It is short and measly, but it is a start. It replaces the chapter 11 I wrote a long time ago. I didn't like that one anyways.


Margaret perched on the edge of the stiff-backed chair and shifted uncomfortably with the fine china in her hands. The best that Milton had to offer no doubt, she thought wryly as she examined the porcelain.

Mrs. Thornton cleared her throat, drawing Margaret's eyes up self-consciously as she offered a small but polite smile. "I must thank you for agreeing to my invitation, Miss Hale," Hannah offered rigidly, "I fear I may have neglected my social calls these past few weeks."

Margaret blushed, "With the strike and the events that came after, it is no wonder that you were otherwise engaged. I am happy to be here." The younger woman then cast a slightly nervous glance around her, "Is Miss Thornton not joining us?"

Hannah's mouth threatened to curl at the corners, "Not today, I sent her to pay our respects to the Fosters and Latimers."

Margaret bent her head in acknowledgment and stared at the dregs collecting at the bottom of her cup, searching for polite discourse that would not somehow irritate Jo-Mr. Thornton's mother. "The weather has been unseasonably warm this month has it not— "

"Enough of this," Hannah cut in with a sigh, "I will speak plainly that I did not invite you to this house with the intention of discussing the spring weather. I have been informed to a degree of the situation as it stands between yourself and my son."

Margaret, mortified, hastily put her cup and saucer on the side table next to her, "Mrs. Thornton, I assure you that I have only seen your son in the company of my father or yourself, save for a few instances at our residence—"

Hannah's eyebrow rose, "And it was on one of these occasions that he made you an offer."

"If he did, then he also must have told you of the conversation after," Margaret's spine was rigid.

The matron broke eye contact and shrugged slightly, "Only that you had refused him but consented to some strange arrangement to keep the acquaintance and socialize more frequently. In my day, that was called courting, girl."

Margaret shook her head, "Mr. Thornton and I . . .. we have not always got on well," she said haltingly, "I did not want to enter an arrangement with reservations."

"Then why allow him to pin his hopes on you?"

"Because I am not indifferent to him," Margaret shot back with an edge of frustration to her voice. The color in her cheeks was high, Hannah noted, but she had not risen from her seat nor had she denied anything that had been put before her. Hannah scoffed, "You either like him or you do not, for his sake and for yours I do hope you come to your senses soon."

"Is this why you asked me here? To warn me?" Margaret asked incredulously.

"My first and foremost concern has always been his happiness, and to know that you hold that happiness in the palm of your hand with the ability to destroy him does not sit well with me, it never has," Hannah remarked bitterly.

Margaret stood up on shaky legs, "I wonder then at you inviting me to your home if you fear that I am such a danger to him, but I believe that enough time has passed, my mother needs me, so I shall take my leave of you."

Hannah stood as well, her eyes taking in the sheen of tears in Margaret's as they moved for the door, "Heed me well when I say that you will have to garner your nerves with a bit more steel, my girl. There are considerably more catty women in this city besides myself, who will be resentful of the attention you will steal away from their daughters. Are you ready for what it will mean to attract one of the most eligible masters in Milton?"

Margaret reached a hand up to secure the pins in her wide brimmed hat, "Mrs. Thornton, your son and I are still establishing whether we can stand to be in the same room with each other. If this can be accomplished, I believe that Milton society will be low on our list of concerns," she concluded before sweeping out onto the stoop.

Hannah allowed the ghost of a smile on her face as she shut the door firmly behind her. She ought to have company over more often.