Erlach Court

Around the dinner table at a castle on the Save, conversation has almost run out when news of fresh guests revives the company. Captain von Leskjewitsch and his wife preside over a party that includes their spoiled young son, a tireless gossip, and Baron Rohritz, whose reserve hints at an unhappy attachment. Ossip Schubin introduces this Austrian circle through its quarrels, vanity, and carefully observed social habits.

The novel later follows Stella and her mother to Paris, where aristocratic expectations meet a painfully limited budget. Their search for furnished rooms turns questions of comfort, respectability, and price into scenes of social comedy. Alongside these practical troubles run Stella's unsettled feelings and doubts about other people's sincerity. Readers interested in fiction about manners will find sharp portraits of status-conscious society, with drawing-room conversation and small domestic decisions carrying much of the action.