The brothel that found need for a priest was in shabby condition. It was no Diamond Pony. This was just a place of closed doors to hold the beds for the ladies and their customers. The dark atmosphere seemed more heavy with the feeling of death among them.

Helena was near her end as she'd been taken by illness, and her pale figure was now looking more dead than alive. She had wanted the priest to come even though she hadn't been to church in years. She had a lot to confess to but was too short of breath to get far. 

Maddie stayed at the end of the hall to give her and the priest their privacy but would walk him out at the end. She was thinking over the situation. That woman was five years her junior and was one of the sweetest and prettiest girls of the place, it was a shame it happened to her. 

To avoid the oppressive topic, which would only become clearer when she did pass, the woman started to think of how surprising it was he had even come. Most wouldn't want to risk their reputation to enter such a place, even more wouldn't wish to speak to women like themselves, thinking they were already lost sheep.

Nobody who sought it was beyond saving. And there was certainly nobodywho wasn't worth being saved. This Gabriel firmly believed. Of course, he would have prefered to meet the woman elsewhere. But since she was bed-ridden and close to her death, the priest gad had no choice. He cared more about her salvation than about the delicate moral sensibilities of some of his more condemning parishioners. Gabriel finally left the room, having listened to the womans confession and having ministered extreme unction. He looked around.

Maddie hopped to her feet from her chair and walked to him. "I'll show you out. I'm sure you don't want to get lost and be wandering around here. " She smiled despite the situation and led him toward the exit. "Thak you for coming, sir. I know it meant everything to her."

Gabriel nodded at her gratefully. "I was glad I could be of some help..." he said. "I'm sorry to see someone that young at the gates of death..."

Maddie shrugged as she walked. "It is unfortunate, Helena is very nice. There were quite a few others that shoulda gone first. " She looked to the priest, quick to change the subject. "You're not like the last priest that was in town. He would never have come. "

That remark made him frown. The next even more. Father Kemble, once again. But still Gabriel did not like to encourage slander about his predecessor, and so he held his tongue. "You shouldn't wish death on anyone," he said instead.

"Who is wishing death? I am merely saying there are those more deserving. If one had to go. I'm far from being pure, like you. I do not see my words any more worse or sinful than anything else I've done."

Gabriel sighed. "It's not for us to judge..."

Maddie smiled. "Great. Glad we could come to an agreement. Oh careful of that stair, it's weak." She gestured to a step just ahead before they got to it. "Don't want you getting injured, sir."

"Thank you..." He said, and he descended very carefully. No use in tripping over his cassock on the uneven steps and breaking his neck in a whorehouse. "How long does she have?"