He began to foresee that he had a bad time before him.
And then as he still sat idle, thinking of it all, his mind wandered off to another view of the subject.

Could he be happy, or even comfortable, if she were unhappy?
Of course he endeavoured to convince himself that if he were bold, determined, and dictatorial with her, it would only be in order that her future happiness might be secured.

A parent is often bound to disregard the immediate comfort of a child.

But then was he sure that he was right?
He of course had his own way of looking at life, but was it reasonable that he should force his girl to look at things with his eyes?
The man was distasteful to him as being unlike his idea of an English gentleman, and as being without those far-reaching fibres and roots by which he thought that the solidity and stability of a human tree should be assured.

But the world was changing around him every day.