"Noblesse oblige" always.

There is no half-way medium; no middle course to take.
Then, fancy my being such a brute as to quarrel with Min, merely because she could not avoid being courteous to her guests! The fact of their being personally obnoxious to me, did not affect the scale one way or the other; she could not help _that_.

I doubt whether she even knew it.
I was unable to forgive myself, and wondered if she would excuse my conduct, and speak to me again; although, I really deserved social extinction.
But, I surely could not belie her angel nature, I thought?
When she came to know all I had suffered that evening, and the miserable self- upbraidings I had since endured, she would pity me, and forgive me, forgetting all that had occurred "as a dream when one awaketh ?" I was sure she would; and I gained renewed courage from the impression.
I now bethought me how I should next present myself before her.

In accordance with the usages of conventionality, it would be right for me to make an early call at Mrs Clyde's, in recognition of her late assembly; and, unless I should chance to meet Min out alone, I would have no chance of making my apology before then, while, even on that occasion, the presence of her mother might prevent my speaking to her as openly as I wished.

What should I do?
I determined, under the circumstances, and from the fact of our being such old friends--she had said so herself, had she not ?--that I would make her a little peace-offering, in the shape of a present of some sort or other.
This did not occur to me with the idea of propitiating her as an offended goddess, sacrifices being out of date in the existing era-- except those to Moloch! No, such a thought never occurred to me for a moment.
Min was not the class of girl whose pardon or good-will could be purchased, as is frequently the case, perhaps, with others of her sex! What suggested the scheme to me was, my not having made her any birthday gift, as her other friends, without exception, had done.