CONN It's a pleasant house, a pleasant house. Brian will make his _ceilidh [3]_ with me. We might go over a few tunes. ANNE Let Brian come where there are girls that might miss him. MAIRE Anne, you're a great one for keeping up the story that girls are always thinking about men. ANNE And so they are. Just as men are always thinking about girls. MAIRE You'd make a good ribbonman.[4] You'd put a face on anything you said. [Footnote 3: Celidh, pronounced cayley, a visit.] [Footnote 4: A ribbonman--a member of a secret agrarian society.] ANNE Ribbonism and secret societies were denounced off the altar. MAIRE Goodness! The men will begin to think they've secrets worth telling. ANNE Have you secrets worth telling, Brian? MAIRE I daresay he has. There are foolish women in the world. ANNE Are you coming to Moynihan's, Brian? BRIAN No. I'm going where there's men. MAIRE Come, Anne, till I deck you out. Come here, daughter, don't wear flowers. I think they're unlucky. Here I am talking like this, and I going to a dance. I suppose I'll dance with seven or eight and forget what's on my mind.... Everyone is going to Moynihan's except the men here. Are you going out, father? CONN I'm making a _ceilidh_ with Brian. MAIRE Well, God be with you both. Come on, Anne. _Maire takes down her shawl, and puts it over her head. She stands at the door, watching Anne, who goes to Brian._ ANNE Brian, what have you against Moynihan's? BRIAN Nothing at all. I may go in. MAIRE Come on, Anne. God be with you both. _Maire and Anne go out. They are heard talking for a while. Conn goes to the door_. CONN Maire and Anne are turning the bohereen. [5] Come on now. _He takes his fiddle and begins to wrap it up eagerly_. BRIAN Ay, let's go. CONN _(at door)_ I never forget, I never forget. The Granard Feis is as fresh in my mind as the day I played at it. Shawn Heffernan, indeed! I never forget. I never forget. _Conn Hourican and Brian MacConnell go out_. [Footnote 5: Bohereen--the little path going from the cottage to the main road.] CURTAIN ACT II _The next day: The scene is as in previous Act. It is now in the forenoon. Maire Hourican is seated at the fire in a listless attitude. Anne is busy at the dresser. Maire rises_. MAIRE We shouldn't have stayed at Moynihan's so late. ANNE Indeed it would have been better to go home, but I was sure that Brian MacConnell would come in. MAIRE Well, it was his own loss if he didn't come. Maybe there was one there that I liked better. ANNE You couldn't have liked Connor Gilpatrick better than Brian MacConnell. MAIRE Connor's the best-looking boy in the country. Was it noticed that we were together often? ANNE _(significantly)_ Peggy Carroll noticed it. MAIRE Well, the boy was glad to talk to me. Connor's a good dancer, and he has fine talk besides. If Brian MacConnell had come to the door, I wouldn't have turned my head towards him.