Ukridge Stories · Chapter
No Wedding Bells for Him explained
Ukridge and the narrator encounter a creditor while riding in a borrowed car, leading Ukridge to move into the narrator's lodgings.
What happens
Ukridge and the narrator encounter a creditor while riding in a borrowed car, leading Ukridge to move into the narrator's lodgings. Ukridge then devises a scheme inspired by a novelette plot to avoid marrying Mabel Price by pretending to have a fatal illness.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Manipulation
Ukridge plans to deceive Mabel Price by pretending to have a fatal illness, inspired by a novelette plot, to avoid marriage.
Poverty and Impecunity
Ukridge's constant evasion of creditors and his reliance on the narrator's hospitality underscore his financial desperation.
Characters to notice
- Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge
Ukridge flees his lodgings after a creditor confrontation, moves in with the narrator, and later hatches a scheme to avoid marrying Mabel Price by feigning a fatal illness.
- Corky
The narrator accompanies Ukridge during the car ride, witnesses the creditor incident, and reluctantly hosts Ukridge as a guest.
- Bowles
Bowles welcomes Ukridge's arrival with solemn joy, broods over him at dinner, and later inspires Ukridge's scheme by sharing the plot of a novelette.
- Mabel Price
Mabel Price is the girl nearly hit by the car; Ukridge later plans to avoid his honourable obligations to her by pretending to be dying.
- Frederick
Frederick is the chauffeur of the borrowed car, a pal of Ukridge from a pub, who drives them and later is addressed by Ukridge as 'Frederick'.
Key passages
“To Ukridge, as might be expected from one of his sunny optimism, the whole affair has long since come to present itself in the light of yet another proof of the way in which all things in this world of ours work together for good.”
Ukridge, ever the optimist, sees the entire incident as evidence that everything happens for the best.
This introduces Ukridge's characteristic optimism and his tendency to reinterpret events favorably.
“I think, laddie, I think, laddie, that at last I have hit the bull’s-eye and rung the bell. Hats off to Bowles, without whom I would never have got the idea.”
Ukridge claims he has finally found the perfect solution, crediting Bowles for the inspiration.
Ukridge reveals his scheme to the narrator, showing his reliance on others for ideas.