Haste to the Wedding
- Margaret Hale is trying to wake her cousin Edith from a sound sleep. The two of them have grown up together in a fancy London house.
- Edith is going to be married to a guy named Captain Lennox soon. The couple will then move to the Greek island of Corfu. Margaret is sad at the thought of having her childhood friend move away.
- Margaret's parents live in a country village called Helstone. But Margaret has lived with her cousin's family in London for ten years, where she has become an educated and fashionable young woman.
- Some wedding guests have arrived, and Margaret entertains them while Edith sleeps. During their conversation, Edith's mother Mrs. Shaw complains about the mistake she made by marrying a man she didn't love: Edith's dad. How's that for a wedding party downer?
- The conversation with the guests eventually turns to important subjects, like the embroidery on Indian shawls. Fas-cin-ating stuff. (Sorry to all the obsessive embroidery fans out there.)
- While the world-shaking embroidery talk is going on, a male guest named Henry Lennox says he's not very interested in this stuff. He's the groom's brother. He's also a lawyer, and he's more interested in talking about exciting things like… land contracts. Snore. These people are really dull.
- Margaret has a semi-private chat with Henry about what she'd like her own wedding to look like. She imagines that it would be very modest, with hardly any money spent. She'd like for it to happen out in a meadow or forest. Henry says that this kind of modest wedding suits her character. This comment makes Margaret bristle because she doesn't like being pegged down as one kind of character or another.
- She talks for a moment about her home village of Helstone. Lennox asks her to describe it to him. After she does, he accuses her of making it sound like something out of a fairy tale. She argues that she's just describing the place the way it is.
- Margaret decides that she doesn't like talking to Henry anymore, and he accuses her of being too hard on him. All he's trying to do is make small talk.
- Edith finally comes downstairs and plays piano for the guests. She stops when her fiancé Captain Lennox shows up.
- As she surveys the crowd, Margaret pays special attention to Henry Lennox. He is not handsome, but she thinks he has a keen and interesting face.