Goslings by J.D. Beresford

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.