'There must be something we can do.'
'It was a maxim of one of my former employers, sir—as I believe I mentioned to you once before—the present Lord Bridgworth, that there is always a way. No doubt we shall be able to discover some solution of Mr Bickersteth's difficulty, sir.'
'Well, have a stab at it, Jeeves.'
'I will spare no pains, sir.'
I went and dressed sadly. It will show you pretty well how pipped I was when I tell you that I as near as a toucher put on a white tie with a dinner-jacket. I sallied out for a bit of food more to pass the time than because I wanted it. It seemed brutal to be wading into the bill of fare with poor old Bicky headed for the bread-line.
When I got back old Chiswick had gone to bed, but Bicky was there, hunched up in an arm-chair, brooding pretty tensely, with a cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth and a more or less glassy stare in his eyes.
'This is a bit thick, old thing—what!' I said.
He picked up his glass and drained it feverishly, overlooking the fact that it hadn't anything in it.
'I'm done, Bertie!' he said.
He had another go at the glass. It didn't seem to do him any good.