It was an odd thing that nowadays he gave more thought to Mrs.Clover than to Minnie.

The young girl glimmered very far away, at a height above him; he had made a mistake and frankly recognized it.
But Mrs.Clover, his excellent friend of many years, shone with no such superiority, and was not above rebuke for any injustice she might do him.

Probably by this time she had forgotten her fretfulness, a result of overstrung nerves.

She would ask his pardon--and ought to do so.
He thought of Polly Sparkes, but always with a peculiar smile, inclining to a grimace.

Polly had "come round" in the most astonishing way.