I don't know that it was a logical denial of the slander, but it was what the others expected and I had to indulge them." "And that was how you cut your forehead ?" "Yes," said Festing, and for a few moments Helen tried to regulate her thoughts.
She felt shocked and disgusted, but did not mean to let her anger master her, because there were matters that must be carefully weighed.

Indeed, it was something of a relief to dwell upon the first.

To hear of Festing's thrashing her traducer had given her a pleasant thrill, but all the same she vaguely disapproved.

He had not taken a dignified line and had really made things worse.

It was humiliating to feel that she had been the subject of a vulgar poolroom brawl.
"Could you not have found a better way to silence him ?" she asked.
"I could not.