Naughty In Nice (A Royal Spyness Mystery)

a peer’s child, just like you and me.”
    “An Irish peer. They have different rules of behavior over there. And the family’s bankrupt. He has no inheritance and no profession. He’ll never be able to support a wife, as I’ve told Georgiana before. I blame him entirely. He has seduced her, Binky, and now she won’t think of marrying anyone suitable.”
    “Maybe she’ll meet someone on the Riviera,” Binky said. My eyes shot open at this remark. “Romantic setting and all that, what?”
    “Binky, much as I would like to help your sister find a suitable husband, I must protest. Do you know how much a ticket on the Blue Train costs? And we’ll have to pay for my maid and you’ll need Frederick—we’ll send them third class on an ordinary train, of course, but it will still be a considerable expense.”
    “Then what’s going to happen to Georgie? She can’t go on living here with no heat and no servants in the middle of winter.”
    “Of course she can’t,” came Fig’s impatient voice. “The house should be closed up properly. She’ll just have to go back to Scotland if she wants to continue to live at our grace and favor. We have to keep Castle Rannoch running anyway. She can take little Podge back with her when we leave, and give him some lessons. He’s almost four. It’s about time he learned to read and write.”
    “You want to send your son back to Scotland, Fig? You don’t think he should get the benefit of sun and sea with us?”
    “Children flourish with a firm routine, Binky. And it would be two more tickets to France. We’d have to pay Nanny’s ticket as well.”
    “Well, I think the little chap should come with us,” Binky said, more firmly than he usually spoke to Fig. “I never had much to do with my parents. My mother died when I was a baby, as you know, and Father was always gadding about. I was left up in Scotland with Nanny and then shipped off to school at the first opportunity. I know how lonely it felt.”
    “Very well, if you insist.” Fig sighed. “I suppose we won’t have to pay a separate ticket for him if he shares our berth on the train, will we? But I really do draw the line at Georgiana. It’s money we simply don’t have, Binky. Simply don’t have. You must be firm but tell her nicely. We’d love to have her with us but it just isn’t feasible.”
    I stood outside the door, my heart thumping, in an agony of indecision. Of course I was dying to go to the Riviera, but did I really want to go if the Riviera meant close proximity to Binky and Fig? One thing was certain—I didn’t want to be banished to Castle Rannoch to spend the winter alone in the wilds of Scotland. Something had to be done, and fast. I took a deep breath and entered the room.
    They both looked up—Binky looking guilty, Fig hostile—as I came in.
    “Oh, good. Tea’s ready,” I said, giving what I hoped was a bright, innocent smile. “I’m starving after standing in that cold wind all day.”
    “You’re doing a sterling job, Georgie,” Binky said. “Absolutely first rate. Isn’t she, Fig?”
    “She doesn’t have much else to do, does she?” Fig said coldly.
    “But dash it all, Fig. Not everyone would stand in the freezing cold at that bally station all day. Anyway, we’re proud of you, old bean. What’s more, the queen is proud of you. She told me so the other day. She said you were setting a splendid example and had more dedication to duty than her eldest son—who I gather is off on a jaunt somewhere.”
    “It’s good for Georgiana to keep busy,” Fig said, liberally slathering strawberry jam onto a slice of toast. “Remember what they used to tell us in the nursery—Satan finds work for idle hands to do?”
    “I’d love a real job, if there were any to be had,” I said.
    “You should see some of the men I serve soup to—they look more distinguished than we do. One today was wearing his war medals. I felt so sorry for him and so angry that I could do nothing to help him.”
    “It’s hard times for everyone, Georgiana,” Fig said. “Look how we’ve had to cut down to the bare bone.” And she popped the last of the jam-laden slice into her mouth.
    “Anyway, Georgie,” Binky said, “Fig’s just had a piece of good news. You remember her sister, Ducky, who married old Foggy Farquar? Well, they’ve taken a place on the Riviera this winter—”
    “For Foggy’s health, you know,” Fig chimed in.
    “—and they’ve invited us to stay,” Binky