Publisher's Synopsis
The story centers on the vanity of a young woman, whose love of her own beauty will cost her her eyesight and it's all in pursuit of love and marriage; the narrator is an artist, once again the pretty girl comes to sit for a portrait, a favorite method of James that he used many times to put himself in his stories; this artist meets the girl in Folkestone where he has gone "for a blow" and to visit his mother; he sees the girl and is struck by her beauty; later after dinner, standing with her under the stars he becomes more fascinated, seeing her again while out walking he introduces her to his mother and asked if it is true that she has something wrong with her eyes; it brings her to tears and she claims its all a "horrid lie."
