Chapter III: Act II

SCENE I.--[_1st Grooves._]--_Gap of Dunloe; same as 2d Scene, Act I.--Music._

_Enter_ HARDRESS _and_ DANNY, L. 1 E.

_Hard_ [R.] Oh, what a giddy fool I’ve been! What would I give to recall this fatal act which bars my fortune?

_Danny_ [L.] There’s something throublin’ yez, Masther Hardress. Can’t Danny do something to aise ye? Spake the word, and I’ll die for ye.

_Hard_ Danny, I _am_ troubled. I was a fool when I refused to listen to you at the chapel of Castle Island.

_Danny_ When I warned ye to have no call to Eily O’Connor?

_Hard_ I was mad to marry her.

_Danny_ I knew she was no wife for you. A poor thing widout any manners, or money, or book larnin’, or a ha’porth o’ fortin’. Oh, worra! I told ye that, but ye bate me off, and here now is the way of it.

_Hard_ Well, it’s done, and can’t be undone.

_Danny_ Bedad, I dun know that. Wouldn’t she untie the knot herself--couldn’t ye coax her?

_Hard_ No.

_Danny_ Is that her love for you? You that give up the divil an’ all for her. What’s _her_ ruin to yours? Ruin--goredoutha--ruin is it? Don’t I pluck a shamrock and wear it a day for the glory of St. Patrick, and then throw it away when it’s gone by my likin’s. What is _she_ to be ruined by a gentleman? Whoo! Mighty good for the likes o’ her.

_Hard_ She would have yielded, but--

_Danny_ Asy now, an’ I’ll tell ye. Pay her passage out to Quaybeck and put her aboord a three-master, widout sayin’ a word. Lave it to me. Danny will clear the road foreninst ye.

_Hard_ Fool, if she still possesses that certificate--the proof of my first marriage--how can I dare to wed another? Commit bigamy--disgrace my wife--bastardize my children?

_Danny_ Den by the powers, I’d do by Eily as wid the glove there on yer hand; make it come off as it came on--an’ if it fits too tight, take the knife to it.

_Hard_ [_Turning to him._] What do you mean?

_Danny_ Only gi’ me the word, an’ I’ll engage that the Colleen Bawn will never trouble ye any more; don’t ax me any questions at all. Only--if you’re agreeable, take off that glove from yer hand an’ give it to me for a token--that’s enough.

_Hard_ [_Throws off cloak; seizes him; throws him down._] Villain! Dare you utter a word or meditate a thought of violence towards that girl--

_Danny_ Oh, murder! may I never die in sin, if--

_Hard_ Begone! away, at once, and quit my sight. I have chosen my doom! I must learn to endure it--but blood!--and hers! Shall I make cold and still that heart that beats alone for me?--quench those eyes that look so tenderly in mine? Monster! am I so vile that you dare to whisper such a thought?

_Danny_ Oh, masther! divil burn me if I meant any harm.

_Hard_ Mark me well, now. Respect my wife as you would the queen of the land--whisper a word such as those you uttered to me, and it will be your last. I warn ye--remember and obey.

[_Exit_ HARDRESS, R.

_Danny_ [_Rises--picks up cloak._] Oh, the darlin’ crature! would I harrum a hair of her blessed head?--no! Not unless you gave me that glove, and den I’d jump into the bottomless pit for ye.

[_Exit_ DANNY, R. _Music--change._

SCENE II.--_Room in_ MRS. CREGAN’S _house; window_, R., _in flat, backed by landscape; door_, L., _in flat; backed by interior. Lights up._

_Enter_ ANNE CHUTE, L. _in flat_.

_Anne_ That fellow runs in my head. [_Looking at window._] There he is in the garden, smoking like a chimney-pot. [_Calls._] Mr. Daly!

_Kyrle_ [_Outside window._] Good morning!

_Anne_ [_Aside._] To think he’d smile that way, after going Leandering all night like a dissipated young owl. [_Aloud._] Did you sleep well? [_Aside._] Not a wink, you villain, and you know it.

_Kyrle_ I slept like a top.

_Anne_ [_Aside._] I’d like to have the whipping of ye. [_Aloud._] When did you get back?

_Kyrle_ Get back! I’ve not been out.

_Anne_ [_Aside._] He’s not been out! This is what men come to after a cruise at sea--they get sunburnt with love. Those foreign donnas teach them to make fire-places of their hearts, and chimney-pots of their mouths. [_Aloud._] What are you doing down there? [_Aside._] As if he was stretched out to dry. [KYRLE _puts down pipe outside_.

_Enter_ KYRLE _through window_, R., _in flat_.

_Kyrle_ [R. C.] I have been watching Hardress coming over from Divil’s Island in his boat--the wind was dead against him.

_Anne_ [L. C.] It was fair for going to Divil’s Island last night, I believe.

_Kyrle_ Was it?

_Anne_ You were up late, I think?

_Kyrle_ I was. I watched by my window for hours, thinking of her I loved--slumber overtook me, and I dreamed of a happiness I never can hope for.

_Anne_ Look me straight in the face.

_Kyrle_ Oh! if some fairy could strike us into stone now--and leave us looking forever into each other’s faces, like the blue lake below and the sky above it!

_Anne_ Kyrle Daly! What would you say to a man who had two loves, one to whom he escaped at night, and the other to whom he devoted himself during the day--what would you say?

_Kyrle_ I’d say he had no chance.

_Anne_ Oh, Captain Cautious! Well answered. Isn’t he fit to take care of anybody! his cradle was cut out of a witness-box.

_Enter_ HARDRESS _through window_, R., _in flat_.

_Kyrle_ [R.] Anne! I don’t know what you mean, but that I know that I love you, and you are sporting with a wretchedness you can not console. I was wrong to remain here so long, but I thought my friendship for Hardress would protect me against your invasion--now I will go. [HARDRESS _advancing_.

_Hard_ [C.] No, Kyrle, you will stay. Anne, he loves you, and I more than suspect you prefer him to me. From this moment you are free; I release you from all troth to me: in his presence I do this.

_Anne_ [L.] Hardress!

_Hard_ There is a bar between us which you should have known before, but I could not bring myself to confess. Forgive me, Anne--you deserve a better man than I am. [_Exit_, L.

_Anne_ A bar between us! What does he mean?

_Kyrle_ He means that he is on the verge of ruin: he did not know how bad things were till last night. His generous noble heart recoils from receiving anything from you but love.

_Anne_ And does he think I’d let him be ruined any way? Does he think I wouldn’t sell the last rood of land--the gown off my back, and the hair off my head, before that boy that protected and loved me, the child, years ago, should come to a hap’orth of harrum?

[_Crosses to_ R.

_Kyrle_ Miss Chute!

_Anne_ Well, I can’t help it. When I am angry the brogue comes out, and my Irish heart will burst through manners, and graces, and twenty stay-laces. [_Crosses to_ L.] I’ll give up my fortune--that I will!

_Kyrle_ You can’t--you’ve got a guardian who can not consent to such a sacrifice.

_Anne_ Have I? then I’ll find a husband that will.

_Kyrle_ [_Aside._] She means me--I see it in her eyes.

_Anne_ [_Aside._] He’s trying to look unconscious. [_Aloud._] Kyrle Daly, on your honor and word as a gentleman, do you love me and nobody else?

_Kyrle_ Do you think me capable of contaminating your image by admitting a meaner passion into my breast?

_Anne_ Yes, I do.

_Kyrle_ Then you wrong me.

_Anne_ I’ll prove that in one word. Take care, now; it’s coming.

_Kyrle_ Go on.

_Anne_ [_Aside._] Now I’ll astonish him. [_Aloud._] Eily!

_Kyrle_ What’s that?

_Anne_ “Shule, shule, agrah!”

_Kyrle_ Where to?

_Anne_ Three winks, as much as to say, “Are you coming?” and an extinguisher above here means “Yes.” Now you see I know all about it.

_Kyrle_ You have the advantage of me.

_Anne_ Confess now, and I’ll forgive you.

_Kyrle_ I will; tell me what to confess, and I’ll confess it--I don’t care what it is.

_Anne_ [_Aside._] If I hadn’t eye proof he’d brazen it out of me. Isn’t he cunning? He’s one of those that would get fat where a fox would starve.

_Kyrle_ That was a little excursion into my past life--a sudden descent on my antecedents, to see if you could not surprise an infidelity--but I defy you.

_Anne_ You do? I accept that defiance; and, mind me, Kyrle, if I find you true as I once thought, there’s my hand; but if you are false in this, Anne Chute will never change her name for yours. [_He kisses her hand._] Leave me now.

_Kyrle_ Oh, the lightness you have given to my heart! The number of pipes I’ll smoke this afternoon will make them think we’ve got a haystack on fire. [_Exit_ KYRLE, _through window_, R.

_Anne_ [_Rings bell on table_, R.] Here, Pat, Barney, some one.

_Enter_ SERVANT, L. _door in flat_.

Tell Larry Dolan, my groom, to saddle the black mare, Fireball, but not bring her round the house--I’ll mount in the stables.

[_Exit_ SERVANT, L. _door in flat_.

I’ll ride over to Muckross Head, and draw that cottage; I’ll know what’s there. It mayn’t be right, but I haven’t a big brother to see after me--and self-protection is the first law of nature.

[_Exit_ ANNE, R. 1 E.

_Music. Enter_ MRS. CREGAN _and_ HARDRESS, L. _door in flat_.

_Mrs. C_ [R. C.] What do you say, Hardress?

_Hard_ [L. C.] I say, mother, that my heart and faith are both already pledged to another, and I can not break my engagement.

_Mrs. C_ And this is the end of all our pride!

_Hard_ Repining is useless--thought and contrivance are of no avail--the die is cast.

_Mrs. C_ Hardress, I speak not for myself, but for you--and I would rather see you in your coffin than married to this poor, lowborn, silly, vulgar creature. I know you, my son; you will be miserable when the infatuation of first love is past; when you turn from her and face the world, as one day you must do, you will blush to say, “This is my wife.” Every word from her mouth will be a pang to your pride. You will follow her movements with terror--the contempt and derision she excites will rouse you first to remorse, and then to hatred--and from the bed to which you go with a blessing, you will rise with a curse.

_Hard_ Mother! mother! [_Throws himself in chair._

_Mrs. C_ To Anne you have acted a heartless and dishonorable part--her name is already coupled with yours at every fireside in Kerry.

_Enter_ SERVANT, L. _door in flat_.

_Serv_ Mr. Corrigan, ma’am.

_Mrs. C_ He comes for his answer. Show him in.

[_Exit_ SERVANT, L. _door in flat_.

The hour has come, Hardress--what answer shall I give him?

_Hard_ Refuse him--let him do his worst.

_Mrs. C_ And face beggary! On what shall we live? I tell you the prison for debt is open before us. Can you work? No! Will you enlist as a soldier, and send your wife into service? We are ruined--d’ye hear?--ruined! I must accept this man only to give you and yours a shelter, and under Corrigan’s roof I may not be ashamed, perhaps, to receive your wife.

_Enter_ SERVANT, _showing in_ MR. CORRIGAN, L. _door in flat_.

_Corrig_ [L.] Good morning, ma’am; I am punctual, you perceive.

_Mrs. C_ [C.] We have considered your offer, sir, and we see no alternative--but--but--

_Corrig_ Mrs. Cregan, I’m proud, ma’am, to take your hand.

_Hard_ [_Starting up._] Begone--begone, I say; touch her, and I’ll brain you!

_Corrig_ Squire! Sir! Mr. Hardress!

_Hard_ Must I hurl you from the house?

_Enter two_ SERVANTS, _door in flat_.

_Mrs. C_ Hardress, my darling boy, restrain yourself.

_Corrig_ Good morning, ma’am. I have my answer. [_To_ SERVANT.] Is Miss Chute within?

_Serv_ No, sir; she’s just galloped out of the stable yard.

_Corrig_ Say I called to see her. I will wait upon her at this hour to-morrow. [_Looking at the Cregans._] To-morrow! to-morrow!

[_Exit, followed by_ SERVANTS, L. _door in flat_.

_Mrs. C_ To-morrow will see us in Limerick Jail, and this house in the hands of the sheriff.

_Hard_ Mother, heaven guide and defend me! let me rest for a while--you don’t know all yet, and I have not the heart to tell you.

[_Crosses_ L.

_Mrs. C_ With you, Hardress, I can bear anything--anything--but your humiliation and your unhappiness--

_Hard_ I know it, mother, I know it. [_Exit_, L. 1 E. _Music._

DANNY _appears at window_, R., _in flat_.

_Danny_ Whisht--missiz--whisht.

_Mrs. C_ [L. C.] Who’s there?

_Danny_ It’s me, sure, Danny--that is--I know the throuble that’s in it. I’ve been through it all wid him.

_Mrs. C_ You know, then?

_Danny_ Everything, ma’am; and, sure, I shtruv hard and long to impache him from doing it.

_Mrs. C_ Is he, indeed, so involved with this girl that he will not give her up?

_Danny_ No; he’s got over the worst of it, but she holds him tight, and he feels kindly and soft-hearted for her, and daren’t do what another would.

_Mrs. C_ Dare not?

_Danny_ Sure she might be packed off across the wather to Ameriky, or them parts beyant? Who’d ever ax a word afther her?--barrin’ the masther, who’d murdher me if he knew I whispered such a thing.

_Mrs. C_ But would she go?

_Danny_ Ow, ma’am, wid a taste of persuasion, we’d mulvather her aboord. But there’s another way again, and if ye’d only coax the masther to send me his glove, he’d know the manin’ of that token, and so would I.

_Mrs. C_ His glove?

_Danny_ Sorra a ha’porth else. If he’ll do that, I’ll take my oath ye’ll hear no more of the Colleen Bawn.

_Mrs. C_ I’ll see my son. [_Exit_ L. D. F.

_Danny_ Tare an’ ’ouns, that lively girl, Miss Chute, has gone the road to Muckross Head; I’ve watched her--I’ve got my eye on all of them. If she sees Eily--ow, ow, she’ll get the ring itself in that helpin’ maybe, of kale-canon. By the piper, I’ll run across the lake, and get there first; she’s got a long round to go, and the wind rising--a purty blast entirely.

[_Goes to window--Music._

_Re-enter_ MRS. CREGAN, L. D. F., _with glove_.

_Mrs. C_ [_Aside._] I found his gloves in the hall, where he had thrown them in his hat.

_Danny_ Did ye ax him, ma’am?

_Mrs. C_ I did--and here is the reply. [_Holds out glove._

_Danny_ He has changed his mind, then?

_Mrs. C_ He has entirely.

_Danny_ And--and--I am--to--do it?

_Mrs. C_ That is the token.

_Danny_ I know it--I’ll keep my promise. I’m to make away with her?

_Mrs. C_ Yes, yes--take her away--away with her!

[_Exit_ MRS. CREGAN, L. _door in flat_.

_Danny_ Never fear, ma’am. [_Going to window._] He shall never see or hear again of the Colleen Bawn.

[_Exit_ DANNY _through window--change_.

SCENE III.--_Exterior of_ EILY’S _Cottage; Cottage_, R. 3 E.; _set pieces, backed by Lake; table and two seats_, R. C.

SHEELAH _and_ EILY _discovered, knitting_.

_Sheelah_ [R.] Don’t cry, darlin’--don’t, alanna!

_Eily_ [L.] He’ll never come back to me--I’ll never see him again, Sheelah!

_Sheelah_ Is it lave his own wife?

_Eily_ I’ve sent him a letther by Myles, and Myles has never come back--I’ve got no answer--he won’t spake to me--I am standin’ betune him and fortune--I’m in the way of his happiness. I wish I was dead!

_Sheelah_ Whisht! be thee husht! what talk is that? when I’m tuk sad that way, I go down to the chapel and pray a turn--it lifts the cloud off my heart.

_Eily_ I can’t pray; I’ve tried, but unless I pray for him, I can’t bring my mind to it.

_Sheelah_ I never saw a colleen that loved as you love; sorra come to me, but I b’lieve you’ve got enough to supply all Munster, and more left over than would choke ye if you wern’t azed of it.

_Eily_ He’ll come back--I’m sure he will; I was wicked to doubt. Oh! Sheelah! what becomes of the girls he doesn’t love? Is there anything goin’ on in the world where he isn’t?

_Sheelah_ There now--you’re smilin’ again.

_Eily_ I’m like the first mornin’ when he met me--there was dew on the young day’s eye--a smile on the lips o’ the lake. Hardress will come back--oh! yes; he’ll never leave his poor Eily all alone by herself in this place. Whisht, now, an’ I’ll tell you. [_Music._

_Song.--Air, “Pretty Girl Milking her Cow.”_

’Twas on a bright morning in summer,
I first heard his voice speaking low,
As he said to a colleen beside me,
“Who’s that pretty girl milking her cow?”
And many times after he met me,
And vowed that I always should be
His own little darling alanna,
Mavourneen a sweelish machree.

I haven’t the manners or graces
Of the girls in the world where ye move,
I haven’t their beautiful faces,
But I have a heart that can love.
If it plase ye, I’ll dress in satins,
And jewels I’ll put on my brow,
But don’t ye be after forgettin’
Your pretty girl milking her cow.

_Sheelah_ Ah, the birds sit still on the boughs to listen to her, and the trees stop whisperin’; she leaves a mighty big silence behind her voice, that nothin’ in nature wants to break. My blessin’ on the path before her--there’s an angel at the other end of it.

[_Exit_ SHEELAH _in cottage_, R.

_Eily_ [_Repeats last line of song._]

_Enter_ ANNE CHUTE, L. U. E.

_Anne_ There she is.

_Eily_ [_Sings till facing Anne--stops--they examine each other._]

_Anne_ My name is Anne Chute.

_Eily_ I am Eily O’Connor.

_Anne_ You are the Colleen Bawn--the pretty girl.

_Eily_ And you are the Colleen Ruaidh.

_Anne_ [_Aside._] She is beautiful.

_Eily_ [_Aside._] How lovely she is.

_Anne_ We are rivals.

_Eily_ I am sorry for it.

_Anne_ So am I, for I feel that I could have loved you.

_Eily_ That’s always the way of it; everybody wants to love me, but there’s something spoils them off.

_Anne_ [_Showing letter._] Do you know that writing?

_Eily_ I do, ma’am, well, though I don’t know how you came by it.

_Anne_ I saw your signals last night--I saw his departure, and I have come here to convince myself of his falsehood to me. But now that I have seen you, you have no longer a rival in his love, for I despise him with all my heart, who could bring one so beautiful and simple as you are to ruin and shame!

_Eily_ He didn’t--no--I am his wife! Oh, what have I said!

_Anne_ What?

_Eily_ Oh, I didn’t mane to confess it--no, I didn’t! but you wrung it from me in defense of him.

_Anne_ You his wife?

_Enter_ DANNY, L. U. E.

_Danny_ [_At back--aside._] The divil! they’re at it--an’ I’m too late!

_Anne_ I can not believe this--show me your certificate.

_Eily_ Here it is.

_Danny_ [_Advances between them._] Didn’t you swear to the priest that it should niver lave your breast?

_Anne_ Oh! you’re the boatman.

_Danny_ Iss, ma’am!

_Anne_ Eily, forgive me for doubting your goodness, and your purity. I believe you. Let me take your hand. [_Crosses to her._] While the heart of Anne Chute beats, you have a friend that won’t be spoiled off, but you have no longer a rival, mind that. All I ask of you is that you will never mention this visit to Mr. Daly--and for you [_To_ DANNY.] this will purchase your silence. [_Gives money._] Good-by!

[_Exit_ ANNE, L. U. E.

_Danny_ Long life t’ye. [_Aside._] What does it mane? Hasn’t she found me out?

_Eily_ Why did she ask me never to spake to Mr. Daly of her visit here? Sure I don’t know any Mr. Daly.

_Danny_ Didn’t she spake of him before, dear?

_Eily_ Never!

_Danny_ Nor didn’t she name Master Hardress?

_Eily_ Well, I don’t know; she spoke of him and of the letter I wrote to him, but I b’lieve she never named him intirely.

_Danny_ [_Aside._] The divil’s in it for sport; she’s got ’em mixed yet.

_Enter_ SHEELAH _from cottage_, R.

_Sheelah_ What brings you back, Danny?

_Danny_ Nothing! but a word I have from the masther for the Colleen here.

_Eily_ Is it the answer to the letter I sent by Myles?

_Danny_ That’s it, jewel, he sent me wid a message.

_Sheelah_ [C.] Somethin’ bad has happened. Danny, you are as pale as milk, and your eye is full of blood--yez been drinkin’.

_Danny_ May be I have.

_Sheelah_ You thrimble, and can’t spake straight to me. Oh! Danny, what is it, avick?

_Danny_ Go on now, an’ stop yer keenin’.

_Eily_ Faith, it isn’t yourself that’s in it, Danny; sure there’s nothing happened to Hardress?

_Danny_ Divil a word, good or bad, I’ll say while the mother’s there.

_Sheelah_ I’m goin’. [_Aside._] What’s come to Danny this day, at all, at all; bedad, I don’t know my own flesh and blood.

[_Runs into cottage._

_Danny_ Sorro’ and ruin has come on the Cregans; they’re broke intirely.

_Eily_ Oh, Danny.

_Danny_ Whisht, now! You are to meet Masther Hardress this evenin’, at a place on the Divil’s Island, beyant. Ye’ll niver breathe a word to a mortal where yer goin’, d’ye mind, now; but slip down, unbeknown, to the landin’ below, where I’ll have the boat waitin’ for yez.

_Eily_ At what hour?

_Danny_ Just after dark; there’s no moon to-night, an’ no one will see us crossin’ the water. [_Music till end of scene._

_Eily_ I will be there; I’ll go down only to the little chapel by the shore, and pray there ’till ye come. [_Exit_ EILY, _into cottage_, R.

_Danny_ I’m wake and cowld! What’s this come over me? Mother, mother, acushla.

_Enter_ SHEELAH, R.

_Sheelah_ What is it, Danny?

_Danny_ [_Staggering to table._] Give me a glass of spirits!

[_Falls in chair--Change quickly._

SCENE IV.--_The old Weir Bridge, or a Wood on the verge of the Lake_--[_1st grooves._]

_Enter_ ANNE CHUTE, R.

_Anne_ Married! the wretch is married! and with that crime already on his conscience he was ready for another and similar piece of villainy. It’s the Navy that does it. It’s my belief those sailors have a wife in every place they stop at.

_Myles_ [_Sings outside_, R.]

“Oh! Eily astoir, my love is all crost,
Like a bud in the frost.”

_Anne_ Here’s a gentleman who has got my complaint--his love is all crost, like a bud in the frost.

_Enter_ MYLES, R.

_Myles_ “And there’s no use at all in my goin’ to bed,
For it’s drames, and not sleep, that comes into my head,
And it’s all about you,” etc., etc.

_Anne_ My good friend, since you can’t catch your love, d’ye think you could catch my horse? [_Distant thunder._

_Myles_ Is it a black mare wid a white stockin on the fore off leg?

_Anne_ I dismounted to unhook a gate--a peal of thunder frightened her, and she broke away.

_Myles_ She’s at Torc Cregan stables by this time--it was an admiration to watch her stride across the Phil Dolan’s bit of plough.

_Anne_ And how am I to get home?

_Myles_ If I had four legs, I wouldn’t ax betther than to carry ye, and a proud baste I’d be. [_Thunder--rain._

_Anne_ The storm is coming down to the mountain--is there no shelter near?

_Myles_ There may be a corner in this ould chapel. [_Rain._] Here comes the rain--murdher! ye’ll be wet through. [_Music--pulls off coat._] Put this round yez.

_Anne_ What will you do? You’ll catch your death of cold.

_Myles_ [_Taking out bottle._] Cowld is it? Here’s a wardrobe of top coats. [_Thunder._] Whoo! this is a fine time for the water--this way, ma’am.

[_Exeunt_ MYLES _and_ ANNE, L.

_Enter_ EILY, _cloak and hood_, R.

_Eily_ Here’s the place where Danny was to meet me with the boat. Oh! here he is.

_Enter_ DANNY, L.

How pale you are!

_Danny_ The thunder makes me sick.

_Eily_ Shall we not wait till the storm is over?

_Danny_ If it comes on bad we can put into the Divil’s Island Cave.

_Eily_ I feel so happy that I am going to see him, yet there is a weight about my heart that I can’t account for.

_Danny_ I can. [_Aside._] Are you ready now?

_Eily_ Yes; come--come.

_Danny_ [_Staggering._] I’m wake yet. My throat is dry--if I’d a draught of whisky now.

_Eily_ Sheelah gave you a bottle.

_Danny_ I forgot--it’s in the boat. [_Rain._

_Eily_ Here comes the rain--we shall get wet.

_Danny_ There’s the masther’s boat cloak below.

_Eily_ Come, Danny, lean on me. I’m afraid you are not sober enough to sail the skiff.

_Danny_ Sober! The dhrunker I am, the better I can do the work I’ve got to do.

_Eily_ Come, Danny, come--come.

[_Exeunt_ EILY _and_ DANNY, R.--_Music ceases._

_Re-enter_ ANNE CHUTE _and_ MYLES, L.

_Myles_ It was only a shower, I b’lieve--are ye wet, ma’am?

_Anne_ Dry as a biscuit.

_Myles_ Ah! then it’s yerself is the brave and beautiful lady--as bould an’ proud as a ship before the blast. [ANNE _looks off_, R.

_Anne_ Why, there is my mare, and who comes with--[_Crosses to_ R.

_Myles_ It’s Mr. Hardress Cregan himself.

_Anne_ Hardress here?

_Myles_ Eily gave me a letter for him this morning.

_Enter_ HARDRESS, R.

_Hard_ Anne, what has happened? Your horse galloped wildly into the stable--we thought you had been thrown.

_Myles_ Here is a lether Eily tould me to give him. [_To_ HARDRESS.] I beg your pardon, sir, but here’s the taste of a lether I was axed to give your honor. [_Gives letter._

_Hard_ [_Aside._] From Eily!

_Anne_ Thanks, my good fellow, for your assistance.

_Myles_ Not at all, ma’am. Sure, there isn’t a boy in the County Kerry that would not give two thumbs off his hands to do a service to the Colleen Ruaidh, as you are called among us--iss indeed, ma’am. [_Going--aside._] Ah! then it’s the purty girl she is, in them long clothes. [_Exit_ MYLES, R.

_Hard_ [_Reads, aside._] “I am the cause of your ruin; I can’t live with that thought killin’ me. If I do not see you before night you will never again be throubled with your poor Eily.” Little simpleton! she is capable of doing herself an injury.

_Anne_ Hardress! I have been very blind and very foolish, but today I have learned to know my own heart. There’s my hand; I wish to seal my fate at once. I know the delicacy which prompted you to release me from my engagement to you. I don’t accept that release; I am yours.

_Hard_ Anne, you don’t know all.

_Anne_ I know more than I wanted, that’s enough. I forbid you ever to speak on this subject.

_Hard_ You don’t know my past life.

_Anne_ And I don’t want to know. I’ve had enough of looking into past lives; don’t tell me anything you wish to forget.

_Hard_ Oh, Anne--my dear cousin; if I could forget--if silence could be oblivion. [_Exeunt_ HARDRESS _and_ ANNE, L.

SCENE V.--_Exterior of Myles’ Hut._ [_1st grooves._]

_Enter_ MYLES, R., _singing “Brian O’Linn.”_

“Brian O’Linn had no breeches to wear,
So he bought him a sheepskin to make him a pair;
The skinny side out, the woolly side in,
‘They are cool and convanient,’ said Brian O’Linn.”

[_Locks door of cabin._] Now I’ll go down to my whisky-still. It is under my feet this minute, bein’ in a hole in the rocks they call O’Donoghue’s stables, a sort of water cave; the people around here think that the cave is haunted with bad spirits, and they say that of a dark stormy night strange unearthly noises is heard comin’ out of it--it is me singing, “The night before Larry was stretched.” Now I’ll go down to that cave, and wid a sod of live turf under a kettle of worty, I’ll invoke them sperrits--and what’s more, they’ll come.

[_Exit_ MYLES, _singing_, R. _Music till_ MYLES _begins to speak next scene_.

SCENE VI.--_A Cave; through large opening at back is seen the Lake
and the Moon; rocks_ R. _and_ L.--_flat rock_, R. C.; _gauge waters
all over stage; rope hanging from_ C., _hitched on wing_, R. U. E.

_Enter_ MYLES, _singing, top of rock_, R. U. E.

_Myles_ And this is a purty night for my work! The smoke of my whisky-still will not be seen; there’s my distillery beyant in a snug hole up there, [_Unfastens rope_, L.] and here’s my bridge to cross over to it. I think it would puzzle a gauger to folly me; this is a patent of my own--a tight-rope bridge. [_Swings across from_ R. _to_ L.] Now I tie up my drawbridge at this side till I want to go back--what’s that--it was an otter I woke from a nap he was takin’ on that bit of rock there--ow! ye divil! if I had my gun I’d give ye a leaden supper. I’ll go up and load it, may be I’ll get a shot; them stones is the place where they lie out of a night, and many a one I’ve shot of them.

[_Music.--Disappears up rock_, L. U. E.

_Eily_ What place is this you have brought me to?

_Danny_ Never fear--I know where I’m goin’--step out on that rock--mind yer footin’; ’tis wet there.

_Eily_ I don’t like this place--it’s like a tomb.

_Danny_ Step out, I say; the boat is laking.

[EILY _steps on to rock_, R. C.

_Eily_ Why do you spake to me so rough and cruel?

_Danny_ Eily, I have a word to say t’ye; listen now, and don’t trimble that way.

_Eily_ I won’t, Danny--I won’t.

_Danny_ Wonst, Eily, I was a fine brave boy, the pride of my ould mother, her white haired-darlin’--you wouldn’t think it to look at me now. D’ye know how I got changed to this?

_Eily_ Yes, Hardress told me.

_Danny_ He done it--but I loved him before it, an’ I loved him after it--not a dhrop of blood I have, but I’d pour out like wather for the masther.

_Eily_ I know what you mean--as he has deformed your body--ruined your life--made ye what ye are.

_Danny_ Have you, a woman, less love for him than I, that you wouldn’t give him what he wants of you, even if he broke your heart as he broke my back, both in a moment of passion? Did I ax him to ruin himself and his ould family, and all to mend my bones? No! I loved him, and I forgave him that.

_Eily_ Danny, what do you want me to do?

[DANNY _steps out on to rock_.

_Danny_ Give me that paper in your breast?

[_Boat floats off slowly_, R.

_Eily_ I can’t--I’ve sworn never to part with it! You know I have!

_Danny_ Eily, that paper stands between Hardress Cregan and his fortune; that paper is the ruin of him. Give it, I tell yez.

_Eily_ Take me to the priest; let him lift the oath off me. Oh, Danny, I swore a blessed oath on my two knees, and would ye ax me to break that?

_Danny_ [_Seizes her hands._] Give it up, and don’t make me hurt ye.

_Eily_ I swore by my mother’s grave, Danny. Oh! Danny dear, don’t. Don’t, acushla, and I’ll do anything. See now, what good would it be? sure, while I live I’m his wife. [_Music changes._

_Danny_ Then you’ve lived too long. Take your marriage lines wid ye to the bottom of the lake.

[_He throws her from rock backwards into the water_, L. C., _with a cry; she reappears, clinging to rock_.

_Eily_ No! save me! Don’t kill me! Don’t, Danny, I’ll do anything--only let me live.

_Danny_ He wants ye dead. [_Pushes her off._

_Eily_ Oh, heaven! help me! Danny--Dan-- [_Sinks._

_Danny_ [_Looking down._] I’ve done it--she’s gone.

[_Shot is fired_, L. U. E.; _he falls--rolls from the rock into the water_, R. C.

MYLES _appears with gun, on rock_, L. U. E.

_Myles_ I hit one of them bastes that time. I could see well, though it was so dark. But there was somethin’ moving on that stone. [_Swings across to_ R. U. E.] Divil a sign of him. Stop! [_Looks down._] What’s this? It’s a woman--there’s something white there. [_Figure rises near rock_, R. U. E.; _kneels down; tries to take the hand of figure_.] Ah! that dress!--it’s Eily. My own darlin’ Eily.

[_Pulls off waistcoat--jumps off rock._ EILY _rises_, R.; _then_ MYLES _and_ EILY _rise up_, C.; _he turns, and seizes rock_, R. C.; EILY _across left arm_.