Oh, sister, what have you done?
Well, at first he scowled, twisted his face in that adorable yet infuriating manner that signified Oh, sister, what have you done now?!
Then, oh then, Duncan dropped himself in the chair, shady chair, sword all of the sudden, right on the table..
..and it is whiskey, and eagerness for a good story, that overrides his occasional moral high-ground.
*
It was simple, really. Dragging the Heva, only slightly pushing her in the mayhem of my relatives: prospect of marrying in the family that took her as she was, demanding nothing.
..blinding Heva with most addictive drug know to the humanity: free will. French, health and half-a-dozen children, raised by everybody present at the moment? That's a bonus, really.
That's all it took, really, to tear her away from mother: to show that Heva's will is her own, that she can survive and prosper on her own and take vindicative pleasure in ignoring the "guidance for your own good" from mother .
*
The rest is history, albeit well-documented: deliciously obscure from the art-scene in this time-line, yet so happy with her life that she has to remind very seldom what is the price of not being couragous.