"Of course Edwin's been let in!"
It was a reference to the Palace Porcelain Company. How ungracious! How unnecessary! How unjust! And somehow Edwin had been fearing it. And that was really why he had not liked the turn of the conversation,--he had been afraid of one of her darts!
Useless for Tom Swetnam to say that a number of business men quite as keen as Edwin had been "let in"! From her disdainful silence it appeared that Hilda's conviction of the unusual simplicity of her husband was impregnable.
"I hear you've got that Shawport land," said Johnnie Orgreave.
The mystic influences of music seemed to have been overpowered.
"Who told ye?" asked Edwin in a low voice, once more frightened of Hilda.
"Young Toby Hall. Met him at the Conservative Club last night."
But Hilda had heard.
"What land is that?" she demanded curtly.
"'What land is that?'" Johnnie mimicked her. "It's the land for the new works, missis."