Acts of Kindness and Hidden Hearts — North and South

Thornton returns to business and public life with the focused energy that is his chief defence against private pain. He deals sharply, performs his civic duties, and gives nothing away. But when Dr. Donaldson mentions that fruit would do Mrs. Hale good, Thornton acts on the suggestion immediately and extravagantly: he goes to the finest fruiterer in town, selects the best of everything, and then insists on carrying the enormous basket himself rather than having it delivered. He walks through the busiest part of Milton telling himself he will not be daunted from doing what he chooses simply because of what people might think. At the Hale house he delivers the fruit with elaborate apologies for the liberty, managing not to look directly at Margaret while being entirely aware of her presence. The visit is brief and formal. Margaret forces herself to come forward and acknowledge him in a way that will not make his discomfort worse. They achieve the small painful negotiation of two people who care about each other in a room where care cannot be said plainly. The chapter closes on another register: Mary Higgins arrives with the news that Bessy has died. Dixon, protectively managing Margaret's grief, offers to go and pay respects in her place. Margaret overrules her with a firmness that surprises them both, and leaves immediately, before her own reluctance can reassert itself. She will go because Bessy deserves it, and because the friendship, whatever class said about its propriety, was real.