Meet Mr Mulliner P. G. WODEHOUSE PENGUIN BOOKS Penguin Books Ltd, 27 Wrights Lane, London W8 5TZ (Publishing and Editorial) _and_ Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England (Distribution and Warehouse) Viking Penguin Inc., 40 West 23rd Street, New York, New York 10010, USA Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 2801 John Street, Markham, Ontario, Canada L3R 1B4 Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand First published by Herbert Jenkins 1927 Published in Penguin Books 1962 Reprinted 1967, 1975, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1988 Copyright 1927 by P. G. Wodehouse All rights reserved Printed and bound in Great Britain by Cox & Wyman Ltd, Reading Set in Monotype Garamond Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. TO THE EARL OF OXFORD AND ASQUITH CONTENTS 1. THE TRUTH ABOUT GEORGE 2. A SLICE OF LIFE 3. MULLINER'S BUCK-U-UPPO 4. THE BISHOP'S MOVE 5. CAME THE DAWN 6. THE STORY OF WILLIAM 7. PORTRAIT OF A DISCIPLINARIAN 8. THE ROMANCE OF A BULB-SQUEEZER 9. HONEYSUCKLE COTTAGE 1 THE TRUTH ABOUT GEORGE Two men were sitting in the bar-parlour of the Anglers' Rest as I entered it; and one of them, I gathered from his low, excited voice and wide gestures, was telling the other a story. I could hear nothing but an occasional 'Biggest I ever saw in my life!' and 'Fully as large as that!' but in such a place it was not difficult to imagine the rest; and when the second man, catching my eye, winked at me with a sort of humorous misery, I smiled sympathetically back at him. The action had the effect of establishing a bond between us; and when the story-teller finished his tale and left, he came over to my table as if answering a formal invitation. 'Dreadful liars some men are,' he said genially. 'Fishermen,' I suggested, 'are traditionally careless of the truth.'