"I am astonished, Fergus," his mother said sharply, "to hear you speak in
that way. Who would have thought that it was a Davenant who was speaking!
Doubtless there have been mistakes, as was only natural, but everything
will come right, in time. I have been longing for you to come home,
looking forward with such joy to welcome you as the possessor of the
broad lands of the Davenants. Thank God I have lived to see the
restoration of my dear husband's lands, and the discomfiture of those
Cromwellian knaves, who have so long possessed them. It was a grand day
when the act was passed, repealing all Cromwell's grants handing over the
best part of Ireland to his soldiers; and I saw in the Gazette, among the
two thousand grants specially mentioned as cancelled, was that of the
Davenant estate to Zephaniah Whitefoot. I am told that the old man and
his son have taken no notice of the act, but go about their work as if
they were still the owners of the land; but of course, now that you are
back, there will soon be an end of this."
Captain Davenant was silent.
"I shall be in no hurry, mother," he said, after a pause. "It is true
that an act of the Irish parliament has cancelled the iniquitous work of
Cromwell, and restored the land to its rightful possessors.
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