The Love That Purifies
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"The Love that Purifies" is a short story by
P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...
, and features the young gentleman
Bertie Wooster Bertram Wilberforce Wooster is a fictional character in the comedic Jeeves stories created by British author P. G. Wodehouse. An amiable English gentleman and one of the "idle rich", Bertie appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose intelligenc ...
and his valet
Jeeves Jeeves (born Reginald Jeeves, nicknamed Reggie) is a fictional character in a series of comedic short stories and novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse. Jeeves is the highly competent valet of a wealthy and idle young Londoner named Bertie W ...
. The story was published in ''
The Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...
'' in the United Kingdom in November 1929, and in ''
Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...
'' in the United States that same month, as "Jeeves and the Love that Purifies". The story was also included as the eighth story in the 1930 collection ''
Very Good, Jeeves ''Very Good, Jeeves'' is a collection of eleven short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, all featuring Jeeves and Bertie Wooster. It was first published in the United States on 20 June 1930 by Doubleday, Doran, New York, and in the United Kingdom on 4 J ...
''. The story concerns a Good Conduct contest between Bertie's young cousins, Bonzo Travers, the son of Bertie's
Aunt Dahlia Dahlia Travers (née Wooster) is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves stories of English comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being best known as Bertie Wooster's bonhomous, red-faced Aunt Dahlia. She is much beloved by her nephew, in contrast ...
, and
Thomas Gregson Thomas George Gregson (7 February 1796 – 4 January 1874) was the second Premier of Tasmania, serving from 26 February 1857 until 25 April 1857. Early life Gregson was born in Buckton, Northumberland, England, the son of John Gregson who was ...
, the son of Bertie's
Aunt Agatha Agatha Gregson, née Wooster, later Lady Worplesdon, is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves stories of the British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being best known as Bertie Wooster's Aunt Agatha. Haughty and overbearing, Aunt Agatha wa ...
.


Plot

Jeeves leaves for his annual holiday to go shrimping in
Bognor Bognor Regis (), sometimes simply known as Bognor (), is a town and seaside resort in West Sussex on the south coast of England, south-west of London, west of Brighton, south-east of Chichester and east of Portsmouth. Other nearby towns i ...
. Bertie's friend Sippy, who is engaged to Gwendolen Moon, wants Bertie to stay with him to keep Gwendolen's young brother Sebastian occupied. Bertie, who does not like Sebastian, instead visits his Aunt Dahlia at her home,
Brinkley Court The following is a list of recurring or notable fictional locations featured in the stories of P. G. Wodehouse, in alphabetical order by place name. Angler's Rest The Angler's (or Anglers') Rest is the fictional public house frequented by irrepr ...
. Aunt Dahlia's son Bonzo is there, as is Anstruther, a family friend, and Lord and Lady Snettisham. The son of Bertie's Aunt Agatha, Thomas ("Thos"), is also present. Anstruther has offered a Good Conduct prize of five pounds to whichever boy behaves the best. Thos, who is normally troublesome, is behaving very well; this upsets Aunt Dahlia, because she has bet that Bonzo would win the contest, while Lady Snettisham bet on Thos. Aunt Dahlia bet her valuable chef Anatole against the Snettisham's kitchen-maid. The Snettishams try to bribe Bonzo to misbehave, though they fail because he loves the actress
Lillian Gish Lillian Diana Gish (October 14, 1893February 27, 1993) was an American actress, director, and screenwriter. Her film-acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912, in silent film shorts, to 1987. Gish was called the "First Lady of American Cinema", ...
and wants to be worthy of her. Aunt Dahlia wants to take revenge by sabotaging Thos. She asks Bertie to pose the problem to Jeeves. As Jeeves is away, Bertie proposes to handle the problem himself. Bertie tries to insult Thos, to entice him into misbehaving by exacting revenge on Bertie, but Thos remains well-behaved. Later, Thos earns bonus points in the contest after he performs a good deed. Bertie and Aunt Dahlia are confounded, and Bertie admits that they need Jeeves. He wires for Jeeves to come. Without complaint, Jeeves cuts his vacation short and comes. He suggests that Aunt Dahlia invite Sebastian Moon to visit. Sebastian is an outspoken child, and Jeeves feels that Thos will not tolerate insults from a boy younger than him. Bertie writes to his friend Sippy, and Sebastian arrives two days later. However, Thos continues to behave well. Jeeves tells Bertie he has discovered the true reason for Thos's good conduct: Thos loves the actress
Greta Garbo Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragedy, ...
. Later, Bertie sees Thos chasing Sebastian with a bucket of water. Thos tries to splash water onto Sebastian but hits Anstruther instead. Anstruther then angrily chases Thos with a stick. Jeeves explains that he told Sebastian to insult Greta Garbo, and Sebastian eagerly obliged, since he finds her inferior to the actress
Clara Bow Clara Gordon Bow (; July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" in 1929. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the ...
. Bertie, astonished by the passion of the younger generation, is pleased with Jeeves. He tells Jeeves to return to Bognor, and that he can stay there another fortnight.


Publication history

The story was illustrated by Charles Crombie in the ''Strand'' and by
James Montgomery Flagg James Montgomery Flagg (June 18, 1877 – May 27, 1960) was an American artist, comics artist and illustrator. He worked in media ranging from fine art painting to cartooning, but is best remembered for his political posters, particularly his 1 ...
in ''Cosmopolitan''. The 1932 collection ''Nothing But Wodehouse'', published by Doubleday, and the 1958 collection ''Selected Stories by P. G. Wodehouse'', published by
The Modern Library The Modern Library is an American book publishing imprint and formerly the parent company of Random House. Founded in 1917 by Albert Boni and Horace Liveright as an imprint of their publishing company Boni & Liveright, Modern Library became an in ...
, included the story.


Adaptations

An episode of ''
The World of Wooster ''The World of Wooster'' is a comedy television series, based on the Jeeves stories by author P. G. Wodehouse. The television series starred Ian Carmichael as English gentleman Bertie Wooster and Dennis Price as Bertie's valet Jeeves. The s ...
'' adapted the story. The episode, titled "Jeeves and the Love That Purifies", was the sixth episode of the third series. It was originally broadcast in the UK on 10 November 1967. This story was not adapted into any ''
Jeeves and Wooster ''Jeeves and Wooster'' is a British comedy-drama television series adapted by Clive Exton from P. G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" stories. It aired on the ITV network from 22 April 1990 to 20 June 1993, with the last series nominated for a British ...
'' episode.


References

;Notes ;Sources * * *


External links


Characters in ''The Love That Purifies''


and the stories it includes
Encyclopedia Jeevesiana
{{DEFAULTSORT:Love That Purifies, The 1929 short stories Short stories by P. G. Wodehouse Works originally published in The Strand Magazine Works originally published in Cosmopolitan (magazine)