What Would The Neighbors Think? She knows perfectly well that Sei Shonagon is sharpening her pen and cackling to herself in the next room. The appearance of propriety supercedes (sp??) the reality of proper action/deportment. (Well, no, it's all deportment. But what counts is that they *see* your proper deportment. If you have the bad taste to murder a gentleman and gnaw his privates, cover your tracks, clean up the blood, burn some incense, and look innocent.)