Read Online After the Lockout by Darran McCann - Free Book Online Page B

…’
    â€˜What did he say?’
    â€˜Terrible things. About the Church. About Cardinal Logue.’ She paused. ‘God forgive me, Father, but he said terrible things about you yourself. I couldn’t even repeat it. And politics as well. He thinks these communists are great fellows altogether.’
    â€˜What exactly were his words, Mrs Geraghty?’ Father Daly put in. ‘The detail could be important.’
    â€˜The tenor is fairly clear, Tim,’ Stanislaus said impatiently.
    â€˜Sometimes people get called socialists but they only want to help the poor. Sometimes they’re not as opposed to the Church as they seem. Or even think themselves to be.’
    â€˜The objective of the Church is to save souls for Christ,’ Stanislaus snapped.
    â€˜Of course, but a lot of souls will be lost if we refuse to adapt to the realities of the modern world,’ said the young man.
    Stanislaus sighed. He felt like beating the liberal fool around the head with his Rerum Novarum. He turned back to Mrs Geraghty. ‘How did the people react?’ he asked darkly.
    â€˜I’d say maybe half the people walked out.’
    â€˜And the other half?’
    â€˜God forgive them, they cheered.’
    Mrs Geraghty returned to the sink. Stanislaus dabbed his napkin against his lips. Father Daly, seemingly unsure whether to speak or return to his newspaper, sat silently like an idiot. What on earth was the matter with the young man, that he didn’t grasp the scale of the challenge before them? Half the parish had cheered on a radical who had denounced the Church. Half the parish, and on the Church’s very own property! ‘Where do you suppose the young hero stayed last night?’ Stanislaus said.
    â€˜Charlie Quinn’s perhaps? Or Moriarty’s? It would be understandable if Victor wanted to wait till morning before going to see Pius.’
    â€˜Yes, that’s surely what happened,’ said Mrs Geraghty.
    It was plausible. The Moriartys lived at the other end of the village, and if the people were split, the Moriartys were sure to be on the wrong side. Charlie Quinn was more difficult to judge. He and the Victor fellow were close friends, but, on the other hand, Charlie was a good, solid boy.
    â€˜Who was he dancing with?’
    â€˜Pardon me, Father?’ said Mrs Geraghty.
    â€˜With whom did Victor Lennon dance?’
    â€˜I only saw him dancing with two girls. Margaret Cavanagh was one. And when I left he was dancing with Ida Harte. They were both drunk at that stage. Now, Margaret Cavanagh is a respectable girl but as for that other one, well …’
    Stanislaus raised a hand to silence Mrs Geraghty. ‘You must not be so uncharitable to the Harte family,’ he said.
    But Mrs Geraghty was not finished. ‘Who are these Harte people anyway? Why have they moved here, where nobody knows them?’ she said. The Hartes had taken over Dan McCusker’s land a couple of years previously, after Dan had finally met a bottle that finished him before he finished it. They were the first family without local connections to have arrived in Madden in living memory, and people didn’t like it.
    â€˜They’re from County Monaghan. I’m from County Monaghan. It’s not even ten miles to the county border,’ said Father Daly.
    â€˜It’s thirty mile or more to where they’re from. And you’re here to do the blessed work of the Church, Father. Why would they move thirty mile from their home place? They must be running away from something, that’s why. You look at that Ida one. She’s the sort that would get into trouble all right.’
    â€˜Mrs Geraghty, that’s enough!’ Stanislaus cried, with a vehemence that fairly blasted the housekeeper from her rhythm. Visibly chastened, she fled the kitchen.
    Stanislaus was not interested in the fact that Victor had been dancing with Ida Harte. She had neither friends nor