The time was set for late afternoon, the people whose attendance had been requested, aware this was not optional, were slowly arriving, the lure of free carousing too attractive to resist, before you considered the risk of lots of pain if you decided you had something better to do. The Saints, and many of the Larkins may have been seriously depleted in the last day or so, but the strength and fear of the resident tormentors was too ingrained into the psyche of the local people to ignore any threat, implied or explicit. The doors of Arries were locked after a time and liberal drinking commenced and continued, because it was free, or maybe most patrons required lashings of Dutch courage?
The wizened old grand dame, Nan Larkin, was shrunken into her matriarchal chair, brought out of the Snug
