'The Lily.'

In this first of many Uncle Silas tales, the narrator introduces his 93-year-old great-uncle, vigorously gardening at his idyllic country cottage, displaying a vast capacity for food and drink, and bickering with his cantankerous housekeeper.

Only in the last two pages does the tale of the lily come out, revealing Silas's devilish humour and way with the ladies.

Published in:

• The Listener (February 22, 1933),
• Story (October 1933)
• The Woman Who Had Imagination and Other Stories (1934)
• My Uncle Silas (1939)
• Argosy (June 1941)
• W. Somerset Maugham's Introduction to Modern English and American Literature (1943)
• Of Leaf and Flower (2001)
• The Complete My Uncle Silas Stories (Bloomsbury ebook, 2016)