I have been an obedient son to you, and will
continue so to my life's end; but if you are not satisfied with the
doings of my wife, I will depart with her. There are plenty who will be
glad to let me a piece of land; and if I only work there as hard as I
work here, I shall assuredly be able to support her and my boy. So let
this be the last word between us."
This threat put an end to the struggle. Zephaniah had, like most of his
class, a keen eye to the main chance, and could ill spare the services of
Jabez and his thrifty and hard-working wife; and henceforth, except by
pointed references, in the lengthy morning and evening prayers, to the
backsliding in his household, he held his peace.
Between the Castle and Zephaniah Whitefoot there had never been any
intercourse. The dowager Mrs. Davenant hated the Cromwellite occupier of
her estate, not only as a usurper, but as the representative of the man
who had slain her husband. She never alluded to his existence, and had
always contrived, in her rides and walks, to avoid any point from which
she could obtain so much as a distant view of the square, ugly house
which formed a blot on the fair landscape. She still spoke of the estate
as if it extended to its original boundaries, and ignored absolutely the
very existence of Zephaniah Whitefoot, and all that belonged to him.
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