~Things That Amuse ME, Anyway
2005-01-14 - 8:58 p.m.

Just when I was beginning to lose faith in humour, two Old Stanbys (bies) come through! Good ol' Joss Whedon and Georgette Heyer!

I can't remember any of the lines now (and wouldn't want to give them away in case Viv isn't up to them yet), but I was watching the last couple of episodes in Season 4 of Buffy, which were mostly all serious and bad-guy-slayingish, then stumbled across all this forgotten humour in the final episode. I remembered so much of the events, but very little of the humour. I was the only one home, thankfully, because there were times when I laughed so long and loudly that it would've been embarassing.

Last night I finished The Unknown Ajax, by Georgette Heyer. It's not one of her livlier books and she riddles it with gentle humour mostly. However, every now and then, she would throw something at me that I just had to laugh at, sometimes share with Mum.

Here's a sample (with a brief explanation of the situation first):

Hugo and Vincent, who are cousins, have previously spoken about Hugo's concerns that his younger cousin Richmond is getting up to trouble at night. Claud, Vincent's brother, is playing billiards with Hugo and is not in the loop (and the two brothers don't really get along). Vincent interrupts their game (causing Claud to miscue) looking for Richmond, much concerned.

"I thought he went up to the drawing-room with you." [said Hugo to Vincent]

"Yes, he did. He took up a book, when we began to play whist, but went off to bed very early. I don't know what the time may have been: it was considerably before Chollacombe brought int he tea-tray - possibly half past nine, or thereabouts. I thought nothing of it: he'd been yawning his head off, and my aunt kept on urging him to go to bed. I can't say I paid much heed, beyond wishing that he would go, instead of insisting that he wasn't tired, for I found the pair of them extremely distracting. In fact, I was on the point of suggesting that he should either stop yawning or do what he was told, when my grandfather took the words out of my mouth, and ordered him to bed."

He paused, knitting his brows. His incensed brother exclaimed: "No! Ordered him off to bed, did he? Never heard such an interesting story in my life - wouldn't have missed it for a fortune!"

..."His door was locked, and I must have wakened him, had he been asleep, but there wasn't a sound to be heard within the room. Why should Richmond hesistate to answer me?"

"Well, I can tell you that!" said Claud. "What's more, I wish I'd locked this door!"