When Paul d'Aspremont travels to Naples to join Alicia Ward, his beautiful fiancée, he is surprised to see her grow pale under his gaze, and to discover that an Italian suitor, Count Altavilla, is trying to win her affections. Soon the strange gestures and whispers of the locals convince him - against his better judgement - that indeed he has the evil eye, and that he must resort to extreme measures if he wants to shield Alicia from its deadly effects.

This 1856 novella from the master of fantasy and the supernatural, featuring one of the most hauntingly surreal denouements in nineteenth-century fiction, is a brilliant and witty examination of man's innermost fantasies and fears.