Please mention a name.—Well, I am afraid I can't.
But where have you heard such a thing?—Everywhere.
Can't you be precise? Is it in a private house?—I forget.
In a restaurant?—I don't know.
At a café? At a club? Perhaps in a theatre?—Yes, I think it was in a theatre.
What a cure—temporary, at least, if not to last for ever—to look the 'gossip,' man or woman, straight in the face, and say: 'Scandal-mongers are the most despicable parasites and scoundrels of society!' and you may be sure that, at least, is a statement which the 'gossip' will not repeat.
There is a law of libel practically in every civilized country to protect people against having their character stained at the will and for the pleasure of their fellow-creatures, but for the life of me I cannot see why libel should be libel, and thus punishable by law, only when it is published in a newspaper or written on a postcard. The worst libel, the one that does most injury, is the one that goes from house to house by word of mouth. To say a libellous thing is quite as bad as to write it down; it is even worse, because what is written often escapes notice, and the law should reach the libeller whether he has committed the offence with his mouth or with his pen.