, and, soon after
Captain Davenant returned, Jabez called at the castle.

"We are going away," he said. "John has made up his mind to become a
trader, in London, and Hannah and I would be lonely without him, and,
moreover, we are both weary of our life here, and have far more than
enough money laid by for our needs, and for giving John the means of
entering some well-established firm, when the time shall come. As to the
lands here, they are ours now; but the next turn of the wheel might give
them back to you. Besides, we do not wish to be troubled with their care.
I therefore intend to revert to the offer which you made me, when the
Parliament restored the land to you. I have received a good offer for our
house and farm, and this I have accepted. The rest of the estates I hand
back to you, from whom they were taken by the sword. My wife wishes this,
as well as myself. John is eager that it should be so. He will be glad
that his friend should be heir to the estates of his ancestors."

"But we could not accept such a generous offer," Captain Davenant
exclaimed. "It is out of all reason."

"That I know not, friend Davenant; but I know that I, and my wife and
John, have so made up our minds, and we are of a race not given to
change. The land would but be an incumbrance and a trouble to us. John
would far rather make his path in life, as he chooses it, than live upon
the rents of ill-gotten lands. You will receive your own again, and all
parties will be satisfied."

Nothing could alter the resolution Jabez and his wife and son had taken,
and so the Davenant estates came back to their former possessors.

Three years after the conclusion of peace, Walter became Claire Conyers'
husband, and in time succeeded to the wide estates of Mr. Conyers, as
well as those of the Davenants. Godfrey Davenant, on attaining the age of
eighteen, obtained, through Colonel L'Estrange's interest, a commission
in the English army, fought under Marlborough in the fierce campaign in
Flanders, and fell at the battle of Oudenarde. Happily, during the
lifetime of Walter and Claire Davenant, there was never any renewal of
trouble in Ireland, and they lived to see their children and
grandchildren grow up around them, in peace and happiness.

John Whitefoot became, in time, one of the leading merchants of the city
of London, and spent the greater of the fortune he gained in trade in
works of charity and kindness. The friendship between him and Walter