Three Plays: The Fiddler's House, The Land, Thomas Muskerry Part 6

He got the prize, and there's no talk of you at all.

CONN No talk of me at all?

BRIAN It's said that since you settled down you lost your art.

CONN And what had the men at Flynn's to say about that? BRIAN They bragged about you for a while, but the Sligomen put them down.

CONN I wonder would we have time to go up, play a few tunes, and come back, while Maire would be doing something? It would be a pity not to give them fellows a lesson and close their ignorant mouths for them. I wonder would we have time? _(Anne comes in with Maire)_ I thought you went somewhere and left Brian and myself here.

ANNE We're going somewhere and Brian might come with us.

MAIRE Every one is going to Moynihan's.

CONN It's a pleasant house, a pleasant house. Brian will make his _ceilidh [3]_ with me. We might go over a few tunes.

ANNE Let Brian come where there are girls that might miss him.

MAIRE Anne, you're a great one for keeping up the story that girls are always thinking about men.

ANNE And so they are. Just as men are always thinking about girls.

MAIRE You'd make a good ribbonman.[4] You'd put a face on anything you said.

[Footnote 3: Celidh, p.r.o.nounced cayley, a visit.]

[Footnote 4: A ribbonman--a member of a secret agrarian society.]

ANNE Ribbonism and secret societies were denounced off the altar.

MAIRE Goodness! The men will begin to think they've secrets worth telling.

ANNE Have you secrets worth telling, Brian?

MAIRE I daresay he has. There are foolish women in the world.

ANNE Are you coming to Moynihan's, Brian?

BRIAN No. I'm going where there's men.

MAIRE Come, Anne, till I deck you out. Come here, daughter, don't wear flowers. I think they're unlucky. Here I am talking like this, and I going to a dance. I suppose I'll dance with seven or eight and forget what's on my mind.... Everyone is going to Moynihan's except the men here. Are you going out, father?

CONN I'm making a _ceilidh_ with Brian.

MAIRE Well, G.o.d be with you both. Come on, Anne.

_Maire takes down her shawl, and puts it over her head. She stands at the door, watching Anne, who goes to Brian._

ANNE Brian, what have you against Moynihan's?

BRIAN Nothing at all. I may go in. MAIRE Come on, Anne. G.o.d be with you both.

_Maire and Anne go out. They are heard talking for a while. Conn goes to the door_.

CONN Maire and Anne are turning the bohereen. [5] Come on now.

_He takes his fiddle and begins to wrap it up eagerly_.

BRIAN Ay, let's go.

CONN _(at door)_ I never forget, I never forget. The Granard Feis is as fresh in my mind as the day I played at it. Shawn Heffernan, indeed! I never forget. I never forget.

_Conn Hourican and Brian MacConnell go out_.

[Footnote 5: Bohereen--the little path going from the cottage to the main road.]

CURTAIN

ACT II

_The next day: The scene is as in previous Act. It is now in the forenoon. Maire Hourican is seated at the fire in a listless att.i.tude.

Anne is busy at the dresser. Maire rises_.

MAIRE We shouldn't have stayed at Moynihan's so late.

ANNE Indeed it would have been better to go home, but I was sure that Brian MacConnell would come in.

MAIRE Well, it was his own loss if he didn't come. Maybe there was one there that I liked better.

ANNE You couldn't have liked Connor Gilpatrick better than Brian MacConnell.

MAIRE Connor's the best-looking boy in the country. Was it noticed that we were together often?

ANNE _(significantly)_ Peggy Carroll noticed it.

MAIRE Well, the boy was glad to talk to me. Connor's a good dancer, and he has fine talk besides. If Brian MacConnell had come to the door, I wouldn't have turned my head towards him.

ANNE Sure, you wouldn't compare a young boy like Connor Gilpatrick with Brian MacConnell?

MAIRE I wouldn't have turned my head towards Brian. O! never expect kindness from men. Why did you let me stay on? I'm afraid to look at myself in the gla.s.s to-day. _(She goes over to the mirror)_ You were hard on me, Anne, yesterday.

ANNE I didn't like the way you talked to father.

MAIRE I think I'm getting different to what I used to be. Well, I've reason to be sorry for what I did yesterday. _(She is at window)_ Was Peggy Carroll vexed at the way I went on?

ANNE She never took her eyes off the pair of you. You know she's very fond of Connor.