_Gilb._ If I had not loved her so well, I might have been able, perhaps, to have said more. _Widow._ Then that’s enough. Mabel mavourneen, wear the rose he give you now--I’ll let you--and see it’s fresh enough. She put it in water--oh! she had hope still! _Mabel._ And was not I right to trust him, mother? _Gilb._ Mabel, if I don’t do my best to make you happy all my days, I deserve to be--that’s all! But I’m going to tell you about the new inn: that’s what I have been about ever since, and I’m to have it for sixty guineas. _Enter OWEN, rubbing his hands._ _Owen._ You see, mother, I was right about Gilbert and Mabel. But Mr. Hope and the band is gone up to the castle. Come, come!--time to be off!--no delay!--Gilbert! Mabel, off with you! (_He pushes them off._) And glad enough ye are to go together. Mother dear, here’s your bonnet and the cloak,--here round ye throw--that’s it--take my arm. (_Widow stumbles as he pulls her on._) Oh, I’m putting you past your speed, mother. _Widow._ No, no.--No fear in life for the mother that has the support of such a son. SCENE IV. _A large Apartment in Bannow Castle, ornamented with the Rose, Thistle, and Shamrock.--The hall opens into a lawn, where the country-people are seen dancing._ _Enter CLARA, Sir WILLIAM HAMDEN, and a train of dancers._ _Clara._ Now, sir, as we have here English, Scotch, and Irish dancers, we can have the English country-dance, the Scotch reel, and the Irish jig. _Sir W._ Then to begin with the Irish jig, which I have never seen. _Clara._ You shall see it in perfection. [_An Irish jig is danced, a Scotch reel follows, and an English country-dance. When CLARA has danced down the country-dance, she goes with her partner to Sir WILLIAM HAMDEN._ _Clara._ We are going out to look at the dancers on the lawn. _Sir W._ Take me with you, for I wish to see those merry dancers--I hear them laughing. I love to hear the country-people laugh: theirs is always _the heart’s laugh._ [_Exeunt Sir WILLIAM and CLARA._ [_The dancers recommence, and after dancing for a few minutes, they go off just as Sir WILLIAM and CLARA return, entering from the hall door._ _Clara._ My dear uncle, thank you for going out among these poor people, and for speaking so kindly to them. One would think that you had lived in Ireland all your life, you know so well how to go _straight_ to Irish heads and Irish hearts by kindness, and by what they love almost as well, _humour,_ and good-humour. Thank you again and again. _Sir W._ My dear niece, you need not thank me; for if you had nothing to do with these people--if you had never been born--I should have loved the Irish for their own sakes. How easy it is to please them! How easy to make them happy; and how grateful they are, even for a few words of kindness.