Page:The Semi-detached House.djvu/206

 of the public. And by persisting in the supposition that Willis must take some interest in the interests of others, and by steadily treating him as a member of his own very cheerful family, he always brought him into a more companionable shape. Willis did not quite like it, but he succumbed. In fact, it would have been difficult to resist the influence of that cheerful-looking room and that happy family. He finally deigned to ask if the girls had been amused, and hardly sighed when Mrs. Hopkinson asked if Princess Mary's gown was blue, though she ought to have known that the court was in mourning for the Prince of Saxe Badenheim. He even gave a succinct account of the breakfast at Marble Hall, comprised in the few words that there were a great many overdressed people, that the tables were overloaded, and the ball-room over-crowded.

"In short, it was nearly all 'over' with you, Charles," said Captain Hopkinson.

"With me?" said Willis, "oh, I see; a pun—I am not quick at puns. In fact, I