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Updated: June 7, 2025
Old Mrs Merryboy, the mother, must have been a merry girl in her youth; for, even though at the age of eighty and partially deaf, she was extremely fond of a joke, practical or otherwise, and had her face so seamed with the lines of appreciative humour, and her nutcracker mouth so set in a smile of amiable fun, and her coal-black eyes so lit up with the fires of unutterable wit, that a mere glance at her stirred up your sources of comicality to their depths, while a steady gaze usually resulted in a laugh, in which she was sure to join with an apparent belief that, whatever the joke might be, it was uncommonly good.
Before Tim could reply, Mr Merryboy came forward. "Capital!" he exclaimed, on catching sight of the fish; "well done, lads, well done. We shall have a glorious supper to-night. Now, Mumpy, you run home and tell mother to have the big frying-pan ready. She'll want your help.
Mrs Merryboy, senior, smiled again at this, though she had not heard a word of it. Obviously she made no pretence of hearing, but took it as good on credit, for she immediately turned to her son, put her hand to her right ear, and asked what Susy said.
That Hetty and Matty took violently to brown-eyed Martha at first sight, having heard all about her from Bob long ago as she of them; that Mrs Merryboy was, we may say, one glowing beam of hospitality; that Mrs Frog was, so to speak, one blazing personification of amazement, which threatened to become chronic there was so much that was contrary to previous experience and she was so slow to take it in; that Mr Merryboy became noisier than ever, and that, what between his stick and his legs, to say nothing of his voice, he managed to create in one day hubbub enough to last ten families for a fortnight; that the domestics and the dogs were sympathetically joyful; that even the kitten gave unmistakeable evidences of unusual hilarity though some attributed the effect to surreptitiously-obtained cream; and, finally, that old granny became something like a Chinese image in the matter of nodding and gazing and smirking and wrinkling, so that there seemed some danger of her terminating her career in a gush of universal philanthropy need all this be said, we ask?
The two waifs, being thus encouraged, came out with their experiences pretty freely, and made such a number of surprising revelations, that the worthy backwoodsman and his wife were lost in astonishment, to the obvious advantage of old Mrs Merryboy, who, regarding the varying expressions of face around her as the result of a series of excellent jokes, went into a state of chronic laughter of a mild type.
The family of Mr Merryboy was a small one. Besides those who assisted him on the farm and who were in some cases temporary servants his household consisted of his wife, his aged mother, a female servant, and a small girl. The latter was a diamond from the London diggings, who had been imported the year before.
Bother that stick, it can't keep its legs much better than myself. How are you, mother? Glorious weather, isn't it?" Mr Merryboy ignored deafness. He continued to speak to his mother just as though she heard him. And she continued to nod and smile, and make-believe to hear with more demonstration of face and cap than ever.
"Who are the `coppers?" asked the good lady of the house, who listened in wonder to Tim's narration. "The coppers, ma'am, the the pl'eece." "Oh! the police?" "Yes, ma'am." "Where in the world did they expect you to sleep?" asked Mrs Merryboy with some indignation.
Nobody except those good Samaritans who had helped to pick them up, and who could show you the photographs of what they once were and what they now are. Mr Merryboy, although changed a little as regards legs, was not in the least deteriorated as to lungs.
As Granny, Mrs Merryboy, and the young people sat at breakfast he was heard at an immense distance off, gradually making his way towards the house. "Something seems to be wrong with father this morning, I think," said Mrs Merryboy, junior, listening. Granny, observing the action, pretended to listen, and smiled.
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