In the instant that his beloved daughter was restored to him out of the very depths of the sea, he was asked either to undertake the role of a disappointed and unforgiving parent, or sanction her marriage to a truculent-looking person of most forbidding if otherwise manly appearance, who had certainly saved her from death in ways not presently clear to him, but who could not be regarded as a suitable son-in-law solely on that account.
What could he do, what could he say, to make the position less intolerable?
Anstruther, quicker than Iris to appreciate Sir Arthur Deane's dilemma, gallantly helped him.

He placed a loving hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Be advised by me, Sir Arthur, and you too, Iris," he said.

"This is no hour for such explanations.

Leave me to deal with Lord Ventnor.

I am content to trust the ultimate verdict to you, Sir Arthur.