This seemed to slip it across him properly. The jaws fell, the ears
drooped more limply. He had been looking like a dead fish. He now looked
like a deader fish, one of last year's, cast up on some lonely beach and
left there at the mercy of the wind and tides.

"What!"

"Yes."

"You don't mean that Jeeves isn't going to----"

"No."

"But, dash it----"

I was kind, but firm.

"You will be much better off without him. Surely your terrible
experiences of that awful night have told you that Jeeves needs a rest.
The keenest of thinkers strikes a bad patch occasionally. That is what
has happened to Jeeves. I have seen it coming on for some time. He has
lost his form. He wants his plugs decarbonized. No doubt this is a shock
to you. I suppose you came here this morning to seek his advice?"

"Of course I did."

"On what point?"

"Madeline Bassett has gone to stay with these people in the country, and