Chapter Text
A NARRATOR'S INTRODUCTION
Who among this fair assembly would like to hear a story?
You, dear reader?
Well, of course, you would! Who doesn’t like a good story, particularly at this time of year?
Well, come here, then. Gather closer and let me open this beautiful old book. Have you noticed the weathered hardcover? Can you smell this unique fragrance of dust, leather and paper? Can you hear the soft rustling of these thick old pages? Can you feel the thrill of wonder and discovery?
Why, it’s a first edition! Middle of the nineteenth century!
Let me tell you a bit more about it before we begin.
🎄🔥🎄
In a busy, smoky Northern English industrial town called Milton, there once was a mill.
Marlborough Mills lay in the hands of a young mill master. John Thornton was his name, and he was a man worth knowing. A true Northerner: honest to a fault—some might say blunt—iron-willed—some might say stiff and rigid—and fiercely proud of his independence. And hidden beneath that stern exterior, a golden heart and poetic soul.
But the poor man had a woesome history.
“What a sad beginning!” might you say.
Fear not!
For every good story must have its share of drama, angst and sadness. Even fables and fairytales!
Which this story is not.
I can see confusion in your eyes. Pray, forgive me.
Let us get back to our hero.
John Thornton of Milton may not be a name you’ve come across, for it was unknown in the fashionable circles—then and now, alas—yet the course of his life is most admirable. It truly began during his fourteenth year of living, on the day of his father’s shocking and untimely death.
The late George Thornton, either from overconfidence or lack of judgement, had given in to wild speculation, failed miserably, and killed himself cowardly. All the disgrace that he had not been able to bear fell on his kin. No one came forwards to help the widow and her boy, full of dreams and innocence. There was another child, a girl—too young to earn money but of course she had to be kept.
All their possessions were sold and the bereaved family left Milton in shame.
Imagine now: the poor lad, barely out of boyhood, found himself suddenly responsible for his mother and sister. He sacrificed his own youth, abandoned his hopes of becoming a scholar, and worked as a shop boy at a draper’s to feed his family. They lived on water porridge for years. But this young man, shaped and forged by hardship, eventually paid back every last one of his father’s creditors, redeeming what was thought lost: his honour and his name.
“What a remarkable man!” I can hear you exclaim.
And remarkable, he was.
His honesty and quiet dignity impressed a manufacturer, a crabbed old fellow, who took him in as a partner and, noticing the young man’s intelligence and acumen, taught him all about the business of cotton. Hence John Thornton became Milton’s youngest mill master, in but a few years. At twenty-one years of age, he offered his mother the comfortable home she deserved, and his young sister of ten a better prospect for her upbringing.
He went on with earnest hard work, entirely focused on what held his life together: his business.
It was an honest life. But it was also a lonely life.
“What could possibly make it better?” you might ask.
Well, dear reader, all great stories are one of these two: a man goes on a journey, or a stranger comes to town.
A stranger—or a woman…
And what do you think happened? Every hero needs his heroine. Of course, there came a woman. And just like him, she was well worth knowing.
Margaret Hale was her name, and she was a tall, fascinating creature of porcelain skin, black hair and soulful grey eyes. A Southern rose, soft and gracious as its petals, fierce and tough as its thorns, intoxicating as its fragrance. She was older than him and yet unmarried still. It made her all the more spellbinding. There was something otherworldly about her. Uprooted from her sweet Hampshire to the industrious North, she was utterly out of place in Milton. She stood out from the local crowd in every way possible and left none indifferent.
Young John Thornton fell for her at first glance, immediately enraptured. For Margaret, it took a little more time. And of course, fate struck and complicated things.
The course of true love never did run smooth.
Over many Greek lessons and countless cups of tea, our two heroes had much to overcome before finding their way towards each other: prejudice – misunderstandings – family shame – long kept secrets and harsh revelations – the ups and downs of business – an unconventional age gap – sickness and deaths – an excruciatingly long separation – illness – unread letters – silence – hurt – doubts.
“But they did find each other again in the end, didn’t they?” I hear you ask.
Why, it wouldn’t be a Christmas story if they didn’t! Of course, they found each other again.
But this isn’t the end!
Oh, no!
This, dear reader, is where our story begins…
🎄🔥🎄