After all the tea and refreshments had been exhausted, Shameela and Parvine made their excuses to leave. Omar remained on the veranda, while Henna and Shona led them out. ‘Such a wonderful afternoon,’ Shameela said in Bangla to Henna. ‘And such a pretty daughter, Shundor Shona,’ she added, moistening her finger delicately with the inside of her lower lip, before touching Shona’s cheek for good luck, ‘and clever grandson. A philosopher, no less! You must be very proud.’ Henna smiled graciously, and inclined her head like the lady of the manor she had become. Shameela continued as she reached the door, ‘And please pass my best wishes to Bhai Aziz and his mother. I’m sorry to have missed them again, but they must have so much to plan for with his wedding coming up so soon.’ She smiled conspiratorially at Shona. ‘Imagine, a confirmed bachelor like your uncle finally getting wed. If someone like him can change his ways, there’s hope for all the unmarried girls out there.’

Shona took this revelation with outward calm, while she finally made the connection between her mother’s uncharacteristic cry for help last month, and the inexplicable absences from the household. Gilbert and Sullivan had less to do with this visit than she had thought; she realized now that there were more serious changes afoot. Her mind was ticking over so rapidly with this new information and the possible consequences, that she didn’t notice Shameela asking her a question, and had to ask her to repeat it.

’I just asked if your father will have recovered from his heart attack sufficiently to fly back for the wedding,’ Shameela asked. ‘We see him so rarely in Dhaka these days.’

‘I really don’t know,’ Shona said honestly. ‘Perhaps he won’t be well enough …’

Henna interrupted impatiently, ‘Of course Rashid will be back for his younger brother’s wedding.’ She added guilelessly, ‘And as I’ve already told you all, you will be seeing much more of him in Dhaka before too long. With his retirement coming up, he won’t need to spend so much time in England. I’ll soon have my dear Rashid home.’ Shona looked at her mother in barely concealed astonishment; what things had she been telling the cream of Dhaka society? For all intents and purposes, her parents had separated years ago; she couldn’t possibly expect him to return for good.

‘Such a hard worker, putting his family’s comfort before his own for so long,’ Shameela said with approval, while Parvine nodded. ‘He must be looking forward to his retirement immensely.’ They finally took their leave.