Making Friends
- Now we're back with Margaret Hale, who shuts herself up in her room as soon as she leaves Mrs. Thornton standing in her drawing room. She waits until she hears Mrs. Thornton leave to come back out. She reminds herself that she's innocent of what Mrs. Thornton's accused her of doing (walking out at night with a man, oooooh), but she still hates the fact that someone would think badly of her.
- She reflects back on the past year of her life and thinks about how horrible everything has been since her family moved from Helstone.
- She resolves to avoid Mr. Thornton as much as possible from now on.
- After a long walk in the country, Margaret comes home to find out that the widow Mrs. Boucher is very sick. Well that's just great.
- To find out more, Margaret goes to the Higgins' house. She also wants to know how things went between Nicholas and Mr. Thornton. When she gets there, she's sorry to hear that Mr. Thornton turned Higgins down. Higgins also passes on Thornton's message for her to mind her own business.
- While they're chatting, they hear a noise at the door and turn to find Mr. Thornton standing there. He's surprised to see them together, and he instantly figures out that Margaret would have been the one who sent Higgins to him. At this moment, he realizes that Margaret has a better opinion of his kindness than he first thought.
- Thornton sees the little Boucher children playing around the house and asks if they are Higgins'. Higgins replies that they aren't, but that he has to take care of them.
- Thornton admits that at first, he thought Higgins was making up the story about the Boucher kids. He apologizes to Higgins and offers him a job. Now it's Higgins' turn to act proud. He pauses for a long time before answering, saying that he doesn't like being called the terrible things Thornton called him to his face.
- Eventually, the two men shake hands and agree on their new arrangement. Higgins reminds Thornton that he will continue to fight for workers' rights from the factory floor.
- After Higgins leaves the room, Thornton speaks to Margaret about how he has lied in order to keep her from dealing with the police about Leonard's death. He admits that he'd like to know more about the young man he saw her walking with, but when she refuses to answer, he lets the matter go. He tells her not to worry about him ever making a romantic advance on her again, and he turns to go.
- Margaret stands alone, sad that she has lost Mr. Thornton's good opinion. She wishes that he still saw her the way he used to.
- She goes home and acts overly cheery in front of her dad, who is surprised at how weirdly happy she's acting.
- Just when things seem too miserable to bear, Mr. Hale gets the happy news that his good ol' buddy Mr. Bell will come to visit them from Oxford.
- Margaret also gets a letter from her cousin Edith expressing sadness over Mrs. Hale's death. Also, it looks like Edith and Captain Lennox will be moving back to England. Margaret looks forward to the thought of going to London and staying with the Lennoxes.