‘Of course, he might simply be a good mechanic, and she’s bringing him for Dad’s sake,’ Dee mused.

‘Then why would she want us to invite him to stay the night? By the way, have you finished putting the spare bed into her room?’

‘Yes, but-’

‘You’ll sleep there with Sylvia. And make sure you stay with her as much as possible. I don’t want any hanky-panky in this house.’

‘You mean-?’

‘Yes, that’s exactly what I mean, so you see that Sylvia behaves herself. Thank goodness I don’t have to worry about you!’

Dee knew better than to answer this. To say that she yearned to be a ‘bad girl’, in theory if not in practice, would bring motherly wrath down about her head and she had some urgent dusting to do.

In this she was helped by Billy, the family dog, an enormous mongrel who tackled everything with gusto. His contribution to the cleaning was to follow Dee everywhere, pouncing on the dusters and shaking them.

‘Let go,’ she told him, trying to sound stern and not succeeding. ‘Billy, I shall get cross with you.’

His glance said he’d heard that before and knew better than to believe it.

‘Stop it, you idiot!’ she said through laughter, managing to rescue a duster. His response was to seize another and run off.

‘You haven’t got time for play,’ Helen said, appearing. ‘They’ll be here soon.’

‘Yes, Mum.’

She applied herself to the work, finished it as soon as possible, then said, ‘I’m taking Billy for a walk. He needs exercise or he won’t behave himself.’

‘All right, but don’t be too long.’

She pulled on a thick coat and slipped out of the door, with Billy on a lead. It was a beautiful clear night, stars and moon shining down with a dazzling intensity that revealed her surroundings sharply.

‘Shame there’s no snow,’ she mused. ‘Never mind. Still, a little time before Christmas Day… All right Billy, I’m coming.’