Her husband's cheery mood grated Lottie's nerves like soap on a washboard.

"From the chippy!!? Your son, my Joe, he's got cod n' chips fer brains I tell you! Did ye know, he's courtin' a Carrington girl? The one he told us about from the station? P- Pearl." She barreled on "And Annie Ward said she saw the two o' them dancin' at her sister's weddin' too." But she wasn't finished yet. "And a reporter from the gazette was just 'ere. He said the two of them were present the night that Carrington lad shot himself at the whore 'ouse and that Joe walked her home!" Her fists were clenched, her nails white. "Where is that boy? I'll batter him so, they'll be able to serve him at the chippy!"