He entered the studio, busied himself with Godrevy, and attended to some mail. But thoughts of Galya would not be silent. Which was why he needed some answers: he simply could not go on this way. Surely it was better to know the truth and risk losing his dreams than to live with so much uncertainty. Tonight, he decided, he would reveal himself tonight. Then immediately changed his mind: he didn’t want to jeopardise their trip to the High Country.

He picked up the telephone and dialled his parents’ number. He knew he was sending the wrong message to Sylvie, but he needed help, and his mother was always so astute about people. The phone rang and rang. Perhaps he had dialled the wrong number; he tried again, but still no answer. It was not his mother’s driving-for-the-blind day, it was not the day she lunched with her sister, it was not her shopping day, and besides, it was nine o’clock in the morning. You could set your calendar by Sylvie — although now that he thought about it, this was not the first time recently he’d telephoned to find her out when she should have been home.

He would have to deal with this alone. He telephoned the travel agency in Carlton. Yes, they said in response to his question, they had material on the High Country. He dithered over whether to pick it up now or after his afternoon meeting, then decided later. He needed to work. He tried some sketches for a new commission, he tried working on a maquette for the same project, he tried some paperwork, but his mind simply would not leave Galina alone. In the end, he gathered up a delighted Godrevy and took him for another walk.

If Andrew had decided to go to the Carlton travel agency that morning, he might have witnessed a scene far more troubling than his turmoil over Galina: his mother with a strange man outside the delicatessen, the man holding a bag of food, his mother grasping a baguette, the two of them talking and laughing, two people who were unmistakeably close. If Andrew had seen them, he might have considered an innocent explanation, certainly he would have wanted one, but the evidence would have been against it. He would have seen that these two, his mother and the unknown man, were intimates — a myopic recluse from outback Australia would have come to the same conclusion. Fortunately, Andrew was out walking the dog when Sylvie and Mark Asher turned away from the shops and made their way to Mark’s house for a whole day together.