I didn’t like to say that I walked. “I met my friend Miss Warburton-Stoke, who gave me a lift. And I’ve brought her back for tea.”

“I’ll tell Queenie to make the tea immediately, my lady,” she said. “Will your friend be staying the night?”

I looked across at Belinda. “Why don’t you?”

Belinda beamed. “Of course. Why not?”

“Then I’ll have the end room made up right away, shall I? Did the lady bring her maid with her?”

“The lady is without a personal maid at the moment,” Belinda said. “I’ve been slumming in Paris in a tiny flat up flights and flights of stairs.”

“Goodness me.” Mrs. Holbrook looked flustered. “Would Miss Warburton-Stoke like a chance to wash and brush up before tea?”

“I think that can wait,” Belinda said. “I’m parched and I’m dying to tell Georgie all my news.”

Mrs. Holbrook lingered, the worried look still on her face. “I’m not sure what there might be in the way of cakes,” she said. “Seeing as how Queenie thought you were going away. But I expect she can whip up some scones quickly and there’s the good strawberry jam we made this summer.”

“We’ll be fine, Mrs. Holbrook,” I said. “All we really want is a cuppa and a chance to talk.”

Mrs. Holbrook scurried off. “Queenie!” I heard her bellowing. “Get to work. We’ve got company.”

Belinda looked at me suspiciously. “Did she say Queenie? Your former maid? Your absolutely dreadful former maid?”

“The same.”

“And she is now your cook? And you haven’t been poisoned yet and she hasn’t set the kitchen on fire?”

“Once or twice,” I admitted, “but she’s actually proving to be rather a good cook. Only simple English food, I’m afraid, but she does bake well. And I am supposed to be looking for a proper chef de cuisine. It’s just that it seems a little intimidating.”

I led Belinda through to the sitting room. She looked around. “You have made this so comfortable,” she said. “Those pretty loose covers on the chairs and that divine view over the lake.”

“Yes, it is quite nice, isn’t it?” I agreed. “Mummy helped me while she was still here and she does have awfully good taste.”

Belinda plopped into an armchair. “I can’t believe it. My friend Georgie who slept on my couch, who didn’t have two halfpennies to rub together, and now all this! Who would have thought that we’d both have fallen on our feet so nicely?”