“How do you do,” Linda said politely, morphing into a demure schoolgirl; but Dave could see his mother taking in the short dress and the sexy boots.

“Will the club hire you again?” Daisy asked.

“Well, a promoter called Byron Chesterfield offered us a summer job at another club. It’s great because it’s all during the school holiday.”

His father came out of the drawing room, still wearing his suit from whatever Saturday night political meeting he had attended. “What’s happening in the school holiday?”

“Our group has a six-week engagement.”

Lloyd frowned. “You need to do some revision in the vacation. Next year you have the all-important O-level exams. To date, your grades are nowhere near good enough to permit you to take the whole summer off.”

“I can study in the day. We’ll be playing in the evenings.”

“Hmm. You obviously don’t care about missing the annual holiday with your family in Tenby.”

“I do,” Dave lied. “I love Tenby. But this is a great opportunity.”

“Well, I don’t see how we can leave you alone in this house for two weeks while we’re in Wales. You’re still only fifteen.”

“Er, the club isn’t in London,” Dave said.

“Where is it?”

“Hamburg.”

Daisy said: “What?”

Lloyd said: “Don’t be ridiculous. Do you imagine we’re going to allow you to do that at your age? It must be illegal under German employment law, for one thing.”

“Not all laws are strictly enforced,” Dave argued. “I bet you illegally bought drinks in pubs before you were eighteen.”

“I went to Germany with my mother when I was eighteen. I certainly never spent six weeks unsupervised in a foreign country at the age of fifteen.”

“I won’t be unsupervised. Cousin Lenny will be with me.”

“I don’t see him as a reliable chaperone.”

“Chaperone?” said Dave indignantly. “What am I, a Victorian maiden?”

“You’re a child, according to the law, and an adolescent, in reality. You’re certainly not an adult.”

“You’ve got a cousin in Hamburg,” Dave said desperately. “Rebecca. She wrote to Mam. You could ask her to look after me.”

“She’s a distant cousin by adoption, and I haven’t seen her for sixteen years. That’s not a sufficiently close connection for me to dump an unruly teenager on her for the summer. I’d hesitate to do it to my sister.”

Daisy adopted a conciliatory tone. “From her letter I got the impression of a kind person, Lloyd, dear. And I don’t think she has children of her own. She might not mind being asked.”

Lloyd looked annoyed. “Do you actually want Dave to do this?”

“No, of course not. If I had my wish, he would come to Tenby with us. But he is growing up, and we may have to loosen the apron strings.” She looked at Dave. “He’s going to find it harder work and less fun than he imagines, but he may learn some life lessons from it.”

“No,” said Lloyd with an air of finality. “If he were eighteen, perhaps I’d agree. But he’s too young, much too young.”