"She told me a lot about the impending libel action."

"Shylock _v. Fact?_"

"Yes; it's coming on before the vacation, you know."

"So I saw in some paper."

"But you know what it's all about, Bunny?"

"No, I don't."

"Another old rascal, the Maharajah of Hathipur, and his perfectly
fabulous debts. It seems he's been in our Mr. Shylock's clutches for
years, but instead of taking his pound of flesh he's always increasing
the amount. Of course that's the whole duty of money-lenders, but now
they say the figure runs well into six. No one has any sympathy with that
old heathen; he's said to have been a pal of Nana's before the Mutiny,
and in it up to the neck he only saved by turning against his own lot in
time; in any case it's the pot and the kettle so far as moral colour is
concerned. But I believe it's an actual fact that syndicates have been
formed to buy up the black man's debts and take a reasonable interest,
only the dirty white man always gets to windward of the syndicate.
They're on the point of bringing it off, when old Levy inveigles the
nigger into some new Oriental extravagance. _Fact_ has exposed the whole
thing, and printed blackmailing letters which Shylock swears are
forgeries. That's both their cases in a philippine! The leeches told the
Jew he must do his Carlsbad this year before the case came on; and the
tremendous amount it's going to cost may account for his dunning old
clients the moment he gets back."