So it was that the next 20 minutes past with great discomfort to John Thornton. He surmised that his companion was likewise pained by the situation she found forced upon her. It was obvious that she was tired and wished for nothing more but for John to disappear. He may not have been greatly experienced with the internal workings of the fairer sex, but John Thornton was no fool; he was well aware that his presence was not comforting to Miss Hale. However, he had wasted the majority of his afternoon already waiting, he would not leave the hotel until he met and discussed their living arrangements with Mr. Hale. At least this is the lie to which John became convinced to ease his guilt regarding his true curiosity.
"How have you enjoyed your first visit to Milton?" John began, anxious to end the silence in the room.
"I find it very different from home, thank you, Mr. Thornton." Margaret answered him in cold indifference.
"Indeed, I am not surprised. Milton is, I am sure, vastly different from…."
"Helstone in Hampshire." She completed for him.
"Yes, Helstone. Well, I believe that once you get settled, you will find that Milton has much to offer as well. Perhaps the air and the people are a bit more raw here than in Helstone, but we are a manufacturing city and we do not have the time for idle past times." John was sorry he said it as soon as the words left his mouth. He was sure that he had offended Miss Hale and noticed that her face hardended and her back became poker straight.
"I am sure that Milton has its…charms….as you say, Mr. Thornton. However, I would not be so quick to criticize the south as idle and therefore without its own virtues. Our ways may be more simple in your opinion but I can assure you that we are not the primitive people that you have sketched us to be."
When she finished she lifted her chin in defiance and John realized that the good favor of Margaret Hale would not be something easily gain, even if he should seek it. He was about to apologize and explain his comment when Richard Hale entered the room.
To say that John Thornton was relieved to see Mr. Hale enter the room would have been a great understatement. Quite frankly, Miss Hale was making him anxious. In the last 30 minutes spent in her company John had cycled from liking her to hating her to finally settling on the idea that she might be someone that he must know better. Nay, John Thornton was not accustomed to vacillating emotion.
Margret crossed the room to meet her father. "Father, we have a visitor. This is our mysterious Mr. Thornton whom Mr. Bell has spoken of so often in his correspondence with you."
"Ah, Mr. Thornton!" Mr Hale exclaimed extending his hand in greeting. "At last we meet. I thank you for your assistance in finding us suitable lodging. I am sure that you are far too busy to spend time on such idle pursuits….and for total strangers, none-the-less."
"Yes, father, Mr. Thornton was just telling me how much more virtuous the north is than the south when it comes to the sin of wasting time." Margret said sarcastically glaring at John.
John met the challenge undaunted. "No, Miss Hale is mistaken. I was merely trying to ease her mind as it was obvious that she appeared weary and I suspected that a bit of homesickness may have been the culprit. I was hoping to open her eyes to the positives of her new home. There was no insult or injury intended, I can assure you sir." As John said this, he could not help but remain focused on Margaret Hale's every expression. She, mistaking his attentions as a challenge, met his look with pride and an almost haughty air. John was mesmerized to say the least.
"Yes, well, I am sure you meant well Mr. Thornton. I am afraid that Margaret has been a bit displaced from her home most of her life. She has spent the better part of her last 9 years in London with her Aunt Shaw on Harley Street and had only returned to Helstone for good when greeted with the news of our departure." Mr. Hale looked weary and John realized this move was painful for the entire family and felt that a change of subject was necessary.
"I understand from our mutual friend, Mr. Bell, that you will be teaching and taking on private pupils. I would very much enjoy picking up my literature again. I am afraid it has suffered greatly at the hands of the mill." John was smiling for the first time since greeting the Hales and he thought that he noticed Margaret's continence soften a bit.
"I would like that as well, Mr. Thornton." Mr. Hale agreed. "Once we are settled in the new house, I will write to you to set a regular time. " Mr. Hale was encouraged by this early sign of interest in his teaching services. He hoped above all that he might be able to once again support his family in the manner that they deserved.
Mr. Hale turned to Margaret. "My dear, speaking of the house, I am afraid that we will have to live with the current papers. The land lord is quite set against incurring the added expense of changing them to better reflect the light tones that we had at Helstone. Do you believe that your mother will be terribly disappointed?"
Margaret forced a smile for her father. "Oh, Papa, I am sure that Mother and I will manage with the existing papers. Perhaps we can arrange the furniture in such a way as to reduce the attention drawn to them. We will manage."
Mr. Hale patted his daughter's hand seemingly lost in thought.
The cloud that fell over Margaret's face was not lost on John. He watched with interest at how wall coverings could depress such a young woman. Surely he had not misjudged her and she was not as shallow as Fanny to allow wall paper to give her such concern. No, he thought to himself, there must be deeper meaning in this change of attitude.
If there was a deeper source for Margaret's sadness over the news that the old, dark and dingy papers were to remain in the house at Crampton she was not going to be one to reveal it: at least not to John Thornton. He found himself compelled to help; how he did not know, but he felt the uncontrollable urge to make Margaret Hale happy.
"Well," John began as he cleared his throat, "I see that you have done well to find a nice house in a decent part of Milton, I will be on my way. I am afraid that my absence at the mill has been too long and I will have collected quite a bit of work upon my return. Good day Mr. Hale, Miss Hale."
"Yes, well, thank you again Mr. Thornton for your assistance in this matter. I will look forward to seeing you soon for our first lesson." Mr. Hale replied.
John looked at Margaret who just stared blankly past him out the window. He tipped his hat to which she barely made the effort to curtsey. This slight was not lost on John who walked back to Marlborough Mill in anger. What a self-righteous little thing that Margaret Hale was. Dislike for her regained dominance for the moment. He had done nothing but tried to extend kindness and help to her and her father and she greeted him with the cold civility of a hired hand. He was not a gentleman in the traditional definition, but it was not a title he sought; these gentlemen of London and farther south who live a life of idleness. What sort of pride could a man take in sitting by while others worked his land or ran his affairs? He was a self-made gentleman and went to bed each night tired but satisfied with the knowledge that he had, for yet another day, earned his place among the Milton aristocracy. The John Bells of the world did not hold his respect. Yet, there was something different about the Hales. Mr. Hale was obviously a gentleman and very much still a man of God. Margaret, on the other hand, was a finished lady who appeared, at least to John, to be trying to be stronger on the outside so as not to betray her inner feelings. Oddly, she reminded him a small bit of his mother.
This internal conflict regarding feelings about Margaret Hale continued during his walk so that by the time John had reached his office, he had already changed his mind again and had decided not to make a decision about Miss Hale until he got to know her better. As the day pressed on, he found it hard to concentrate on anything but the manner in which she filled the room , the arch of her brow and the pleasing pout of her mouth. Several times he caught himself feeling envious about the way that her eyes lit up when her father entered the room. He felt an odd yearning for her to respond that way to his presence. He then remembered how bravely she tried to hide her disappointment that the papers at the house could not be changed to reflect something a little closer to what she had loved at home. Strangely he felt that he was responsible for trying to relieve some of her sadness. "At least this much I can do." He said to himself.
Once the day had ended, John made his way to Canute Street to speak with the land lord of the Hales' new home. The land lord, although resistant to spending the effort to make frivolous changes for a country clergyman and his family, was more than happy to oblige the wealthy and influential John Thornton, Master of Marlborough Mills. Miss Hale would have her papers indeed and, although she would not know it, she would have John Thornton to thank.