Tom didn’t have to hear any of this to know it was being said. Wherever he went, curtains would twitch, conversations would stall, and meaningful looks would be exchanged. For the rest of his days, his name would be prefixed by the word ‘poor’. Whatever they said to his face, some people would revel in the news: ‘I always said Nina Minogue was too good for him. What was a woman like that doing with a lad like him? Sure he’s a pleasant enough fellow, but what prospects has he?’

It had taken him more than a week to tell his parents. They didn’t have to voice their disappointment. It was carved onto their faces, in his dad’s strained mouth and his mam’s empty stare. What was also clear was that they blamed him. Oh, they were too kind to say it, but he was sure that as soon as he left the house, the if-onlys would begin: if only he’d stayed at college, if only he knew what he wanted, if only he’d got a better job.

They weren’t impressed with his plans to go away. ‘You can’t be serious,’ his mother had said, her tone suggesting he’d expressed an interest in opening a brothel or selling heroin at the gates of St Ursula’s. He did have sympathy for them. Their daughters were, to all intents and purposes, lost. Dympna remained in New York. Still illegal and married to another illegal, she hadn’t been home in more than a decade. Deirdre had fared better, marrying an American, securing US citizenship and moving to California. While some emigrants became sentimental about Ireland, Deirdre had no such weakness. The last time they’d spoken, her contempt had oozed across the Atlantic. ‘I don’t know how you stick that place, Tom,’ she’d said. ‘You ought to come over here. There are plenty of opportunities for a guy like you.’ Deirdre rarely called Kilmitten and wrote only at Christmas. Tom’s parents had three grandchildren they’d never met: two in Queens, one in San Diego. Now the house had been sold, he’d expected them to make a trip to the United States. Surely they had the money for a holiday. He’d heard no mention of a visit, and he suspected that, after all these years, they were scared of meeting their girls again.