ELLEN Do you think he'd build a new house for us, Matt? I could settle down if we were by ourselves. Maybe it's true that there are things stirring and we could begin a new life, even here. MATT We can, Ellen, we can. Hush! father's without. _Martin Douras and Murtagh Cosgar are heard exchanging greetings. Then Murtagh comes in, Martin behind him. Murtagh Cosgar is about sixty. He is a hard, strong man, seldom-spoken, but with a flow of words and some satirical power. He is still powerful, mentally and physically. He is clean shaven, and wears a sleeved waistcoat, heavy boots, fell hat. He goes towards Ellen._ MURTAGH Good morrow to you. _(Turning to Matt)_ When I get speaking to that Sally again, she'll remember what I say. Giving cabbage to the pigs, and all the bad potatoes in the house. And I had to get up in the clouds of the night to turn the cows out of the young meadow. No thought, no care about me. Let you take the harness outside and put a thong where there's a strain in it. _Murtagh goes to the fire. Matt goes to the harness-rack. Martin Douras and Ellen are at the door._ MARTIN DOURAS Ellen, I'll have news for you when I see you again. I've made up my mind to that. ELLEN Are you going to the fair, father? MARTIN DOURAS Ay, with Murtagh. ELLEN God be with you, father. _(She goes out)_ MARTIN DOURAS What purchase are you thinking of offering, Murtagh? MURTAGH COSGAR Twenty years. MARTIN DOURAS It's fair enough. Oh, it's a great day for the country, no matter what our own troubles may be. _Matt has taken down the harness. He takes some of it up and goes out to yard._ MURTAGH COSGAR _(with some contempt)_ It's a pity you haven't a share in the day after all. MARTIN DOURAS Ay, it's a pity indeed. _Murtagh goes to the door._ MURTAGH COSGAR _(with suppressed enthusiasm)_ From this day out we're planted in the soil. MARTIN DOURAS Ay, we're planted in the soil. MURTAGH COSGAR God, it's a great day. _Cornelius comes back._ CORNELIUS This is a memorial occasion, Murtagh Cosgar, and I wish you the felicitations of it. I met the delegates and I coming in, and I put myself at the head of them. It's the day of the redemption, Murtagh Cosgar. _Murtagh, without speaking, goes up to the room._ CORNELIUS He's gone up to get the papers. Father, we must give the men understanding for this business. They must demand the mineral rights. Here they are. Men of Ballykillduff, I greet your entrance. _Six men enter discussing._ FIRST MAN We'll leave it to Murtagh Cosgar. Murtagh Cosgar isn't a grazier or a shopkeeper. SECOND MAN It's the graziers and shopkeepers that are putting a business head on this. THIRD MAN If we're all on the one offer, we can settle it at the lawyer's. FOURTH MAN Sure it's settled for twenty years on the first-term rents. FIFTH MAN There are some here that would let it go as high as twenty-three. SIXTH MAN What does Murtagh Cosgar say?