The Lady attends the theatre and becomes fascinated by the power that prostitutes seem to hold over their male admirers.

The Lady disguises herself as a prostitute and immediately draws Beauplaisir's attention; he fails to recognize her.

The Lady deflects Beauplaisir's advances on their first evening together by claiming she has a prior engagement.

The Lady and Beauplaisir have their first sexual encounter at the grand inn she has reserved.

The Lady tells Beauplaisir her name is Fantomina and claims to be a well-born country girl, not a prostitute.

Beauplaisir grows weary of Fantomina despite finding her strangely intriguing, and the Lady senses his interest fading.

The Lady disguises herself as Celia, a country maid, and follows Beauplaisir to Bath to pursue him anew.

Beauplaisir and the Lady disguised as Celia have a casual intimate encounter at a Bath inn, understood by both to be fleeting.

The Lady disguises herself as Widow Boomer and flags down Beauplaisir's carriage outside a Bath hotel.

Beauplaisir and the Lady disguised as Widow Boomer stop at an inn for the night and have another intimate encounter.

The Lady recruits two squires to pose as her servants and deliver a mysterious letter from Incognita to Beauplaisir.

The Lady receives Beauplaisir at a rented grand house wearing a veil she refuses to remove even during intimacy.

Beauplaisir grows frustrated by Incognita's endless secrecy and leaves her rented house, vowing never to return.

The Lady goes into unexpected early labor at a going-away ball, exposing her hidden pregnancy to those present.

The Lady confesses all her disguises; Beauplaisir offers to adopt their daughter, and her mother sends her to a French monastery.

A young noblewoman disguises herself as a prostitute at the theatre and catches the eye of Beauplaisir, who does not recognize her. After a first intimate encounter at a rented inn, she invents the name Fantomina and begins a clandestine romance to hold his interest. When Beauplaisir grows bored, she pursues him to Bath in two more disguises — first as Celia, a country maid, then as the grieving Widow Boomer. Her most extreme invention is Incognita, a veiled woman who lures Beauplaisir to a rented house and refuses to reveal her face even during intimacy. When Incognita too fails to hold him, an unexpected early labor at a public ball exposes her pregnancy and forces a final confrontation. The full deception is revealed to Beauplaisir and the Lady's mother, ending with her exile to a French monastery.

The core disguises and deceptions driving the main romance.

The Lady's wealthy companions dismiss the prostitutes at the theatre while the Lady watches them with private curiosity.

The Lady resolves to dress as a prostitute the following evening, driven by what she regards as innocent curiosity.

The Lady reserves grand lodgings at an inn, believing their elegance will prevent Beauplaisir from taking liberties with her.

The grand lodgings instead lead Beauplaisir to conclude that the Lady is simply a higher-class prostitute.

The Lady feels intense shame immediately after her first sexual encounter with Beauplaisir.

The Lady bribes the inn's landlady to tell Beauplaisir that these lodgings are her permanent quarters.

The Lady secretly returns to her Aunt's home to resume her ordinary life after her encounters with Beauplaisir.

Beauplaisir continues to visit Fantomina but repeatedly notices her strange resemblance to the Lady he knows from society.

Beauplaisir grows bored even with the Widow Boomer disguise after showing only brief renewed interest in her.

The Lady simultaneously maintains her Fantomina and Widow Boomer personas, writing letters to Beauplaisir under both aliases.

Beauplaisir sends gallant but evasive replies to both aliases, making excuses to avoid visiting either woman.

The two servants employed for the Incognita ruse draw all the blinds the morning after the encounter to preserve total darkness.

Beauplaisir becomes cold toward both the Fantomina and Widow Boomer personas following his encounter with Incognita.

The Lady's strict mother unexpectedly returns from a lengthy trip to Europe.

Beauplaisir refuses to marry the Lady despite her mother's pressure, though he pledges to care for their daughter.

While the Lady pursues Beauplaisir through her various disguises, a series of quieter but equally significant moments shapes the story's outcome. Her initial disguise is born not out of love but out of innocent curiosity at the theatre, where her wealthy friends dismiss the very women she finds fascinating. The grand lodgings she rents to deter Beauplaisir backfire, the shame she feels after their first encounter is profound, and she must bribe an innkeeper to protect her secret. She juggles multiple aliases simultaneously — writing letters to Beauplaisir as both Fantomina and the Widow Boomer while he responds with gallant evasions to each. The Incognita encounter leaves Beauplaisir cold toward all her previous personas, and shortly afterward her domineering mother returns from Europe. Though Beauplaisir refuses to marry the Lady, he pledges to care for their daughter, revealing that convention governs even his most decent impulses.

The behind-the-scenes maneuvers and personal consequences of the Lady's schemes.

The Lady decides on impulse, without any romantic plan, to spend a single evening disguised as a prostitute.

Beauplaisir insists on arranging a second meeting after the Lady evades him on their first encounter.

Beauplaisir concludes the Lady is a sophisticated, high-class prostitute and pursues her accordingly, still not recognizing her.

The Lady falls in love with Beauplaisir immediately following their first intimate encounter.

The Lady resolves to invent a new persona after realizing Beauplaisir's interest in any single disguise cannot last.

Beauplaisir is initially bored by Widow Boomer's grief but is suddenly captivated when she speaks eloquently about love.

The Lady privately congratulates herself on having found what she believes is a foolproof method for holding a man's interest.

The Lady meets two low-ranking squires at a park and conceives the elaborate Incognita deception.

Beauplaisir reads Incognita's letter, which promises love but guarantees permanent anonymity, and eagerly agrees to meet her.

The Lady rents a grand house and arranges for total darkness and secrecy ahead of Beauplaisir's arrival as Incognita.

The Lady and Beauplaisir share their most unguarded intimacy yet during the veiled encounter in Incognita's darkened house.

The Lady discovers she is pregnant.

The Lady attempts to conceal her pregnancy from her mother and everyone in her social circle.

The Lady reluctantly names Beauplaisir as the father of her child after her mother's persistent demands.

Beauplaisir is summoned to the Lady's bedside and is astonished to learn he has been intimate with her throughout the entire affair.

The story turns on a series of crucial decisions and discoveries that reveal both the Lady's ingenuity and her vulnerability. What begins as a spontaneous impulse — dressing as a prostitute for a single evening — quickly becomes a consuming obsession after the Lady falls in love with Beauplaisir following their first encounter. Each time she recognizes that a disguise is failing, she invents a bolder one, culminating in the Incognita scheme, conceived during a chance meeting with two squires at a park. The darkened house of the Incognita encounter represents the closest the Lady and Beauplaisir ever come to genuine intimacy, yet even this is built entirely on concealment. When the Lady discovers her pregnancy and tries to hide it, the situation spirals beyond her control, ending with her mother forcing a confrontation at the Lady's bedside. Beauplaisir's shock at learning the truth — that one woman has deceived him in every encounter — marks the story's final, ironic revelation.

The key decisions, emotional shifts, and revelations that change the story's direction.