is discouraged when he sees that there are six other young unmarried men there, all impressive and handsome. The Sprockett-Sprockett family is genial towards Mordred and provide him with plenty of cigarettes, but he is too concerned about his rivals to be cheerful. At night, Sir Murgatroyd accompanies him to his room and makes sure he has enough cigarettes, as well as other things he might need like paper and a wastepaper basket. Mordred smokes a cigarette and writes a poem about Annabelle. This takes many attempts and the wastepaper basket fills with discarded sheets. He takes a stroll outside, then notices that his bedroom curtains are on fire. He shouts, and the other young men efficiently put out the fire. Mordred fumbles with buckets of water and only gets in the way. He explains how the fire started and fears that he is no longer welcome. He tells Sir Murgatroyd he will leave on the next train. Since his bed is ruined, he tries to sleep on a couch in the library. Annabelle and her parents enter the library. Mordred, who is not wearing slippers, is too modest to reveal his presence in front of Annabelle with bare feet. He hears their conversation and learns that they wanted him to burn the house down. They hoped to stop losing money on it and collect insurance money. Sir Murgatroyd hates the six young men for putting the fire out. Annabelle confesses that she fell in love with Mordred in the dentist's waiting room and will not marry anyone else. This is too much for Mordred and he suddenly reveals his presence, surprising them. He gets engaged to Annabelle, and suggests that they use paraffin to start another fire. They will claim that the previous fire had not been extinguished completely. Annabelle proposes using paper and shavings too. Mordred finds his slippers and they go hand-in-hand to get the materials. Style Wodehouse's stories use vivid imagery which involves similes and metaphors that draw from a wide range of literary and cultural sources. These comparisons seem to be highly incongruous at first glance, yet are appropriate to the particular situation. For example, the Crumpet describes the beautiful but stern Drusilla in "Noblesse Oblige": "I received the impression of a sort of blend of Tallulah Bankhead and a policewoman". Also, in "The Amazing Hat Mystery", the Crumpet states the following: "Talking to Elizabeth