O'Brien came into the house
he would get as far away from her as he could, and then lie perfectly
still and watch her, for all the world, as John said once, like a rat
in a trap watching a cat. Ellen said that it was because he always
remembered that it was Mrs. O'Brien who had dropped him once. To this
John replied: "Then maybe he'ld be making you less trouble, Ellen, if
you was to drop him yourself once or twice." But Mrs. O'Brien said
that it was just because he knew what she would do to him if she had
the chance.
And there was another strange thing about Terence. As he grew a little
older, he never could be got inside a church. Father Duffy had never
even seen him, except when he came to the house while he was still a
baby, and then Terence would scream and kick so, when the good priest
came near him, that he never dared touch him. The first time that he
came, Ellen told him about Mrs. O'Brien's christening the child, and
asked him if it was right for her to do it.
"Was the child looking sick, and as if he was likely to die?" Father
Duffy asked.
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