Why don’t you go up to Belfast and see what the Orangemen will do for you, ah? I don’t know, sir. You don’t know. Of course you don’t know.There’s great ignorance in the world. He looks out at the people, I said there’s great ignorance in the world, and the people nod their heads and agree there’s great igno- rance in the world. He whispers to Mr. Coffey and they look at Mam, they look at us. He tells Mam at last that she can have the public assistance but if she gets a single penny from her husband she’s to drop all claims and give the money back to the Dispensary. She promises she will and we leave. We follow her to Kathleen O’Connell’s shop to get tea and bread and a few sods of turf for the fire.We climb the stairs to Italy and get the fire going and it’s cozy when we have our tea.We’re all very quiet, even  the  baby Alphie,  because  we  know  what  Mr.  Kane  did  to  our mother. 234