Joy in the Morning by P. G. Wodehouse Read Free Book Online Page A

thought occurred to me. With that Wooster knack of looking on the bright side, I saw that all was not yet lost.
    ‘How old do you have to be before you can marry without Uncle Percy’s kayo?’
    ‘Twenty-one.’
    ‘How old are you now?’
    ‘Twenty.’
    ‘Well, there you are, then. I knew that if we looked close enough we should find that the sun was still shining. You’ve only got to wait another year, and there you are.’
    ‘Yes. But Boko leaves for Hollywood next month. I don’t know how you feel about this dream man of mine, but to me, and I have studied his character with loving care, he doesn’t seem the sort of person to be allowed to go to Hollywood without a wife at his side to distract his attention from the local fauna.’
    Her outlook shocked me, causing me to put a bit of austere top-spin on my next crack.
    ‘There can be no love where there is not perfect trust.’
    ‘Who told you that?’
    ‘Jeeves, I think. It sounds like one of his things.’
    ‘Well, Jeeves is wrong. There jolly well can be love without perfect trust, and don’t you forget it. I love Boko distractedly, but at the thought of him going to Hollywood without me I come over all faint. He wouldn’t mean to let me down. I don’t suppose he would even know he was doing it. But one morning I should get an apologetic cable saying that he couldn’t quite explain how it had happened, but that he had inadvertently got married last night, and had I anything to suggest. It’s his sweet, impulsive nature. He can’t say No. I believe that’s how he came to get engaged to Florence.’
    I frowned meditatively. Now that she had outlined the position of affairs, I could see that the situation was a tricky one.
    ‘Then what’s the procedure?’
    ‘I don’t know.’
    I frowned another meditative one.
    ‘Something must be done.’
    ‘But what?’
    I had an idea. It is often like that with the Woosters. They appear baffled, and then suddenly – bingo! – an inspiration.
    ‘Leave this to me,’ I said.
    What had crossed my mind was the thought that by establishing myself at Wee Nooke on his behalf, I was doing Uncle Percy a dashed good turn – so dashed that if he had a spark of gratitude in his composition he ought to be all over me. I could picture him clasping my hand and saying that thanks to me that merger had come off and was there any reward I cared to ask, for he could deny me nothing.
    ‘What you need here,’ I said, ‘is the suave intervention of a polished man of the world, a silver-tongued orator who will draw Uncle Percy aside and plead your cause, softening his heart and making him take the big, broad view. I’ll attend to it.’
    ‘You?’
    ‘In person. Within the next day or two.’
    ‘Oh, Bertie!’
    ‘It will be a pleasure to put in a word for you. I anticipate notable results. I shall probably play on the old crumb as on a stringed instrument.’
    She registered girlish joy.
    ‘Bertie, you’re a lamb!’
    ‘Maybe you’re right. A touch of the lamb, perhaps.’
    ‘It’s a wonderful idea. You see, you’ve known Boko so long.’
    ‘Virtually from the egg.’
    ‘You’ll be able to think of all sorts of things to say about him. Did he ever save your life, when you were a boy?’
    ‘Not that I remember.’
    ‘You could say he did.’
    ‘I doubt if it would go well. Uncle Percy was none too keen on me at that epoch. It would be more likely to strike a chord if I told him that Boko had repeatedly tried to assassinate me, when I was a boy. However, leave it to me. I’ll find words.’
    All this while, of course, the old two-seater had been humming along towards Steeple Bumpleigh with the needle in the sixties, and at this point Nobby notified me that we were approaching our destination.
    ‘Those chimneys through the trees are the Hall. You see that little lane to the left. You go down it, and you come to Boko’s place. Yours is about half a mile beyond it, up another sort of side turning. You really