poor old widow; and please God the English will
be got yet for the deadly sin of oppressing the poor;" and with that I
shut the door in his face.

O'FLAHERTY [furious]. Do you tell me they knocked ten shillings off you
for my keep?

MRS O'FLAHERTY [soothing him]. No, darlint: they only knocked off half
a crown. I put up with it because I've got the old age pension; and they
know very well I'm only sixty-two; so I've the better of them by half a
crown a week anyhow.

O'FLAHERTY. It's a queer way of doing business. If they'd tell you
straight out what they was going to give you, you wouldn't mind; but if
there was twenty ways of telling the truth and only one way of telling a
lie, the Government would find it out. It's in the nature of governments
to tell lies.

Teresa Driscoll, a parlor maid, comes from the house,

TERESA. You're to come up to the drawing-room to have your tea, Mrs.
O'Flaherty.

MRS O'FLAHERTY. Mind you have a sup of good black tea for me in the
kitchen afterwards, acushla. That washy drawing-room tea will give me
the wind if I leave it on my stomach. [She goes into the house, leaving
the two young people alone together.]

O'FLAHERTY. Is that yourself, Tessie? And how are you?

TERESA. Nicely, thank you. And how's yourself?

O'FLAHERTY. Finely, thank God. [He produces a gold chain.] Look what
I've brought you, Tessie.

TERESA [shrinking]. Sure I don't like to touch it, Denny. Did you take
it off a dead man?

O'FLAHERTY. No: I took it off a live one; and thankful he was to me to
be alive and kept a prisoner in ease and comfort, and me left fighting
in peril of my life.

TERESA [taking it]. Do you think it's real gold, Denny?

O'FLAHERTY. It's real German gold, anyhow.

TERESA. But German silver isn't real, Denny.

O'FLAHERTY [his face darkening]. Well, it's the best the Bosh could do
for me, anyhow.

TERESA. Do you think I might take it to the jeweller next market day and
ask him?

O'FLAHERTY [sulkily]. You may take it to the divil if you like.

TERESA. You needn't lose your temper about it. I only thought I'd like
to know. The nice fool I'd look if I went about showing off a chain that
turned out to be only brass!

O'FLAHERTY. I think you might say Thank you.

TERESA. Do you? I think you might have said something more to me than
"Is that yourself?" You couldn't say less to the postman.

O'FLAHERTY [his brow clearing]. Oh, is that what's the matter? Here!
come and take the tas