The Man Upstairs is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 23 January 1914 by Methuen & Co., London. Most of the stories had previously appeared in magazines, generally Strand Magazine in the UK and Cosmopolitan or Collier's Weekly in the United States. Although the book was not published in the US, many of the stories were eventually made available to US readers in The Uncollected Wodehouse (1976) and The Swoop! and Other Stories (1979).
It is a miscellaneous collection, not featuring any of Wodehouse's regular characters; most of the stories concern love and romance.
Contents
"The Man Upstairs" UK: Strand, March 1910 (UK setting) US: Cosmopolitan, March 1910 (as "The Man Up-stairs", US setting)
Plot
Annette Brougham, a quick-tempered female composer and music-teacher, is disturbed by a knocking on her ceiling. She visits the flat above to complain, but despite her initial feelings of anger towards him, she soon finds herself drawn to "Alan Beverley", the modest and charming struggling artist she finds there. Alan invites her to knock on the ceiling whenever she wants to talk to him.
Reginald Sellers, another resident of the building, a pompous and self-important painter, criticises Alan's work harshly, and Annette defends him, but regrets her cruelty towards Reginald. The boorish Sellers finds some success with his art, selling several paintings to a Glasgow millionaire named Bates, and continues to lord it over his less high-achieving neighbour.
Annette publishes a waltz she has written, and that too begins to sell surprisingly well. She is happy, but disappointed that her friend has yet to sell his work, and upset that Sellers still criticises him.
She answers the communal telephone one day, and takes a message from a friend of "Beverley" who is borrowing his flat, and hears that large quantities of printed music and several bad paintings have been delivered there. She confronts "Beverley", who reveals that his real name is Bill Bates, a Glasgow millionaire. He has been in love with Annette since he first saw her in the street, and took the flat in her building to be near her, banging on the floor to get her attention; he now wants her to marry him.
She berates him for tricking her and treating her like a child, and he counters by revealing that he knows she has bought his one and only painting, a mediocre portrait of a Child and a Cat, through an intermediary. He repeats his proposal of marriage, and she tells him to go away. She hears him pacing around in his room above, and, taking a broom, she bangs three times on her ceiling.
"Something to Worry About" UK: Strand, February 1913 (source for this book) US: Metropolitan, March 1913
Plot
Sally Preston, a London girl born and bred, is found to be an aficionado of the movies by her father, who disapproves of such entertainments, and is sent to stay with an aunt at a small, sleepy seaside village in Hampshire. She tells her story to Tom Kitchener, a simple young gardener next door, who promptly falls in love with her. So too do most of the other young men of the village, who begin to visit the house in increasing numbers.
Tom, too shy to visit and jealous of the men who do, decides to shower her with gifts; it being autumn and all the flowers gone, all he has to shower with are vegetables, which he proceeds to give generously. Her aunt's husband warns him off, but he rebels, proposes to her awkwardly, and is amazed to find himself accepted.
Tom buys her a puppy, and she soon finds herself in trouble with the local constable, for failing to put a collar on the dog. Trying to persuade Tom to take revenge on the man for her, she reveals that she has accepted proposals of marriage from several other local men, in a scheme to force her father to take her back to London, but she is worried by Tom's quiet responses.
He takes her along to the first of her other suitors, and fights him. Tom wins, despite the other man's greater size, and Sally is moved. He takes her along to the second, and fights him. Tom wins, despite the other's greater skill; Sally is smitten by Tom. He takes her along to the third, who denounces Sally. Tom tells her she will marry him, and she concurs. The story ends with Sally comparing the day's events with a movie she is fond of.
Sally's father appears to be a neighbour of Bowles, also an ex-butler turned landlord in London's Ebury Street.
"Deep Waters" US: Collier's Weekly, 28 May 1910 (reset at Ocean Bay in U.S.) UK: Strand, June 1910 (source for this book)
