Well, the consoling reflection was that his wife would soon make him see that she despised him, for if ever there was a thorough Yorkshireman, it was Richard.
Dunfield comments on Mrs.Dagworthy seemed to find some justification in the turn things took.

Richard distinctly began to neglect those of his old friends who smacked most of the soil; if they visited his house, his wife received them with an affected graciousness which was so unmistakably 'stuck up' that they were in no hurry to come again, and her behaviour, when she returned visits, was felt to be so offensive that worthy ladies--already prejudiced--had a difficulty in refraining from a kind of frankness which would have brought about a crisis.

The town was perpetually busy with gossip concerning the uncomfortableness of things in the house on the Heath.

Old Mr.Dagworthy, it was declared, had roundly bidden his son seek a domicile elsewhere, since joint occupancy of the home had become impossible.

Whether such a change was in reality contemplated could never be determined; the old man's death removed the occasion.