The memory of that made her cry even her harder now.

‘There, there, lassie.’ Her father patted her shoulder awkwardly. ‘If that’s what you really want to do, we’ll think about it. Stop crying now, like a good girl. Pray about it. Talk to the priest. You don’t have to rush into anything.’

‘Tsk, Tom, don’t be encouraging her.’ His wife threw her eyes up to heaven.

‘Wouldn’t we be proud to have a nun in the family, or if one of the boys wanted to become a priest?’ her husband said in his slow, measured way. ‘And not a lay nun, like Margo O’Farrell. They don’t get well treated, those lay nuns, I hear. Mind you, Tom O’Farrell was glad she entered, no matter what, because they have five girls to support, and he doesn’t have to worry about her anymore, or feed and clothe her. Five of them would never make a good match here, there’s so few men staying put on the land, and those two youngest are a dawny-looking pair. They’d be lucky to find a husband,’ Tom remarked.

‘Stop that! They’re nice girls.’ His wife scowled at him.

‘But not good-looking like our girls.’ Tom winked at Brigid. ‘The O’Farrells have one down and four to go. Would you be wanting that, Elizabeth? We won’t close the door on the idea of Brigid entering. She’s got a good education – that will help too,’ he added firmly.

‘There’s that, I suppose,’ Elizabeth agreed reluctantly. It was rare for her husband to put his foot down. She usually ruled the roost. A nun in the family would be seen as a great blessing. But she had plans for Brigid.

‘I wouldn’t be letting you go in as a lay sister, now Brigid,’ Tom assured his daughter. ‘I’ll pay your dowry and that will safeguard your future with the Order, if it comes to that.’

‘Oh, Daddy, I hadn’t thought about that.’ Brigid was instantly contrite. ‘I’ll go in as a lay nun. I don’t want to put you to expense.’

‘You’ll never get to the Missions so.’ He puffed a stream of smoke into the frosty air, the scent of tobacco mingling with the whiff of sea breeze. ‘You’ll spend your life scrubbing floors, cooking and cleaning and minding the sick if you go in as a lay nun. Sure, you could do that at home – isn’t that right, Elizabeth?’ he said jovially.

Elizabeth pursed her lips, reminding Brigid of Imelda when she was annoyed. ‘If she’s going to enter, she’ll enter the proper way. I won’t have the neighbours talking and saying we hadn’t the money for a dowry. I have that money I was saving for the new churn—’