Jeez, a great cite. Cite?
oops - Mark Twain's Correspondence with Henry Huttleston Rogers, 1893-1909 - Mark Twain - Google Books
Thanks, bob++.
I think, when Bertie reacted to Aunt Dahlias stating her dependance on “Jeeves”, in irritation he spat out the name “Jeeves!” with such vehemence that she assumed he had sneezed. Thus her inadvertent Germanic reply. Pure Wodehouse.
Stupid question and I may have missed things scanning the thread, but…
Isn’'t it that Auntie thinks Bertie is saying something like “Jesus!” instead of “Jeeves!”, and reacts with the phrase/or word to ward off the evil that comes with taking the Lord’s name in vain?
Hence the response “I was not sneezing. I was saying ‘Jeeves!’”
Bertie thinks it’s because he thinks she’s reacting to a sneeze, doing the German equivalent of “Bless you”.
Probably about as risque language as you could get from that literature.