There were many opportunities for Margaret Hale and John Thornton to discover their love for each other sooner than they did. But opportunity after opportunity was lost and when they finally get engaged is about two years after they fell in love for each other. One of those times occurred at CHAPTER XL - OUT OF TUNE. The happy ending could have been near, if Mr. Hale paid more attention to Margaret.

Here is my take. I hope you enjoy it.

NOTE: words in italic are extracts from the book (N&S Elizabeth Gaskell)

An earlier happy ending

He startled Margaret, one evening as she sat at her work, by suddenly asking:
'Margaret! Had you ever any reason for thinking that Mr. Thornton cared for you?'
He almost blushed as he put this question; but Mr. Bell's scouted idea recurred to him, and the words were out of his mouth before he well knew what he was about. Margaret did not answer immediately; but by the bent drooping of her head, he guessed what her reply would be.
'Yes; I believe—oh papa, I should have told you.' And she dropped her work, and hid her face in her hands.
'No, dear; don't think that I am impertinently curious. I am sure you would have told me if you had felt that you could return his regard. Did he speak to you about it?'
No answer at first; but by-and-by a little gentle reluctant 'Yes.'
'And you refused him?'
A long sigh; a more helpless, nerveless attitude, and another 'Yes.' But before her father could speak, Margaret lifted up her face, rosy with some beautiful shame, and, fixing her eyes upon him, said:
'Now, papa, I have told you this, and I cannot tell you more; and then the whole thing is so painful to me; every word and action connected with it is so unspeakably bitter, that I cannot bear to think of it. Oh, papa, I am sorry to have lost you this friend, but I could not help it—but oh! I am very sorry.' She sate down on the ground, and laid her head on his knees.
'I too, am sorry, my dear. Mr. Bell quite startled me when he said, some idea of the kind—'
'Mr. Bell! Oh, did Mr. Bell see it?'
'A little; but he took it into his head that you—how shall I say it?—that you were not ungraciously disposed towards Mr. Thornton. I knew that could never be. I hoped the whole thing was but an imagination; but I knew too well what your real feelings were to suppose that you could ever like Mr. Thornton in that way. But I am very sorry.'
They were very quiet and still for some minutes. But, on stroking her cheek in a caressing way soon after, he was almost shocked to find her face wet with tears.

'Margaret, why are you crying so?' She didn't answer him. 'Margaret, tell me if I am wrong... was Mr. Bell right?'
'Oh, father, I made such a mess of things.'
'But Margaret, a mess can often be undone.'
She shook her head. 'No father! He saw me with Frederick at the Outwood station and now he thinks that we are ...' She could not get herself to say the word.
'He thinks that you are lovers! Is that it?'
She nodded.
'I'm sorry that it happened this way, Margaret. But you must have faith that things will turn alright.'
But Margaret did not believe that things would turn alright. Mr. Thornton had told her that he no longer loved her. But she would not tell her father that. She could not repeat those painful words.
'No, father! ... It is too late to change anything! What is done, is done!'

She sprang up, and smiling with forced brightness, began to talk of the Lennoxes with such a vehement desire to turn the conversation, that Mr. Hale was too tender-hearted to try to force it back into the old channel.
'Tomorrow—yes, tomorrow they will be back in Harley Street. Oh, how strange it will be! I wonder what room they will make into the nursery? Aunt Shaw will be happy with the baby. Fancy Edith a mamma! And Captain Lennox—I wonder what he will do with himself now he has sold out!'
'I'll tell you what,' said her father, anxious to indulge her in this fresh subject of interest, 'I think I must spare you for a fortnight just to run up to town and see the travelers. You could learn more, by half an hour's conversation with Mr. Henry Lennox, about Frederick's chances, than in a dozen of these letters of his; so it would, in fact, be uniting business with pleasure.'
'No, papa, you cannot spare me, and what's more, I won't be spared.' Then after a pause, she added: 'I am losing hope sadly about Frederick; he is letting us down gently, but I can see that Mr. Lennox himself has no hope of hunting up the witnesses under years and years of time. No,' said she, 'that bubble was very pretty, and very dear to our hearts; but it has burst like many another; and we must console ourselves with being glad that Frederick is so happy, and with being a great deal to each other. So don't offend me by talking of being able to spare me, papa, for I assure you you can't.'

After Margaret went to her bedroom, Mr. Hale thoughts returned to their earlier conversation. He was distressed to see his daughter in so much pain. And if the problem was that Mr. Thornton had seen her with Frederick at the station, then the fault was partially his because he had asked her to take Frederick there. He felt that he should do something, but he was not sure what. He would have to think about it a bit longer.

A few days later Mr. Thornton went to the Crampton house to read with Mr. Hale. During the reading, or better said, conversation, for their readings always turned into conversations, Mr. Hale had several opportunities to introduce the subject that had been uppermost in his mind. But every time he wanted to do it, he felt shy and let the opportunity pass. Finally, Mr. Thornton raised from his chair and took his leave: 'Don't bother to accompany me, I see myself out. Good night to you, Sir.'
Mr. Thornton had started to walk way, when Mr. Hale finally worked out enough courage to speak.
'Thornton,' he said in an unsteady voice, 'the day you saw Margaret at Outwood station with a gentleman... '
Mr. Thornton heart gave a start; he turned immediately towards Mr. Hale and looked at him intently.
'I want you to know that it was I who asked Margaret to take him there.'
Mr. Thornton looked at him surprised but he did not say anything.
'I also want you to know that the gentleman is very dear to me and was very dear to Margaret's mother; and thought I cannot tell you much about him at this moment, I can tell you that Margaret's relationship with him is such that her walking with him at dark would not constitute any form of impropriety.'
Mr. Thornton curiosity was stirred but he did not quite understand what Mr. Hale meant; he hoped that Mr. Hale would explain further. Mr. Hale, on the other hand, was waiting for Mr. Thornton to speak and because he didn't, he felt uneasy and unsure if his words had achieved the intended result. Still Mr. Hale was determined to help Margaret and he said a few more words:
'Thornton, I hope that you can give some thought to what I just told you... And, after you have done so, maybe I will tell you more about the gentleman ... or Margaret may like to tell you herself.'
Mr. Thornton waited to see if Mr. Hale was going to say anything else. But after a while, when no one spoke he said:
'Okay! ... Good night to you.' Then he walked away and left the house.
Mr. Hale was baffled by Mr. Thornton reactions and he said to himself: 'I think Margaret maybe right. It may be too late to change anything.'

For the whole of the two miles walk from Crampton Crescent to his house in Marlborough Street, Mr. Thornton was trying to make sense of the Mr. Hale's words. It was clear to him that Mr. Hale wanted him to rethink about what Margaret had been doing at Outwood Station. He would rethink... then what? Accordingly to Mr. Hale, Margaret may like to tell him about the gentleman... but would she? He had asked her once before but she had told him nothing. It was all a bit puzzling to him.

In the following days, Mr. Thornton decided not to go back to the Crampton house. But he could not stop himself to think about Mr. Hale's words. It was more than a week before he finally went to Crampton to read with Mr. Hale. Margaret happened to be near the house door, when she heard the door bell.
'Don't worry about the door! I'm here! I get it!' said Margaret loudly in the direction of the kitchen were Dixon and Martha were working.
'Miss Hale!'
'Mr. Thornton? ... Oh!' she said surprised. 'Please come in!'
Margaret showed Mr. Thornton to her father's studio and as soon as he entered the room she said in a hurried manner:
'Please sit down! ... I presume that you did not get my note. My father was feeling very low this afternoon and I forced him to go to bed. I sent you a note via Martha but, if you are here, you must not have seen it... Oh, dear! ... Father will be sorry that you walked all this way for nothing!'
'Don't trouble yourself! I have been out of the mill the whole afternoon... I had planned to return there, but some of the things I had to do took longer than I expected; so I came straight here.'
'I'm really sorry!'
Margaret walked quickly to her father's writing desk and sat down. She got a notepad and a pencil and then she half turned towards Mr. Thornton.
'If you tell me when you will be able to come again I will let father know. You know that he is always free at this time of the evening, so any day you name will suit him.'
Margaret waited for Mr. Thornton to name a day, but he remained silent, looking intently at her. She was growing conscious of his stare and eventually she looked down. Then he said:
'Miss Hale, that day at the Outwood station... your father told me that he had asked you to take that gentleman there.'
'It is true!' Margaret said, rising her eyes only a bit, but keeping her head down.
'He also said that you being at the station with that gentleman at such time of the day would not be an impropriety.'
'It is correct!'
'And he said that you may want to tell me about the gentleman.'
'Dear father,' said Margaret to herself 'he wants to help but there is nothing he can do. He does not know that Mr. Thornton does not care for me anymore.'
While Margaret was having those thoughts Mr. Thornton was waiting for an answer. After a while he said:
'You don't speak! ... Maybe your father was mistaken!'
Mr. Thornton looked at Margaret. She had lowered her head even further and he could not see her eyes. He got up to leave. He was about to reach the door, when he turned back and looked at Margaret. Her head was still low, her eyes were raised just a bit and she was looking at him leaving. He saw tears. Her tears sent a tremor through his heart and he returned to the room. He stepped near her and said:
'When you father told me all this, I thought that maybe, he wanted me to hope...'
He left the sentence unfinished, but the word hope made Margaret's heart skip a beat. She raised her head a bit higher but still she didn't say anything. Mr. Thornton was looking at her and he waited for her to speak.
'You don't speak and I don't know what to do.'
Margaret looked straight at his eyes and felt that they appear to be pleading at her. Her heart was beating very fast. In a very unsteady voice, she asked:
'What it is that you would like to do?' She blushed. She was moving her hands nervously.
Mr. Thornton was looking at Margaret, trying hard to avoid saying anything that may raise a second refusal. He had put to the touch once and he had lost her. But he had noticed her blushes and he decided that if there was any chance he would put himself at her feet again - he must. If it were but one chance in a thousand, or a million, he would do it.
'I would like to open my arms and then ...'
But he could not continue. His memory of her rejection was too vivid and he felt the pain returning. Margaret was feeling increasingly hopeful. Her heart was beating very fast. She forced him to continue his sentence:
'And then what?'
'And then you may walk into my embrace.'
After he said this he remained where he was; he did not change his posture and he kept his arms down. But for Margaret, what he had said had been enough. Her heart beat thick with happiness. Her eyes sparkled. She waited and waited for him to open his arms, but he stood motionless. Finally she said:
'Well?'
Mr. Thornton saw the sparkle in her eyes. He immediately opened his arms and she run into them.
'Oh, Mr. Thornton!'

She laid her head on his shoulder, and it was too delicious to feel her soft cheek against his, for him to wish to see either deep blushes or loving eyes. He clasped her close. But they both kept silence. There was no need for words.

THE END

I hope you enjoyed it! Any comment is very much appreciated!