The maid of Phyllis Jackson lets in her old schoolfriend Eve Halliday, who she has invited for a tea party together with Miss Clarkson ("Clarkie"), their old school mistress.  Eve is surprised that Phyllis did not marry well-to-do Rollo Mountford, whom she was engaged with, but then she met Mike Jackson. Mike was at Cambridge with the son of the very rich Smith family which he worked for as an agent and he and Phyllis got to know each other through  a friend of Phyllis' who lived next to the Smith estate. They fell in love, eloped and got married. But when the old mr. Smith died the estate had to be sold because he left hardly any money and Mike lost his job, leaving them penniless and unable to pursue Mike's dream to set up a farm in the country. Asked by Eve whether her stepfather would be willing to step in Phyllis says that Lady Constance Keeble, her stepmother, stands in the way because she would have wanted her to marry Rollo. When Eve learns that the Keebles live at Blandings Castle she is startled because she has just accepted a job to catalgue the castle's library. She has hesitated at first because Freddy Threepwood, who she had met on a thetre party in London wants to marry her and she definitely does not. When Phyllis sees Eve off her maid tells her that a certain mr. Smith-m has called, who Phyllis remembers as the son of the Smith family she knew. She thinks he is attractive, but Eve does not seem to be interested.   

Characters

• Phyllis Jackson: stepdaughter of Joe Keeble (husband of Lady Constance Keeble)

• Eve Halliday: school friend of Phyllis Jackson

• Miss Ada Clarkson: old school mistress of Phyllis Jackson and Eve Halliday, runs an employment agency