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. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.