In an earlier book, "Adèle and Co." (1931), Jill had been married to Piers, Duke of Padua, and had baby twins. Now, she explains in a matter-of-fact manner "It was awful, you know, when Piers and my babies were killed. They went down in a plane together." With Boy's ex-wife Adèle having returned to her native America some years earlier, and deciding not to come back, Boy and Jill are free to fall in love; and towards the end of the novel the couple marry.