In the short story Within a Wall, The Marches are friends of Isobel Loring and her husband, the modernist painter Alan Everard. One evening, Isobel and Alan were supposed to done with the Marches, but Alan has just been to see his friend Jane Haworth. Coming back, on Albert Bridge, he saw in his mind a picture of what he wanted to paint. On coming home, he told Isobel to cancel the dinner with the Marches and proceeded to paint what would later be The Connoisseur.