One of Henry James's most pitiless tales. A young woman of extraordinary beauty is slowly going blind and refuses the spectacles that would preserve what sight remains — because they would spoil the face that is her only capital in the marriage market. Narrated by a portrait painter who is complicit in the vanity he records, this 1896 story cuts to the bone of what beauty is worth as currency. This edition presents the complete and unabridged novella, newly typeset and illustrated with 30 full-page color plates.