“I have been asked,” repeated Mr. Faucitt, ignoring the unmannerly interruption [of who had asked him], which, indeed, he would have found it hard to answer, “to propose the health of our charming hostess (applause), coupled with the name of her brother, our old friend Fillmore Nicholas.”
The gentleman referred to, who sat at the speaker’s end of the table, acknowledged the tribute with a brief nod of the head. It was a nod of condescension; the nod of one who, conscious of being hedged about by social inferiors, nevertheless does his best to be not unkindly. And Sally, seeing it, debated in her mind for an instant the advisability of throwing an orange at her brother. There was one lying ready to her hand, and his glistening shirt-front offered an admirable mark; but she restrained herself. After all, if a hostess yields to her primitive impulses, what happens? Chaos. She had just frowned down the exuberance of the rebellious Murphys, and she felt that if, even with the highest motives, she began throwing fruit, her influence for good in that quarter would be weakened.
The Adventures of Sally by PG Wodehouse
The news tonight made me sick, so I read a book. I know that’s my response to everything, but there you go.
Not much to say about this, except it was nice to see Wodehouse write from the perspective of a woman for once. I love the Jeeves and Wooster stories, but women don’t usually come off very well in them, so I was curious how this would be. Turns out Sally’s quite lovely and well-rounded.
It went on a bit with some fat-shaming, but overall I liked it and it distracted me a bit. I liked Sally, her brother, and all the people in her life.