So he made merry at the dinner table, told comic stories, and was astonished at the readiness with which she grasped the comic side of life.

His curiosity put itself into a question.
"Old Morgan the trader," she explained, "used to save me _Tit-Bits_.
He would read the jokes and illustrate them; and after a time I could see the point of a joke without having it explained to me.

I believe it amused him.

I was a novelty.

He was always in a state of semi-intoxication, but he was always gentle with me.
Probably he taught me what a joke was merely to irritate my father; for suddenly Father stopped my going to the store for things and sent our old Kanaka cook instead.