He decided he must go down to consult the authorities in the Customs House or wherever a body went. But first he wrote to all the Presbyterian, Protestant and Methodist Church bodies for information on their former congregations in the Erris area. Then he sent all his findings off to the National Museum and waited to hear from them. No reply came. He could wait no longer. He took his Mullet Ledger and prepared for a trip to Dublin.

It was an extraordinary embarrassment for Jonathan Adams that he had never stood in Dublin. Money, a train schedule and a change of clothes were sorted out. He took the car to Castlebar. The scholar was to be gone a week. In fact, he was back in three days. Furious, he stepped in through the door, gave a savage shriek when spoken to, and retired to his room black-faced. For days not a word was spoken at meal times.

His daughters feared that he was back to being a Loyalist again.

At last, he brought himself to say: “My whole findings are seemingly of no scientific interest. And what I’ve learned has already been published.” He looked at Maisie. “Do you think I am too old to learn a new language?”

“Are we going to France?”

“Be sensible, woman!”

The women had never seen him so upset.

“They took me for a crank!” he shouted. “They took me for a figure of fun! I’ve picked my own out of their blood in a heap on the road and these Nationalists have the temerity to laugh at me!” The blood ran to the exasperated old policeman’s head.

His pride was gone. His chin at odd moments shook in a manner that made his daughters look away. From having developed a silent convivial nature since his retirement, he returned to his old austere self. “Take off those shameless garments!” he screamed. He became for a while a dispirited, aimless soul, as he’d been after Duke Street. “I shall die in this godforsaken hamlet,” he complained to Maisie. “And worse, without knowing its nature.” He now dreaded going from one room to another. But the women would not let him be. They carried on as before.

“Do you know that we are the only Protestant family on this peninsula, are you aware of that?” he shouted at Maisie. “And you! You brought us here! And what I would like to know is what we are doing here? Have you any answer to that?”

“No, Jonathan. If you want us to return we can do so.”

“I do want to return!” he exclaimed fiercely.

His rages were sudden and exhausting.