“He took yo’ to that library opening back a ways, and yo’re going to dinner at his house tonight when your father is not in trade or in any such power.”
Margaret turned away, considering her words.
“Yo’ll marry the master if he asks yo’ won’t yo’?” Bessy pleaded again with a sudden forceful energy.
“Bessy, please,” Margaret said, turning back around to face her. “I cannot answer such a question at present. There are too many things to consider. To decide to marry is something one must consider deeply in one’s heart.”
“Well, I’d not turn away the likes of him, and no one with a head of sense would either!” Bessy declared. Then her shoulders sank in defeat, and her expression became more plaintive. “Yo’ll not speak too rough with Thornton will yo’? Never mind what father says. Mayhap yo’ can use yo’ words to bring a touch of softness into his heart.”
Margaret opened her mouth but could not think of how to reply.
At this moment, Mr. Hale came back from the kitchen, where he had gathered a few items of food to give to the Higgins.
As the time to leave for the dinner party drew closer, Mr. Higgins was brought back in, and Margaret promised Bessy she would come and tell all about the dinner party the next day.
Chapter twenty-four
For Mr. Thornton, the day of the dinner party entailed making a stream of crucial arrangements to set his mill in motion again. He would not wait to act. He did not intend to let the masses’ ignorance ruin the business he had worked so hard to improve.
At the first threat of a strike, he had looked into the steps that would be required to hire Irish hands and bring them to Milton. All his planning was now coming to full fruition. He had not stopped all day in finalizing details. He had talked to the railroad station manager, the head of police, and to Father Grady about getting the immigrant Catholics fed.
It was a great inconvenience that their annual dinner party should take place amid such upheaval, and he sorely regretted they had sent out the invitations. Yet, though his mind swarmed with the list of concerns to be dealt with, his heart beat with an eagerness to see Margaret again. At scattered moments throughout the day, the thought that she would come to his home that evening lifted his stern bent with a swell of hopeful anticipation.
When he finally arrived home just under an hour before guests would arrive, his mother stopped her hasty instructions to the household staff as he strode through the newly arranged drawing room. “You’ve hardly any time to wash and change your dress,” she admonished.
“There is still time. There was much to discuss with Father Grady,” he replied, halting his rush to speak to her.
“Is everything arranged?” she asked. He saw his own anxious trepidation reflected in her eyes.
“I have finished everything for today.” Tomorrow we prepare the upper floors of the mill and await the train in the evening.”
She nodded, trusting her son’s decision, but wary of the danger it might bring. “The water basin in your room is freshly filled,” she said, and then she returned to her tasks.
In the quiet space of his room, he undressed and washed away the perspiration of the day before putting on his dinner attire. As he did so, his business concerns receded as his focus turned to the hours ahead.
As he thrust his arms into his silk brocade waistcoat, he wondered what she would wear tonight. His anticipation increased as he remembered how she had looked in the gold-colored ball gown when he had first seen her in London.
It would be a great pleasure to see her arrayed in her finest attire, smiling to imagine the vision. He warned himself against allowing his gaze to drift to her all evening. But of all the difficulties he had endured today, this seemed a pleasant challenge.
Sunlight still lit the sky on this warm summer evening, but long shadows from the row houses cast the streets into darkness. As the coach carrying the Hales turned to enter the tall, open gatesinto the mill yard on Marlborough Street, Margaret stared up at the massive brick structure that stood empty and still. How many of his workers would have little to eat tonight while she dined on fine china with the masters?
As their party climbed the broad oak stairway, apprehension flooded Margaret’s veins. Her father’s punctuality made them the first to arrive. But she was pleased to find, upon her father’s asking, that Mr. Thornton was not come down yet as he had been long involved in matters concerning the strike all day.
The grand drawing room glittered with candles. The furniture had been moved out or arranged to enable conversation in groups.
Fanny drew near Margaret to make polite conversation, while Margaret’s parents talked with Mrs. Thornton. “I hope your mother is improving,” Fanny commented. “Does she have a water bed? I find it a great comfort when I am suffering.”
“A water bed?” Margaret asked.
“Oh yes, it’s the latest luxury for those inclined to fall ill. You might borrow ours for a time to try it,” she offered.
Other guests arrived, and Mrs. Thornton, in her black silk gown and obsidian necklace, greeted them with apparent pride. Fanny introduced a few couples to the Hales. Mr. Bell arrived and came to Margaret’s side to keep her company for a time until he stepped aside to speak to a few others.
While Margaret was alone again, gazing around the room, she heard Mr. Thornton’s name called out in greeting. The tingling awareness of his presence changed the atmosphere of the room at once. She turned to look.
He wore tails, a gold waistcoat and a deep blue cravat. She watched him shake hands with the small crowd around him. Why had she never noticed the small dimple in his cheeks when he smiled?
He greeted a strikingly beautiful young woman with light hair, who wore a snugly fitted gown of dark violet. An uncomfortable feeling poisoned Margaret’s mood as she watched the woman simper and tilt her head at his friendly greeting.
