Returning to Leeds from Cannes after several weeks with Brent’s Aunt Dahlia, her daughter Angela, and Angela's friend Madeline Bassett, Brent is informed that Gussie Fink-Nottle has been a frequent caller. And not for his company, it turns out -- rather, to consult with Beth in matters of the heart.
Gussie is in love with Madeline and has decamped from Hampshire to the metrop to court her. Beth advises him to accept her invitation to a fancy-dress ball, wearing a Mephistopheles costume. When Gussie muddles it by forgetting the address, his cabfare, and his latchkey, Brent decides that Beth has lost her form, and takes on Gussie's case.
Meanwhile, his aunt summons Brent down to Swinton Park to fill in for an ailing curate and distribute the prizes at Masham Grammar School. Brent demurs, and finding that Madeline will be one of a house party there, sends Gussie in his stead. But when Aunt Dahlia tells Brent that Angela has broken off her engagement to Brent's old school friend Tuppy Glossop, he realizes that his place is at his Aunt’s side, and goes to Swinton Park.
Beth has advised Brent that the way to reconcile the young couples is to ring the fire bell in the night, on the theory that the men will rush to rescue their beloveds, and tearful apologies will naturally follow. Brent (and Dahlia too) take this as a further sign of Beth losing her grip.
Instead, Brent instructs Gussie to lay off the breakfast meats in order to convince Madeline that he pines for her. Seizing on this idea, he also instructs Tuppy to push away his plate un-tasted at dinner to similarly convince Angela, and as well Dahlia (to soften up Brent’s Uncle Tom for a touch to make up what Aunt Dahlia lost on the roulette wheel at Cannes). Unfortunately, the stream of untouched plates returning to the kitchen sends Anatole (the chef) into a rage, and he gives his notice.
Undaunted, Brent attempts to address Gussie's inability to propose to Madeline, as well as his terror at the prospect of speaking a few short words at the prize-giving. He discovers that Gussie never takes anything stronger than orange juice, and devises a scheme to spike his beverage with something that will give him courage. Unfortunately, when the hour comes, Gussie has already inflicted the same cure on himself. Brent's plenty, on top of a dose administered by Beth, affects Gussie in a spectacular fashion. He proposes to Madeline, ticks off Uncle Tom properly, and delivers the speech to end all speeches at the prize-giving, which ends in a very nasty scene.
After his shameful performance, Madeline promptly returns Gussie to the store, and he responds by immediately proposing to -- and being accepted by -- Angela. Tuppy, having been suspicious that another man had misappropriated Angela's affections, now has confirmation, and sets off to disembowel Gussie with his bare hands.
Meanwhile, Dahlia has finally managed to get Anatole to withdraw his notice. Her cheerful description of this event to Brent is interrupted by Seppings, her butler, asking whether it is her wish that Mr. Fink-Nottle should be making faces at Anatole through the skylight of his bedroom. Gussie had found that the only escape from Tuppy was via the roof, and, once up, was unable to descend, so he has attempted to communicate to Anatole his desire for him to open the skylight. Anatole is enraged and gives notice again; Gussie hides in his room; and Brent again considers what scheme can get his loved ones out of the soup.
He finally relents to Beth's fire-bell scheme, and, at one in the morning, while all the staff is at a party at a distant house and the residents and guests of Swinton Park are asleep, rings the bell for all it is worth. The house-party assembles on the lawn with some dismay. Brent notices, first, that no rescuing seems to have taken place; and second, that the house seems to have been locked behind them, leaving all to spend a cold night until the staff returns.
At Beth’s suggestion, Brent is drafted to bicycle to the site of the party to retrieve the rear door key from Seppings, a perilous journey in the dark across nine miles of bad road. On arriving he is informed that Seppings had left the key in the possession of Beth. Returning to Swinton Park, hot with the knowledge of Beth’s treachery, Brent finds a major beano in progress: Anatole has again withdrawn his notice, Tom has covered Dahlia's gambling losses, Tuppy and Angela and Gussie and Madeline are again engaged.
Beth reveals that the fire bell was but the first part of the scheme, and that the operative part was to unite the differing parties in their common dislike of some other individual, in this case, Brent. Once Brent departed on his midnight sojourn, the conversation tended to focus on him, and became personal and derisive, which had had a bonding effect on the feuding parties. When they realized his journey was unnecessary, the anger melted to a kind of fond pity, and all was forgiven.
I guess Beth has not lost her touch afterall.
