North and South Volume 1, Chapter 9 Summary

Dressing For Tea

  • The day after Margaret meets the Higginses on the road, her father comes into the family drawing room and fidgets about. Margaret can tell that he's nervous about something.
  • Finally, he tells Margaret that he has asked Mr. Thornton to come over for tea.
  • The two of them chat for a moment about Mr. Thornton. Margaret pays the guy a few backhanded compliments.
  • Margaret informs her mother of the coming guest. Mrs. Hale can't believe that they're going to clean their house for a visit from a mere tradesperson.
  • Meanwhile, over at John Thornton's house, we look in on a conversation between Thornton and his mother.
  • When Mrs. Thornton finds out that Mr. Hale has a young daughter, she warns her son John not to get trapped into marrying a poor girl. John says she has nothing to worry about, since Margaret was very proud and standoffish the last time they met. This only annoys Mrs. Thornton.