It was a joyous day for him when he saw his daughter the wife of Godfrey Eldon.

The loss which so soon followed was correspondingly hard to bear, and but for Mrs.Eldon's gentle sympathy he would scarcely have survived the blow.

We know already how his character had impressed that lady; such respect was not lightly to be won, and he came to regard it as the most precious thing that life had left him.
But the man was not perfect, and his latest practical undertaking curiously enough illustrated the failing which he seemed most completely to have outgrown.

It was of course a deplorable error to think of mining in the beautiful valley which had once been the Eldons' estate.

Richard Mutimer could not perceive that.