"Well, that is true enough, my dear.

There was no harm in that." "And then he said"-- and she broke off--"he said what I feel sure cannot be true.

He said that Mr.Bathurst left the army because he showed the white feather.

It is not true, is it?
I am sure it can't be true." The Doctor did not reply immediately.
"It is an old story," he said presently, "and ought not to have been brought up again.

I don't suppose Forster or anyone else knows the rights of the case.