Decision
- Margaret sits down with her mother to listen to all the plans the woman is making to improve the lives of the villagers. Margaret doesn't have the heart to tell her that none of these plans will ever be realized because they'll be moving soon.
- Margaret goes upstairs without telling her and goes to bed. Her father comes in and the two of them pray together.
- That night, the memory of Henry Lennox proposing to her haunts Margaret's dreams.
- The next morning, Mr. Hale says he's heading out for the day, leaving Margaret alone with her mother.
- Margaret invites her mother outside for a walk and blurts out the truth about them having to leave Helstone. Her mother sinks to the ground in despair. She can't believe that her husband would break from the church, or that he wouldn't tell her about his intentions.
- Eventually, Mrs. Hale accepts what's happening. She and Margaret start figuring out the details of how they're going to move all their stuff.
- When they get back inside, Mrs. Hale runs up to her room crying again. Margaret hears the maid Dixon come in, and she chats with her. Dixon has been Mrs. Hale's servant since before she was married, and she has always resented Mr. Hale for not giving Mrs. Hale a richer life. As you can imagine, Dixon doesn't take the news well, either.
- Margaret isn't gong to stand by and let a servant talk smack about her dad. She tells Dixon to shut up and sends her out of the room.
- Later on, Mr. Hale comes home to see how his wife has taken the news. Margaret says she's devastated, of course. But she has a plan that might make the transition easier. She wants to take her mother to a nice hotel in a town called Heston while a house is being set up in their new home of Milton.
- Mr. Hale is wary of the hotel's price tag, but he eventually agrees to pay whatever he needs to make things easier on his wife.