It was a public duty--painful, of course, but not to be shirked.

It pained them very much to bring trouble on any one, particularly an old shipmate; but they owed it to society to see he got his deserts.
They were, of course, wholly unaware of Mr Richardson's special interest in the matter.

Otherwise, they might have been even more virtuous and high-principled than they were.

They looked upon him as a benevolent individual, bent on getting the half-witted vagabond out of trouble, and, as such, they knew quite enough of fishing to see that he was in their net.
Their own solicitor, too, knew something about this sort of fishing, and the unfortunate father spent a very unhappy morning floundering about in the net these gentlemen provided for him--extremely doubtful whether, after all, he would not be obliged publicly to incriminate his son, in order to solve the difficulty.
However, by dint of great exertion, he contrived to get the case adjourned for three days more.

The prosecutors were, of course, shocked to see the course of the law delayed for even this length of time.