‘Over the top! You want her to stay here don’t you? You want her money, ha? Then we will entertain her accordingly, we will make her feel at home and welcome. And you must make sure she has everything that she needs. Her standards won’t be our standards of course, obviously.’

‘For the money she is paying us, most good families would give up their bedroom for her.’

‘What was it you said she does?’ asked the Rani.

‘She probably sells things,’ replied her son. ‘Jaipur and all.’

‘Why isn’t she selling in America? Why does she have to come here to sell things?’

‘Ask her yourself, mother. No doubt there will be a reason.’

But for every one reasonable thing that her husband said, Pavna knew there would be three unreasonable things to follow. She had assembled everyone together on the verandah knowing that that was the risk, and that her husband, at the drop of the hat, might fly off the handle and interrogate her as if she was one of his

criminals. She hoped she would be able to check any misfortunate event.

‘Let’s not plague the girl on her first night Ravi. She is an architect I think. And she’ll probably be very tired. And with the baby…’

‘Now this baby,’ her husband took up, ‘How old is he? It’s really quite a responsibility Pavna, what were you thinking of? Couldn’t you have found a simpler tenant? A spinster, a bachelor – even a British homosexual…’

‘She sounds simple. I mean uncomplicated.’

‘She hasn’t said anything about herself, that’s why.’

‘Does she speak Hindi?’ asked the Rani. ‘Has she been here before? What does her husband do?’

‘Who knows mother? We are awaiting a mystery. Worse, a foreign mystery - a western mystery!’

‘Her father is English,’ said Pavna. ‘Mother American.’