Alone! Alone!
- Margaret lies on her sofa with her eyes shut, struggling to understand what has happened. Her father is dead and she is now alone in the world. Mr. Bell stays by her side until she's able to regain her composure.
- Mr. Bell has a brief word with the servant Dixon, who says that Margaret's aunt, Mrs. Shaw, will no doubt come to console her and try to take her back to London. Mr. Bell writes to her with the news, and she packs her bags and heads for Milton. Before she leaves, her daughter Edith insists that Margaret come back with her.
- After Mrs. Shaw has arrived, Mr. Thornton shows up at the Hale house, too. Mr. Bell waves him into a smaller room and says that Margaret and her aunt must have the main drawing room to themselves. Since Mrs. Shaw is now taking up the rooms in Margaret's house, Mr. Bell will have to go stay with Mr. Thornton.
- It turns out that Mrs. Shaw is eager to get back to London ASAP and she wants Margaret to go with her. Mr. Bell, though, isn't sure if Margaret is fit for traveling.
- When Mr. Thornton gets home, he finds his mother and sister Fanny going through fancy materials for Fanny's wedding dress.
- Mr. Bell comes over to the Thorntons' later on while Mrs. Shaw and Margaret are asleep. Mrs. Thornton greets him with generosity, since he's a business friend of her son's. He tells her of Margaret's current situation, and Mrs. Thornton wonders where her London relatives have been the past year, when Margaret would have needed their support. In this instance, it sounds as though she actually feels some sympathy for Margaret.
- While they converse, Mr. Bell mentions Margaret's brother Frederick. Mr. Thornton overhears this and asks who Frederick is, since he had no clue that Margaret had a brother. After hearing an explanation, Thornton asks whether Frederick ever comes to England. As you can imagine, he's starting to figure out that Frederick might have been the young man at the train station with Margaret on the night Leonards died.
- Mr. Bell assures Thornton that the man with Margaret at the train station must have been Henry Lennox.
- At this point, Mr. Bell turns secretively to Thornton and tells him that at one time, he used to think Thornton had the hots for Margaret. Mr. Thornton gives him a total poker face on this one, though, and shows no trace of emotion.
- Mr. Bell can hear some construction going on nearby and asks about it. Mr. Thornton says that he (Thornton) is building a large dining room onto his factory so that his workers can all eat large dinners together. It just goes to show that the guy is becoming a lot nicer to his workers. And according to Thornton, it's all thanks to the advice of Nicholas Higgins, who is always bugging Thornton about what would make the workers happier.
- Thornton also mentions that he eats dinner with his workers, and that he also provides all of the food. He feels that nothing puts men on the same level more than eating together.
- Mr. Thornton also mentions, though, that his workers pay a share of the cost for food and the dining room. He doesn't want the whole thing to turn into a charity. After all, he wouldn't be putting himself on the same level as his workers if he merely gave them charity.
- Mr. Bell warns Thornton that the other factory owners might not like him for getting so chummy with his workers.