Three Plays: The Fiddler's House, The Land, Thomas Muskerry Part 3

MAIRE It's a song, I declare.

ANNE No, Maire, it's a poem.

MAIRE A poem? O, that's grand!

_She begins to read it eagerly_.

ANNE And, Maire--

MAIRE Well?

ANNE James says it's about me.

MAIRE About you? O, I wish some one would put me into a song, or into a poem; I suppose a poem would be best. You might ask James. No, I'll coax him myself. Ah, no I won't, Anne.

ANNE You may keep it for a while, but don't let any one know.

MAIRE He must be very fond of you, and I thinking him so quiet.

ANNE _(happy)_ He has grand thoughts about me.

MAIRE Well, you'll be seeing him to-night.

ANNE I don't know that I'll go out to-night.

MAIRE Sure Grace Moynihan asked us to go over.

ANNE I'm shy of going into James'.

MAIRE Anne, you're the only one of us that has any manners. Maybe you're right not to go.

ANNE I'll stay in to-night.

MAIRE Then Brian and myself will go to Moynihan's.

ANNE You'd get an indulgence, Maire, if you missed a dance.

MAIRE Would it be so hard to get an indulgence? _(She takes flowers from dresser and puts them in window)_ The house looks nice this evening. We'll keep Brian here for a while, and then we'll go to Moynihan's.

ANNE Father will be going out to-night.

MAIRE _(turning suddenly from window)_ Will he?

ANNE He will. I think I ought to stay in. Maire, father was in only a while before you the night before last and another night.

MAIRE O, and I thinking things were going so well with us. He's drinking again.

ANNE He's going to Flynn's again.

MAIRE Disgracing us again.

ANNE I'll stay in to-night.

MAIRE I'm tired of this.

ANNE Don't say it that way, Maire.

MAIRE What will people say of us two now?

ANNE I'll talk to him to-night.

MAIRE No, you're going out--you're going to Moynihan's--you're going to see your sweetheart.

ANNE I think you're becoming a stranger to us, Maire.

MAIRE You're going to Moynihan's to-night, and I'm going, too. But I'm going to settle this first. Once and for all I'm going to settle this.

_The fiddle has ceased. As Maire goes towards the room, Conn Hourican comes down, the fiddle in his hand_.

CONN Were you listening to the tune I was playing? Ah, that was a real oul tune, if there was anyone that knew it. Maire, my jewel, were you listening?

MAIRE I heard you.

CONN It was a real oul' tune, and while I was playing it a great scheme came into my head. Now, listen to me, Maire; and you listen, too, Anne. Both of you would like to see your father having what's his due after all, honour and respect.

MAIRE Both of us would like to see our father earn the same.

CONN I could earn the same, ay, and gold and silver cups besides, if I had the mind to earn them.

_He puts fiddle on table and prepares to speak impressively_.

CONN Let ye listen to me now; I've a scheme to put before ye. When I was going over the oul tune, I remembered that I'd heard of a Feis [2] that's coming on soon, the Feis of Ardagh. I'm thinking of going there. There will be great prizes for some one; I don't doubt but I'd do at Ardagh better than I did at the Feis of Granard, where people as high as bishops were proud and glad to know Conn Hourican the Fiddler.

[Footnote 2: Feis, p.r.o.nounced Fesh, a musical or literary gathering, with compet.i.tions.]

ANNE Father, you've a place to mind.

CONN I'm tired of that kind of talk; sure I'm always thinking of the place. Maire hasn't little notions. What do you say to it, Maire, my girl?

MAIRE What do I say? I say you're not a rambler now, though indeed you behave like one.

CONN You have something against me, Maire.

MAIRE I have.

CONN What has she against me, Anne?

MAIRE All the promises you broke.