‘Would that have been so bad?’ Shona asked quietly, almost afraid to speak up amid this whirlwind of revelation, in case it whipped round her and pulled her away with it. ‘Then Uncle Aziz wouldn’t be marrying someone else now, and Papa wouldn’t be riddled with guilt and making himself ill with long-distance travel.’

Henna shook her head. ‘Well, your papa won’t be weakening himself any more with travel or guilt. He can make up for this sorry mess by coming home and taking up his place as head of the house, so Aziz and his ugly old doctor-didi can be put back in their place, or move out if they don’t like it.’ She moved swiftly over to Shona, who flinched as though half expecting a blow or more sharp words, but Henna simply knelt by her entreatingly, her hands on either side of her face. ‘This is why I needed you to come. I need you, Shona moni. I need you to persuade your father to come back to Dhaka and take up his place here, or my position will be lost forever. Everyone will realize what has happened, and I’ll be a laughing stock. Everything I’ve built here will be gone; I’ll just be another pathetic old woman abandoned by her husband.’ Getting up, to sit companionably by Shona on the divan, taking her daughter’s hand, Henna continued, in a soft, reasonable voice, ‘Besides, I’ve let your father play long enough in England; it’s time to come home. He’s had twenty years with that wife, which is long enough for any love match to last, and his English daughter is grown up now, so he can’t say she needs him. His real family needs him now; his real wife, his old Ammie, his daughter and grand-children …’ She looked wide-eyed at Shona, teary with emotion.

Shona wrenched her hand away. ‘Ammie prefers Uncle Aziz, and always did. And you clearly did, too. And my family aren’t in Dhaka, they’re in England, where Papa is now. You’ll be taking him away from us, and from everything he loves.’ Her voice was getting higher but, unable to stop it, she practically shrieked, ‘How long have you known about Papa? About his other family? How long?’