What a just, clever fellow he was! people said: one of those men improved by success: just to the defrauding of himself: saw the true worth of everybody, the very lowest: hadn't one spark of self-esteem: despised all humbug and show, one could see, though he never said it: when he was a boy, he was moody, with passionate likes and dislikes; but success had improved him, vastly.

So Holmes was popular, though the beggars shunned him, and the lazy Italian organ-grinders never held their tambourines up to him.
The mill street was dark; the building threw its great shadow over the square.

It was empty, he supposed; only one hand generally remained to keep in the furnace-fires.

Going through one of the lower passages, he heard voices, and turned aside to examine.

The management was not strict, and in case of a fire the mill was not insured: like Knowles's carelessness.
It was Lois and her father,--Joe Yare being feeder that night.