T w o T a l e s f r o m . . . . . . a C o n v e r t e d G o s s i p F i r s t T a l e . . . She had been acting strange for about a month. She was preoccupied. He invited her to lunch. She said she was busy. He went anyway, although he hated to eat alone. Through the shrubs in the restaurant he saw her. She was in deep conversation with a famous lawyer. It was very intimate. When he got back to the office he mentioned to his assistant that he had seen her. He described her companion. He said, "Now I understand why She was treating me funny." Unknown to him, his assistant told her boyfriend who worked for an undercover agency investigating the famous lawyer. A few weeks later she confronted him. She said that she had heard that she was having an affair with the famous lawyer. She said that she was interviewing her for a magazine article at lunch that day. She said that she was getting married to an office colleague in two weeks He was very upset by the rumor. S e c o n d T a l e . . . He saw her through the shrubs in the restaurant. She was his best friend's wife. She was in deep conversation with a man he did not know. He gently touched her face. When he got back to the office, he told his assistant what he saw. She told her lover. Her lover told a friend who worked for his best friend. That friend told the office staff (five people). They said, "His wife is having an affair, it had been going on for six months and she is pregnant by her lover." His best friend overheard. He confronted his wife. He confronted his staff. His best friend's wife confronted him. She said that, "the stranger was her best friend's husband." Her friend had a terminal illness. He was planning a surprise for his wife. He needed her help. His gesture of love for his wife, her best friend, was overwhelming for her. She cried. Her best friend's husband said it was Ok and wiped a tear from her cheek. "Also," she said, "I had a hysterectomy two years ago." He apologized. August 1989