rehires and promotes Joss, and bribes Chibnall to keep quiet about Duff's misadventures, allowing Chibnall and Vera to buy a pub. Duff is uncertain about marrying Mrs Chavender, until he realises they are soulmates when she suggests using her portrait in a ham advertisement. Characters Howard Steptoe, formerly a boxer nicknamed Mugsy, who resolutely resists all attempts at smartening him up by... Mabel Steptoe, his wealthy, socially ambitious wife who recently purchased Claines Hall, and has with her, acting as factotum... Sally Fairmile, her impoverished distant cousin once removed, who is very lively and is secretly engaged to... George, Lord Holbeton (formerly of the name of Trotter), a refined young man and habitual singer of "Trees", whose inheritance is kept in trust and whose trustee is... James Duff, of Duff and Trotter, London's leading provision merchants (a firm also mentioned in Company for Henry and Money in the Bank), who was once engaged to... Beatrice Chavender, widowed sister-in-law of Mrs Steptoe, apparently very rich, and currently residing in Claines Hall, who has had her imperious self painted by... Joss Weatherby, an outgoing advertising artist employed by Duff, who goes to Claines Hall as a valet to be near Sally, whom he loves, and plays bridge in the servants' hall with... Sidney Chibnall, the vigilant butler of Claines Hall and a boxer, with a proclivity for romantic novelettes, who is engaged to... Vera Pym, who prefers thrillers, and works as a barmaid at an inn called the Rose and Crown, in Loose Chippings, near Claines Hall. Publication history The story was serialised in The Saturday Evening Post from 4 May to 22 June 1940, illustrated by Gilbert Bundy. The UK first edition dust jacket was illustrated by Fenwick. The dust jacket of the first US edition was illustrated by Donald McKay. The complete novel was included in The Most of Wodehouse, a collection of Wodehouse stories published by Simon and Schuster, New York, on 15 October 1960, to celebrate Wodehouse's seventy-ninth birthday. References Notes Bibliography External links The Russian Wodehouse Society's page, with a list of characters Novels by P. G. Wodehouse English novels 1940 British novels Novels set in Sussex Herbert Jenkins books Doubleday, Doran books British comedy novels