To set it aside would be a confession of mental weakness.

For this reason he had once, during a week of humiliation, fought his way stubbornly through Tupper's 'Proverbial Philosophy.' But it was the rampant fiction that influenced him most directly.

He took his romance very seriously; his vivid sympathies were always with the poor persecuted pirate driven to lawless courses by systematic oppression at school, or by a cold proud father's failure to appreciate the humour of his youthful villainies.

The bushranger, too, urged from milder courses of crime by the persecutions of the police, found in Dick a devoted friend.

It never occurred to the boy that the excuses given were anything but adequate and satisfactory justification for pillage and arson and homicide.
On leaving Dick's room, Mrs.Haddon locked the door very carefully and quietly.