Hi again Bernard,
Pretty sure my last guess was pathetic but how about this:
Was Sharpe’s Father’s name Fletcher or maybe he made arrows by trade?
The French for fletcher is flechier which is an anagram of cheerfil , if you remove the i from cheerfil and add a u, you get cheerful
I suppose, if it was a historical character, Mr Fletcher Christian of the Bounty might have fitted the frame :-)
Kind Regards
Danny