bertie leaves town for several months to be with friends in the country. he returns to new york and spots muriel in a restaurant. she has married alexander worple. shocked, bertie returns to his flat and tells jeeves, though jeeves is not surprised, having known this was a possibility. bertie, uneasy about seeing corky after this, avoids corky, but eventually visits corky after reading in the paper that muriel and worple have had a son. bertie learns that corky has been commissioned by his uncle to paint a picture of the baby. the situation is terrible for corky, but he has no choice.