Back in the hotel they started to evaluate what they had found out. Harry very much looked like one Caitlin Doherty, who came back pregnant from London and was sent to a convent. The family had moved back to a castle on the west coast. Laura suggested to start searching for the convent. Laura called Mildred and updated her on their progress. She asked for a list of all the convents in the Dublin area, that seemed to be suitable. Harry was very enlightened by the idea of descending from an old line of nobility. His eyes where radiating with joy when he told Laura: "Just imagine, maybe I'll finally own my own castle, and all the staff will address me with 'your Lordship'!" Laura had no choice but to listen to her spouse's daydreams and give some dry comments.
Mildred would have loved to stay in Ireland with the Steeles for another couple of weeks, but someone had to go back and take care of the agency, which also happened to be her place of employment. And when it came to computer – research, she was an absolute profi. So it didn't take more than a few hours until Laura got her data. "Miss Holt, I mean Mrs Steele, it is so incredible what I found out! There was only one single convent in whole Ireland that used to re-educate bad girls, as they called it. The "merciless sisters", as they are called today, treated the girls cruelly and reckless. They had to work hard without payment, got hardly enough to eat and the only entertainment they had were prayers. The name of the convent is 'Convent of Saint Mary Magdalen' and is right in the middle of Dublin."
Their search appeared to be followed by good luck. When they visited the convent the following day they learned, that the nuns kept book meticulously. About their inhabitants, the money the families had paid, and where they ended up. Families used to pay quite a lot of money to have the nuns take care of the girls. Within the records they succeeded and found Caitlin's name on a list. Her father had brought her to the convent personally, close before christmas 1952. The nuns had also added the parent's new address on the form.
It is incredible, what a misery the women had to endure under the nuns. As sinners they had to suffer every day to finally reach forgiving. Some of them could not endure the never ending distress. Many of them had to give up their names, Caitlin for example was admitted as "Catherine". She had lived in the convent for four months, then she escaped with the help of a young man, allegedly her brother Seamus.
It was no problem to find the Castle. The address was Glencairn Castle, Count Clare, close to Galway. Laura and Harry travelled there immediately, full of pride, curiosity and anxiety. In her thoughts Laura counted the times Harry had thought he found a lead, found the truth of his past, just to be disappointed one more time. Though she only knew him for a couple of years, it seemed that these times of despair and disappointment had become a fix part of her live. She really hoped with all her heart that they would find out something useful and something Harry could live with. As much as he was suffering from not knowing about his past and family, she wanted to protect him from learning something unpleasant. Sometimes the truth was so cruel it was better to leave it unknown. A dark foreshadowing followed Laura but she decided to keep it away from Harry, to prevent him from feeling even more unsetteled.
Glencairn Castle was quite a sight. It was located on a tongue of land, overlooking whole Galway bay. In former times the tower had been used as a light house. But as they came closer it became more and more obvious, that the castle had seen much better days. Harry started to get enough of old, run-down and expensive Irish castles. The tower and the upper stories were already ruins, but the ground and first floor appeared in not too bad a shape. All in all the castle appeared uninhabited.
After knocking and ringing without an answer, Harry tried picking the lock, only to fall into the house, the brittle door joining him. The first they saw in the dark and gloomy floor were dust and spider webs. The walls were decorated with portraits, most likely a gallery of ancestral portraits. The ceded carpet on the floor told of past glory. The rooms where scarcely furnitured, but held antiques. Overall, they found no sign of the castle being inhabited.
