"None at all. I will tell you her story, if you will hear it, some time when we are alone: it is rather a long one." 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?" "Yes--but from whom did you take the idea? Who let that cat out of the bag?" "Ellen, to be sure, with her plural number for Mrs. Norton's cat, which does not look starved at all--so go into the hall, Miss Ellen, while we think of a proverb." "Let's have 'It is more blessed to give than to receive,'" said Amy, "I thought of that to-day at Mrs. Norton's." "Very well, that will do. Come in, Ellen; Cornelia will bring in the first two words, as they are small." "Cornelia, have you finished your crochet purse?" "_It is_ almost done." "Amy, are you not almost roasted in that hot corner of the chimney?" "It would be _more_ pleasant further from the fire." "George, you are so fond of skating, don't you hope to enjoy the sport to-morrow?" "Yes indeed--I think we'll have a _blessed_ cold night, and then we'll have skating." "John, how many miles did you walk to-day?" "_Two_," said John. "That's not fair! That's not fair!" cried some of the younger children. However, it was agreed that playing upon words, where the sound was the same, was quite allowable. "Tom, do you like to ask questions?" "Yes, I like to _give_ a question to be answered." "Aunt Lucy, what shall be our story to-night?" "That is more easy to ask _than_ to answer." "Charlie, are you fond of mince-pie?" "Yes, and of cherry pie _too_." "Alice, are you not almost tired of this game?" "Yes, I'd _receive_ pleasure from a change." "Let me see--George's _blessed_, and John's _two_--blessed too--Oh, I know, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' Now let's play 'Twenty Questions.'" "How is that played? It is quite a new game to me."