He had his skates dangling over his shoulder by a strap, and Hugh could actually catch his whistle as he strode along.
Somehow this told him Nick was feeling in higher spirits than had lately been the case.

Perhaps he was beginning to feel a new confidence in himself, Hugh suspected.

In the beginning Nick must have seriously doubted his ability to, as some of the boys would have called it, "come across, and deliver the goods," when he set out to reform his ways.
He had now been keeping up the pace for more than a week.

It was gradually growing easier, too, the further he went along the unfamiliar road.

People did not sneer quite so much at him as in the beginning.