"It was my wife."
"Ha! ha! ha!" went the clerks.
And they roared with laughter, holding their sides and complimenting their host.
"Did you ever hear a better story, Viscount?"
"Ah, what a story!"
"That is a story!"
"A master story!"
"The king of stories!"
"Ha, ha! It beats all the other stories hollow. After that I say there are no stories like the stories of our host."
"By the faith of a Christian, I never heard a better story in my life."