Mrs. Ford:  In throth I did.  It was prime to see them there reddening the sod and the little rain drops falling from the branches of the trees.

Hugh:  They raised a great cheer for you.

Mrs. Ford:  Did you say that it was to me they were giving a welcome?

Donagh:  Indeed it was, mother.

Mrs. Ford (laughing a little):  Mind that, Agnes.  They are the lively lads to be taking stock of an old woman the like of me driving the roads.

Hugh:  The people could not but feel some stir to see what they saw this day.  I declare to you, Donagh, when I saw her old stooped dark figure thrown against the sky on the car it moved something in me.

Mrs. Ford:  What are you saying about a stir in the country, Hugh Deely?

Hugh:  Was it not something to see the planter going from this place?  Was it not something to see you and Donagh coming from a miserable place in the bog?

Mrs. Ford (sharply):  The planter, did you say? (Clutching her stick to rise).  Blessed be God!  Is Curley the planter gone from Carrabane?  Don’t make any lie to me, Hugh Deely.

Hugh:  Curley is gone.

Mrs. Ford (rising with difficulty, her agitation growing):  And his wife?  What about his trollop of a wife?

Donagh:  The whole brood and tribe of them went a month back.

Agnes:  Did not Donagh tell you that you were back in your own place again? (Mrs. Ford moves about, a consciousness of her surroundings breaking upon her.  She goes to room door, pushing it open.)

Hugh:  It is all coming back to her again.

Donagh:  She was only a little upset in her mind.

Mrs. Ford (coming from room door):  Agnes, and you, Hugh Deely, come here until I be telling you a thing of great wonder.  It was in this house Donagh there was born.  And it was in that room that we laid out his little sister, Mary.  I remember the March day and the yellow flowers they put around her in the bed.  She had no strength for the rough world.  I crossed her little white hands on the breast where the life died in her like a flame.  Donagh, my son, it was nearly all going from my mind.

Agnes:  This is no day for sad thoughts.  Think of the great thing it is for you to be back here again.

Mrs. Ford:  Ah, that’s the truth, girl.  Did the world ever hear of such a story as an old woman like me to be standing in this place and the planter gone from Currabane!  And if Donagh Ford is gone to his rest his son is here to answer for him.

Donagh:  The world knows I can never be the man my father was.

Mrs. Ford (raising her stick with a little cry):  Ah-ha, the people saw the great strength of Donagh Ford.  ‘They talk of a tenant at will,’ he’d say, ‘but who is it that can chain the purpose of a man’s mind.’  And they all saw it.  There was no great spirit in the country when Donagh Ford took the courage of his own heart and called the people together.