What compensation could satisfy his heart for the infamy entailed upon her and him?
what paltry damages from a jury could efface her shame or restore her innocence?
Then, the man was poor, and to the poor, under such circumstances, there exists no law, and, consequently, no redress.

He strove to picture to himself his beautiful and innocent child; but he could not bear to bring the image of her early and guiltless life near him.

The injury was irreparable, and could only be atoned for by the blood of the destroyer.

He could have seen her borne shameless and unpolluted to the grave, with the deep, but natural, sorrow of a father; he could have lived with her in destitution and misery; he could have begged with her through a hard and harsh world; he could have seen her pine in want; moan upon the bed of sickness; nay, more, he could have seen her spirit pass, as it were, to the God who gave it, so long as that spirit was guiltless, and her humble name without spot or stain; yes, he could have witnessed and borne all this, and the blessed memory of her virtues would have consoled him in his bereavement and his sorrow.

But to reflect that she was trampled down into guilt and infamy by the foot of the licentious libertine, was an event that cried for blood; and blood he had, for he murdered the seducer, and that with an insatiable rapacity of revenge that was terrible.