Chapter III: Part 3

KITTY Dinny Delahunty, the old caubogue, a baronet, and no less! (_Laughs_)

DONAL I'll have no more of this laughin', I say. What at all, are you amused at, I'd like to know?

KITTY Oh, father, sure 'tis a blessing that some one has a sense of humour, like myself and the King. And 'twas the great laugh he must have had to himself, when he made a baronet of Dinny Delahunty. Not to mention all the other shoneens and huxters, from here to Bantry.

DONAL How dare you speak to me like that, miss, when 'tis yourself that will be Lady Delahunty one of these fine days. Dinny, I mean, Sir Denis himself, is comin' here to-night to make a match with his son, Finbarr.

KITTY Wisha, indeed, now! And who told you I am going to wed Finbarr Delahunty? And he a more miserable shoneen than his old crawthumping humbug of a father.

DONAL If you'll speak as disrespectfully as that again about any of my friends you'll be sorry for it. 'Tis I'm tellin' you that you are to wed Finbarr Delahunty and that's information enough for you, my damsel.

KITTY I'll spare you the trouble of picking a man for me, father.

MRS. CORCORAN Don't be disobedient, Kitty. You must remember that I never laid eyes on your father until the mornin' I met him at the altar rails.

KITTY You should be ashamed to acknowledge the like, mother.

DONAL Ashamed of me, is it? The father that rared and schooled you!

KITTY I have said nothing at all to offend you, father. But I have already told you that I am going to pick a husband for myself.

DONAL You are goin' to pick a husband for yourself! Are you, indeed? Ah, sure 'tis the stubbornness of your mother's people that's in you.

MRS. CORCORAN (_as she keeps knitting_) And her father's, too.

DONAL What's that you're saying, woman?

MRS. CORCORAN I said that 'twas from your side of the family that she brought the stubbornness.

DONAL How dare you say that, and in my presence, too? The devil blast the one belongin' to me was ever stubborn. She's her mother's daughter, I'm tellin' you.

MRS. CORCORAN Whatever is gentle in her comes from me, and what's stubborn and contrary comes from you and yours.

DONAL (_in a rage_) God be praised and glorified! What's gentle in her, will you tell me? She that pleases herself in everythin'. (_To Kitty_) I'll knock the stubbornness out of you, my young lady, before we will have another full moon.

MRS. CORCORAN Indeed and you won't, then, nor in ten full moons, either.

DONAL (_as he walks up and down the kitchen_) Woman! woman! woman! You are all alike! Every damn one of you, from the Queen to the cockle picker.

KITTY You have no right to marry me to any one against my will.

DONAL And is it the way I'd be leavin' you marry some good-for-nothing idle jackeen, who couldn't buy a ha'porth of bird seed for a linnet or a finch, let alone to keep a wife? That's what a contrary, headstrong, uncontrollable whipster like you would do, if you had your own way. But, be God, you will have little of your own way while I am here and above ground.

KITTY If stubbornness was a virtue, you'd be a saint, father, and they'd have your picture in all the stained glass windows in every church in the country, like St. Patrick or St. Columkille, himself.

MRS. CORCORAN (_laughs at Kitty's answer_) Well, well, well, to be sure! You are your father's daughter, Kitty.

DONAL She's the devil's daughter, I'm thinkin'.

[_A loud knocking is heard at the door. Kitty opens it and Denis Delahunty enters. He is dressed in a new frock coat and top hat_.

MRS. CORCORAN AND DONAL (_as he enters_) Welcome, Sir Denis, welcome. (_They both shake hands with him_) Our heartiest congratulations, and warmest respects.

DONAL (_pointing to his own chair_) Take my own chair, the best in the house, that I wouldn't offer to the Bishop or the Lord Lieutenant himself, if either of them called to see me. [_Sir Denis sits down, but forgets to remove his hat, which is much too small, and tilted to one side. When Kitty sees the strange figure he cuts, she laughs outright, at which her father gets very angry_.

DONAL (_to Kitty_) What are you laughin' at? You brazen creature!

KITTY (_laughing_) Sir Denis has on some one else's tall hat.

SIR DENIS (_looks very bored, removes the hat and says rather sadly_) You are mistaken, my child. Badly mistaken! 'Tis my own hat. 'Twas the only one in the town that I could get that came near fittin' me, and herself, I mean Lady Delahunty, wouldn't leave me out without it.

KITTY I hope that you feel more comfortable than you look, Sir Denis.

SIR DENIS To tell the truth, Kitty, I don't know whether 'tis on my head or my heels I'm standin'. The devil a one of me was ever aware that His Majesty the King knew or thought so much about me. If I was only made a mere knight inself, it wouldn't be so bad; but think of bein' made a whole baronet all of a sudden like that, and not knowin' a bit about it beforehand.

DONAL You are the lucky man, Sir Denis, but don't know it.

SIR DENIS I suppose I am, Donal. At one stroke of his sword, so to speak, the King of, well, we might say of half the whole world, put an unbridgeable gulf between herself, I mean Lady Delahunty, and myself, and the common people forever and forever!

KITTY (_laughing_) May the Lord forgive him.

DONAL I suppose you must present yourself at Court and have tea with the Queen herself?

MRS. CORCORAN Sure, of course, he must be presented at Court, and the Queen with a crown of glitterin' jewels on her head will bow to him, the same as if he was the Rajah of Ballyslattery, himself, and he with his ten thousand wives and numerous attendants. And for all we know, maybe 'tis the way he'll be invitin' the whole Royal Family to spend the summer with himself and Lady Delahunty at Innismore.

SIR DENIS 'Tis the great responsibility that has been thrust upon herself, I mean Lady Delahunty, and myself surely. But we have made no plans, so far, for the entertainment of Royalty, and their conspicuous aide-de-camps.

KITTY Aides-de-camp, you mean, I suppose, Sir Denis.

DONAL How dare you correct Sir Denis?

SIR DENIS However, I suppose in time we will get accustomed to our new surroundin's and environment. The Prince of Wales, they say, is hard to please, but I have no doubt that he will be glad to meet Lady Delahunty and myself.

DONAL I have no doubt whatever but he will be delighted to meet Lady Delahunty and yourself. But, of course, every man's trouble appears greater to himself, than to his neighbours. And as we all think more about ourselves than any one else, and as you have now partially recovered from the unexpected stroke of royal generosity, we might as well get down to business and fix up that match with Kitty and your son Finbarr.

SIR DENIS With reference to the royal favour, Donal, I might as well be candid and say, that it wasn't altogether unexpected, because I knew somethin' was going to happen. I felt it in my bones.

KITTY Nonsense, Sir Denis; it must have been the rheumatics you felt.

DONAL That's all well and good, but what about the match?

KITTY Spare yourself the trouble of trying to make a match for me.

DONAL If you don't hold your tongue, I'll be put to the bother of lockin' you up in your own room, and feedin' you on promises until your spirit is broken. That's the only way to treat a contrary, impudent creature like you.

SIR DENIS Let there be no crossness on my account, Donal.

DONAL Well, I have carefully considered what we were discussin' last week, and I have decided to give three hundred pounds, twenty acres of rich loamy soil, without a rock, a furze bush, or a cobble stone in it, five milch cows, six sheep, three clockin' hens and a clutch of ducklin's. Provided, of course, that you will give the same. That much should be enough to give my daughter and your son a start in life. And I may tell you that's much more than herself and myself started out with. Well, Sir Denis, is it a bargain or is it not?

SIR DENIS No two people could get a better start, Donal. But it isn't in my power to come to any settlement until herself, I mean Lady Delahunty, arrives. She is up at the dressmaker's, and should be here in a minute or two. [_Knock at the door. Kitty opens and Lady Delahunty enters. She is dressed in a new sealskin coat, black dress, and white petticoat and a badly fitting bonnet. Mrs. Corcoran is greatly impressed with her appearance and offers her a chair_.

MRS. CORCORAN AND DONAL Congratulations, Lady Delahunty, congratulations. Be seated, be seated.

[_Mrs. Corcoran draws her chair near Lady Delahunty and while Donal and Sir Denis are talking, in an undertone, Mrs. Corcoran speaks_.

MRS. CORCORAN That's a beautiful new coat, Lady Delahunty.

LADY DELAHUNTY (_proudly_) Fifty-five guineas.

MRS. CORCORAN 'Tis worth more.

LADY DELAHUNTY So Sir Denis says.

MRS. CORCORAN (_stoops and feels the edge of the lace petticoat, which is well exposed_) That's the nicest piece of lace I have seen for many a long day.

LADY DELAHUNTY Two pounds ten, and a bargain at that. And three pounds five for my bonnet makes sixty pounds, fifteen shillin's. Not to mention what I had to pay for Dinny's, I mean Sir Denis's new suit and tall hat.

MRS. CORCORAN You could build a house or buy two fine horses for that much.

LADY DELAHUNTY Indeed, and you could then.

DONAL Now ladies, we must get our business finished, and we can talk after. I am offerin' three hundred pounds, twenty acres of land, five cows, six sheep, three clockin' hens, and a clutch of ducklin's, and want to know without any palaverin' or old gab, whether or not yourself and Sir Denis are prepared to do likewise.

KITTY One would think that I was a cow or a sheep, myself, going to be sold to the highest bidder. But, thank God, I'm neither one nor the other. I have a mind and a will of my own, and I may as well tell you all that I will only marry the man who I will choose for myself.

DONAL Every one of the women in ten generations of your family, on both sides, said the same, but they all did what they were told in the end, and you will do it, too. You will marry the man that I will choose for you, or go to the convent or America. And believe me, 'tisn't much of your own way you will get in either place.

KITTY I will marry the man I want to marry and no one else.

SIR DENIS Maybe 'tis the way she is only teasin' you.

DONAL No, 'tis her mother's contrary spirit that's in her.

MRS. CORCORAN Not her mother's, but her father's, contrary spirit.

DONAL Enough now, I say. I'm boss here yet, and I'm not goin' to let my daughter, whom I have rared, fed, clad and educated, and all that cost me many a pound of my hard earned money, have a privilege that the kings, queens, royal princesses and grand duchesses themselves haven't.

MRS. CORCORAN Wisha, don't be losin' your temper, Donal.

DONAL 'Tis enough to make any one lose their temper. If that sort of thing was permitted, every dacent father and mother in the country would be supportin' some useless son-in-law, and his children, maybe. The man who marries my daughter must be able to support her as I have supported you.

MRS. CORCORAN Erra, hold your tongue. I never ate a loaf of idle bread in my life, and always supported myself, and earned enough to support you as well.

DONAL I'll have no more of this tyranny in my own house, I say.

KITTY Well, well, for goodness sake! What is all this nonsense about? I have already told you that I will marry my own man and no one else.

SIR DENIS Now, Donal, when we come to consider the matter, perhaps, after all is said and done, maybe Kitty is right. You know, of course, that we all like to have our own way.

DONAL Do we, indeed? Maybe 'tis the way you are tryin' to back out of your bargain.

LADY DELAHUNTY He isn't tryin' to back out of anythin', Donal. But as we were sayin' to-day when we heard that His Majesty, the King of Great Britain and Ireland, Australia, Canada, and India, as well.--(_Looks at Sir Denis who is trying to light a clay pipe_) Ahem! ahem! Sir Denis, Sir Denis.

SIR DENIS (_bored_) Alright, alright.

LADY DELAHUNTY Didn't I tell you never to leave me see you with a clay pipe in your gob again? Where are the cigars I bought for you this morning?

SIR DENIS (_searches in his pocket and pulls out a cigar_) Wisha the devil a taste can I get from one of them. I might as well be tryin' to smoke a piece of furze bush.

LADY DELAHUNTY Taste or no taste, put that pipe back in your pocket. What would the King and his daughters think if they saw you suckin' an old dudeen like that?

KITTY 'Tis little bother any of us are to the King or his daughters, either, I'm thinking.

DONAL I'll put a padlock on that mouth of yours, if you don't hold your tongue.

LADY DELAHUNTY Well, as I was sayin', when His Majesty so graciously honoured Sir Dinny and myself, we held a long and lengthy consultation and came to the conclusion after a good deal of consideration, that it might be as well not to hurry Finbarr's marriage. We were thinkin' of sendin' him across to England to finish his education: so that he may be able to take his place with the foreign aristocracy.

SIR DENIS Of course, we all know that there is no better hurler in the whole country, and no finer man ever cracked a whip, and no better man ever stood behind a plough, or turned cows out of a meadow, but the devil a bit at all he knows about the higher accomplishments of the nobility.

LADY DELAHUNTY Such as playin' cricket and polo, and drinkin' afternoon tea with a napkin on his knee, like one of the gentry themselves. And between ourselves, he cares no more about cigarettes than his father does about cigars.

SIR DENIS Notwithstanding all that, 'tis my belief that after six months in England, he would be fit company for the best people in the land.

DONAL What the blazes does he want learnin' to play polo for, when he must make his livin' as a farmer?

LADY DELAHUNTY Listen now, Donal, and be reasonable. When--

DONAL Is it the way you want to break off the match? The truth now, and nothin' else.

LADY DELAHUNTY Of course, we don't want the match to be broken off. But now that Finbarr is heir to a title--well, we all know that Kitty is a very nice and good girl; but as Sir Denis says: "'Tis a pity that we should force people to marry against their will, and--"

DONAL The long and short of it is that my daughter isn't good enough for your damn, flat-footed clodhopper of a son. Though 'twas Dinny himself that forced the match on me.

LADY DELAHUNTY (_indignantly_) Sir Denis, if you please.

SIR DENIS Donal, Donal, be reasonable and agreeable, man. You should know that people are never the same after royal favours have been conferred on them. And though I am perfectly satisfied with myself and my social standin', such as it is, yet, as you know, we must look to the future of our children.

DONAL Well, of all the old mollycoddlin' bladderskites that ever I listened to, you beat them all.

SIR DENIS Restrain yourself, Donal, and leave me finish. Well, I was about to say, when you interrupted, that when Finbarr has learnt how to behave like a real gentleman, and can hold a cup of afternoon tea on his knee without spillin' it all over himself, then he may aspire to higher things, and want a wife who can play the violin as well as the piano, and speak all the languages in the world also.

DONAL Wisha bad luck and misfortune to your blasted impudence, to cast a reflection on my daughter, and she that can play twenty-one tunes on the piano, all by herself and from the music too. And she can play the typewriter as well, and that's more than any one belongin' to you can do. 'Tis well you know there's no more music in the Delahunty family than there would be in an old cow or a mangy jackass that you'd find grazin' by the roadside.

KITTY Tell him all I know about Irish, French, and German too, father.

DONAL The next thing I will tell him is to take himself and his bloody tall hat out of my house and never show his face here again.

LADY DELAHUNTY I'm surprised at you to speak like that to Sir Denis.

DONAL Sir Denis be damned, ma'am.

SIR DENIS (_as he rises to go and requests Lady Delahunty to do likewise_) Lady Delahunty, if you please.

[_A loud knocking is heard at the door. Kitty opens and Constable Dunlea enters. As he stands by the door, he takes a letter from his pocket._

CONSTABLE (_to Sir Denis_) This is a message for you, sir, from the editor of the _Examiner_. The postman couldn't find you at home and asked me to deliver it, as he knew I was coming here to-night.

[_Sir Denis excitedly opens the letter and Lady Delahunty looks on with apparent satisfaction, as she thinks it is a personal letter of congratulation for Sir Denis. Sir Denis borrows Mrs. Corcoran's spectacles and reads the letter hurriedly and looks very crestfallen._

LADY DELAHUNTY (_with a look of surprise_) What's the matter, Sir Denis?

SIR DENIS What isn't the matter would be a better question. 'Twas a mistake, Anastatia, a sad and sorry mistake!

LADY DELAHUNTY What's a mistake?

SIR DENIS Ourselves! I mean we weren't knighted at all. The editor of the _Examiner_ sends his personal regrets and apology for printin' an unofficial telegram that was sent by some malicious person about myself being created a baronet.

LADY DELAHUNTY (_grabs the letter and spectacles. Adjusts the spectacles on her nose and reads. Swoons and falls into Sir Denis's arms_) The saints protect us all! 'Tis the truth, surely!

MRS. CORCORAN (_gets a glass of water and gives it to Lady Delahunty_) Here, now, take this, and you will be soon all right again.

LADY DELAHUNTY (_as she recovers, turns to Kitty_) I suppose 'twas at your instigation that all this happened. You impudent, prevaricatin', philanderin' galavanter. Now we will be the laughin' stock of the whole country. If Sir Denis--

DONAL Plain Denis, if you please, ma'am.

LADY DELAHUNTY (_to her husband_) If you had only the good sense of refusin' the title itself, but--

SIR DENIS We'll never be able to live down the shame and disgrace of it, Lady Delahunty.

DONAL Plain Statia Delahunty, if you please.

LADY DELAHUNTY (_to Kitty_) If you were worth the weight of yourself in gold and could sing like a lark, I wouldn't give Finbarr to you now.

KITTY I never asked for him, ma'am. I told you all that I would marry only my own man, and here he is. (_Calls Constable Dunlea to her side and takes his arm_) We are to be married next month, and then what need I care about titles or the aristocracy when I will have himself to support and protect me while he lives, and his pension if he should die, and the law of the land at my back all the time.

CURTAIN

* * * * *

RETRIBUTION

A COMEDY IN ONE ACT

CHARACTERS

PATCHA CREMIN (_nicknamed_ NAPOLEON) _A carpenter_ NEDSERS BROPHY (_nicknamed_ BOULANGER) _A mason_ DANNUX TOUHY (_nicknamed_ THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON) _A mason_ MRS. FENNESSEY _A lodging-house keeper_

RETRIBUTION

A COMEDY IN ONE ACT

_Scene: Bedroom in a country lodging house. There is one narrow bed and two chairs in the room, and a picture of Robert Emmet hangs on the wall. Patcha Cremin is lying in bed with his head covered. A loud knocking is heard at the door_.

PATCHA (_startled, uncovers his head and looks about him. The knocking continues_) Who's there? (_Thinking for a moment that he is at home and that his wife is calling_) Oh, is that you, Ellie?

MRS. FENNESSEY (_from without_) It is not Ellie, then.

PATCHA (_not yet properly awake_) And who is it?

MRS. FENNESSEY 'Tis me.

PATCHA (_angrily_) And who the blazes are you?

MRS. FENNESSEY Mrs. Fennessey, your landlady.

PATCHA Oh, yes! Of course, Mrs. Fennessey, excuse me, ma'am. I thought I was at home and that my wife was callin' me to get up to go to work.

MRS. FENNESSEY Are you in bed yet?

PATCHA I am, ma'am.

MRS. FENNESSEY When are you going to get up?

PATCHA Why?

MRS. FENNESSEY I want to say a few words to you.

PATCHA I'm not feelin' too well, at all, to-day, and don't know when I'll be able to get up, ma'am.

MRS. FENNESSEY Don't you, indeed?

PATCHA No, I don't, ma'am.

MRS. FENNESSEY Well then, if you're in bed and covered up, may I come in?

PATCHA (_draws the clothes about him_) You can, ma'am.

MRS. FENNESSEY (_enters, stands in front of the bed and looks at Patcha_) And might I ask what's the matter with you?

PATCHA Oh, I don't exactly know, at all. I have a queer shaky feelin' runnin' down the spine and all over me. It must be the 'fluenza or maybe appendicitis, I'm thinkin'.

MRS. FENNESSEY Well, if that's the case, you'll get up this very instant and clear out of my house, for I don't want a sick man on my hands. And you that didn't pay me a farthin' of rent for this last six weeks.

PATCHA Didn't I promise to pay you a week over and above when I'd get a job? And this is the gratitute you're showin' me now for my kindness.

MRS. FENNESSEY What a lot of good your promises would do for any one. I want my rent, and you can keep your promises.

PATCHA Is it the way you'd be after turnin' a sick man from your door a cold freezin' day like this? And the snow thirty inches thick on the Galtee Mountains, and the air itself nearly frozen hard.

MRS. FENNESSEY 'Tis you're the nice sick man, indeed, with muscles on you like a statue or a prize fighter, and an appetite like an elephant. God knows then, you should be ashamed of yourself for nearly eating me out of house and home, and I a poor widow dependin' on the likes of you for a livin.' 'Tis I that wouldn't like to be the mother of a man such as yourself, God forgive you!

PATCHA I'm surprised at a dacent woman like you, Mrs. Fennessey, to stand there abusin' me for my misfortune instead of bringin' me up a good warm breakfast to nourish my wastin' frame, and encourage the good spirits to come back to my heart.

MRS. FENNESSEY I'm sick and tired of listenin' to you and your excuses, but I'm not goin' to listen to them any longer. So pack up and get out, or if you don't I'll get my brother Mike to fling you out, and believe me he won't take long to do it, either.

PATCHA You're losin' all your dacency, Mrs. Fennessey.

MRS. FENNESSEY Thank God for it, if I am then! But I'm gettin' back my good sense, and I won't talk or argue any more with you.

PATCHA You should feel ashamed of yourself, Mrs. Fennessey.

MRS. FENNESSEY Indeed then, I should, for puttin' up with the likes of you. You've got to be out of this house before twelve o'clock to-morrow and remember I mean what I say.

[_She walks out and slams the door. Patcha sits up in bed, rearranges the bedclothes, then places his hand under his chin, and wrinkles his brow. Remains that way until he is disturbed by a knock at the door_

MRS. FENNESSEY (_opens, and holds the door ajar_) There's a gentleman wants to see you.

PATCHA Who is he? What is he like, and where does he come from?

MRS. FENNESSEY How do I know where he comes from? He wanted to know if Napoleon lived here and I told him there was no one livin' here at present but one Patcha Cremin. Sure, that's who I mean, says he. Are you Napoleon?

PATCHA Yes, I'm Napoleon.

MRS. FENNESSEY Glory be to the Lord! What a purty name they got for you!

PATCHA Did he say who he was?

MRS. FENNESSEY He said he was an old friend of yours.

PATCHA I wonder can it be the Duke of Wellington? Dannux Touhy, I mean.

MRS. FENNESSEY Touhy! Touhy! That's the name. Will I send him up?

PATCHA Do if you please, ma'am.

[_Mrs. Fennessey leaves the room, and in a short time Dannux Touhy enters._

DANNUX (_as he shakes hands with Patcha_) Well, well! 'Tis real glad that I am to see you. Sure I didn't expect to find my old friend Napoleon in the town of Ballinflask this blessed day. And I've heard that Boulanger is here also. Is that so?

PATCHA It is so, then. And he'll be as surprised as myself to find the Duke of Wellington here before him when he arrives.

DANNUX What makes you be in bed at this hour of the day? Is it the way that you're sick?

PATCHA Not in the body, thank God, but in the mind and heart.

DANNUX And why don't you get up and dress yourself, and go for a good long country walk?

PATCHA I can't.

DANNUX Why?

PATCHA Sit down and I'll tell you. (_Dannux sits on a chair_) Last night as I was goin' to sleep, a knock came to the door, and when I said: "Who's there?" a voice answered back and said: "Boulanger." "Come in," says I. And lo and behold, who should walk in the door but Nedsers Brophy, himself. And of course, he had the usual poor mouth. He couldn't get a job in the town because he is such a poor mechanic no one would be bothered with him.

DANNUX I'm not surprised at it. Sure he was never more than a botch at his best.

PATCHA Well, he said, he hadn't a penny in his pocket, or the price of a night's lodgin'; so I invited him to sleep with me in this bit of a bed. And of course, he accepted. The same man never refused anythin' he could get for nothin' in his life.

DANNUX I know him of old, the good-for-nothin' humbug.

PATCHA The bed as you can see isn't very large, so when he turned in the middle of the night, I fell out on the floor, and when I turned he fell out. And there we were, fallin' in and fallin' out like two drunken sailors all night long. And when mornin' came, every bone in my body was as sore as a carbuncle.

DANNUX And sure 'tis myself that didn't close an eye or stretch my limbs upon a bed at all last night, or eat a bit for two long days, but kept walkin' the roads until I struck this town at daybreak.

PATCHA God help us all!

DANNUX And where's Boulanger now, might I ask?

PATCHA He's gone out on a little message for me. He should be here any minute.

DANNUX I suppose there's no use askin' you for that one pound two and sixpence that you borrowed from my brother, Lord Pebble, some time ago. I'm after gettin' a job from the parish priest to set a range in his kitchen, but I haven't either a trowel or a hammer, and unless I can raise the price of them, I'll lose the contract.

PATCHA And when will you get paid?

DANNUX The instant the job is finished.

PATCHA How much will the tools cost?

DANNUX Three shillin's, at least.

PATCHA I don't know if I could spare that amount, but I might be able to give you a shillin' when Boulanger comes back.

DANNUX Was it to the pawnshop you sent him?

PATCHA 'Twas indeed, then. And with the only suit of clothes I had too. We were both dead broke, and my landlady stopped the grub yesterday mornin', And I haven't broken my fast since. So here I am now without a bit in the world but the shirt on my back.

DANNUX The birds of the air or the fish in the sea couldn't be worse off, themselves. Why didn't you make Boulanger stay in bed and pawn his clothes instead of your own, you fool?

PATCHA That would be the devil's own strange way to entertain your guest, wouldn't it?

DANNUX That's the queerest story I ever heard.

PATCHA Sure we must get a bit to eat somehow. 'Tis famished I am with the hunger, as it is.

[_Brophy staggers into the room slightly intoxicated._

NEDSERS (_putting out his hand to Dannux_) Well, well, well! How's my old pal Wellington? Who'd ever think of finding you here! (_As they shake hands_) There are no friends like the old ones. The world is a small place after all. Twas in Cork we met the last time and in Fermoy before that.

DANNUX 'Pon my word but I believe you're right.

PATCHA (_excitedly, to Nedsers_) Where's the food I sent you for?

NEDSERS (_staggers to the side of the bed and sits down_) Wait and I'll tell you what happened to me. All I got on your old suit of clothes was five shillin's, and if you don't believe me look at the ticket. (_Hands ticket_) Well, I went into a pub to get a drop of grog, and asked for a half shot of the best, put the five bob on the counter, got my drink, put the change in my pocket, and lo and behold, when I went to look for it again, I couldn't find a trace of it high or low. Only for that I'd have brought you somethin' to eat. There's no use cryin' over spilt milk, is there, Dannux? Wellington, I should have said. Well, how are you, anyway? 'Tis a long time since we worked together. Isn't it?

PATCHA (_catching him by the back of the neck_) Glory be to the Lord! Is it the way you are takin' leave of your senses? There's my only suit of clothes in pawn, and the money you raised on them gone, and you here with your belly full of dirty drink, and I with my belly empty and my guts rattlin' in want of food. 'Tis you that should feel ashamed of yourself to have me in such a condition and all on your account too.

NEDSERS What should I feel ashamed about? Didn't I do my best? Blame the bla'gard who stole the money out of my pocket. What old talk you have. Didn't I disgrace myself by goin' into a pawnshop for you?

PATCHA What am I to do at all!

DANNUX 'Tis a bad way to be in, surely. But I think I can see a way out of the difficulty.

NEDSERS Good old Wellington! Good old Wellington! That's what your namesake said before he put the comether on Napoleon. What say, Patcha?

PATCHA Don't be botherin' me. I'm more than disgusted with you.

DANNUX Now, there must be no quarrelin'. We are all friends and we must stand by, and help each other, because there is only the loan of ourselves in the world. I have a job to go to, but I have no tools to work with. And I haven't a bit on my person that would be taken in the pawn, so I propose that Boulanger will give me his boots and that I will pawn them, and buy the tools I want. Then I will go to work, and when the job, which will only take me a few hours, is finished, I'll share the one pound one that his reverence said he'd give me. And as he said himself, 'twas little enough, but as times were bad he couldn't afford any more.

PATCHA 'Twas the Lord Himself that sent you in the door to us!

NEDSERS Nothin' could be fairer. But look at my old boots, you wouldn't get a lump of candy from a rag man for them.

PATCHA But why not give him your coat and vest? You'd easily get eight or nine shillin's on them and that much would buy the tools and get us all a bite to eat as well.

NEDSERS (_taking off his coat and vest_) Enough said! Enough said!

DANNUX (_as he wraps them up in an old newspaper_) I wouldn't be surprised if I'd get ten shillin's on them. And sure they can be released again as soon as I get paid for the job.

NEDSERS That's right, that's the way I like to hear a man talkin'.

DANNUX (_as he takes the laces from Patcha's boots lying near the bed, and ties up the parcel_) What else are we here for, but to be a help and a comfort to each other? Sure 'tis by each other we live. (_Places the parcel under his arm, puts on his hat and walks towards the door. Looks from one to the other_) Good-by, Napoleon--Good-by, Boulanger. May God bless you both.

PATCHA What's that I hear? Aren't you comin' back with the money and the bit to eat for us?

DANNUX Of course I am. I only mean good-by for the time I'll be away.

[_Exit Dannux. After he has gone Nedsers looks soberly at Patcha_.

NEDSERS Only for the time he'll be away!

PATCHA What's the matter with you, at all?

NEDSERS I think I did a foolish thing.

PATCHA What's that you're sayin', I say?

NEDSERS I did a foolish thing! I know I did. But that's just like me. I brought my dacent impulses from my mother. God forgive her!

PATCHA Is it the way you are afraid he won't return?

NEDSERS I'm sure of it. I know he'll never return. He's the biggest bloody liar in the whole country and the biggest rogue too.

PATCHA (_as he jumps out of bed with the blanket around him_) The saints and angels protect us all! Sure I forgot that the parish priest is away in England on his vacation. And we are to be flung out on the roadside to-morrow, and in our shirts too!

CURTAIN

End of Project Gutenberg's Duty, and other Irish Comedies, by Seumas O'Brien