Diary of a Nobody

Pooter is anxious about having invested some money on Lupin’s advice, as did Cummings. Cummings and then Gowing drop by, and when Cummings criticizes his abrupt cancellation of the dinner party, Gowing lies and says that he sent a letter to each of them the morning of his departure and he will invite them another time.

The Pooters go for a drive in Lupin’s pony-cart, and Lupin shocks his father by trying to pass other drivers, shouting at people to get out of his way and provoking a gang of roughnecks. Pooter nervously asks Mr. Perkupp for advice about Lupin’s behavior and is told that the son of “such good parents” (140) couldn’t possibly turn out badly. Lupin, meanwhile, cannot see Daisy while he is banished from her house, but Frank drops by with a friend named Murray Posh. Gowing correctly links Posh to a firm called Posh’s Three-shilling Hats, to which Mr. Posh replies that he takes no active part in the business. Posh’s conversation reveals a prior relationship with Daisy.

Lupin says that the chlorates he advised his father to invest in have collapsed, but that he could get back one-tenth of his investment.