Meg waved back and returned to the kitchen.
‘Can you go and announce that dinner is ready, Cherry?’ asked Meg. Lady Lennox-Stanley had been down late and it was already nearly eight thirty.
Having adjusted her cap so she could actually see, Cherry duly went. She came back a few minutes later, looking flustered. ‘We need to lay another place. Justin is here.’
‘Justin?’ said Meg and Susan together.
‘Did he tell you he was coming?’ Susan asked.
‘No! And I’ve no idea why he’s here,’ said Meg. ‘There should be room on Lady Lennox-Stanley’s table. Put a place for him there.’
‘Lady Lennox-Stanley has obviously taken a fancy to him,’ said Susan. ‘She seems well away, I must say. I think that David must have been plying her with drinks in the short time she’s been down.’
In spite of her anxiety, Meg couldn’t help laughing. It would be just like David to keep Lady Lennox-Stanley sweet by topping up her gin and tonics, and she wasn’t surprised she’d taken a shine to Justin, too. But what Justin was doing here, she had no idea. Luckily, she had plenty of food.
Meg had managed to put Justin’s presence in the dining room out of her mind until, just as she was in the middle of frying escalopes, he arrived in the kitchen.
‘Lady Lennox-Stanley wants to know if the escalopes are veal,’ he said.
‘What’s the right answer?’ said Meg, hardly looking up from her task.
‘Yes.’
‘Then say yes. Actually, they’re local pork but I’m sure she won’t know the difference.’
‘I agree with you: she won’t.’
Justin looked very different and very smart in a suit. In spite of herself Meg was aware of being short of breath. ‘Why are you here?’ she asked.
‘I came in case your grand guest might need a lift to the hotel.’
‘Very kind,’ said Meg, ‘but she’s staying with us. I did telephone and cancel the room.’
‘She’s enjoying the company, I can see that,’ said Justin.
Acutely aware of his presence, Meg stepped around him so she could get plates out of the oven.
‘How well do you know David?’ he asked after a short pause.
‘Very well. We used to live together in London. I thought you knew that from last time.’
‘Isn’t there rather an age gap?’
It dawned on Meg that Justin had misunderstood her and thought that she and David were having some sort of relationship. If she hadn’t been in the middle of service, she’d have laughed. ‘Only the same gap as Alexandra and her count, roughly,’ she said. ‘Now can you please go and sit down?’
Justin wandered grumpily away.
Even though the situation made her anxious, Meg couldn’t help smiling when she went into the drawing room for coffee and saw Ambrosine and her colonel in their best clothes. Ambrosine was wearing some exotic jewellery and the colonel not only had all his medals stretched across his chest, but wore a monocle too. They could have been characters in a play.
Russell Rook was sitting with them and Lady Lennox-Stanley was on the outside of the group. When Ambrosine saw Meg, she raised her hand.
‘Meggy, do come and sit down and have a drink. That was a splendid meal!’
Meg pulled up a pouffe and joined them.
‘Lady Lennox-Stanley has been telling us all about the charity race day she runs at Shroton racecourse. Such fun! I think we’ll all go, won’t we?’ said Ambrosine. ‘And Russell here has been telling us about putting on a play in the grounds. I remember doing that when I was a girl in the house I grew up in, but it was pageants, not quite so ambitious.’
‘But Russell is a very experienced director,’ said Lady Lennox-Stanley. ‘A play would be easy for him.’
