THE OLD MAN I was at one o'clock Mass in Skibbereen. I know where Skibbereen is well. In the County Cork. Cork is a big county. As big as Dublin and Wicklow. That's where the people died when there was the hunger. CRIPES He came before the meeting of the Guardians, and he told them he owed them the whole of his year's pension. Then he got some sort of a stroke, and he broke down. And the Guardians gave him the Select Ward there for himself. SHANLEY They did well for him. CRIPES Why wouldn't they give him the Select Ward? It's right that he'd get the little room, and not have to make down the pauper's bed with the rest of us. SHANLEY He was at the altar to-day, and he stayed in the chapel after Mass. CRIPES He'll be here shortly. THE OLD MAN Skibbereen! That's where the people died when there was the hunger. Men and women without coffins, or even their clothes off. Just buried. Skibbereen I remember well, for I was a whole man then. And the village. For there are people living in it yet. They didn't all die. SHANLEY We'll have somebody else in the Select Ward this evening. CRIPES That's what they were talking about. The nuns are sending a patient up here. SHANLEY I suppose the Ward-master will be in here to regulate the room. _(He rises)_ CRIPES Aye, the Ward-master. Felix Tournour, the Ward-master. You've come to your own place at last, Felix Tournour. SHANLEY Felix Tournour will be coming the master over me if he finds me here. _(Shanley goes out)_ CRIPES Felix Tournour! That's the lad that will be coming in with his head up like the gander that's after beating down a child. _Christy Clarice enters. He carries a little portmanteau_. CHRISTY Is Mr. Muskerry here? CRIPES He's in the room. _(A sound of water splashing and the movements of a heavy person are heard)_ Will you be speaking with him, young fellow? CHRISTY I will. CRIPES Tell him, like a good little boy, that the oul' men would be under a favour to him if he left a bit of tobacco. You won't forget that? CHRISTY I won't forget it. CRIPES I don't want to be in the way of Felix Tournour. We're going down to the yard, but we'll see Mr. Muskerry when he's going away. _Cripes goes out_. MUSKERRY _(within)_ Is that you, Christy Clarke? CHRISTY It is, Mr. Muskerry. MUSKERRY Have you any news, Christy? CHRISTY No news, except that my mother is in the cottage, and is expecting you to-day. MUSKERRY I'll be in the cottage to-day, Christy. I'm cleaning myself. _(A sound of splashing and moving about)_ The Guardians were good to get the little house for me. I'd as lieve be there as in a mansion. There's about half an acre of land to the place, and I'll do work on the ground from time to time, for it's a good thing for a man to get the smell of the clay. CHRISTY And how are you in health, Mr. Muskerry? MUSKERRY I'm very well in health. I was anointed, you know, and after that I mended miraculously. CHRISTY And what about the pension?