It had never seriously occurred to Ailsa that her daughter might not have told Eugene as, for all her own flightiness, Ailsa would never have conceived of going anywhere without informing Ewart. She had assumed given the whirlwind nature of Astrild’s marriage that there was a deep well of love between the young couple and she was temporarily shocked into silence by the revelation.

Her husband seemed just as confused as she, which made her feel moderately better, but turning back to Eugene she leant forward in her seat, expression as guileless as a child's.

“I’m quite sure she meant to tell you she was staying on for a little while,” Ailsa offered, oblivious to the young man’s ignorance that she had been in another country in the first place.

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