Synopsis

"They've cut the water off!" Mrs. Bindle made the announcement as if she found in it a relief to her feelings. Bindle received the news in silence, then, as if feeling that the tension of the situation required relieving, he remarked: "Well, well, you can't 'ave everythink." "And how am I going to cook?" she demanded. "There ain't been much wantin' cookin' lately," he retorted: but there was no bitterness in his tone. It was rather a statement of fact. Mrs. Bindle eyed him keenly. For weeks past she had noted the hard, drawn expression of his face. The Government dole of a pound a week was little enough on which to live, particularly when a pound sterling possessed the purchasing power of some eight shillings before the War, a circumstance which Mrs. Bindle seemed never tired of emphasising. "The gas'll go next," she announced, as if anxious to squeeze from the situation every drop of drama it contained.