"Well, of course, silly," replied Blanche. "All the clocks have stopped. Who's to wind 'em?" XII--EMIGRANT 1 For some time Mrs Gosling was quite unable to grasp the significance of her daughters' report on the condition of London. During the past two months she had persuaded herself that the traffic of the town was being resumed and that only Putney was still desolate. She had always disapproved of Putney; it was damp and she had never known anyone who had lived there. It is true that the late lamented George Gosling had been born in Putney, but that was more than half a century ago, the place was no doubt quite different then; and he had left Putney and gone to live in the healthy North before he was sixteen. Mrs Gosling was half inclined to blame Putney for all their misfortunes--it was sure to breed infection, being so near the river and all--and she had become hopeful during the past month that all would be well with them if they could once get back to Kilburn. "D'you mean to say you didn't see no one at all?" she repeated in great perplexity. "Those three we've told you about, that's all," said Blanche. "Well, o' course, they're all shut up in the 'ouses, still; afraid o' the plague and 'anging on to what provisions they've got put by, same as us," was the hopeful explanation Mrs Gosling put forward. "They ain't," said Millie, and Blanche agreed. "Well, but 'ow d'you know?" persisted the mother. "Did you go in to the 'ouses?" "One or two," returned Blanche evasively, "but there wasn't no need to go in. You could see." "Are you quite sure there was no shops open? Not in the Strand?" Mrs Gosling laid emphasis on the last sentence. She could not doubt the good faith of the Strand. If that failed her, all was lost. "Oh! can't you understand, mother," broke out Blanche petulantly, "that the whole of London is absolutely deserted? There isn't a soul in the streets. There's no cabs or buses or trams or anything, and grass growing in the middle of the road. And all the shops have been broken into, all those that had food in 'em, and----" words failed her. "Isn't it, Millie?" she concluded lamely. "Awful," agreed Millie. "Well, I can't understand it," said Mrs Gosling, not yet fully convinced. She considered earnestly for a few moments and then asked: "Did you go into Charing Cross Post Office? They'd sure to be open." "Yes!" lied Blanche, "and we could have taken all the money in the place if we'd wanted, and no one any the wiser." Mrs Gosling looked shocked. "I 'ope my gels'll never come to that," she said. Her girls, with a wonderful understanding of their mother's opinions, had omitted to mention their raid on the Knightsbridge emporium. "No one'd ever know," said Millie.