Shadow in the North

Chapter Thirty-Three - An Agony of Grief

Mr Bell had returned to Oxford; he complained of the noise and smoke of Milton, and longed for those halcyon skies, adorned with the noble spires born of ancient, fine minds. If he realised that the skyline of Milton - although smokier and certainly greyer - was not so very different to Oxford, with its skies peppered by jutting smokestacks, creeping proudly to the echelons of the horizon, he chose not to think on it. He instead asserted boldly, that Milton was an infernal place and he regretted his return to blessed Oxford, only for the company he should be forced to give up upon his departure. In saying this, he looked kindly to Isabel, and exchanged with her a secret look, which spoke of his warm regard and sorrow, at leaving his lately-found daughter.

He had gone, but behind had stayed Dr Lyndhurst. He had cited some pretext of wanting to look over the Darkshire rate-supported asylum for the pauper-lunatics, but Isabel - and now Mr Hale, thanks to Mr Bell's insight (although, with a modest uncertainty) - suspected that Dr Lyndhurst's prevarication on the matter of leaving Milton, was solely due to his burgeoning regard for Margaret.

Over the previous week, Dr Lyndhurst had been a regular guest at the Crampton house, and had even seen fit to accompany Margaret on her errands to Princeton, where she would teach the little Boucher children their letters. Dr Lyndhurst had told an unsuspecting Margaret, that he was keen to see the conditions of the working poor, so that he might better understand the struggles of those who carved for themselves, a living in these rough, industrial towns. And although he was interested in Milton as a whole, his true purpose was to spend time with lovely Margaret, and to walk beside that tall, graceful figure.

Margaret, for her part, was very pleased that Dr Lyndhurst had not rushed off with Mr Bell, for she found his company more than agreeable, and although she was startled by the realisation of her feelings, she did enjoy walking with him to Princeton, where they might enjoy a brief conversation in private. Never had she felt such a pleasure in a gentleman's company before; never had she favoured the solitude of being in the company of only one other - and that other being male! Milton had afforded her little in the way of male company; her only regular interlocutors of the opposite sex being Nicholas Higgins and Mr Thornton.

Higgins was a fatherly figure, and although Margaret held a true affection for the weaver, she would never hold any sentiment for the man, which could make her blush. And Mr Thornton! although she had come to admire him for his sharpness of mind, and although she would now acknowledge that he had about him some true human compassion, she had never warmed to him, or seen him as anything beyond the admirer of her friend. Thus, she had held back from openly conversing with him, and had instead been a ready listener.

Now, she had the company of a gentleman, who was only too eager to speak with her; to share his uncensored opinions, believing her - even though she was a woman! - to be capable of understanding all that he would say to any man. And indeed, that generosity of understanding, was returned in his rapt attention to all of her own thoughts and opinions, which he readily encouraged her to divulge. Never had she been closer with any of male not of her family; not even Henry Lennox!

The very thought of her cousin's brother-in-law, caused her mouth to downturn as a frown stole across her brow, at the memory of the unpleasant day upon which he had surprised her with a visit to Helstone. She had known Henry Lennox - brother of Cousin Edith's husband, Captain Lennox - for several years, and had always found him to be a pleasing, elegant man of firm mind. He was a promising young lawyer, and unlike his fashionable brother, he was not one to sit about nothing, but spent his days employed in work and furthering his own standing. Margaret had admired his determination of purpose, but there, her admiration had stopped. Unknowingly it was, then, that she had stirred in Mr Lennox, his own admiration of her. And so he had come - upon his brother's marriage to her dear Cousin Edith - to Helstone - unannounced - where he then proposed a marriage of their own.