Cardboard box

No one knew what was behind the closed door. Forgotten now were bodies in the lake, spirits of the dead, and the intransigence of cancelling a Hallowe'en party. In they went and Sister Madeleine closed the door behind them.

There was a simple bed with a small iron headboard, and a smaller bed-end made the same way. It was covered in a snow-white bedspread. On the wall was a cross, not a crucifix, just a plain cross. There was a small chest of drawers which had no mirror, just a comb and a pair of rosary beads.

There was a chair, and a prie-dieu facing the cross. This is where Sister Madeleine must say her prayers. "You have it very tidy." Clio said eventually, trying to think of some compliment and finding this the only thing she could say in honesty about a place which had the comfort of a prison cell.

"here he is." cried Sister Madeleine, and pulled out a cardboard box with straw in it. Sitting in the middle was a tiny fox cub with his head on one side. "Isn't he gorgeous!" Clio and Kit spoke in one voice. They reached out awkwardly as if to stroke him.

"Will he bite?" Clio asked. "He might nip a little, but he's so small his little teeth wouldn't hurt you." Any other grown-up in the world would have said not to touch him. "Will he live here for ever?" Kit wanted to know.

"He broke his leg, you see. I was mending it.. it's not the kind of thing you can take to the vet. Mr Kenny would not thank you for bringing up a fox to him." Sister Madeleine knew that even the warm feelings of Lough Glass she enjoyed would not extend towards her harbouring a fox. Foxes were rodents; they killed people's chickens and geese, and little turkeys.

If a baby fox were to be cured, then you wouldn't get any branch of the medical profession or establishment to help you. They looked admiringly at the little piece of wood tied to the tiny leg.

"He'll soon be able to walk and run, and then we'll send him off to whatever life awaits him." Sister Madeleine looked at the little pointed face that stared trustingly up at her and stroked his small soft head.