Flora Louise Saunt is an orphaned young lady, but is so beautiful that she turns heads wherever she goes and counts on her beauty to attain security as the wife of young Lord Iffield, one of many who has fallen under her enchantment. Another is the narrator, a painter who could not resist portraying her multiple times and who becomes her confidant in the one difficulty she seems to have - she does not see well and her eyes seem to be seriously worsening.