Seven Short Plays Part 3

_Bartley:_ If no one at all will take it, maybe it's best to give it up to the police.

_Tim Casey:_ There'd be a welcome for it with them surely!

(_Laughter._)

_Mrs. Tully:_ And it is to the police Kitty Keary herself will be brought.

_Mrs. Tarpey:_ (_Rocking to and fro._) I wonder now who will take the expense of the wake for poor Jack Smith?

_Bartley:_ The wake for Jack Smith!

_Tim Casey:_ Why wouldn't he get a wake as well as another? Would you begrudge him that much?

_Bartley:_ Red Jack Smith dead! Who was telling you?

_Shawn Early:_ The whole town knows of it by this.

_Bartley:_ Do they say what way did he die?

_James Ryan:_ You don't know that yourself, I suppose, Bartley Fallon?

You don't know he was followed and that he was laid dead with the stab of a hayfork?

_Bartley:_ The stab of a hayfork!

_Shawn Early:_ You don't know, I suppose, that the body was found in the Five Acre Meadow?

_Bartley:_ The Five Acre Meadow!

_Tim Casey:_ It is likely you don't know that the police are after the man that did it?

_Bartley:_ The man that did it!

_Mrs. Tully:_ You don't know, maybe, that he was made away with for the sake of Kitty Keary, his wife?

_Bartley:_ Kitty Keary, his wife!

(_Sits down bewildered._)

_Mrs. Tully:_ And what have you to say now, Bartley Fallon?

_Bartley:_ (_Crossing himself._) I to bring that fork here, and to find that news before me! It is much if I can ever stir from this place at all, or reach as far as the road!

_Tim Casey:_ Look, boys, at the new magistrate, and Jo Muldoon along with him! It's best for us to quit this.

_Shawn Early:_ That is so. It is best not to be mixed in this business at all.

_James Ryan:_ Bad as he is, I wouldn't like to be an informer against any man.

(_All hurry away except Mrs. Tarpey, who remains behind her stall. Enter magistrate and policeman._)

_Magistrate:_ I knew the district was in a bad state, but I did not expect to be confronted with a murder at the first fair I came to.

_Policeman:_ I am sure you did not, indeed.

_Magistrate:_ It was well I had not gone home. I caught a few words here and there that roused my suspicions.

_Policeman:_ So they would, too.

_Magistrate:_ You heard the same story from everyone you asked?

_Policeman:_ The same story-or if it was not altogether the same, anyway it was no less than the first story.

_Magistrate:_ What is that man doing? He is sitting alone with a hayfork. He has a guilty look. The murder was done with a hayfork!

_Policeman:_ (_In a whisper._) That's the very man they say did the act; Bartley Fallon himself!

_Magistrate:_ He must have found escape difficult-he is trying to brazen it out. A convict in the Andaman Islands tried the same game, but he could not escape my system! Stand aside-Don't go far-have the handcuffs ready. (_He walks up to Bartley, folds his arms, and stands before him._) Here, my man, do you know anything of John Smith?

_Bartley:_ Of John Smith! Who is he, now?

_Policeman:_ Jack Smith, sir-Red Jack Smith!

_Magistrate:_ (_Coming a step nearer and tapping him on the shoulder._) Where is Jack Smith?

_Bartley:_ (_With a deep sigh, and shaking his head slowly._) Where is he, indeed?

_Magistrate:_ What have you to tell?

_Bartley:_ It is where he was this morning, standing in this spot, singing his share of songs-no, but lighting his pipe-sc.r.a.ping a match on the sole of his shoe--

_Magistrate:_ I ask you, for the third time, where is he?

_Bartley:_ I wouldn't like to say that. It is a great mystery, and it is hard to say of any man, did he earn hatred or love.

_Magistrate:_ Tell me all you know.

_Bartley:_ All that I know-Well, there are the three estates; there is Limbo, and there is Purgatory, and there is--

_Magistrate:_ Nonsense! This is trifling! Get to the point.

_Bartley:_ Maybe you don't hold with the clergy so? That is the teaching of the clergy. Maybe you hold with the old people. It is what they do be saying, that the shadow goes wandering, and the soul is tired, and the body is taking a rest-The shadow! (_Starts up._) I was nearly sure I saw Jack Smith not ten minutes ago at the corner of the forge, and I lost him again-Was it his ghost I saw, do you think?

_Magistrate:_ (_To policeman._) Conscience-struck! He will confess all now!

_Bartley:_ His ghost to come before me! It is likely it was on account of the fork! I to have it and he to have no way to defend himself the time he met with his death!

_Magistrate:_ (_To policeman._) I must note down his words. (_Takes out notebook._) (_To Bartley:_) I warn you that your words are being noted.

_Bartley:_ If I had ha' run faster in the beginning, this terror would not be on me at the latter end! Maybe he will cast it up against me at the day of judgment-I wouldn't wonder at all at that.