Sentence:  Not unnaturally, "Auntie" took this communication in bad part....Next day she...tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and had perhaps <WSD>spared</WSD> no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (to give up) To deprive oneself of, as by being frugal; to do without; to dispense with; to give up; to part with.