Which Wodehouse Novel ...?
Which Wodehouse novel features the young protagonist having to go to the stern and disapproving father twice to say he is engaged to his daughter, and then to his niece? This almost happens to Bertie in one of the Jeeves books, but as it turns out he never goes back the second time. I am certain I have read the scene and thought it the funniest, most awkward situation in all of Wodehouse, but when I look back I cannot find it! Please Wodehouse fans help me out! You can email me.
hummm I seem to rember it too, Id have to look it up but it might be love among the chickens,
Actual;ly no probably not it might be one of the Uncle stories Oh I know its that set of books with the earl who ha sthat PIg duchess or quennie or somthing and his nephew bounce tennis ball soff its back and they end up holding it hostage .
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You may be thinking of The Code of the Woosters. In chapter 9, Bertie is prevailed upon to go to his host, Sir Watkyn Bassett, and as a ruse, to ask for Stiffy Byng's hand in marriage. (The idea is, you see, to frighten old Bassett---who is Stiffy's guardian/ uncle and who hates Bertie---into accepting Stiffy's REAL husband-to-be, the REv. Stinker Pinker.) And the ruse works. Old Bassett, rather than accept Bertie into the family, is now ready to embrace old Stinker with open arms. THEN, in chapter 10----just a few pages later---the butler summons Bertie to the drawing-room, where a saucer-eyed Madeline Bassett awaits him. Madeline, the dreadful drip who thinks that the stars are God's daisy chain, has broken off her engagement to Gussie Fink-Nottle and plans to marry Bertie instead. "I will be your wife," she says, much to our hero's dismay. She then states her intention of breaking the news to Pop Bassett. Bertie, fearing that this second blow will be too much for the old buster to bear, very humanely urges her to wait a bit before "telling daddy."
Is that the passage that you're thinking of? It's the only one I can remember in which Bertie goes through the wringer TWICE within just a few pages. What ho!
Just thought of another one. In Joy in the Morning, Boko Fittleworth wants to marry Zenobia ("Nobby") Hopwood, the ward of old Uncle Percy (Lord Worplesdon.) But just a few months previously, Boko had been engaged to Worplesdon's DAUGHTER, Florence Craye. Worplesdon frowns on this in-and-out running and considers Boko a libertine or, as he puts it, "butterfly." So Worplesdon forbids the match....and because of a clause in Nobby's father's will, she can't legally go against the old buster's wishes in this matter.
With Bertie's assistance, Boko contrives to conciliate Worplesdon, but the strategem fails. Boko, hiding in the grass near Worplesdon's study, is trod on by the old duffer and then ejected from the premises by a gardener with a pitchfork! Could this be the scene you're thinking of? It's fairly embarrassing, at least for poor old Boko!
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