The suggestion brought a gleam of hope to Blanche. She visualized the London she had known. It might be that in the heart of the town, business had begun again, that shops were open and people at work. It might be that she could find work there. She was longing for the sight and movement of life, after these two awful months of isolation. "I'm on," she said briskly. "Me and Millie had better go, mother, we can walk farther. You can lock up after us and you needn't open the door to anyone. Are you on, Mill?" "We must make ourselves look a bit more decent first," said Millie, glancing at the mirror over the mantelpiece. "Well, of course," returned Blanche, "we brought one box of clothes with us." They spent some minutes in discussing the resources of their wardrobe. "Come to the worst we could fetch some more things from Wisteria. I don't suppose anyone has touched 'em," suggested Blanche. At the mention of the house in Wisteria Grove, Mrs Gosling sighed noticeably. She was by no means satisfied with the place at Putney, and she could not rid herself of the idea that there must be accessible gas and water in Kilburn, as there had always been. "Well, you might go up there one day and 'ave a look at the place," she put in. "It's quite likely they've got things goin' again up there." In less than an hour Blanche and Millie had made themselves presentable. Life had begun to stir again in humanity. The atmosphere of horror which the plague had brought was being lifted. It was as if the dead germs had filled the air with an invisible, impalpable dust, that had exercised a strange power of depression. The spirit of death had hung over the whole world and paralyzed all activity. Now the dust was dispersing. The spirit was withdrawing to the unknown deeps from which it had come. "It is nice to feel decent again," said Blanche. She lifted her head and threw back her shoulders. Millie was preening herself before the glass. "Well, I'm sure you 'ave made yourselves look smart," said their mother with a touch of pride. "They were good girls," she reflected, "if there had been more than a bit of temper shown lately. But, then, who could have helped themselves? It had been a terrible time." The July sun was shining brilliantly as the two young women, presentable enough to attend morning service at the Church of St John the Evangelist, Kilburn, set out to exhibit their charms and to buy food in the dead city. 2 They crossed Putney Bridge and made their way towards Hammersmith. The air was miraculously clear. The detail of the streets was so sharp and bright that it was as if they saw with wonderfully renewed and sensitive eyes. The phenomenon produced a sense of exhilaration. They were conscious of quickened emotion, of a sensation of physical well-being. "Isn't it clean?" said Blanche. "H'm! Funny!" returned Millie. "Like those photographs of foreign places."