But, of course, as he said to himself, a young man like Stanbury would take the part of a woman with whose sister he was in love.

Then he turned his thoughts upon Bozzle, and there came over him a crushing feeling of ignominy, shame, moral dirt, and utter degradation, as he reconsidered his dealings with that ingenious gentleman.

He was paying a rogue to watch the steps of a man whom he hated, to pry into the home secrets, to read the letters, to bribe the servants, to record the movements of this rival, this successful rival, in his wife's affections! It was a filthy thing,--and yet what could he do?
Gentlemen of old, his own grandfather, or his father, would have taken such a fellow as Colonel Osborne by the throat and have caned him, and afterwards would have shot him, or have stood to be shot.

All that was changed now,--but it was not his fault that it was changed.

He was willing enough to risk his life, could any opportunity of risking it in this cause be obtained for him.