Edith Nesbit

Name: The Incomplete Amorist — [BOOK 2] Chapter VIII : The One and the Other
Author: Edith Nesbit

The Incomplete Amorist — [BOOK 2… (1906)

Summary

“The Incomplete Amorist — [BOOK 2] Chapter VIII : The One and the Other”, published in 1906, is a work by Edith Nesbit. It explores elements such as Betty, Vernon and the Hotel Bête.

Quotes from The Incomplete Amorist — [BOOK 2… (Edith Nesbit)

Edith Nesbit, The Incomplete Amorist — [BOOK 2… (1906)

“ One familiar initial, that of her first name, curled in the corner and the card smelt of jasmine—not of jasmine-scent in bottles, but of the real flower. He had never known how she managed it.
Vernon was not fond of talking over old times, but Betty would be dining at the Hotel Bête—some dull hole, no doubt; he had never heard of it. Well, he could not dine at the Bête, and after all one must dine somewhere. And the other woman had never bored him. That is a terrible weapon in the hands of a rival. And Betty had been most unjust. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Edith Nesbit, The Incomplete Amorist — [BOOK 2… (1906)

“ What's the real you like, and where do you keep it?"
"The real me," said Vernon, "is seen in my pictures, and—and appreciated by my friends; you for instance, are, I believe, genuinely attached to me."
"Oh, rot!" said Bobby.
"I don't see," said Vernon, moving his iron chair to make room for two people at the next table, "why you should expect my pictures to rhyme with my life. A man's art doesn't rhyme with his personality. Most often it contradicts flatly. Look at musicians—what a divine art, and what pigs of high priests! And look at actors—but no, one can't; the spectacle is too sickening." ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Edith Nesbit, The Incomplete Amorist — [BOOK 2… (1906)

“ The real me is the man that paints pictures, damn good pictures, too, though I say it."
"And is that what all the women think?
"Ask them, my dear chap; ask them. They won't tell you the truth."
"They're not the only ones who won't. I should like to know what you really think of women, Vernon."
"I don't think about them at all," lied Vernon equably. "They aren't subjects for thought but for emotion—and even of that as little as may be. It's impossible seriously to regard a woman as a human being ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Edith Nesbit, The Incomplete Amorist — [BOOK 2… (1906)

“ But he knew that the aunt would consider no introduction a proper one that should renew his acquaintance with Betty.
"Wolf, wolf," he said, "let the fold alone! There's no door for you, and you've pledged your sacred word as an honourable wolf not to jump any more hurdles."
And as he stood musing, the elder Miss Desmond came down the church steps and walked briskly away.
Some men would, doubtless, have followed her example, if not her direction. Vernon was not one of these. He found himself going up the steps of the great church. He had as good a right to go into the Madeleine as the next man. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Edith Nesbit, The Incomplete Amorist — [BOOK 2… (1906)

“ There is a bond stronger than friendship, stronger than love—a bond that cannot be forged in any other shop than the one—the bond between old schoolfellows. Vernon had sometimes wondered why he "stood so much" from Temple. It is a wonder that old schoolfellows often feel, mutually.
"The subject you've started," said he, "is of course, to me, the most interesting. Please develop your thesis."
"Well then, your pictures are good, strong, thorough stuff, with sentiment—yes, just enough sentiment to keep them from the brutality of Degas or the sensualism of Latouche. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Edith Nesbit, The Incomplete Amorist — [BOOK 2… (1906)

“ And what was Betty to him, anyway? His thoughts turned to the American girl who had sketched with him in Brittany that Summer. Ah, if she had not been whisked back to New York by her people, it would not now be a question of Betty or of the Jasmine lady. He took out Miss Van Tromp's portrait and sat looking at it: it was admirable, the fearless poise of the head, the laughing eyes, the full pouting lips. Then Betty's face and the face of the Jasmine lady came between him and Miss Van Tromp.
"Bah," he said, "smell, kiss, wear—at last throw away. Never keep a rose till it's faded." ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Edith Nesbit, The Incomplete Amorist — [BOOK 2… (1906)

“ I know you too well. Just realize that I'm the only nice woman you know who doesn't either expect you to make love to her in the future or hate you for having done it in the past, and you'll want to see me every day. ”

[↩︎]

Source: Wikisource

Edith Nesbit, The Incomplete Amorist — [BOOK 2… (1906)

“ This new Betty, with the smart gown and the distant manner, awoke at the same time that she contradicted his memories of the Betty of Long Barton. And he should not see her again. Of course he was not going to Vienna, but neither was he going to hang round the Hotel Bête, or to bribe Franz or Elise to smuggle notes to Miss Betty.
"It's never any use trying to join things on again," he told himself. "As well try to mend a spider's web when you have put your boot through it."
'No diver brings up love again
Dropped once * * *
In such cold seas!'
"But what has happened? ”

Edith Nesbit

Summary

Quotes from The Incomplete Amorist — [BOOK 2… (Edith Nesbit)

Common terms

Similar works

Get perspective with Kwize: daily news enlightened by great literature