Some say he's dark, I say he's bonny. He's the flower of the flock, My charming, coaxing Johnny. BRIAN _(with sombre passion)_ No. My brothers are not with me. I quarrelled with them all and I am nearly heart broken for what I did. MAIRE Ah, Brian MacConnell, I don't know what to say to you at all. BRIAN You'll give me your promise, Maire? MAIRE Promise. I've no promise to give to any man. BRIAN Remember that these days past I had only yourself to think on. MAIRE There was never a man but failed me some time. They all leave me to face the world alone. BRIAN You said that I might go with you as far as Ardagh. MAIRE No. You're not to come. Myself and my father go to Ardagh by ourselves. BRIAN How was I to know that you would take that quarrel to heart? MAIRE I thought you were strong, but I see now that you are only a man who forces himself to harsh behaviour. I have my own way to go; my father wants to go back to the roads, and it's right that I should be with him, to watch over him. BRIAN What shelter will you have on the road? MAIRE I'll have the quiet of evening, and my own thoughts, and I'll follow the music; I'll laugh and hold up my head again. BRIAN Maire Hourican, would you leave me? MAIRE What can I do for you, Brian MacConnell? _Brian goes to settle, and puts his hands before his eyes. She goes to him_. BRIAN You have thought for your father, and you have no thought for me. MAIRE Indeed I have thought for you. BRIAN O Maire, my jewel, do you care for me at all? _She kisses him_. BRIAN Maire! _She rises_. MAIRE I'm going to call my father. BRIAN You go to him, and you go from me. MAIRE You are both my care: my father and yourself. BRIAN What will become of me when you go? MAIRE Isn't it right, Brian, that I should be with my father on the roads? Even if I was in your house, I would be thinking that I should watch over him. BRIAN Then it's good-bye you'd be saying? MAIRE Good-bye, Brian MacConnell. BRIAN _(at door)_ Good-bye, Maire Hourican; gold and jewels, ships on the sea, may you have them all. _He goes out. With a cry Maire follows him to the door. She stands before door for a minute, then she goes back to table, and throwing herself down, remains with her head buried in her hands. James Moynihan comes in. Maire raises her head, and remains looking before her. James comes to table, and puts flowers beside Maire_. JAMES We gathered them for you, Maire. They're the woodbine. We were saying that you would be glad of the flower of the road. _(Maire puts her hand on the flowers. James goes to the fire)_ Anne remembers a good deal about the road. She minds of the grassy ditches, where the two of you used to catch the young birds. MAIRE I mind of them too. JAMES And the women that used to be with your mother, that used to tell you the stories.