Free Lucinda Sly by Maidhc Dainín Ó Sé Page B

came home last night,’ she began. ‘You spent the night shouting in a nightmare. I didn’t sleep a wink because you were tossing and turning beside me. I left you in bed this morning, I milked the cows and your breakfast is on the table. It doesn’t bother me if you have a few drinks. But if you come home with too much to drink there will be no peace between us.’
    Sly didn’t open his mouth but he was grinding his teeth with rage. It was too early in their marriage to be arguing. He sat at the table and ate his breakfast. He got up from the table without a word. As he was going out, he stopped at the door and spoke in a harsh voice:
    ‘I’m going to mend the ditches,’ he said, ‘in order to keep the neighbours from my door. I’ll be home early in the evening.’
    ‘I’ll bake a couple of cakes for the market,’ Lucinda replied, letting him know that she wouldn’t be idle.
    The marriage worked well for the first couple of months as Walter Sly was drinking very little. As well as that he went only to the horse fairs that were nearby so that he could be home in time for milking the cows. But he had other plans. He was failing to get anyone to lease the grazing of Lucinda’s holding. As well as that nobody had any interest in leasing her house. One day he was in Carlow while Lucinda was selling her butter and bread on the side of the street. Walter went across to the tavern for a drink. Because autumn was over and the cold of winter was in the wind blowing from the north, he knew that Lucinda wouldn’t be long selling what little butter she had. The cows were heavy in calf and were almost dry.
    ‘Give me two small whiskies in the one glass,’ Sly ordered, shaking himself with the cold.
    Nobody was in the tavern only himself and the owner.
    ‘Do you know,’ Langstrom began, ‘since there are only the two of us here, I’ll have a dram with you. Leave your money in your pocket, Walter. You have been a good customer down through the years.’
    Langstrom never stood to anybody without getting his own back in one way or another. He filled their glasses a second time and drew up his stool closer to Walter.
    ‘Walter,’ he enquired, ‘did you let the grazing of Lucinda’s farm yet?’
    ‘I didn’t even have an enquiry,’ Walter lamented. ‘There’s a fine top of grass and not an animal grazing it this past year. It is my opinion that the holding is too small not to mention that it is toofar from my farm at home. Do you know anybody who would be interested in buying the house and the holding together?’
    ‘I thought you promised Lucinda that it would be let,’ Langstrom ventured.
    ‘That’s what I planned but nobody is interested in it,’ Sly told him. ‘I’d sell the house and land if I got a decent offer.’
    That is exactly what Langstrom wanted to hear. Sly didn’t know that Langstrom had come into possession of a piece of land. His uncle had died and left fifty acres to him in his will.
    ‘What kind of money would you want for the house and land together?’ Langstrom queried. ‘And take it from me that it should be reasonable.’
    Sly drank a mouthful of whiskey and looked at Langstrom.
    ‘Because it is so far from my own holding I’d sell it for a hundred and twenty pounds,’ Sly offered.
    When he heard that, Langstrom jumped from his stool.
    ‘I thought you were anxious to sell it,’ he thundered. ‘For the money you are asking, I could buy half the land around the town of Tullow.’
    Sly thought for a moment.
    ‘Look,’ he said, ‘you can have it for a hundred, but I will have to get the money into my hand. Christ, how could I face Lucinda and tell her that I didn’t get a decent price for the farm where she made her living for forty-odd years in bad times?’
    ‘All right,’ Langstrom agreed. ‘But you will have to give me five pounds luck.’
    ‘Three pounds,’ Sly offered.
    ‘It’s a bargain,’ Langstrom said.
    They agreed on the spot that they would go to the