aid:

"It's all very well, and Victor Hugo _is_ Victor Hugo; but you can say
what you like--there's a lot of this that'll bear skipping, your
worships."

Already she was at the doorway. In the dusk of the unlighted chamber the
faces of the four Orgreaves and Clayhanger showed like pale patches on
the gloom.

"Not a line!" she said fiercely, with her extremely clear articulation.
She had no right to make such a statement, for she had not read the
twentieth part of Victor Hugo's work; she did not even know what book
they were discussing--Charlie held the volume lightly in his hand--but
she was incensed against the mere levity of Charlie's tone.

She saw Edwin Clayhanger jump at the startling interruption. And all
five looked round. She could feel her face burning.

Charlie quizzed her with a word, and then turned to Edwin Clayhanger for
support. "Don't _you_ think that some of it's dullish, Teddy?"

Edwin Clayhanger, shamefaced, looked at Hilda wistfully, as if in
apology, as if appealing to her clemency against her fierceness; and
said slowly:

"Well--yes."

He had agreed with Charlie; but while disagreeing with Hilda he had
mysteriously proved to her that she had been right in saying to herself
on the previous evening: "_I like him_."

The incident appeared to her to be enormous and dramatic. She moved
away, as it were breathless under emotion, and then, remembering her
errand, threw over her shoulder:

"Mrs. Orgreave wants to know when you're coming to supper."

III

The supper-table was noisy and joyous--more than usually so on account
of the presence of Charlie, the gayest member of the family. At either
end of the long, white-spread board sat Mr. and Mrs. Orgreave; Alicia
stood by Mr. Orgreave, who accepted her caresses with the negligence of
a handsome father. Along one side sat Hilda, next to Janet, and these
two were flanked by Jimmie and Johnnie, tall, unbending, apparently
determined to prove by a politely supercilious demeanor that to pass a
whole evening thus in the home circle was considered by them to be a
concession on their part rather than a privilege. Edwin Clayhanger sat
exactly opposite to Hilda, with Charlie for sponsor; and Tom's
spectacles gleamed close by.

Hilda, while still constrained, was conscious of pleasure in the scene,
and of a certain pride in forming part of it. These prodigal and
splendid persons respected and liked her, even loved her. Her recitation
on the previou