Lunchtime read: Lord Emsworth Acts for the Best

Although it is a struggle to get to emotionally involved with what is happening with Lord Emsworth and his son Freddie what you start to appreciate is how Wodehouse constructs a story that comes from different starting points and converges in an amusing climax.

The humour is gentle and capable of bringing a wry smile to your face rather than leaving you in stitches on the floor.

Lord Emsworth Acts for the Best
The story starts with the butler threatening to resign unless his Lordship shaves off his beard because of the ridicule it is courting. Meanwhile Freddie turns up and explains to his father that he wants him to plead on his behalf to his daughter-in-law to take his son back. There is an inevitable moment of confusion in the hotel when Emsworth turns up and is attacked by a dog and then a rude friend of the woman he is seeking to talk to. Then all of a sudden Freddie turns up dressed to look like his father. The shock of seeing himself caricatured with a beard makes him wander downstairs to the hotel barber and get it shaved off. As a result the butler doesn’t resign and equilibrium is restored.

More tomorrow…