On Sunday, the third day after his arrival in Ballymoy, Hyacinth went to church.

He could hardly have avoided doing so, even if he had wanted to, for Mrs.Quinn invited him to share her pew.

There was no real necessity for such hospitality, for the church was never, even under the most favourable circumstances, more than half full.

The four front seats were reserved for a Mr.Stack, on whose property the town of Ballymoy stood.
But this gentleman preferred to live in Surrey, and even when he came over to Ireland for the shooting rarely honoured the church with his presence.

A stone tablet, bearing the name of this magnate's father, a Cork pawnbroker, who had purchased the property for a small sum under the Encumbered Estates Court Act, adorned the wall beside the pulpit.
The management of the property was in the hands of a Dublin firm, so the parish was deprived of the privilege of a resident land agent.