CONN Well indeed, it would make a right good ballad, James.
JAMES I"d like to make a ballad about it, that would be sung all over Connaught.
CONN And why wouldn"t you do it, James Moynihan? Sure it would be the making of you. It would be sung all over Ireland, and your name to it. Do you hear that, Maire? Do you hear that, Anne?
JAMES I"m saying that I"d like to do a ballad about your father"s victory.
CONN Maybe you could have it this night week, James? ANNE Will it be a poem or a ballad, James?
_Anne goes to him_.
CONN If you had it this night week, we could bring the boys to the place. What do you say to that, Maire? We"ll bring the boys here this night week to hear James Moynihan"s ballad.
MAIRE I was thinking of the Feis at Ardagh.
CONN The Feis at Ardagh?
MAIRE Maybe you"ll be going to it this night week.
CONN Sure you"re not joking with me, Maire?
MAIRE No.
_She rises_.
CONN G.o.d forgive me, Maire, if I vexed you.
_Maire goes up to Conn"s room_.
CONN Anne, jewel, had Maire anything to say about Ardagh?
ANNE We weren"t talking about that at all.
JAMES Play me a rouse on the fiddle and maybe the ballad will come into my head.
_Maire comes down, a fiddle in her hands_.
MAIRE Here"s the fiddle that was your favourite, the Granard fiddle.
CONN And this is the fiddle I"ll bring with me to Ardagh.
ANNE And is he going to Ardagh?
JAMES And what about the ballad, Mister Hourican?
CONN I leave it all to Maire now. How well she bethought of the Granard fiddle.
MAIRE Father, we were always together.
_She hands him the fiddle. Conn, Maire, James, Anne, are at table_.
CURTAIN
_ACT III_
_A week later: The scene is as in previous Acts. The table is near entrance. It is laid for a meal. The time is near sunset. Conn Hourican, Maire Hourican, and James Moynihan are seated at table.
Maire Hourican rises. She goes to entrance and remains looking out.
Conn and James go on eating_.
CONN However it is, I could never play my best in this place. The houses are too scattered, I often think. And it doesn"t do for the fiddler to remain too long in the one place. The people get too used to him. Virgil made better songs than any man, but if Virgil was sung in the fairs constant, divil much heed would be given to his songs.
JAMES Now, I often thought of that.
CONN Another thing, James Moynihan, Ribbonism and the Land League ruined the country.
_Maire goes out_.
JAMES But sure we must be doing something for the Cause.
CONN They were all Fenians here when I came into this country first, over twenty years ago.
_He rises and goes into room_.
JAMES Well, he"s a great man, Conn Hourican. _(James rises and goes to fire. Conn comes out of room, carrying a greatcoat)_ How do you think you"ll do at Ardagh?
CONN I think I"ll do very well at Ardagh, James.
_He leaves coat on settle_.
JAMES Everything"s ready for the start.
CONN Ay, and it"s near time for going. I"m playing very well lately, James. It"s the thought of being before people who"ll know music. If I was staying in this place any longer, James, I"d put my fiddle in the thatch, and leave it there for the birds to pick holes in.
JAMES But won"t you be back here after the Feis at Ardagh?
CONN Well, I will, for a while anyway.
JAMES And would you be going off again after a while?
CONN I"m thinking that when my daughters are settled I"ll have the years before me. I was reared in a place south of this, and I"d like to go back there for a while.
JAMES But wouldn"t you come back to us?
CONN There"s many"s the place in Ireland that I never saw, town and countryside. _(He takes the greatcoat off settle and puts it on him)_ Tell me, James Moynihan, is your father satisfied with the settlement that Maire"s making for yourself and Anne?