“Tell him I’ll be down immediately,” I said and jumped out of bed. Hamilton backed out and I instructed Maggie to hand me the first items of clothing she could find. I was so excited, I wriggled impatiently as she did up my buttons. If Granddad was here, then everything would be all right. I could stop worrying because he’d know what to do. As I came down the stairs, a sticky problem presented itself. If my grandfather had taken the night train, he’d want breakfast, and I wasn’t quite sure how to handle introducing him to the breakfast room. I couldn’t risk letting him come into contact with Fig. Not that I didn’t think he could give as good as he got, but Fig could be crushingly snobby and he didn’t deserve that. Maybe if it was early enough, we could have the room to ourselves.

I positively ran down the stairs. Granddad was in the morning room, perched on the edge of a brocade and gilt chair, a cup of tea in his hand, looking uneasy. He stood up as he heard my approaching feet and a big smile spread across his face. “Well, look at you.” He put down the teacup and opened his arms wide. “Don’t you look a treat. Blimy, some gloomy great place you’ve got here, haven’t you?”

“You’ve never been to Castle Rannoch before?”

“Never been invited, my love. And never had the desire to come this far north, if you want to know. We in the Smoke have the belief that civilization ends south of Birmingham. I only came because I got the feeling you wanted me here.”

“I do,” I said, hugging him fiercely. Fig would never have approved of such a wanton display of affection. She and her parents only ever shook hands. I wondered how little Podge was ever conceived, but then I supposed she had been instructed to close her eyes and think of England. “It was good of you to come so quickly,” I went on. “I really didn’t expect to see you for days.”

“It’s all right, my turning up now, isn’t it? I mean, there is a place for me?”

“Of course. The cottage is unoccupied. I looked at it the other day.”

“So let’s take a look at this cottage, shall we?” Granddad asked. “This place is giving me the willies.”

We were just crossing the great hall when Fig appeared, looking worried. “They’re all off to Balmoral. A day to ourselves, thank heavens,” she said, and then noticed my grandfather. “Oh, I didn’t realize . . .”

“This is my grandfather, Fig,” I said. “He’s come up to Scotland for a while.”

“Your grandfather? You mean your mother’s father?”