Washing the dirts off her legs

After the magistrate takes the begger woman to his abode, he starts washing her body. On page 28 there's a description of that scene "I begin to wash her. She raises her feet for me in turn. I knead and massage the lax toes through the soft milky soap. Soon my eyes close, my head droops. It is rapture, of a kind." Why the rapture? The first thing that came to my mind was his sexual drive which was later on disproved after sleeping next to her on the same bed for days there would be no sexual activity between the two. Also magistrate knows his limits as an old man to a young woman, and over and over what magistrate wants from her is for her to talk to him, answer his questions, not sex.
When he brought her to his place, he knew about the tortures committed by the interrogators to her (specifically to her legs and eyes). He also confesses later on how he feels about the empire and what it's doing to the Africans. He just can't stand the injustice and wanton cruelty of his greedy empire, and is shamed for being a part of it. The source of this "rapture", in my opinion, was the relief that she is now on his safe and caring hands, and by washing her legs and kneading her body he felt as if he is kneading her scarred and tortured soul, washing off the injustice done to her in the jail. This is another scene where we can witness what a conscientious individual he is.
Another scene I would like to point out is when one day he goes out to hunt, he sees a buck. It was just another hobby of his, his usual activity, in which he shoots to kill an animal or miss it. However, this time he doesn't shoot. He tries but he cannot. Here's the scene: "With the fuck before me suspended in immobility, there seems to be time for all things, time even to turn my gaze inward and see what it is that has robbed the hunt of its savour." He never figures out why he didn't pull that trigger. Not even a hint. What did he see in that buck that disabled him to shoot? The defenseless buck that's only good at being shot at. Maybe he saw a barbarian. A barbarian in the crosshair of the empire's rifle. The empire that he hates for its barbaric measures of fulfilling its greed. Shooting the buck would have been a confirmation that he also is part of the empire, and for that reason, I believe, he didn't shoot.