Unluckily, too, she had no sense of humour, and instead of laughing at his occasionally preposterous sallies, she allowed them to irritate and worry her.

A person with no sense of humour is handicapped from start to finish, and is as much to be pitied as one born blind or deaf.
But Austin had his limitations too, and among them was a most deplorable want of tact.

Otherwise he would never have said, as he was going to bed that night: "By the way, auntie, what day have you arranged for the vicar to come and cast all those devils out of me ?" He might as well have let sleeping dogs lie.

Aunt Charlotte turned round upon him in almost a rage, and solemnly forbade him, in any circumstances and under whatsoever provocation, ever to mention the subject in her presence again..