"There are certain injuries for which there is but one remedy," was the cold explanation.
A light seemed to dawn over Miles's scarlet face. He burst into a high, wavering laugh.
"You think I am going to fight a duel? You think I'm going to make such a d——d fool of myself?" he demanded thickly.
The officers looked at each other in contemptuous silence. Bauer smiled and turned aside, as though to spare himself the sight of so profound a humiliation. Captain von Ebberstein alone retained his expression of profound gravity.
"A gentleman is expected to give satisfaction," he said.
"I don't care what you expect," was Miles's retort. "I'll have nothing to do with such infernal nonsense. He lied, and I choked the lie down his throat, and there's an end to the matter!"
"On the contrary, it is the beginning."
"I think differently."
Bauer advanced. He was swinging his white kid glove carelessly backwards and forwards, and there was the same scornful smile about his lips. At the same moment his eyes fell on Nora's face, and the smile deepened with malicious satisfaction.
"In that case, it is my duty to inform you that you are neither a gentleman nor a man of honour," he said. "As such, and as a coward, you will feel no objection to my expressing my feelings—thus!"