What could he do?
He could do nothing.

That was the tragedy: he could do nothing.

He could but rely upon Alice.
Alice was amazing.

The more he thought of it, the more masterly her handling of these preposterous curates seemed to him.

And was he to be robbed of this incomparable woman by ridiculous proceedings connected with a charge of bigamy?
He knew that bigamy meant prison, in England.
The injustice was monstrous.