England, in a word, was content, and the principal actors had the right to be content also.

Very astute people in clubs and saloon bars talked darkly about those two moles, and Priam's nod in response to the whispers of the solicitor's clerk: such details do not escape the modern sketch writer at a thousand a year.

To very astute people the two moles appeared to promise pretty things.
_Priam's Refusal_ "Leek in the box." This legend got itself on to the telegraph wires and the placards within a few minutes of Priam's taking the oath.

It sent a shiver of anticipation throughout the country.

Three days had passed since the opening of the case (for actors engaged at a hundred a day for the run of the piece do not crack whips behind experts engaged at ten or twenty a day; the pace had therefore been dignified), and England wanted a fillip.
Nobody except Alice knew what to expect from Priam.