bertie is in new york. his friend, bruce "corky" corcoran, a struggling artist, relies on an allowance from his rich uncle alexander worple, who runs a jute business. corky introduces his fiancée, muriel singer, to bertie. corky is afraid that his disagreeable uncle will not approve of her. at bertie's bidding, jeeves suggests that, since mr. worple wrote a book about birds called "american birds", muriel should write "the children's book of american birds" and dedicate it to mr. worple, and then send worple a letter thanking him for his work and asking to meet him. muriel does not feel she can write a book, so jeeves proposes they pay a ghostwriter. to help corky and muriel, bertie pays to have the book published and written. worple replies to muriel's letter that he would be happy to meet her.