ALICE PICKFORD COULD have given her great-nephew lessons in the art of silence. She had again summoned Father Kelly and he was vociferous in defence of his parishioner. Rafferty had kept digging and probing and making what were clearly unwelcome remarks about her sister’s beauty and wealth and her other attributes, Alice Pickford had decided to adopt an imperious stance and barely deigned to say anything, but Father Kelly more than made up for it.
‘You’re not to be adopting the bully-boy tactics, young Rafferty,’ the priest told him. ‘Whatever Miss Pickford has or has not done, she’s not to be subjected to any haranguing. Sure and she’s a God-fearing woman and will tell her Maker of her doings. There’s no need—’
Alice Pickford cut across Father Kelly without compunction, gratitude for hi
