In a bedroom full of toys, an expressionless septuagenarian woman stared at a pair of identical babies dozing in the same cot. To tell them apart, they were dressed in fleecy white and yellow pyjamas. On the chest of both pieces were embroidered the names "Alexia" on the white pyjamas and "Alfred" on the yellow pyjamas.
Harman knew that she was widowed three years ago when her husband, Edward Ashford, died in a laboratory accident. She told him that after his death, her only son, Alexander, vanished. Saddened and frustrated, Lady Ashford returned to the Netherlands to mourn with her relatives. She lost communication with her son until he contacted her to announce that he had married. In a low voice, Lady Ashford told Harman that she was suspicious of Alexander. She did not tell him why, but she doubted her son's erratic behaviour. The Campbells acidly theorised that Alexander's world had come crashing down on him. In his late forties, he married and had a couple of children with a supposed wife neither the Ashfords nor the Campbells knew, of whom no records were kept except the marriage and divorce contracts and birth certificates. Nor did they elicit much from the prodigal son who, one cold March night, suddenly reappeared with a couple of children. Very elusive and silent, he answered half-heartedly or not at all. In the end, it was concluded that the twins were the fruit of an irrational affair fuelled by melancholy. Alexander's ex-wife, one Olivia Bergsten, had died in a car accident shortly before her ex-husband's return to Ashford Hall.
The twins were warmly welcomed as Alexander's legitimate children once Lady Ashford's paternity test proved their parentage. Visits and gifts were frequent. Alexander stayed at home with his children until no one else showed up at the residence. As soon as he could, he packed his bags and flew to the Federal Republic of Germany to eventually become chairman and CEO of Umbrella Pharmaceuticals. The children were left in the care of Lady Ashford and a couple of Dutch nannies.
In a house saturated by the noise of crying and babbling, Harman became addicted to chamomile tea to calm his nerves and perform his administrative duties as butler-secretary, as he called himself. At that moment, with both little creatures asleep, he felt a peace of mind he had thought lost for months. Lady Ashford seemed more affected by internal conflict than by the babies. She was glad to be in the presence of her grandchildren, but there was a certain something in her cryptic look that made him wonder whether the source of her tribulation was her husband's unfortunate absence or her son's unexpected decision.
