 Shortly afterwards, Mary chances across Larry kissing another girl, and in distress blindly stumbles across the road into the path of a car, and is killed.As a consequence of the malicious accusation, Howard is subjected to suspicion and abuse by his parishioners, including having his car's tyres slashed and receiving poison pen letters.When his mother (Irene Browne) learns of events, knowing about Hester's romantic interest in Howard, she quickly comprehends the situation, takes Hester to task, and persuades her to accept Howard's account.