I was about to push open the baize door that led down to the kitchen and servants’ quarters when I heard voices coming from my right. Binky and Fig were apparently in the morning room.

“It’s all right for you,” I heard Fig’s voice with teeth chattering just a little. “You can go to your club where you’ll be comfortable enough, but what about me? I can’t stay here.”

“It’s only for two more nights, old thing,” Binky said. “And it is important that you see that doctor, isn’t it?”

“I suppose so, but being as cold as this isn’t doing me any good. We’ll just have to check into a hotel and never mind the expense. Surely we can still afford Claridge’s for a couple of nights.”

“You’ll feel better after a spot of breakfast,” Binky said. “It’s about time Georgie woke up, isn’t it?”

At that point I poked my head around the door. Both Binky and Fig looked haggard and grumpy, sitting wrapped in their fur coats. They also looked rather unkempt without a maid and a valet to dress them.

The atmosphere as Fig spotted me was frigid in more ways than one, but Binky managed a smile. “Ah, you’re up at last, Georgie. I say, it’s bally freezing in here, isn’t it? I don’t suppose there’s any chance of a fire?”

“Later, maybe,” I said. “It takes a lot of work to light a fire, you know. A lot of scrabbling in the coal hole. Perhaps you’d care to help me.”

Fig shuddered as if I’d said a rude word, but Binky went on, “Then maybe you’d be good enough to cook us a spot of breakfast. That will warm us up nicely, won’t it, Fig?”

“I was just about to make some tea and toast,” I said.

“How about a couple of eggs?” Binky asked hopefully.

“No eggs, I’m afraid.”

“Bacon? Sausage? Kidneys?”

“Toast,” I said. “One cannot buy food without money, Binky.”

“But, I mean to say . . . ,” he sputtered. “Dash it all, Georgie, you haven’t actually been reduced to living on tea and toast, have you?”

“Where do you think the money might have come from, dear brother? I have no job. I have no inheritance. I have no family support. When Fig says she has no money, she means she can no longer afford Fortnum’s jam. I mean I can’t afford any jam. That’s the difference.”

“Well, I’m blowed,” Binky said. “Then why the deuce don’t you come back and live at Castle Rannoch? At least we have enough to eat up there, don’t we, Fig?”