The young people left Mrs. Wyndham still conversing with Mrs. Norton, and returned homeward. After tea, various games amused the fleeting hours, and among them "Proverbs" was played as follows: While one is absent from the circle, all fix upon some well-known old saw or proverb; the absentee then returns and asks a question of every individual, to which an answer must be returned, embracing some one word of the sentence, care being taken not to emphasize it. The first proverb was this: "When the cat's away, the mice will play." Cornelia had been out of the room.
"Cousin Mary, didn't you enjoy the clear-up to-day?"
"Yes, when it clears after a storm, one always does."
"Charlie, are you tired from your long walk this morning?"
"O no, the day was so fine, the walk so pleasant, and the company so agreeable, that I did not feel the fatigue."
"Ellen, didn't you pity poor Mrs. Norton?"
"Yes, and I pitied her cats, they looked so thin."
"Cats! I thought she had only one. Cats? Hum! Tom, don't you hope we'll have a story to-night?"
"Yes, I enjoy it vastly, and will take care not to be away when it's told."
"Gertrude, don't you think the mice will play to-night?"