ne outline of cheekbone, the slenderness of a downy limb, and other indices which despair and shame and tears of tenderness forbid me to tabulate- the little deadly demon among the wholesome children"(17). Humbert's distinction between nymphets and non-nymphets echoes the distinctions between moths and butterflies. Although moths are big-bodied and butterflies are slender-bodied, some moths are more beautiful than butterflies, and nothing else but an expert can be sure of telling them apart.
             If loving nymphets was not one of the last surviving sexual taboos, there would be neither true passion nor true novel. Yet, sexual intercourse with preadolescent girls is a perversion: a flirtation child should be admonished, not fondled; sex between the child and her parent is forbidden. What one accepts has no relevance to what laws require. The idea that children might be demonic is no pretext to explain them. The concept is clear: one either understands these things or not, Humbert claims he doesn't.
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