CHAPTER 19
MINSTRELS
In the end, Alfred’s brooding presence at the funeral had rattled Lillian but he’d been sober enough not to make a scene in front of the Hamiltons. Indeed, his demeanour had been somewhat cowed and Lillian wondered if the realisation his wife and son were truly gone for ever contributed to his circumspection. Peter had approached his father with caution until the moment Alfred knelt to shake his hand. Alfred had looked over his son’s head to Lillian and stared open-mouthed at the sight of Alice cradled in her arms. A current of uneasy understanding passed between them.
She’d hesitated to have Thomas included in the minister’s eulogy without his body having been recovered but, in the end, as the words flowed around the small gathering, it had felt like the right thin
