" The Dean felt a little uneasy when
that sentence was read out to him; was it possible that he had
underrated Quisante's resources and not perceived quite how many ways of
escaping from a corner that talented gentleman might discover? Yet there
was nothing to quarrel with in the sentence; at the outside it was a
courteous intimation of a difference of opinion and of the view (held by
every man in the place except Sir Winterton himself) that a simple
explanation on a public occasion would have done Sir Winterton's honour
no harm and his cause a great deal of good.
Such was the private answer; the public reference was no less neat. First
came a ready and ample acceptance of the explanation which Sir Winterton
had given. "I accept it unreservedly, I do not repeat it only because it
was given to me privately." Then followed an expression of gratitude for
the manly and straightforward way in which the speaker felt himself to
have been treated by his opponent; then there was an expression of hope
that these personal matters might disappear from the contest.
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