Embarrassments

The almost autoerotic parable, The Figure in the Carpet (1896) concerns the "secret" surrounding the published works of Hugh Vereker, which his friends, the narrator and another critic, seek in vain to unravel. The rival critic at last discovers the secret, but dies before he can reveal it. Glasses (1896) is the gruesome tale of how personal physical appearances effected prospects in the marriage market. The Next Time (1895) was another of James' contributions to The Yellow Book in which an...