Dorothy began to sing a hymn in a loud voice.
And then Cecilia came into the room.
Now Cecilia is Christopher's mother and my sister. You will understand
that neither Christopher nor I would care to appear ridiculous in
front of her. So we kept quiet.
"Hallo, Dorothy," said Cecilia; "all by yourself? Where's
Christopher?"
"I'm reading Christopher's book," said Dorothy, ignoring the question.
"May I?"
"Of course, dear," said Cecilia, sitting down. There was a lot more
silence. It grew very hot and uncomfortable under the table.
"What shall we do, Uncle?" whispered Christopher.
"Come on," I said desperately. We crawled out and stood up.
"What on earth----" began Cecilia.