Late on Saturday night, Maeve and Finola in bed; bathed and prepared for Mass at St Mary’s in the morning, they were wrenched awake by a disturbance on the stairs outside. Since the backcourts around the buildings frequently hosted drunken battles, she was almost inclined to ignore it until she heard Kate’s voice. She sprang out of bed and opened the door.
Brendan had a hold of Kate by the sleeve of her dress, and William Johnston had a hold of Brendan by the collar of his shirt, which was dragging almost off his shoulder. Maeve could just hear in the din Brendan shouting at William that Kate was his sister, while William was shouting at Brendan to leave the lady alone if he didn’t want punched. In the midst of it, Kate was screaming at Brendan to let her go.
Maeve stepped into the scene
