A Dangerous Close Call — North and South

The chapter covers Frederick's last hours in Milton and his departure at the station. The three of them, Margaret, her father, and Frederick, spend the day together in the particular intensity of borrowed time. Mr. Hale can barely speak. Frederick manages his own awareness of the danger with his characteristic irony, which is also a form of love: he does not burden them with his fear. At the station, Leonards appears. The encounter is brief and violent; what exactly happens is seen only partially, through Margaret's alarmed and fragmented view. Leonards falls. Frederick gets onto the train. Margaret, alone, manages to look as if nothing extraordinary has happened until she is in the ladies' waiting room and can finally let the body's response to fear have its moment. The chapter closes on Margaret in a cab, unable to look at the porter's face until the train is moving and she can confirm it is not Leonards. The relief is minimal and exact: it is not him. This time. The next difficulty is already forming in the distance, because Leonards has been injured and someone will ask questions about what happened at the station, and Margaret was there.