Tom was excited as he drove down the A59 and past the Rowntree’s chocolate factory on his way into York city centre. Today was a special day in his life. After saving for several years, finally he had enough to purchase the car of his dreams, an Austin A30. Soon he would be the proud owner of a four-door family car and, although his relationship with Lily had appeared to be on hold in recent weeks, he was keen to surprise her. He hoped there could be days out with her, perhaps to the coast or the Yorkshire Dales.

A new world was about to open up for the Ragley policeman and he wanted to share the experience with the woman he loved. But on the rare occasions they had spoken since Coronation Day, Lily had been cool, reticent and distant, and Tom did not understand why. Gradually the realization was dawning on him that perhaps she did not want him in the way he wanted her.

As she cycled along the back road to Ragley, Lily reflected on the past few weeks since the incident with Stan Coe and the surprise appearance of Rudi. The events of that day had made it clear to her that a relationship with Tom was now out of the question – sadly, a life that could never be. Tom deserved better. She knew it was a love that was lost and it saddened her.

In the meantime, for both of them, a day of decisions lay ahead – decisions that would determine the rest of their lives.

Little had been seen of Stan Coe since the day of the Coronation. Deirdre had said that in the days that followed he had been sleeping off a hangover. However, Herbert Grinchley in the village Pharmacy had let it be known that Stan had been seen later that night propped up against the school’s boiler-house doors before staggering back to Coe Farm. It was a mystery that remained unsolved for the gossipmongers of Ragley, and the talk soon turned to the hot summer days and the American teenage tennis player, Maureen ‘Little Mo’ Connelly, who had won Wimbledon and looked set to take all four of the Grand Slam titles.

At the school gate Lily leaped from her bicycle and walked up the drive, where Vera was talking with Miss Valerie Flint. Valerie was teaching John Pruett’s class during the morning while John attended a headteachers’ meeting in York. Her tall, imposing figure often sent shivers down the spines of the children in her care. Lily had met her on several occasions but had never warmed to this severe woman. She was a firm disciplinarian and, from John Pruett’s point of view, a ‘safe pair of hands’. As always, Valerie’s conversations with Vera tended to involve the deterioration of standards in modern life.