"How was Dublin?"
"It was noisy, and crowded and everyone seemed to be rushing."
"That's why we all live here." Father was delighted.
"That's why we all live here." Mother said flatly.
Kit watched the flames in the fire. "I think I'll be a hermit when I grow up." she said suddenly.
"You wouldn't want this lonely kind of a life. It's only for odd people like myself."
"Are you odd, Sister Madeleine?"
"I'm very peculiar. Isn't that a funny word, 'peculiar'? I was saying it with Emmet the other day; we were wondering where it came from."
It reminded Kit that Clio said it was peculiar her mother had no family.
"Did you get hurt when people spoke badly about your family when you were young?"
"No child, not ever."
"How did you make yourself not worry?"
"I suppose I thought if anyone would try to pull down my family they would just be wrong." Kit was silent. "As they would be if they said anything about your family."
"I know." But the little voice was doubtful.
"Your father is the most respected man in trhee counties; he's so kind to the poor and he's like a second doctor in the town. Your mother is as gentle and loving a soul as it was ever my good fortune to meet. She has a poet's heart and she loves beauty.. "
The silence lay between them, so Sister Madeleine spoke again. Her face was hard to read; you wouldn't know what she was thinking. She spoke slowly, deliberately. "Of course, people often say things out of jealousy, because they're not secure in themselves. Because they worry they lash out, like a man with a stick might hit a hedge and take all the lovely heads off the flowers and not knowing why he did it... " Sister Madeleine's voice was hypnotic.
It was as if she knew all about Clio. Maybe Clio had been here and told her. Who could know?