Several weeks later, Portia finds that Anna has been reading her diary. Though the plot follows Portia’s relationship with Eddie, the novel’s real tension lies between Portia and Anna, as the girl comes to grief against the shoals of Anna’s glittering, urbane cynicism. Portia is the representative of the blind innocence of childhood. Both Portia and Anna are innocents (though of a slightly different sort). Anna represents this self-denied innocence and the primary tension between her and Portia comes from the idea that while Anna has denied herself innocence, Portia is reveling in it.