# Elena Barry-Smith — The Cords of Vanity character guide > Elena Barry-Smith in The Cords of Vanity by James Branch Cabell. **Role:** supporting **Also known as:** Elena, Barry, Lena, Smith **First appearance:** 0017-i ## Snapshot A beauty so absolute it tyrannizes her, Elena Barry-Smith devotes her days to its upkeep and her evenings to keeping Robert Townsend deliciously miserable. ## Who they are Elena Barry-Smith is the woman every man in Lichfield loves and no one, least of all her suitor Robert Townsend, can claim to know. Her beauty is a discipline and a career: seven hours of sleep, five miles of walking, a diet that treats candy as prussic acid, leaving barely two hours a day for being a person. She is variously rich, widowed, and profoundly mutable, and her slow decision to marry Townsend sets the whole comedy of his shirking in motion. ## Relationships ### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/characters/unknown_narrator) _romantic_ Elena is a sophisticated woman with whom the narrator shares flirtation and romantic tension. ### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/characters/unknown_narrator) _romantic_ Elena is a sophisticated woman with whom the narrator shares flirtation and romantic tension. ### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/characters/unknown_narrator) _romantic_ Elena is a sophisticated woman with whom the narrator shares flirtation and romantic tension. ## In the story ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/ii) Revealed to be married to Ned Lethbury; she is torn between her love for the narrator and her religious and marital obligations. ### [XI: He Postures Among Chimney-Pots](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/xi-he-postures-among-chimney-pots) Elena is the young American woman the narrator meets on the roof during the hotel fire; they discuss Helen of Troy and ideal beauty. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/iii) The woman with the narrator on the roof; she is frightened and nearly falls, but is saved by the narrator. ### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/v) An American Southerner who was staying at the hotel with her mother; she is calm and witty during the fire, and engages with the narrator's ideas about Helen. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/iv) The woman he loved, now with Von Anspach; the narrator struggles with the thought of her as 'Von Anspach's harlot.' ### [XX: He Dines Out, Impeded by Superstitions](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/xx-he-dines-out-impeded-by-superstitions) Elena is present at the dinner; the narrator confesses his love to her despite her marriage. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/i) The woman the narrator loves; they meet again at a dinner party, and she is married. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/ii) Mentioned as having married a man named Barry-Smith, which triggers the narrator's bitter reflections. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/iii) Revealed to be a widow; she engages in a flirtatious conversation with the narrator, teasing him about his proposal. ### [He Is Urged to Desert His Galley](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/xxi-he-is-urged-to-desert-his-galley) Elena confronts the narrator about his condescension toward her mother and their class differences, ultimately ending their relationship. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/i) Elena is a widow in Liège, later seen wearing pink in her private apartments, and rents a house on Regis Avenue with her mother. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/ii) Mentioned as Mrs. Vokins's daughter, but not directly featured in this chapter. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/iii) Described as exceptionally beautiful, disciplined in her beauty regimen, and the object of universal admiration in Lichfield. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/iv) Unusually beautiful that night; she mixes drinks for the narrator and extracts a promise of silence about their intimate conversation. ### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/v) Elena is wealthy, beautiful, and mutable; she agrees to marry the narrator but retracts her decision the next morning. ### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/vi) Declares her love for the narrator but refuses to marry him due to their incompatible backgrounds and his intellectual preoccupations. ### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/vii) Elena confronts the narrator about his class prejudice and his hurtful treatment of her mother, ultimately slapping him and rejecting his patronizing marriage proposal. ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/viii) Mentioned as the one who humiliated the narrator with some justice, and who would forgive him if he asked. ### [He Cleans the Slate](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/xxii-he-cleans-the-slate) The narrator sends her a sonnet-sequence originally written for Stella; she responds with an unsigned photograph of an infant. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/i) The narrator is trying to forget Elena, who will not read his letters. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/iv) Marries Warwick Risby in Washington without announcement; the narrator meets her and her husband at the Provises'. ### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/v) Possibly the sender of the photograph, though not confirmed. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/i) The narrator thinks about Elena Risby upon waking, indicating lingering feelings. ### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/ii) Mentioned as a woman who rejected the narrator for Warwick Risby. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/iv) Elena is the subject of the narrator's earlier infatuation, which he confessed to Bettie in a letter. ### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/v) Mentioned as having slapped Robin, which Bettie resents. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/characters/elena_barry_smith - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/characters