TheLadder/tools/story-to-pack/probe/nobody/claude/REFERENCE.html

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<h1>The Diary of a Nobody: reference groups</h1>
<p class="meta">George and Weedon Grossmith, 1892 (Project Gutenberg #1026). One diary: its 23 chapters are the "stories", 157 scenes cut by the same rule as <code>chunk.py</code>.
Summaries, predicaments, groups and options written by Claude by reading every scene: no local inference.
A comparison baseline, not a pack. Option moves give a direction only, never a number.</p>
<section><h2>G01 · Cheeked by younger colleagues</h2>
<p class="pred">Younger colleagues with a fraction of your service answer you with cheek and laugh behind your back, and the employer may be watching.</p>
<p class="meta">A long-serving senior wants respect from the juniors from cheeky younger colleagues. · 5 scenes from 4 stories
(Chapter 2: Tradesmen and the scraper still troublesome. Gowing rather tiresome wi, Chapter 3: A conversation with Mr. Merton on Society. Mr. and Mrs. James, of Sutt, Chapter 5: After the Mansion House Ball. Carrie offended. Gowing also offended. A, Chapter 18: Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am) · stage <b>low</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Remind them how many years you have served, and demand respect. <span class='src'>from scene 6</span><br><code>relationships.juniors -</code> <code>standing risk</code></li><li>Give them a look and say nothing. <span class='src'>from scene 7</span><br><code>composure +</code> <code>standing -</code></li><li>Threaten to report them to the employer. <span class='src'>from scene 19</span><br><code>relationships.juniors risk</code> <code>relationships.employer risk</code></li><li>Buy the clothes they wear, so they have less to laugh at. <span class='src'>from scene 36</span><br><code>money -</code> <code>standing risk</code></li><li>Laugh at yourself before they can, and get on with the work. <span class='src'>filled gap</span><br><code>tact +</code> <code>relationships.juniors +</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>6</b> · <i>Chapter 2: Tradesmen and the scraper still troublesome. Gowing rather tiresome wi</i> — A long-serving senior rebukes younger colleagues for lateness and is answered with open cheek by the newest of them.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter rebukes three late junior clerks, and Pitt, seventeen and six weeks in the firm, tells him to keep his hair on and that after twenty years he looks it; next morning a quarrel with the grocer&#x27;s boy makes Pooter miss his bus.</p></details><details><summary><b>7</b> · <i>Chapter 2: Tradesmen and the scraper still troublesome. Gowing rather tiresome wi</i> — A punctual senior is caught late on the one morning the employer checks, and the younger colleagues he scolded mock him openly.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter is late for the first time in his career on the one morning the principal checks, the others having been tipped off; a senior clerk saves him, Pitt jeers audibly at late head clerks, and Pooter&#x27;s silent look only makes the juniors laugh; the ironmonger has holed the gas-pipe.</p></details><details><summary><b>19</b> · <i>Chapter 3: A conversation with Mr. Merton on Society. Mr. and Mrs. James, of Sutt</i> — A senior&#x27;s threat to report a cheeky junior brings a humble apology, and an hour later a missile from the juniors&#x27; desks.</summary><p class="sum">Neither friend laughs; both take offence at a pun on their names and leave. At the office the cheeky junior Pitt apologises humbly, and an hour later Pooter is hit in the face by a ball of paper thrown by one of the clerks, who all look busy.</p></details><details><summary><b>36</b> · <i>Chapter 5: After the Mansion House Ball. Carrie offended. Gowing also offended. A</i> — After a younger colleague jeers at his clothes, a man buys the fashionable things the smarter young men at work are wearing.</summary><p class="sum">Carrie tells him his &#x27;Good old&#x27; is vulgar and decides their holiday herself; at the office Pitt calls &#x27;Hornpipe&#x27; at his loose trousers, so Pooter orders new ones and buys the coloured shirt and tan boots the smart clerks wear.</p></details><details><summary><b>108</b> · <i>Chapter 18: Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am</i> — A senior blamed by the employer for a noise is loudly named by a younger colleague, while his own son laughs nearby.</summary><p class="sum">A pen Gowing recommended leaks, and when Pooter bangs it on his desk Mr Perkupp shouts at the noise, supposing it is Pitt; Pitt gleefully says aloud that it is Mr Pooter and has been all morning, and Lupin laughs behind his desk; the shop will not take the pen back.</p></details></section><section><h2>G02 · A reward at work, and what it does at home</h2>
<p class="pred">After years of steady service the employer singles you out for an honour or a rise, and how you carry it home decides what it is worth.</p>
<p class="meta">A long-serving man wants to be recognised from the employer. · 7 scenes from 3 stories
(Chapter 4: The ball at the Mansion House., Chapter 14: Begin the year with an unexpected promotion at the office. I make two , Chapter 23: Lupin leaves us. We dine at his new apartments, and hear some extraord) · stage <b>middle</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Tell everyone at once, and send out for the good wine. <span class='src'>from scene 90</span><br><code>money -</code> <code>standing +</code> <code>relationships.spouse +</code></li><li>Ask the employer how to conduct yourself, and do exactly as told. <span class='src'>from scene 22</span><br><code>relationships.employer +</code> <code>tact +</code></li><li>Go and ask the employer what the reward is to be. <span class='src'>from scene 88</span><br><code>relationships.employer risk</code></li><li>Let your thanks go unspoken; he can see them. <span class='src'>from scene 155</span><br><code>relationships.employer +</code></li><li>Bank the rise and change nothing at home. <span class='src'>filled gap</span><br><code>money +</code> <code>composure +</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>21</b> · <i>Chapter 4: The ball at the Mansion House.</i> — A modest couple receive an invitation far above their usual station and are overjoyed, unsure even how to answer it.</summary><p class="sum">The Pooters are astounded and thrilled by an invitation to the Lord Mayor&#x27;s reception; they share a tender moment and a polka, the servant walks in on it, and Pooter decides to ask his principal how to reply.</p></details><details><summary><b>22</b> · <i>Chapter 4: The ball at the Mansion House.</i> — A man proud of a grand invitation learns his employer arranged it, and that a colleague he looks down on was asked too.</summary><p class="sum">Mr Perkupp tells Pooter he put his name forward himself, which deflates him; a vulgar head clerk says he was asked too and may not bother; Carrie&#x27;s mother returns the invitation stained with port; the tailor takes his pressed suit away because no one could pay a shilling.</p></details><details><summary><b>87</b> · <i>Chapter 14: Begin the year with an unexpected promotion at the office. I make two </i> — A long-serving man summoned by his employer fears the worst, and is told instead that his loyal years will be rewarded.</summary><p class="sum">Summoned without warning by Mr Perkupp, Pooter waits twenty minutes fearing the worst, then is told that a senior clerk is retiring and that after nearly twenty-one years he is to have a special promotion and a considerable rise.</p></details><details><summary><b>88</b> · <i>Chapter 14: Begin the year with an unexpected promotion at the office. I make two </i> — A man promised a reward at work waits in suspense, and when he finally goes to ask, the employer has half forgotten.</summary><p class="sum">Perkupp hurries off before Pooter can thank him; Carrie at once plans a chimney-glass and Pooter a new costume for her. Next day, in suspense, Pooter goes to ask about it and Perkupp has half forgotten and puts him off.</p></details><details><summary><b>90</b> · <i>Chapter 14: Begin the year with an unexpected promotion at the office. I make two </i> — A man given a large rise after long, loyal service celebrates at home and tells his son how steady industry is rewarded.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin calls Mutlar a blithering idiot and says Daisy will wait ten years. Perkupp tells Pooter his salary will rise by £100, far beyond the usual £10; Pooter sends for champagne and announces to Lupin that twenty-one years&#x27; industry has been rewarded.</p></details><details><summary><b>154</b> · <i>Chapter 23: Lupin leaves us. We dine at his new apartments, and hear some extraord</i> — A loyal man is offered, through a grand acquaintance, a chance to bring his employer more business than his son lost.</summary><p class="sum">At midnight Huttle tells Pooter a rich American friend wants to do large business in his line and that Franching recommended him; Pooter sees a chance to make up to Perkupp for the lost client, and dreams of Huttle offering him a crown he keeps trying to pass to his master.</p></details><details><summary><b>155</b> · <i>Chapter 23: Lupin leaves us. We dine at his new apartments, and hear some extraord</i> — A loyal man who has brought his employer valuable business is thanked with a gift that secures his home for life.</summary><p class="sum">Having written warning Lupin about his attentions to Mrs Posh, Pooter is thanked by Perkupp for his service to the firm and told Perkupp will buy the freehold of his house as a gift; he telegraphs Carrie and his friends and sends for champagne.</p></details></section><section><h2>G03 · Tradesmen and servants who show you no deference</h2>
<p class="pred">A tradesman or a servant treats you as no better than they are, and you must decide how much respect to insist on.</p>
<p class="meta">A respectable householder wants the deference due to him from tradesmen and servants. · 13 scenes from 9 stories
(Chapter 1: We settle down in our new home, and I resolve to keep a diary. Tradesm, Chapter 2: Tradesmen and the scraper still troublesome. Gowing rather tiresome wi, Chapter 4: The ball at the Mansion House., Chapter 5: After the Mansion House Ball. Carrie offended. Gowing also offended. A, Chapter 7: Home again. Mrs. James’ influence on Carrie. Can get nothing for Lupin, Chapter 8: Daisy Mutlar sole topic of conversation. Lupin’s new berth. Fireworks , Chapter 14: Begin the year with an unexpected promotion at the office. I make two , Chapter 18: Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am, Chapter 22: Master Percy Edgar Smith James. Mrs. James (of Sutton) visits us again) · stage <b>low</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Stand on your dignity and take your custom elsewhere. <span class='src'>from scene 3</span><br><code>relationships.tradesmen -</code> <code>money risk</code></li><li>Lose your temper and box their ears. <span class='src'>from scene 23</span><br><code>composure -</code> <code>standing -</code> <code>flags.lost_temper set</code></li><li>Declare you are master here and send them about their business. <span class='src'>from scene 53</span><br><code>relationships.servants -</code> <code>standing +</code></li><li>Pay what they ask, and call it a robbery. <span class='src'>from scene 33</span><br><code>money -</code> <code>relationships.tradesmen -</code></li><li>Be civil and firm, and let the familiarity pass. <span class='src'>filled gap</span><br><code>composure +</code> <code>tact +</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>3</b> · <i>Chapter 1: We settle down in our new home, and I resolve to keep a diary. Tradesm</i> — A respectable man who returns a tradesman&#x27;s bad goods is insulted at his own door as someone not worth serving.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter sends bad eggs back to the butterman and tells him not to call again; the butterman comes back drunk, abuses him at the door as a mere City clerk, and Pooter manages only a feeble retort.</p></details><details><summary><b>5</b> · <i>Chapter 2: Tradesmen and the scraper still troublesome. Gowing rather tiresome wi</i> — A tradesman whose custom was refused abuses a householder in front of the neighbours, and another talks him into a costlier job.</summary><p class="sum">The butcher Pooter did not engage abuses him in front of the neighbours and threatens to sue over the scraper; Pooter blames Carrie; a decorator who cannot match the stair paint talks him into repainting the whole staircase.</p></details><details><summary><b>12</b> · <i>Chapter 2: Tradesmen and the scraper still troublesome. Gowing rather tiresome wi</i> — A man who claims a well-stocked cellar to refuse an old friend&#x27;s offer is exposed when a servant brings in cheap drink.</summary><p class="sum">Declining Cummings&#x27; offer of his cousin&#x27;s whisky, Pooter claims his cellar is full, at which moment the servant brings in a cheap bottle from the grocer wrapped in newspaper and offers to fetch sherry at one-and-three.</p></details><details><summary><b>23</b> · <i>Chapter 4: The ball at the Mansion House.</i> — A man dressed for the grandest evening of his life loses his temper with a delivery boy and ends up bruised and torn.</summary><p class="sum">On the night the house is in uproar; answering the back door in full dress, Pooter has cabbages pushed at him by the greengrocer&#x27;s boy, boxes the boy&#x27;s ears, slips on the cabbage and ends up bleeding, smeared with coal and torn at the knee.</p></details><details><summary><b>25</b> · <i>Chapter 4: The ball at the Mansion House.</i> — At a grand reception a man is greeted with loud familiarity by a tradesman he employs, who turns out better connected than him.</summary><p class="sum">Carrie clings to him and people laugh; at supper Pooter is slapped on the back by his own ironmonger, Farmerson, who is breezily familiar and turns out to be an old friend of one of the sheriffs.</p></details><details><summary><b>27</b> · <i>Chapter 4: The ball at the Mansion House.</i> — A man showing off his dancing at a grand event falls flat with his wife, and a tradesman he employs makes fun of him.</summary><p class="sum">Waltzing in new boots, Pooter slips and brings Carrie down with him to general laughter; Farmerson jokes that they are too old for capers and plies him with drink, and cadges a lift home in their cab.</p></details><details><summary><b>30</b> · <i>Chapter 5: After the Mansion House Ball. Carrie offended. Gowing also offended. A</i> — A husband is told by his wife how he let a vulgar tradesman snub him in public and then fawned on him all evening.</summary><p class="sum">Carrie lists his sins: he let the vulgar ironmonger snub him, drank with him, gave him a lift and asked him in; Gowing then bursts in unannounced dressed as the Lord Mayor, and Pooter coldly rebukes him for the joke.</p></details><details><summary><b>33</b> · <i>Chapter 5: After the Mansion House Ball. Carrie offended. Gowing also offended. A</i> — A tradesman charges more to mend something than it cost new, and meets the customer&#x27;s complaint with open insolence.</summary><p class="sum">A pleasant evening of songs at the Cummingses&#x27;, where Pooter objects to one verse of Stillbrook&#x27;s comic song; then the shirtmaker charges more for mending the shirts than they cost new and answers Pooter&#x27;s complaint with insolence.</p></details><details><summary><b>48</b> · <i>Chapter 7: Home again. Mrs. James’ influence on Carrie. Can get nothing for Lupin</i> — A householder&#x27;s inquiry into a small household loss sets the servants and a tradesman blaming each other in a row on his doorstep.</summary><p class="sum">The charwoman blames the sweep; the sweep, too polite to rebuke, blames the servant, who rows with him on the soot-covered front steps; Lupin, given a latch-key, is never home.</p></details><details><summary><b>53</b> · <i>Chapter 8: Daisy Mutlar sole topic of conversation. Lupin’s new berth. Fireworks </i> — A father comes home to a shouting match between the servants and his son swearing before his mother, and insists he is master here.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin joins amateur theatricals against his father&#x27;s wishes. Pooter comes home to find the drunken charwoman and the servant screaming about the diary, and Lupin swearing in front of his mother that the diary is worthless; Pooter announces he is master of the house.</p></details><details><summary><b>92</b> · <i>Chapter 14: Begin the year with an unexpected promotion at the office. I make two </i> — A master rebukes a servant for small carelessness, and she answers that he is always complaining and bursts into tears.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin promises to follow only his employer&#x27;s tips; Gowing, having made £10 on one, invites the Pooters and Cummingses round. Pooter rebukes the servant for shaking crumbs on the carpet and runny eggs; she retorts that he is always complaining and cries, and he escapes to his bus.</p></details><details><summary><b>115</b> · <i>Chapter 18: Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am</i> — A man with no money for his fare is abused and manhandled, and the law standing by says he has only himself to blame.</summary><p class="sum">With no money left for the fare, Pooter is abused by the cabman, who pulls his beard; a policeman says he saw nothing and people should not ride without money; they walk two miles home in the rain and Pooter drafts a letter to the paper. Mrs James decorates the mantelpiece with toy insects as the fashion.</p></details><details><summary><b>142</b> · <i>Chapter 22: Master Percy Edgar Smith James. Mrs. James (of Sutton) visits us again</i> — A man demands compensation from a tradesman for spoiled goods, then learns they cost less than he was given and must refund the difference.</summary><p class="sum">At his first sitting the table spells part of an old aunt&#x27;s name, which Pooter finds curious. The laundress refunds ninepence for spoiled handkerchiefs; Pooter says it is not enough, until Carrie recalls they cost sixpence, and he must give threepence back. Lupin goes to stay with the Poshes.</p></details></section><section><h2>G04 · A falling-out with an old friend</h2>
<p class="pred">You and an old friend have fallen out, over a slight, a neglect or a liberty, and one of you will have to make the first move.</p>
<p class="meta">A old friend wants the friendship back, on his own terms from an aggrieved old friend. · 11 scenes from 6 stories
(Chapter 2: Tradesmen and the scraper still troublesome. Gowing rather tiresome wi, Chapter 5: After the Mansion House Ball. Carrie offended. Gowing also offended. A, Chapter 14: Begin the year with an unexpected promotion at the office. I make two , Chapter 15: Gowing explains his conduct. Lupin takes us for a drive, which we don’, Chapter 18: Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am, Chapter 23: Lupin leaves us. We dine at his new apartments, and hear some extraord) · stage <b>middle</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Write a letter so carefully worded that it apologises for you. <span class='src'>from scene 11</span><br><code>relationships.friends +</code> <code>standing -</code></li><li>Send a costly peace offering. <span class='src'>from scene 32</span><br><code>money -</code> <code>relationships.friends +</code></li><li>Say nothing, and wait for them to come to you. <span class='src'>from scene 10</span><br><code>composure +</code> <code>relationships.friends -</code></li><li>Take their flimsy excuse and laugh it off. <span class='src'>from scene 97</span><br><code>relationships.friends +</code> <code>tact +</code></li><li>Say plainly, once, what hurt you, and let it go. <span class='src'>filled gap</span><br><code>relationships.friends risk</code> <code>composure +</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>10</b> · <i>Chapter 2: Tradesmen and the scraper still troublesome. Gowing rather tiresome wi</i> — A man&#x27;s friends lie their way in where he has been turned away, and leave him waiting outside for an hour.</summary><p class="sum">At the inn gate Pooter honestly gives his home district and is refused as not a bona-fide traveller, while his friends lie and are admitted; they leave him waiting outside for nearly an hour, and he walks home in silence and says nothing to Carrie.</p></details><details><summary><b>11</b> · <i>Chapter 2: Tradesmen and the scraper still troublesome. Gowing rather tiresome wi</i> — A man slighted by his old friends ends up apologising to them himself, while telling himself he has generously forgiven them.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter drafts and tears up letters of reproach, then receives a sharp letter from Cummings demanding an explanation of Pooter&#x27;s conduct; his carefully worded reply amounts to an apology, and his friends take it as one.</p></details><details><summary><b>31</b> · <i>Chapter 5: After the Mansion House Ball. Carrie offended. Gowing also offended. A</i> — A man who improved an old friend&#x27;s belonging without asking is told it was a treasured keepsake and called a fool.</summary><p class="sum">Gowing finds his walking-stick enamelled black, says it was his late uncle&#x27;s and calls Pooter a bigger fool than he looks; the newspaper first misprints the Pooters&#x27; name and then mocks them as &#x27;Pewter&#x27; for writing in to be listed; Carrie is away and Gowing stays offended.</p></details><details><summary><b>32</b> · <i>Chapter 5: After the Mansion House Ball. Carrie offended. Gowing also offended. A</i> — A man buys an offended old friend a costly peace offering, then learns the friend never cared and the loss was trifling.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter buys Gowing a silver-mounted stick as a peace offering, meaning to understate its price to Carrie; Gowing replies he was never offended and the old stick cost a shilling. Pooter&#x27;s &#x27;frayed&#x27; pun is laughed at by the bus-driver and the office but not by the shirtmaker; evening games resume, Gowing overstepping good taste.</p></details><details><summary><b>93</b> · <i>Chapter 14: Begin the year with an unexpected promotion at the office. I make two </i> — A man is reproached by an old friend who was seriously ill and says none of his friends came near him or asked.</summary><p class="sum">A new chimney-glass is hung. Cummings appears after weeks away, having been seriously ill, and complains bitterly that no one came near him or asked after him, though it was in the cycling paper, and that illness shows who one&#x27;s true friends are.</p></details><details><summary><b>94</b> · <i>Chapter 14: Begin the year with an unexpected promotion at the office. I make two </i> — Guests arrive at an old friend&#x27;s home as invited, find nobody expecting them, and are left on the doorstep by a stranger.</summary><p class="sum">Gowing slaps the invalid Cummings on the back and jeers that he looks it, then invites them all round; when the Pooters arrive at his lodgings nobody expects them, a man in shirt-sleeves shuts the door on them, and Pooter spoils his gloves on fresh paint.</p></details><details><summary><b>95</b> · <i>Chapter 14: Begin the year with an unexpected promotion at the office. I make two </i> — An old friend who invited people round has gone off to a better invitation without a word, leaving them abused on his doorstep.</summary><p class="sum">The man abuses Pooter for scratching his paint and says Gowing has gone away to Croydon for the weekend; the lame Cummings arrives too, hears it, and strikes the ground with his stick, calling Gowing a scoundrel.</p></details><details><summary><b>96</b> · <i>Chapter 15: Gowing explains his conduct. Lupin takes us for a drive, which we don’</i> — Two men left standing on an old friend&#x27;s doorstep agree he has behaved like a cad, and wait to see if he will explain.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter frets over £20 he invested on Lupin&#x27;s advice, as Cummings has too; a fortnight on, Gowing has not explained himself, and when Cummings calls they agree Gowing has behaved like a cad.</p></details><details><summary><b>97</b> · <i>Chapter 15: Gowing explains his conduct. Lupin takes us for a drive, which we don’</i> — An old friend who stood people up breezes in with a flimsy excuse and a pun, and is forgiven by the evening&#x27;s end.</summary><p class="sum">Gowing breezes in, claims he posted a note cancelling the evening and puns about letters &#x27;miscarrying&#x27;; Pooter&#x27;s quip that he hopes Gowing will attend the next meeting sets everyone laughing. Lupin persuades Carrie to a Sunday drive in his trap, and Pooter comes along on the back seat.</p></details><details><summary><b>116</b> · <i>Chapter 18: Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am</i> — An old friend laid up again reproaches a man for never asking after him, while the man&#x27;s son runs out laughing at his fall.</summary><p class="sum">The next-door neighbour accuses Pooter of boring into his cistern and threatens a bill; Cummings, laid up again after a fall, is indignant when Lupin rushes out laughing and complains that once more nobody inquired after him; Carrie takes up manicure on Mrs James&#x27;s advice.</p></details><details><summary><b>149</b> · <i>Chapter 23: Lupin leaves us. We dine at his new apartments, and hear some extraord</i> — An old friend reproaches the household once more that nobody came near him when he was ill, and produces the proof in print.</summary><p class="sum">Cummings comes in pale, saying he has been ill again and not one friend came near him, and throws down the cycling paper&#x27;s paragraph on his accident as proof; they apologise and keep him to supper, and he says it is better without Lupin.</p></details></section><section><h2>G05 · Old friends who make free with your home</h2>
<p class="pred">Old friends treat your home, your table and your good nature as their own, and bring their jokes and their acquaintances with them.</p>
<p class="meta">A householder wants to be treated as a host, not a convenience from old friends who take liberties. · 8 scenes from 6 stories
(Chapter 1: We settle down in our new home, and I resolve to keep a diary. Tradesm, Chapter 6: The Unexpected Arrival Home of our Son, Willie Lupin Pooter., Chapter 11: We have a dose of Irving imitations. Make the acquaintance of a Mr. Pa, Chapter 13: I receive an insulting Christmas card. We spend a pleasant Christmas a, Chapter 18: Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am, Chapter 22: Master Percy Edgar Smith James. Mrs. James (of Sutton) visits us again) · stage <b>low</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Keep open house and put up with it. <span class='src'>from scene 68</span><br><code>money -</code> <code>relationships.friends +</code> <code>standing -</code></li><li>Speak your mind to the friend who brought the stranger. <span class='src'>from scene 70</span><br><code>relationships.friends -</code> <code>standing +</code></li><li>Tell them pointedly that you are engaged tomorrow. <span class='src'>from scene 69 <span class="warn">(outside this group)</span></span><br><code>tact +</code> <code>relationships.guests -</code></li><li>Threaten to end the evening if they cannot behave. <span class='src'>from scene 143</span><br><code>relationships.friends -</code> <code>flags.put_foot_down set</code></li><li>Laugh with them, and let them be the hosts next time. <span class='src'>filled gap</span><br><code>relationships.friends +</code> <code>money +</code> <code>tact +</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>1</b> · <i>Chapter 1: We settle down in our new home, and I resolve to keep a diary. Tradesm</i> — A contented householder tells his old friends to drop in whenever they like, and one of them only comes to complain.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter describes his contented evenings pottering about the house, promises an ironmonger his custom, and notes that his old friend Gowing dropped in only to complain of the smell of paint and leave.</p></details><details><summary><b>43</b> · <i>Chapter 6: The Unexpected Arrival Home of our Son, Willie Lupin Pooter.</i> — An old friend&#x27;s boisterous prank at a party sends everyone tumbling, hurts the wife, and costs the husband an expensive ride home.</summary><p class="sum">At the Cummingses&#x27; Gowing organises a silly lap-sitting game, then stands up so that everyone falls; Carrie hits her head on the fender and the party misses the last train, costing Pooter seven-and-six for a carriage.</p></details><details><summary><b>66</b> · <i>Chapter 11: We have a dose of Irving imitations. Make the acquaintance of a Mr. Pa</i> — Guests invite themselves back to a man&#x27;s home, and an old friend brings along a stranger without asking or apologising.</summary><p class="sum">Fosselton sprawls through supper, kicks Carrie and knocks over the fire-irons, then announces he will come back tomorrow in make-up; Gowing and Cummings invite themselves too, and next evening Gowing brings a silent, vulgar stranger, Padge, without asking or apologising.</p></details><details><summary><b>68</b> · <i>Chapter 11: We have a dose of Irving imitations. Make the acquaintance of a Mr. Pa</i> — A stranger an old friend brought uninvited returns alone, takes the best chair again, and the host cannot bring himself to object.</summary><p class="sum">Gowing stays away with a sore neck, but Padge comes again alone and takes the best chair; Carrie smooths things over; Cummings says the imitation is better than the original and Pooter disagrees.</p></details><details><summary><b>70</b> · <i>Chapter 11: We have a dose of Irving imitations. Make the acquaintance of a Mr. Pa</i> — An old friend coolly admits using a man&#x27;s home to repay a stranger&#x27;s hospitality, after making the man&#x27;s wife laugh at him.</summary><p class="sum">Gowing makes a joke about the odd sock that sets the laundress giggling and Carrie roaring, and Pooter thinks he is losing his sense of humour; Gowing coolly says he brought Padge to repay a dinner; Lupin shouts at Gowing for asking after Daisy.</p></details><details><summary><b>84</b> · <i>Chapter 13: I receive an insulting Christmas card. We spend a pleasant Christmas a</i> — A man confides a grievance to an old friend, who laughs that he did it himself and took the man&#x27;s head for a wall.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter confides the punch to Gowing as an old friend, and Gowing laughs that he hit something but thought it was a brick wall; Lupin boasts that he took Daisy&#x27;s stingy father down a peg.</p></details><details><summary><b>109</b> · <i>Chapter 18: Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am</i> — An old friend mocks the gift wine his host serves him, and somehow comes out ahead at cards though nobody else won.</summary><p class="sum">Gowing brings an invitation to a Volunteer ball; Pooter serves him a sparkling wine given by Mr James, which Gowing mocks and which is indeed sour; at cards the Pooters lose five shillings between them and Gowing somehow claims to have lost too.</p></details><details><summary><b>143</b> · <i>Chapter 22: Master Percy Edgar Smith James. Mrs. James (of Sutton) visits us again</i> — An old friend clowns through a solemn evening his host&#x27;s household cares about, and the host suspects him of cheating.</summary><p class="sum">Gowing joins the next séance and larks about as the table careers across the room; Pooter threatens to light the gas and suspects him of tricks; a spirit repeats &#x27;WARN&#x27;.</p></details></section><section><h2>G06 · A joke nobody laughs at</h2>
<p class="pred">You have thought of a joke you are sure is excellent, and the people you tell it to are busy, touchy or not listening.</p>
<p class="meta">A would-be wit wants a laugh from family and friends. · 6 scenes from 5 stories
(Chapter 2: Tradesmen and the scraper still troublesome. Gowing rather tiresome wi, Chapter 3: A conversation with Mr. Merton on Society. Mr. and Mrs. James, of Sutt, Chapter 14: Begin the year with an unexpected promotion at the office. I make two , Chapter 19: Meet Teddy Finsworth, an old schoolfellow. We have a pleasant and quie, Chapter 22: Master Percy Edgar Smith James. Mrs. James (of Sutton) visits us again) · stage <b>low</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Tell it, and laugh loud enough for everyone. <span class='src'>from scene 18</span><br><code>relationships.friends risk</code> <code>standing -</code></li><li>Repeat it, in case they missed it. <span class='src'>from scene 89</span><br><code>relationships.child -</code> <code>tact -</code></li><li>Enjoy it privately, and write it down. <span class='src'>from scene 8</span><br><code>composure +</code></li><li>Take the silence in good part and sit out. <span class='src'>from scene 144</span><br><code>standing -</code> <code>relationships.friends +</code></li><li>Keep it to yourself: the moment is wrong. <span class='src'>filled gap</span><br><code>tact +</code> <code>relationships.spouse +</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>8</b> · <i>Chapter 2: Tradesmen and the scraper still troublesome. Gowing rather tiresome wi</i> — A man makes a small joke at an old friend&#x27;s expense and is so delighted with it that he laughs half the night.</summary><p class="sum">Gowing gives Pooter a strong cigar that makes him ill, which he hides; when Gowing complains of dry rot Pooter tells him he is talking dry rot himself, and laughs at his own joke half the night.</p></details><details><summary><b>9</b> · <i>Chapter 2: Tradesmen and the scraper still troublesome. Gowing rather tiresome wi</i> — A husband calls his busy wife away to hear a pun and she tells him plainly it was not worth her time.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter calls Carrie from her housework to hear a pun about &#x27;boarders&#x27; and she tells him it is not worth interrupting her for; Gowing finds fault with the banisters; on Sunday Cummings and Gowing bring along a friend, Stillbrook, for a walk ending at a public house.</p></details><details><summary><b>18</b> · <i>Chapter 3: A conversation with Mr. Merton on Society. Mr. and Mrs. James, of Sutt</i> — A host makes a pun on his two old friends&#x27; names and laughs at it until the chair gives way beneath him.</summary><p class="sum">Cummings drops in and sneers at Pooter&#x27;s joke about being the dummy at whist; when Gowing arrives Pooter makes a pun on &#x27;Gowing always coming and Cummings always going&#x27;, and he and Carrie laugh until his chair breaks.</p></details><details><summary><b>89</b> · <i>Chapter 14: Begin the year with an unexpected promotion at the office. I make two </i> — A father repeats his little joke so that his grown son will laugh, and the son answers him with a sneer.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin urges a share tip on his father, who answers with a pun about &#x27;par&#x27; and &#x27;pa&#x27; and repeats it for his son&#x27;s benefit; Lupin calls him &#x27;Joe Miller&#x27;. Pooter learns he is to be a senior clerk, and at last raises Mr Mutlar&#x27;s letter with Lupin.</p></details><details><summary><b>120</b> · <i>Chapter 19: Meet Teddy Finsworth, an old schoolfellow. We have a pleasant and quie</i> — A guest makes a pun on a stranger&#x27;s name, repeats it twice with a little laugh, and nobody at all sees the joke.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter then jokes about a jolly portrait, which is of the host&#x27;s dead brother; he makes a pun on the name of a late guest, Mr Short, repeating it twice with a little laugh, and nobody sees it; Short proves coarse, and the hostess says he is &#x27;privileged&#x27;.</p></details><details><summary><b>144</b> · <i>Chapter 22: Master Percy Edgar Smith James. Mrs. James (of Sutton) visits us again</i> — An old friend&#x27;s pun at a solemn gathering is met with silence, and he is sent to sit out in disgrace.</summary><p class="sum">The table spells &#x27;SPOOF&#x27; and Pooter accuses Gowing, who puns that he is sorry he &#x27;spook&#x27;; nobody laughs and he is sent to sit out. The table then spells &#x27;NIPUL&#x27; (Lupin backwards) and says he will be very rich.</p></details></section><section><h2>G07 · A mishap at the very moment of dignity</h2>
<p class="pred">Just as you mean to impress or rebuke someone, a small accident of your own making turns you into the joke.</p>
<p class="meta">A man on his dignity wants to be taken seriously from the onlookers. · 6 scenes from 6 stories
(Chapter 1: We settle down in our new home, and I resolve to keep a diary. Tradesm, Chapter 3: A conversation with Mr. Merton on Society. Mr. and Mrs. James, of Sutt, Chapter 7: Home again. Mrs. James’ influence on Carrie. Can get nothing for Lupin, Chapter 8: Daisy Mutlar sole topic of conversation. Lupin’s new berth. Fireworks , Chapter 11: We have a dose of Irving imitations. Make the acquaintance of a Mr. Pa, Chapter 12: A serious discussion concerning the use and value of my diary. Lupin’s) · stage <b>low</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Carry on with your speech as if nothing had happened. <span class='src'>from scene 47</span><br><code>composure +</code> <code>standing -</code></li><li>Give up the moment rather than face them looking foolish. <span class='src'>from scene 71</span><br><code>standing -</code> <code>relationships.betters -</code></li><li>Pay for the damage, to show you are a gentleman. <span class='src'>from scene 76</span><br><code>money -</code> <code>standing +</code></li><li>Write a cutting letter about it afterwards. <span class='src'>from scene 16</span><br><code>standing -</code> <code>flags.cutting_letter set</code></li><li>Laugh at yourself first. <span class='src'>filled gap</span><br><code>composure +</code> <code>standing +</code> <code>tact +</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>4</b> · <i>Chapter 1: We settle down in our new home, and I resolve to keep a diary. Tradesm</i> — A man who means to impress an important visitor with his front entrance cannot get it open and must take him round the side.</summary><p class="sum">The butterman apologises with a pound of butter and is forgiven; Pooter tries to show off his front door to the curate, but it will not open and the curate tears his trousers on the scraper at the side door; the curate asks him to take the collection plate round, which Pooter takes as a great compliment.</p></details><details><summary><b>16</b> · <i>Chapter 3: A conversation with Mr. Merton on Society. Mr. and Mrs. James, of Sutt</i> — A host humiliated in front of his guests writes a cutting complaint to the acquaintance responsible, and misspells the very word that mattered.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter&#x27;s clip-on tie falls into the pit and is trodden on, James remarks that his beard hides its absence, and Pooter spends the play with his chin down; next day he writes Merton a cutting letter and misspells &#x27;appreciate&#x27; in it.</p></details><details><summary><b>47</b> · <i>Chapter 7: Home again. Mrs. James’ influence on Carrie. Can get nothing for Lupin</i> — A man demands to know who destroyed his cherished private record, and his cutting retort is spoiled when he smashes a treasured gift.</summary><p class="sum">Carrie says the lost diary pages are his own fault; his smart retort is spoiled when he knocks over and smashes a wedding-present vase. The servant blames the charwoman, who denies touching the book; meanwhile Mr Perkupp writes that he may have a place for Lupin.</p></details><details><summary><b>51</b> · <i>Chapter 8: Daisy Mutlar sole topic of conversation. Lupin’s new berth. Fireworks </i> — A guest who tries to help his host&#x27;s prized display along knocks it over, and the whole party turns on him.</summary><p class="sum">At the Cummingses&#x27; fireworks Pooter burns his fingers on Gowing&#x27;s advice, then taps the host&#x27;s stalled seven-shilling wheel off its stake and is stormed at by everyone; he and Carrie argue over whether she or the girl&#x27;s mother should call first.</p></details><details><summary><b>71</b> · <i>Chapter 11: We have a dose of Irving imitations. Make the acquaintance of a Mr. Pa</i> — A man flattered that a lady of high standing stops to speak to him loses the moment chasing his hat through the mud.</summary><p class="sum">After church a grand lady of the parish stops to speak to Pooter, but his hat blows into the muddy road and by the time he retrieves it she has walked on with her smart friends; that evening an insolent letter arrives from Burwin-Fosselton.</p></details><details><summary><b>76</b> · <i>Chapter 12: A serious discussion concerning the use and value of my diary. Lupin’s</i> — A customer who has just remarked on others&#x27; carelessness knocks over a costly display, and feels obliged to buy the damaged goods.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin refuses to come to the family Christmas with a gloomy speech about snivelling relations; in a crowded card shop Pooter remarks on customers&#x27; carelessness and at once knocks over a pile of expensive boxed cards, and under the manager&#x27;s pointed look feels obliged to buy some.</p></details></section><section><h2>G08 · Keeping up appearances on a small income</h2>
<p class="pred">The people you want to keep up with spend and dress as you cannot afford to, and there is a cheap way to seem as if you can.</p>
<p class="meta">A householder of modest means wants to look respectable from fashionable friends and acquaintances. · 5 scenes from 5 stories
(Chapter 3: A conversation with Mr. Merton on Society. Mr. and Mrs. James, of Sutt, Chapter 5: After the Mansion House Ball. Carrie offended. Gowing also offended. A, Chapter 10: Reflections. I make another Good Joke. Am annoyed at the constant serv, Chapter 12: A serious discussion concerning the use and value of my diary. Lupin’s, Chapter 18: Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am) · stage <b>low</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Say you despise such things, which is cheaper than having them. <span class='src'>from scene 13</span><br><code>money +</code> <code>standing risk</code> <code>flags.proud_of_plainness set</code></li><li>Decline the invitation, and call it a dislike of society. <span class='src'>from scene 62</span><br><code>money +</code> <code>relationships.acquaintance -</code></li><li>Buy the finery to keep up. <span class='src'>from scene 37</span><br><code>money -</code> <code>standing +</code></li><li>Doctor the price so the present looks dearer. <span class='src'>from scene 77</span><br><code>standing +</code> <code>flags.faked_it set</code></li><li>Live plainly and say so without apology. <span class='src'>filled gap</span><br><code>composure +</code> <code>standing -</code> <code>money +</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>13</b> · <i>Chapter 3: A conversation with Mr. Merton on Society. Mr. and Mrs. James, of Sutt</i> — A modest householder who claims to scorn fashionable society is flattered by a new acquaintance into buying drink on promised favours.</summary><p class="sum">Cummings brings his wine-merchant friend Merton, who agrees the Pooters are no swells; Pooter declares they avoid Society because they do not care for it, and Merton flatters him into ordering a dozen whisky and promises free theatre passes anywhere in London.</p></details><details><summary><b>37</b> · <i>Chapter 5: After the Mansion House Ball. Carrie offended. Gowing also offended. A</i> — A couple spend on holiday finery to keep up with a fashionable friend, and then the lodgings they booked are given to others.</summary><p class="sum">Carrie buys an absurdly long parasol because Mrs James has a longer one, and Pooter buys a straw sun-helmet and other holiday finery; then the landlady writes that she has let the whole house to another party.</p></details><details><summary><b>62</b> · <i>Chapter 10: Reflections. I make another Good Joke. Am annoyed at the constant serv</i> — A couple decline a slight acquaintance&#x27;s invitation, telling themselves they dislike society when they mainly dislike buying a present.</summary><p class="sum">Gowing praises the party, then shouts in front of the servant that the blancmange is Wednesday&#x27;s leftovers; the Pooters decline a slight acquaintance&#x27;s wedding because it would mean a present, calling it a distaste for Society, and Lupin makes a cynical speech about weddings.</p></details><details><summary><b>77</b> · <i>Chapter 12: A serious discussion concerning the use and value of my diary. Lupin’s</i> — A son advises his father to alter the prices on cheap gifts so that the recipients think he paid five times as much.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter finds a vulgar card among those he bought; Carrie remarks that going into Society means sending two dozen cards; Lupin advises his father to alter the pencilled prices on the backs so people think he paid five times as much.</p></details><details><summary><b>110</b> · <i>Chapter 18: Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am</i> — A couple dress in their best for a function they think fashionable, hoping to meet the employer, while their son says it is common.</summary><p class="sum">The neighbours&#x27; boys throw bones over the fence and pull faces whenever the Pooters have guests; the servant spoils the sauce. For the ball Pooter has Carrie wear her Mansion House dress in case Mr Perkupp is there, and Lupin says he hears it is a &#x27;bounders&#x27; ball&#x27;.</p></details></section><section><h2>G09 · Playing the host beyond your means</h2>
<p class="pred">You want to play the generous host, or treat someone who matters, and your purse, your house or your arrangements are not up to it.</p>
<p class="meta">A would-be host wants to treat them handsomely from the guests he wants to impress. · 7 scenes from 4 stories
(Chapter 3: A conversation with Mr. Merton on Society. Mr. and Mrs. James, of Sutt, Chapter 5: After the Mansion House Ball. Carrie offended. Gowing also offended. A, Chapter 9: Our first important Party. Old Friends and New Friends. Gowing is a li, Chapter 18: Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am) · stage <b>low</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Rely on a favour promised by a new acquaintance. <span class='src'>from scene 14</span><br><code>money +</code> <code>standing risk</code></li><li>Invite them home on the spur of the moment, and improvise. <span class='src'>from scene 34</span><br><code>relationships.spouse -</code> <code>standing risk</code></li><li>Help everyone lavishly, and trust that it is all provided. <span class='src'>from scene 112</span><br><code>money risk</code> <code>relationships.guests +</code></li><li>Pay what you must, and hide the damage from your wife. <span class='src'>from scene 114</span><br><code>money -</code> <code>relationships.spouse +</code> <code>flags.hid_the_bill set</code></li><li>Offer a plain evening you can afford, and say so. <span class='src'>filled gap</span><br><code>tact +</code> <code>money +</code> <code>standing -</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>14</b> · <i>Chapter 3: A conversation with Mr. Merton on Society. Mr. and Mrs. James, of Sutt</i> — A man sets out to treat his wife&#x27;s old friends to an evening out, relying on free tickets promised by a new acquaintance.</summary><p class="sum">Carrie wants to treat her old school friend and her husband, the Jameses, to the theatre, so Pooter asks Merton for passes; Merton sends seats for a minor theatre along with his bill, and Mr James insists on paying the bus fares.</p></details><details><summary><b>15</b> · <i>Chapter 3: A conversation with Mr. Merton on Society. Mr. and Mrs. James, of Sutt</i> — A host finds his free tickets refused at the door in front of his guests, and one guest quietly pays for better seats.</summary><p class="sum">At the theatre the passes are refused as out of date; while Pooter argues with the manager, James quietly pays for a private box for all four.</p></details><details><summary><b>34</b> · <i>Chapter 5: After the Mansion House Ball. Carrie offended. Gowing also offended. A</i> — A man impulsively invites a grander acquaintance home, and finds the door locked, no help in the house and nothing to eat.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter impulsively invites Franching, a man of some style, home to supper; Franching insists on a cab, nobody answers the front door, Pooter climbs in through the kitchen window, and Carrie reminds him it is the servant&#x27;s day off and there is no food, so he runs out for chops.</p></details><details><summary><b>60</b> · <i>Chapter 9: Our first important Party. Old Friends and New Friends. Gowing is a li</i> — A man has nothing left to offer his employer at his own party, and the employer kindly leaves after a few minutes.</summary><p class="sum">The supper table is stripped bare and even the soda-water is gone; Mr Perkupp graciously declines port, says he is pleased to see them at home, leaves after minutes and tells Pooter to come in late tomorrow; Pooter thinks the party a failure, Carrie says it was a success, and they dance.</p></details><details><summary><b>112</b> · <i>Chapter 18: Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am</i> — A guest at a grand function generously helps everyone around him to food and wine, believing it is all provided free.</summary><p class="sum">In the empty supper-room Pooter helps Carrie, a new acquaintance, Mrs Lupkin, Padge and several civil strangers to champagne, pie and ices, thinking himself recognised from the City and that civility costs nothing.</p></details><details><summary><b>113</b> · <i>Chapter 18: Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am</i> — A man who played the generous host at a function is handed the bill for everyone&#x27;s supper and cannot quite pay it.</summary><p class="sum">The others go to dance; the waiter refuses Pooter&#x27;s shilling tip and presents a bill for £3 0s 6d, the invitation not covering refreshments; Pooter turns out his pockets and is nine shillings short, and the manager takes his card.</p></details><details><summary><b>114</b> · <i>Chapter 18: Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am</i> — A man humiliated by an unexpected bill hides it from his wife so as not to spoil her evening.</summary><p class="sum">Deeply humiliated, Pooter hides the bill from Carrie so as not to spoil her evening; Mrs Lupkin presses them to come and stay with her at the seaside and they accept; in pouring rain they find a cab willing to take them only part of the way.</p></details></section><section><h2>G10 · Out of your depth among your betters</h2>
<p class="pred">You are a guest among people above your station, you know nobody, and every remark you make seems to be the wrong one.</p>
<p class="meta">A modest guest wants to pass muster from grander hosts and guests. · 8 scenes from 5 stories
(Chapter 4: The ball at the Mansion House., Chapter 18: Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am, Chapter 19: Meet Teddy Finsworth, an old schoolfellow. We have a pleasant and quie, Chapter 20: Dinner at Franching’s to meet Mr. Hardfur Huttle., Chapter 23: Lupin leaves us. We dine at his new apartments, and hear some extraord) · stage <b>middle</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Accept every invitation from above: you cannot afford to offend. <span class='src'>from scene 123</span><br><code>relationships.betters +</code> <code>money -</code></li><li>Arrive late, to seem fashionable. <span class='src'>from scene 111</span><br><code>standing risk</code></li><li>Make conversation about what is in front of you, and hope it lands. <span class='src'>from scene 119</span><br><code>tact -</code> <code>relationships.host -</code></li><li>Stay close to your wife and say little. <span class='src'>from scene 24</span><br><code>relationships.spouse +</code> <code>composure +</code></li><li>Ask your host about his things before you give opinions on them. <span class='src'>filled gap</span><br><code>tact +</code> <code>relationships.host +</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>24</b> · <i>Chapter 4: The ball at the Mansion House.</i> — A couple at a grand reception above their station find that nobody there knows them, or the man who got them invited.</summary><p class="sum">Carrie looks lovely in a borrowed fan and lace; at the Mansion House Pooter speaks briefly to the Lord Mayor and is dismayed that he has never heard of Mr Perkupp, while Carrie keeps saying what a pity it is they know nobody.</p></details><details><summary><b>111</b> · <i>Chapter 18: Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am</i> — A couple arrive late to seem fashionable at a function far from home, find they know nobody, and welcome an acquaintance they dislike.</summary><p class="sum">Arriving an hour late to be fashionable after a long search for the hall, Pooter underpays the grumbling cabman, knows no one among the uniforms, and is glad to be greeted by Padge.</p></details><details><summary><b>118</b> · <i>Chapter 19: Meet Teddy Finsworth, an old schoolfellow. We have a pleasant and quie</i> — A man is hailed by an old schoolfellow who boasts of his own importance and presses him to dine with grander relations.</summary><p class="sum">An old schoolfellow, Teddy Finsworth, hails Pooter in the street, boasts that his provincial post is grander than any in London, and presses the Pooters to Sunday dinner at his well-to-do uncle&#x27;s; Carrie is reluctant but they accept and cancel their own joint.</p></details><details><summary><b>119</b> · <i>Chapter 19: Meet Teddy Finsworth, an old schoolfellow. We have a pleasant and quie</i> — A guest in a grander house criticises a portrait to his host and learns that it shows the host&#x27;s dead relative.</summary><p class="sum">They arrive hot and late and the collie muddies Carrie&#x27;s new skirt; the uncle shows off pictures bought cheap that he has been told are valuable, and Pooter remarks that the face in a crayon portrait looks pinched, to learn it was drawn after death of the host&#x27;s sister-in-law.</p></details><details><summary><b>121</b> · <i>Chapter 19: Meet Teddy Finsworth, an old schoolfellow. We have a pleasant and quie</i> — A guest in a grander house is harassed by the family&#x27;s pets, and the hostess says they always do that to visitors.</summary><p class="sum">Under the table one dog snaps at Pooter&#x27;s boots and another licks all the blacking off them, which the hostess says it always does to visitors; port on beer makes him sleepy, his school reminiscences send everyone to sleep, and people giggle at his dull boots on the way home.</p></details><details><summary><b>123</b> · <i>Chapter 20: Dinner at Franching’s to meet Mr. Hardfur Huttle.</i> — A couple invited at the last moment to fill empty places at a wealthier man&#x27;s dinner accept, since they cannot afford to offend him.</summary><p class="sum">Franching invites the Pooters at a few hours&#x27; notice to fill two empty places at a dinner for a celebrated American writer; Pooter overrides Carrie&#x27;s objections because Franching is rich and influential, economises on the telegram, and they arrive too early.</p></details><details><summary><b>124</b> · <i>Chapter 20: Dinner at Franching’s to meet Mr. Hardfur Huttle.</i> — A modest guest at a distinguished dinner knows nobody, makes a tactless remark to his host, and sits silent while a celebrity talks.</summary><p class="sum">The party is distinguished, with a hired waiter, flowers and champagne; Pooter knows nobody, tells his host he prefers having no lady to take in, then realises it was uncomplimentary; he sits by a deaf lady while Hardfur Huttle does all the talking.</p></details><details><summary><b>151</b> · <i>Chapter 23: Lupin leaves us. We dine at his new apartments, and hear some extraord</i> — Parents dine at their son&#x27;s new rooms and find the evening far grander than he warned them, wrongly dressed and fed late.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin invites his parents to dinner at eight at his new rooms and waves off their wish to dine earlier; Pooter disapproves of Lupin&#x27;s familiarity with the married Daisy. The dinner proves full dress, which nobody told them, and starts late.</p></details></section><section><h2>G11 · Told your steady life is mediocre</h2>
<p class="pred">Someone cleverer or richer tells you that your safe, respectable, modest life is the mark of a nobody.</p>
<p class="meta">A contented man wants to think his life worthwhile from brilliant or wealthy scorners. · 7 scenes from 4 stories
(Chapter 11: We have a dose of Irving imitations. Make the acquaintance of a Mr. Pa, Chapter 20: Dinner at Franching’s to meet Mr. Hardfur Huttle., Chapter 21: Lupin is discharged. We are in great trouble. Lupin gets engaged elsew, Chapter 23: Lupin leaves us. We dine at his new apartments, and hear some extraord) · stage <b>middle</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Say you are not competent to offer an opinion. <span class='src'>from scene 126</span><br><code>standing -</code> <code>composure +</code></li><li>Refuse, in writing, to be drawn into the argument. <span class='src'>from scene 69 <span class="warn">(outside this group)</span></span><br><code>composure +</code> <code>relationships.acquaintance -</code></li><li>Tell yourself you are happy because you are not ambitious. <span class='src'>from scene 128</span><br><code>composure +</code> <code>flags.content set</code></li><li>Wonder, for once, whether money is fairly shared. <span class='src'>from scene 153</span><br><code>flags.doubts set</code></li><li>Answer that a steady life is a choice, and say why. <span class='src'>filled gap</span><br><code>standing +</code> <code>tact +</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>72</b> · <i>Chapter 11: We have a dose of Irving imitations. Make the acquaintance of a Mr. Pa</i> — A young man who scorns a respectable older man&#x27;s steady working life writes to tell him their lives are worlds apart.</summary><p class="sum">Fosselton&#x27;s letter tells Pooter to take his defeat gracefully, sets his own art above Pooter&#x27;s &#x27;life among ledgers&#x27;, and announces he will go on the stage and reach the top.</p></details><details><summary><b>125</b> · <i>Chapter 20: Dinner at Franching’s to meet Mr. Hardfur Huttle.</i> — A brilliant guest at a grand dinner mocks respectable middle ways, then turns and asks the modest man beside him to agree.</summary><p class="sum">Huttle dazzles the table with &#x27;unorthodox&#x27; opinions, keeps the ladies from withdrawing, and declares that the &#x27;happy medium&#x27; means miserable mediocrity and respectability means insipidness, then asks Pooter whether that is not so.</p></details><details><summary><b>126</b> · <i>Chapter 20: Dinner at Franching’s to meet Mr. Hardfur Huttle.</i> — A modest guest hears a celebrated talker sneer at exactly his kind of man and his clothes, and has no answer.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter can only say he is not competent to offer an opinion; Huttle goes on to scorn the half-hearted man in a suburban villa &#x27;with a soft beard and a made tie that hooks on&#x27;, and Pooter, who wears one, keeps glancing at himself in the glass.</p></details><details><summary><b>128</b> · <i>Chapter 20: Dinner at Franching’s to meet Mr. Hardfur Huttle.</i> — A contented man tells himself he is happy because he is not ambitious, and hopes his son will follow in his steps.</summary><p class="sum">At home Carrie says Huttle is just like Lupin; Pooter lies awake reflecting that such ideas make or break men, that he himself is happy because he is not ambitious, and that Lupin, now at Perkupp&#x27;s, seems content to follow his father&#x27;s steps.</p></details><details><summary><b>136</b> · <i>Chapter 21: Lupin is discharged. We are in great trouble. Lupin gets engaged elsew</i> — A father whose son has prospered by defying everything he believes in is congratulated on the boy by his old friends.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin whoops, jumps a chair and rumples his father&#x27;s hair before going out to dine with the Poshes; Gowing and Cummings congratulate Pooter, saying the boy has more in his head than the three of them, and Carrie calls him a second Hardfur Huttle.</p></details><details><summary><b>148</b> · <i>Chapter 23: Lupin leaves us. We dine at his new apartments, and hear some extraord</i> — A son moves out to rooms he can barely afford in a better district, telling his parents their neighbourhood is beneath him.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin moves out to furnished rooms in a smart district near the Poshes at half his salary, saying a good address never loses and his parents&#x27; suburb is &#x27;off&#x27;; Gowing remarks the house feels peaceful again.</p></details><details><summary><b>153</b> · <i>Chapter 23: Lupin leaves us. We dine at his new apartments, and hear some extraord</i> — A modest man hears that his son&#x27;s rich friend could buy his employer&#x27;s whole firm, and wonders for once if money is fairly shared.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin tells his father Posh is worth thousands and could buy up Perkupp&#x27;s firm over his head with ready cash; Pooter, for the first time, wonders whether money is fairly divided. At home a cab is waiting with an urgent summons from Hardfur Huttle.</p></details></section><section><h2>G12 · A tiff at home</h2>
<p class="pred">You and your wife have flared up over something small, and each of you is sure the other started it.</p>
<p class="meta">A husband wants peace, and to be in the right from his wife. · 8 scenes from 6 stories
(Chapter 1: We settle down in our new home, and I resolve to keep a diary. Tradesm, Chapter 3: A conversation with Mr. Merton on Society. Mr. and Mrs. James, of Sutt, Chapter 4: The ball at the Mansion House., Chapter 5: After the Mansion House Ball. Carrie offended. Gowing also offended. A, Chapter 10: Reflections. I make another Good Joke. Am annoyed at the constant serv, Chapter 13: I receive an insulting Christmas card. We spend a pleasant Christmas a) · stage <b>low</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Insist you were in the right, calmly and at length. <span class='src'>from scene 29</span><br><code>relationships.spouse -</code> <code>standing risk</code></li><li>Dine out, and leave a peace offering on her table. <span class='src'>from scene 35</span><br><code>money -</code> <code>relationships.spouse +</code></li><li>Say it is merely a matter of taste. <span class='src'>from scene 17</span><br><code>relationships.spouse -</code></li><li>Hold your tongue and let it pass. <span class='src'>archetype</span><br><code>composure +</code> <code>relationships.spouse +</code></li><li>Admit you drank more than you meant, and apologise. <span class='src'>filled gap</span><br><code>relationships.spouse +</code> <code>standing -</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>2</b> · <i>Chapter 1: We settle down in our new home, and I resolve to keep a diary. Tradesm</i> — A husband and wife each arrange the household&#x27;s buying without consulting the other, and both orders turn up at the door.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter chooses a butcher while Carrie, without consulting him, chooses another, so two shoulders of mutton arrive; Cummings and Gowing both trip over the boot-scraper and Pooter makes a pun about it.</p></details><details><summary><b>17</b> · <i>Chapter 3: A conversation with Mr. Merton on Society. Mr. and Mrs. James, of Sutt</i> — A husband seized by a home-improvement craze redecorates without asking his wife, and dismisses everyone else&#x27;s opinion as bad taste.</summary><p class="sum">Carrie proposes making it up to the Jameses with a card evening; Pooter takes up enamel paint and paints flower-pots, the servant&#x27;s furniture, the coal-scuttle and at last the bath red, dismissing the servant&#x27;s and Carrie&#x27;s objections.</p></details><details><summary><b>26</b> · <i>Chapter 4: The ball at the Mansion House.</i> — A man flattered to be introduced to a dignitary leaves his wife standing alone in the crowd, and she lets him know it.</summary><p class="sum">Farmerson introduces him to the sheriff without even a &#x27;Mister&#x27;, and Pooter is honoured to drink a glass with him; Carrie, left standing alone, is sarcastic, and he takes her off to dance.</p></details><details><summary><b>28</b> · <i>Chapter 5: After the Mansion House Ball. Carrie offended. Gowing also offended. A</i> — A husband suffering after a grand evening finds his wife coldly silent with him, and cannot see what he has done wrong.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter wakes ill after the ball and blames the lobster mayonnaise; Carrie answers him sharply, says champagne never did agree with him, walks out mid-sentence and goes to bed without saying good-night.</p></details><details><summary><b>29</b> · <i>Chapter 5: After the Mansion House Ball. Carrie offended. Gowing also offended. A</i> — A husband who expects an apology from his wife is instead called to account for his drinking and fawning at a grand event.</summary><p class="sum">The local paper&#x27;s list of ball guests leaves the Pooters out but names Farmerson; Pooter writes to complain. When he asks Carrie to explain her conduct, she demands an explanation of his, hints he was drunk, and sneers at his new friend the ironmonger.</p></details><details><summary><b>35</b> · <i>Chapter 5: After the Mansion House Ball. Carrie offended. Gowing also offended. A</i> — A husband and wife keep flaring into quarrels over nothing, and he avoids home for an evening and brings back a peace offering.</summary><p class="sum">The Pooters keep quarrelling at meals; Carrie jibes at his late father&#x27;s money troubles and ends in tears. His principal orders him to take his holiday early; he dines out with Franching to avoid home, leaves Carrie a silver bangle, and bites back an argument about her holiday dress.</p></details><details><summary><b>61</b> · <i>Chapter 10: Reflections. I make another Good Joke. Am annoyed at the constant serv</i> — A man who drank too much at his own party insists to his wife he barely touched it, then cheers himself with a pun.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter wakes parched after dreaming the party was a failure; Carrie says champagne never agrees with him, and he insists he drank only port; he greets Lupin&#x27;s hangover with a &#x27;parachute&#x27; pun and they both roar.</p></details><details><summary><b>86</b> · <i>Chapter 13: I receive an insulting Christmas card. We spend a pleasant Christmas a</i> — A husband and wife waiting up for their absent son quarrel over nothing and miss the moment they always kept together.</summary><p class="sum">Waiting for Lupin on New Year&#x27;s Eve in a fog, Pooter and Carrie argue whether the new bottle is whisky or brandy and miss seeing the New Year in for the first time in their marriage; Lupin comes home at two, saying he got lost.</p></details></section><section><h2>G13 · Nobody at home takes you seriously</h2>
<p class="pred">Your wife, your son and your friends have stopped taking you seriously, and your opinions and pastimes are laughed at in your own house.</p>
<p class="meta">A head of the household wants to be listened to from his family. · 7 scenes from 4 stories
(Chapter 6: The Unexpected Arrival Home of our Son, Willie Lupin Pooter., Chapter 12: A serious discussion concerning the use and value of my diary. Lupin’s, Chapter 19: Meet Teddy Finsworth, an old schoolfellow. We have a pleasant and quie, Chapter 22: Master Percy Edgar Smith James. Mrs. James (of Sutton) visits us again) · stage <b>middle</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Declare that you are master in this house. <span class='src'>from scene 147</span><br><code>standing risk</code> <code>relationships.spouse -</code> <code>flags.put_foot_down set</code></li><li>Vow never to mention it again. <span class='src'>from scene 122</span><br><code>relationships.family -</code> <code>composure -</code></li><li>Refuse to take part, and sit somewhere else. <span class='src'>from scene 140</span><br><code>relationships.spouse -</code></li><li>Give way, and treat them as they want to be treated. <span class='src'>from scene 42</span><br><code>relationships.child +</code> <code>standing -</code></li><li>Join in for once, on their terms. <span class='src'>from scene 141 <span class="warn">(outside this group)</span></span><br><code>relationships.spouse +</code> <code>composure +</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>42</b> · <i>Chapter 6: The Unexpected Arrival Home of our Son, Willie Lupin Pooter.</i> — A father&#x27;s disapproval of his grown son&#x27;s habits is overruled by his wife, and his peace offering is laughed at.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin mocks his parents&#x27; boat trip and goes off to play billiards with Gowing despite his father&#x27;s disapproval; Carrie tells Pooter to stop treating Lupin as a child, so Pooter offers him a cigar, which Lupin dismisses as twopenny and replaces with a far stronger one.</p></details><details><summary><b>74</b> · <i>Chapter 12: A serious discussion concerning the use and value of my diary. Lupin’s</i> — A husband reads his wife his cherished writing and finds she was not listening, because everything in the house now turns on the son.</summary><p class="sum">With Lupin&#x27;s engagement broken off, the house is gloomy; Pooter reads Carrie extracts from his diary and she walks out, later admitting she was not listening because of Lupin&#x27;s shirts; Pooter complains that everything is Lupin, and notes his friends rarely call now.</p></details><details><summary><b>75</b> · <i>Chapter 12: A serious discussion concerning the use and value of my diary. Lupin’s</i> — A man who hopes his private writings might one day be published is laughed at by his wife and his son.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin is impossible about Daisy; when Pooter says the diary might one day be published, Carrie and Lupin burst out laughing, Carrie apologising and Lupin jeering it might fetch a price from a butterman as wrapping paper.</p></details><details><summary><b>122</b> · <i>Chapter 19: Meet Teddy Finsworth, an old schoolfellow. We have a pleasant and quie</i> — A man who tells his family and old friends about a vivid dream is snubbed by every one of them at once.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter tells Lupin, Gowing, Cummings and Carrie about a vivid dream of burning ice; Lupin calls it rot, Gowing says nothing is duller than other people&#x27;s dreams, Cummings agrees, Carrie says he tells her one every morning, and they all roar; he vows never to tell another.</p></details><details><summary><b>139</b> · <i>Chapter 22: Master Percy Edgar Smith James. Mrs. James (of Sutton) visits us again</i> — A husband tries to forbid a fashionable craze his wife&#x27;s friend has brought into the house, and is outargued in his own parlour.</summary><p class="sum">Mrs James arrives and takes over, setting up table-turning; Pooter forbids it as he did years ago, and when she presses him to say how it differs from the telegraph, he declines to discuss it.</p></details><details><summary><b>140</b> · <i>Chapter 22: Master Percy Edgar Smith James. Mrs. James (of Sutton) visits us again</i> — A husband who refuses to join his wife&#x27;s new craze is simply left out, and spends the evening sitting apart.</summary><p class="sum">Cummings joins the table, and Pooter&#x27;s refusal simply leaves him ignored; he sits in the kitchen with Gowing, who jokes that it would be a good thing for Lupin if old Posh died, which horrifies Pooter half the night.</p></details><details><summary><b>147</b> · <i>Chapter 22: Master Percy Edgar Smith James. Mrs. James (of Sutton) visits us again</i> — A man made the butt of a friend&#x27;s joke through his household&#x27;s new pastime bans it, and declares he is master here.</summary><p class="sum">The sealed question was &#x27;What&#x27;s old Pooter&#x27;s age?&#x27;; Pooter declares no more such nonsense under his roof and silences Mrs James with &#x27;I am master of this house&#x27;, half hearing a remark from her he hopes he misheard.</p></details></section><section><h2>G14 · A grown son who looks down on your life</h2>
<p class="pred">Your grown son sneers at your name, your friends, your employer and your house, and still lives under your roof.</p>
<p class="meta">A father wants his son&#x27;s respect from a scornful grown son. · 10 scenes from 7 stories
(Chapter 6: The Unexpected Arrival Home of our Son, Willie Lupin Pooter., Chapter 8: Daisy Mutlar sole topic of conversation. Lupin’s new berth. Fireworks , Chapter 10: Reflections. I make another Good Joke. Am annoyed at the constant serv, Chapter 12: A serious discussion concerning the use and value of my diary. Lupin’s, Chapter 13: I receive an insulting Christmas card. We spend a pleasant Christmas a, Chapter 21: Lupin is discharged. We are in great trouble. Lupin gets engaged elsew, Chapter 23: Lupin leaves us. We dine at his new apartments, and hear some extraord) · stage <b>low</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Tell him plainly that beggars cannot be choosers. <span class='src'>from scene 50</span><br><code>relationships.child -</code> <code>standing +</code></li><li>Leave the room with silent dignity. <span class='src'>from scene 78</span><br><code>composure +</code> <code>relationships.child -</code></li><li>Say nothing, for fear of setting him off. <span class='src'>from scene 38</span><br><code>relationships.child +</code> <code>standing -</code></li><li>Let his mother put him in his place. <span class='src'>from scene 81</span><br><code>relationships.spouse +</code> <code>tact +</code></li><li>Defend your employer and your friends to his face. <span class='src'>filled gap</span><br><code>relationships.employer +</code> <code>relationships.child risk</code> <code>standing +</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>38</b> · <i>Chapter 6: The Unexpected Arrival Home of our Son, Willie Lupin Pooter.</i> — A grown son arrives home unannounced, drops the name he was christened with, and sneers at the respectable relative it honoured.</summary><p class="sum">The Pooters&#x27; twenty-year-old son Willie turns up unannounced from his bank post in the north, announces he now goes by his second name, Lupin, sneers &#x27;Good old Bill&#x27; at the respected uncle he was named after, and helps himself to more port.</p></details><details><summary><b>39</b> · <i>Chapter 6: The Unexpected Arrival Home of our Son, Willie Lupin Pooter.</i> — A grown son lies in bed past dinner, calls his employer a cad, and announces he has thrown up his post.</summary><p class="sum">Carrie scolds her husband&#x27;s &#x27;Good old&#x27; but not her son&#x27;s; Lupin says no clerk at the bank is a gentleman and the manager is a cad, lies in bed until nearly three on the holiday, then announces he has resigned.</p></details><details><summary><b>50</b> · <i>Chapter 8: Daisy Mutlar sole topic of conversation. Lupin’s new berth. Fireworks </i> — A grown son announces an engagement without consulting his parents, and sneers at the post his father&#x27;s employer found him.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin announces he is engaged to Daisy Mutlar without consulting his parents; Carrie is ecstatic and Pooter doubtful. Through Mr Perkupp Lupin takes a clerkship with a firm of stockbrokers and privately sneers at it, and Pooter tells him beggars cannot be choosers.</p></details><details><summary><b>55</b> · <i>Chapter 8: Daisy Mutlar sole topic of conversation. Lupin’s new berth. Fireworks </i> — A son anxious to impress his intended finds fault with his parents&#x27; party and sneers at their old friends as common.</summary><p class="sum">Carrie bakes all day for the party; Mr Perkupp may look in; Gowing asks whether to dress. Lupin, anxious to impress Daisy, criticises every arrangement and says old Cummings will look like a greengrocer hired to wait.</p></details><details><summary><b>63</b> · <i>Chapter 10: Reflections. I make another Good Joke. Am annoyed at the constant serv</i> — A father is ridiculed for his ignorance by his son and his son&#x27;s friend, using a private ritual of their own set.</summary><p class="sum">The leftover blancmange keeps reappearing, disguised with jam; Lupin and Frank burst in on Pooter&#x27;s dominoes and chant a club ritual at his ignorance of their game; Lupin calls the blancmange &#x27;second-hand goods&#x27;.</p></details><details><summary><b>78</b> · <i>Chapter 12: A serious discussion concerning the use and value of my diary. Lupin’s</i> — A father who runs down his son&#x27;s former sweetheart hears the son call his revered employer an inflated fool.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter tells a despondent Lupin he is well rid of Daisy, and Lupin retorts she is worth all his father&#x27;s friends including &#x27;that inflated sloping-head&#x27; Perkupp; Pooter leaves with dignity and trips on the mat; two days later Lupin announces the engagement is on again.</p></details><details><summary><b>81</b> · <i>Chapter 13: I receive an insulting Christmas card. We spend a pleasant Christmas a</i> — A son asks his father to put off old friends so his intended can visit, and the mother asks who is not good enough.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin asks his father to put off Gowing and Cummings because Daisy and Frank are coming; Carrie asks pointedly whether the old friends are not good enough for Daisy or Daisy not good enough for them, and Lupin gives way; Carrie plans to disguise the cut leg of mutton.</p></details><details><summary><b>132</b> · <i>Chapter 21: Lupin is discharged. We are in great trouble. Lupin gets engaged elsew</i> — A son who cost his father&#x27;s employer its best client calls the employer a fool and insists he has done no harm.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin appears in a new hat he says was a present from an old friend-turned-rival, calls Perkupp an inflated fool, and insists he did no injury: the client was simply tired of a stagnant firm, and he recommended the new one as good business.</p></details><details><summary><b>135</b> · <i>Chapter 21: Lupin is discharged. We are in great trouble. Lupin gets engaged elsew</i> — A loyal man&#x27;s son, hired by a rival firm at a handsome salary, urges his father to leave his stagnant employer too.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin receives a £25 commission from the rival firm; Cummings and Gowing take his part; Perkupp tells Pooter the matter is closed; then the rival firm engages Lupin at £200 a year, and Lupin tells his father to drop Perkupp&#x27;s &#x27;stagnant dummies&#x27; for the firm of the future.</p></details><details><summary><b>150</b> · <i>Chapter 23: Lupin leaves us. We dine at his new apartments, and hear some extraord</i> — A father hiding from a grand caller finds it is only his son, who mocks him and sends him out to hold the horse.</summary><p class="sum">A grand trap stops at the door; Pooter ducks from the window and bangs his head, and he and Carrie rush upstairs, each thinking it is someone grand; it is Lupin and Mrs Murray Posh, and Lupin mocks his father for hiding and sends him out to hold the horse.</p></details></section><section><h2>G15 · A grown son&#x27;s unwise match</h2>
<p class="pred">Your grown son has set his heart on someone you think wrong for him, and every word you say against it binds him closer.</p>
<p class="meta">A father wants his son safely matched from a son in love, and the one he loves. · 6 scenes from 4 stories
(Chapter 8: Daisy Mutlar sole topic of conversation. Lupin’s new berth. Fireworks , Chapter 10: Reflections. I make another Good Joke. Am annoyed at the constant serv, Chapter 15: Gowing explains his conduct. Lupin takes us for a drive, which we don’, Chapter 23: Lupin leaves us. We dine at his new apartments, and hear some extraord) · stage <b>low</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Tell him exactly what you think of the match. <span class='src'>from scene 56</span><br><code>relationships.child -</code> <code>flags.spoke_against_match set</code></li><li>Keep your dismay to yourself and be civil to them. <span class='src'>from scene 54</span><br><code>composure +</code> <code>relationships.child +</code></li><li>Write him a stern warning about his conduct. <span class='src'>from scene 156</span><br><code>relationships.child risk</code> <code>standing +</code></li><li>Let him find out for himself. <span class='src'>archetype</span><br><code>relationships.child +</code> <code>composure +</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>54</b> · <i>Chapter 8: Daisy Mutlar sole topic of conversation. Lupin’s new berth. Fireworks </i> — A father meets the woman his young son means to marry and is dismayed to find her much older than the boy.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter sends the servants off while Lupin roars with laughter; meeting Daisy after church, Pooter&#x27;s heart sinks at a big young woman some eight years older than his son. Carrie plans a party and suggests inviting Mr Perkupp, though Pooter fears they are not grand enough for him.</p></details><details><summary><b>56</b> · <i>Chapter 8: Daisy Mutlar sole topic of conversation. Lupin’s new berth. Fireworks </i> — A father who loses his temper over his son&#x27;s engagement is told the son will leave forever, and he is back by supper.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter loses his temper, calls Daisy an older woman who has inveigled Lupin and her brother a loafer; Lupin vows never to darken the door again and storms out, and is back for supper and cards.</p></details><details><summary><b>64</b> · <i>Chapter 10: Reflections. I make another Good Joke. Am annoyed at the constant serv</i> — Parents who had reconciled themselves to their son&#x27;s imprudent engagement learn from his melodramatic outburst that it has been broken off.</summary><p class="sum">The Pooters reassure each other that early marriages can be happy and Pooter philosophises about the joys of early hardship; Lupin then enters theatrically, drinks neat whisky and forbids them ever to mention Daisy&#x27;s name again.</p></details><details><summary><b>100</b> · <i>Chapter 15: Gowing explains his conduct. Lupin takes us for a drive, which we don’</i> — A son scorns any thought that a wealthy, dull rival could take his intended, sure she would wait twenty years for him.</summary><p class="sum">Gowing tactlessly asks Posh about his family&#x27;s cheap hats; Posh talks at length about hat-making and plainly knows Daisy well, and Frank jokes that Posh will cut Lupin out; Lupin scorns jealousy and says Daisy would wait twenty years for him.</p></details><details><summary><b>152</b> · <i>Chapter 23: Lupin leaves us. We dine at his new apartments, and hear some extraord</i> — Parents watch their son flirt openly with his host&#x27;s wife, while the wealthy host treats them kindly and praises the boy.</summary><p class="sum">Posh&#x27;s sister &#x27;Lillie Girl&#x27; screams with laughter, smokes and pinches Lupin; Lupin gazes at the married Daisy while she sings; Mr Posh is kind, praises Lupin and sends them home in his carriage, and Pooter remembers the £600 Posh lost on Lupin&#x27;s tip.</p></details><details><summary><b>156</b> · <i>Chapter 23: Lupin leaves us. We dine at his new apartments, and hear some extraord</i> — A father who sent his son a stern warning about his conduct gets a breezy reply announcing a surprise engagement.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin&#x27;s reply to the warning tells his father to keep his hair on: he is engaged to Posh&#x27;s sister, to be married in August, and hopes Gowing and Cummings will come.</p></details></section><section><h2>G16 · Placing a son who throws his places away</h2>
<p class="pred">Your grown son has lost another post, and the only way to place him again is to spend your own good name with people who matter.</p>
<p class="meta">A father with a steady record wants his son settled from the employer and other firms. · 7 scenes from 4 stories
(Chapter 6: The Unexpected Arrival Home of our Son, Willie Lupin Pooter., Chapter 7: Home again. Mrs. James’ influence on Carrie. Can get nothing for Lupin, Chapter 15: Gowing explains his conduct. Lupin takes us for a drive, which we don’, Chapter 17: Marriage of Daisy Mutlar and Murray Posh. The dream of my life realise) · stage <b>middle</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Write to every firm you know. <span class='src'>from scene 44</span><br><code>standing risk</code></li><li>Ask your own employer to take him on. <span class='src'>from scene 105</span><br><code>relationships.employer risk</code> <code>relationships.child +</code> <code>flags.vouched_for_son set</code></li><li>Confide your worries about him to the employer. <span class='src'>from scene 98</span><br><code>relationships.employer +</code> <code>standing -</code></li><li>Order him to withdraw his resignation and apologise. <span class='src'>from scene 40</span><br><code>relationships.child -</code> <code>standing +</code></li><li>Leave him to find his own place. <span class='src'>filled gap</span><br><code>relationships.child -</code> <code>relationships.employer +</code> <code>money -</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>40</b> · <i>Chapter 6: The Unexpected Arrival Home of our Son, Willie Lupin Pooter.</i> — A father who orders his son to withdraw a resignation learns the son was in fact dismissed for idleness.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter orders Lupin to write withdrawing his resignation; Lupin laughs that he was sacked, and it emerges he was dismissed for lateness and lack of interest. Pooter dreams of getting him into his own firm, and they go to the seaside, where Lupin is fastidious about the lodgings.</p></details><details><summary><b>44</b> · <i>Chapter 7: Home again. Mrs. James’ influence on Carrie. Can get nothing for Lupin</i> — A father writes to firm after firm seeking a place for his dismissed grown son, and every one of them has nothing.</summary><p class="sum">Home again, firm after firm writes that it has no vacancy for Lupin; Pooter buys plaster stags&#x27; heads to give the hall style; Mrs James comes to stay and talks dress with Carrie for hours; the new neighbours&#x27; friends are rowdy.</p></details><details><summary><b>49</b> · <i>Chapter 7: Home again. Mrs. James’ influence on Carrie. Can get nothing for Lupin</i> — A father whose employer has found his idle son a post breaks the news over good wine, and the son barely acknowledges it.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin crashes in after midnight, ignores his parents and dances noisily in his room; Mr Perkupp secures him an appointment, and Pooter breaks the news over a special bottle of port, to which Lupin says only &#x27;Good biz!&#x27;</p></details><details><summary><b>98</b> · <i>Chapter 15: Gowing explains his conduct. Lupin takes us for a drive, which we don’</i> — A worried father confides his son&#x27;s wild conduct to his employer, who kindly reassures him that the boy will steady down.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin drives recklessly, abuses pedestrians and chaffs a cartload of roughs who follow them pelting orange-peel; next day Pooter confides his worries about Lupin to Mr Perkupp, who kindly says the boy will steady down and wishes the firm had room for him.</p></details><details><summary><b>105</b> · <i>Chapter 17: Marriage of Daisy Mutlar and Murray Posh. The dream of my life realise</i> — A father&#x27;s long-held dream comes within reach when his employer asks him to bring his wayward son in to be seen.</summary><p class="sum">On Daisy&#x27;s wedding day Lupin goes off for the day; Gowing says Lupin can make a fool of himself unaided and Carrie makes him apologise. Next morning a letter from Mr Perkupp asks Pooter to bring Lupin to the office, and Pooter begs his son to dress quietly.</p></details><details><summary><b>106</b> · <i>Chapter 17: Marriage of Daisy Mutlar and Murray Posh. The dream of my life realise</i> — A father whose employer takes his son into the firm can only stammer his thanks, and is told he is the example to follow.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin dresses soberly and calls it a &#x27;respectable funereal junior-clerk make-up&#x27;, smashes a new hat he finds is his rival&#x27;s make, and after an hour with Perkupp is taken on; Pooter can only tell Perkupp he is a good man, and Perkupp replies that Pooter is, and they hope his son will follow his example.</p></details><details><summary><b>107</b> · <i>Chapter 17: Marriage of Daisy Mutlar and Murray Posh. The dream of my life realise</i> — A father whose son has joined him at work lies awake imagining them sharing everything, from the daily journey to the garden.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter nearly weeps on the bus while Lupin quarrels with a fat passenger; friends drink Lupin&#x27;s health, and Pooter lies awake imagining travelling to work with his son and the boy helping about the house and garden.</p></details></section><section><h2>G17 · Left to answer for your son</h2>
<p class="pred">Your grown son has wronged or embarrassed someone, and it falls to you to face them, explain him or disown him.</p>
<p class="meta">A father wants to keep his own good name from the people his son has wronged. · 8 scenes from 5 stories
(Chapter 6: The Unexpected Arrival Home of our Son, Willie Lupin Pooter., Chapter 13: I receive an insulting Christmas card. We spend a pleasant Christmas a, Chapter 16: We lose money over Lupin’s advice as to investment, so does Cummings. , Chapter 21: Lupin is discharged. We are in great trouble. Lupin gets engaged elsew, Chapter 22: Master Percy Edgar Smith James. Mrs. James (of Sutton) visits us again) · stage <b>middle</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Change the subject. <span class='src'>from scene 41</span><br><code>tact +</code> <code>relationships.friends -</code></li><li>Keep the complaint to yourself. <span class='src'>from scene 85</span><br><code>relationships.spouse risk</code> <code>composure +</code></li><li>Disown what he did, in writing. <span class='src'>from scene 131</span><br><code>relationships.employer +</code> <code>relationships.child -</code></li><li>Console the injured party yourself. <span class='src'>from scene 103</span><br><code>money -</code> <code>relationships.friends +</code></li><li>Defend him: he is only a boy. <span class='src'>filled gap</span><br><code>relationships.child +</code> <code>relationships.employer -</code> <code>standing -</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>41</b> · <i>Chapter 6: The Unexpected Arrival Home of our Son, Willie Lupin Pooter.</i> — A father dodges an old friend&#x27;s awkward question about his son&#x27;s dismissal, and the son is ashamed to be seen with him.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin slips off to a music-hall turn and Carrie defends him; meeting Gowing on the pier, Pooter changes the subject when asked whether Lupin has left the bank; Lupin refuses to walk the parade with his father in his straw helmet.</p></details><details><summary><b>85</b> · <i>Chapter 13: I receive an insulting Christmas card. We spend a pleasant Christmas a</i> — A father receives a letter from his son&#x27;s prospective father-in-law banning the son from his house, and keeps it to himself.</summary><p class="sum">Mr Mutlar senior writes that he must decide who is master of his own house and forbids Lupin to enter it again, with sarcastic praise of his modesty; Pooter keeps the letter from Carrie and Lupin.</p></details><details><summary><b>103</b> · <i>Chapter 16: We lose money over Lupin’s advice as to investment, so does Cummings. </i> — A son and an old friend escape through a window from a man ruined by their tip, leaving the father to face him.</summary><p class="sum">When Cummings rings, Lupin and then Gowing climb out of the parlour window to avoid him, and Pooter is left to console him and send out for his new health spirit; next morning the paper reports that Lupin&#x27;s employer has absconded.</p></details><details><summary><b>129</b> · <i>Chapter 21: Lupin is discharged. We are in great trouble. Lupin gets engaged elsew</i> — A long-serving man learns his son has driven the firm&#x27;s most valued client to a rival, and must face his employer about it.</summary><p class="sum">While Pooter and Mr Perkupp were both away ill, the firm&#x27;s most valued client came in angry, and Lupin received him and recommended a rival firm; Lupin is dismissed, and Pooter, dreading his first ever hard word from his master, is summoned; Perkupp says he, not a junior, will decide when the firm modernises.</p></details><details><summary><b>130</b> · <i>Chapter 21: Lupin is discharged. We are in great trouble. Lupin gets engaged elsew</i> — A loyal man whose son has damaged the firm is assured of his employer&#x27;s complete trust and asked to help repair it.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter asks whether Perkupp suspects him of countenancing his son, and Perkupp says he would as soon suspect himself; flustered, Pooter nearly calls him a &#x27;grand old man&#x27;. Perkupp admits the firm cannot afford to lose the client and says Pooter can be of service.</p></details><details><summary><b>131</b> · <i>Chapter 21: Lupin is discharged. We are in great trouble. Lupin gets engaged elsew</i> — The employer asks a loyal man to write privately to a lost client, disowning his own son&#x27;s conduct as if unprompted.</summary><p class="sum">Perkupp asks Pooter to write to the client as if on his own initiative, explaining the son was taken on only as an inexperienced favour, and hints he should not spare his son; he declines to see the letter, trusting Pooter, and gives him the day to write it.</p></details><details><summary><b>134</b> · <i>Chapter 21: Lupin is discharged. We are in great trouble. Lupin gets engaged elsew</i> — A father&#x27;s careful appeal on his employer&#x27;s behalf is answered in a few curt lines saying his son showed more sense than the firm.</summary><p class="sum">Gowing, and then Carrie, side with Lupin, and Gowing drinks most of his own small bottle of Madeira. The client replies in a few lines that Pooter&#x27;s son showed more intelligence in five minutes than the firm has in five years.</p></details><details><summary><b>137</b> · <i>Chapter 22: Master Percy Edgar Smith James. Mrs. James (of Sutton) visits us again</i> — A guest kicked by his hosts&#x27; spoilt child objects, and the mother retorts that his own son is no model either.</summary><p class="sum">At the Jameses&#x27; the spoilt son Percy kicks Pooter&#x27;s shins, slaps Carrie and smashes a guest&#x27;s watch; when Pooter says that is not his idea of bringing up children, Mrs James retorts that his own son Lupin is no standard of perfection.</p></details></section><section><h2>G18 · Your son&#x27;s fast money</h2>
<p class="pred">Your grown son has found an easy road to money, and wants you to spend, invest or rejoice on the strength of it.</p>
<p class="meta">A careful father wants to keep what he has from a son with a sure thing. · 5 scenes from 4 stories
(Chapter 9: Our first important Party. Old Friends and New Friends. Gowing is a li, Chapter 14: Begin the year with an unexpected promotion at the office. I make two , Chapter 15: Gowing explains his conduct. Lupin takes us for a drive, which we don’, Chapter 16: We lose money over Lupin’s advice as to investment, so does Cummings. ) · stage <b>middle</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Put your savings in on his tip. <span class='src'>from scene 101</span><br><code>money risk</code> <code>relationships.child +</code></li><li>Let him pay for the show, and worry quietly. <span class='src'>from scene 57</span><br><code>standing risk</code> <code>relationships.child +</code></li><li>Tell him to his face that speculation is horrifying. <span class='src'>from scene 91</span><br><code>relationships.child -</code> <code>composure +</code></li><li>Ask what he has risked himself before you risk a penny. <span class='src'>filled gap</span><br><code>tact +</code> <code>money +</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>57</b> · <i>Chapter 9: Our first important Party. Old Friends and New Friends. Gowing is a li</i> — A couple preparing their first important party hope the husband&#x27;s employer might come, while their son pushes them into extravagance.</summary><p class="sum">Preparing their first important party, the Pooters hope Mr Perkupp might come; Lupin insists on a hired waiter and six bottles of champagne paid from a lucky City deal, which worries his father, and mocks Pooter&#x27;s ordinary boots, while his new dress trousers prove too short.</p></details><details><summary><b>91</b> · <i>Chapter 14: Begin the year with an unexpected promotion at the office. I make two </i> — A father&#x27;s reward for long years of steady work is outshone the same evening by his son&#x27;s windfall from speculation.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin toasts that, having paid no attention to his superiors&#x27; interests for a few weeks, he has made £200 in a day on a share tip from his employer; he then hires a pony-trap, tells his father he is out of date, and reckons his future income at £1,250 a year.</p></details><details><summary><b>99</b> · <i>Chapter 15: Gowing explains his conduct. Lupin takes us for a drive, which we don’</i> — A father braced for bad news is so relieved his son has given up an extravagance that he opens the good wine.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin gravely announces news that will &#x27;distress&#x27; them: he has given up the trap, and Pooter, relieved, opens port; Gowing brings a pin-the-tail game. Lupin says Daisy has promised her father not to write; Frank Mutlar brings in a nervous, fat young swell, Murray Posh.</p></details><details><summary><b>101</b> · <i>Chapter 16: We lose money over Lupin’s advice as to investment, so does Cummings. </i> — A father who invested on his son&#x27;s confident tip learns the shares have collapsed, and at first mistakes his loss for a profit.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter breaks a hand-mirror and Carrie foresees misfortune; Lupin, agitated, reports that the shares he advised have collapsed but that he sold his father&#x27;s for £2, which Pooter takes for a profit until Lupin explains he has lost £18 of his £20, and Cummings and Gowing everything.</p></details><details><summary><b>102</b> · <i>Chapter 16: We lose money over Lupin’s advice as to investment, so does Cummings. </i> — A father learns his son risked none of his own money on the tip he urged on everyone, and a friend offloaded his share.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin hints his employer has vanished; Gowing arrives cheerful, Lupin reveals he never had any money in the shares himself, and Gowing says he lost nothing because he persuaded Cummings to take his share.</p></details></section><section><h2>G19 · Your son&#x27;s friends take over your home</h2>
<p class="pred">Your grown son&#x27;s young friends have taken over your home with their own jokes and manners, and treat you as a fossil in your own chair.</p>
<p class="meta">A householder and father wants his house back from his son&#x27;s set. · 8 scenes from 4 stories
(Chapter 8: Daisy Mutlar sole topic of conversation. Lupin’s new berth. Fireworks , Chapter 9: Our first important Party. Old Friends and New Friends. Gowing is a li, Chapter 11: We have a dose of Irving imitations. Make the acquaintance of a Mr. Pa, Chapter 13: I receive an insulting Christmas card. We spend a pleasant Christmas a) · stage <b>low</b></p>
<h3>Options</h3><ol><li>Drop hints that it is late, and wait. <span class='src'>from scene 52</span><br><code>composure +</code> <code>standing -</code></li><li>Rise and insist the foolery stops at once. <span class='src'>from scene 82</span><br><code>standing risk</code> <code>relationships.child -</code> <code>flags.put_foot_down set</code></li><li>Ask them to stay to supper, to keep your son at home. <span class='src'>from scene 65</span><br><code>money -</code> <code>relationships.child +</code></li><li>Show your son what his friend wrote of you, and expect him to take your side. <span class='src'>from scene 73</span><br><code>relationships.child risk</code></li><li>Leave the young ones to it and see your own friends elsewhere. <span class='src'>filled gap</span><br><code>tact +</code> <code>relationships.child +</code> <code>standing -</code></li></ol>
<h3>Scenes</h3><details><summary><b>52</b> · <i>Chapter 8: Daisy Mutlar sole topic of conversation. Lupin’s new berth. Fireworks </i> — A son&#x27;s new friend, brought home to amuse his parents, outstays his welcome by hours and then leads the son out at midnight.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin brings home Daisy&#x27;s brother, a gawky amateur comedian, who does imitations for an hour past the family&#x27;s bedtime, ignores every hint to leave, and then takes Lupin out after midnight.</p></details><details><summary><b>58</b> · <i>Chapter 9: Our first important Party. Old Friends and New Friends. Gowing is a li</i> — A host greeted at his own door by an old friend&#x27;s jeer about his clothes watches his party taken over by his son&#x27;s crowd.</summary><p class="sum">Gowing greets Pooter at the door by jeering at his short trousers and calls him &#x27;Juggins&#x27;; the guests arrive, Daisy in a low-cut crimson dress, Lupin&#x27;s theatrical club friends pose and crack a table, and Daisy sings four songs badly at Lupin&#x27;s insistence.</p></details><details><summary><b>59</b> · <i>Chapter 9: Our first important Party. Old Friends and New Friends. Gowing is a li</i> — The employer arrives unannounced at a man&#x27;s party in the middle of noisy horseplay, and is plainly not amused by it.</summary><p class="sum">Gowing and Cummings gorge themselves and gulp the champagne; Lupin carries off the bottle Pooter was saving; while everyone shrieks at a clownish pantomime by Lupin and Frank, Pooter turns to find Mr Perkupp in the doorway, plainly not amused.</p></details><details><summary><b>65</b> · <i>Chapter 11: We have a dose of Irving imitations. Make the acquaintance of a Mr. Pa</i> — A son brings home a self-important friend who monopolises the evening and corrects his host on how to address him.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter refuses Lupin brandy and Lupin walks out, Carrie taking his part; next evening Lupin brings Burwin-Fosselton, an amateur actor who imitates Henry Irving all evening and insists on being called by his full double name.</p></details><details><summary><b>67</b> · <i>Chapter 11: We have a dose of Irving imitations. Make the acquaintance of a Mr. Pa</i> — A host finds his home taken over by a young guest&#x27;s performances and a stranger who sits in the best chair laughing.</summary><p class="sum">The Irving make-up astonishes everyone; Padge takes the best armchair and smokes; Fosselton patronises Carrie&#x27;s joke and corrects Pooter on his name again, then digs a nail into Gowing&#x27;s neck, at which Padge roars; Fosselton promises another make-up tomorrow.</p></details><details><summary><b>69</b> · <i>Chapter 11: We have a dose of Irving imitations. Make the acquaintance of a Mr. Pa</i> — A young guest tells his older host, in his own home, to confine himself to talking about what he understands.</summary><p class="sum">Fosselton tells Pooter to talk about what he understands, Carrie rescues the evening with a comic turn, and Pooter writes a firm letter refusing further argument; Daisy cuts him in the street; the laundress insists she was sent only an odd sock.</p></details><details><summary><b>73</b> · <i>Chapter 11: We have a dose of Irving imitations. Make the acquaintance of a Mr. Pa</i> — A father shows his son an insolent letter from the son&#x27;s friend, and the son replies that the father should apologise.</summary><p class="sum">The letter ends by telling Pooter he knows nothing of acting; Pooter shows it to Lupin as proof of his friend&#x27;s character, and Lupin says he saw it before it was sent, agrees with it, and thinks his father should apologise.</p></details><details><summary><b>82</b> · <i>Chapter 13: I receive an insulting Christmas card. We spend a pleasant Christmas a</i> — A host&#x27;s supper descends into horseplay led by his son&#x27;s set, and his own old friends join in pelting him.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin sneers at his father&#x27;s friends&#x27; cheap clothes; at supper Daisy starts flicking bread, and a bread fight follows in which even Gowing and Cummings join; Gowing throws parsley in Pooter&#x27;s face, and when he protests Frank turns out the gas.</p></details></section>
<section><h2>Unassigned (15)</h2><p class="meta">Scenes that fit no situation recurring in three or more non-consecutive chapters.</p><details><summary><b>0</b> · <i>Chapter 1: We settle down in our new home, and I resolve to keep a diary. Tradesm</i> — A couple settling into a modest new home take pride in its small comforts and talk themselves past its obvious shortcomings.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter and his wife Carrie have just moved into a modest six-roomed house backing onto the railway; the landlord took £2 off the rent for the noise, and friends are made to use the side door.</p></details><details><summary><b>20</b> · <i>Chapter 3: A conversation with Mr. Merton on Society. Mr. and Mrs. James, of Sutt</i> — A man whose home improvement has gone ridiculously wrong decides to hide it from his wife and have it quietly put right.</summary><p class="sum">Taking a very hot bath for a cold, Pooter sees his hand turn red and believes he is bleeding to death, until he realises the red enamel on the bath has dissolved; he resolves to have it repainted without telling Carrie.</p></details><details><summary><b>45</b> · <i>Chapter 7: Home again. Mrs. James’ influence on Carrie. Can get nothing for Lupin</i> — A respectable householder is mocked by the rowdy visitors next door, who sing at him and throw a cracker at his hat.</summary><p class="sum">The neighbours&#x27; visitors sing a mocking song at Pooter and throw a cracker at his hat; Mrs James fills Carrie&#x27;s head with fashion; at a supper where Pooter is to refuse the salmon so it goes round, Lupin sneers at the card game and leaves the table.</p></details><details><summary><b>46</b> · <i>Chapter 7: Home again. Mrs. James’ influence on Carrie. Can get nothing for Lupin</i> — A man laughs along with a roomful of guests all evening, not knowing that the joke is something hanging from his own coat.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin plays a joke on Gowing that Pooter enjoys, but everyone laughs all evening at something unexplained, which turns out to be an antimacassar hanging from Pooter&#x27;s coat-tails; Carrie appears in a smock-dress on Mrs James&#x27;s advice; weeks later Pooter finds pages torn from his diary.</p></details><details><summary><b>79</b> · <i>Chapter 13: I receive an insulting Christmas card. We spend a pleasant Christmas a</i> — A man receives an anonymous insult and finds himself suspecting every friend, colleague and servant he has.</summary><p class="sum">An insulting anonymous Christmas card sets Pooter suspecting all his friends, the junior Pitt and the charwoman; Lupin laughs at it. At Christmas dinner with Carrie&#x27;s mother Pooter proposes her health with a speech urging everyone to kiss and make up.</p></details><details><summary><b>80</b> · <i>Chapter 13: I receive an insulting Christmas card. We spend a pleasant Christmas a</i> — At a family gathering a forward young stranger kisses a man&#x27;s wife under cover of a joke, and she makes light of it.</summary><p class="sum">The old clergyman takes Pooter&#x27;s speech as licence to kiss the ladies, and a young stranger, Moss, jumps up with mistletoe and kisses Carrie; Carrie brushes off Pooter&#x27;s unease, saying he is only a boy, and a nice one.</p></details><details><summary><b>83</b> · <i>Chapter 13: I receive an insulting Christmas card. We spend a pleasant Christmas a</i> — A man struck in the dark at his supper suspects a young guest, then finds the insult he resented was never meant for him.</summary><p class="sum">In the dark someone punches Pooter hard on the back of the head; he decides it was whoever sent the Christmas card, dreams it was Frank, and compares handwriting, until Carrie points out the card was addressed to Lupin, who says he often receives and sends such cards.</p></details><details><summary><b>104</b> · <i>Chapter 16: We lose money over Lupin’s advice as to investment, so does Cummings. </i> — A son who has lost his post and his intended on the same morning consoles himself that his rival lost money on his advice.</summary><p class="sum">Lupin shrugs at his firm&#x27;s failure but is crushed by a letter saying Daisy is to marry Murray Posh; as he leaves he smiles at the consolation that, on his advice, Posh put £600 into the collapsed shares.</p></details><details><summary><b>117</b> · <i>Chapter 18: Trouble with a stylographic pen. We go to a Volunteer Ball, where I am</i> — A man discovers that a chance acquaintance&#x27;s warm invitation to come and stay was really an offer to let him cheap rooms.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter resents Mrs James&#x27;s influence on Carrie; Mrs Lupkin&#x27;s letter reveals her pressing invitation was to her own commercial hotel at half price, and Pooter declines with what Carrie calls satire; a suit he chose by gaslight arrives as loud mustard-and-green check, and Carrie giggles.</p></details><details><summary><b>127</b> · <i>Chapter 20: Dinner at Franching’s to meet Mr. Hardfur Huttle.</i> — A celebrated guest&#x27;s praise of the host&#x27;s plain living exposes the host&#x27;s pretences, while his scorn for homebodies lands on another guest.</summary><p class="sum">Huttle praises Franching&#x27;s plain home with no hired waiter and no grocer&#x27;s champagne, making his host wince, and sneers at milksops who play dominoes at home with their wives and at frivolous matrons who think a suburban dance is Society; Pooter leaves early for his train.</p></details><details><summary><b>133</b> · <i>Chapter 21: Lupin is discharged. We are in great trouble. Lupin gets engaged elsew</i> — A father spends all day on a letter to undo his son&#x27;s damage, while the son goes off to dine with his former rival.</summary><p class="sum">The hat was a gift from Murray Posh, Daisy&#x27;s husband, with whom Lupin is now friends and goes off to lunch; Pooter spends the whole day on the letter to the client, finding Carrie&#x27;s suggestions useless, and Perkupp again declines to read it.</p></details><details><summary><b>138</b> · <i>Chapter 22: Master Percy Edgar Smith James. Mrs. James (of Sutton) visits us again</i> — A man who dislikes his wife&#x27;s fashionable friend is told that she has put up with his vulgar, dull old friends for years.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter says he wishes he liked Mrs James better; Carrie replies that she has put up for years with his vulgar friend Gowing and his dull friend Cummings, and Mrs James has more intellect in her little finger than both; that evening Carrie is absorbed in a book on Spiritualism Mrs James sent.</p></details><details><summary><b>141</b> · <i>Chapter 22: Master Percy Edgar Smith James. Mrs. James (of Sutton) visits us again</i> — A husband who scorns his wife&#x27;s new pastime thoughtlessly plays a trick on it, then agrees to join in to oblige her.</summary><p class="sum">Pooter writes the laundress a letter he thinks satirical; mending a cornice above the séance, he thoughtlessly gives the floor two raps with his hammer, and Carrie reports a wonderful message; he promises to sit once to oblige her.</p></details><details><summary><b>145</b> · <i>Chapter 22: Master Percy Edgar Smith James. Mrs. James (of Sutton) visits us again</i> — A sceptical husband is drawn into his wife&#x27;s new pastime and finds himself looking forward to it all day at work.</summary><p class="sum">The spirit names itself Captain Drinkwater, an old friend of Mrs James&#x27;s father, and warns of &#x27;POSH&#x27;; they decide to sit once more without Gowing, and Pooter finds himself looking forward to it all day at the office.</p></details><details><summary><b>146</b> · <i>Chapter 22: Master Percy Edgar Smith James. Mrs. James (of Sutton) visits us again</i> — An old friend sets a sealed test for a household&#x27;s new enthusiasm and promises to believe in it if it passes.</summary><p class="sum">Gowing leaves a sealed question and says he will believe if the spirits answer it; Cummings is disappointed the spirits say nothing about his affairs; both spirits answer &#x27;ROSES, LILIES, AND COWS&#x27;.</p></details></section>
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