"They do not dare to discuss anything large and vital."
"Oh! yes, they dare. They are daring enough, but they don't know how—they are stupid."
"No, they are afraid."
"Afraid? Of what?"
"Of public opinion—of the bourgeois so-called virtue of the middle class who control everything."
"That is the only valid argument I ever heard in favor of the bourgeois," I said.
"What do you mean? Don't you agree with me?"
"I certainly do not. I may not seek virtue and ensue it; but at least I revere it."
"Do you mean that you think we should not write or talk of anything—forbidden?"
"That depends on what you mean by forbidden. If you mean——"