premise: You will not dispute, I presume, that Mr Marshall of Charleville House and Mr Lane of Bridewood have been the two great butlers of recent times. Perhaps you might be persuaded that Mr Henderson of Branbury Castle also falls into this rare category. But you may think me merely biased if I say that my own father could in many ways be considered to rank with such men and that his career is the one I have always scrutinized for a definition of ``dignity''.
hypothesis: his own father could in many ways be considered to rank with such men