The Courageous Coward

Anthony and Abraham (names fictitious) wait for a friend Grove to arrive. The venue is a landmark building on the 7th avenue. Even after one hour of waiting there was no sign of Grove arriving. There was no information. At last Grove came panting. An interesting conversation follows:

Anthony: What Grove? You have no time sense. You put us to great difficulty causing waste of our precious time. You have upset our engagements schedule. The least you could have done was to ring us and inform.

Grove: Sorry, Anthony. It was not deliberate. On the way a drug addict caught hold of me. He threatened to hit me with his fist.
Anthony: Then what happened.

Grove: Do you think I will leave him. I gave him something in return in retaliation.

Abraham: Intervening, he said: That is very nice. At last you proved to be courageous to retaliate.

Grove: No. No. I mean, I gave him $ 10 to release me safely and to escape the thrust of his fist.

Anthony: On God. You gave the impression of being courageous but in fact you displayed cowardice.

Grove: What to do? That was the only way open to me to escape. Otherwise you both would continue waiting here indefinitely.