Mother and Son
- Now we join Mr. Thornton leaving the Hale house, having just been devastated by Margaret's rejection of his marriage proposal. He runs his mind over the whole thing again and again, realizing how obvious it was that Margaret would reject him.
- Meanwhile, back at the Thornton house, Mrs. Thornton is waiting for John to come home.
- She takes some old cloth napkins she was given for her own wedding and starts unstitching them with the thought of putting her son's and Margaret's initials on them. She knows that she's losing her son to another woman.
- Finally, she can hear her son's steps coming up to the house. When he comes in, she asks how it went, and he replies that no one in the world will ever love him except her, his mother. On the one hand, she's happy that John won't be marrying Margaret. On the other hand, she's furious that Margaret would have the nerve to reject her perfect son.
- Very quickly, though, John deflects their conversation toward the workers' strike. It looks like the riot outside his house has helped to break up the strike.