There was a difference of opinion as to whether his word was jocular or not.
Mrs.Henry Leek was a touching figure, but not amusing.

It was Mr.
Duncan Farll who, quite unintentionally, supplied the first relief.
Duncan pooh-poohed the possibility of Priam being Priam.

He detailed all the circumstances that followed the death in Selwood Terrace, and showed in fifty ways that Priam could not have been Priam.

The man now masquerading as Priam was not even a gentleman, whereas Priam was Duncan's cousin! Duncan was an excellent witness, dry, precise, imperturbable.

Under cross-examination by Crepitude he had to describe particularly his boyish meeting with Priam.