own clothes,
but he has let them get into disorder. His hair and beard are
disordered, and he seems very much broken down. Nevertheless, he
looks as if his mind were composed_.

MUSKERRY
It's dark in here, Michael.

GRIPES
It is, sir.

MUSKERRY
I find it very spiritless after coming up from the chapel.
Don't pass your whole day here. Go down into the yard. _(He stands
before the window)_ This is the first fine day, and you ought to go
out along the country road. Ask the Master for leave. It's the month
of May, and you'll be glad of the sight of the grass and the smell
of the bushes. Now here's a remarkable thing. I venture to think
that the like of this has never happened before. Here are the bees
swarming at the window pane.

GORMAN
You'll hear my pipes on the road to-day. That's as sure as
the right hand is on my body. _(He goes out by corridor door)_

CRIPES
Myles Gorman must have been glad to hear that buzzing.

MUSKERRY
Why was Myles glad to hear it?

SHANLEY
He was leaving on the first fine day.

CRIPES
The buzzing at the pane would let any one know that the air
is nice for a journey.

MUSKERRY
I am leaving to-day, myself.

CRIPES
And where are you going, Mr. Muskerry?

MUSKERRY
I'm going to a place of my own.

_Muskerry goes into the Select Ward_.

CRIPES
I'll tell you what brought Thomas Muskerry back to the
workhouse to be an inmate in it. Living in a bad house. Living with
his own. That's what brought him back. And that's what left me here,
too.

SHANLEY
_(listlessly)_ The others have the flour, and we may hawk
the bran.

_An old pauper comes into the ward. His face looks bleached. He has
the handle of a sweeping-brush for a staff. He moves about the ward,
muttering to himself. He seats himself on chair, right_.

THE OLD MAN
_(speaking as if thinking aloud)_ I was at twelve
o'clock Mass. Now one o'clock would be a late Mass. I was at Mass at
one o'clock. Wouldn't that be a long time to keep a priest, and he
fasting the whole time?

CRIPES
I'll tell you what Thomas Muskerry did when he left the bad
house he was in. _(He puts coal on the fire)_

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 hi