"How beautifully clearly you read!" said Mrs. Orgreave, with mild enthusiasm, when Hilda had read the meagre half-column.
"Do I?" Hilda flushed.
"Is that all there is about it?"
"Yes. They don't seem to think it's very important that half the people are starving!" Hilda sneered.
"Whose fault is it if they do starve?" Osmond Orgreave glanced at her with lowered head.
"I think it's a shame!" she exclaimed.
"Do you know that the men broke the last award, not so very long since?" said Osmond Orgreave. "What can you do with such people?"
"Broke the last award?" She was checked.
"Broke the last award! Wouldn't stick by their own agreement, their own words. I'll just tell you. A wise young woman like you oughtn't to be carried away by the sight of a procession on a cold night."
He smiled; and she smiled, but awkwardly.