In Chapter 5 of Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, we find the following bit of dialogue:
"...You want to marry me yourself, don't you?" I had to take another mouthful of the substance in the bottle before I could speak. One of those difficult questions to answer.
"Oh, rather," I said, for I was anxious to make the evening a success. "Of course. Who wouldn't?"
"And yet you --- "
She did not proceed further than the word "you", for at this juncture, with the abruptness with which these things always happen, the joint was pinched. The band stopped in the middle of a bar. A sudden hush fell upon the room. Square-jawed men shot up through the flooring, and one, who seemed to be skippering the team, stood out in the middle and with a voice like a foghorn told everybody to keep their seats.
The first person to email me with the correct answers to the following questions will receive the praise and adoration of my vast readership when they are named as the ultimate master of both Wodehouse arcana and constitutional law. Update: We have a quiz winner, who goes by the name of Rob. His answers are below the quiz.
- Name the couple interrupted at this critical moment.
- Why is it so important for the second speaker "to make the evening a success"?
- What happens next?
- My friend and fellow UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh has been blogging up a storm today today (in order: h ere, h ere, and h ere) on the Supreme Court's decision in Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court. Please explain the impact Hiibel would have had on Wodehouse's story if it had been the law of England in Wodehouse's literary version thereof.
Extra credit: Why did the police raid the establishment in question (something I've never quite understood myself).
This quiz adapted from the fabulous repository of Wodehouse trivia quizzes maintained by the Wodehouse society. 1. Name the couple interrupted at this critical moment. Bertie and Lady Florence Craye 2. Why is it so important for the second speaker "to make the evening a success"? Bertie wants to reconcile Florence with her former betrothed, Stilton Cheesewright, so she won't be tempted to marry him. 3. What happens next? Bertie trips the policeman trying to nab Florence and goes to jail for the night. 4. Please explain the impact Hiibel would have had on Wodehouse's story if it had been the law of England in Wodehouse's literary version thereof. Easy: Bertie liked to use the alias Ephraim Gadsby when he was pinched during nightclub raids. [Ed.: Also when pinched for stealing policemen?s helmets on Boat Race Night.] The police would take everyone's information and let them go, presumably to call them as witnesses later in a case against the proprietor of the nightclub. If Hiibel had been the law of the land, the use of the alias would have been itself a criminal act. Extra credit: Why did the police raid the establishment in question (something I've never quite understood myself). I'm not sure, but I think those shady nightclubs described in the story didn't operate according to England's rather bizarre pub laws. They were open at times that weren't allowed. Geoffrey Barto of turkeyblog.com was a very close second.
