BRIAN
You'll give me your promise, Maire?
MAIRE
Promise. I've no promise to give to any man.
BRIAN
Remember that these days past I had only yourself to think on.
MAIRE There was never a man but failed me some time. They all leave me to face the world alone.
BRIAN
You said that I might go with you as far as Ardagh.
MAIRE No. You're not to come. Myself and my father go to Ardagh by ourselves.
BRIAN
How was I to know that you would take that quarrel to heart?
MAIRE I thought you were strong, but I see now that you are only a man who forces himself to harsh behaviour. I have my own way to go; my father wants to go back to the roads, and it's right that I should be with him, to watch over him.
BRIAN
What shelter will you have on the road?
MAIRE I'll have the quiet of evening, and my own thoughts, and I'll follow the music; I'll laugh and hold up my head again.