The Wooster Papers

Books

The Code of the Woosters

1938. 14 chapters, 48 scenes.

Chapter 1

  1. Hung over after Gussie's send-off dinner, Bertie takes Jeeves's bracer, refuses his round-the-world cruise folders, and hears that Aunt Dahlia has telephoned.Chapter 1, Bertie's flat
  2. Aunt Dahlia refuses Bertie lunch and sends him to a Brompton Road antique shop to sneer at the cow-creamer Uncle Tom means to buy, so the price comes down.Chapter 1, Aunt Dahlia's London house
  3. Bertie fills new readers in on Gussie, a newt-keeping recluse who fell for the soupy Madeline Bassett and is now to marry her.Chapter 1
  4. Bertie denies loving Madeline, and Aunt Dahlia, who will skip the wedding, reveals that Sir Watkyn tried to steal Anatole while staying at Brinkley.Chapter 1, Aunt Dahlia's London house
  5. At the antique shop Sir Watkyn takes Bertie for a reformed bag-snatcher, catches him with his umbrella, and when Bertie trips over the cat and charges out with the cow-creamer, he and Roderick yell for the police and Bertie bolts.Chapter 1, the antique shop
  6. Too shaken for the bread-throwing at the Drones, Bertie goes to a Turkish bath instead.Chapter 1, the Turkish bath
  7. Restored after hours at the Turkish bath, Bertie gets home to find a pile of telegrams waiting.Chapters 1–2, Bertie's flat

Chapter 2

  1. Restored after hours at the Turkish bath, Bertie gets home to find a pile of telegrams waiting.Continued from chapter 1
  2. Bertie wires Gussie that Pop Bassett would never let him in and demands to know what the rift is about.Chapter 2, the post office
  3. Gussie wires back that he is getting Madeline to invite Bertie on the pretext of an urgent letter.Chapter 2, Bertie's flat
  4. Telegrams arrive from Gussie, Stiffy and Madeline confirming the invitation, and Jeeves prepares to pack while Aunt Dahlia keeps ringing.Chapter 2, Bertie's flat
  5. Aunt Dahlia storms in to say Sir Watkyn nobbled Uncle Tom with lobster and bought the cow-creamer, and blackmails Bertie with the loss of Anatole's cooking into promising to steal it.Chapter 2, Bertie's flat
  6. Driving down to Totleigh, Bertie rails against aunts and agonises with Jeeves over whether to pinch the cow-creamer.Chapter 2
  7. Arriving at Totleigh Towers, Bertie learns from the butler that Sir Watkyn is out in the grounds with Roderick Spode.Chapter 2, Totleigh Towers
  8. Strolling on the terrace, Bertie spots the silver collection, steps in and lifts the cow-creamer out of its unlocked case just as Spode appears with a shotgun and says 'Hands up!'Chapters 2–3, the collection-room

Chapter 3

  1. Strolling on the terrace, Bertie spots the silver collection, steps in and lifts the cow-creamer out of its unlocked case just as Spode appears with a shotgun and says 'Hands up!'Continued from chapter 2
  2. Bertie telephones a telegram to Aunt Dahlia saying that under Sir Watkyn's suspicious eye the cow-creamer job is impossible.Chapter 3, the library
  3. Madeline thinks Bertie has come pining for her like Rudel, assures him the rift with Gussie is mended, and tells him Gussie has grown bold enough to tell Spode to boil his head.Chapter 3, the hall
  4. Bertie overhears Gussie tell Spode not to talk rot, and at tea finds Gussie lordly and patronising, scolding him for forgetting a book.Chapter 3, the Totleigh drawing-room
  5. Gussie tells Bertie that Aunt Dahlia arrives tonight, explains how Jeeves's advice to despise his audience cured his shyness, and reveals he has written his scorn of Spode and Sir Watkyn in a notebook he has now lost.Chapters 3–4, the Totleigh drawing-room

Chapter 4

  1. Gussie tells Bertie that Aunt Dahlia arrives tonight, explains how Jeeves's advice to despise his audience cured his shyness, and reveals he has written his scorn of Spode and Sir Watkyn in a notebook he has now lost.Continued from chapter 3
  2. Bartholomew upsets Constable Oates off his bicycle, Stiffy admits she has Gussie's notebook, and reveals that she is secretly engaged to Stinker Pinker and has told him to pinch Oates's helmet.Chapter 4, the Totleigh gates
  3. Stiffy asks Bertie to steal the cow-creamer so that Stinker can "recover" it and win a vicarage, and when he refuses she says she will hand Gussie's notebook to Uncle Watkyn unless he does it.Chapter 4, the terrace
  4. Spode warns Bertie that he is being watched and will be beaten to a jelly if the cow-creamer disappears, and Jeeves brings word that Aunt Dahlia has arrived and wants Bertie in the Blue Room.Chapter 4, the terrace

Chapter 5

  1. Dressing for dinner, Bertie has Jeeves list his three-way predicament, finds Jeeves has no solution, and cheers himself with a white tie before Gussie walks in.Chapter 5, Bertie's room at Totleigh
  2. Bertie breaks it to Gussie that Stiffy will give his notebook to Sir Watkyn, refuses both to steal the cow-creamer and to search Stiffy's stockings, and Gussie breaks a shepherdess and storms off as Jeeves announces Aunt Dahlia.Chapter 5, Bertie's room at Totleigh
  3. Aunt Dahlia reveals Sir Watkyn has offered Uncle Tom the cow-creamer in exchange for Anatole, smashes the Infant Samuel, accepts that Spode's threat stops Bertie, and suggests finding a shady secret of Spode's.Chapter 5, Bertie's room at Totleigh
  4. Jeeves reveals the Junior Ganymede's club book, offers to telephone its Secretary for dirt on Spode, and on his way out mentions that Gussie's engagement to Madeline is off, as the dinner gong sounds.Chapter 5, Bertie's room at Totleigh

Chapter 6

  1. At a superb dinner Bertie can barely eat for watching Gussie and Madeline sit in frozen silence, their engagement plainly off.Chapter 6, the Totleigh dining-room
  2. Left with Sir Watkyn and Spode over the port, Bertie retreats to his room, where Spode bursts in looking for Gussie and leaves a message that he means to break his neck.Chapter 6, Bertie's room at Totleigh
  3. Gussie crawls out from under the bed and confesses Madeline caught him searching Stiffy’s stocking for the notebook; Bertie urges him to steal it from her room, but he refuses, is denied the sheets for an escape, and slips off to hide until the milk train, after which Jeeves drifts in.Chapters 6–7, Bertie's room at Totleigh

Chapter 7

  1. Gussie crawls out from under the bed and confesses Madeline caught him searching Stiffy’s stocking for the notebook; Bertie urges him to steal it from her room, but he refuses, is denied the sheets for an escape, and slips off to hide until the milk train, after which Jeeves drifts in.Continued from chapter 6
  2. Bertie forgets the magic name when facing Spode, Gussie crowns Spode with a painting and flees, a brawl brings in Aunt Dahlia, and the remembered 'Eulalie' reduces Spode to grovelling, after which Aunt Dahlia scoffs at Bertie's plan to search Stiffy's room.Chapter 7, Bertie's room at Totleigh
  3. Bertie thanks Jeeves for the Eulalie tip, reads him the thriller's line that the top of the cupboard is every woman's favourite hiding-place, and drags him off to search Stiffy's room.Chapter 7, Bertie's room at Totleigh
  4. Bertie and a disapproving Jeeves enter Stiffy's vast bedroom, where the dog Bartholomew sends Bertie onto the chest of drawers and Jeeves onto the top of the cupboard.Chapters 7–8, Stiffy's room

Chapter 8

  1. Bertie and a disapproving Jeeves enter Stiffy's vast bedroom, where the dog Bartholomew sends Bertie onto the chest of drawers and Jeeves onto the top of the cupboard.Continued from chapter 7
  2. Stiffy comes back early, refuses to call off her dog, and tells Bertie she has broken off her engagement to Stinker because he would not pinch the policeman’s helmet.Chapter 8, Stiffy's room
  3. Stinker climbs in by the balcony with Oates’s helmet, is reconciled with Stiffy, and is told that Bertie will help with the cow-creamer scheme at midnight.Chapter 8, Stiffy's room
  4. Bertie threatens to tell Stinker of the blackmail, Stiffy counters with Sir Watkyn, Jeeves proposes Bertie pretend to be engaged to Stiffy, and Bertie is forced off to the library to do it.Chapter 8, Stiffy's room

Chapter 9

  1. Bertie asks Sir Watkyn for Stiffy's hand, and when Stiffy says she would rather marry the curate, the horrified Sir Watkyn gladly consents to her marrying Harold Pinker instead.Chapter 9, the library
  2. Stiffy exults over Jeeves's scheme, reveals that Oates suspects her of the helmet theft and that she has hidden Gussie's notebook in the cow-creamer, and Butterfield summons Bertie to Madeline.Chapter 9, Totleigh Towers

Chapter 10

  1. Madeline tells Bertie she will marry him now she has finished with Gussie; Bertie explains the notebook and nearly convinces her, but she finds nothing in the cow-creamer and decides he made it all up.Chapter 10, the Totleigh drawing-room
  2. Bertie finds Spode battering Gussie's door, cows him, and takes from him the notebook he found in the cow-creamer, then hands it to Gussie to show Madeline.Chapter 10, the passage
  3. Bertie tells Jeeves to pack for home and crows over the notebook, until Gussie trickles in to say the wedding is off.Chapters 10–11, Bertie's room at Totleigh

Chapter 11

  1. Bertie tells Jeeves to pack for home and crows over the notebook, until Gussie trickles in to say the wedding is off.Continued from chapter 10
  2. Bertie sees Spode off from menacing Gussie, mocks his asparagus-eating, and Jeeves arrives with the brandy and news that Oates was assaulted and the cow-creamer stolen, sending Spode galloping off.Chapter 11, Bertie's room at Totleigh
  3. Jeeves tells how a thief took the cow-creamer while Stinker, waiting in the dark for Bertie, punched Oates on the nose, and Oates now plans to search Bertie's room, just as Aunt Dahlia rushes in and thrusts the cow-creamer into Bertie's hands.Chapters 11–12, Bertie's room at Totleigh

Chapter 12

  1. Jeeves tells how a thief took the cow-creamer while Stinker, waiting in the dark for Bertie, punched Oates on the nose, and Oates now plans to search Bertie's room, just as Aunt Dahlia rushes in and thrusts the cow-creamer into Bertie's hands.Continued from chapter 11
  2. After Aunt Dahlia leaves, Bertie relaxes with brandy and declares the troubles over, only for Jeeves to find a policeman's helmet in the small suitcase he is packing.Chapters 12–13, Bertie's room at Totleigh

Chapter 13

  1. After Aunt Dahlia leaves, Bertie relaxes with brandy and declares the troubles over, only for Jeeves to find a policeman's helmet in the small suitcase he is packing.Continued from chapter 12
  2. Stiffy admits hiding the helmet in Bertie's suitcase and, by appealing to the Code of the Woosters, gets him to agree to take the rap for Harold.Chapter 13, Bertie's room at Totleigh
  3. Jeeves says 'Eureka' and recommends dropping the helmet out of the window as footsteps approach.Chapter 13, Bertie's room at Totleigh
  4. Bertie tosses the helmet out of the window, Sir Watkyn's search of his room finds nothing, and as Bertie harangues him the butler appears with the helmet on a salver.Chapters 13–14, Bertie's room at Totleigh

Chapter 14

  1. Bertie tosses the helmet out of the window, Sir Watkyn's search of his room finds nothing, and as Bertie harangues him the butler appears with the helmet on a salver.Continued from chapter 13
  2. Locked in, Bertie talks to Jeeves through the door, learns that Sir Watkyn has forbidden Stiffy to marry Stinker, and urges Jeeves to cosh Oates with a shovel.Chapter 14, Bertie's room at Totleigh
  3. Bertie refuses to let Aunt Dahlia buy his freedom with Anatole, plans his release dinner, defies Sir Watkyn, and is saved when Spode confesses to stealing the helmet.Chapter 14, Bertie's room at Totleigh
  4. Jeeves admits he got Spode to take the blame, Bertie threatens Sir Watkyn with a lawsuit until he blesses both engagements, and Bertie buys the secret of Eulalie by agreeing to the world cruise.Chapter 14, Bertie's room at Totleigh