A lighter, quicker Henry James, written in 1879 between the early tales and the great novels. At the spa town of Baden-Baden, one young man asks his friend to inspect the woman he is courting and report whether she will do as a wife — and the report he receives changes the course of both their lives. It is James's most playful treatment of the subject he never abandoned: what happens when a man hands his own judgment to someone else. This edition presents the complete and unabridged novel, newly typeset and illustrated with 41 full-page color plates.