In Henry James' The Aspern Papers, the narrator attempts to disguise himself in order to stay at Miss Bordereau's old palace, hoping to obtain the literary remains of Jeffery Aspern, one of the most brilliant and handsomest poets of his days. The narrator uses Miss Tina, Miss Bordereau's niece, to get more information on the whereabouts of the papers. Throughout the story, Miss Bordereau is suspicious of the narrator and creates several traps for him to fall into.
When the narrator first meets Miss Bordereau, he asks if he can rent a few rooms. During their first encounter, Miss Bordereau already seems suspicious of the narrator. The narrator says that he loves flowers, so Miss Bordereau asks, "If you're so fond of a garden why don't you go to terra firma, where there are so many far better than this" (62). Miss Bordereau begins to wonder why the narrator is so eager to stay at her old palace. Nobody ever comes by the palace. It is old and almost seems deserted. Miss Bordereau tells the narrator that she has not been on a gondola for many years and the narrator quickly offers his for her to use. The narrator becomes aware that his speech is in questionable taste and might also do him the injury of making him appear too eager, too possessed of a hidden motive. Miss Bordereau is suspicious of the narrator but cannot make any judgements yet.
In their next encounter, between the narrator and Miss Bordereau, Miss Bordereau begins to question the narrator by asking, "If you write books don't you sell them?" (105). Miss Bordereau suggests to the narrator that if he is making very little money, maybe he doesn't choose nice subjects. When Miss Bordereau asks what the narrator writes about, he replies, "I'm a critic, a commentator, an historian, in a small way" (105). The narrator begins to wonder what she was coming to. Miss Bordereau uses the small oval portrait of Jeffrey Aspern to test for the narrator's reaction, but the narrator is smart and exclaims, "What a striking face Do tell me who he is" (108).
