it didn’t matter, Louisa didn’t know, she understood that her value relied in large part on her continued not-knowing. And she, in turn, became adept at rewarding not-knowing in her mother. In this way she retrained her mother to stop asking such questions as when would Louisa return to the US, or when would she go back to college, or when at least would she visit—rewarding only the humblest inquiries with any reply.
