As Gabriel turned, he saw the woman enter the pew. She was too late to receive communion with dignity and he did not know her spiritual state, and so he only distributed it to the altar server. He turned again and continued the Mass.

When he was done, he turned and made the blessing in the direction of both the altar server and the woman. Then he disappeared into the sacristy followed by the altar server and they both emerged again, Gabriel in his familiar black cassock and the boy in regular but fine clothes. Gabriel had been in favour of letting poorer boys serve at the altar as well, but father Kemble had reversed that, on the ground that such boys hadn't been trained in the appropriate decorum and weren't educated enough to memorise the Latin. They had no chance of going to seminary anyway, so the opportunity was wasted on them.

"Thank you Thomas. Please put everything away and you may go." Gabriel told the boy.

"Yes, father."

Then the priest made his way over to the kneeling lady, slowly so as to allow her to finish her prayers. Last time they had seen each other was under less dignified circumstances. But he was eager to know how she and the infants were doing.