He had been thinking of Stacy's admiration for Mrs.Horncastle in his ride from Boomville, and, strange to say, yet characteristic of his nature, it was equally the natural outcome of his interview with her and the singular effect she had upon him.

That he (Barker) thoroughly sympathized with her only convinced him that Stacy must feel the same for her, and that, no doubt, she must respond to him equally.

And how noble it was in his old partner, with his advantages of position in the world and his protecting relations to her, not to avail himself of this influence upon her generous nature.

If he himself--a married man and the husband of Kitty--was so conscious of her charm, how much greater it must be to the free and INEXPERIENCED Stacy.
The italics were in Barker's thought; for in those matters he felt that Stacy and even Demorest, occupied in other things, had not his knowledge.

There was no idea or consciousness of heroically sacrificing himself or Mrs.Horncastle in this.