“I’m sure they won’t necessarily expect a fish course, Mrs. McPherson,” I said.

“They’d be getting one at Balmoral, wouldn’t they?”

“It’s only my mother and Herr Von Strohheim who are currently staying at Balmoral. The rest of them are in a house on Lord Angus’s estate. I don’t suppose they’ve a decent cook there, which is why they all jumped at the chance to come here and sample your cooking.”

Mrs. McPherson was softening. “Maybe I’ll see if we’ve enough smoked trout to go around,” she said. “I was keeping it for a luncheon salad, but no doubt we can obtain more. And the boys have brought in a bushel basket of berries to make a crumble, so we’ll get by, I suppose. We usually do.”

“You’re very kind, Mrs. McPherson,” I said. “Her Grace will be so impressed.”

She sniffed. “That one is only impressed when I cut corners and save her a penny or two,” she muttered. “In the old duke’s time there would have been none of this penny-pinching.”

“He did go bankrupt,” I pointed out.

“Her Grace also requested a haggis when she came to see me today,” Cook said. “Is that another of her economy ideas?”

I laughed. “No, she’s hoping to scare away the Americans. She says they’re eating her out of house and home.”

“Och, so that’s it?” She started to laugh, her ample bosoms shaking up and down like a jelly. “Well, you can tell her that I make the best haggis in this part of Scotland so they’re liable to like it and ask for more. I’ve the sheep’s stomach already boiling away ready to stuff tomorrow.”

I left her and returned upstairs quite cheered. It was good to be home again. The whole party assembled in the great hall for tea, the cousins and the princes having returned from their various outdoor pursuits. The wind that had picked up at lunchtime had heralded the arrival of bad weather and was now howling down the chimneys while rain peppered the windows. Our guests were clearly feeling the cold and gazed hopefully at the empty fireplace. Fig was pretending that she was comfortably warm and didn’t need to light the fire, proving that she was as good an actress as my mother. It really was awfully dismal in the great hall. I was longing to go upstairs for a second cardigan but I couldn’t let the side down. In truth I was glad one of the dogs was leaning against my leg.