Was there something good in him, after all, that had been touched?
He was in fact madly in love with this woman.
It is not for us to analyze the passion and say whether it was a worthy one.

It absorbed his whole nature and made him wretched enough.

If he deserved punishment, what more would you have?
Perhaps this love was kindling a new heroism in him.
He saw the road on which Laura was going clearly enough, though he did not believe the worst he heard of her.

He loved her too passionately to credit that for a moment.

And it seemed to him that if he could compel her to recognize her position, and his own devotion, she might love him, and that he could save her.