A short comic story by Henry James, set in 1879 and written in epistolary form. Several witnesses recount the same event, and we see how perspectives differ. The work is part of the collection El último de los Valerios y otros cuentos.
It explores the interactions of several residents in a boarding house in Paris, each representing a different nationality. The story focuses on Miranda Hope, an independent and somewhat naive young woman from Maine, who writes to her mother about her travels through Europe and her disapproval of the way women are treated in the Old World.
Other characters include Violet Ray, a socialite from New York who considers Miranda provincial; Louis Leverett, an aesthete who over-romanticizes life; Evelyn Vane, an Englishwoman who mocks Leverett’s pretentiousness; and Leon Verdier, a Frenchman focused on women’s appearance.
The German professor, the most cynical and intelligent character, despises all English-speaking characters due to their national traits. While each character belittles the others for personal or cultural reasons, the German’s contempt is more ideological, believing in the superiority of Germans.