"Joined you! The impudent scoundrel! What right had he to join you, and why did you permit it?"
"He took the right and we couldn't help ourselves. At least I couldn't and Mr. Sawyer didn't try to."
"I wish I had been there."
"You were just in front, but you didn't look around."
"Well, and then what happened?"
"Why, during the talk that followed, Mr. Lyman called him a coward."
"Mr. Sawyer is a gentleman and he couldn't resent it at the time in the presence of a lady."
"He has had time enough since," she said with scorn.
Mrs. McElwin came from the window and sat down near her husband. The banker looked hard at his daughter, and a sudden tangling of the lines on his face showed that the first words that flew to the verge of utterance had been suppressed, and that he was determined to be calm.
"He has had time, but he has also had consideration," said McElwin. "To resent an insult is sometimes more of a scandal than to let it pass. He hesitated to involve your name."