People had never before gone out of their way to shake hands with me.

No one had considered it worth while to ask favors of me.
Sim and Alvin were not to be taken seriously, of course, and both were looking after their own pocketbooks, but their actions were straws proving the wind to be blowing in my direction.

I thought, and smiled scornfully, that I, all at once, seemed to have become a person of some importance.
But my scorn was not entirely sincere.

There was a certain gratification in the thought.

I might pretend--I had pretended--that Denboro opinion, good or bad, was a matter of complete indifference to me.