The grimace is telling. "Thank you," he says, at least, of the mug. "Five trips between here and Hightown, which absolutely could have been three. Mistress Calderon told me that she did not need my services and then sent a messenger out two hours later to say that she was a bit concerned about her dog's cough after all and was I still near enough to drop by?"

He supposes he could have said he wasn't, but it wasn't the dog's fault, and he didn't want to risk leaving it in distress.

"I suppose I'm going to have to get a bit more strict about my schedule going forward, but no one is ever any good at judging what is and is not an emergency, and I can't know until I'm there most of the time."