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as he would have it that it did

Walt Whitman

Senior Member
Italian - Italy
From Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, chapter 5

Context: Old Mr Earnshaw’s health begins to fail. The atmosphere at home becomes worse and worse because of Hindley’s open hostility towards Heathcliff. Therefore, on the curate’s advice, Hindley is sent away to college. Nelly, the housekeeper, comments:

I hoped heartily we should have peace now. It hurt me to think the master should be made uncomfortable by his own good deed. I fancied the discontent of age and disease arose from his family disagreements, as he would have it that it did—really, you know, sir, it was in his sinking frame.

I’d take the underlined bit to mean something like, "as he himself believed it to be" or "as he was convinced that ["the discontent of age...]"
Can anyone confirm this?

Thank you
WW
Could it also be interpreted as, "(this is the way) he wanted to see it;" actually, he did not want to resign himself to the effects of aging and illness. "Family disagreements" had nothing to do with it.
I fancied the discontent of age and disease arose from his family disagreements, as he would have it that it did
I suspected that the discontent of age and disease arose from his family disagreements, as he had previously stated that this was the case.

He had expressed the statement/idea/opinion that he attributed his discontent to his family disagreements.
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