[The Artful Bodger 04] • All the Nice Girls

There comes a time in every bachelor naval officer's life when he starts to lean a bit towards the champagne and the confetti. He need only lean a little way - but there's always a wench on the spot to take him up on it. This is a hard fact of life learnt by Lieutenant Dagwood Jones, R.N., when H.M.S. Seahorse, the Navy's latest submarine, arrives at a shipyard in the fine old mercantile city of Oozemouth for a long refit.

Dagwood is determined not to take a wife, but the ladies of Oozemouth have other ideas - and they are not alone. Controlling events with a fine Greek hand is the genial but Machiavellian figure of the Admiralty Liaison Officer in Oozemouth, Commander Robert Bollinger Badger, D.S.C., R.N., otherwise known as The Artful Bodger. Once The Artful Bodger begins to take an interest in his affairs, Dagwood is damned - to matrimony.