Jeeves leaves for his annual holiday to go shrimping in
Bognor. Bertie's friend
Sippy, who is engaged to Gwendolen Moon, wants Bertie to stay with him to keep Gwendolen's young brother Sebastian occupied. Bertie, who does not like Sebastian, instead visits his Aunt Dahlia at her home,
Brinkley Court. Aunt Dahlia's son Bonzo is there, as is Anstruther, a family friend, and Lord and Lady Snettisham. The son of Bertie's Aunt Agatha, Thomas ("Thos"), is also present. Anstruther has offered a Good Conduct prize of five pounds to whichever boy behaves the best. Thos, who is normally troublesome, is behaving very well; this upsets Aunt Dahlia, because she has bet that Bonzo would win the contest, while Lady Snettisham bet on Thos. Aunt Dahlia bet her valuable chef
Anatole against the Snettisham's kitchen-maid. The Snettishams try to bribe Bonzo to misbehave, though they fail because he loves the actress
Lillian Gish and wants to be worthy of her. Aunt Dahlia wants to take revenge by sabotaging Thos. She asks Bertie to pose the problem to Jeeves. As Jeeves is away, Bertie proposes to handle the problem himself. Bertie tries to insult Thos, to entice him into misbehaving by exacting revenge on Bertie, but Thos remains well-behaved. Later, Thos earns bonus points in the contest after he performs a good deed. Bertie and Aunt Dahlia are confounded, and Bertie admits that they need Jeeves. He wires for Jeeves to come. Without complaint, Jeeves cuts his vacation short and comes. He suggests that Aunt Dahlia invite Sebastian Moon to visit. Sebastian is an outspoken child, and Jeeves feels that Thos will not tolerate insults from a boy younger than him. Bertie writes to his friend Sippy, and Sebastian arrives two days later. However, Thos continues to behave well. Jeeves tells Bertie he has discovered the true reason for Thos's good conduct: Thos loves the actress
Greta Garbo. Later, Bertie sees Thos chasing Sebastian with a bucket of water. Thos tries to splash water onto Sebastian but hits Anstruther instead. Anstruther then angrily chases Thos with a stick. Jeeves explains that he told Sebastian to insult Greta Garbo, and Sebastian eagerly obliged, since he finds her inferior to the actress
Clara Bow. Bertie, astonished by the passion of the younger generation, is pleased with Jeeves. He tells Jeeves to return to Bognor, and that he can stay there another fortnight. ==Publication history==