Hugh:  This place was a place of great strife then.

Mrs. Ford:  God send, Agnes Deely, that you’ll never have the memory of a bitter eviction burned into your mind.

Donagh:  That’s all over and done now, mother.  There is a new life before you.

Mrs. Ford:  Well, they had their way and put us across the threshold.  But if they did it was on this hearth was kindled a blaze that swept the townland and wrapped the country.  It went from one place to another and no wave that rose upon the Shannon could hold it back.  It was a thing that no power could check, for it ran in the blood and only wasted in the vein of the father to leap fresh in the heart of the son.  Ah, I will go on my knees and kiss the threshold of this house for the things it calls to mind. (She goes to door, kneeling down and kissing the threshold.)

Hugh:  It is a great hold she has on the old days and a great spirit. (A low murmur of voices is heard in the distance outside.)

Donagh:  They are turning the ploughs into the second field.

Mrs. Ford:  What’s that you say about the ploughs?

Donagh (going to her):  The boys are breaking up the land for us. (He and Hugh help her to rise.  They are all grouped at the door.)

Agnes:  It was they who cheered you on the road.

Mrs. Ford:  The sight is failing me.

Donagh.  I can only make out little dark spots against the green of the fields.

Donagh:  Those are the people, mother.

Mrs. Ford (crossing to fireplace):  The people are beginning to gather behind the ploughs again.  Tell me, Donagh, what way is the wind coming?

Donagh:  It is coming up from the South.

Mrs. Ford (speaking more to herself):  Well, I can ask no more now.  The wind is from the South and it will bear that cheer past where HE is lying in Gurteen-na-Marbh.  It is a kind wind and it carries good music.  Take my word for it every sound that goes on the wind is not lost to the dead.

Hugh:  You ought to take her out of these thoughts.

Agnes:  Leave her with me for a little while. (Hugh and Donagh move to door.)

Mrs. Ford:  Where are you going, Donagh?

Donagh:  Down to the people breaking the ground.  They will be waiting for word of your home-coming.

Mrs. Ford:  Ah, sure you ought to have the people up here, a mhic.  I’d like to see all the old neighbours about me and hear the music of their voices.

Hugh:  Very well.  I’ll step down and bid them up. (He goes.)

Mrs. Ford:  You’ll have the anxiety of the farm on your mind from this out, Donagh.

Donagh:  Well, it is not the hut, with the hunger of the bog about it, that I will be bringing Agnes into now.