Keep himself single for the sake of his daughters? I would think, if her were acting i the interest of his daughters, he would have remarried and tried to produce and heir to care for them after his death, much as Mrs. Bennet (P&P) lamemted the lack of an heir.

Be it known then, that Sir Walter, like a good father, (having met with one or two private disappointments in very unreasonable applications) prided himself on remaining single for his dear daughter's sake. Ch. 1