With a fierce gesture he took another step forward.
Milbanke stood firm.
"I have my reasons," he said quietly.
"Your reasons, have you?" Asshlin laughed harshly. "Then I'll have my answer. What do you mean by it?"
For a second the older man remained silent and unmoved; then a light gleamed in his colourless eyes.
"All right!" he said. "You shall have it. Perhaps it is as well. I came here expecting to see the boy I had known grown into a genial, hospitable, honourable gentleman; instead, I find him an undisciplined, tyrannical egotist."
He said it quickly in a rush of unusual vehemence. All his anticipations, all his suspicions, and their subsequent justification—coupled with the new sense of protection towards the children of his early friend—found voice in these words.
"You are an egotist, Denis," he repeated distinctly. "A weak, worthless egotist—not fit to have children—not fit to have a friend——"
Asshlin stared at him for a moment in speechless surprise; then indignation surmounted every other feeling. With a fierce gesture he took another step forward, his eyes blazing, his hand menacingly clenched.