[1] At an Impressionists's club, painters are arguing over the seriousness of art, prompting Dunlap to leave the room.

Later in Paris, he meets Mr Gilbert and starts making a portrait of his daughter Virginia.

However, Virginia shows no feeling of affection for her, being too busy with the vagaries of fashion and throwing parties.

He eventually proceeds to make a crass remark about a scar Virginia bears.

It has been argued that the story is characteristic of 'the author's strange abhorrence for physical defect'.