The Incomplete Amorist

The Incomplete Amorist, by E.
Nesbit

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Title: The Incomplete Amorist
Author: E. Nesbit

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THE INCOMPLETE AMORIST
By E. NESBIT

Illustrated by CLARENCE F. UNDERWOOD
1906
To
Richard Reynolds and Justus Miles Forman
"Faire naitre un désir, le nourrir, le développer, le grandir, le satisfaire,
c'est un poeme tout entier."
--Balzac.

CONTENTS
BOOK I. THE GIRL
Chapter I.
The Inevitable
Chapter II.
The Irresistible
Chapter III.
Voluntary
Chapter IV.
Involuntary
Chapter V.
The Prisoner
Chapter VI.
The Criminal
Chapter VII.
The Escape
BOOK II. THE MAN
Chapter VIII.
The One and the Other

Chapter IX.
The Opportunity
Chapter X.
Seeing Life
Chapter XI.
The Thought
Chapter XII.
The Rescue
Chapter XIII.
Contrasts
Chapter XIV.
Renunciation
BOOK III. THE OTHER WOMAN
Chapter XV.
On Mount Parnassus
Chapter XVI.
"Love and Tupper"
Chapter XVII.
Interventions

Chapter XVIII.
The Truth
Chapter XIX.
The Truth with a Vengeance
Chapter XX.
Waking-up Time
BOOK IV. THE OTHER MAN
Chapter XXI.
The Flight
Chapter XXII.
The Lunatic
Chapter XXIII.
Temperatures
Chapter XXIV.
The Confessional
Chapter XXV.
The Forest
Chapter XXVI.
The Miracle

Chapter XXVII.
The Pink Silk Story
Chapter XXVIII.
"And so--"

PEOPLE OF THE STORY
Eustace Vernon. The Incomplete Amorist Betty Desmond The Girl The
Rev. Cecil Underwood Her Step-Father Miss Julia Desmond Her Aunt
Robert Temple The Other Man Lady St. Craye The Other Woman Miss
Voscoe The Art Student Madame Chevillon. The Inn-Keeper at Crez
Paula Conway A Soul in Hell Mimi Chantal A Model Village Matrons,
Concierges, Art Students, Etc.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"'Oh, what a pity,' said Betty from the heart, 'that we aren't introduced
now!'"
"'Ah, don't be cross!' she said."
"Betty stared at him coldly."
"Betty looked nervously around--the scene was agitatingly unfamiliar."
"Unfinished, but a disquieting likeness."
"'No, thank you: it's all done now.'"
"On the further arm of the chair sat, laughing also, a very pretty young
woman."
"The next morning brought him a letter."

Book 1.--The Girl
CHAPTER I.
THE INEVITABLE.
"No. The chemises aren't cut out. I haven't had time. There are enough
shirts to go on with, aren't there, Mrs. James?" said Betty.
"We can make do for this afternoon, Miss, but the men they're getting
blowed out with shirts. It's the children's shifts as we can't make shift
without much longer." Mrs. James, habitually doleful, punctuated her
speech with sniffs.
"That's a joke, Mrs. James," said Betty. "How clever you are!"
"I try to be what's fitting," said Mrs. James, complacently.
"Talk of fitting," said Betty, "If you like I'll fit on that black bodice for
you, Mrs. Symes. If the other ladies don't mind waiting for the reading
a little bit."
"I'd as lief talk as read, myself," said a red-faced sandy-haired woman;
"books ain't what they was in my young days."
"If it's the same to you, Miss," said Mrs. Symes in a thick rich voice,
"I'll not be tried on afore a room full. If we are poor we can all be
clean's what I say, and I keeps my unders as I keeps my outside. But
not before persons as has real imitation lace on their petticoat bodies. I
see them when I was a-nursing her with her fourth. No, Miss, and
thanking you kindly, but begging your pardon all the same."
"Don't mention it," said Betty absently. "Oh, Mrs. Smith, you can't
have lost your thimble already. Why what's that you've got in your
mouth?"
"So it is!" Mrs. Smith's face beamed at the gratifying coincidence. "It

always was my habit, from a child, to