Lucinda Sly by Maidhc Dainín Ó Sé

blossomed in my heart. Look, without further ado, before I put my two feet in it and make a fool of myself, what I am trying to say is I would like you to marry me.’
    Lucinda was like a shy young girl with her eyes fixed on the ground. She spent a minute thinking deeply. Sly was becoming restless waiting for a reply.
    ‘Look,’ he said in an attempt to put her at ease, ‘I know that we would have a lot to discuss; we will have to come to an agreementabout your house and land and many other matters …’
    ‘That’s exactly it,’ Lucinda replied. ‘I would be willing to marry you but, as you said, many arrangements will have to be made.’
    ‘Oh, I understand that,’ Sly assured her, ‘but we could do that on the day of the wedding or a week afterwards. We will walk around my farm soon and you will see that you will be getting the better of the bargain as regards land.’
    Lucinda stood her ground.
    ‘I am too long on the road and too long in the tooth to buy a pig in a poke,’ she countered. ‘There is a long evening before us and we have nothing to do but settle things between us before nightfall . Then we can meet in Carlow town during the week and let an attorney make everything legal.’
    By God, but Sly understood, on hearing this from Lucinda, that she was no fool. What she said took him unawares but that didn’t discourage him. He knew that if the marriage didn’t work out that a woman wouldn’t get much justice in the courts.
    ‘As regards the land,’ Sly spoke with authority, ‘I would be happy to make a will leaving it to you should I die before you. Against that you would sign your house and your few acres over to me. Then the best thing would be to let it out to pasture and put the money into this farm.’
    ‘Yes, but what about my house? Will you be putting it on the market?’ Lucinda questioned him with a doubt in her mind as to what Sly had said.
    ‘You can bring your furniture and any personal belongings you have your heart set on to this house and, I suppose, after a whilewhen you are properly settled in here, we could sell it,’ Sly allowed.
    Lucinda was in deep thought again.
    ‘Sell my house?’ she erupted. ‘The house where I reared my child without a father’s help and where I churned the best butter in the seven parishes on the hearthstone every season since my husband died?’
    Sly realised that he had better back off at this point as he was playing with a strong-minded woman. He would have plenty of time to deal with minor matters after they were married.
    ‘Sure if you have your heart set on that small felt house we’ll leave it aside. It won’t make any money without the land going with it,’ Sly replied steadily.
    ‘It is I who will be in charge of the churning and sale of the butter ,’ Lucinda insisted. ‘I will have permission to spend some of the money on myself. Without a doubt, most of the money will go on the running of the house. I want to sell the butter on the side of the street just as I have done for more than thirty years.’
    ‘Yes,’ Sly assured her. ‘Upon my word you will be in charge of the churning, the running of the house and milking the cows. Without a doubt, if the work should at any time become too heavy for you, we will get a servant girl or boy. At our age, we don’t need slavery.’
    When she heard this, Lucinda could not but be happy in her mind. She would have her own kitchen, control of the butter making and the freedom to spend some of the money.
    ‘Isn’t it a pity I didn’t meet this man thirty years ago?’ she thought to herself. She grew excited when Sly told her that theyshould go to the attorney as soon as possible.
    ‘I’ll be going to Carlow on Thursday selling my butter,’ she informed him. ‘Will you be able to meet me any time about midday , Walter?’
    ‘I’ll be going to town the same day,’ Sly told her. ‘I’ll meet you at the attorney’s office at three o’clock.’
    After Lucinda had taken the ware