Acknowledgements. - Introduction. - 'Just you wait!': reflections on the last chapters of The Portrait of a Lady. - As charming as a charming story': governesses in What Maisie Knew and 'The Turn of the Screw'. - 'The sacred terror': The Awkward Age and James's men of the world. - Blushing in the dark: language and sex in The Ambassadors. - Poor girls with their rent to pay: class in 'In the Cage'and The Wings of the Dove. - 'A house of quiet': privileges and pleasures in The Golden Bowl. - Notes. - Bibliography. - Index