Lover of the beautiful with a short girl, note (8)
I believe the answer is:
aesthete
'lover' is the definition.
(I have seen 'Lover of beauty' mean 'aesthete' so perhaps 'lover' could also mean 'aesthete')
'the beautiful with a short girl note' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'the' is 'het' which is present in the answer.
'a' is within the answer.
'note' could be 'te' (musical note) and 'te' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'es' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'of' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aesthete that I've seen before include "professed lover of beauty" , "Sensitive chap" , "One sensitive to art and beauty" , "Person with great sensitivity towards the arts and the beautiful" , "Estate he settled on lover of beautiful things" .)