Your mother's indignant tones as she says, 'That woman!'

Margaret and John are engaged. What will he say to his mother? What will she think about the news? BOOK BASED

NOTES: 1. The words (in italic) are extracted from the N&S book (apart from Margaret's letter to Mrs. Thornton)
2. At the beginning of this story there are some lengthy passages, extracted from another story of mine Engaged! The next half hour. There are also some passages extracted from the story Helstone's Roses - I tried to keep the repetition to a minimum.

AN EXPLANATION:
- While I love the end of the book and the shortness of the final scene, I feel that Margaret would want to make sure that John knows every single detail about Frederick and his visit to Milton. After all, she has been in agony for about two years about her lie. Therefore I wrote her telling as a long, drawn out and detailed explanation. (You've been warned!)
- I also think that Margaret, who is independent and is used to take responsibility, will feel responsible to explain to Mrs. Thornton some of the issues that caused misunderstandings between them. After all, Margaret knows that her inadvertent actions were the cause of those misunderstandings. And now that she will marry John and return to Milton she will go to a lot of trouble trying to restore her good opinion with Mrs. Thornton.

I hope you enjoy it.

Your mother's indignant tones as she says, 'That woman!'

'How shall I ever tell Aunt Shaw?' she whispered, after some time of delicious silence.
'Let me speak to her.'
'Oh, no! I owe to her,—but what will she say?'
'I can guess. Her first exclamation will be, "That man!"'
'Hush!' said Margaret, 'or I shall try and show you your mother's indignant tones as she says, "That woman!"'

They laughed! Mr. Thornton pulled Margaret closer to him and she laid her head in his shoulder. She knew that very soon she would have to talk to Aunt Shaw. What should she say? How would her aunt react to the news? She did not think that Aunt Shaw would be angry, or unhappy or anything of the kind. She knew that her aunt would want her to marry for love. The main problem was that her aunt would be very, very surprised, because Margaret had never spoken to anyone about Mr. Thornton in any way that suggested she had any feelings for him or him for her. In fact, since her return to London, she had mentioned his name not more than a few times, and it was mainly to Dixon - after Dixon's return from Milton.

While Margaret was thinking about her talk to her aunt, Mr. Thornton was thinking about his talk to his mother. He was not thinking about what words he was going to use. He would have plenty of time to think about this during his long train journey back to Milton. For now, he was trying to imagine his mother reaction to the news of his engagement to Margaret; but as much as he tried, he could not figure out exactly how she was going to respond.

Happy in each other's arms, neither Margaret nor Mr. Thornton had any idea that their thoughts were so similar. Silence seemed a natural thing just then. Margaret spoke first:
'Mr. Thornton, when are you going back to Milton?'
'Tonight! I hate the thought of it, as I would rather stay longer near you, but I must go back today. I will take the night train, but unfortunately is the furthest I can delay. I have a meeting tomorrow morning, with a manufacturer who wants to buy several of my new spinning mules and looms. I will have to tell him that they are no longer for sale; but I cannot cancel the meeting via telegraph. I must tell him in person... But I promise to be back very soon... I'm thinking next weekend. '
Margaret smiled at him; but she didn't say anything.
'There is not much time!' she thought 'I must speak to him now.'
Mr. Thornton noticed that Margaret was uneasy. He sensed that she wanted to say something; and he waited calmly for her to speak again. After a long pause, finally it came.
'Mr. Thornton, the man you saw with me at the Outwood station ...'
'Yes, your brother! What about him?' He spoke very calmly, because he was aware of Margaret state of anxiety.
'Do you know he was my brother?' she asked surprised. 'How do know? Who told you?'
'Higgins told me, a few months back.' he answered.
'Nicholas?' Margaret was even more surprised. 'I didn't know he knew anything about Fred.'
'He told me he knew from Mary that your brother was at your home when your mother died. Mary, I understand, was working for your family at the time.' He said in the same calm voice.
'Yes, she was! We sent Martha away to visit her mother, so that we could keep Fred's visit a secret and we brought Mary in; because she is not curious; and she would not gossip about it. I didn't think that Mary would have known who our visitor was. We always kept him upstairs and Mary downstairs; and she went to her own home in the evenings. But then, the walls on our house were very thin; and one could often hear what someone said in another room. Anyway, I am glad that she knew who he was and that Nicholas told you' said Margaret with a much steadier voice.

Then, after a short pause, Margaret started again.
'Mr. Thornton' but he interrupted her, saying 'aren't you ever going to call me John?'
'John, when you talk to your mother, can you please tell her everything about Fred and also tell her that I asked you to?'
'Do you really want that?'
'Yes, I do! I know that your mother does not have a good opinion of me at the moment, but now that we will be married, I want her to know the truth. I mean... the truth about Frederick. I know that you did not tell her about my lie to the inspector. You don't need to tell her about that. But please, tell her everything about Fred', she repeated.
'I am not sure I know everything about him, myself. You may need to tell me first if you want me to give her the correct information', said Mr. Thornton.

Then Margaret told him everything. She told him about the munity, about her mother's wish to see Fred before she died, about her letter asking Fred to come immediately, if he wanted to see his mother alive, about Fred's arrival late in the night, about his secret stay at the house, about Dixon meeting Leonards in the streets; and how this led to the decision that Fred had to leave Milton before the funeral. She told him about her idea that Fred go to London to meet with Henry Lennox to discuss the possibility of a fair trial and the chance of Fred's acquittal from his crimes. She told him all that had happened at the Outwood station. She told him about Henry Lenox being away from London on Fred's arrival, so delaying Fred's departure to Spain. She told him about her not knowing if Fred was still in London or if he had already departed, at the time that the police inspector came to her house. And she told him that she had lied, afraid that Fred, because of a false accusation of man slaughter could end up being hanged on mutiny charges. She also explained to him why she had not told him the truth on the day he asked if she had any explanation to give.

Mr. Thornton smiled at Margaret and pulled her closer to him. He kissed her. After a long, delicious silence, she said, lazily:
'I should go and talk to Aunt Shaw... '
Mr. Thornton released her, slowly; and then Margaret walked towards the door. She was just about to open it, when she turned towards Mr. Thornton. He smiled at her and waited.
'I will tell you one thing: I am glad that when you talk to your mother I will be safe, here in London, miles away from Milton.'
Then she opened the door and was gone.

That night, after Mr. Thornton left Mrs. Shaw's house to catch the night train to Milton, Margaret had a long talk to Aunt Shaw and Edith, about romantic details of her relationship with John and preparations for the forthcoming wedding. Then Margaret went to her bedroom. She had been waiting for this moment for some hours, as she wanted to write a long letter to Mr. Thornton, John, as she now called him. But before she wrote to John, there was a more pressing letter that she had to write first. She had decided to write to Mrs. Thornton. Disliking it or not, it had to be done. And so she started it. She gave a great deal of thought to what she had to say but even so, she started many times; and she filled her rubbish bin with failed attempts. It took her much longer than she had expected and by the time she finished it was very late. She was very tired and her candle was near the end. This forced her to hurry on her letter to John and also to write him a letter much shorter than what she had intended. Even so, she wrote it with a great deal of joy, for it was a letter to John... the first love letter she wrote in her life.

Sitting in the train, Mr. Thornton smiled at his recollections of the day. It had been the happiest day of his life. In that extraordinary morning he had become engaged to Margaret. And now his heart was almost bursting with happiness! But if in one hand Mr. Thornton was overjoyed; on the other hand he was doubtful. He would have to tell his mother what had happened during his brief stay in London; and how his fortunes had turned around during those three days. He was thrilled to give his mother news that in his view were the happiest possible; but he was not sure how she was going to react to the fact that he was now engaged to Margaret. He tried to imagine his mother reaction; but as much as he tried, he could not figure out exactly how she was going to respond. He thought that his mother behaviour in relation to Margaret was strange and inconsistent. Sometimes he did not understand his mother altogether! He remembered how, on the earlier stages of his acquaintance with the Hales, his mother warned him not to get attached to a penniless girl. But at the same time, she was displeased that Margaret had shown no interest whatsoever in him. It had seemed to him that his mother wanted Margaret to have an interest in him without him returning it. But for what purpose? Then after the riot, his mother encouraged him into believing that Margaret cared for him (even if he didn't think that it was true); and she was very angry with Margaret for refusing him and making him suffer. At the same time, he could not shake the idea that his mother had seemed pleased that he would not be getting married and remain single. Then, just a few weeks past, when he was feeling very low and could not see any way out of his financial problems, his mother had said 'he finds a woman to love, and she cares no more for his affection than if he had been any common man'. Would she be happy when he told her that that same woman loved him? It did not matter! His heart was so full of joy that nothing could make him unhappy or annoyed. And in the end, whatever his mother says, it would not change anything: he was in love with Margaret; she loved him and they would be married soon - he wanted to marry Margaret soon; and he hoped that she too, would want to marry him soon.

Mr. Thornton tried in vain to think the best way to tell his mother about the day's events; but his mind kept drifting towards thoughts about Margaret. In the end, it was impossible for him to think about anything else than her; and he gave up his resolution to prepare for the talk to his mother.

Mr. Thornton arrived in Milton early in the early morning. He would have liked to tell Mr. Richardson straight away about his change of fortune and avoid him the trouble to go to Marlborough Mills; but he did not know how to contact Mr. Richardson. He knew that, at this early hour, Mr. Richardson would most likely be still at his home; but Mr. Thornton did not know where that was. Also there was no point to go to Mr. Richardson's mills as their meeting was due in just a few hours; and he would probably go straight from his home to Marlborough Mills. The only thing to do was to go home and wait for him to arrive.

Mr. Thornton walked the few miles from the station to his home with pride; a pride he had not felt for some time. Not only he would have the mill back in operation, and it would still be his mill; but he would be wealthier than ever before. The buildings, the house... everything ... would be his. Margaret's and his! He hardly noticed the time passing and soon he arrived home. He found his mother in the dining room, about to have breakfast. He kissed her in the forehead, and joined her at the table. But before he said anything she said:
'Son, I can see that you have good news to report.'
'Yes, mother, I have the best possible news.'
He told her firstly that he now had the money to reopen the mill. He knew that this would make his mother happy and mollify her for the other bit of news which were still to come. During their talk he could see his mother face changing from happy, to surprised, to annoyed, all in a matter of a few minutes. When he finally stopped talking she said:
'If that woman was going to accept you in the end, could she not have done it sooner? Before your finances got into that terrible state and you had to give up business?'
He could not hide his grin, when he heard those words: 'Well! Margaret said that mother was going to say "that woman".' he said to himself.
He placed a hand on her shoulder, and said 'Mother, can you not be kind to her? Can you not be happy for me?'
Mrs. Thornton appeared to be somewhat mollified by his last words but, she still she had many questions to ask and would have liked to talk to her son a bit longer; but he had to go to the mill to wait for Mr. Richardson; and he left the table as soon as he finished his breakfast. He promised his mother to return; as soon as he was free, to continue their conversation.

When he left his house, Mr. Thornton was relieved that, because of the good news about the restoration of his position as master of Marlborough Mills; his mother did not react too strong to the news of his engagement. He entered the mill's office and it was not long before he heard steps. It was Mr. Richardson! Mr. Thornton explained to him why he would no longer sell the machines; and why, knowing this since the previous day, he had felt reluctant to cancel the meeting via telegraph. Mr. Richardson understood Mr. Thornton's reasons; and they had a pleasant conversation after that.

After Mr. Richardson left, Mr. Thornton went to the weaving rooms and once there he walked, slowly, from one end to another; then he went to the spinning rooms and he did the same. Next he went into the storage rooms; and he looked at the piles of raw cotton, ready for being turned into lengths of fabric. Everything ready in waiting for the workers to return! Everything had been there all along; but he had run out of money to operate the mill. Now, thanks to Margaret the mill would be in operation again. But Mr. Thornton had many things to do in that day and he had no time to dwell in contemplation. He had promised Margaret to restart the work in the mill as soon as possible; as she was concerned about the workers without jobs, many of them she knew. Now, he too knew many of his workers as man, and he was keen to give them the glad news as soon as possible. This very afternoon!

Mr. Thornton looked at his watch and he was surprised that it was already lunch time. He walked briskly towards his house. He found his mother in the dining room, waiting for him so that lunch could be served.

Mrs. Thornton had had some time to think, since her first conversation with her son in the morning. She was very happy to see him restored to the position that she felt he deserved and that, in her view, should be naturally his. Also they would be able to remain in the house, which for her was a symbol of her son's achievements and she had dreaded to lose it. As for her son being engaged to Miss Hale, she could not be happy. At least not yet! But she would try! The girl had offered her son the money necessary to reopen the mill. In fact, she had offered him much more money than what was needed. And, as her son said, Miss Hale had offered the money without knowing that he still loved her. And that counted for something, for much, really, in Mrs. Thornton's eyes! And once he was married, all the property, including the mill and the house would become his. Her son's wealth would no longer be solely based in floating capital, invested in business but, he would be owner of property and have cash in the bank. The future looked bright and she had to be thankful to Miss Hale for that.

Mr. Thornton was relieved to find his mother looking upon the benefits of his marriage. When he finished his lunch; he left the house, saying to himself: 'She will turn around. She only needs a bit of time.'

He walked briskly, going first into the post-office, to post a note he had written earlier, in the mill's office, to Margaret - a note was all he had had time to write, while he had waited for Mr. Richardson. Then he went to Higgins' house. He told Higgins about the reopening of the mills and he reinstated him in his job. Then he gave Higgins the task to track down all the men listed in the round robin that Higgins had given him a few days earlier. He knew that Higgins would know where many of those men lived; he didn't and it would take him long to find it out. He also asked Higgins to spread the news that everyone who had been employed at the mills, at the time when it closed down, would be given their jobs back and to let them know that the mills would reopen in two days time. Only after completing all the business discussion, Mr. Thornton gave Higgins the news that he was sure would make him very happy. It did!

Mrs. Thornton woke up in a changeable mood. Since she had heard the news of the engagement of her son to Miss Hale, on the previous day; she could not decide if they were good news or terrible news or something between good and terrible. If she managed to think that Margaret had offered John the money to reopen Marlborough Mills (in fact much more money than he needed) and keep all her other thoughts away; then she thought that the news were good. If she remembered that once she believed that Miss Hale was not so bad, that she was pungent, and had taste, spirit, and flavour in her; and that if she had been a Milton lass, she would have positively liked her; then the fact that she was now engaged to her son was not so bad. When she remembered that Margaret had been not once, but twice exposed to gossip of servants; she thought that Margaret was thoughtless. When she remembered Margaret's refusal of her son and how much he had suffered; she hated her; their engagement was a terrible thing!

For the past half hour, Mrs. Thornton had been saying to herself:
'That woman is definitely not right for my son.'
She was in an angry mood when the morning post arrived and she began sorting through it. And she got even angrier when she found two letters from Miss Hale in the pile: a thick envelope addressed to her and a thin one addressed to John.
'What does she have to write to me about?' she said angrily to herself.
But she ignored all the other mail and opened Margaret's letter straight way. When she finished reading the letter, Mrs. Thornton looked serious. She kept the letter in her hand and she looked up, at nothing in particular. Once or twice she looked at the letter in her hands. Then she took the letter to her private room to read it one more time. She read it, carefully, measuring every word:

Dear Mrs. Thornton,
You may feel surprise or displeasure at my form of address; but I'm unable to think of you any other way. You are dear to me because you are the mother of the man I love and you have endowed him with a character, qualities and virtues that I admire so much. There have been many misunderstandings between us; but I hope that, one day in the future you too will be able to think of me as dear Margaret.
By now John will have told you that the man I walked with at the Outwood Station, two days before my mother's funeral, was my brother Frederick and not a lover of mine, as you believed at the time. Now that you are familiar with my brother's troubles; you will believe me when I say that the reason why I did not told you who he was (when you spoke to me on my dead mother's behalf); was because I felt that I could not betray him; when the risk to his life was so real. I was not happy that I could not tell you who he was. Your opinion of me was important to me, as I had by that time realized that I was in love with your son. You can imagine then, how much more it hurt me to know that, the man I loved, believed Frederick to be my lover; and how much it hurt me to leave Milton after my father's death, without telling John the truth.
I am aware that you may find difficult to believe the veracity of my feelings for John. I can tell you that I have loved him for nearly two years now, longer maybe. I myself only became aware of my feelings around the time of my mother's death. Before that I admired many of his qualities, such as his practicality, integrity and honesty, but on the other hand we had many divergences of opinion and there was much antagonism between us.
On the day you spoke to me on my mother's behalf, you said that I had changed my opinion, after openly showing my feelings for John during the riot. If I already cared for John, I myself didn't know then. In the day of the riot, after convincing John that he should speak to the rioters (an idea of mine which, I later came to realize was naive and reckless... as the workers had come too far to be reasoned); I saw that some of the man had armed themselves with clogs and their fury was intense. Then I realized that John could be hurt at any moment; and that his very life was in danger. I placed myself in front of him and clang to him, believing that the rioters would not attack a woman. At the time, I had no particular feelings towards John, at least none that I was aware of. More recently, after my return to London, I began to think that maybe; I was already developing feelings for him. And it is possible that those feelings may have played a part of my jumping in his defense. But I don't know it for certain!
When I first met John, I was only eighteen years old; and I had never thought of myself as a woman. I had never thought of marriage; nor had I thought of being loved or courted by a man. In those respects I was still a girl, not a woman.
After our family moved to Milton, the day to day life brought too many difficulties and problems; too many things I could not understand. I found myself having to help with the house work; I saw my first friend in Milton (Bessy) dead; and I had the great sadness of my mother illness and death. I had little time or a mind free enough to think about my own desires and wishes. My thoughts were all consuming with the life problems around me.
I can only tell you that it was a great surprise to me, when John made me an offer, on the day after the riot. At the time, neither was I able to see myself capable of inspiring love, nor I believed that John loved me. I thought that the reason for his proposal was his belief that I had compromised my honour by protected him. But I would never marry someone whom I did not love and who I thought did not love me. And because I did not recognize his feelings; I said strong words, which hurt John deeply; and that I have regretted ever since.
From that day on, I became so conscious of having hurt John, that I often thought of him. When I saw him, I tried to compensate for those harsh words by avoiding any situation that would cause him further hurt. And then, as I said, by the time of mother's death I realized that I loved him. At first, the idea shocked me. I could still not think of myself as a woman and of being attracted to a man. Unfortunately, by that time, John had seen me walking with Frederick at Outwood Station; and he believed Fred to be my lover.
From the time that I understood my feelings for John; my love for him has never dwindled. It was with me when I left Milton and came to live in London; and it has remained my steady companion in all my days here. After more than one year without hearing or seeing John; I had lost all hope that he would still have any regard for me. Also, I had no expectations of ever seen him again.
When I become aware of John's business problems; and when I saw him, two days ago (for the first time in over one year), my immediate thoughts were that I had a lot of money in the bank that I did not need for myself, money that John could use and needed. It was with this idea that I offered to invest the money in Marlborough Mills. (Without any hopes for a renewal of John's affections for me.)
You must understand that even without having any hopes; I could not hide the anxiety that such meeting caused me. I tried to speak to John as a business woman; but I was unable to disguise all my feelings, even if I was trying hard to do so. My feelings betrayed me. John noticed my anxiety and he realized that I cared for him. It was only then that I learned that he still cared for me. You cannot imagine the happiness that that discovery has brought me. John, the love of my life, loved me! The man whom I admire more than anyone else I know. The man who was my father's friend and whom my father loved and who I'm sure would have been my father's choice for me. The only man I could ever love!
My heart is full of joy because I will soon be John's wife and I will be returning to Milton. When I first arrived in Milton, the city was to me a harsh place that I could not comprehend. But in the months since I left it and returned to London; I missed the energy of the place and I missed its people. And then I understood something else: Milton had become home to me.
Mrs. Thornton, I can promise you that I will always love John. I know how much you love him and how much he loves you. I hope that you will help me to understand him better; and that you will show me how to make him happy. And I hope that one day you will think me worthy of him.
Yours sincerely,
Margaret Hale

On this day, Marlborough Mills was still a quiet place. The workers would be returning only on the following day. This left Mr. Thornton enough time to have lunch with his mother at home. When he got there she told him that there was a letter from Miss Hale to him, and she pointed to the letter tray. He collected the letter and return to sit by his mother, before opening it. He began to read. Once he looked at his mother, then he returned to the letter. I did not take him long, for it was a short letter. When he finished, he looked at his mother and said:
'You had a letter from Margaret...' It was not a question.
'Yes, I did!'
'What did she wrote?'
Mrs. Thornton looked at him for a while. She was serious. Mr. Thornton was beginning to feel worried when his mother covered his hand with hers and said:
'She will do, son! She is worthy of you!'

THE END

I hope you enjoyed it! Any comment will be very much appreciated!

FROM THE BOOK:

CHAPTER XXVI - MOTHER AND SON
And Miss Hale was not so bad. If she had been a Milton lass, Mrs. Thornton would have positively liked her. She was pungent, and had taste, and spirit, and flavour in her.