John Ingerfield and Other Stories

Once upon a time, I wrote a little story of a woman who was crushed to death by a python. A day or two after its publication, a friend stopped me in the street. Charming little story of yours, he said, that about the woman and the snake; but it's not as funny as some of your things! The next week, a newspaper, referring to the tale, remarked, "We have heard the incident related before with infinitely greater humour