Mrs. Day was very annoyed that her attempt at sharing a secret with Doris was so rudely interrupted, but she could see nothing for it but to answer the door to stop the noise coming from outside.

"See, I knew you were in there."  It was Ernie, red in face and worked up to a lather.
"You owe me twenty pounds. You have had your regular milk from me day after day, and never have I let you down. And what do I get? "Sorry, Ernie, I'm a bit short."

"Bullocks. You've got tons of cash. I've seen you drinking down the pub, and heard that you never skimp on the price of a new dress. I am going to stand here until you get me my money. Now!"

Doris, seeing her opportunity to escape said, "Sorry, Jean, but I have to be getting back to work. Maybe catch you later."

Mrs. Day knew she had little choice in the matter. Now that Doris had witnessed this embarrassing scene, it would be all over town by tonight. Being called out like that by Ernie was just too much.  She opened her till, took out a £20 note, handed it to Ernie and said, "I will be getting my milk elsewhere in future. Now kindly leave my shop and I never want to see you in here again."

Ernie took a step back, rather surprised that she had capitulated so easily. She didn't even seem to notice that he had added on a few pounds interest. "No fear!" he said, and slammed the door loudly behind him.

Mrs. Day turned the sign around so it again said, Open, and tried to compose herself for the rest of the day. She regretted that she had even tried to confide in Doris. She should probably take the matter directly to Lady Nascent. She had wanted to put her thoughts into words for someone else to comment on first, to see is she was going to be making a fool of herself. But now it looked like the best action would be to go direct to the person who was most likely to be affected.

The more she thought about the strange new man in town, the more convinced she was that her theory was right.  And if it was right, it was likely that the whole village would be turned upside down.

What goes around comes around, and she had the feeling that the coming around was just about to begin.