Nora Webster

With the rest of the day at her disposal, Nora decides to drive out to Ballyconnigar to take a walk. She is insistent that she will not return to the Gibneys or speak to Francie Kavanagh again, so she composes a resignation letter in her mind. While driving out to the seafront, she finds herself in a place that “belonged more to Maurice than to her” (124). She thinks again about his final days and about the priest at his bedside. A short time later, she sees a nun walking alone along the lane and recognizes her as Sister Thomas. The nun claims to have been alerted to Nora’s presence by one of the locals. Sister Thomas knows about Maurice and prayed for Nora when Maurice was dying. Now, her advice to Nora is to “stop grieving” (126), as the time for grieving is over. As Sister Thomas walks away, Nora takes the scissors from the car seat and leaves them on the gravel “for someone else to find” (127).

Nora tells no one about what happened at work; instead, she says that she is ill, and stays home. One evening, when Fiona and Aine are home, Una visits to speak about her engagement to Seamus. Una mentions that she was worried about how Nora would react to the news so soon after Maurice’s death. In accordance with her Aunt Josie’s suggestion, Nora suddenly realizes that her “sisters are afraid of [her]” (128). She congratulates her sister, who blushes. Nora worries that she has gone too far, but she cannot think of anything comforting to say to Una.

Nora continues to insist that she is sick. Only when Sister Thomas visits her, having spoken to Peggy Gibney, does Nora finally agree to speak to her employers. Sister Thomas also asks Nora to be nicer to Una. The nun admits that Nora’s mother was much like Nora in that she did not “like people knowing [her] business” (131). Nora agrees to meet Peggy Gibney, and she also agrees to invite Una and Seamus to her house to celebrate the engagement.

Nora meets with Peggy, who claims that there is “war in this house” (132) between her children, Elizabeth and Thomas. With the mediation of Sister Thomas, Nora renegotiates her position; she wants to work half-days at a reduced wage, and she wants to be sure that Francie Kavanagh is not allowed to interact with her in any way. Peggy agrees. During the course of their conversation, Peggy confesses to Nora that she puts such stock in Sister Thomas because the nun was pivotal in ensuring that Peggy would marry William. Sister Thomas “threatened William’s father” (134), she says, and ensured that the baby would not be given up to an English orphanage. There are many stories about Sister Thomas, including that she once worked for Michael Collins, the revolutionary, soldier, and politician who was one of the leaders of the struggle for Irish independence.

Nora agrees to go to the golf club with Seamus and Una. She begins to work half days, which means that Donal is no longer left alone to bully Conor. At the golf club, Seamus and his male friends talk about their round of golf. Nora assures Una that she remembers Maurice talking for hours about politics, which allowed her to relax because she did not “have to pay any attention” (137). As the men talk, however, she notes that this is the sort of conversation that Maurice would have hated. 

In the golf club, she also meets a man named Ray. She knows of Ray through Elizabeth’s regular romantic updates; Ray asks her not to mention that he is in the golf club with a woman who is not Elizabeth. In the morning, however, Elizabeth laughs, saying that Ray has already talked to her and that he feels ashamed that he and Seamus talked about nothing but golf. Now, apparently, the nervous Seamus is convinced that Nora must think that he is a “total gobshite” (138). 

As the family gathers for Christmas, conversations more frequently turn to the situation in Northern Ireland. Nora is surprised to learn that Jim and Margaret have converted an empty room in their house into a dark room to develop photographs: their present to Donal.

Due to increases in pensions and the granting of a second pension, Nora’s financial pressures are eased. She credits the politician Charlie Haughey for this change, though Jim is less fond of him. Nora remembers Maurice’s own particular political grievances and causes, which he held for many years. She likes to believe that Maurice would defend Haughey against Jim’s suggestion that the politician is merely “courting popularity” (144). 

One evening, Nora is surprised at home by one of the truck drivers from Gibney’s. She remembers him as one of the few people in the office who spoke about the violence in Derry. He introduces himself as Mick Sinnott and reveals that the staff at Gibney’s are planning to join a union. The vote will be held in secret, he says, and he offers Nora the opportunity to join them even though she is “friends with the family” (145). Even if she declines, he asks her not to mention the matter to Elizabeth. He reveals that the staff tried to unionize years before, but the elder Gibney threatened to fire them all. With William now in charge, they hope that the situation might be different. Nora is taken aback and agrees to attend the meeting. 

As soon as Mick is gone, however, she is suddenly unsure, but she attends nonetheless, feeling that she is unable to back out of the arrangement. A vote is held, and the staff agrees to join the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union. Over the following days, Nora learns through Elizabeth that the Gibney family is furious. Elizabeth refers to Mick Sinnott as “a very nasty piece of work” (150). Her father, she explains during a telephone call, feels betrayed by his staff.