He believed it was leading him to success.  Certainly the first result that he aimed at was assured, and he could not imagine a subsequent obstacle.  He would not have admitted that he was wronging the man whom he made his tool; if honesty failed under temptation it was honesty’s own look-out.  Ten to one he himself would have fallen into such a trap, in similar circumstances; he was quite free from pharisaical prejudice; had he not reckoned on mere human nature in devising his plan?  Nor would the result be cruel, for he had it in his power to repay a hundredfold all temporary pain.  There were no limits to the kindness he was capable of, when once he had Emily for his wife; she and hers should be overwhelmed with the fruits of his devotion.  It was to no gross or commonplace future that the mill-owner looked forward.  There were things in him of which he was beginning to be conscious, which would lead him he could not yet see whither.  Dunfield was no home for Emily; he knew it, and felt that he, too, would henceforth have need of a larger circle of life.  He was rich enough, and by transferring his business to other hands he could become yet richer, gaining freedom at the same time.  No disappointment would be in store for him as in his former marriage; looking back on that he saw now how boyish he had been, how easily duped.  There was not even the excuse of love.

He held her gained.  What choice would she have, with the alternative to be put before her?  It was strange that, in spite of what should have been sympathetic intelligence, he made a slight account of that love which, as she told him, she had already bestowed.  In fact, he refused to dwell upon the thought of it; it would have maddened him in earnest.  Who could say?  It was very possible she had told him a falsehood; it was quite allowable in any woman, to escape from a difficult position.  In his heart he did not believe this, knowing her better, though his practical knowledge of her was so slight; but it was one of the devices by which he mitigated his suffering now and then.  If the engagement existed, it was probably one of those which contemplated years of waiting, otherwise why should she have kept silence about it at home?  In any case he held her; how could she escape him?  He did not fear appeals to his compassion; against such assaults he was well armed.  Emily pleading at his feet would not be a picture likely to induce him to relax his purpose.  She could not take to flight, the very terms of his control restrained her.  There might be flaws in his case, legally speaking, but the Hoods were in no position to profit by these, seeing that, in order to do so, they must begin by facing ruin.  Emily was assuredly his.