He said that, rather than upset your cherished plans, he would gladly consent to settle down in Sidmouth for life.

I honoured him for his filial spirit; but, frankly, I think he was wrong.
An eagle is not made to live in a hen coop, nor a spirited lad to settle down in a humdrum village; and I own that, although I regret the manner of his going, I cannot look upon it as an unmixed evil, that the force of circumstances has taken him out of the course marked out for him, and that he will have an opportunity of seeing life and adventure." Mrs.Walsham had listened, with a surprise too great to admit of her interrupting the old soldier's remarks.
"I never dreamed of this," she said at last, when he ceased.

"I cannot remember, now, that I ever asked him, but I took it for granted that he would like nothing better than to follow in his father's steps.

Had I known that he objected to it, I would not for a moment have forced him against his inclinations.

Of course it is natural that, being alone in the world, I should like to have him with me still, but I would never have been so selfish as to have sacrificed his life to mine.