Then it will go for the other
paper. But I wouldn't take the trouble in this case. The opposition
would merely say that: 'Of course Mr. Stirling's intimate friends are
bound to give such a construction to the song, and the attempt does them
credit.'"
"But why don't you deny it, Peter?" asked Leonore anxiously. "It's awful
to think of people saying you are a drunkard!"
"If I denied the untruths told of me I should have my hands full. Nobody
believes such things, except the people who are ready to believe them.
They wouldn't believe otherwise, no matter what I said. If you think a
man is a scoundrel, you are not going to believe his word."
"But, Peter," said Mrs. D'Alloi, "you ought to deny them for the future.
After you and your friends are dead, people will go back to the
newspapers, and see what they said about you, and then will misjudge
you."
"I am not afraid of that. I shall hardly be of enough account to figure
in history, or if I become so, such attacks will not hurt me.
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