But in the meantime the lying tongue of rumour had been busy with his name
in his native village. It was said that he was an officer in the German
Army, and on the strength of that rumour his parents were ordered by the
Chief Constable to leave the village and not to dwell on the East Coast. It
was a sentence of death on them. The order broke the old man's heart, and
he committed suicide. The son arrived to find his father dead and his
mother distracted by her bereavement. He took her away to the seaside for a
rest, but on their return to the village she, too, committed suicide. And
the jury did not say "Killed by Slander": they said "Suicide while of
unsound mind." Oh, cautious jurymen!

How do rumours get abroad? There are many ways. Let me illustrate one of
them. In his criticism of the war the other week Mr. Belloc said:

"The official German communiqué which appeared in print last Saturday is a
very good example upon which to work. I quote it as it appeared in the
_Westminster Gazette (which has from the beginning of the war, and even
before its outbreak, been remarkable for the volume of its German
information_), and as it was delivered through the Marconi channel."

Then follows the communiqué. Now, when I read this I smiled, for I love the
subtleties of the ingenious Mr. Belloc. He quotes a document which appeared
in every paper in the country, but he says he quotes it from the
_Westminster Gazette._ Why, since it appeared everywhere, does he mention
one paper? Obviously in order to make that parenthetical remark which I
have italicised.

Now the reputation of the _Westminster_ stands too high to be affected by
the suggestion that it is "remarkable"--which it isn't--for its German
information. But suppose you, a mere ordinary citizen, were alleged by some