An English traveller meets a Hungarian army officer in a café. They fast become inseparable friends, but is there more there beneath the surface?

Stevenson published this novel under the pseudonym “Xavier Mayne.” Only 500 copies were published. Stevenson described the novel as “a little psychological romance.” The characters struggle with their identities as well as each others. How much will the narrator risk for a chance of true connection in a foreign land?

The real treat that readers can take away from this book is to see numerous tropes and issues that we may think of today as modern within the context of the early 20th century: gays in the military, questioning “gaydar” accuracy, blaming feminine men for gay social strife, and gay men boasting their masculinity who are oblivious to their feminine qualities. The narrator is even drinking an iced coffee at the beginning of the story.