"Heaps of times," said the old man.
"Dear me," said Septimus. "Did you commit bigamy?"
"Bigamy? No. I buried 'em all honorable."
"That," said Septimus, "was very kind of you."
"It was out of gratitude."
"For their goodness?"
"No. For being delivered from 'em. I had a lot of experience before I could learn the blessedness of a single life."
Septimus sighed. "Yet it must be very nice to have a wife, Wiggleswick."
"But ain't yer got one?" bawled the disreputable body-servant.
"Of course, of course," said Septimus hurriedly. "I was thinking of the people who hadn't."