A Man of Means is a collection of six short stories written in collaboration by P. G. Wodehouse and C. H. Bovill. The stories first appeared in the United Kingdom in The Strand Magazine in 1914, and in the United States in Pictorial Review in 1916. They were later published in book form in the UK by Porpoise Books in 1991. The collection was released on Project Gutenberg in 2003.
The stories all star Roland Bleke, a young man for whom financial success is always a mixed blessing. The plots follow on from each other, sometimes directly, and occasionally refer back to past events in Bleke's meteoric career.
Contents
"The Episode of the Landlady's Daughter" UK: Strand, April 1914 (as "A Man of Means No. I: Landlady's Daughter") US: Pictorial Review, May 1916 (as "A Man of Means: The Episode of the Landlady's Daughter") Plot Roland Bleke, an ordinary young man, is a clerk in a seed-merchant’s office in the town of Bury St. Edwards. Roland inadvertently got engaged to his landlady's daughter, Muriel Coppin, and does not want to marry her. He is supposed to marry her when his salary is large enough, so he asks his boss Mr. Fineberg to reduce his salary, which surprises Mr. Fineberg. Roland is disliked by Albert Potter, a strong and silent mechanic who loves Muriel.
Roland tells Muriel's family that his salary was reduced, which disappoints her parents and also her two lazy brothers, who hope to live off Roland's money. Roland learns that he won five hundred pounds in a sweepstake and will receive the cheque shortly. He keeps this secret. However, a week later, a newspaper article announces that Roland won 40,000 pounds. The Coppins all expect Roland to buy them gifts and make it difficult for him to leave.
Muriel insists Roland buy him a car, and with her brothers and Albert, they go to the nearby town of Lexingham to see French pilot Etienne Feriaud perform loops with his aeroplane. Feriaud offers to take a passenger for five pounds, but the spectators are worried it is too dangerous. Albert says that he would do it if he had five pounds, impressing Muriel. Roland offers Albert five pounds, but Albert refuses and tells Roland to do it. Roland agrees and gets into the plane with Feriaud. To the group's surprise, the plane simply flies away.
"The Episode of the Financial Napoleon" UK: Strand, May 1914 (as "A Man of Means No. II: The Bolt From the Blue") US: Pictorial Review, June 1916 (as "A Man of Means: The Episode of the Financial Napoleon")
Plot
The aeroplane which flew Roland Bleke to freedom at the end of "The Episode of the Landlady's Daughter" lands in the garden of the Sussex home of one Geoffrey Windlebird, financier of somewhat dubious standing. A perpetual juggler of near-bankrupt companies, Windelbird is on the edge of bankruptcy and scandal as a mining claim he has heavily oversold is about to be exposed. Bleke knows him by reputation, and he, having been shown Bleke's picture in the newspaper by his wife, knows of Bleke's recent windfall.
Bleke, sick after his cold flight, is taken in by the Windlebirds. Worried that his fiancee may object to his disappearance, he arranges with Windelbird to have her paid off, a deal on which Windelbird takes a handsome profit. Windelbird then talks Bleke into investing much of his fortune in his Wild-Cat Reef mining venture, selling him shares he says are owned by a friend.
Next day, Bleke finds Mrs Windlebird in a state of anxiety. The Wild-Cat Reef, she says, has dropped sharply in value, and her husband feels terrible for having persuaded Bleke to throw away his money. She will, she offers, buy back his shares with her small savings, that he may not be left totally penniless. Bleke, touched by her kindness, generously refuses the offer.
The newspapers arrive, and Bleke sees that Wild-Cat has become a huge success, being compared to Klondike. His shares have quadrupled in value overnight; he feels sorry, he says, for Mr Windelbird's friend, who had so recently sold his stock...
"The Episode of the Theatrical Venture" UK: Strand, June 1914 (as "a Man of Means No. III: The Episode of the Theatrical Venture") US: Pictorial Review, July 1916 (as "A Man of Means: The Episode of the Theatrical Venture")
Plot
Roland Bleke, a very wealthy man after the events of "The Episode of the Financial Napoleon", finds himself wowed by Miss Billy Verepoint, an attractive and domineering actress. He soon ends up the owner of a notoriously unsuccessful theatre, the Windsor, bought from its unscrupulous former owner, who found his insurance agent's attitude to keeping the place safe from fire a little too strict for his liking.