Introduction -- Imaginative truths : the Cranes -- A provincial gentleman : James at Rye -- The master and the prophet : James and Wells -- The brothers : Henry and William -- The collaborators : Ford and Conrad -- Living prudently : James's friendships -- Living dangerously : the Cranes -- A ring of friendships : Edith Wharton and the Qu'Acre Circle -- The bench of desolation : James at seventy -- Postscript.