Wolff said nothing for a moment. His whole face had stiffened, and he was looking at Miles from head to foot.
"And after that they called you a coward?" he asked, at last.
"Some rot like that——"
"And they were right. You are a coward—the vilest, most pitiful coward I have ever met."
"Wolff!"
It was Nora who had cried out. The insult had fallen on her brother and herself alike, and her voice shook with passionate indignation.
Her husband turned to her.
"The man who is not ready to risk his life for his sister's honour is a coward," he asserted deliberately.
A gesture of protest escaped Arnold, who had hitherto remained silent and motionless.
"You forget," he said. "In England we do not duel—it is not our custom."