Evie put her hands up to her mouth, shocked. ‘Why?’

Mary shrugged. ‘They just don’t get along. In fact they can’t stand the sight of each other. Not helped by the fact that Rowena found out Bertie had been having an affair with one of the taxi girls at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel.’

‘Taxi girls?’

‘Professional dance hostesses. Men pay the E&O for a ticket to dance with them and the girls get half the proceeds. While most of them are perfectly respectable, some of them are rather too willing to do more than dance.’

‘And he got caught out?’

‘He did indeed. Red-handed. Rowena plays bridge most afternoons. Bertie Cameron is the director of one of the shipping companies, so, as the tuan, he can come and go from his office as he pleases. One afternoon, Rowena was feeling unwell during her bridge game. So she ducked out after a couple of rubbers and went home to lie down. She walked in on them in bed.’

‘How horrible!’

‘Yes. Rowena’s been exacting her revenge ever since. The atmosphere between them is poisonous. That poor child is caught in the middle.’ Mary sighed. ‘Don’t be like Rowena, Evie. Try and find a way to forgive and forget, for Jasmine’s sake and your baby’s.’ She studied Evie’s face, her eyes anxious. ‘I hope you don’t think I’m a terrible gossip? Only, since Rowena would win all the prizes for that herself, I feel somewhat justified.’

‘You see their problems as Rowena’s making?’

‘No. Definitely not. They’re both as bad as each other. He’s not shown an ounce of remorse. In fact it’s as if he resents her for finding him out. I suppose he thinks she should have been a dutiful little mem and pretended she’d seen nothing. No, I can’t blame her for raising the roof. But I blame them both for doing nothing to heal the wounds afterwards and making that poor child suffer as a consequence.’

Mary gave another sigh, an anguished expression on her face. ‘Look Evie, I’ve been agonising about whether to tell you this but I’ve decided I’m going to. I overheard Penny talking to Jasmine. She seems to think that her parents are so caught up in bickering with each other and have no time for her, and that’s proof that they don’t love her.’ Mary paused. ‘Jasmine told her that she thinks you and her father are going to be like that too. I hate to let you know this, but Jasmine believes it’s her fault that you and Mr Barrington have fallen out. She traces it back to her having to use the toilet on the way back from Taiping. I know it’s wrong but it’s her childish logic. When I heard her I didn’t think it would be right for me to intervene. Maybe you need to find a way to straighten her out. It’s not up to me. But if you follow that monk’s advice and start building bridges with your husband she won’t need to be straightened out, will she?’