‘Oh, it’s so cold. It really is too much to bear,’ Lady Mandeville said as Charlotte ran to the fire and held her hands out to the flames. Mrs Hart removed the pin from her hat, brushing snow from the brim. Edward ruffled his damp hair, and Sir Charles rubbed his hands together and stamped his feet. An army of staff appeared and converged on the party, removing coats and taking hats.

‘I’m so sorry that Dawson didn’t come to meet you, Sir Charles,’ Bainbridge said. ‘But we weren’t expecting you home.’

‘Neither were we.’ Sir Charles handed his hat to his valet. ‘But since the ladies managed to get a train from Leamington Spa, Edward and I decided that we had better find a way to get us all home. We couldn’t let them beat us in a test of endurance now, could we? When I was unable to get through on the telephone, I found a man with a car and struck a deal with him to drive us back.’

‘I’m so sorry that you were inconvenienced, Sir Charles. The engineers will be out tomorrow to mend the telephone line.’

‘Jolly good. And you can stop apologising, we had something of an adventure.’

The door to the billiard room opened. ‘And so, the intrepid travellers return,’ Tom said. ‘And scupper my plans for a quiet evening in.’ He glanced up the stairs and began to stroke his imaginary moustache.

‘Miss Arnold,’ Lady Mandeville said, ‘don’t you look a picture and what a pretty dress. Voile suits you.’

‘Oh, Louisa,’ Charlotte sighed exaggeratedly. ‘What a day we have had. Come down so that I can tell you all about it.’

Lou took the last few steps, and Charlotte grabbed her hand, while Sir Charles convinced Lady Mandeville that there really was no need to dress for dinner since they were all famished. Relenting, Lady Mandeville asked Bainbridge to have dinner served as soon as it was ready. Lou imagined Monsieur Gotti’s delight at decanting his creations into silver serving dishes rather than on to stoneware plates for the staff.

The party made their way through to the drawing room where William poured everyone a warming sherry before they took their places in the dining room. While they ate, the family shared details of the saga of their return through the snowy night and around winding treacherous roads.

‘You missed a splendid lunch at Franklin’s expense,’ Sir Charles said to Tom. ‘It made a refreshing change for his chequebook to see the light of day. Edward and I spent a few hours reading the newspapers in the residents’ bar of The Royal Hotel. They had a very passable scotch. You would have enjoyed it.’

‘Perhaps,’ Tom said. ‘But I wanted to spend some time reacquainting myself with the old place.’

‘Reacquainting yourself! Why, you know every inch of this house, better even than I do.’ His father laughed.

‘And you, Louisa,’ Mrs Hart asked. ‘How did you pass your day?’