had not the heart to?

[Mher]

Hi. Can anybody explain what this sentence means: ".... but, somehow, although we ran the risk ourselves, we had not the heart to let the
young ones get into the danger?"

 

[Grumpy]

"Had not the heart to" simply means "did not want to (for compassionate reasons)".

 

[AnastasiaK.]

Sometimes it also means:be able to do something (see below an example)
"How could we have the hurt to disappoint mom?"

 

[Liara_Tsoni]

Anastasia, you have mistaken 'heart' with 'hurt' those are not the same and definitely have a different meaning. Grumpy's answer is a correct one.