Mr Coldhurst becomes interested in a comment he hears John make and asks Edith who he is; it turns out that he has heard of Thornton and is very interested in discussing northern concerns with him. The two of them converse over dinner and, with his attention elsewhere, Margaret spends a lot of time watching and listening to him without fear of him catching her at it. Only once, when he laughs at some quip from Henry, do Thornton's eyes turn to Margaret, meeting her gaze as though instinctively wanting to share the joke with her. As soon as their eyes meet however, Thornton's face loses its amusement and he glances away, avoiding looking at her for the rest of the meal.
After dinner, Mr. Coldhurst continues his conversation with John and Henry moves to sit by Margaret. He says that Edith should be grateful for his inviting Thornton to talk to Mr. Coldhurst and remarks upon John's good sense. He says that he can't understand how Thornton managed to fail at business. In a tone Henry doesn't like, Margaret responds that he thinks he would have succeeded had he been in Thornton's place.
Before he leaves, John approaches Margaret once more and tells her that Higgins and a lot of his other workers gave him a letter saying that, if he was ever in a position to employ them again, they wanted to work for him. For the first time that evening, Margaret looks straight at him, telling him how happy she is to hear this, then drops her eyes in embarrassment. Thornton says that he knew she would like it, then, after an awkward silence, takes his leave. Afterwards, when Henry is getting ready to leave, Margaret, hesitant and blushing, asks him if he will come to see her the next day: she needs his help with something. Henry misinterprets her blush and happily thinks that she is starting to depend on him. He leaves for home, having arranged to meet Margaret at 11 o'clock the following morning.