Flors laughed again. It was as if all her troubles were leaving her. ‘You’ll need to turn the gas on, Mrs Larch, and I can’t remember where the tap is.’

‘I guessed that much, luv. I know where it is. It’s in your cellar. I even brought a copper for the meter and some matches with me. We’ll soon have the kettle whistling. But while it’s coming to the boil, write out an order and I’ll pop it to the shop. Put anything on it, you never know your luck. I’ll tell Percy that you can pay – I assume you can?’

‘Thank you, you’re still the darling I remember.’

Mrs Larch grinned at her. The grin crinkled her already deeply lined face and showed gaps in her teeth, which hadn’t been there before. Her kindly eyes lit up. And as she nodded, the few grey curls sticking out from her scarf – wrapped around her head and tied at the front – bobbed up and down.

Flors smiled back. ‘And you don’t have to worry. I’m all right financially, though he will have to take a cheque, as I only have francs on me.’

‘That’s good. That you can pay for extras, I mean. But you can forget the cheque – Percy wants cash, especially for stuff such as sugar and the like. Gets it on the black market and charges through the nose. Bleedin’ swizzler. He forgets we’re his bread-and-butter customers, war or no war. But you’ll get no favours from him.’

‘Well, just something to see me through will do. I’ll write a list and you can tell me what I’m likely to get, and what he’ll need cash for.’

Once Flors knew the gas was on, she borrowed a match and lit the gas fire that Cyrus had instructed their agent to put in, a couple of years ago. He’d thought it simpler for their tenants, and easier to get tenants, the more modern equipment they had. It was already proving a godsend, as its warming flames began to thaw out the chill of the place.

With the tea made, Mrs Larch settled down by the fire. ‘Now, luv, I want to hear all the news. I’m guessing as old Rowena turned her toes up, or you would have brought her with you. But how’s your Cyrus, and what about your children?’