"And when you have found this shameless creature what are we to do? Mr. Harding says I can't bring an action for slander, because I am not a housemaid, and loss of character doesn't mean loss of my daily bread."
"There are other kinds of actions."
"What—what action that I could bring? I should like to go to law with every friend I ever had. I think I shall spend the rest of my days in the law courts, pleading my own cause, like that pretty lady whose name I forget."
"You might bring an action for libel, if you had a case."
"But I have not been libelled—a libel must be written and published, must it not?"
"That is the meaning of the word, madam—'a little book.'"
"Oh that my enemy would write a book about me!"
"Are you sure there has been no offensive allusion to this rumour in any of the newspapers?"
"How can I tell? I have not been watching the papers."
"I should advise you to send a guinea to Messrs. Rosset and Son, the Press agents, who will search the papers for your name, and save you trouble."