He had always lived in one; had struggled to keep it together, and he knew every inch of the hard road that makes for domestic permanence amid adverse financial conditions.

And at the home he aimed rather than at the woman in it.
And with his own limited knowledge of the sex, he needed, and none knew it better than did he, the ablest women he could obtain to help him realize his ideals.

Their personal opinions of him did not matter so long as he could command their best work.

Sooner or later, when his purposes were better understood, they might alter those opinions.

For that he could afford to wait.