Free Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse Page B

about that man,” said Tuppy reverently, “the thing that I admire so enormously about Anatole is that, though a Frenchman, he does not, like so many of these _chefs_, confine himself exclusively to French dishes, but is always willing and ready to weigh in with some good old simple English fare such as this steak-and-kidney pie to which I have alluded. A masterly pie, Bertie, and it wasn’t more than half finished. It will do me nicely.”
    “And at dinner you will push, as arranged?”
    “Absolutely as arranged.”
    “Fine.”
    “It’s an excellent idea. One of Jeeves’s best. You can tell him from me, when you see him, that I’m much obliged.”
    The cigarette fell from my fingers. It was as though somebody had slapped Bertram Wooster across the face with a wet dish-rag.
    “You aren’t suggesting that you think this scheme I have been sketching out is Jeeves’s?”
    “Of course it is. It’s no good trying to kid me, Bertie. You wouldn’t have thought of a wheeze like that in a million years.”
    There was a pause. I drew myself up to my full height; then, seeing that he wasn’t looking at me, lowered myself again.
    “Come, Glossop,” I said coldly, “we had better be going. It is time we were dressing for dinner.”

    -9-
    Tuppy’s fatheaded words were still rankling in my bosom as I went up to my room. They continued rankling as I shed the form-fitting, and had not ceased to rankle when, clad in the old dressing-gown, I made my way along the corridor to the _salle de bain_.
    It is not too much to say that I was piqued to the tonsils.
    I mean to say, one does not court praise. The adulation of the multitude means very little to one. But, all the same, when one has taken the trouble to whack out a highly juicy scheme to benefit an in-the-soup friend in his hour of travail, it’s pretty foul to find him giving the credit to one’s personal attendant, particularly if that personal attendant is a man who goes about the place not packing mess-jackets.
    But after I had been splashing about in the porcelain for a bit, composure began to return. I have always found that in moments of heart-bowed-downness there is nothing that calms the bruised spirit like a good go at the soap and water. I don’t say I actually sang in the tub, but there were times when it was a mere spin of the coin whether I would do so or not.
    The spiritual anguish induced by that tactless speech had become noticeably lessened.
    The discovery of a toy duck in the soap dish, presumably the property of some former juvenile visitor, contributed not a little to this new and happier frame of mind. What with one thing and another, I hadn’t played with toy ducks in my bath for years, and I found the novel experience most invigorating. For the benefit of those interested, I may mention that if you shove the thing under the surface with the sponge and then let it go, it shoots out of the water in a manner calculated to divert the most careworn. Ten minutes of this and I was enabled to return to the bedchamber much more the old merry Bertram.
    Jeeves was there, laying out the dinner disguise. He greeted the young master with his customary suavity.
    “Good evening, sir.”
    I responded in the same affable key.
    “Good evening, Jeeves.”
    “I trust you had a pleasant drive, sir.”
    “Very pleasant, thank you, Jeeves. Hand me a sock or two, will you?”
    He did so, and I commenced to don,
    “Well, Jeeves,” I said, reaching for the underlinen, “here we are again at Brinkley Court in the county of Worcestershire.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “A nice mess things seem to have gone and got themselves into in this rustic joint.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “The rift between Tuppy Glossop and my cousin Angela would appear to be serious.”
    “Yes, sir. Opinion in the servants’ hall is inclined to take a grave view of the situation.”
    “And the thought that springs to your mind, no doubt, is that I shall have my work cut out to fix things