I'll just go into the other room, I said. I looked nervously over towards Daniel. Then I took the phone into the next room. My mother kept on talking.
"hello? oh, darling, guess what?" she said again.
"what?" I asked.
Una and Geoffrey are having a fancy dress party in the garden on the twenty-ninth of july. Don't you think that's fun!-"Daniel, could come. We all want to meet him."
"I don't think Daniel would really want to -" I began.
"what's going on? asked Daniel. He was standing naked in the doorway. "Who are you talking to?"
My mother, I said, out of the corner of my mouth.
"Give it to me, he said, taking the phone. Mrs Jones, he said in his most charming voice. "It's Daniel here. It's very early for a phone call on a sunday morning. What can we do for you?"
He looked at me while she chatted for a few seconds, then he turned back to the phone.
"Well, that will be lovely. I shall put the date in my diary. Now, we'd better get back and get some sleep. Goodbye." He turned to me. "You see," he said, "you just have to be firm. That's all.