William Walsh: At The End.

I wrote this episode some eight years after the last. We left William in the aftermath of the first battle of Ypres in 1915, I felt I owed him something of a conclusion.

Not a bad first day I thought as I buttoned up my overcoat and looked for my hat. St. Kevin’s Hospital occupies what used to be the South Dublin workhouse and many of the souls that found their way here were often deeply troubled. It was a tough challenge for a newly ordained priest for sure. There were three sharp knocks at the chapel door, before I could react, the handle turned and a slight, austere woman wearing a nurses’ uniform bustled in. Looking me dead in the eye she said “I’m sorry to disturb you Father Casey. I have a patient who is ready to receive the last rites now0. I began to unbutton my overcoat. Although I put her her in her mid 50s, she reminded me of many of the older nuns I had known, over-zealous and impatient. The objects in my leather bag rattled against each other reassuringly as I lifted it. “Well Matron, I sighed, “you had better take me to him.”