And whenever a joke did fall, their bludgeons came down and their faces seemed to split from ear to ear.
Sawyer, whose hearty countenance was seen looming redly in the centre of the second circle, took it up, and the house was carried handsomely.
Inferior jokes never fared so royally before.

Presently I delivered a bit of serious matter with impressive unction (it was my pet), and the audience listened with an absorbed hush that gratified me more than any applause; and as I dropped the last word of the clause, I happened to turn and catch Mrs.--'s intent and waiting eye; my conversation with her flashed upon me, and in spite of all I could do I smiled.

She took it for the signal, and promptly delivered a mellow laugh that touched off the whole audience; and the explosion that followed was the triumph of the evening.

I thought that that honest man Sawyer would choke himself; and as for the bludgeons, they performed like pile-drivers.

But my poor little morsel of pathos was ruined.