Chapter Text
Henry Lennox next met Mrs John Thornton when he and his wife broke their southward journey from Scotland.
Upon the Lennoxes arrival in Milton after their long hours on the train it was already dark, and a chill shower rattled on the roof of the cab as it drew into the yard of Marlborough House – which was also the yard of the mill.
After removing their travel wraps and entering the drawing room, they were welcomed by John Thornton and his wife. (You may like to know that some change had been made in the house, as visitors were no longer received in the dining room, as in the older Mrs Thornton’s day.)
Henry watched Margaret with both a sense of cousinly affection (which is how he felt the embers of his love for her had reconfigured themselves) and an assessing eye. She had been married now for some six months. Had she settled into this new life? He had been wondering how he and Laura would contrive once they were living together in London. Margaret had made a greater change.
To the outward eye, she seemed composed and completely at home. She looked a bit pale, but perhaps that was the effect of a Milton winter. She seemed quite happy.
Her manner to her husband was warm – clearly a newly-wed feeling still existed between them.
Mrs Thornton senior was not at the house at the moment – she was staying with her daughter, Mrs Watson. She would come to dinner on the following evening. Lennox wondered how the two Mrs Thorntons were getting along.
He remembered remarks Cosmo had made about the adjustment when he and Edith had returned to London and begun living in a household with Mrs Shaw.
It was not much talked about – at least among men – but a new configuration of family meant a deal of change and compromise.
Their two night stay was pleasant – Thornton gave Lennox a tour of the mill and took him to the Exchange. Mrs Thornton and Mrs Lennox went out in the carriage to the park in the morning and were joined by the older Mrs Thornton and Mrs Watson in the afternoon.
When the men returned for tea, Henry noted again how attentive Thornton was to his wife. Was he so to Laura? He turned and looked at her when he had this thought. She caught his glance and a faint blush suffused her cheeks, and she smiled warmly back at him. Oh – the ardour he felt – he did not care if others noticed it, as long as his dear heart understood his feelings.
oOo
Lennox’s next meeting with the Thorntons was in September.
(The reader might realise that this would be just over a year after the dinner in Harley Street to which he had taken Thornton, and the appointment that Lennox had not kept.)
Laura and Henry were at that time in receipt of the final instalment of Bleak House, and were reading the winding up of the stories of the principle characters, including the happy ending of Esther and Allan Woodcourt. They debated the motivations of John Jarndyce in this matter, with Henry asseverating that he had wished to marry Esther, while Laura, more charitably, felt he had always intended the engagement as a way of looking after her and was happy to stand aside.
Henry was interested that all her work with Mrs Wilson had not made his wife a cynic. He himself, after his years in courtrooms, (and perhaps we might add, having heard many conversations between men when women were not present), was more sceptical, and suspicious.
The Thorntons were come to stay in Harley Street with the objective of making a family visit. The was some business with the warehouses that Mr Thornton was to see to, but they would also be viewing the Museum of Manufactories. It appeared that Thornton had been involved in the display of cotton manufacture at the Great Exhibition. He had come to London at the time to help with the setting up but had had little chance to see all of the other wonders. Although the impact of the magnificent Crystal Palace would be lost now that some of the exhibits were in Somerset House, he wished to see what he could.
As he was explaining this to Henry when he and Laura were at Harley Street for dinner, Thornton exchanged looks with his wife. Henry remembered how the then Miss Hale had been so interested in the exhibit of cotton manufacture when they had been at the Great Exhibition.
Well, there was doubtless a satisfaction for the pair in being able to go together to see these displays.
Thornton now reminded his wife about the exhibit of false principles in decoration. It seemed that she had promised to see if she could find examples of wallpaper such as had been in the house in Crampton before the landlord, Mr Donkin, had put up fresh papers. They both smiled as this was mentioned. As usual, when there is a joke which is shared by some members of the party but not others, the rest of them had to seem to see what was amusing without really understanding.
It was something to see Margaret Thornton and her husband in this fond mood, teasing one another. Henry recollected how the millmaster had seemed so full of power and decision when he had met him in Milton and, how he had had an air of dignity even while coming to wind up his business. The humility and honesty he had shown at that dinner in Harley Street had become the man well – but to see him now in this softer mood was to see a different side again. It showed what a difference successful love could make.
Even Margaret – whom Henry had thought he had seen in every aspect during the time he had known her – was unrecognisable in the way she seemed to arrange herself around her husband’s presence.
Henry remembered the day last year when he had taken Laura and Mrs Frimley to Marlborough House to see those same objects from the Exhibition. Mrs Frimley’s lecture had been part of the tide urging him toward his now wife. How long ago it seemed.
oOo
When they stood to go in to dinner, it was clear that Margaret Thornton was increasing. (Not that one could acknowledge such a thing.) Perhaps the great care of his wife which Thornton had been showing when the Lennoxes had been in Milton had been due to the recent realisation that his wife was in an interesting condition.
Henry himself had just lately been made to know that he might soon become a father, so he could understand the feelings this might engender in a man. It was a seal on a marriage. He would be the head of a household, a family man.
Cosmo, already established in such a position, was now in this situation for the third time; perhaps the novelty had, for him, worn off somewhat.
In any case, it was not discussed as the three men sat over their wine. Henry would speak to Cosmo sometime when they were alone. Of course, if the ladies made mention of such absorbing news in the drawing room, it would be a very natural thing.
When the men went up, Henry looked into the drawing room, where he could see the women sitting together – what a pleasant picture they made. It looked like Laura and Margaret were in the middle of a lively exchange. Mrs Lennox and Mrs Shaw were examining some work one of them had been engaged in.
A scene of four women absorbed in womanly concerns.
A vignette of things just at this moment in time.
How life pulled everyone along, how things changed. Including family alliances and the feelings of the heart.
Henry felt not the slightest hint of envy or regret. He wished the Thorntons well. He sincerely liked them both. But, glancing at Laura, he was fiercely pleased with the way things had fallen out.
It had all – despite the heartache and confusion along the way – turned out for the best.