JAMES Ay, he liked you well enough, I can tell you that, Anne. This morning when he took a stick in his hand, I knew he was making ready for a journey, for the horse is laid up. "Walk down a bit with me," said he, "and we'll go over a few things that are in my mind." Well, I walked down with him, and indeed we had a serious conversation.
ANNE
Well?
JAMES "Anne Hourican is too young," said my father; "she's a nice girl, and a good girl, but she's too young."
MAIRE
Sure in a while Anne will be twenty.
JAMES (turning to Maire) Ten years from this father would still think Anne too young. And late marriages, as everybody knows, is the real weakness of the country.
ANNE
I thought your father liked me.
JAMES He likes you well enough, but, as he says, "what would she be doing here and your sisters years older than herself?" There's truth in that, mind you. I always give in to the truth.
MAIRE
James?
JAMES (turning to Maire) Well, Maire?
MAIRE
Is Anne a girl to be waiting twenty years for a man, like
Sally Cassidy?