Mrs. Kathleen Drover has returned to London from her house in the country in order to pick up some things from the house that she and her husband abandoned because of the bombing of London by the Germans during 1940-41. It is a humid day in late August when she goes back to her mostly deserted street.

When she enters the house, she sees all of the telltale stains and dust left when she and her family moved out. The house has some cracks in it because of the bombing, and she wants to check on it. As she is passing her hall table, she notices a letter addressed to her—a strange sight, considering that the caretaker did not know of her return and that her house is boarded up and all of her mail has been forwarded to the country address. But she...