There was a stunned silence. Edie was staring at him, her mouth dropping open. Mitch, with the tray that went beneath the guinea pigs’ cage clasped to his chest, was statue still, and Elsie, filling a water pot with the big enamel jug, continued to pour until the water overflowed on to her own small feet.

Mitch, seeing this, dropped the tray and dived across the shop to grab the jug. Elsie began to weep and Edie to laugh, whilst Albert picked up the tray, handed it to Mitch with a command to take it out the back, and lifted the tearful Elsie on to the counter so that he could remove her wet shoes and socks whilst explaining that his daughter’s arrival had been as much of a surprise to him as it was to them.

‘She turned up quite late yesterday evening, and to tell you the truth she was in a bit of a state,’ he said. ‘But she calmed down before she went to bed.’

Edie leaned back, blew out her cheeks in a long whistle and pretended to fan herself. ‘Albert Payne, what a dreadful shock you gave me!’ she declared. ‘I thought either you had gone mad or I had, but I’m sure she’s done the right thing to come home. Is she like you, good with animals? Only if so—’

‘No, she’s never had a pet in her life; in fact she’s frightened of animals, or was, at any rate. Louisa once bought her a white kitten; it was a most attractive little creature but Janine couldn’t bear it, so Louisa gave it to Mr Shaw’s daughter – the greengrocer, you know – and I believe it’s still around somewhere.’

‘Oh,’ Edie said rather doubtfully, beginning to fill little dishes with bird seed for the canaries and budgerigars. ‘Well, it doesn’t really matter, because no doubt you’ll find her useful in your shop.’ She twinkled across at Albert. ‘She could take care of the fancy goods, particularly the brasses. I know you loathe cleaning them, but you must have noticed that you sell twice as many when they’re gleaming like gold.’

Albert grinned back. Edie had noticed that other tobacconists sold ornaments, particularly brass ones, and at her suggestion Albert had purchased several such items. He had not really expected them to sell, but they had done so and now brought in a tidy sum.

‘That’s a brilliant idea,’ he said. ‘Mr Clarke did offer to come in after Christmas and clean them, but he isn’t terribly good at it. I’ll suggest it to Janine when I see her next – I told her I’d pop back home at around eleven o’clock, so we’ll talk about it then.’

At eleven o’clock precisely the door to the pet shop opened and Janine came in. Last night, Albert realised, his daughter had not looked her best, but now she had obviously put a good deal of effort into her appearance. She was wearing a dark blue sling-back overcoat which Albert took from her and carried through to the stockroom, noting as he did so that the coat had hidden a smart suit in heather tweed with a pale pink blouse beneath it, worn with a jaunty little matching hat. She carried an umbrella which Albert recognised as the one Mr Clarke had sheltered beneath earlier that morning, and her shoes were very high-heeled and made of black patent leather. Last night, Albert remembered with a wrench, her face had been pale and devoid of make-up, but now her lashes were mascaraed and her nose was powdered, her cheeks were touched with rouge and she wore a great deal of lipstick. In fact, Albert thought, she looked nothing like the young woman he had left outside the door of the spare room the previous night.