William Le Queux is well known for his 'purple-prose' and in this story he really excels himself. We begin in Florence,which is well described. A penniless writer wandering through Italy,comes across a girl praying in one of the churches there. needless to say,he falls in love with her (as one does) and from that moment on,she is the only girl for him. he later meets her again in the studio of a friend of his,who is painting her portrait. He tells her of his love but although she returns it,she tells him that they must never meet again as she has a terrible secret,which however she cannot ever tell him ! We learn later that she is suffering from both leprosy and from intermittent bouts of insanity. "I still love you" says he,after discovering this ! She disappears soon after and our indomitable but somewhat stupid hero follows her trail.
There is more than a touch of Trilby and Svengali in the later stages,but as the finale comes ever closer good triumphs over evil (as it always does). ( )