FALVEY That’s true!  That’s true!  But ’tis the dacent man you are, nevertheless, and ’tisn’t the likes of you that a poor man like myself meets every day.

LOGAN No, and it may be a long time again before you will meet another like me.  But be that as it may, I must be going now, so here’s a shillin’ for you and go to the barber’s next door and have a shave before startin’ to look for work. (Hands shilling) Good-by.

FALVEY
Good-by, God bless you and long life to you.

[Exit Logan.  Enter an old friend.

GARRET DEVLIN (walks slowly and takes the newspaper from the table, looks at the clock) Only half-past ten, and damn the bit to do.  Ah, me! ah, me!  One bloody day like another!

[Sits on the chair and yawns.  Knocks for the publican.  Enter Driscoll.

DRISCOLL
Good mornin’, Garret.  Anythin’ new to-day?

DEVLIN
Yes, I have good news this mornin’.

DRISCOLL
An’ what is it?

DEVLIN Oh, not much, only that a grand-uncle of mine is after dyin’ in America and leavin’ me a fortune of a hundred thousand pounds.

DRISCOLL (sceptically) That’s a terrible responsibility for a poor man to have thrust upon him.  What are you going to do with it at all?

DEVLIN Well, I was thinkin’ of buyin’ a new suit of clothes and dividin’ what’s left between the poor of the town, the Sisters of Charity, and the Salvation Army.

DRISCOLL Wisha, I’m sick and tired of hearin’ old yarns like that.  I suppose ’tis the way that you want a half a glass of whiskey and haven’t the price of it.

DEVLIN How dare you insinuate such a thing. (Places a sovereign on the table) Give me a half a whiskey and no more old talk out of you.

DRISCOLL
And where did you get all that money?

DEVLIN
That’s my business.  I got it from the captain in the
Salvation Army when I told him how much money I
was goin’ to give him by and by.

DRISCOLL Well, that’s the first and last donation you’ll ever get from the Salvation Army.  Sure, if you got all the money that was to be left to you since I knew you first, you’d be buildin’ libraries all over the world like Carnegie to advertise your vanity.

DEVLIN ‘Tis nothin’ to you whether I will build libraries or public houses for the poor when I’ll get all the money that’s comin’ to me.

DRISCOLL Ah, wisha, I’m about sick and tired of hearin’ all the things you’re going to do.

DEVLIN (crossly) I don’t give a damn whether you are or not.  Go and get me the whiskey, or I’ll get it elsewhere.

DRISCOLL (plausibly)
Very well, very well!  I’ll get you the whiskey.

[Exit.

DEVLIN (to Falvey, who is still eating his loaf of bread)
Good mornin’, stranger.

FALVEY
Good mornin’ and good luck, sir.