Henry is -- what else? -- a waiter. And Kipper and Carrot? They are the ragamuffin pair who tumble into the coffee shop where Henry works, one sunny day in England. Kipper helps Carrot develop her stage talents . . . while Carrot gets high ideas and marries even higher to become the Marchioness of Appleford!

One of Jerome K. Jerome's highly entertaining observers of life, the waiter Henry meets all the interesting coffee-shop sorts: the man whose baby is shown in a Dog Show . . . the customer who is eaten by a cannibal . . . and of course Carrot, who discovers life as a Marchionesse is "just like a funeral with the corpse left out!"