This painting has an enigmatic quality that draws in the viewer. A well-dressed young resident of Varna, Ella Ward, is seated in a rod back chair. The artist, Thomas Cook, offers no clue as to why she is there or what she is thinking. The background provides no insight and concentrates all attention on Ella. Cook was also a resident of Varna, a hamlet south of Goderich, Ontario, and owned the Temperance Hotel. No other paintings by Cook have come to light.