Well, that put the cap on all for poor Joe.

He had thought over what father said, and _how_ he said it, on his road down till he found himself getting rather mad about it; and the way they all snorted and laughed when he came to Skeal-Hill made him madder; and that bedgown fellow, with his "Joe, sir," made him madder than ever; but when the old jolly-jist--that he thought would be so fain to see him, if it was only for the sake of their sprogue on the fells together--when he wondered "how Joe durst show his face there," it set Joe rantin' mad, and he _did_ make a burst.
At this point the squire was laughing so noisily that Sophia had to stop; and his hearty _ha, ha, ha_! was so contagious, that Harry and Julius and Charlotte, and even Mrs.Sandal, echoed it in a variety of merry peals.

Sophia was calmer.

She sat by the lamp, pleasantly conscious of the amusement she was giving; and, considering that she had already laughed the circumstance out in her room, quite as well entertained as any of the party.

In a few minutes the squire recovered himself.