But, though we sacredly observed all mirthful conventions in our dallying, I knew that Miss Caroline had more than enough to ponder of matters weighty.

I knew that she was likely to have regretted a too-ready sharing of Clem's easy enthusiasm over industrial conditions in the North.
Clem believed by instinct not only that the evil thereof is sufficient unto the day, but that the incidental good sufficeth also.

His quality of faith would have seemed a pointed rebuke to the common run of believers in a Providence that watches and sends.

Confronted by the spectre of present want he could exorcise it neatly by the device of beholding, in a contrary vision, future limitless pullets of a marketable immaturity, or endless acres of garden produce ripe and ready to sell.

Moreover, his experience with "gold money" was as yet insufficient to acquaint him with its truly volatile character.