“What a wicked thing to say. I adore spending time with you, my sweet, or I would if you led a less boring life. We must do something to liven you up. That dress at dinner last night. So absolutely last year and it hides all the best bits of you. I know you don’t have much bosom, but you should make the most of what you have. You really must let the men see the goods you are offering.”

“Mummy!”

She laughed, that tinkling laugh that had captivated audiences everywhere, and slipped her arm through mine. “You really are so delightfully prudish, my sweet. I put it down to Scottish upbringing. So repressed. Let’s go and have a girl talk somewhere, shall we?” She started to lead me down the hallway. “If I’d known I was going to be cooped up in this dreary place for days on end, I’d never have come. Of course Max had to be here, as Nicholas’s godfather, but I could have popped to Paris on my own. I do adore it just before Christmas, don’t you? So sparkly.”

I didn’t have a chance to protest. I was borne down the hallway and into a small sitting room where a fire was blazing in a hearth. It was actually quite warm and cozy compared to the rest of the building. Trust my mother to find the one comfortable spot. She draped herself into an armchair and patted the bearskin rug at her feet. “Come and talk to me. Tell me all.”

“There’s not much to tell,” I said. “I’ve been at Rannoch House, but I’m hoping to go somewhere else for the winter because Binky and Fig are going to be in residence. Fig’s expecting again.”

“Good God. And they already have the heir. Binky really must be a saint, or blind or desperate. You don’t suppose she could actually be good at it, do you? Secretly passionate when roused?”

I looked up at her. “Fig? Passionate?” I burst out laughing. Mummy laughed too.

“You must come and stay with us in Germany, darling,” my mother said. “Max can introduce you to a nice German count. Come to think of it, why don’t we set you up with one of Nicky’s groomsmen? Young Heinrich of Schleswig-Holstein has oodles of money.”

“I don’t think I’d like to live in Germany, thank you,” I said. “I’m amazed how you can do it and not think of the Great War.”