Incensed at having to photograph a man he considers unworthy, Jno. Horatio Biggs, he chases him from his studio and then wins the court case for damages.
Two years later, the right to photograph only beautiful people is beginning to pall. Then he sees a girl, not a beauty but the face for him, before losing her immediately as she is driven away. Next day, he has a mysterious caller who persuades him to accept a commission to photograph the President of Power B as a service to England ...
| Mr Mulliner | narrator |
| Clarence Mulliner | a photographer |
| Jno. Horatio Biggs | the Mayor of Tooting East |
| Gladys Biggs | his daughter |
| Sir Joseph Bodger, K. C. | a barrister |
| Meadows | a butler |
| a secretary |
First published 12 March 1927 in Liberty magazine (US) and March 1927 in the Strand magazine.
Tooting
- a residential area of West London.
K. C.
- King's Counsel, a senior barrister.
'... Photographers never, never, never shall be slaves.'
- based on Rule Britannia by James Thomson, music by Thomas Arne.
Pall Mall
- a street in central London, home to several top gentlemen's clubs.
J. J. Shubert
- is also the name of a New York theatre owner and director that PG would have known from his time there.
Lon Chaney
- US actor, the man of a thousand faces. (His son, Lon Chaney Jr., is now best known for playing the monster in many mild horror movies.)