“You think so. Is that all?”
“Well, yes, I suppose it is. But I am quite sure of it.”
“On what grounds?”
“Grounds? What do you mean? It is my idea——”
“Ah! it is your idea. And for such ideas, when they are spoken or written, there is a legal phraseology and a legal punishment.”
She looked at him startled, but amused.
“What can you possibly mean? One can say anything one pleases.”
“If it be not libel. This is. You will do well to contradict the report you have set afloat.”
“Goodness, Ronald! How odd you are! You won’t even know these people. What can it matter to you whether they are talked of or not?”
“It matters nothing to me. But it matters much to me that you should invent and circulate falsehoods, and try to injure by them an entirely blameless person.”