He rose from the chair and began pacing the length of the short living room.

‘So when you say it is mindless murder, then I suppose you are right. It is the response I am after that makes it worthwhile. This country has been seduced by the gloved fist of Britain on too many occasions to mention; never more so than today. Who’d ever have thought an Ireland that remains divided and chained to Britain would ever be so passive and submissive about it? When we signed up to the armed struggle, it was with one objective in mind: to unite this island and have her stand among nations as a free nation after eight hundred years of occupation and doffing our caps to John Bull. We’ve been sold out. The people have been seduced by the political establishment; by fine words and a promise of a tomorrow that may never come. You ask what the purpose of tomorrow night is. Tomorrow will change the course of history, don’t you see? There’ll be revulsion at first. There’ll be pleas from all sides that we should never go back to the ‘troubles,’ but most of all, history has shown, there’ll be a brutal response from the British. The wolf will reveal itself again and the people will see the true relationship between these islands once more. It’ll be revealed for what it always was, and always will be, until we drive them out; one of master and servant. Pearse and Connelly were reviled for the Rising. The whole country was disgusted by this rabble, who dared to challenge the British while their sons and daughters were fighting in Flanders for the empire. After the executions, though, everything changed; once the glove came off and the fist smashed down again, then the people awakened from their slumbers and there was a new beginning. It’s a response to the response I’m after. History has shown the inevitability of both!’

He sat back down on the settee, utterly convinced by his own warped logic. He looked at Cormac through eyes that were vibrating against their sockets again. Cormac focussed on a point above the clock.