Three Plays: The Fiddler's House, The Land, Thomas Muskerry

by Padraic Colum

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.