Matthew's,
absolutely unbent, and gloried in showing that even more conundrums
were known there than by the house of Harewood. He was not strong in
guessing them; but then Will Harewood made such undaunted and
extraordinary shots at everything proposed, that the spirit of
repartee was fairly awakened, and Cherry's bright delicate wit began
to play, so that no one knew how to believe in the lateness of the
hour, and still less that this was the same house that grave Wilmet
had left that morning.
'Poor dear little Cherry!' said Felix to Mr. Audley, after helping
her upstairs, 'she is quite spent with laughing; indeed my jaws ache,
and she is ready to cry, as if it had been unfeeling.'
'Don't let her fancy that. We certainly were surprised into it to-
night; but I only wish for her sake--for all your sakes--that you
could keep the house merrier.'
Felix sighed. He too felt as if he had been betrayed into unbecoming
levity; and though he would not dispute, his heart had only become
the heavier. However, he did not forget, and when Cherry again
breathed a little sigh as to what Wilmet would think of their first
day, he stoutly averred that there was no use in drooping, and no
harm in liveliness, and that no one had ever been so full of
joyousness as their father.
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