“She offered to go out and buy some more vegetables,” said Charlie.

Lulu shuddered.

“I wonder where she is,” she said after a moment. “I know she came back because her bag’s here, and I’m supposing she took the flowers down to Mrs. Scott-Ramsay because I don’t see them anywhere. But what she did after that is anybody’s guess.”

“Well, if her bag’s here, she can’t have gone far,” said Charlie.

“You don’t know Sophie,” said Lulu. “‘Oooh, look, there’s a pretty beam of sunshine coming through the front door, I think I’ll go out and follow it, oh, tra-la-la, isn’t it pretty out here, whoops, you’ll never guess what’s happened, I’ve been abducted and sold into white slavery, and because I didn’t bother to take any identification with me when I went out, no one will ever know what became of me, and just try explaining that to Mom and Dad.’”

“What about Mom and Dad?” Sophie wandered into the kitchen, a thick leather-bound book in her hand, and sat herself down at the table.

Lulu directed a stern arm at the kitchen sink.

“Curry pot,” she said.

“I’m going to get to it,” said Sophie. “Give me a chance. God. By the way, it’s lovely to see you, dear sister, have you had a nice afternoon? I have, actually. I’ve been downstairs talking to Mrs. ScottRamsay.”

“Yeah.” Lulu added an extra tea bag to the warmed pot and poured steaming water on top. “Right. Curry pot, Soph.”

“I have,” said Sophie. “Really.”

Sitting across the kitchen table from Sophie, Charlie looked at her and frowned.

“I think she means it,” she told Lulu.

“Right,” said Lulu. “Welcome to Sophie. The guided tours leave on the hour, and there’s an excellent brochure available at the kiosk.”

“I do mean it!” said Sophie. “Lulu, for God’s sake.”

“Really?” At last registering her sister’s tone, Lulu left the tea to steep and joined the others at the table. “You’ve been with Mrs. Scott-Ramsay?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you! Actually, we got along really well. Once you get talking to her, she’s really quite sweet.”

Lulu reached across the table to feel her sister’s forehead.

“No temperature,” she announced. “She must just be going insane. Sad in one so young.”

“And that’s the problem!” said Sophie. “You two think she’s going to be awful, so she is. I didn’t think she was going to be awful, and she wasn’t. And she’s actually had quite a hard time. She’s been widowed for twenty years, and she still misses her husband, who she says was the handsomest man she ever knew, and she didn’t say so but her daughters sound horrible, really selfish old bags. Her health’s bad, her best friend’s moved to Newcastle to be near her son’s family, and the worst thing of all is, she’s got diabetic retino-something, which means she’s going blind, and there’s nothing they can do.”

“She’s going blind?” said Charlie, sobered. “I didn’t know that. Poor old thing.”