So saying, he crushed the paper in his hands and flung it on the desk.
At the next instant everybody in the room had risen. There was consternation on every face, and the General, who was choking with anger, was saying in a half-stifled voice—
"You are no fool—you know what you have done now. You have not only refused to obey orders—you have insulted your General and been guilty of deliberate insubordination. Therefore you are unworthy of bearing arms—give me your sword."
Gordon hesitated for a moment, and the General said—
"Give it me—give it me."
Then with a rapid gesture Gordon unbuckled his sword from the belt and handed it to the General.
The General held it in both his hands, which were vibrating like the parts of an engine from the moving power within, while he said, in the same half-stifled voice as before—
"You have had the greatest opportunity that ever came to an English soldier and—thrown it away. You have humiliated your father, outraged the love of your intended wife, and insulted England. Therefore you are a traitor!"
Gordon quivered visibly at that word, and seeing this, the General hurled it at him again.
"A traitor, I say. A traitor who has consorted with the enemies of his country." With that he drew the sword from its scabbard, broke it across his knee, and flung the fragments at Gordon's feet.