Excerpt from The Impostor, or Born Without a Conscience, Vol. 2 of 3 But a great conqueror, or even a great pick pocket may meet with an occasional reverse of fortune, an obstinate fortress or a lost battle, an active policeman, or gen d'darme, or a month at the treadmill; and yet be destined to a fresh career of triumphs; but the social impostor, on whose preservation of character, respectability, and outward appearance every thing depends, cannot afford to take a single false step; for him there is no retrograding a single trick laid bare to public ken, and like a bridge with out a keystone, or a train of logical induction upon false premises, the whole edifice, so artfully raised and supported, crumbles to the ground and the abomination of desolation instantly usurps its place. 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.