Had she been allowed to have her own way when she was a child, what would have been her fate?
Ah what! Then he had to think of it all.

Might she not have been alive now, and perhaps happier than she had ever been with him?
And had he remained always unmarried, devoted simply to politics, would not the troubles of the world have been lighter on him?
But what had that to do with it?
In these matters it was not the happiness of this or that individual which should be considered.

There is a propriety in things;--and only by an adherence to that propriety on the part of individuals can the general welfare be maintained.

A King in this country, or the heir or the possible heir to the throne, is debarred from what might possibly be a happy marriage by regard to the good of his subjects.

To the Duke's thinking the maintenance of the aristocracy of the country was second only in importance to the maintenance of the Crown.