Sons of an Ancient Glory (2 page)

26 The Midnight Thief

27 Bad Tidings

28 A Reluctant Parting

29 In the Vardo

30 Voice of the Heart

31 Terror on the Wind

P
ART
T
HREE
LIGHT OF HOPE • GLORIOUS GRACE

32 Suffer the Children

33 Be Thou My Vision

34 Hope for the Hopeless

35 Between Freedom and Fear

36 In the Devil's Den

37 The Price of Justice

38 Angels Unaware

39 Acts of Desperation

40 The Sound of Singing

41 The Ways of Women

42 I Have Brought You to This Place

43 In Search of an Ancient Glory

44 Folly or Grace?

45 The Glory of Love

Epilogue • And to the Prodigal…Grace

A Note from the Author

Other fine BJ Hoff books published by Harvest House Publishers

Great reviews for BJ Hoff's Mountain Song Legacy trilogy

About the Publisher

Morgan Fitzgerald
(the
Seanchai
): Poet, patriot, and schoolmaster. Grandson of British nobleman, Richard Nelson. Formerly of County Mayo. Dublin.

Finola
: Mysterious beauty with no memory of her past. Dublin.

Annie (Aine) Fitzgerald:
Belfast runaway adopted by Morgan Fitzgerald. Dublin.

Sandemon
(the “West Indies Wonder”): Freed slave from Barbados. Hired companion and friend of Morgan Fitzgerald. Dublin.

Sister Louisa:
Nun employed as teacher by Morgan Fitzgerald for his new Academy. Dublin.

Tierney Burke:
Rebellious son of Michael Burke. Formerly of New York City. Dublin.

Jan Martova:
Romany Gypsy who befriends Tierney Burke. Dublin.

Lucy Hoy:
Friend and nurse to Finola. Dublin.

Daniel Kavanagh:
Irish immigrant, formerly of Killala, County Mayo. Son of Owen (deceased) and Nora. New York City.

Nora Kavanagh Whittaker:
Irish immigrant, formerly of Killala, County Mayo. Wife of Evan Whittaker. Mother of Daniel Kavanagh. New York City.

Evan Whittaker:
British immigrant, formerly of London. Assistant to Lewis Farmington. New York City.

Winifred Whittaker Coates:
Evan Whittaker's widowed aunt, formerly of England. New York City.

Johanna and Thomas (Little Tom) Fitzgerald:
Irish immigrants, orphaned children of Thomas (Morgan Fitzgerald's deceased brother). Adopted by Evan Whittaker and Nora. New York City.

Michael Burke:
Irish immigrant, New York City police captain, formerly of Killala, County Mayo.

Sara Farmington Burke:
Daughter of shipbuilding magnate Lewis Farmington. Wife of Michael Burke. New York City.

Lewis Farmington:
Shipbuilder, Christian philanthropist. New York City.

Jess Dalton:
Mission pastor, author, and abolitionist, former West Point Chaplain. New York City.

Kerry Dalton:
Irish immigrant, formerly of County Kerry. Wife of Jess. New York City.

Casey-Pitz Dalton:
Irish immigrant orphan, adopted by the Daltons. New York City.

Patrick Walsh:
Irish immigrant, formerly of County Cork. Crime boss. New York City.

Alice Walsh:
Wife of Patrick. Mother of Isabel and Henry. New York City.

Billy Hogan:
Fatherless Irish immigrant, formerly of County Sligo. New York City.

Quinn O'Shea:
Newly arrived Irish immigrant with troubled past. Formerly of County Roscommon. New York City.

Denny Price:
Irish immigrant, New York City police sergeant, formerly of County Donegal. New York City.

Nicholas Grafton:
New York City physician.

Pronunciation Guide

Aine	Än´ya
a gra	(my love) a grä´
alannah	(my child) a län´uh
aroon	(my dear, my love) ar n
Finola	(from Fionnuala) Fi n ´ la
gorsoon	(boy) gor sun
Killala	Kil lä´ lä
macushla	(my darling) ma cush´ la
Sandemon	Sanda m hn´
Seanchai	(storyteller) Shan´ a kee

I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

J
OHN
17:22-23

And, long, a brave and haughty race
Honoured and sentinelled the place—
Sing oh! not even their son's disgrace
Can quite destroy their glory's trace.

T
HOMAS
D
AVIS
(1814–1845)

Killala, Western Ireland

January 1, 1801

D
an Kavanagh flew out of the cottage, little Barry in hand, the midwife's harsh words like grapeshot at his back.

“Ye'll be naught but a nuisance here, man!” shrilled Jane O'Dowd. “Take the tyke, and away with you! Go to McNally's, why not? O'Casey, the
Seanchai
, is there with his tales. I'll send word when it's time, never fear!”

Not a man in the village would argue with the flint-tempered Jane O'Dowd. Dan was off in a shake, little Barry at his heels. The older two boys, Niall and Tim, had gone gaming in the woods with Oran Browne early that morning, no doubt in anticipation of the ordeal to come. Dan did not blame them at all; his own eagerness to get away had been suppressed only with great effort. Though he doubted that even the Storyteller could take his mind off Peg and the babe trying to be born, he could not resist the chance to escape for a bit.

Despite the wind whipping the thatch on McNally's cottage, the door stood open. An entire gaggle of townspeople had gathered close-in, which, of course, meant the inside would be filled to overflowing. That was ever the case when a
Seanchai
—a Storyteller—passed through the village.

Hoisting wee Barry onto his shoulder, Dan wedged a place for them near the door. He caught just a glimpse of the silver-haired O'Casey inside, his spidery-frail bones perched on a stool near the turf fire. Ringed by what appeared to be the entire McNally clan and a remarkable number of villagers, the old traveling man might have been holding court; the cabin was hushed, the facial expressions rapt.

After a moment, Dan realized that O'Casey was giving forth the latest news from Dublin City, where on this very day—the momentous first day of a new century—the despised Act of Union between England and Ireland was to commence.

“But what of the Parliament?” Big Tommy Conlon was asking. “Our Irish Parliament?”

“Irish Parliament,
indeed
!” snorted O'Casey. “As of today, there
is
no Irish Parliament, not that it was ever more than a bad joke entirely.” The Storyteller curled his lip. “From this time forth, Ireland and England are to be the same as one country. Our land belongs to the British Crown now, and that's the truth.”

“As do our souls,” muttered Frank Duggan, a heavy-shouldered farmer hunched near the fire.

A dull pain settled over Dan's chest at their words, though O'Casey's news merely confirmed what was already suspected. After today, there would be no more pretense of the people having any say in the running of their own country. In an obscene show of tyranny, bribery, and fraud, the Union between Ireland and Britain had been forged, and there was nothing for the Irish to do but live with it.