"Anthony Asshlin was no gambler," he said. "He was a sportsman."
Clodagh's lip curled.
"A sportsman!" she exclaimed. "Is it sport to keep game-cocks, to play cards, and throw dice? To squander money that belongs to other people? To mortgage your property and to—to—to kill your brother?"
The last words burst from her impetuously, impulsively; then suddenly she paused, shocked by her own daring.
The silence that followed was short. With an equal impetuosity, Asshlin pushed back his chair and rose.
"By Gad, Clo, that's going too far!" he cried. "I'll not hear my great-grandfather called a murderer."
"All the same, he killed his brother."
"In a duel. Gentlemen had to fight in those days."
"Because of cards! Because they quarrelled over cards!"
Then, with a fresh change of expression, she appealed again to Milbanke.