They arrived home in late September. After two months of travel everyone entered the house with their suitcases poised to return to their normal routines, Alice and Foster to their commute to the office in Manhattan, and the girls to their domestic duties and social lives. The house was soon a hubbub of activity. Alice went and made tea while the others unpacked. She was relieved to find cups and saucers laid out on a tray and the kettle already full on the stove. She made a mental note to thank her maid, Marion, for her thoughtfulness as she lit the gas.
She managed to arrange biscuits on a plate and warm the teapot, but when it came to the kettle she had to use two hands to lift it and didn"t trust herself to pour. "Foster," she called. Foster entered the room and she stepped back from
