OLD WOMAN. Come here beside me and I'll tell you about them. [MICHAEL _sits down beside her at the hearth._] There was a red man of the O'Donnells from the north, and a man of the O'Sullivans from the south, and there was one Brian that lost his life at Clontarf by the sea, and there were a great many in the west, some that died hundreds of years ago, and there are some that will die to-morrow. MICHAEL. Is it in the west that men will die to-morrow? OLD WOMAN. Come nearer, nearer to me. BRIDGET. Is she right, do you think? Or is she a woman from beyond the world? PETER. She doesn't know well what she's talking about, with the want and the trouble she has gone through. BRIDGET. The poor thing, we should treat her well. PETER. Give her a drink of milk and a bit of the oaten cake. BRIDGET. Maybe we should give her something along with that, to bring her on her way. A few pence, or a shilling itself, and we with so much money in the house. PETER. Indeed I'd not begrudge it to her if we had it to spare, but if we go running through what we have, we'll soon have to break the hundred pounds, and that would be a pity. BRIDGET. Shame on you, Peter. Give her the shilling, and your blessing with it, or our own luck will go from us. [PETER _goes to the box and takes out a shilling._] BRIDGET [_to the_ OLD WOMAN]. Will you have a drink of milk? OLD WOMAN. It is not food or drink that I want. PETER [_offering the shilling_]. Here is something for you. OLD WOMAN. That is not what I want. It is not silver I want. PETER. What is it you would be asking for? OLD WOMAN. If anyone would give me help he must give me himself, he must give me all. [PETER _goes over to the table, staring at the shilling in his hand in a bewildered way, and stands whispering to_ BRIDGET.] MICHAEL. Have you no one to care you in your age, ma'am? OLD WOMAN. I have not. With all the lovers that brought me their love, I never set out the bed for any. MICHAEL. Are you lonely going the roads, ma'am? OLD WOMAN. I have my thoughts and I have my hopes. MICHAEL. What hopes have you to hold to? OLD WOMAN. The hope of getting my beautiful fields back again; the hope of putting the strangers out of my house. MICHAEL. What way will you do that, ma'am? OLD WOMAN. I have good friends that will help me. They are gathering to help me now. I am not afraid. If they are put down to-day, they will get the upper hand to-morrow. [_She gets up._] I must be going to meet my friends. They are coming to help me, and I must be there to welcome them. I must call the neighbours together to welcome them. MICHAEL. I will go with you.