'Do you know, Margaret, I really begin quite to like Mr.
Thornton.' No answer at first. Then Margaret forced out an icy 'Do you?' 'Yes! I think he is really getting quite polished in his
manners.' Margaret's voice was more in order now. She replied, 'He is very kind and attentive,--there is no doubt of that.' 'I wonder Mrs. Thornton never calls. She must know I am ill,
because of the water-bed.' 'I dare say, she hears how you are from her son.' 'Still, I should like to see her You have so few friends here,
Margaret.' Margaret felt what was in her mother's thoughts,--a tender
craving to bespeak the kindness of some woman towards the
daughter that might be so soon left motherless. But she could not
speak.
'Do you think,' said Mrs. Hale, after a pause, 'that you could go
and ask Mrs. Thornton to come and see me? Only once,--I don't
want to be troublesome.' 'I will do anything, if you wish it, mamma,--but if--but when
Frederick comes----' 'Ah, to be sure! we must keep our doors shut,--we must let no one
in. I hardly know whether I dare wish him to come or not.
Sometimes I think I would rather not. Sometimes I have such
frightful dreams about him.' 'Oh, mamma! we'll take good care. I will put my arm in the bolt
sooner than he should come to the slightest harm. Trust the care
of him to me, mamma. I will watch over him like a lioness over
her young.' 'When can we hear from him?' 'Not for a week yet, certainly,--perhaps more.' 'We must send Martha away in good time. It would never do to have
her here when he comes, and then send her off in a hurry.' 'Dixon is sure to remind us of that. I was thinking that, if we
wanted any help in the house while he is here, we could perhaps
get Mary Higgins. She is very slack of work, and is a good girl,
and would take pains to do her best, I am sure, and would sleep
at home, and need never come upstairs, so as to know who is in
the house.' 'As you please. As Dixon pleases. But, Margaret, don't get to use
these horrid Milton words. "Slack of work:" it is a
provincialism. What will your aunt Shaw say, if she hears you use
it on her return?' 'Oh, mamma! don't try and make a bugbear of aunt Shaw' said
Margaret, laughing. 'Edith picked up all sorts of military slang
from Captain Lennox, and aunt Shaw never took any notice of it.' 'But yours is factory slang.' 'And if I live in a factory town, I must speak factory language
when I want it. Why, mamma, I could astonish you with a great
many words you never heard in your life. I don't believe you know
what a knobstick is.' 'Not I, child. I only know it has a very vulgar sound and I don't
want to hear you using it.' 'Very well, dearest mother, I won't. Only I shall have to use a
whole explanatory sentence instead.' 'I don't like this Milton,' said Mrs. Hale. 'Edith is right
enough in saying it's the smoke that has made me so ill.' Margaret started up as her mother said this. Her father had just
entered the room, and she was most anxious that the faint
impression she had seen on his mind that the Milton air had
injured her mother's health, should not be deepened,--should not
receive any confirmation. She could not tell whether he had heard
what Mrs. Hale had said or not; but she began speaking hurriedly
of other things, unaware that Mr. Thornton was following him.