Lady Hawarden has posed her daughters in fancy dress costumes, male and female. One daughter poses in clothing reminiscent of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–87), the other wears knee-length breeches. The model in male dress lies on a low divan covered in a striped textile, her eyes gazing imploringly at the camera. At the same time she pulls at the skirt of the other player in this drama, who turns her face to the wall. The scene is enlivened by a bold use of light from the window at the right, which throws a block-like shadow from the standing figure onto the wall beside her. This perhaps symbolises her resolve to resist the amorous advances of the lovesick reclining figure. Patterns of light and dark criss-cross the tableau in many forms. They are like metaphors for the conflicted emotions represented.