[He has been in a position of great responsibility and authority since he was 22 or thereabouts, and he's used to taking charge of a situation and fixing other people's problems for them.]

I've often thought what a huge burden this must have been for a young man. Not only has he lost his parents - and we know he looked up particularly to his father - but he was suddenly thrust, grieving, into his father's shoes. The welfare of many people depended on his actions, and we know from his housekeeper's testimony how well he looked after his dependents.
Many rich young men might have gone off the rails at this point and left it all to a steward. (We can see from social history of the period that there were those that gambled or just idled fortunes away.) It must have been his "proper pride" (Elizabeth says in the end that he has "no improper pride") that helped him live up to his duties. No wonder he didn't "rattle on" as other young men did!