds and Horns pursue"-- _(The clock strikes nine)_ CHRISTY You weren't on the rounds yet? MUSKERRY _(startled)_ Would you believe it, now, it was nearly passing my mind to go on the rounds? _(He rises, putting the letter in his pocket)_ Where's that fellow, Albert Crilly? He was to have been in here to give me a hand with the abstracts. Christy Clarke, go down to Miss Coghlan's and get me two novelettes. Bring me up two nice love stories, and be here when I come back. _Christy Clarke takes his cap off rack and goes out. Thomas Muskerry puts on his scarf, goes to the rack and takes down the bunch of keys. As he is going out Felix Tournour enters with a bucket of coal. He carries it over to the stove_. MUSKERRY Now, Tournour, sweep up this place. _Thomas Muskerry goes out by corridor door. Felix Tournour takes brush from under desk, left, and begins to sweep in the direction of corridor door_. TOURNOUR Sweeping, sweeping! I'll run out of the house some day on account of the work I've to do for Master Thomas Muskerry. _(He leans on his brush in front of stove)_ I know why you're going for walks in the country, my oul' cod. There's them in town that you've got enough of. You don't want to go bail for Madam Daughter, nor for Count Crofton Crilly, your son-in-law, nor for the Masters and Mistresses; all right, my oul' cod-fish. That I may see them laying you out on the flags of Hell. _(He puts the brush standing upright, and speaks to it)_: "The Devil went out for a ramble at night, Through Garrisowen Union to see every sight. The ould men were dreaming of meat to come near them, And the Devil cocked ears at the words for to hear them. 'Twice a year we get meat,' said the toothless oul' men, 'Oh, Lord send the meat won't be too tough again.' To clear away dishes Mick Fogarty goes, May the Devil burn the nails off his toes. Deep dreaming that night of fast days before, Sagging the walls with the pull of his snore, In his chamber above Thomas Muskerry lay snug, When the Devil this summons roared in his lug--" _The door of the Master's apartments is opened and Albert Crilly enters. Albert Crilly is a young man, who might be a bank clerk or a medical student. He is something of a dude, but has a certain insight and wit_. ALBERT _(lighting a cigarette)_ Is the grandparent here, Tournour? TOURNOUR He's gone on the rounds, Mister Albert. ALBERT What time was he up this morning? TOURNOUR He was late enough. He wasn't up in time to come to Mass with us. ALBERT The old man will get into trouble. TOURNOUR If the nuns hear about it. ALBERT He'll have to give the whole thing up soon. TOURNOUR He's well off that can get somebody else to do the work for him. _(He continues to sweep towards corridor)_ ALBERT Tournour, you're a damned clever fellow. I heard a piece of yours yesterday that I thought was damned good. TOURNOUR Was it a rhyme? ALBERT It was something called "The Devil's Rambles." TOURNOUR _(taking a step towards him)_ Don't let the boss hear, and I'll tell it to you, Mr. Albert. _(He holds the brush in his hands and is about to begin the recitation when Crofton Crilly enters from the Master's apartments. Crofton Crilly has a presentable appearance. He is big and well made, has a fair beard and blue eyes. A pipe is always in his mouth. He is a loiterer, a talker, a listener)_ CRILLY Are you going to finish the abstracts to-night, Albert? ALBERT I believe I am. Go on with "The Devil's Rambles," Tournour. CRILLY I heard it in Keegan's. It's damn good. TOURNOUR I don't like saying it before Mister Crilly. CRILLY _(with easy contempt)_ Go on with it, man; I'll leave a pint in Keegan's for you. TOURNOUR Well, you mightn't like it. CRILLY Have done talking and go on with it. TOURNOUR _(reciting)_-- "In his chamber above--a--a _person_ lay snug, When the Devil this summons roared in his lug-- 'Get up,' said the Devil, 'and swear you'll be true, And the oath of allegiance I'll tender anew. You'll have pork, veal, and lamb, mutton-chops, fowl and fish, Cabbage and carrots and leeks as you wish. No fast days to you will make visitation, For your sake the town will have dispensation. Long days you will have, without envy or strife, And when you depart you'll find the same life, And in the next world you'll have your will and your sway, With a Poorhouse to govern all your own way, And I'll promise you this; to keep up your state, You'll have Felix Tournour to watch at the gate.'" CRILLY That's damn good. I must get a copy of the whole of it to show at Keegan's. _Tournour has swept as far as the corridor door. He opens it and sweeps down the passage. He goes out and closes door_. CRILLY That's a damn clever fellow. _(He becomes anxious, as with a troubled recollection. He goes to the little cabinet, opens it, and takes out a bottle of whisky and a glass. He pours some whisky into the glass, and remains looking at himself in the mirror. He smooths his beard. He goes to the arm chair with the glass of whisky, the anxious expression still on his face)_ This is a cursed town. _(He drinks)_ ALBERT Every town in Ireland is a cursed town. CRILLY But this is an extraordinarily cursed town. Everybody's in debt to everybody else. I don't know what's to be done. Now, imagine that fellow, James Covey, failing in business and getting clear out of the town. ALBERT Covey seems to have done it well. CRILLY God knows how many he has stuck. ALBERT Well, he didn't stick the Crillys for anything. CRILLY Albert, you don't know how these financial things work out. Do you think would his brother settle? ALBERT Settle with whom? CRILLY Well ... with any of the ... any of the people that have ... I don't know. It's a cursed town. If I had joined the police at your age, I'd have a pension by this, and I mightn't care for any of them. ALBERT I wish I had a job and I'd wait on the pension. CRILLY Oh, you'll be all right. The grandfather is seeing about your job. ALBERT If the grandparent gets me that job I'll want two new suits at least. CRILLY 'Pon my soul, Albert, I don't know what's to be done. ( _His mind wanders off)_ I suppose the abstracts have to go out in the morning. ALBERT They have. And damn all the old man has done to them. CRILLY The Guardians hear that he's late in the mornings, Albert, and some of them are beginning to question his fitness to check the stores. ALBERT The old man ought to resign. CRILLY I suppose he ought. I'm not wishing for his resignation myself, Albert. You know your mother regards it as a settled thing that he should come and live with us. ALBERT The mother and Anna are preparing for the event. CRILLY How's that, Albert? ALBERT Mother has James Scollard in her eye for the new Master. CRILLY Right enough! Scollard would get it, too, and then he would marry Anna. ALBERT That's the arrangement, I expect. CRILLY It mightn't be bad. Scollard mightn't want Nancy's money under that arrangement. Still I don't like the idea of the old man living in the house. ALBERT The mother would never think of letting him take himself and his pension anywhere else. CRILLY I don't think she would. ALBERT I wouldn't be surprised if he did go somewhere else. I hear he often goes up to that cottage in Stradrina. CRILLY What cottage, Albert? ALBERT Briar Cottage. I hear he sits down there, and talks of coming to live in the place. CRILLY _(warningly)_ Albert, don't clap hands behind the bird. Take my word, and say nothing about it. ALBERT All right. CRILLY We'd have no comfort in the house if your mother's mind was distracted. _Mrs. Crilly enters from corridor. She is a woman of forty, dressed in a tailor-made costume. She has searching eyes. There is something of hysteria about her mouth. She has been good-looking._ CRILLY Good night, Marianne. MRS. CRILLY Are you finishing the abstracts, Albert? ALBERT I'm working at them. It's a good job we didn't leave the old man much latitude for making mistakes. MRS. CRILLY _(closing door)_ He'll have to resign. CRILLY Good God, Marianne. _(He rises)_ MRS. CRILLY Well. Let him be sent away without a pension. Of course, he can live with us the rest of his life and give us nothing for keeping him. CRILLY I don't know what's in your mind at all, Marianne. _(He crosses over to the cabinet, opens it, and fills out another glass of whisky)_ ALBERT Let the old man do what suits himself. CRILLY _(coming back to stove)_ Do, Marianne. Let him do what suits himself. For the present. MRS. CRILLY For pity's sake put down that glass and listen to what I have to say. CRILLY What's the matter, Marianne? MRS. CRILLY James Scollard came to me to-day, and he told me about the things that are noticed.... The nuns notice them, the Guardians notice them. He misses Mass. He is late on his rounds. He can't check the stores that are coming into the house. He may get himself into such trouble that he'll be dismissed with only an apology for a pension, or with no pension at all. CRILLY I don't know what's to be done. MRS. CRILLY If he could be got to resign now James Scollard would have a good chance of becoming Workhouse Master. He would marry Anna, and we would still have some hand in the affairs of the House. CRILLY Yes, yes. I think that Scollard could make a place for himself. ALBERT The old man won't be anxious to retire. MRS. CRILLY Why shouldn't he retire when his time is up? ALBERT Well, here he is what's called a potentate. He won't care to come down and live over Crilly's shop. MRS. CRILLY And where else would he live in the name of God? ALBERT He won't want to live with our crowd. MRS. CRILLY What crowd? The boys can be sent to school, you'll be on your situation, and Anna will be away. _(She seats herself in the armchair)_ I don't know what Albert means when he says that the Master would not be content to live with us. It was always settled that he would come to us when his service was over. _Albert, who has been going over the books, has met something that surprises him. He draws Crilly to the desk. The two go over the papers, puzzled and excited. Anna Crilly enters from corridor. She is a handsome girl of about nineteen or twenty, with a rich complexion dark hair and eyes. She is well dressed, and wears a cap of dark fur. She stands at the stove, behind her mother, holding her hands over the stove. Mrs. Crilly watches the pair at the desk_. MRS. CRILLY We can't think of allowing a pension of fifty pounds a year to go out of our house. Where will we get money to send the boys to school? ANNA Mother. Grandfather is going to live away from us. MRS. CRILLY Why do you repeat what Albert says? ANNA I didn't hear Albert say anything. MRS. CRILLY Then, what are you talking about? ANNA Grandfather goes to Martin's cottage nearly every evening, and stays there for hours. They'll be leaving the place in a year or two, and Grandfather was saying that he would take the cottage when he retired from the Workhouse. MRS. CRILLY When did you hear this? ANNA This evening. Delia Martin told me. MRS. CRILLY And that's the reason why he has kept away from us. He goes to strangers, and leaves us in black ignorance of his thought. _Crilly and Albert are busy at desk_. CRILLY Well, damn it all-- ALBERT Here's the voucher. CRILLY God! I don't know what's to be done. ALBERT It's a matter of fifty tons. _Albert turns round deliberately, leaving his father going through the papers in desperate eagerness. Albert takes a cigarette from behind his ear, takes a match-box from his waistcoat pocket, and strikes a light. He goes towards door of apartments. Mrs. Crilly rises_. ALBERT _(his hand on the handle of door)_ Well so-long. MRS. CRILLY Where are you going? ALBERT I'm leaving you to talk it over with the old man. _Mrs. Crilly looks from Albert to Crilly_. CRILLY The Master has let himself in for something serious, Marianne. ALBERT It's a matter of fifty pounds. The old man has let the Guardians pay for a hundred tons of coal when only fifty were delivered. MRS. CRILLY Is that so, Crofton? CRILLY It looks like it, Marianne. ALBERT There were fifty tons of coal already in stores, but the Governor didn't take them into account. That cute boy, James Covey, delivered fifty tons and charged for the hundred. The old man passed on the certificate, and the Guardians paid Covey. They helped him to his passage to America. _(He opens door and goes through)_ MRS. CRILLY They will dismiss him--dismiss him without a pension. ANNA Mother. If he gets the pension first, could they take it back from him? CRILLY No. But they could make him pay back the fifty pounds in instalments. MRS. CRILLY Fifty pounds! We can't afford to lose fifty pounds. ANNA Who would find out about the coal, father? CRILLY The Guardians who take stock. ANNA And how would they know at this time whether there was a hundred or a hundred and fifty tons there at first? CRILLY The business men amongst them would know. However, there won't be an inspection for some time. ANNA Suppose grandfather had got his pension and had left the Workhouse, who would know about the coal? CRILLY The new Workhouse Master. MRS. CRILLY The new Workhouse Master-- CRILLY Marianne-- MRS. CRILLY Well? CRILLY I think I'll stay here and advise the old man. MRS. CRILLY No. Go away. CRILLY _(at door of apartments)_ After all, I'm one of the Guardians, and something might be done. MRS. CRILLY You can do nothing. We can do nothing for him. Let him go to the strangers. _Crilly goes out_. MRS. CRILLY Anna! ANNA Yes, mother. MRS. CRILLY The Martins are not giving up their house for a year or two? ANNA No, mother. MRS. CRILLY If he resigns now his pension will be safe. There is nothing else against him. ANNA But some one will find out the difference in the coal. MRS. CRILLY It's the new Workhouse Master who will know that. ANNA _(hardening)_ But _he_ could not pass such a thing, mother. MRS. CRILLY _(abandoning a position)_ Well, after your grandfather gets his pension we could make some arrangement with the Guardians. ANNA Yes, mother. Hasn't grandfather a hundred pounds invested in the shop? MRS. CRILLY It's not a hundred pounds. Besides, it's not an investment. ANNA _(with a certain resolution in her rich voice)_ Mother. Is my money safe? MRS. CRILLY We could give you the eighty pounds, Anna, but after that we would need all the help we could get from you. ANNA Yes, mother. MRS. CRILLY _(again taking up a position)_ But if we help James Scollard to the place. ANNA _(with determination)_ Whether Mr. Scollard gets the place or does not get the place, I'll want my fortune, mother. MRS. CRILLY Very well, Anna. If we could get him to come over. ... _(She sits in arm chair)_ There's a lamb in Ginnell's field; you might call in to-morrow and ask them to prepare it for us. ANNA Then grandfather is coming to dinner on Sunday? MRS. CRILLY We must get him to come. _Some one is coming up the passage. Anna's hand is on handle of door. She holds it open. Thomas Muskerry stands there_. MUSKERRY _(pleased to see her)_ Well, Nancy! ANNA Good night, grandpapa. _(He regards her with fondness)_ MRS. CRILLY Good night, father. MUSKERRY This Nancy girl is looking remarkably well. _(He turns to Mrs. Crilly)_ Well, ma'am, and how are you? I've written that letter for that rascally Albert. _He leaves his stick on table and goes to desk. Mrs. Crilly watches him. Anna comes to her. Muskerry addresses an envelope with some labour. Mrs. Crilly notices a tress of Anna's hair falling down. Anna kneels down beside her. She takes off Anna's cap, settles up the hair, and puts the cap on again. Having addressed the envelope, Muskerry holds up a piece of wax to the gas. He seals the letter then holds it out_. MUSKERRY Here's the letter now, and maybe it's the last thing I can do for any of ye. MRS. CRILLY You are very good. _Muskerry goes to them_. MUSKERRY In season and out of season I've put myself at your service. I can do no more for ye. _She takes the letter from him. His resentment is breaking down. He sits on chair beside armchair. He speaks in a reconciling tone_. MUSKERRY You're looking well, Marianne, MRS. CRILLY I'm beginning to be well again. MUSKERRY And the infant? What age is he now? MRS. CRILLY Little Joseph is ten months old. MUSKERRY I dreamt of him last night. I thought Joseph became a bishop. He ought to be reared for the Church, Marianne. Well, well, I've nothing more to do with that. _(He settles himself in the armchair)_ Did Christy Clarke bring in the papers? ANNA Christy Clarke hasn't been here at all, grandpapa. MUSKERRY Stand here till I look at you Nancy. _(Anna comes left of stove)_ I wouldn't be surprised if you were the best-looking girl in the town, Nancy. ANNA _(without any coquettishness)_ Anna Crilly is riot going into competition with the others. _(She wraps the muffler round him, then kisses him)_ Good night, grandpapa. _(She goes out by corridor door)_ MRS. CRILLY Thank you for the letter for Albert. MUSKERRY I think, Marianne, it's the last thing I can do for you or yours. MRS. CRILLY Well, we can't tell a bad story of you, and things are well with us. MUSKERRY I'm glad to hear that. I was thinking of going to see you next week. MRS. CRILLY Come to dinner on Sunday. We are having a lamb. MUSKERRY What sort is the lamb? MRS. CRILLY Oh, a very young lamb. Anna will make the dressing for you. MUSKERRY I'll send round a bottle of wine. Perhaps we'll be in the way of celebrating something for Albert. MRS. CRILLY Nancy was saying that you might like to stay a few days with us. MUSKERRY Stay a few days! How could I do that, ma'am? MRS. CRILLY You could get somebody to look after the House. James Scollard would do it, and you could stay out for a few days. MUSKERRY Well, indeed, I'll do no such thing. What put it into your head to ask me this? MRS. CRILLY Nancy said-- MUSKERRY Let the girl speak for herself. What's in your mind, woman? MRS. CRILLY Well, you're not looking well. MUSKERRY I'm as well as ever I was. MRS. CRILLY Others do not think so. MUSKERRY I suppose you heard I was late a few mornings. No matter for that. I'm as well as ever I was. No more talk about it; I'm going on with the work. _(He rises and goes over to desk)_ MRS. CRILLY I'm sorry to say that no one else thinks as well of you as you do yourself. MUSKERRY Well, I'll hear no more about it, and that's enough about it. Why isn't Albert Crilly here? MRS. CRILLY Well, he was here, and he is coming back. MUSKERRY I'll want him. _(He takes up a card left on the desk. He turns round and reads)_--"You have let the Guardians pay for a hundred tons. James Covey delivered only fifty tons of coal." Who left this here? MRS. CRILLY I suppose Albert left it for you. MUSKERRY The impudent rascal. How dare he address himself like that to me? _(He throws card on table)_ MRS. CRILLY Perhaps he found something out in the books. MUSKERRY No matter whether he did or not, he'll have to have respect when he addresses me. Anyway it's a lie--a damn infernal lie. I was in the stores the other day, and there was eighty tons of coal still there. Certainly twenty tons had been taken out of it. The Provision Check Account will show. _(He takes up a book and turns round. He goes back some pages. He lets the book fall. He stands there helpless)_ I suppose you all are right in your judgment of me. I'm at my failing time. I'll have to leave this without pension or prospect. They'll send me away. MRS. CRILLY They had nothing against you before this. MUSKERRY I was spoken of as the pattern for the officials of Ireland. MRS. CRILLY If you resigned now-- MUSKERRY Before this comes out. _(He looks for help)_ Marianne, it would be like the blow to the struck ox if I lost my pension. MRS. CRILLY If you managed to get the pension you could pay the Guardians back in a lump sum. MUSKERRY If I resigned now, where would I go to? MRS. CRILLY It was always understood that you would stay with us. MUSKERRY No, Marianne. MRS. CRILLY You'll have the place to yourself. The boys will be going to school, and Albert will be away, too. Anna and myself will look after you. MUSKERRY I could stay for a while. MRS. CRILLY Oh, well, if you have a better place to go-- MUSKERRY Remember what I said, Marianne. I've worked for you and yours, in season and out of season. There should be no more claims on me. MRS. CRILLY There are no more claims on you. MUSKERRY I'm willing to leave in the shop what I put into the shop. Let Anna know that it will come to her from me. I'll write to the Guardians to-night and I'll send in my resignation. I venture to think that they'll know their loss. _Mrs. Crilly goes out quietly by corridor door_. MUSKERRY _(by himself)_ And I had made this place as fit for me as the nest for the wren. Wasn't he glad to write that card, the impudent rascal, with his tongue in his cheek? I'll consider it again. I won't leave this place till it fits myself to leave it. _Christy Clarice enters by corridor door with papers_. MUSKERRY They want me to resign from this place, Christy. CHRISTY You're thirty years here! Aren't you, Mister Muskerry? MUSKERRY Thirty years, thirty years. Ay, Christy, thirty years; it's a long time. And I'm at my failing time. Perhaps I'm not able to do any more. Day after day there would be troubles here, and I wouldn't be able to face them. And in the end I might lose my position. I'm going to write out my resignation. _(He goes to the desk and writes. Christy is at table. Muskerry turns round after writing)_ MUSKERRY No one that comes here can have the same heart for the poor that I had. I was earning in the year of the famine. I saw able men struggling to get the work that would bring them a handful of Indian meal. And I saw the little children waiting on the roads for relief. _(He turns back and goes on with letter. Suddenly a bell in the House begins to toll)_ What's that for, Christy? CHRISTY Malachi O'Rourk, the Prince, as they called him, is dead. MUSKERRY Aye, I gave orders to toll him when he died. He was an estated gentleman, and songs were made about his family. People used to annoy him, but he's gone from them now. Bring me a little whisky, Christy. _Christy goes to Cabinet. Muskerry follows him_. CHRISTY There's none in the bottle, Mister Muskerry. MUSKERRY _(bitterly)_ No, I suppose not. And is that rascal, Albert Crilly, coming back? CHRISTY He's coming, Mister Muskerry. I left the novelette on the table. Miss Coghlan says it's a nice love story. "The Heart of Angelina," it is called. MUSKERRY I haven't the heart to read. _The bell continues to toll. Christy goes to door_. CHRISTY Good night, Mister Muskerry. MUSKERRY Good night, Christy. _Christy Clarke goes out through apartments. Thomas Muskerry is standing with hand on arm chair. The bell tolls_. CURTAIN ACT SECOND _In Crilly's, a month later. The room is the parlour off the shop. A glass door, right, leads into the shop, and the fireplace is above this door. In the back, right, is a cupboard door. Back is a window looking on the street. A door, left, leads to other rooms. There is a table near shop door and a horse-hair sofa back, an armchair at fire, and two leather-covered chairs about. Conventional pictures on walls, and two certificates framed, showing that some one in the house has passed some Intermediate examinations._ _It is the forenoon of an April day. Mrs. Crilly is seated on sofa, going through a heap of account books. Anna Crilly is at window. Crofton Crilly enters from the shop._ CRILLY It's all right, Marianne. MRS. CRILLY Well? CRILLY The Guardians insisted on appointing an outside person to take stock of the workhouse stores. It's the new regulation, you know. Well, the job lay between young Dobbs and Albert, and Albert has got it. I don't say but it was a near thing. MRS. CRILLY I hope Albert will know what to do. CRILLY He'll want to watch the points. Where's the Master? MRS. CRILLY He's in his room upstairs. CRILLY Was he not out this morning? MRS. CRILLY He's not dressed yet. CRILLY He was more particular when he was in the workhouse. ANNA I know who those two children are now. They are the new gas-manager's children. CRILLY He's a Scotchman. ANNA And married for the second time. Mother, Mrs. Dunne is going to the races. Such a sketch of a hat. MRS. CRILLY It would be better for her if she stayed at home and looked after her business. ANNA She won't have much business to look after soon. That's the third time her husband has come out of Farrell's public-house. CRILLY He's drinking with the Dispensary Doctor. Companions! They're the curse of this town, Marianne. _(He sits down)_ ANNA She's walked into a blind man, hat and all. He's from the Workhouse. CRILLY He's the blind piper out of the workhouse, Myles Gorman. MRS. CRILLY There's no one within. You should go into the shop, Anna. ANNA Yes, mother. _(She crosses)_ James Scollard is coming in, mother. MRS. CRILLY Very well, Anna. Stay in the shop until Mary comes. _Anna goes into the shop. Crilly moves about_. MRS. CRILLY You're very uneasy. CRILLY Yes, I am uneasy, Marianne. There's some presentment on me. Fifty pounds a year is a good pension for the old man. He's a month out now. He ought to be getting an instalment. _Anna comes in from shop_. ANNA Mother, the doctor's daughter is in the shop. MRS. CRILLY What does she want? ANNA _(imitating an accent)_ Send up a pound of butter, two pounds of sugar, and a pound of tea. MRS. CRILLY These people are paying nobody. But we can't refuse her. I suppose we'll have to send them up. Be very distant with her, Anna. ANNA I've kept her waiting. Here's a letter, mother. MRS. CRILLY _(taking letter)_ When did it come, Anna? ANNA It's just handed in. _Anna goes out. Mrs. Crilly opens letter_. MRS. CRILLY It's from the bank. They want me to call. What does the bank manager want with me, I wonder? CRILLY I have something to tell you, Marianne. I'll tell you in a while. _(He takes a turn up and down)_ MRS. CRILLY What do you want to tell me? CRILLY Prepare your mind, Marianne. MRS. CRILLY What is it? CRILLY I owe you money, Marianne. MRS. CRILLY Money! How do you owe me money? CRILLY That cute boy, James Covey, who took in all the town-- MRS. CRILLY _(rising)_ Covey! My God! You backed a bill for him? CRILLY I'll make a clean breast of it. I did. MRS. CRILLY _(with fear in her eyes)_ How much is it? CRILLY _(walking away to window)_ I'll come to that, Marianne. MRS. CRILLY Did any one back the bill with you? CRILLY I obliged the fellow. No one backed the bill with me. MRS. CRILLY Does any one know of it? CRILLY No, Marianne. MRS. CRILLY The bank.... Tell me what happened. CRILLY The bank manager sent for me when he came to the town after Covey cleared. MRS. CRILLY We had four hundred pounds in the bank. CRILLY We had, Marianne. MRS. CRILLY Tell me how much was the bill. CRILLY There's no use in beating about the bush. The bill was for three hundred pounds. MRS. CRILLY And what has the bank done? CRILLY I'm sorry to say, Marianne, the bank has taken the money over from our account. MRS. CRILLY You've ruined us at last, Crofton Crilly. CRILLY You should never forgive me, Marianne. I'll go to America and begin life again. _(He turns to go out by shop)_ MRS. CRILLY We have no money left. CRILLY A hundred pounds, Marianne. MRS. CRILLY That's Anna's money. CRILLY Scollard should be satisfied. MRS. CRILLY Anna insists on getting her money. CRILLY Very well, Marianne. I'll leave it all to yourself. _James Scollard comes in. Anna is behind him. Scollard has an account book in his hand_. SCOLLARD Good morning, Mrs. Crilly. Good morning, Mr. Crilly. MRS. CRILLY Good morning, Mr. Scollard. _Crofton Crilly turns to go_. ANNA Don't go, father. SCOLLARD Don't go, Mr. Crilly. I have something particular to say to yourself and Mrs. Crilly. MRS. CRILLY Sit down, Mr. Scollard. _Anna brings chair, and Scollard sits center. Anna stands behind him. Mrs. Crilly sits left of him_. SCOLLARD I am here to propose for the hand of your daughter, Miss Anna Crilly. MRS. CRILLY We have nothing to say against your proposal, Mr. Scollard. CRILLY Won't you take something, James? SCOLLARD No, thanks, Mr. Crilly. I never touch intoxicants. _Crofton Crilly goes into shop_. MRS. CRILLY We couldn't wish for a better match for Anna. But I feel bound to tell you, Mr. Scollard, that we have had a very severe loss in our business. ANNA What is it, mother? MRS. CRILLY I don't mind telling you. Mr. Crilly has made himself responsible for a bill on the bank. SCOLLARD In whose interest, Mrs. Crilly? MRS. CRILLY He backed a bill for James Covey. A bill for three hundred pounds. ANNA Oh, mother! MRS. CRILLY It's a dead sure loss. I don't know what we are to do, Anna. SCOLLARD This is very bad, Mrs. Crilly. _Crofton Crilly comes back from shop. He brings in a glass of whisky. He puts whisky on chimney-piece._ MRS. CRILLY The bank has taken over three hundred pounds from our account. CRILLY Perhaps Scollard-- SCOLLARD What were you saying, Mr. Crilly? CRILLY Oh, I was just thinking--about a bill you know--If some one would go security for us at the bank-- ANNA Father, what are you saying? MRS. CRILLY It's unnecessary to talk like that. In spite of your foolishness, we still have a balance at the bank. ANNA My portion comes to me from my grandmother. SCOLLARD May I ask, Mrs. Crilly, is Miss Crilly's portion safe? MRS. CRILLY It is safe, Mr. Scollard. SCOLLARD I have been definitely appointed Master of the Union, and I may say that Anna and myself are anxious to marry. MRS. CRILLY It needn't be soon, Mr. Scollard. SCOLLARD After Easter, Mrs. Crilly. MRS. CRILLY But that's very soon. SCOLLARD I am anxious to settle down, Mrs. Crilly. I'm on my way to a meeting of the Board of Guardians, but before I go I'd like to have some more information about your loss. MRS. CRILLY Anna's portion is not touched, but we could hardly afford to let the money go from us now. SCOLLARD Is that so, Mrs. Crilly? MRS. CRILLY Three hundred pounds is a very severe loss. SCOLLARD Very severe, indeed. Still, you understand, Mrs. Crilly, the difficulties of taking such a step as marriage without adequate provision. CRILLY Damn it all, man, Marianne and myself married without anything at all. MRS. CRILLY _(bitterly)_ Anna won't be such a fool as her mother. CRILLY Well, Scollard has his position, and we helped him to it. SCOLLARD I acknowledge that. ANNA Isn't my portion eighty pounds, mother? MRS. CRILLY Yes, Anna. But I'd like to tell Mr. Scollard that it would come as a strain on us to let the money go at once. SCOLLARD I daresay, Mrs. Crilly. ANNA But, mother, wouldn't the money be safer with us? MRS. CRILLY Well, I leave the whole thing in the hands of Mr. Scollard. SCOLLARD Anna and myself have been talking things over, Mrs. Crilly. ANNA And we don't want to begin life in a poor way. SCOLLARD We see the advantage of being always solvent, Mrs. Crilly. ANNA James has ambitions, and there's no reason why he shouldn't venture for the post of Secretary of the County Council when old Mr. Dobbs retires. SCOLLARD In a few years, Mrs. Crilly, when I had more official experience and some reputation. ANNA Then he would have seven or eight hundred a year. SCOLLARD As I said, a man like myself would want to be in a perfectly solvent position. ANNA Besides, James has no money of his own. SCOLLARD I never had the chance of putting money by--Family calls, Mrs. Crilly. ANNA And we don't want to begin life in a poor way. MRS. CRILLY You won't want the whole of the money. I'll give you forty pounds now. CRILLY And forty when the first child is born. ANNA Oh, father, how can you say such a thing? SCOLLARD I need only say this. Anna and myself were talking over affairs, and we came to the conclusion it would be best not to start with less than eighty pounds. _(He rises)_ I have to go down to the Board Room now, for there is a meeting of the Guardians. _(He goes towards door)_ CRILLY Won't you take a glass? SCOLLARD No, thanks, Mr. Crilly. I never touch stimulants. Good day to you all. _He goes out. Crofton Crilly goes after him_. MRS. CRILLY Anna, you won't be deprived of your money. ANNA Then what's the difficulty, mother? MRS. CRILLY Let half of the money remain with us for a while. ANNA But, mother, if I don't get all my money, what security have I that what's left will be good in six months or a year? MRS. CRILLY I'll watch the money for you, Anna. ANNA It's hard to keep a hold on money in a town where business is going down. MRS. CRILLY Forty pounds will be given to you and forty pounds will be kept safe for you. ANNA Forty pounds! There's not a small farmer comes into the shop but his daughter has more of a dowry than forty pounds. MRS. CRILLY Think of all who marry without a dowry at all. ANNA You wouldn't have me go to James Scollard without a dowry? MRS. CRILLY Well, you know the way we're situated. If you insist on getting eighty pounds we'll have to make an overdraft on the bank, and, in the way business is, I don't know how we'll ever recover it. ANNA There won't be much left out of eighty pounds when we get what suits us in furniture. MRS. CRILLY I could let you have some furniture. ANNA No, mother. We want to start in a way that is different from this house. MRS. CRILLY You'll want all the money together? ANNA All of it, mother. MRS. CRILLY You'll have to get it so. But you're very hard, Anna. ANNA This house would teach any one to look to themselves. MRS. CRILLY Come upstairs. _(Anna goes, left)_ Three hundred pounds of a loss. Eighty pounds with that. I'm terrified when I think. _(She goes after Anna)_ _Crofton Crilly comes in from shop. He takes glass of whisky from table, and sits down in arm chair_. CRILLY I don't know what Marianne's to do at all. She has a shocking lot to contend with. Can anything be got from the old man, I wonder? _Albert Crilly comes in by door, left_. ALBERT Well, pa. CRILLY Well, Albert. What's the news in the town, Albert? ALBERT They say that you've backed a bill for Covey. CRILLY If your mother hears that kind of talk she'll be vexed, Albert. ALBERT But did you back the bill? CRILLY For Heaven's sake, let me alone, Albert. Yes, I backed the bill. ALBERT How much? CRILLY You'll hear all about it from your mother. ALBERT They say the bill was for three hundred. CRILLY It was three or thereabouts. ALBERT 'Pon my word, father, the mother will have to take out a mandamus against you. CRILLY _(with parental dignity)_ Don't talk to me in that way, Sir. ALBERT It's scandalous, really. I expect you've ruined the business. CRILLY I hate the world and all its works and pomps. ALBERT I believe you've done for the business. I'm going away. CRILLY Then you've got the other appointment? ALBERT Temporary clerkship in the Land Department. I wonder would the mother let me have the money for clothes? CRILLY _(desperately)_ Don't mention it at all to her. ALBERT I have a card from a Dublin tailor in my pocket. If I could pay him for one suit, I could get another on tick. CRILLY I tell you not to talk to your mother about money. That fellow, Scollard, has put her out. ALBERT How's that? CRILLY Money again. Wants the whole of Anna's portion down. And Anna's backing him up, too. I don't know how your mother can stand it. I don't like Scollard. Then you won't be staying on, Albert, to do the stocktaking in the Workhouse? ALBERT No; they'll have to get some one else. I'm glad to be out of that job. CRILLY I'm not sorry, Albert. ALBERT The mother would expect me to do something queer in my report. CRILLY Between you and me, Albert, women aren't acquainted with the working of affairs, and they expect unusual things to happen. Who will they make stocktaker, now? ALBERT Young Dobbs, likely. I suppose the whole business about the coal will come out then? CRILLY I suppose it will; but say nothing about it now, Albert. Let the hare sit. ALBERT What does the old man think about it now? CRILLY He's very close to himself. I think he has forgotten all about it. ALBERT I wouldn't say so. CRILLY Who's that in the shop, Albert? ALBERT Felix Tournour. CRILLY _(rising)_ I wonder what they think about Scollard in the Poor-house. _(He and Albert go into the shop as Muskerry enters from left)_ _Muskerry is untidily dressed. His boots are unlaced. He walks across the room and speaks pettishly_. MUSKERRY They haven't brought my soup yet. They won't give much of their time to me. I'm disappointed in Anna Crilly. Well, a certain share in this shop was to have gone to Anna Crilly. I'll get that share, and I'll hoard it up myself. I'll hoard it up. And the fifty pounds of my pension, I'll hoard that up, too. _Albert comes in from shop_. MUSKERRY That's a black fire that's in the grate. I don't like the coal that comes into this place. ALBERT Coal, eh, grandpapa. MUSKERRY I said coal. ALBERT We haven't good stores here. MUSKERRY Confound you for your insolence. ALBERT Somebody you know is in the shop--Felix Tournour. MUSKERRY Bid Tournour come in to me. ALBERT _(talking into the shop)_ You're wanted here, Tournour. Come in now or I'll entertain the boss with "The Devil's Rambles." _(He turns to Muskerry)_ I was given the job of stocktaking. MUSKERRY That's a matter for yourself. ALBERT I don't think I'll take the job now. MUSKERRY Why won't you take it? ALBERT I don't know what to say about the fifty tons of coal. MUSKERRY I was too precipitate about the coal. But don't have me at the loss of fifty pounds through any of your smartness. ALBERT All right, grandfather; I'll see you through. MUSKERRY Confound you for a puppy. _Felix Tournour enters. He looks prosperous. He has on a loud check suit. He wears a red tie and a peaked cap_. ALBERT The Master wants to speak to you, Tournour. TOURNOUR What Master. ALBERT The boss, Tournour, the boss. MUSKERRY I want you, and that's enough for you, Tournour. ALBERT I suppose you don't know, grandpapa, that Tournour has a middling high position in the Poorhouse now. MUSKERRY What are you saying? ALBERT Tournour is Ward-master now. MUSKERRY I wasn't given any notice of that. ALBERT Eh, Tournour-- "The Devil went out for a ramble at night, Through Garrisowen Union to see every sight. He saw Felix Tournour--" TOURNOUR "He saw one in comfort, of that you'll be sure. With his back to the fire stands Felix Tournour," _He puts his back to fire_. ALBERT Well, so-long, gents. _(He goes out by shop door)_ MUSKERRY Let me see you, Tournour. TOURNOUR I'm plain to be seen. MUSKERRY Who recommended you for Ward-master? TOURNOUR Them that had the power. MUSKERRY I would not have done it, Tournour. TOURNOUR No. And still, d'ye see, I'm up and not down. Well, I'll be going. MUSKERRY Come back here, Tournour. I made it a rule that no Ward-master should let drink be brought in to the paupers. TOURNOUR It's a pity you're not Master still! MUSKERRY What are you saying? TOURNOUR It's a pity that you're not still the Master over us. MUSKERRY Tournour, you're forgetting yourself. TOURNOUR Well, maybe you are still the Master. MUSKERRY How dare you speak to me with such effrontery? How dare you? TOURNOUR I dunno. I'm going away now, if your _honour_ has nothing more to say to me. _(He turns to go)_ MUSKERRY You shall not. You shall not, I say. TOURNOUR What? MUSKERRY You shall not go away until you've apologised to me. TOURNOUR Don't be talking, Thomas Muskerry. You're not Master over me. MUSKERRY Not the Master over you? TOURNOUR No. There's an end to your sway, Mr. Muskerry. MUSKERRY Go out of the house. No, stay here. You think I'm out of the Workhouse. No. That's not so. I've claims, great claims, on it still. Not for nothing was I there for thirty years, the pattern for the officials of Ireland. TOURNOUR Twenty-nine years, I'm telling you. MUSKERRY The Guardians will take account of me. TOURNOUR And maybe they would, too. MUSKERRY What's that you're saying? TOURNOUR The Guardians might take an account of Thomas Muskerry in a way he mightn't like. _(He goes to door)_ MUSKERRY Come back here, Felix Tournour. TOURNOUR I'm not your sub-servant. MUSKERRY Stand here before me. TOURNOUR You and your before me! Your back to heaven and your belly to hell. MUSKERRY Go away. Go away out of this. TOURNOUR Don't try to down-face me. I know something about you. MUSKERRY About me! TOURNOUR Aye, you and your fifty tons of coal. _(Muskerry goes back from him)_ Great claims on the Workhouse have you. The Guardians will take account of you. Will they? Talk to them about the fifty tons of coal. Go and do that, my pattern of the officials of Ireland! _Tournour goes out by shop. Muskerry stands with his hands on the arm chair_. MUSKERRY This minute I'll go down to the Guardians and make my complaint. _(He notices his appearance)_ I'm going about all day with my boots unlaced. I'm falling into bad ways, bad, slovenly ways. And my coat needs brushing, too. _(He takes off his coat and goes to window and brushes it)_ That's Myles Gorman going back to the Workhouse. I couldn't walk with my head held as high as that. In this house I am losing my uprightness. I'll do more than lace my boots and brush my coat. I'll go down to the Guardians and I'll pay them back their fifty pounds. _Anna Crilly comes in from left with a bowl of soup_. ANNA Here's your soup, grandpapa. MUSKERRY I can't take it now, Anna. _(He puts on his coat)_ ANNA Are you going out, grandpapa? MUSKERRY I'm going before the meeting of the Board of Guardians. ANNA Are you, grandpapa? MUSKERRY Yes, Anna, I am. I'm going to pay them back their fifty pounds. ANNA And have you the fifty pounds? MUSKERRY Your mother has it for me. ANNA Sit down, grandpapa, and take your soup. MUSKERRY No, Anna, I won't take anything until my mind is at rest about the coal. A certain person has spoken to me in a way I'll never submit to be spoken to again. _Mrs. Crilly comes in_. MRS. CRILLY What has happened to you? MUSKERRY Felix Tournour knows about the coal, Marianne. He can disgrace me before the world. ANNA And grandpapa wants to go before the Guardians and pay them back the fifty pounds. MRS. CRILLY Wait until we consult Mr. Scollard. _Anna goes out_. MUSKERRY No, Marianne. I'm not going to be a party to this any longer. I'm going before the Guardians, and I'll pay them back their fifty pounds. MRS. CRILLY Fifty pounds. From what place is fifty pounds to come so easily? MUSKERRY I'll ask you to give me the fifty pounds, Marianne. MRS. CRILLY I'll do no such thing. Anna is getting married, and she claims her fortune. MUSKERRY Anna getting married. This was kept from me. And who is Anna getting married to? MRS. CRILLY To James Scollard. MUSKERRY To James Scollard. And so Anna is getting married to my successor, James Scollard. My successor. How well I knew there was some such scheme behind shifting me out of the Workhouse. And Anna Crilly was against me all the time. Well, well, well. I'll remember this. MRS. CRILLY I'm at great losses since you came here. MUSKERRY I'm at greater losses, Marianne. MRS. CRILLY What losses are you at? MUSKERRY The loss of my trust, the loss of my dignity, my self-respect, and-- MRS. CRILLY I think we did all we could for you. MUSKERRY I'm going out now to pay back the Guardians the sum due to them from me. I want fifty pounds from you. I claim it, and I have a right to claim it. MRS. CRILLY We have no money at all. Listen. Crofton Crilly backed a bill for James Covey, and three hundred pounds has been taken from our account. MUSKERRY Three hundred pounds! MRS. CRILLY Yes. Three hundred pounds. MUSKERRY He backed a bill for three hundred pounds. And do you think, Marianne Crilly, there can be any luck, in a house where such a thing could happen? I tell you there is no luck nor grace in your house. _(He puts on his hat and goes to cupboard to get his stick. He opens the cupboard. He turns round)_ MUSKERRY _(greatly moved)_ My God, my God. I'm made cry at the things that happen in this house. MRS. CRILLY What is it? MUSKERRY The good meat I brought in. There it is on the floor and the cat mangling it. I'll go out of this house, and I'll never put foot into it again. MRS. CRILLY And where will you go? MUSKERRY I'll go before the Board of Guardians and I'll ask them to provide for me. MRS. CRILLY What do you want me to do for you? MUSKERRY Give me fifty pounds, so that I can pay them off now. MRS. CRILLY Haven't I told you the way I'm straitened for money? MUSKERRY You have still in the bank what would save my name. MRS. CRILLY Don't be unreasonable. I have to provide for my children. MUSKERRY Your children. Yes, you have to provide for your children. I provided for them long enough. And now you would take my place, my honour, and my self-respect, and provide for them over again. _(He goes out)_ MRS. CRILLY I'll have to put up with this, too. _Anna re-enters._ ANNA Where has he gone, mother? MRS. CRILLY He has gone down to the Workhouse. ANNA What is he going to do, mother? MRS. CRILLY He says he will ask the Guardians to provide for him. ANNA It's not likely they'll do that for a man with a pension of fifty pounds a year. MRS. CRILLY I don't know what will happen to us. ANNA He'll come back, mother. MRS. CRILLY He will. But everything will have been made public, and the money will have to be paid. ANNA _(at the window)_ There he is going down the street, mother. MRS. CRILLY Which way? ANNA Towards the Workhouse. And here's the doctor's daughter coming into the shop again, mother. MRS. CRILLY I'll go out and see her myself. _(As she goes out she hands Anna a cheque)_ That's the last cheque I'll be able to make out. There's your eighty pounds, Anna. _(She goes into the shop)_ ANNA We can begin to get the furniture now. _She sits down at the table and makes some calculation with a pencil_. CURTAIN ACT THIRD _The infirm ward in the Workhouse. Entrance from corridor, right. Forward, left, are three beds with bedding folded upon them. Back, left, is a door leading into Select Ward. This door is closed, and a large key is in lock. Fireplace with a grating around it, left. Back, right, is a window with little leaded panes_. _It is noon on a May day, but the light inside the ward is feeble._ _Two paupers are seated at fire. One of them, Mickie Cripes, is a man of fifty, stooped and hollow-chested, but with quick blue eyes. The other man, Tom Shanley, is not old, but he looks broken and listless. Myles Gorman, still in pauper dress, is standing before window, an expectant look on his face_. _Thomas Muskerry enters from corridor. He wears his own clothes, but he has let them get into disorder. His hair and beard are disordered, and he seems very much broken down. Nevertheless, he looks as if his mind were composed_. MUSKERRY It's dark in here, Michael. GRIPES It is, sir. MUSKERRY I find it very spiritless after coming up from the chapel. Don't pass your whole day here. Go down into the yard. _(He stands before the window)_ This is the first fine day, and you ought to go out along the country road. Ask the Master for leave. It's the month of May, and you'll be glad of the sight of the grass and the smell of the bushes. Now here's a remarkable thing. I venture to think that the like of this has never happened before. Here are the bees swarming at the window pane. GORMAN You'll hear my pipes on the road to-day. That's as sure as the right hand is on my body. _(He goes out by corridor door)_ CRIPES Myles Gorman must have been glad to hear that buzzing. MUSKERRY Why was Myles glad to hear it? SHANLEY He was leaving on the first fine day. CRIPES The buzzing at the pane would let any one know that the air is nice for a journey. MUSKERRY I am leaving to-day, myself. CRIPES And where are you going, Mr. Muskerry? MUSKERRY I'm going to a place of my own. _Muskerry goes into the Select Ward_. CRIPES I'll tell you what brought Thomas Muskerry back to the workhouse to be an inmate in it. Living in a bad house. Living with his own. That's what brought him back. And that's what left me here, too. SHANLEY _(listlessly)_ The others have the flour, and we may hawk the bran. _An old pauper comes into the ward. His face looks bleached. He has the handle of a sweeping-brush for a staff. He moves about the ward, muttering to himself. He seats himself on chair, right_. THE OLD MAN _(speaking as if thinking aloud)_ I was at twelve o'clock Mass. Now one o'clock would be a late Mass. I was at Mass at one o'clock. Wouldn't that be a long time to keep a priest, and he fasting the whole time? CRIPES I'll tell you what Thomas Muskerry did when he left the bad house he was in. _(He puts coal on the fire)_ THE OLD MAN I was at one o'clock Mass in Skibbereen. I know where Skibbereen is well. In the County Cork. Cork is a big county. As big as Dublin and Wicklow. That's where the people died when there was the hunger. CRIPES He came before the meeting of the Guardians, and he told them he owed them the whole of his year's pension. Then he got some sort of a stroke, and he broke down. And the Guardians gave him the Select Ward there for himself. SHANLEY They did well for him. CRIPES Why wouldn't they give him the Select Ward? It's right that he'd get the little room, and not have to make down the pauper's bed with the rest of us. SHANLEY He was at the altar to-day, and he stayed in the chapel after Mass. CRIPES He'll be here shortly. THE OLD MAN Skibbereen! That's where the people died when there was the hunger. Men and women without coffins, or even their clothes off. Just buried. Skibbereen I remember well, for I was a whole man then. And the village. For there are people living in it yet. They didn't all die. SHANLEY We'll have somebody else in the Select Ward this evening. CRIPES That's what they were talking about. The nuns are sending a patient up here. SHANLEY I suppose the Ward-master will be in here to regulate the room. _(He rises)_ CRIPES Aye, the Ward-master. Felix Tournour, the Ward-master. You've come to your own place at last, Felix Tournour. SHANLEY Felix Tournour will be coming the master over me if he finds me here. _(Shanley goes out)_ CRIPES Felix Tournour! That's the lad that will be coming in with his head up like the gander that's after beating down a child. _Christy Clarice enters. He carries a little portmanteau_. CHRISTY Is Mr. Muskerry here? CRIPES He's in the room. _(A sound of water splashing and the movements of a heavy person are heard)_ Will you be speaking with him, young fellow? CHRISTY I will. CRIPES Tell him, like a good little boy, that the oul' men would be under a favour to him if he left a bit of tobacco. You won't forget that? CHRISTY I won't forget it. CRIPES I don't want to be in the way of Felix Tournour. We're going down to the yard, but we'll see Mr. Muskerry when he's going away. _Cripes goes out_. MUSKERRY _(within)_ Is that you, Christy Clarke? CHRISTY It is, Mr. Muskerry. MUSKERRY Have you any news, Christy? CHRISTY No news, except that my mother is in the cottage, and is expecting you to-day. MUSKERRY I'll be in the cottage to-day, Christy. I'm cleaning myself. _(A sound of splashing and moving about)_ The Guardians were good to get the little house for me. I'd as lieve be there as in a mansion. There's about half an acre of land to the place, and I'll do work on the ground from time to time, for it's a good thing for a man to get the smell of the clay. CHRISTY And how are you in health, Mr. Muskerry? MUSKERRY I'm very well in health. I was anointed, you know, and after that I mended miraculously. CHRISTY And what about the pension? MUSKERRY I'm getting three hundred pounds. They asked me to realize the pension. I hope I have life enough before me. _(He comes out. He has on trousers, coat, and starched shirt. The shirt is soiled and crushed)_ MUSKERRY On Saturdays I'll do my marketing. I'll come into the town, and I'll buy the bit of meat for my dinner on Sunday. But what are you doing with this portmanteau, Christy? CHRISTY I'm going away myself. MUSKERRY To a situation, is it? CHRISTY To a situation in Dublin. MUSKERRY I wish you luck, Christy. _(He shakes hands with the boy, and sits down on a chair)_ I was dreaming on new things all last night. New shirts, new sheets, everything new. CHRISTY I want to be something. MUSKERRY What do you want to be? CHRISTY A writer. MUSKERRY A writer of books, is it? CHRISTY Yes, a writer of books. MUSKERRY Listen, now, and tell me do you hear anything. That's the sound of bees swarming at the window. That's a good augury for you, Christy. CHRISTY All life's before me. MUSKERRY Will you give heed to what I tell you? CHRISTY I'll give heed to it, Mr. Muskerry. MUSKERRY Live a good life. CHRISTY I give heed to you. MUSKERRY Your mother had great hardship in rearing you. CHRISTY I know that, Mr. Muskerry, but now I'm able for the world. MUSKERRY I wish success to all your efforts. Be very careful of your personal appearance. CHRISTY I will, Mr. Muskerry. MUSKERRY Get yourself a new cravat before you leave the town. CHRISTY I'll get it. MUSKERRY I think I'd look better myself if I had a fresher shirt. CHRISTY I saw clean shirts of yours before the fire last night in my mother's house. MUSKERRY I wish I could get one before I leave this place. CHRISTY Will I run off and get one for you? MUSKERRY Would you, Christy? Would it be too much trouble? _Muskerry rises_. CHRISTY I'll go now. MUSKERRY You're a very willing boy, Christy, and you're sure to get on. _(He goes to a little broken mirror on the wall)_ I am white and loose of flesh, and that's not a good sign with me, Christy. I'll tell you something. If I were staying here to-night, it's the pauper's bed I'd have to sleep on. _Mrs. Crilly comes to the door_. MRS. CRILLY Well, I see you're making ready for your departure. MUSKERRY _(who has become uneasy)_ I am ready for my departure. MRS. CRILLY And this young man has come for you, I suppose? MUSKERRY This young man is minding his own business. CHRISTY I'm going out now to get a shirt for the Master. MRS. CRILLY A starched shirt, I suppose, Christy. Go down to our house, and tell Mary to give you one of the shirts that are folded up. MUSKERRY The boy will go where he was bid go. MRS. CRILLY Oh, very well. Run, Christy, and do the message for the Master. _Christy Clarke goes out_. MUSKERRY I don't know what brought you here to-day. MRS. CRILLY Well, I wanted to see you. MUSKERRY You could come to see me when I was settled down. MRS. CRILLY Settled in the cottage the Guardians have given you? MUSKERRY Yes, ma'am. MRS. CRILLY _(with nervous excitement, restrained)_ No one of us will ever go near the place. MUSKERRY Well, you'll please yourself. MRS. CRILLY You put a slight on us all when you go there to live. MUSKERRY Well, I've lived with you to my own loss. MRS. CRILLY Our house is the best house in the town, and I'm the nearest person to you. MUSKERRY Say nothing more about that. MRS. CRILLY Well, maybe you do right not to live with us, but you ought not to forsake us altogether. MUSKERRY And what do you mean by forsaking you altogether? MRS. CRILLY When you leave the place and do not even turn your step in our direction it's a sign to all who want to know that you forsake us altogether. MUSKERRY What do you want me to do? MRS. CRILLY Come up to Cross Street with me, have dinner and spend the night with us. People would have less to talk about if you did that. MUSKERRY You always have a scheme. MRS. CRILLY Come to us for this evening itself. MUSKERRY I wish you wouldn't trouble me, woman. Can't you see that when I go out of this I want to go to my own place? MRS. CRILLY You can go there to-morrow. MUSKERRY Preparations are made for me. MRS. CRILLY You don't know what preparations. MUSKERRY Two pounds of the best beef-steak were ordered to be sent up to-day. MRS. CRILLY I wouldn't trust that woman, Mrs. Clarke, to cook potatoes. MUSKERRY Well, I'll trust her, ma'am. MRS. CRILLY _(taking Muskerry's sleeve)_ Don't go to-day, anyway. MUSKERRY You're very anxious to get me to come with you. What do you want from me? MRS. CRILLY We want nothing from you. You know how insecure our business is. When it's known in the town that you forsake us, everybody will close in on us. MUSKERRY God knows I did everything that a man could do for you and yours. I won't forget you. I haven't much life left to me, and I want to live to myself. MRS. CRILLY I know. Sure I lie awake at night, too tired to sleep, and long to get away from the things that are pressing in on me. I know that people are glad of their own way, and glad to live in the way that they like. When I heard the birds stirring I cried to be away in some place where I won't hear the thing that's always knocking at my head. The business has to be minded, and it's slipping away from us like water. And listen, if my confinement comes on me and I worried as I was last year, nothing can save me. I'll die, surely. MUSKERRY _(moved)_ What more do you want me to do? MRS. CRILLY Stay with us for a while, so that we'll have the name of your support. MUSKERRY I'll come back to you in a week. MRS. CRILLY That wouldn't do at all. There's a reason for what I ask. The town must know that you are with us from the time you leave this. MUSKERRY _(with emotion)_ God help me with you all, and God direct me what to do. MRS. CRILLY It's not in you to let us down. _Muskerry turns away. His head is bent. Mrs. Crilly goes to him_. MUSKERRY Will you never be done taking from me? I want to leave this and go to a place of my own. _Muskerry puts his hand to his eyes. When he lowers his hand again Mrs. Crilly lays hers in it. Christy Clarke comes in. Muskerry turns to him. Muskerry has been crying_. MUSKERRY Well, Christy, I'll be sending you back on another message. _Mrs. Crilly makes a sign to Christy not to speak_. MUSKERRY Go to your mother and tell her--- CHRISTY I met my mother outside. MUSKERRY Did she get the things that were sent to her? CHRISTY My mother was sent away from the cottage. MUSKERRY Who sent your mother away from the cottage? CHRISTY Mrs. Crilly sent her away. MUSKERRY And why did you do that, ma'am? MRS. CRILLY I sent Mary to help to prepare the place for you, and the woman was impertinent to Mary-- MUSKERRY Well, ma'am? MRS. CRILLY I sent the woman away. MUSKERRY And so you take it on yourself to dispose of the servants in my house? MRS. CRILLY I daresay you'll take the woman's part against my daughter. MUSKERRY No, ma'am, I'll take no one's side, but I'll tell you this. I want my own life, and I won't be interfered with. MRS. CRILLY I'm sorry for what occurred, and I'll apologise to the boy's mother if you like. MUSKERRY I won't be interfered with, I tell you. From this day out I'm free of my own life. And now, Christy Clarke, go down stairs and tell the Master, Mr. Scollard, that I want to see him. _Christy Clarice goes out_. MRS. CRILLY I may as well tell you something else. None of the things you ordered were sent up to the cottage. MUSKERRY Do you tell me that? MRS. CRILLY I went round to the shop, and everything you ordered was sent to us. MUSKERRY And what is the meaning of that, ma'am? MRS. CRILLY If the town knew you were going from us, in a week we would have to put up the shutters. MUSKERRY Well, I'll walk out of this, and when I come to the road I'll go my own way. MRS. CRILLY We can't prevent you. MUSKERRY No, ma'am, you can't prevent me. MRS. CRILLY You've got your discharge, I suppose? MUSKERRY I've given three hours' notice, and I'll get my discharge now. MRS. CRILLY _(at corridor door)_ We can't prevent you going if you have the doctor's discharge. MUSKERRY The doctor's discharge! He would have given it to me-- MRS. CRILLY You can't leave without the doctor's sanction. MUSKERRY Out of this house I will go to-day. _James Scollard enters_. SCOLLARD I believe you want to see me, Mr. Muskerry. MUSKERRY I do, Mr. Scollard. I am leaving the house. SCOLLARD I will be glad to take up the necessary formalities for you, Mr. Muskerry. MRS. CRILLY First of all, has the doctor marked my father off the infirmary list? SCOLLARD No, Mrs. Crilly. Now that I recall the list, he has not. MUSKERRY I waited after Mass to-day, and I missed seeing him. MRS. CRILLY My father was seriously ill only a short time ago, and I do not believe he is in a fit state to leave the infirmary. SCOLLARD That certainly has to be considered. Without the doctor explicitly sending you down to the body of the house you are hardly under my jurisdiction, Mr. Muskerry. MUSKERRY Mr. Scollard, I ask you to give me leave to go out of the Workhouse for a day. You can do this on your own responsibility. MRS. CRILLY In the present state of his mind it's not likely he would return to-night. Then if anything happened him your situation is at stake. MUSKERRY I'm not a pauper. I'll go out of this to-day without leave or license from any of you. SCOLLARD As you know yourself, Mr. Muskerry, it would be as much as my situation is worth to let you depart in that way. MUSKERRY Well, go I will. SCOLLARD I cannot permit it, Mr. Muskerry. I say it with the greatest respect. MUSKERRY How long will you keep me here? SCOLLARD Until the doctor visits the house. MUSKERRY That will be on Monday morning. SCOLLARD And this is Saturday, Mr. Muskerry. MUSKERRY And where will you put me until Monday? SCOLLARD Other arrangements will be made for you. MUSKERRY It's the pauper's bed you would give me! SCOLLARD The old arrangements will continue. Can I do anything further for you, Mr. Muskerry? MUSKERRY No, you can do nothing further for me. It's a great deal you have done for me! It's the pauper's bed you have given me! _(He goes into the Select Ward)_ MRS. CRILLY Sit down, Mr. Scollard. I want to speak to you. _Mrs. Crilly seats herself at the table. Scollard sits down also._ MRS. CRILLY The bank manager is in the town to-day, and there are people waiting to tell him whether my father goes to our house or goes away from us. SCOLLARD No doubt there are, Mrs. Crilly. MRS. CRILLY But you have nothing to do with that, Mr. Scollard. SCOLLARD No, Mrs. Crilly. MRS. CRILLY I have my own battle to fight, and a hard battle it is. I have to make bits of myself to mind everything and be prepared for everything. SCOLLARD No doubt, Mrs. Crilly. MRS. CRILLY There are people who will blame me, but they cannot see into my mind. SCOLLARD Will you come down to the parlour, Mrs. Crilly? MRS. CRILLY Yes, I'll go down. _She remains seated, looking out steadily before her. Myles Gorman comes in. He is dressed in his own clothes_. SCOLLARD Well, Gorman, what brings you back to the ward? GORMAN I just want to do something to my pipes, Master. SCOLLARD Very well, Gorman. You have your discharge, and you are free to leave. GORMAN Oh, in a while I'll be taking the road. _He seats himself at the fire and begins to fix the bag of his pipes_. SCOLLARD Now, Mrs. Crilly, come down to the parlour. MRS. CRILLY Yes. SCOLLARD Anna is waiting to see you. MRS. CRILLY _(rising)_ He will be well cared for here. SCOLLARD He will, Mrs. Crilly. I will give him all attention. MRS. CRILLY He expected to be in a different place to-day, but delay does little harm. SCOLLARD Come down to the parlour, Mrs. Crilly, and drink a glass of wine with us. _They go out. The door of the Select Ward opens, and Thomas Muskerry appears. He has got a stroke. His breathing makes a noise in his mouth. As he moves he lags somewhat at the right knee. He carries his right hand at his breast. He moves slowly across ward. Felix Tournour enters, carrying a bunch of keys_. TOURNOUR And where are you going? MUSKERRY _(in a thickened voice)_ Ow--out. _(Motioning with left hand. He moves across ward, and goes out on door of corridor)_ TOURNOUR Well, you're not getting back to your snuggery, my oul' cod. _(He goes into the Select Ward and begins to pitch Muskerry's belongings into the outer ward. First of all come the pillows and clothes off the bed)_ And there's your holy picture, and there's your holy book. _(He comes out holding another book in official binding. He opens it and reads)_ "Marianne, born May the 20th, 1870." _(He turns back some pages and reads)_ Thomas Muskerry wrote this, 1850-- "In the pleasant month of May, When the lambkins sport and play, As I roved out for recreation, I spied a comely maid, Sequestered in the shade, And on her beauty I gazed in admiration." "I said I greatly fear That Mercury will draw near, As once he appeared unto Venus, Or as it might have been To the Carthaginian Queen, Or the Grecian Wight called Polyphemus." _Muskerry comes back to the ward. He stands looking stupidly at the heap Tournour has thrown out. Tournour throws down the book. Muskerry goes towards the open door of the ward. Felix Tournour closes the door deliberately turns the key and holds the key in his hand_. TOURNOUR You have no more to do with your snug little ward, Mr. Muskerry. _(He puts the key on his bunch and goes out)_ MUSKERRY _(muttering with slack lips and cheeks)_ It's--it's--the pau--pauper's bed they've given me. GORMAN _(turning round his face)_ Who's there? MUSKERRY It's--it's--Thomas Muskerry. GORMAN Is that the Master? MUSKERRY It's--it's the pauper's bed they've given me. GORMAN Can I give you any hand, Master? MUSKERRY I'll want to make--the bed. Give me a hand to make the bed. _(Gorman comes over to him)_ My own sheet and blanket is here. I needn't lie on a pauper's sheet. Whose bed is this? GORMAN It's the middle bed, Master. It's my own bed. MUSKERRY _(helplessly)_ What bed will I take, then? GORMAN My bed. I won't be here. MUSKERRY And where are you going? GORMAN I'm leaving the house this day. I'll be going on the roads. MUSKERRY Myles--Myles Gorman. The man that was without family or friends. Myles Gorman. Help me to lay down the mattress. Where will you sleep to-night, Myles Gorman? GORMAN At Mrs. Muirnan's, a house between this and the town of Ballinagh. I haven't the money to pay, but she'll give me the place for to-night. Now, Master, I'll spread the sheet for you. _(They spread the sheet on the bed_.) MUSKERRY Can you go down the stairs, Myles Gorman? I tried to get down the stairs and my legs failed me. GORMAN One of the men will lead me down. MUSKERRY _(resting his hand on the bed and standing up)_ Sure one of the men will lead me down the stairs, too. _Myles Gorman spreads blanket on bed. He stands up, takes pipes, and is ready to go out. Muskerry becomes more feeble. He puts himself on the bed_. MUSKERRY Myles--Myles Gorman--come back. GORMAN What will I do for you, Master? MUSKERRY Say a prayer for me. GORMAN What prayer will I say, Master? MUSKERRY Say "God be good to Thomas Muskerry." GORMAN _(taking off his hat)_ "God be good to Thomas Muskerry, the man who was good to the poor." Is that all, Master? MUSKERRY That's--that's all. _Gorman goes to the door_. GORMAN In a little while you'll hear my pipes on the road. _He goes out. There is the sound of heavy breathing from the bed. Then silence. The old pauper with the staff enters. He is crossing the ward when his attention is taken by the humming of the bees at the window pane. He listens for a moment_. THE OLD PAUPER A bright day, and the clay on their faces. That's what I saw. And we used to be coming from Mass and going to the coursing match. The hare flying and the dogs stretching after her up the hill. Fine dogs and fine men. I saw them all. _Christy Clarke comes in. He goes to table for his bag. He sees the figure on the bed, and goes over_. CHRISTY I'm going now, Mister Muskerry. Mister Muskerry! Mister Muskerry! Oh! the Master is dead. _(He runs back to the door)_ Mrs. Crilly. Mrs. Crilly. _(He goes back to the bed, and throws himself on his knees)_ Oh! I'm sorry you're gone, Thomas Muskerry. THE OLD PAUPER And is he gone home, too! And the bees humming and all! He was the best of them. Each of his brothers could lift up their plough and carry it to the other side of the field. Four of them could clear a fair. But their fields were small and poor, and so they scattered. _Mrs. Crilly comes in_. MRS. CRILLY Christy Clarke, what is it? CHRISTY The Master is dead. MRS. CRILLY My God, my God! CHRISTY Will I go and tell them below? MRS. CRILLY No. Bring no one here yet. We killed him. When everything is known that will be known. CHRISTY I'll never forget him, I think. MRS. CRILLY What humming is that? CHRISTY The bees at the window pane. And there's Myles Gorman's pipes on the road. _The drear call of the pipes is heard_. END OF PLAY "Thomas Muskerry" was first produced on May 5th, 1910, by the Abbey Theater Company, at the Abbey Theater, Dublin, with the following cast:-- THOMAS MUSKERRY Arthur Sinclair MRS. CRILLY Cara Allgood CROFTON CRILLY J.M. Kerrigan ALBERT CRILLY Eric Gorman ANNA CRILLY Maire O'Neill MYLES GORMAN Fred O'Donovan FELIX TOURNOUR Sydney Morgan JAMES SCOLLARD J.A. O'Rourke CHRISTY CLARKE U. Wright MICKIE GRIPES Fred Rowland TOM SHANLEY Ambrose Power AN OLD PAUPER J.M. Kerrigan. *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THREE PLAYS: THE FIDDLER'S HOUSE, THE LAND, THOMAS MUSKERRY *** Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be renamed. 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