Three Plays: The Fiddler's House, The Land, Thomas Muskerry Part 41

_Anna goes out_.

MUSKERRY No, Marianne. I'm not going to be a party to this any longer.

I'm going before the Guardians, and I'll pay them back their fifty pounds.

MRS. CRILLY Fifty pounds. From what place is fifty pounds to come so easily?

MUSKERRY I'll ask you to give me the fifty pounds, Marianne.

MRS. CRILLY I'll do no such thing. Anna is getting married, and she claims her fortune.

MUSKERRY Anna getting married. This was kept from me. And who is Anna getting married to?

MRS. CRILLY To James Scollard.

MUSKERRY To James Scollard. And so Anna is getting married to my successor, James Scollard. My successor. How well I knew there was some such scheme behind shifting me out of the Workhouse. And Anna Crilly was against me all the time. Well, well, well. I'll remember this.

MRS. CRILLY I'm at great losses since you came here.

MUSKERRY I'm at greater losses, Marianne.

MRS. CRILLY What losses are you at?

MUSKERRY The loss of my trust, the loss of my dignity, my self-respect, and--

MRS. CRILLY I think we did all we could for you.

MUSKERRY I'm going out now to pay back the Guardians the sum due to them from me. I want fifty pounds from you. I claim it, and I have a right to claim it.

MRS. CRILLY We have no money at all. Listen. Crofton Crilly backed a bill for James Covey, and three hundred pounds has been taken from our account.

MUSKERRY Three hundred pounds!

MRS. CRILLY Yes. Three hundred pounds.

MUSKERRY He backed a bill for three hundred pounds. And do you think, Marianne Crilly, there can be any luck, in a house where such a thing could happen? I tell you there is no luck nor grace in your house. _(He puts on his hat and goes to cupboard to get his stick. He opens the cupboard. He turns round)_

MUSKERRY _(greatly moved)_ My G.o.d, my G.o.d. I'm made cry at the things that happen in this house.

MRS. CRILLY What is it?

MUSKERRY The good meat I brought in. There it is on the floor and the cat mangling it. I'll go out of this house, and I'll never put foot into it again.

MRS. CRILLY And where will you go?

MUSKERRY I'll go before the Board of Guardians and I'll ask them to provide for me.

MRS. CRILLY What do you want me to do for you?

MUSKERRY Give me fifty pounds, so that I can pay them off now.

MRS. CRILLY Haven't I told you the way I'm straitened for money?

MUSKERRY You have still in the bank what would save my name.

MRS. CRILLY Don't be unreasonable. I have to provide for my children.

MUSKERRY Your children. Yes, you have to provide for your children.

I provided for them long enough. And now you would take my place, my honour, and my self-respect, and provide for them over again.

_(He goes out)_

MRS. CRILLY I'll have to put up with this, too.

_Anna re-enters._

ANNA Where has he gone, mother?

MRS. CRILLY He has gone down to the Workhouse.

ANNA What is he going to do, mother?

MRS. CRILLY He says he will ask the Guardians to provide for him.

ANNA It's not likely they'll do that for a man with a pension of fifty pounds a year.

MRS. CRILLY I don't know what will happen to us.

ANNA He'll come back, mother.

MRS. CRILLY He will. But everything will have been made public, and the money will have to be paid.

ANNA _(at the window)_ There he is going down the street, mother.

MRS. CRILLY Which way?

ANNA Towards the Workhouse. And here's the doctor's daughter coming into the shop again, mother.

MRS. CRILLY I'll go out and see her myself. _(As she goes out she hands Anna a cheque)_ That's the last cheque I'll be able to make out.

There's your eighty pounds, Anna. _(She goes into the shop)_

ANNA We can begin to get the furniture now.

_She sits down at the table and makes some calculation with a pencil_.

CURTAIN

ACT THIRD