"Damages!" exclaimed Grace. "Do you suppose I want the loathsome creature's money?"
"Why not make it a criminal suit, and send him to prison?" asked Haldane.
"I think not, sir. Her ladyship's solicitors, Messrs. Harding, have gone into the matter with me, and we are agreed that a criminal action is not advisable."
"How does this thing happen to appear so long after the circulation of the scandal?"
"Ah! that's the question," said Faunce, blandly. "You see, fashionable gossip takes a considerable time to cross the Thames and filter down to Tooting. The proprietor—and editor—lives at Tooting, and I dare say, to his mind, the slander appeared a novelty. I'm glad he didn't get hold of it sooner, for we should not have been prepared to deal with the case as we are now."
Miss Rodney had picked up the Bon Ton, and was reading the paragraphs with a frowning brow.
"How can you look at that atrocious stuff?" cried Grace, snatching the paper from her and rolling it into a ball for her poodle, who rushed across the lawn with it and then laid himself down and proceeded to tear it into shreds with his paws and teeth.
"It's lucky that isn't the only copy in existence, Lady Perivale," said Faunce.
CHAPTER XIII.