What Eustace didn’t see was the look on Alberta’s face after he returned to his anatomical studies, when Harold grunted again and rustled his newspaper and reached out a sly hand to pinch his wife. “Maybe the boy has the right end of things for a change,” he muttered, and Alberta giggled like a schoolgirl.

What Eustace also didn’t see was the look on Alberta’s face when she was preparing dinner and contemplating the empty sugar bowl; as a rule she despised all things saccharine, and as a rule she tried not to smother her son like so many English mother hens with their chicks, but if Eustace ever brought a girl home for dinner... well, she may just have to bake a cake for the occasion.