Behind him Pramila tried to compose her anxious face. If he did not absolutely adore the article then it must have been, as she had feared all along, a terrible mistake. That her friends had been telephoning the whole morning, their voices creaking with envy, was no consolation. They would say the most effusive things on the phone, then titter behind her back. Only her husband would be both tactful and accurate. ‘The house looks wonderful. Interior decorators have asked me who did it,’ she ventured. ‘Maybe you should set up a new business,’ he answered drily. ‘It would have helped had we paid all the bills. But that is not my main worry. The pictures. They make you look … not as you are to me. What have they done?’ He bent closer and examined the pose in the cocktail dress. His calmness was beginning to unnerve his wife completely. At last he put down the paper, stood upright and turned to her. ‘So, does your mother approve of you showing your legs to all and sundry?’ he asked, but his voice was gentle.
