When Psmith, looking out of a Drones Club window, sees a perfectly dressed girl across the street sheltering from the rain he does not hesitate, takes an umbrella from the available ones in the hall and runs across the street to offer it to the young lady, who gratefully accepts it, albeit a little bewildered, and then seeing her saviour disappear as speedily as he arrived. Eve Halliday, being the girl in question, proceeds to the office of miss Clarkson. On arrival she hears that "Clarkie" does not have a suitable job for her, but Eve brushes that matter aside and instead asks about their friend Cynthia, only to hear that she has married and that her husband left her without a trace. After having bemoaned the bad luck that has befallen both Phyllis and Cynthia Evbe tells Clarkie that she does not need a job right now and leaves the office.
Rupert Psmith: a young man who escapes his uncle's fish business to start an agency of his own
Eve Halliday: school friend of Phyllis Jackson
Miss Ada Clarkson: old school mistress of Phyllis Jackson and Eve Halliday, runs an employment agency