Hilda replied, in her curt manner. She looked in front of
her. The words seem to him to carry a double meaning. Suddenly she
moved her head, glanced full at him for an instant, and glanced behind
her. "Where are they?" she inquired.

"The others? Aren't they in front? They must be some where about."

Unless she also had marked their deviation into the Cock Yard, why had
she glanced behind her in asking where they were? She knew as well as
he that they had started in front. He could only deduce that she had
been as willing as himself to lose Mr Orgreave and Janet. Just then an
acquaintance raised his hat to Edwin in acknowledgement of the lady's
presence, and he responded with pride. Whatever his private attitude to
Hilda, he was undeniably proud to be seen in the streets with a
disdainful, aloof girl unknown to the town. It was an experience
entirely new to him, and it flattered him. He desired to look long at
her face, to examine her expression, to make up his mind about her; but
he could not, because they were walking side by side. The sole
manifestation of her that he could judge was her voice. It was a
remarkable voice, rather deep, with a sort of chiselled intonation. The
cadences of it fell on the ear softly and yet ruthlessly, and when she
had finished speaking you became aware of silence, as after a solemn
utterance of destiny. What she happened to have been saying seemed to
be immaterial to the effect, which was physical, vibratory.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

TWO.

At the border of Saint Luke's Square, junction of eight streets, true
centre of the town's traffic, and the sole rectangular open space
enclosed completely by shops, they found a line of constables which
yielded only to processions and to the bearers of special rosettes.
`The Square,' as it was called by those who inhabited it, had been
chosen for the historic scene of the day because of its pre-eminent
claim and suitability; the least of its advantages--its slope, from the
top of which it could be easily dominated by a speaker on a platform--
would alone have secured for it the honours of the Centenary.

As the police cordon closed on the procession from the Old Church,
definitely dividing the spectators from the spectacle, it grew clear
that the spectators were in the main a shabby lot; persons without any
social standing: unkempt idlers, good-for-nothings, wastrels,
clay-whiten