Stealing Is Not Her Bag

(My friend and I are shoe shopping. It’s a weekend so the shop is a bit busy. I sit down to try some on, putting my handbag just underneath my seat. As I am trying on shoes, I am vaguely aware of someone on the bench next to me also trying something on. I finish and get up to gather my things and my handbag is gone. I go into a complete panic, grab my friend, and tell her my bag has been stolen.)

Me: “What do I do? Do I call the police or centre management? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

(At that very moment, I notice another woman still wandering around the shop, looking at shoes, carrying my bag in one hand and her own in another.)

Me: “Hey! Give me my bag!”

Lady: *looks down* “Oh! Sorry, I thought it was my mine.” *casually hands it back to me and goes back to her blissfully vacant browsing*

(Although enormously relieved, I cannot fathom what just went on there. Did she think she came with two handbags and just happened to have an identical one to mine which she mistook for hers? Did she try to steal mine and think, rather than running off, she should continue shopping? What?)