He had made up his mind that women and doctors were all fools together, and frightened themselves for nothing.

He had resolved against letting himself be scared by their long faces and doleful prognostications, and had gone on in his wonted courses with reckless bravado.

He was not altogether an undutiful son.

He had some affection for both father and mother.
But his affection was not strong enough to keep him from following out his own wishes.

He had long been a sort of leader amongst the young men of the place and neighbourhood, and he enjoyed the reputation he held of being a daring young blade, not far inferior in prowess and recklessness to those young bloods about town, reports of whose doings sometimes reached the wilds of Essex, stirring up Tom Tufton's ambition to follow in their wake.
He always declared that he meant no harm, and did no harm, to any.
The natives of the place were certainly proud of him, even if they sometimes fell to rating and crying shame upon him.