THE TINTED VENUS

A Farcical Romance

BY

F. ANSTEY

AUTHOR OF

"THE GIANT'S ROBE," "VICE VERSÂ," ETC.

ILLUSTRATED BY BERNARD PARTRIDGE

NEW YORK and LONDON

HARPER AND BROTHERS

1898

"To you,
Free and ingenious spirits, he doth now
In me, present his service, with his vow
He hath done his best; and, though he cannot glory
In his invention (this work being a story
Of reverend antiquity), he doth hope
In the proportion of it, and the scope,
You may observe some pieces drawn like one
Of a steadfast hand; and with the whiter stone
To be marked in your fair censures. More than this
I am forbid to promise."

Massinger.

CONTENTS.

1. In Pursuit Of Pleasure
2. Pleasure In Pursuit
3. A Distinguished Stranger
4. From Bad To Worse
5. An Experiment
6. Two Are Company
7. A Further Predicament
8. Between The Devil And The Deep Sea
9. At Last
10. Damocles Dines Out
11. Denounced
12. An Appeal
13. The Last Straw
14. The Thirteenth Trump
15. The Odd Trick

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

"There," he said triumphantly, "it might have been made for her!"

"Answer me," he said roughly; "is this some Lark of yours?"

"Did you want to see me on—on Business, Mum?"

"What would be done to him?" asked the Hairdresser, with a quite Unpleasant Internal Sensation

"Keep off! Tell her to drop it, Tweddle!"

"It is a Miserable Thing," he was thinking, "for a Man ... to have a Female Statue trotting after him like a Great Dorg"

She was standing before the Low Chimney-glass, regarding herself intently

"For 'Arf a Pint I'd knock your Bloomin' 'Ed in!"

"Why did you not kneel to me before?"

She struck a Nameless Fear into Leander's Soul

Her Hands were Unsteady with Passion as she tied her Bonnet-strings

Leander went down on All Fours on the Hearth-rug

"Stop where you are!... for Mercy's Sake, don't come in!"

"Leander!" she cried, ... "I don't believe she can do it!"

He threw himself down by her Chair, and drew down the Hands in which she had hidden her