Difficulty of Understanding

Here's a paragraph in book the first Chapter 9 "Aware of a working-jeweller population taking sactuary...But, his secsations in this regard halt as to their strict morality, as he halts in his gait; for, they suggest the delights of a coat of invisibility in which to walk off safely with the precious stones and watch-cases, but stop short of any compunction for the people who would lose the same." I read these sentences several times, but could not quite catch the meaning of them. I guess because the neighbourhood is relatively a rich area and there is a church closeby, so it is a relatively safer place and people like Wegg does not have much chance to take any benefits from it?