Free Light A Penny Candle by Maeve Binchy Page A

it?’
    ‘Maureen, where did you get the money to pay for these things … where?’
    ‘Ma, I don’t know what you mean. I saved up my pocket money like everyone else. … Of course I did Ma.’
    ‘We’re not fools Maureen … look at these things. They cost a fortune. That soap you bought your mother … it’s fifteen shillings. I saw it myself in the chemist.’
    ‘But Da, I didn’t. …’
    ‘Just tell us where you got the money child, that’s all your father and I want to know. Tell us quickly and don’t ruin the day for all the rest of them.’
    ‘I never took any of your money Mam, you can look in your desk, I didn’t take a penny. …’
    ‘I didn’t miss anything Sean.’
    ‘And I didn’t touch anything in your pocket, Da. …’
    ‘Come on, Maureen, you get a shilling a week, you have pounds’ worth of stuff here. Pounds and pounds. Can’t you see your mother and I are heart-scalded over it. …’
    ‘Is this the thanks I get for giving you nice Christmas presents. …’ Maureen had begun to cry. ‘Is this … all … you … say, accuse me of stealing from you?’
    ‘Well, the only other alternative … is that you stole them from the shops.’ Eileen’s voice was shaking as she voiced the suspicion.
    ‘I
bought
them,’ persisted Maureen.
    ‘God almighty, those hair brushes you gave Sean, they’re over two pounds!’ roared Sean. ‘You’re not leaving this room till we know. Christmas dinner or no Christmas dinner … if I have to shake every bone out of your body, I’ll find out. Don’t treat us like fools.
Bought
them indeed. …’
    ‘You’ll have to tell us soon or later, your father is right. Tell us now.’
    ‘I bought you Christmas presents to please you and this is all you say. …’
    ‘I’m going to go up to Doctor Lynch’s house and see whether their family got fine presents from that Berna of theirs. Maybe the two of you were in this together. Maybe Berna will tell us if you won’t. …’
    ‘No!’ It was a scream. ‘No Da, don’t go. Please don’t go.’
    There were sobs from Eileen, and shocked noises and wailings from Maureen as well as her mother. There was the sound of great slappings and a chair turning over. Elizabeth heard Aunt Eileen pleading with Uncle Sean not to be so hard.
    ‘Leave her, Sean, leave her till you calm down.’
    ‘Calm down. Stealing from every other trader in the town. Into their shops with that brat of a Lynch girl. Five shops, five families who’ve done business with us for years and this brat goes in and steals from them. Jesus Christ, what’s there to be calm about … you’re going in to every one of them when the shops open. Every single one of them do you hear, every item will be returned. And the Lynches will be told too, mind that. They’re not going to live in innocence over the pair of thieves we have stalking the town. …’
    Elizabeth exchanged a fearful glance with Peggy as they heard another blow and another scream.
    ‘Don’t you be minding all that now,’ said Peggy. ‘Better not to poke your nose into others’ affairs. Better to hear nothing and say nothing.’
    ‘I know,’ said Elizabeth. ‘But it’s going to spoil Christmas.’
    ‘Not at all,’ said Peggy. ‘We’ll have a grand Christmas.’
    ‘Ah, Da you can’t hit a girl like that, stop it, Da, stop it!’
    ‘Go away, Sean, I don’t want you here, get out, it’s my business.’
    ‘Da, you can’t hit Maureen like that, Ma stop him, he’s hit her on the head. Stop it, Da, stop it, you’re too big, you’ll kill her.’
    Elizabeth fled from the kitchen and got her new bicycle. Round and round the square she cycled, trying to brush the tears out of her eyes. She didn’t want the others to ask her what was wrong. She had no hope that they would even get together for the goose now. Aunt Eileen had probably gone to the bedroom, Sean gone off out after the row with his father. Uncle Sean might have taken the keys and gone back into the