It may have been he was too much astonished to do anything of the sort; or it may have been that he, the stronger man of the two, felt a sort of pity for the poor bully, which kept him back.
At any rate, his good genius befriended him this time, and saved him both his dignity and his moral vantage.

He put his handkerchief to his lips for a moment, and then said quietly-- "There are two ways of leaving this room, Bickers: the door and the window.

I advise you to choose the door." Mr Bickers was too cowed by his own act to keep up the contest, and hating himself at that moment almost as much--but not quite--as he hated his enemy, he slunk out of the door and departed to his own house.
Railsford sat where he was, and stared at the door by which his visitor had left, in a state of bewildered astonishment.
The more Railsford thought the matter over, the less he liked it.

For it convinced him that there was someone desirous of doing him an injury by means of the very master who was already predisposed to believe evil of him.

It was rather a damper after the glorious result of the sports, and Railsford tried to laugh it off and dismiss the whole matter from his mind.
"At least," said he to himself, "if the accusation comes in no more likely a form than I have seen to-night, I can afford to disregard it.
But though Bickers made a fool of himself for once in a way, it does not at all follow that he will not return to the attack, and that I may actually have to answer to Grandcourt the charges of that precious letter.