A Soft Breeze in a Sultry Place
- As soon as the Thorntons are gone, Margaret runs out to see whether Bessy Higgins has recovered from her fainting spell.
- Turns out that Bessy is even weaker than the day before, and things aren't looking great. Bessy asks Margaret where she lived before moving to Milton. Margaret describes how beautiful a place her former village of Helstone is. Bessy takes comfort in thinking of such a peaceful place.
- Bessy mentions that her lungs have been ruined by all the cotton she's inhaled while working in one of the Milton mills. She also wishes her father had more faith in God than he does. She likes to think that she'll go to a better place when she dies.
- Margaret promises to come back again.
- As the weeks go by, Margaret's mother gets weaker and weaker, although her husband Mr. Hale is in denial about it. He can't handle the guilt of knowing that their move to Milton might be the cause of her illness.
- The truth is that Mr. Hale is very insecure about his wife's condition. He gets more and more worried as the days go by.