stonepicnicking_okapi

Title: Wardrobe Inventory
Fandom: Jeeves & Wooster
Number of Lines: 8
Rating: Gen
Poetic form: Ottava rima
Prompt: oniomania
Notes: Inspired by this excerpt from "The Aunt and the Sluggard" where Rocky Todd is aghast at the prospect of 'dressing for dinner.'

"Do you dress for dinner every night, Bertie?"
"Jeeves," I said coldly. The man was still standing like a statue by the door. "How many suits of evening clothes have I?"
"We have three suits full of evening dress, sir; two dinner jackets----"
"Three."
"For practical purposes two only, sir. If you remember we cannot wear the third. We have also seven white waistcoats."
"And shirts?"
"Four dozen, sir."
"And white ties?"
"The first two shallow shelves in the chest of drawers are completely filled with our white ties, sir."
I turned to Rocky.
"You see?"

In full, we have three suits of evening dress, sir.
And, yes, we dress for dinner every night, sir.
Two dinner jackets, not three, I confess, sir;
as to the third, well, it is not quite right, sir.
Of waistcoats, we’ve seven, starched to impress, sir,
four dozen shirts, they’re neither loose nor tight, sir.
Two shallow shelves of white ties, he who buys, sir,
considers most adequate our supplies, sir.