Miss Mason's father was a vicar? Malachi supposed he must not have been a Catholic one, then... but she did say that she hadn't grown up with her father. It was entirely possible that she'd simply not learned her father's ways because she hadn't spent any real time with him. He dipped his head forward as the woman spoke, encouraging her to go on, to tell him whatever she wished. If it eased her mind in any way, then he was more than willing to listen.

"I'm sure that your father had your best interests at heart," began Malachi, tone suggesting that he might have been more skeptical of that fact than he claimed. "But I'm sad to hear that he would say you have no place in the church, just because you are a woman."

He could not speak for the quality of her father's spirit, nor for his integrity, but his desire to keep his daughter from the church did not sit well with Malachi. Shifting to sit more comfortably against the back of the pew, he took a moment's consideration before continuing.

"What do you want, then, Miss Mason? Not what your father wants, or what Miss Harlowe wanted, or what the lawyer wants of you -- what would you do, if you had the choice?"