plight.

"Why, _what_ a time it must have been!" cried he. "Here's some
calculation all cut out for me, all right. But--you can't go that way,
Miss Kendrick. It--it won't do, you know. Got to have something to put
on. Great Heavens what a situation!"

He tried to peel off his remnant of a coat, but at the merest touch it
tore to shreds and fell away. The girl restrained him.

"Never mind," said she, with quiet, modest dignity. "My hair protects
me very well for the present. If you and I are all that's left of the
people in the world, this is no time for trifles."

A moment he studied her. Then he nodded, and grew very grave.

"Forgive me," he whispered, laying a hand on her shoulder. Once more
he turned to the window and looked out.

"So then, it's all gone?" he queried, speaking as to himself. "Only a
skyscraper standing here or there? And the bridges and the
islands--all changed.

"Not a sign of life anywhere; not a sound; the forests growing thick
among the ruins? A dead world if--if all the world is like this part
of it! All dead, save _you_ and _me!_"

In silence they stood there, striving to realize the full import of
the catastrophe. And Stern, deep down in his heart, caught some
glimmering insight of the future and was glad.