The Journey's End
- As winter comes, Mr. Thornton visits the Hales' every so often. But his attention is always on Mr. Hale and he barely acknowledges that Margaret is there. It seems that his business affairs have gotten complicated since the workers' strike and he's in worse shape than he first thought.
- Margaret tries to pass her time teaching the younger Boucher children. In March, she and her father get word of Frederick's marriage in Spain. It turns out that his wife is from a wealthy family and that Frederick is now a totally rich dude in Spain.
- Margaret also receives a letter from Henry Lennox saying that Frederick has little to no chance of ever being acquitted in England. It's just become too hard to track down any reliable witnesses from an incident that happened so long ago.
- Mr. Hale, meanwhile, starts to have some difficulty breathing as the next spring comes along. Let's hope it's just a case of bad allergies.
- After getting an invitation in the mail, Mr. Hale travels to visit Mr. Bell in Oxford. Alone for the first time in years, Margaret feels a wave of freedom and relief, feeling like there's no one to take care of. Finally, she has a chance to reflect on all the difficulties she has faced over the past few years.
- As she reflects, Margaret realizes that the one virtue she has always lacked is humility. She has always been too proud and haughty for her own good. She immediately takes more of an interest in the people around her, and starts by asking her servant Martha about her life. Martha only really perks up when the subject turns to Mrs. Thornton. Martha says that Mrs. Thornton and her son John took care of her when she was sick and paid for all of her treatment.
- Martha also lets slip that Fanny Thornton (Mr. Thornton's sister) is going to be married soon.
- Later on, Margaret visits Mr. Higgins to see how he's doing. He gets one of the Boucher children to sing some songs for her.
- Back at the house, Margaret feels ashamed for being so relieved at the absence of her father. While she sits, she feels as though she sees her entire life differently now that she's not so proud. She wishes badly that she and Mr. Thornton could be friends again.
- Meanwhile, Mr. Hale sits with Mr. Bell in Oxford and says that if he had it all to do over again, he would still leave Helstone rather than pretend to agree with the Church.
- Mr. Bell agrees that God has given Mr. Hale the strength to act according to his conscience even when it isn't convenient to do so.
- Mr. Hale then turns to the subject of Margaret, telling Mr. Bell that if he dies, he wants Mr. Bell to take care of her. Mr. Bell says that talking of death is nonsense, since he (Mr. Bell) is actually ten years older than Mr. Hale.
- As the narrator tells us, Mr. Hale dies in his sleep that very night. Yup, that's one more death, which gives us a grand total of… (Mrs. Hale, Boucher, Bessy Higgins, Leonards, Mr. Hale)… five people kicking the bucket.
- Mr. Bell boards a train to Milton. On the way there, he sees Mr. Thornton on the train and informs him that he's on his way to break the terrible news to Margaret. Mr. Thornton is stunned at Mr. Hale's sudden death, and he wants to know immediately what will happen to Maragret.
- Mr. Bell says that he wants to take Margaret into his care. But it's also likely that the Lennoxes in London will want her to live with them. He mentions that Henry Lennox will no doubt have his eye on marrying Margaret.
- Mr. Bell also mentions that Margaret will get all of his money when he dies, as he plans to make her the sole beneficiary of his will.
- As soon as Margaret sees Mr. Bell step out of a carriage outside her house, she knows what's up. She is devastated.