Sally Bishop

Excerpt from Sally Bishop: A Romance

My Dear Gerald,

Amongst the many things which I anticipate in the reception of this book is the shrug-shoulder smile of critics at my sub-title - a Romance. There are canons and rubrics to be observed, it would seem, in the slightest action that a man attempts in this Great World's Fair of Conventionality, whose every side-show is hedged around with the red-tape of the Law. Witness even that delusive proverb - there is honour amongst thieves. So is there an unwritten canon in literature and the making of books, that a Romance must end with a phrase to convey another illusion, namely, the happiness that is ever after.

And so, in this respect, I throw canons to the winds - it sounds a herculean feat - wash out the printed red of the rubric, arid call, perhaps the saddest story I shall write, a Romance.

Yet I profess to have a reason beyond mere contrariness. The world of Romance must be at all times an elusive star - never capable of being put in the exact same place on any one's calendar.

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