And Lugur was thinking of the one subject which was the prime mover of his earthly life--thinking of his daughter and trying to foresee the fate he had practically chosen for her, wondering if in this matter he had been right or wrong.

He had told himself that Lucy must marry someone, and that Henry Hatton was the best of all her suitors.

Thirsk he hardly took into consideration; but there was young Bradley and Squire Ashby and the Wesleyan minister, and his own assistant in the school.

He had seen that these men loved her, each in his own way, but he liked none of them.

Weighed in his balance, they were all wanting.
Neither was Henry Hatton without fault; but the Hatton family was good to its root, as far as he knew or could hear tell, and at least he had been frankly honest both with his daughter and himself.