To the casual and irreflective observer it may sound a pretty good wheeze having a duke for an uncle, but the trouble about old Chiswick was that, though an extremely wealthy old buster, owning half London and about five counties up north, he was notoriously the most prudent spender in England.

Bicky, wishing to remain in New York, has been lying to his uncle about finding a business opportunity in the city.

After making a fuss over cab fare, Chiswick arrives, meeting Bertie and Jeeves.

Jeeves manages to make a deal with a convention of 87 gentlemen from Birdsburg, Missouri; they will each shake Chiswick's hand and pay a total of one hundred and fifty dollars afterward.

The gentlemen come, and things go smoothly until the Birdsburg men ask for a guarantee that Chiswick is really a duke, since they are paying money.

Jeeves, however, suggests that Bicky could sell the story of this encounter with the Birdsburg convention to a newspaper.

Chiswick, who has a horror of publicity, is browbeaten into offering Bicky a secretarial job back in London.

"Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg" was illustrated by Henry Raleigh in its 1916 publication in the Saturday Evening Post and by Alfred Leete in the Strand.

For example, the Duke of Chiswick says a certain taxi ride would have cost "eightpence" in London, and this amount is changed to "a shilling" in the Carry On, Jeeves version.