James Markland, Lord Falconer, aware of his ugliness, lives in solitude and wears a robe with a wide hood that hides his face. Hearing that the lovely young Ariel Hawthorne from a neighboring estate is about to be forced into marriage with a disgusting libertine, he offers her the only possible protection: his name. Of course, the marriage will be purely nominal, for what woman could desire it? If only he knew! The novella is part of the collection of Christmas stories "Christmas Revels".