The Error of Judgement (North and South Fanfic)

Tear in Strength

I would like to say huge thank you to Kayran, who edited, advised and was generally incredibly patient with me, and to soccer4fc, who provided a thorough grammar check. They both are awesome.

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Chapter 3. Tear in Strength.

By Ikuko

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Mr. Thornton stood up with the letter in his hand, unsure of his next action. The letter needed to be dispatched with the next post, if possible, but leaving Margaret was unthinkable. Why did she let both servants go this very day! Posting a letter would only take a few minutes, but how could he ask her to lock the door after him, or open it again upon his return? She needed someone, preferably a woman, to stay with her and help her.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sound of knocking at the kitchen door. Mr. Thornton briskly walked to the door and opened it to see a surprised Mary standing there.

'Master! I was only fetching some fresh bread and milk for Miss Margaret!'

Mr. Thornton was relieved to see another living soul in the house and Mary would do just fine for now.

'Miss Higgins, I need your help,' he said urgently.

'Oh, Master, but I have to be back at the mill before the noon break ends!'

'Miss Higgins, it will not take very long. Please. Miss Hale is not well. She has learned just now that her father passed away in Oxford, and is deeply distressed.'

'Master Hale is dead! Oh, poor old parson! Poor Miss Margaret!'

'Could you stay with her? She needs a woman's help. I must run some errands for her but I will be back in a few minutes.'

'Yes, Master. But I need to be at work by the end of the hour.'

'I will be back presently'

He left in haste. Indeed, it took him no more than a quarter hour to post the accursed letter.

From the street he could see the smoke stack of Marlborough Mills and the sight did not give him any comfort. The sequence of losses that was besieging him made the sight of them almost as melancholy as the sight of the recently bereaved house he just left. It seemed that the world around him was full with with hopeless toil and sorrow in the last few months, without repose or hope.

Mary opened the door for him. In her own way she was deeply attached to Margaret, expressing it in somewhat crude but well-meaning kindness. Mr. Thornton noted wryly that Mary was not idle in his absence. There was a tea prepared on the table, though the cup she poured for Margaret remained untouched.

And Margaret! During his short absence Mary somehow convinced her to change from her pinkish dress to the deep mourning once again. Mr. Thornton did not know whether to be annoyed by this observance of formality, or to admire Mary's sense in her attempts to stir her drooping, passive friend into some action. Mary's considerate attentions did not quite achieve the intended goal. The worried girl admitted that though Miss Margaret was amenable to every appeal, she did not respond to her, nor did she appear to understand what was happening around her and why.

Mary seemed to hesitate before going away.

'I do not fancy leaving poor Miss Margaret when she is so wan. Someone ought to be with her but I need to go back or Mr. Phillips would fine me for sure! I wish I could come in the evening but someone needs to look after the children!'

Mr. Thornton was now very concerned about Margaret's lethargy. He wished that a doctor would see her, lest she sink deeper an deeper until she slipped out of this life entirely. There was too much sorrow in her life for one person to bear.