She turned her back on him. ‘Will you lock the door and put out the lamp?’ she said coldly.
‘I’ve been to the Pound House,’ he volunteered, watching her all the time.
‘I should have thought you’d had enough of the Pound House,’ she was tempted to reply bitterly.
‘To see Susie Hind . . .’ he continued.
‘Yes?’
‘So now you know, missus.’
He wished, perversely, that she would turn on him and tell him what she thought of him. It would have cleared the air. Instead of this she spoke calmly and almost scornfully.
‘Why did you want to tell me this?’
‘Because a woman’s always itching to know.’
‘Do you think I didn’t know it already?’ Then she repeated her first words: ‘Please lock the door and put the lamp out,’ and left him.