This collection of short stories begins with the story of Carcellini Emerald, a jewel owned by the Carcellini family. How did Ashton Carmichael come by his aristocratic and decidedly individual place as a dictator in New York's smart society? Nobody knew; nobody really cared. He was as much power as was Beau Brummell over modish London in the days of the Regency. Good-looking, gentlemanlike, amusing when it suited him to be so, sarcastic—and, on occasion, offensively snobbish—his uncertainties of mood lent zest to pursuit by his admirers.