The Sunday lunch buffet had just ended at the Madras Club, and the members had spilled into the bar to wash their meal down with a peg or two before they were chauffeured home. The steps leading to the lawn had been appropriated by three of the Club dogs. The Club couldn’t quite keep cats and dogs out, and the luckier of these animals were vaccinated and neutered on occasion, when one of the few philanthropic members of the Club saw fit to extend his or her compassion to other species.