"Then you don't really think it's a pretty story?"
"Dear me, no! Not nearly as bad as that—"
"You're so good, Bella—but the reviewers?"
"Oh, the reviewers," Mrs. Clinch jeered. She gazed meditatively at the cold remains of her tea-cake. "Let me see," she said, suddenly; "do you happen to remember if the first review came out in an important paper?"
"Yes—the 'Radiator.'"
"That's it! I thought so. Then the others simply followed suit: they often do if a big paper sets the pace. Saves a lot of trouble. Now if you could only have got the 'Radiator' to denounce you—"
"That's what the Bishop said!" cried Mrs. Fetherel.
"He did?"
"He said his only chance of selling 'Through a Glass Brightly' was to have it denounced on the ground of immorality."
"H'm," said Mrs. Clinch. "I thought he knew a trick or two." She turned an illuminated eye on her cousin. "You ought to get him to denounce 'Fast and Loose'!" she cried.