"Why did you use John's name, then?"

"That's another of my difficulties! I _had_ to. There would have
been no merit in publishing such a book under an assumed name; it
would have been an act of moral cowardice. 'Fast and Loose' is not
an ordinary novel. A writer who dares to show up the hollowness of
social conventions must have the courage of her convictions and be
willing to accept the consequences of defying society. Can you
imagine Ibsen or Tolstoy writing under a false name?" Mrs. Fetherel
lifted a tragic eye to her cousin. "You don't know, Bella, how often
I've envied you since I began to write. I used to wonder
sometimes--you won't mind my saying so?--why, with all your
cleverness, you hadn't taken up some more exciting subject than
natural history; but I see now how wise you were. Whatever happens,
you will never be denounced by the press!"

"Is that what you're afraid of?" asked Mrs. Clinch, as she grasped
the bulging umbrella which rested against her chair. "My dear, if I
had ever had the good luck to be denounced by the press, my brougham
would be waiting at the door for me at this very moment, and I
shouldn't have to ruin this umbrella by using it in the rain. Why,
you innocent, if I'd ever felt the slightest aptitude for showing up
social conventions, do you suppose I should waste my time writing
'Nests Ajar' and 'How to Smell the Flowers'? There's a fairly steady
demand for pseudo-science and colloquial ornithology, but it's
nothing, simply nothing, to the ravenous call for attacks on social
institutions--especially by those inside the institutions!"

There was often, to her cousin, a lack of taste in Mrs. Clinch's