KEEGAN.In the accounts kept in heaven,Mr Doyle,a heart purified of hatred may be worth more even than a Land Development Syndicate of Anglicized Irishmen and Gladstonized Englishmen.
LARRY.Oh,in heaven,no doubt!I have never been there.Can you tell me where it is?
KEEGAN.Could you have told me this morning where hell is?Yet you know now that it is here.Do not despair of finding heaven:it may be no farther off.
LARRY [ironically].On this holy ground,as you call it,eh?
KEEGAN [with fierce intensity].Yes,perhaps,even on this holy ground which such Irishmen as you have turned into a Land of Derision.
BROADBENT [coming between them].Take care!you will be quarrelling presently.Oh,you Irishmen,you Irishmen!Toujours Ballyhooly,eh?[Larry,with a shrug,half comic,half impatient,turn away up the hill,but presently strolls back on Keegan's right.Broadbent adds,confidentially to Keegan]Stick to the Englishman,Mr Keegan:he has a bad name here;but at least he can forgive you for being an Irishman.
KEEGAN.Sir:when you speak to me of English and Irish you forget that I am a Catholic.My country is not Ireland nor England,but the whole mighty realm of my Church.For me there are but two countries:heaven and hell;but two conditions of men:salvation and damnation.Standing here between you the Englishman,so clever in your foolishness,and this Irishman,so foolish in his cleverness,I cannot in my ignorance be sure which of you is the more deeply damned;but I should be unfaithful to my calling if Iopened the gates of my heart less widely to one than to the other.
LARRY.In either case it would be an impertinence,Mr Keegan,as your approval is not of the slightest consequence to us.What use do you suppose all this drivel is to men with serious practical business in hand?
BROADBENT.I don't agree with that,Larry.I think these things cannot be said too often:they keep up the moral tone of the community.As you know,I claim the right to think for myself in religious matters:in fact,I am ready to avow myself a bit of a--of a--well,I don't care who knows it--a bit of a Unitarian;but if the Church of England contained a few men like Mr Keegan,I should certainly join it.
KEEGAN.You do me too much honor,sir.[With priestly humility to Larry]Mr Doyle:I am to blame for having unintentionally set your mind somewhat on edge against me.I beg your pardon.
LARRY [unimpressed and hostile].I didn't stand on ceremony with you:you needn't stand on it with me.Fine manners and fine words are cheap in Ireland:you can keep both for my friend here,who is still imposed on by them.I know their value.
KEEGAN.You mean you don't know their value.
LARRY [angrily].I mean what I say.
KEEGAN [turning quietly to the Englishman]You see,Mr Broadbent,I only make the hearts of my countrymen harder when I preach to them:the gates of hell still prevail against me.I shall wish you good evening.I am better alone,at the Round Tower,dreaming of heaven.[He goes up the hill].
LARRY.Aye,that's it!there you are!dreaming,dreaming,dreaming,dreaming!
KEEGAN [halting and turning to them for the last time].Every dream is a prophecy:every jest is an earnest in the womb of Time.
BROADBENT [reflectively].Once,when I was a small kid,I dreamt I was in heaven.[They both stare at him].It was a sort of pale blue satin place,with all the pious old ladies in our congregation sitting as if they were at a service;and there was some awful person in the study at the other side of the hall.Ididn't enjoy it,you know.What is it like in your dreams?
KEEGAN.In my dreams it is a country where the State is the Church and the Church the people:three in one and one in three.
It is a commonwealth in which work is play and play is life:
three in one and one in three.It is a temple in which the priest is the worshipper and the worshipper the worshipped:three in one and one in three.It is a godhead in which all life is human and all humanity divine:three in one and one in three.It is,in short,the dream of a madman.[He goes away across the hill].
BROADBENT [looking after him affectionately].What a regular old Church and State Tory he is!He's a character:he'll be an attraction here.Really almost equal to Ruskin and Carlyle.
LARRY.Yes;and much good they did with all their talk!
BROADBENT.Oh tut,tut,Larry!They improved my mind:they raised my tone enormously.I feel sincerely obliged to Keegan:he has made me feel a better man:distinctly better.[With sincere elevation]I feel now as I never did before that I am right in devoting my life to the cause of Ireland.Come along and help me to choose the site for the hotel.
End
