But if he had not lived a Christian life, what man in Riversborough had done so, except a few fanatics?
But his religion had been powerless to keep him from falling into subtle temptations, and into a crime so heinous in the sight of his fellow-men that it was only to be expiated by the loss of character, the loss of liberty, and the loss of every honorable man's esteem.

The web had been closely and cunningly woven, and now he was fast bound in it, with no way of escape..