Mr. Bell had finished his visit and returned to Oxford, extracting a promise from Margaret to drag her father down to his former haunts. Margaret had laughed and assented, provided Mr. Bell disclosed to her the precise details of his agreement with Mr. Thornton which he did grudgingly.
'You are quite the irresistible force, my dear, are you not?' Mr. Bell gazed with clear affection on the daughter of his dearest friend and made the difficult choice to not lengthen his vacation yet again. He would merely attempt to weave the loose threads of others' lives from afar and patiently await their updates, anticipating a timely invitation to Margaret and John's nuptials.
The requisite minimum six month mourning period had been terribly long for both Mr. Thornton and Margaret, which was as well since both parties had been exceedingly busy – the one resurrecting his mill, the other caring for an inexplicably, gradually weakening Mr. Hale and preparing for the forthcoming change to their lives. Mr. Thornton had called upon the Hales as often as possible, given his workload and schedule, and possibly even more often than he could afford. But if anyone noticed his slight preoccupation with the suburb of Crampton, there were none who would dare make mention.
Nicholas Higgins had been, at Margaret's instigation, offered a supervisory position within Marlborough Mill and he, along with Mr. Thornton, had instituted several rather avant-garde reforms in the mill. The workers had the best working conditions of any mill in the surrounding area due to these reforms and, if it was not a perfect solution, at the very least those laboring in Mr. Thornton's mill were aware of the care and money invested by the master in their well-being. The other mill owners remained willfully ignorant of the direct correlation between cheerful and healthy hands and increased productivity. Mr. Bell not only received regular payments from Mr. Thornton on his generous loan given with quite favorable terms and at such a critical time for the mill – which, to his credit, Mr. Bell waved aside as merely watching out for his own interests – but also was fully recompensed for his outlay within one year. Marlborough Mill had augmented its output to the extent that even Mrs. Thornton's vaunted economy was threatened by a glut of funds and this was well and good, as she together with Margaret were apparently planning the most unassuming and yet complex wedding of memory. Margaret had wished for solely family and intimate friends but with the current state of business and Mr. Thornton's newly found amity with the mill workers, she and her future mother had endeavored to somehow provide a pleasant experience for those who labored in Mr. Thornton's mill.
As Margaret herself had once commented, she wished for nothing more than an unpretentious wedding with few attendees. With regards to the ceremony, she would have her desire fulfilled and Mrs. Thornton was, thankfully, a proponent of simplicity in attire. Both Margaret and Mrs. Thornton found, to their great wonder, that they shared many comparable opinions and tastes. There would always be that which was dissimilar but on the essentials, they tended toward accord and Mr. Thornton was delighted in the harmony between the two women. However, he did not have ample time to spend with his betrothed and Margaret felt his absence deeply. Contented as she was with her situation, the measured decline of her father's health was too much reminiscent of Mrs. Hale and her illness and the burden of emotionally supporting Mr. Hale as he sank slowly was overwhelming at times. Margaret turned to Mrs. Thornton for advice but the older woman was not prepared to address the depression that was afflicting Mr. Hale; therefore, Margaret struggled on as best she could. She was grateful for the few evenings that Mr. Thornton found himself in Crampton, the two of them seated happily on the couch and she could speak out her worries and concerns. Mr. Thornton would remain silent and then present a solution or potential clarification to improve the circumstances. It was a wonderful foreshadowing of their marital life and partnership but Margaret did hope that her beloved would allocate a greater portion of his hours to domestic felicity. She felt hesitant to suggest such a thing, as she did not wish to lay another weight upon his already busy schedule, but Mr. Thornton saw her sadness. He tried to cheer Margaret by telling her that he had spent the last six months intensively organizing and arranging Marlborough Mill to run smoothly when he would cease spending entire days in his office.
'My plan is to step back and allow the mill to operate with the structure Nicholas Higgins and I have put into place. I wish to have an inordinate amount of time to spend with my new bride.' John Thornton turned to Margaret as he spoke these words and was well rewarded with a smile and a blush.
Mr. Bell renewed his idea of Mr. Hale travelling to Oxford and Margaret mentioned the proposal again to her father. He sent a letter to Mr. Bell, replying that once Margaret and John were married, he would join his friend as the Hale's home would be lonely and silent. No, Mr. Hale explained, he would not permanently remove to Oxford and leave his deceased wife to remain forever in Milton when she and had not wished to live in Milton from the beginning and now could not leave. Accordingly, plans were made for Mr. Hale to visit Mr. Bell and Dixon was to journey to her sister's home for a long anticipated holiday. Margaret's belongings were being brought incrementally over to the Thornton's home, in preparation for the impending nuptials which were to occur in three days and the Thornton home had been given a complete going over by the staff with a new menu particularly suited to John and Margaret's favorite dishes. All was in readiness for the upcoming celebration and its expected joyousness.