it for me as
the nest for the wren. Wasn't he glad to write that card, the
impudent rascal, with his tongue in his cheek? I'll consider it again.
I won't leave this place till it fits myself to leave it.

_Christy Clarice enters by corridor door with papers_.

MUSKERRY
They want me to resign from this place, Christy.

CHRISTY
You're thirty years here! Aren't you, Mister Muskerry?

MUSKERRY
Thirty years, thirty years. Ay, Christy, thirty years; it's
a long time. And I'm at my failing time. Perhaps I'm not able to do
any more. Day after day there would be troubles here, and I wouldn't
be able to face them. And in the end I might lose my position. I'm
going to write out my resignation. _(He goes to the desk and writes.
Christy is at table. Muskerry turns round after writing)_

MUSKERRY
No one that comes here can have the same heart for the poor
that I had. I was earning in the year of the famine. I saw able men
struggling to get the work that would bring them a handful of Indian
meal. And I saw the little children waiting on the roads for relief.
_(He turns back and goes on with letter. Suddenly a bell in the
House begins to toll)_ What's that for, Christy?

CHRISTY
Malachi O'Rourk, the Prince, as they called him, is dead.

MUSKERRY
Aye, I gave orders to toll him when he died. He was an
estated gentleman, and songs were made about his family. People used
to annoy him, but he's gone from them now. Bring me a little whisky,
Christy.

_Christy goes to Cabinet. Muskerry follows him_.

CHRISTY
There's none in the bottle, Mister Muskerry.

MUSKERRY
_(bitterly)_ No, I suppose not. And is that rascal, Albert
Crilly, coming back?

CHRISTY
He's coming, Mister Muskerry. I left the novelette on the
table. Miss Coghlan says it's a nice love story. "The Heart of
Angelina," it is called.

MUSKERRY
I haven't the heart to read.

_The bell continues to toll. Christy goes to door_.

CHRISTY
Good night, Mister Muskerry.

MUSKERRY
Good night, Christy.

_Christy Clarke goes out through apartments. Thomas Muskerry is
standing with hand on arm chair. The bell tolls_.

CURTAIN

ACT SECOND

_In Crilly's, a month later. The room is the parlour off the shop.
A glass door, right, leads into the shop, and the fireplace is above
this door. In the back, right, is a cupboard door. Back is a window
looking on the street. A door, left, leads to other rooms. There is
a table near shop door and