He cared little whether he left an heir to the park; there were others of the name, and since the park had furnished matter for litigation during forty years before he came into possession of it, it might supply the lawyers with fees for forty years more after his death, for all he cared.
It would have been very desirable to marry Mrs.Goddard if it had been possible, but since the thing could not be done at present it was best to submit with a good grace.

Since the day when his suit had suddenly come to grief in the discovery of her real position, Mr.Juxon had philosophically said to himself that he had perhaps been premature in making his proposal, and that it was as well that it could not have been accepted; perhaps she would not have made him a good wife; perhaps he had deceived himself in thinking that because he liked her and desired her friendship he really wished to marry her; perhaps all was for the best in the best of all possible worlds, after all and in spite of all.
But these reflections, which tended to soothe the squire's annoyance at the failure of a scheme which he had contemplated with so much delight, did not prevent him from feeling the most sincere sympathy for Mrs.
Goddard, nor from constantly wishing that he could devise some plan for helping her.

She seemed never to have thought of divorcing herself from her husband.

The squire was not sure whether such a thing were possible; he doubted it, and promised himself that he would get a lawyer's opinion upon the matter.

He believed that English law did not grant divorces on account of the husband's being sentenced to any limited period of penal servitude.