The Mark Steyn Club is well into its eighth year, and we're very proud that this website now offers more free content than at any time in our twenty-two-year history. But we also provide some premium extras especially for our Steyn Club members, such as these nightly serialisations of classic fiction and our still newish weekly audio show.
The Girl on the Boat is a comic romp from 1922 by P G Wodehouse, which seems to be going down well with listeners. Fraser, an East Anglia Steyn Clubber, writes:
Peak Wodehousian comic deliciousness in the exchange between the knowing Billie and the admirable male plonker, Sam. Surely Wodehouse is the undisputed master of the lightly ironic adverb? Just great.
It was certainly fun to read, Fraser. So was tonight's episode - in which Sam expects Billie's father to be rather more thrilled about his prospective son-in-law than perhaps circumstances warrant:
"I am delighted to see you, Mr. Bennett," said Sam. "You could not have come at a more fortunate moment. You see for yourself how things are. There is no need for a long explanation. You came to find a daughter, Mr. Bennett, and you have found a son!"
And he would like to see the man, thought Sam, who could have put it more cleverly and pleasantly and tactfully than that.
"What are you talking about?" said Mr. Bennett, recovering breath. "I haven't got a son."
"I will be a son to you! I will be the prop of your declining years...."
"What the devil do you mean, my declining years?" demanded Mr. Bennett with asperity.
"He means when they do decline, father dear," said Billie.
"Of course, of course," said Sam. "When they do decline. Not till then, of course. I wouldn't dream of it. But, once they do decline, count on me! And I should like to say for my part," he went on handsomely, "what an honour I think it, to become the son-in-law of a man like Mr. Bennett. Bennett of New York!" he added spaciously, not so much because he knew what he meant, for he would have been the first to admit that he did not, but because it sounded well.
Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear me read Part Seventeen of The Girl on the Boat simply by clicking here and logging-in. Earlier episodes can be found here.
If you prefer our musical attractions, you might like to check out today's new audio episode of our Song of the Week, which is even more ardent than Sam Marlowe.
Membership in The Mark Steyn Club is not for everyone, but, if you've a pal who enjoys classic fiction, we'd love to welcome him or her to our ranks via the birthday present that lasts all year: A gift membership in the Steyn Club, which comes with access to our entire archive of Tales for Our Time, including Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Time Machine and many more. For more details on our special Gift Membership, see here. And please join me tomorrow evening for Part Eighteen of The Girl on the Boat.
