what does this phrase mean? [closed]

Question

In England, there was scarcely an amount of order and protection to justify much national boasting. Daring burglaries by armed men, and highway robberies, took place in the capital itself every night; families were publicly cautioned not to go out of town without removing their furniture to upholsterers’ warehouses for security; the highwayman in the dark was a City tradesman in the light, and, being recognised and challenged by his fellow-tradesman whom he stopped in his character of “the Captain,” gallantly shot him through the head and rode away;

(Source: A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens.)

I am really wondering what the bold part means. Would any one please shine a light on it in a readily-accessible way?

Answer 1

"the highwayman in the dark was a City tradesman in the light, and, being recognised and challenged by his fellow-tradesman whom he stopped in his character of “the Captain,” gallantly shot him through the head and rode away;"

The statement means that a City tradesman was secretly a highwayman who, after being recognised by a friend/colleague, shot the colleague in the head. It then tells of how the highwayman left the area on his horse.

The extract as a whole talks about how no-one could be trusted, even those who you'd think you could (like the later mentioned tradesman.)

Answer 2

Without delving too far (and thus complicating things) it seems that, as an example, there was this one guy who was a legitimate businessman by day but turned out to be an armed robber at night - disguising himself as "The Captain" until he was recognized and killed.