The Story of Cedric

A Mr Mulliner short story

Cedric Mulliner is a prim and fussy bachelor of 45 years, a leading snob and an authority on dress. After lunch, he walks in Hyde Park with Lady Chloe Downblotton where they meet her fiancé Claude, who is wearing bright yellow shoes. Lady C. is about to introduce him to her father but not in the colourful foot-joy! She insists that Claude and Cedric swap footwear and Claude reluctantly agrees in deference to her family pedigree. But how will he get into his rooms unseen?

Characters

Publishing Information

First published 11 May 1929 in Liberty magazine (US) and May 1929 in the Strand magazine.

Notes and Quotes

Albany
- two blocks of chambers or rooms (total 69) around a courtyard north off Piccadilly, built in 1802.

Mussolini
- fascist dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1943, at this time still widely admired for getting the trains to run on time. He had not yet outlawed opposition parties.

Grosvenor Square
- in the expensive Mayfair area of central London, it also contains the US Embassy.

'the Achilles statue in the park'
- in Hyde Park near Hyde Park Corner.

Morning Post
- a newspaper that merged with the Daily Telegraph in 1937.

The Times
- a serious national daily newspaper.

G. K. Chesterton
- (1874-1936) English essayist and novelist. Popularly known for the Father Brown stories, he was a large man.

The Nore
- a sandbank of the Essex coast near Shoeburyness. There is a weapons testing range in the area.

Douglas Fairbanks
- Sr. (1883-1939), American actor, noted for parts in action films.

'He panted for the driver as the hart pants after the water-brooks.'
- a combination of Like As the Hart Desireth the Waterbrooks, an anthem by Herbert Howells and the Psalm (42, Verse 1) it's based on.

Debrett's Peerage
- Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage, a Who's Who of the aristocracy.

Popinjay
- a fop or conceited man.