The words meant nothing to George. They had happened to catch his eye. He read them as he might have read an extract from the books of Euclid, and noisily and ostentatiously departed, not without a further protest from Hilda.
And Edwin and Hilda, left alone together, were self-conscious.
"Lively kid!" murmured Edwin self-consciously.
And Hilda, self-consciously:
"You never told me that case was on."
"I didn't know till I saw it here."
"What's the result?"
"Not finished.... Here you are, if you want to read it."
He handed the sheet across the table. Despite his serious interest in politics he had read the report before anything else. Etches v. Etches, indeed, surpassed Gladstonian politics as an aid to the dubious prosperity of the very young morning newspaper, which represented the latest and most original attempt to challenge the journalistic monopoly of the afternoon Staffordshire Signal. It lived scarcely longer than the divorce case, for the proprietors, though Non-conformists and therefore astute, had failed to foresee that the Five Towns public would not wait for racing results until the next morning.
"Thanks," Hilda amiably and negligently murmured.