With paperwork becoming out of hand, Siegfried decides to employ a secretary, a Miss Winifred Harbottle. The result is not quite what he intended. On a call to her father's Heston Grange farm in Ellsdale to treat a calf with a fractured leg, James meets Helen Alderson for the first time since they were on the bus together. Miss Harbottle arrives. She is immediately put out by the slipshod administrative set-up at Skeldale House. She puts in place a change in their working methods, starting at 9.00 AM sharp the following morning. Miss Harbottle gets Mrs Hall's back up early on in their relationship by asking her not to touch any of her paperwork while she undertakes her duties. James coaxes Mrs Pumphrey into letting the vets look after Tricki-Woo at the surgery for a week so that they can give him the care he needs. Mrs Pumphrey finds it difficult to cope with the thought, while Hodgekin is beside himself with joy. Miss Harbottle starts to inflict her professionalism on the vets. Siegfried retaliates by regularly emptying out the petty cash box. Mrs Pumphrey sends James an expensive and elaborate gift basket. She also holds a "welcome home" party for Tricki-Woo. James attends an early-morning call and on his way back, and still in his pyjamas, he stops in to check on the Aldersons' calf. Siegfried takes Miss Harbottle to task about the fact that the cash box was empty when Siegfried needed to give change to two clients. Also, it is the tenth of the month and still the accounts have not gone out. The secretary storms out. Original Broadcast Date 22nd January 1978.