MRS. CRILLY You'll have the place to yourself. The boys will be going to school, and Albert will be away, too. Anna and myself will look after you. MUSKERRY I could stay for a while. MRS. CRILLY Oh, well, if you have a better place to go-- MUSKERRY Remember what I said, Marianne. I've worked for you and yours, in season and out of season. There should be no more claims on me. MRS. CRILLY There are no more claims on you. MUSKERRY I'm willing to leave in the shop what I put into the shop. Let Anna know that it will come to her from me. I'll write to the Guardians to-night and I'll send in my resignation. I venture to think that they'll know their loss. _Mrs. Crilly goes out quietly by corridor door_. MUSKERRY _(by himself)_ And I had made this place as fit for me as the nest for the wren. Wasn't he glad to write that card, the impudent rascal, with his tongue in his cheek? I'll consider it again. I won't leave this place till it fits myself to leave it. _Christy Clarice enters by corridor door with papers_. MUSKERRY They want me to resign from this place, Christy. CHRISTY You're thirty years here! Aren't you, Mister Muskerry? MUSKERRY Thirty years, thirty years. Ay, Christy, thirty years; it's a long time. And I'm at my failing time. Perhaps I'm not able to do any more. Day after day there would be troubles here, and I wouldn't be able to face them. And in the end I might lose my position. I'm going to write out my resignation. _(He goes to the desk and writes. Christy is at table. Muskerry turns round after writing)_ MUSKERRY No one that comes here can have the same heart for the poor that I had. I was earning in the year of the famine. I saw able men struggling to get the work that would bring them a handful of Indian meal. And I saw the little children waiting on the roads for relief. _(He turns back and goes on with letter. Suddenly a bell in the House begins to toll)_ What's that for, Christy? CHRISTY Malachi O'Rourk, the Prince, as they called him, is dead. MUSKERRY Aye, I gave orders to toll him when he died. He was an estated gentleman, and songs were made about his family. People used to annoy him, but he's gone from them now. Bring me a little whisky, Christy. _Christy goes to Cabinet. Muskerry follows him_. CHRISTY There's none in the bottle, Mister Muskerry. MUSKERRY _(bitterly)_ No, I suppose not. And is that rascal, Albert Crilly, coming back? CHRISTY He's coming, Mister Muskerry. I left the novelette on the table. Miss Coghlan says it's a nice love story. "The Heart of Angelina," it is called. MUSKERRY I haven't the heart to read. _The bell continues to toll. Christy goes to door_. CHRISTY Good night, Mister Muskerry. MUSKERRY Good night, Christy. _Christy Clarke goes out through apartments. Thomas Muskerry is standing with hand on arm chair. The bell tolls_. CURTAIN ACT SECOND