thieves Medway and Oily (who have reconciled and plan to betray Soup) to tie him up and leave him in a boathouse for a while. Lady Beatrice appears, hears about Packy and Jane, and ends her engagement to Packy. Soup, who was forced by Senator Opal to sit on a window-sill for hours after being caught burgling, has misgivings about helping the senator but still decides to help Packy get the letter. The Vicomte and Mr Gedge see each other and happily get drunk again. Packy realises that he loves Jane but resolves to help her marry Blair anyway. Soup, Oily and Gertie, and Packy and Jane attempt to burgle the safe at about the same time. Gertie knocks out Soup and Oily manages to open the safe, but Kate Putnam shows up with a pistol. Oily and Gertie escape empty-handed. Packy eats the letter before Mrs Gedge can take it. Soup recognizes her as his old partner in crime, Julia. Packy uses this to blackmail Mrs Gedge into taking Mr Gedge back to Glendale, and finds Blair in the boathouse. Blair is finished with Jane's schemes and leaves her. Packy and Jane confess their feelings for each other. Soup, having made off with five pieces of jewellery from Mrs Gedge's safe, decides to retire and start a farm. Allusions to other novels The book features Gordon "Oily" Carlisle and his wife Gertie, who appear again in the book Cocktail Time (1958), and Blair Eggleston, who also appears in "Jeeves and the Greasy Bird" (1965). The fictional French resort town of St Rocque appears again in French Leave (1956). Publication history The novel was serialised in Collier's from 21 May to 6 August 1932, illustrated by Floyd M. Davis. The book is dedicated "To Maureen O'Sullivan, with love from Ethel, Leonora, Miss Winks, John-John, and The Author". Maureen O'Sullivan was a friend of the Wodehouse family. (Ethel and Leonora were Wodehouse's wife and step-daughter respectively, while Miss Winks and John-John were both female Pekingese dogs, the latter of which belonged to O'Sullivan but was looked after by the Wodehouses.) The first US edition included six illustrations by Rea Irvin. Adaptations The novel was adapted for the stage by Wodehouse and his long-time collaborator Guy Bolton as The Inside Stand. The play opened at the Saville Theatre in London on 21 November 1935 and ran for 50 performances. Produced by Jack