that had been about as good as the chances of their more modest hopes were now. He looked at the four women; only one of them was sufficiently youthful to stand a chance of surviving on sexual merits, and with youth her entire store of assets was numbered. They were all bedraggled. The two children had wandered away, in the direction of the wall where Arm and the others were sitting. The boy was not wearing shoes, but plimsolls, which were wet through.

John said harshly: 'You'd better get on, then, hadn't you?'

The man persisted: 'You think we might find a place like that?'

'You might,' John said.

'AH this trouble,' one of the women said. 'It won't last long, will it?'

Roger looked down into the valley. 'Only till hell freezes over.'

'Where was you thinking of heading?' asked the older man. 'Were you thinking of going into Yorkshire as well?'

John said: 'No. We've come from there.'

'We're not bothered about which way we go, for that matter. We only thought it might be quieter across the Pennines.'

'Yes. It might.'

The mother of the two children spoke: 'What my father means is - do you think we could go whichever way you're going? It would mean there was more of us, if we ran into any trouble. I mean - you must be looking for a quiet place, too. You're respectable people, not like those down there. Respectable folk should stick together at a time like this.'

John said: "There are something like fifty million people in this country. Probably over forty-nine million of them are respectable, and looking for a quiet place.

There aren't enough quiet places to go round.'