Mrs.Henchard
's
funeral
,
the
candles
were
not
lighted
,
and
a
restless
,
acrobatic
flame
,
poised
on
a
coal
,
called
from
the
shady
walls
the
smiles
of
all
shapes
that
could
respond
—
the
old
pier-glass
,
with
gilt
columns
and
huge
entablature
,
the
picture-frames
,
sundry
knobs
and
handles
,
and
the
brass
rosette
at
the
bottom
of
each
riband
bell-pull
on
either
side
of
the
chimney-piece
.
“
Elizabeth
,
do
you
think
much
of
old
times
?
”
said
Henchard
.
“
Yes
,
sir
;
often
,
”
she
said
.
“
Who
do
you
put
in
your
pictures
of
'
em
?
”
“
Mother
and
father
—
nobody
else
hardly
.
”
Henchard
always
looked
like
one
bent
on
resisting
pain
when
Elizabeth-Jane
spoke
of
Richard
Newson
as
“
father
.
”
“
Ah
!
I
am
out
of
all
that
,
am
I
not
?
”
he
said
...
.
“
Was
Newson
a
kind
father
?
”
“
Yes
,
sir
;
very
.
”
Henchard
's
face
settled
into
an
expression
of
stolid
loneliness
which
gradually
modulated
into
something
softer
.
“
Suppose
I
had
been
your
real
father
?
”
he
said
.
“
Would
you
have
cared
for
me
as
much
as
you
cared
for
Richard
Newson
?
”
“
I
ca
n't
think
it
,
”
she
said
quickly
.
“
I
can
think
of
no
other
as
my
father
,
except
my
father
.
”
Henchard
's
wife
was
dissevered
from
him
by
death
;
his
friend
and
helper
Farfrae
by
estrangement
;
Elizabeth-Jane
by
ignorance
.
It
seemed
to
him
that
only
one
of
them
could
possibly
be
recalled
,
and
that
was
the
girl
.
His
mind
began
vibrating
between
the
wish
to
reveal
himself
to
her
and
the
policy
of
leaving
well
alone
,
till
he
could
no
longer
sit
still
.
He
walked
up
and
down
,
and
then
he
came
and
stood
behind
her
chair
,
looking
down
upon
the
top
of
her
head
.
He
could
no
longer
restrain
his
impulse
.
“
What
did
your
mother
tell
you
about
me
—
my
history
?
”
he
asked
.
“
That
you
were
related
by
marriage
.
”
“
She
should
have
told
more
—
before
you
knew
me
!
Then
my
task
would
not
have
been
such
a
hard
one
...
.Elizabeth
,
it
is
I
who
am
your
father
,
and
not
Richard
Newson
.
Shame
alone
prevented
your
wretched
parents
from
owning
this
to
you
while
both
of
'
em
were
alive
.
”
The
back
of
Elizabeth
's
head
remained
still
,
and
her
shoulders
did
not
denote
even
the
movements
of
breathing
.
Henchard
went
on
:
“
I
'd
rather
have
your
scorn
,
your
fear
,
anything
than
your
ignorance
;
'
tis
that
I
hate
!
Your
mother
and
I
were
man
and
wife
when
we
were
young
.
What
you
saw
was
our
second
marriage
.
Your
mother
was
too
honest
.
We
had
thought
each
other
dead
—
and
—
Newson
became
her
husband
.
”
This
was
the
nearest
approach
Henchard
could
make
to
the
full
truth
.
As
far
as
he
personally
was
concerned
he
would
have
screened
nothing
;
but
he
showed
a
respect
for
the
young
girl
's
sex
and
years
worthy
of
a
better
man
.
When
he
had
gone
on
to
give
details
which
a
whole
series
of
slight
and
unregarded
incidents
in
her
past
life
strangely
corroborated
;
when
,
in
short
,
she
believed
his
story
to
be
true
,
she
became
greatly
agitated
,
and
turning
round
to
the
table
flung
her
face
upon
it
weeping
.
“
Do
n't
cry
—
do
n't
cry
!
”
said
Henchard
,
with
vehement
pathos
,
“
I
ca
n't
bear
it
,
I
wo
n't
bear
it
.
I
am
your
father
;
why
should
you
cry
?
Am
I
so
dreadful
,
so
hateful
to
'
ee
?
Do
n't
take
against
me
,
Elizabeth-Jane
!
”
he
cried
,
grasping
her
wet
hand
.
“
Do
n't
take
against
me
—
though
I
was
a
drinking
man
once
,
and
used
your
mother
roughly
—
I
'll
be
kinder
to
you
than
HE
was
!
I
'll
do
anything
,
if
you
will
only
look
upon
me
as
your
father
!
”
She
tried
to
stand
up
and
comfort
him
trustfully
;
but
she
could
not
;
she
was
troubled
at
his
presence
,
like
the
brethren
at
the
avowal
of
Joseph
.
“
I
do
n't
want
you
to
come
to
me
all
of
a
sudden
,
”
said
Henchard
in
jerks
,
and
moving
like
a
great
tree
in
a
wind
.
“
No
,
Elizabeth
,
I
do
n't
.
I
'll
go
away
and
not
see
you
till
to-morrow
,
or
when
you
like
,
and
then
I
'll
show
'
ee
papers
to
prove
my
words
.
There
,
I
am
gone
,
and
wo
n't
disturb
you
any
more
...
.'Twas
I
that
chose
your
name
,
my
daughter
;
your
mother
wanted
it
Susan
.
There
,
do
n't
forget
'
twas
I
gave
you
your
name
!
”
He
went
out
at
the
door
and
shut
her
softly
in
,
and
she
heard
him
go
away
into
the
garden
.
But
he
had
not
done
.
Before
she
had
moved
,
or
in
any
way
recovered
from
the
effect
of
his
disclosure
,
he
reappeared
.
“
One
word
more
,
Elizabeth
,
”
he
said
.
“
You
'll
take
my
surname
now
—
hey
?
Your
mother
was
against
it
,
but
it
will
be
much
more
pleasant
to
me
.
'
Tis
legally
yours
,
you
know
.
But
nobody
need
know
that
.
You
shall
take
it
as
if
by
choice
.
I
'll
talk
to
my
lawyer
—
I
do
n't
know
the
law
of
it
exactly
;
but
will
you
do
this
—
let
me
put
a
few
lines
into
the
newspaper
that
such
is
to
be
your
name
?
”
“
If
it
is
my
name
I
must
have
it
,
must
n't
I
?
”
she
asked
.
“
Well
,
well
;
usage
is
everything
in
these
matters
.
”
“
I
wonder
why
mother
did
n't
wish
it
?
”
“
Oh
,
some
whim
of
the
poor
soul
's
.
Now
get
a
bit
of
paper
and
draw
up
a
paragraph
as
I
shall
tell
you
.
But
let
's
have
a
light
.
”
“
I
can
see
by
the
firelight
,
”
she
answered
.
“
Yes
—
I
'd
rather
.
”
“
Very
well
.
”
She
got
a
piece
of
paper
,
and
bending
over
the
fender
wrote
at
his
dictation
words
which
he
had
evidently
got
by
heart
from
some
advertisement
or
other
—
words
to
the
effect
that
she
,
the
writer
,
hitherto
known
as
Elizabeth-Jane
Newson
,
was
going
to
call
herself
Elizabeth-Jane
Henchard
forthwith
.
It
was
done
,
and
fastened
up
,
and
directed
to
the
office
of
the
Casterbridge
Chronicle
.
“
Now
,
”
said
Henchard
,
with
the
blaze
of
satisfaction
that
he
always
emitted
when
he
had
carried
his
point
—
though
tenderness
softened
it
this
time
—
“
I
'll
go
upstairs
and
hunt
for
some
documents
that
will
prove
it
all
to
you
.
But
I
wo
n't
trouble
you
with
them
till
to-morrow
.
Good-night
,
my
Elizabeth-Jane
!
”
He
was
gone
before
the
bewildered
girl
could
realize
what
it
all
meant
,
or
adjust
her
filial
sense
to
the
new
center
of
gravity
.
She
was
thankful
that
he
had
left
her
to
herself
for
the
evening
,
and
sat
down
over
the
fire
.
Here
she
remained
in
silence
,
and
wept
—
not
for
her
mother
now
,
but
for
the
genial
sailor
Richard
Newson
,
to
whom
she
seemed
doing
a
wrong
.
Henchard
in
the
meantime
had
gone
upstairs
.
Papers
of
a
domestic
nature
he
kept
in
a
drawer
in
his
bedroom
,
and
this
he
unlocked
.
Before
turning
them
over
he
leant
back
and
indulged
in
reposeful
thought
.
Elizabeth
was
his
at
last
and
she
was
a
girl
of
such
good
sense
and
kind
heart
that
she
would
be
sure
to
like
him
.
He
was
the
kind
of
man
to
whom
some
human
object
for
pouring
out
his
heart
upon
—
were
it
emotive
or
were
it
choleric
—
was
almost
a
necessity
.
The
craving
for
his
heart
for
the
re-establishment
of
this
tenderest
human
tie
had
been
great
during
his
wife
's
lifetime
,
and
now
he
had
submitted
to
its
mastery
without
reluctance
and
without
fear
.
He
bent
over
the
drawer
again
,
and
proceeded
in
his
search
.
Among
the
other
papers
had
been
placed
the
contents
of
his
wife
's
little
desk
,
the
keys
of
which
had
been
handed
to
him
at
her
request
.
Here
was
the
letter
addressed
to
him
with
the
restriction
,
“
NOT
TO
BE
OPENED
TILL
ELIZABETH-JANE
'S
WEDDING-DAY
.
”
Mrs.
Henchard
,
though
more
patient
than
her
husband
,
had
been
no
practical
hand
at
anything
.
In
sealing
up
the
sheet
,
which
was
folded
and
tucked
in
without
an
envelope
,
in
the
old-fashioned
way
,
she
had
overlaid
the
junction
with
a
large
mass
of
wax
without
the
requisite
under-touch
of
the
same
.
The
seal
had
cracked
,
and
the
letter
was
open
.
Henchard
had
no
reason
to
suppose
the
restriction
one
of
serious
weight
,
and
his
feeling
for
his
late
wife
had
not
been
of
the
nature
of
deep
respect
.
“
Some
trifling
fancy
or
other
of
poor
Susan
's
,
I
suppose
,
”
he
said
;
and
without
curiosity
he
allowed
his
eyes
to
scan
the
letter
:
—
MY
DEAR
MICHAEL
,
—
For
the
good
of
all
three
of
us
I
have
kept
one
thing
a
secret
from
you
till
now
.
I
hope
you
will
understand
why
;
I
think
you
will
;
though
perhaps
you
may
not
forgive
me
.
But
,
dear
Michael
,
I
have
done
it
for
the
best
.
I
shall
be
in
my
grave
when
you
read
this
,
and
Elizabeth-Jane
will
have
a
home
.
Do
n't
curse
me
Mike
—
think
of
how
I
was
situated
.
I
can
hardly
write
it
,
but
here
it
is
.
Elizabeth-Jane
is
not
your
Elizabeth-Jane
—
the
child
who
was
in
my
arms
when
you
sold
me
.
No
;
she
died
three
months
after
that
,
and
this
living
one
is
my
other
husband
's
.
I
christened
her
by
the
same
name
we
had
given
to
the
first
,
and
she
filled
up
the
ache
I
felt
at
the
other
's
loss
.
Michael
,
I
am
dying
,
and
I
might
have
held
my
tongue
;
but
I
could
not
.
Tell
her
husband
of
this
or
not
,
as
you
may
judge
;
and
forgive
,
if
you
can
,
a
woman
you
once
deeply
wronged
,
as
she
forgives
you
.
SUSAN
HENCHARD
Her
husband
regarded
the
paper
as
if
it
were
a
window-pane
through
which
he
saw
for
miles
.
His
lips
twitched
,
and
he
seemed
to
compress
his
frame
,
as
if
to
bear
better
.
His
usual
habit
was
not
to
consider
whether
destiny
were
hard
upon
him
or
not
—
the
shape
of
his
ideals
in
cases
of
affliction
being
simply
a
moody
“
I
am
to
suffer
,
I
perceive
.
”
“
This
much
scourging
,
then
,
it
is
for
me
.
”
But
now
through
his
passionate
head
there
stormed
this
thought
—
that
the
blasting
disclosure
was
what
he
had
deserved
.
His
wife
's
extreme
reluctance
to
have
the
girl
's
name
altered
from
Newson
to
Henchard
was
now
accounted
for
fully
.
It
furnished
another
illustration
of
that
honesty
in
dishonesty
which
had
characterized
her
in
other
things
.
He
remained
unnerved
and
purposeless
for
near
a
couple
of
hours
;
till
he
suddenly
said
,
“
Ah
—
I
wonder
if
it
is
true
!
”
He
jumped
up
in
an
impulse
,
kicked
off
his
slippers
,
and
went
with
a
candle
to
the
door
of
Elizabeth-Jane
's
room
,
where
he
put
his
ear
to
the
keyhole
and
listened
.
She
was
breathing
profoundly
.
Henchard
softly
turned
the
handle
,
entered
,
and
shading
the
light
,
approached
the
bedside
.
Gradually
bringing
the
light
from
behind
a
screening
curtain
he
held
it
in
such
a
manner
that
it
fell
slantwise
on
her
face
without
shining
on
her
eyes
.
He
steadfastly
regarded
her
features
.
They
were
fair
:
his
were
dark
.
But
this
was
an
unimportant
preliminary
.
In
sleep
there
come
to
the
surface
buried
genealogical
facts
,
ancestral
curves
,
dead
men
's
traits
,
which
the
mobility
of
daytime
animation
screens
and
overwhelms
.
In
the
present
statuesque
repose
of
the
young
girl
's
countenance
Richard
Newson
's
was
unmistakably
reflected
.
He
could
not
endure
the
sight
of
her
,
and
hastened
away
.
Misery
taught
him
nothing
more
than
defiant
endurance
of
it
.
His
wife
was
dead
,
and
the
first
impulse
for
revenge
died
with
the
thought
that
she
was
beyond
him
.
He
looked
out
at
the
night
as
at
a
fiend
.
Henchard
,
like
all
his
kind
,
was
superstitious
,
and
he
could
not
help
thinking
that
the
concatenation
of
events
this
evening
had
produced
was
the
scheme
of
some
sinister
intelligence
bent
on
punishing
him
.
Yet
they
had
developed
naturally
.
If
he
had
not
revealed
his
past
history
to
Elizabeth
he
would
not
have
searched
the
drawer
for
papers
,
and
so
on
.
The
mockery
was
,
that
he
should
have
no
sooner
taught
a
girl
to
claim
the
shelter
of
his
paternity
than
he
discovered
her
to
have
no
kinship
with
him
.
This
ironical
sequence
of
things
angered
him
like
an
impish
trick
from
a
fellow-creature
.
Like
Prester
John
's
,
his
table
had
been
spread
,
and
infernal
harpies
had
snatched
up
the
food
.
He
went
out
of
the
house
,
and
moved
sullenly
onward
down
the
pavement
till
he
came
to
the
bridge
at
the
bottom
of
the
High
Street
.
Here
he
turned
in
upon
a
bypath
on
the
river
bank
,
skirting
the
north-eastern
limits
of
the
town
.
These
precincts
embodied
the
mournful
phases
of
Casterbridge
life
,
as
the
south
avenues
embodied
its
cheerful
moods
.
The
whole
way
along
here
was
sunless
,
even
in
summer
time
;
in
spring
,
white
frosts
lingered
here
when
other
places
were
steaming
with
warmth
;
while
in
winter
it
was
the
seed-field
of
all
the
aches
,
rheumatisms
,
and
torturing
cramps
of
the
year
.
The
Casterbridge
doctors
must
have
pined
away
for
want
of
sufficient
nourishment
but
for
the
configuration
of
the
landscape
on
the
north-eastern
side
.
The
river
—
slow
,
noiseless
,
and
dark
—
the
Schwarzwasser
of
Casterbridge
—
ran
beneath
a
low
cliff
,
the
two
together
forming
a
defence
which
had
rendered
walls
and
artificial
earthworks
on
this
side
unnecessary
.
Here
were
ruins
of
a
Franciscan
priory
,
and
a
mill
attached
to
the
same
,
the
water
of
which
roared
down
a
back-hatch
like
the
voice
of
desolation
.
Above
the
cliff
,
and
behind
the
river
,
rose
a
pile
of
buildings
,
and
in
the
front
of
the
pile
a
square
mass
cut
into
the
sky
.
It
was
like
a
pedestal
lacking
its
statue
.
This
missing
feature
,
without
which
the
design
remained
incomplete
,
was
,
in
truth
,
the
corpse
of
a
man
,
for
the
square
mass
formed
the
base
of
the
gallows
,
the
extensive
buildings
at
the
back
being
the
county
gaol
.
In
the
meadow
where
Henchard
now
walked
the
mob
were
wont
to
gather
whenever
an
execution
took
place
,
and
there
to
the
tune
of
the
roaring
weir
they
stood
and
watched
the
spectacle
.
The
exaggeration
which
darkness
imparted
to
the
glooms
of
this
region
impressed
Henchard
more
than
he
had
expected
.
The
lugubrious
harmony
of
the
spot
with
his
domestic
situation
was
too
perfect
for
him
,
impatient
of
effects
scenes
,
and
adumbrations
.
It
reduced
his
heartburning
to
melancholy
,
and
he
exclaimed
,
“
Why
the
deuce
did
I
come
here
!
”
He
went
on
past
the
cottage
in
which
the
old
local
hangman
had
lived
and
died
,
in
times
before
that
calling
was
monopolized
over
all
England
by
a
single
gentleman
;
and
climbed
up
by
a
steep
back
lane
into
the
town
.
For
the
sufferings
of
that
night
,
engendered
by
his
bitter
disappointment
,
he
might
well
have
been
pitied
.
He
was
like
one
who
had
half
fainted
,
and
could
neither
recover
nor
complete
the
swoon
.
In
words
he
could
blame
his
wife
,
but
not
in
his
heart
;
and
had
he
obeyed
the
wise
directions
outside
her
letter
this
pain
would
have
been
spared
him
for
long
—
possibly
for
ever
,
Elizabeth-Jane
seeming
to
show
no
ambition
to
quit
her
safe
and
secluded
maiden
courses
for
the
speculative
path
of
matrimony
.
The
morning
came
after
this
night
of
unrest
,
and
with
it
the
necessity
for
a
plan
.
He
was
far
too
self-willed
to
recede
from
a
position
,
especially
as
it
would
involve
humiliation
.
His
daughter
he
had
asserted
her
to
be
,
and
his
daughter
she
should
always
think
herself
,
no
matter
what
hyprocrisy
it
involved
.
But
he
was
ill-prepared
for
the
first
step
in
this
new
situation
.
The
moment
he
came
into
the
breakfast-room
Elizabeth
advanced
with
open
confidence
to
him
and
took
him
by
the
arm
.
“
I
have
thought
and
thought
all
night
of
it
,
”
she
said
frankly
.
“
And
I
see
that
everything
must
be
as
you
say
.
And
I
am
going
to
look
upon
you
as
the
father
that
you
are
,
and
not
to
call
you
Mr.
Henchard
any
more
.
It
is
so
plain
to
me
now
.
Indeed
,
father
,
it
is
.
For
,
of
course
,
you
would
not
have
done
half
the
things
you
have
done
for
me
,
and
let
me
have
my
own
way
so
entirely
,
and
bought
me
presents
,
if
I
had
only
been
your
step-daughter
!
He
—
Mr.
Newson
—
whom
my
poor
mother
married
by
such
a
strange
mistake
”
(
Henchard
was
glad
that
he
had
disguised
matters
here
)
,
“
was
very
kind
—
O
so
kind
!
”
(
she
spoke
with
tears
in
her
eyes
)
;
“
but
that
is
not
the
same
thing
as
being
one
's
real
father
after
all
.
Now
,
father
,
breakfast
is
ready
!
”
she
said
cheerfully
.
Henchard
bent
and
kissed
her
cheek
.
The
moment
and
the
act
he
had
prefigured
for
weeks
with
a
thrill
of
pleasure
;
yet
it
was
no
less
than
a
miserable
insipidity
to
him
now
that
it
had
come
.
His
reinstation
of
her
mother
had
been
chiefly
for
the
girl
's
sake
,
and
the
fruition
of
the
whole
scheme
was
such
dust
and
ashes
as
this
.
20.
Of
all
the
enigmas
which
ever
confronted
a
girl
there
can
have
been
seldom
one
like
that
which
followed
Henchard
's
announcement
of
himself
to
Elizabeth
as
her
father
.
He
had
done
it
in
an
ardour
and
an
agitation
which
had
half
carried
the
point
of
affection
with
her
;
yet
,
behold
,
from
the
next
morning
onwards
his
manner
was
constrained
as
she
had
never
seen
it
before
.
The
coldness
soon
broke
out
into
open
chiding
.
One
grievous
failing
of
Elizabeth
's
was
her
occasional
pretty
and
picturesque
use
of
dialect
words
—
those
terrible
marks
of
the
beast
to
the
truly
genteel
.
It
was
dinner-time
—
they
never
met
except
at
meals
—
and
she
happened
to
say
when
he
was
rising
from
table
,
wishing
to
show
him
something
,
“
If
you
'll
bide
where
you
be
a
minute
,
father
,
I
'll
get
it
.
”
“
'
Bide
where
you
be
,
'
”
he
echoed
sharply
,
“
Good
God
,
are
you
only
fit
to
carry
wash
to
a
pig-trough
,
that
ye
use
such
words
as
those
?
”
She
reddened
with
shame
and
sadness
.
“
I
meant
'
Stay
where
you
are
,
'
father
,
”
she
said
,
in
a
low
,
humble
voice
.
“
I
ought
to
have
been
more
careful
.
”
He
made
no
reply
,
and
went
out
of
the
room
.
The
sharp
reprimand
was
not
lost
upon
her
,
and
in
time
it
came
to
pass
that
for
“
fay
”
she
said
“
succeed
”
;
that
she
no
longer
spoke
of
“
dumbledores
”
but
of
“
humble
bees
”
;
no
longer
said
of
young
men
and
women
that
they
“
walked
together
,
”
but
that
they
were
“
engaged
”
;
that
she
grew
to
talk
of
“
greggles
”
as
“
wild
hyacinths
”
;
that
when
she
had
not
slept
she
did
not
quaintly
tell
the
servants
next
morning
that
she
had
been
“
hag-rid
,
”
but
that
she
had
“
suffered
from
indigestion
.
”
These
improvements
,
however
,
are
somewhat
in
advance
of
the
story
.
Henchard
,
being
uncultivated
himself
,
was
the
bitterest
critic
the
fair
girl
could
possibly
have
had
of
her
own
lapses
—
really
slight
now
,
for
she
read
omnivorously
.
A
gratuitous
ordeal
was
in
store
for
her
in
the
matter
of
her
handwriting
.
She
was
passing
the
dining-room
door
one
evening
,
and
had
occasion
to
go
in
for
something
.
It
was
not
till
she
had
opened
the
door
that
she
knew
the
Mayor
was
there
in
the
company
of
a
man
with
whom
he
transacted
business
.
“
Here
,
Elizabeth-Jane
,
”
he
said
,
looking
round
at
her
,
“
just
write
down
what
I
tell
you
—
a
few
words
of
an
agreement
for
me
and
this
gentleman
to
sign
.
I
am
a
poor
tool
with
a
pen
.
”
“
Be
jowned
,
and
so
be
I
,
”
said
the
gentleman
.
She
brought
forward
blotting-book
,
paper
,
and
ink
,
and
sat
down
.
“
Now
then
—
'
An
agreement
entered
into
this
sixteenth
day
of
October
'
—
write
that
first
.
”
She
started
the
pen
in
an
elephantine
march
across
the
sheet
.
It
was
a
splendid
round
,
bold
hand
of
her
own
conception
,
a
style
that
would
have
stamped
a
woman
as
Minerva
's
own
in
more
recent
days
.
But
other
ideas
reigned
then
:
Henchard
's
creed
was
that
proper
young
girls
wrote
ladies'-hand
—
nay
,
he
believed
that
bristling
characters
were
as
innate
and
inseparable
a
part
of
refined
womanhood
as
sex
itself
.
Hence
when
,
instead
of
scribbling
,
like
the
Princess
Ida
,
—
“
In
such
a
hand
as
when
a
field
of
corn
Bows
all
its
ears
before
the
roaring
East
,
”
Elizabeth-Jane
produced
a
line
of
chain-shot
and
sand-bags
,
he
reddened
in
angry
shame
for
her
,
and
,
peremptorily
saying
,
“
Never
mind
—
I
'll
finish
it
,
”
dismissed
her
there
and
then
.
Her
considerate
disposition
became
a
pitfall
to
her
now
.
She
was
,
it
must
be
admitted
,
sometimes
provokingly
and
unnecessarily
willing
to
saddle
herself
with
manual
labours
.
She
would
go
to
the
kitchen
instead
of
ringing
,
“
Not
to
make
Phoebe
come
up
twice
.
”
She
went
down
on
her
knees
,
shovel
in
hand
,
when
the
cat
overturned
the
coal-scuttle
;
moreover
,
she
would
persistently
thank
the
parlour-maid
for
everything
,
till
one
day
,
as
soon
as
the
girl
was
gone
from
the
room
,
Henchard
broke
out
with
,
“
Good
God
,
why
dost
n't
leave
off
thanking
that
girl
as
if
she
were
a
goddess-born
!
Do
n't
I
pay
her
a
dozen
pound
a
year
to
do
things
for
'
ee
?
”
Elizabeth
shrank
so
visibly
at
the
exclamation
that
he
became
sorry
a
few
minutes
after
,
and
said
that
he
did
not
mean
to
be
rough
.
These
domestic
exhibitions
were
the
small
protruding
needlerocks
which
suggested
rather
than
revealed
what
was
underneath
.
But
his
passion
had
less
terror
for
her
than
his
coldness
.
The
increasing
frequency
of
the
latter
mood
told
her
the
sad
news
that
he
disliked
her
with
a
growing
dislike
.
The
more
interesting
that
her
appearance
and
manners
became
under
the
softening
influences
which
she
could
now
command
,
and
in
her
wisdom
did
command
,
the
more
she
seemed
to
estrange
him
.
Sometimes
she
caught
him
looking
at
her
with
a
louring
invidiousness
that
she
could
hardly
bear
.
Not
knowing
his
secret
it
was
cruel
mockery
that
she
should
for
the
first
time
excite
his
animosity
when
she
had
taken
his
surname
.
But
the
most
terrible
ordeal
was
to
come
.
Elizabeth
had
latterly
been
accustomed
of
an
afternoon
to
present
a
cup
of
cider
or
ale
and
bread-and-cheese
to
Nance
Mockridge
,
who
worked
in
the
yard
wimbling
hay-bonds
.
Nance
accepted
this
offering
thankfully
at
first
;
afterwards
as
a
matter
of
course
.
On
a
day
when
Henchard
was
on
the
premises
he
saw
his
step-daughter
enter
the
hay-barn
on
this
errand
;
and
,
as
there
was
no
clear
spot
on
which
to
deposit
the
provisions
,
she
at
once
set
to
work
arranging
two
trusses
of
hay
as
a
table
,
Mockridge
meanwhile
standing
with
her
hands
on
her
hips
,
easefully
looking
at
the
preparations
on
her
behalf
.
“
Elizabeth
,
come
here
!
”
said
Henchard
;
and
she
obeyed
.
“
Why
do
you
lower
yourself
so
confoundedly
?
”
he
said
with
suppressed
passion
.
“
Have
n't
I
told
you
o't
fifty
times
?
Hey
?
Making
yourself
a
drudge
for
a
common
workwoman
of
such
a
character
as
hers
!
Why
,
ye
'll
disgrace
me
to
the
dust
!
”
Now
these
words
were
uttered
loud
enough
to
reach
Nance
inside
the
barn
door
,
who
fired
up
immediately
at
the
slur
upon
her
personal
character
.
Coming
to
the
door
she
cried
regardless
of
consequences
,
“
Come
to
that
,
Mr.
Henchard
,
I
can
let
'
ee
know
she
've
waited
on
worse
!
”
“
Then
she
must
have
had
more
charity
than
sense
,
”
said
Henchard
.
“
O
no
,
she
had
n't
.
'
Twere
not
for
charity
but
for
hire
;
and
at
a
public-house
in
this
town
!
”
“
It
is
not
true
!
”
cried
Henchard
indignantly
.
“
Just
ask
her
,
”
said
Nance
,
folding
her
naked
arms
in
such
a
manner
that
she
could
comfortably
scratch
her
elbows
.
Henchard
glanced
at
Elizabeth-Jane
,
whose
complexion
,
now
pink
and
white
from
confinement
,
lost
nearly
all
of
the
former
colour
.
“
What
does
this
mean
?
”
he
said
to
her
.
“
Anything
or
nothing
?
”
“
It
is
true
,
”
said
Elizabeth-Jane
.
“
But
it
was
only
—
”
“
Did
you
do
it
,
or
did
n't
you
?
Where
was
it
?
”
“
At
the
Three
Mariners
;
one
evening
for
a
little
while
,
when
we
were
staying
there
.
”
Nance
glanced
triumphantly
at
Henchard
,
and
sailed
into
the
barn
;
for
assuming
that
she
was
to
be
discharged
on
the
instant
she
had
resolved
to
make
the
most
of
her
victory
.
Henchard
,
however
,
said
nothing
about
discharging
her
.
Unduly
sensitive
on
such
points
by
reason
of
his
own
past
,
he
had
the
look
of
one
completely
ground
down
to
the
last
indignity
.
Elizabeth
followed
him
to
the
house
like
a
culprit
;
but
when
she
got
inside
she
could
not
see
him
.
Nor
did
she
see
him
again
that
day
.
Convinced
of
the
scathing
damage
to
his
local
repute
and
position
that
must
have
been
caused
by
such
a
fact
,
though
it
had
never
before
reached
his
own
ears
,
Henchard
showed
a
positive
distaste
for
the
presence
of
this
girl
not
his
own
,
whenever
he
encountered
her
.
He
mostly
dined
with
the
farmers
at
the
market-room
of
one
of
the
two
chief
hotels
,
leaving
her
in
utter
solitude
.
Could
he
have
seen
how
she
made
use
of
those
silent
hours
he
might
have
found
reason
to
reserve
his
judgment
on
her
quality
.
She
read
and
took
notes
incessantly
,
mastering
facts
with
painful
laboriousness
,
but
never
flinching
from
her
self-imposed
task
.
She
began
the
study
of
Latin
,
incited
by
the
Roman
characteristics
of
the
town
she
lived
in
.
“
If
I
am
not
well-informed
it
shall
be
by
no
fault
of
my
own
,
”
she
would
say
to
herself
through
the
tears
that
would
occasionally
glide
down
her
peachy
cheeks
when
she
was
fairly
baffled
by
the
portentous
obscurity
of
many
of
these
educational
works
.
Thus
she
lived
on
,
a
dumb
,
deep-feeling
,
great-eyed
creature
,
construed
by
not
a
single
contiguous
being
;
quenching
with
patient
fortitude
her
incipient
interest
in
Farfrae
,
because
it
seemed
to
be
one-sided
,
unmaidenly
,
and
unwise
.
True
,
that
for
reasons
best
known
to
herself
,
she
had
,
since
Farfrae
's
dismissal
,
shifted
her
quarters
from
the
back
room
affording
a
view
of
the
yard
(
which
she
had
occupied
with
such
zest
)
to
a
front
chamber
overlooking
the
street
;
but
as
for
the
young
man
,
whenever
he
passed
the
house
he
seldom
or
never
turned
his
head
.
Winter
had
almost
come
,
and
unsettled
weather
made
her
still
more
dependent
upon
indoor
resources
.
But
there
were
certain
early
winter
days
in
Casterbridge
—
days
of
firmamental
exhaustion
which
followed
angry
south-westerly
tempests
—
when
,
if
the
sun
shone
,
the
air
was
like
velvet
.
She
seized
on
these
days
for
her
periodical
visits
to
the
spot
where
her
mother
lay
buried
—
the
still-used
burial-ground
of
the
old
Roman-British
city
,
whose
curious
feature
was
this
,
its
continuity
as
a
place
of
sepulture
.
Mrs.
Henchard
's
dust
mingled
with
the
dust
of
women
who
lay
ornamented
with
glass
hair-pins
and
amber
necklaces
,
and
men
who
held
in
their
mouths
coins
of
Hadrian
,
Posthumus
,
and
the
Constantines
.
Half-past
ten
in
the
morning
was
about
her
hour
for
seeking
this
spot
—
a
time
when
the
town
avenues
were
deserted
as
the
avenues
of
Karnac
.
Business
had
long
since
passed
down
them
into
its
daily
cells
,
and
Leisure
had
not
arrived
there
.
So
Elizabeth-Jane
walked
and
read
,
or
looked
over
the
edge
of
the
book
to
think
,
and
thus
reached
the
churchyard
.
There
,
approaching
her
mother
's
grave
she
saw
a
solitary
dark
figure
in
the
middle
of
the
gravel-walk
.
This
figure
,
too
,
was
reading
;
but
not
from
a
book
:
the
words
which
engrossed
it
being
the
inscription
on
Mrs.
Henchard
's
tombstone
.
The
personage
was
in
mourning
like
herself
,
was
about
her
age
and
size
,
and
might
have
been
her
wraith
or
double
,
but
for
the
fact
that
it
was
a
lady
much
more
beautifully
dressed
than
she
.
Indeed
,
comparatively
indifferent
as
Elizabeth-Jane
was
to
dress
,
unless
for
some
temporary
whim
or
purpose
,
her
eyes
were
arrested
by
the
artistic
perfection
of
the
lady
's
appearance
.
Her
gait
,
too
,
had
a
flexuousness
about
it
,
which
seemed
to
avoid
angularity
.
It
was
a
revelation
to
Elizabeth
that
human
beings
could
reach
this
stage
of
external
development
—
she
had
never
suspected
it
.
She
felt
all
the
freshness
and
grace
to
be
stolen
from
herself
on
the
instant
by
the
neighbourhood
of
such
a
stranger
.
And
this
was
in
face
of
the
fact
that
Elizabeth
could
now
have
been
writ
handsome
,
while
the
young
lady
was
simply
pretty
.
Had
she
been
envious
she
might
have
hated
the
woman
;
but
she
did
not
do
that
—
she
allowed
herself
the
pleasure
of
feeling
fascinated
.
She
wondered
where
the
lady
had
come
from
.
The
stumpy
and
practical
walk
of
honest
homeliness
which
mostly
prevailed
there
,
the
two
styles
of
dress
thereabout
,
the
simple
and
the
mistaken
,
equally
avouched
that
this
figure
was
no
Casterbridge
woman
's
,
even
if
a
book
in
her
hand
resembling
a
guide-book
had
not
also
suggested
it
.
The
stranger
presently
moved
from
the
tombstone
of
Mrs.
Henchard
,
and
vanished
behind
the
corner
of
the
wall
.
Elizabeth
went
to
the
tomb
herself
;
beside
it
were
two
footprints
distinct
in
the
soil
,
signifying
that
the
lady
had
stood
there
a
long
time
.
She
returned
homeward
,
musing
on
what
she
had
seen
,
as
she
might
have
mused
on
a
rainbow
or
the
Northern
Lights
,
a
rare
butterfly
or
a
cameo
.
Interesting
as
things
had
been
out
of
doors
,
at
home
it
turned
out
to
be
one
of
her
bad
days
.
Henchard
,
whose
two
years
'
mayoralty
was
ending
,
had
been
made
aware
that
he
was
not
to
be
chosen
to
fill
a
vacancy
in
the
list
of
aldermen
;
and
that
Farfrae
was
likely
to
become
one
of
the
Council
.
This
caused
the
unfortunate
discovery
that
she
had
played
the
waiting-maid
in
the
town
of
which
he
was
Mayor
to
rankle
in
his
mind
yet
more
poisonously
.
He
had
learnt
by
personal
inquiry
at
the
time
that
it
was
to
Donald
Farfrae
—
that
treacherous
upstart
—
that
she
had
thus
humiliated
herself
.
And
though
Mrs.
Stannidge
seemed
to
attach
no
great
importance
to
the
incident
—
the
cheerful
souls
at
the
Three
Mariners
having
exhausted
its
aspects
long
ago
—
such
was
Henchard
's
haughty
spirit
that
the
simple
thrifty
deed
was
regarded
as
little
less
than
a
social
catastrophe
by
him
.
Ever
since
the
evening
of
his
wife
's
arrival
with
her
daughter
there
had
been
something
in
the
air
which
had
changed
his
luck
.
That
dinner
at
the
King
's
Arms
with
his
friends
had
been
Henchard
's
Austerlitz
:
he
had
had
his
successes
since
,
but
his
course
had
not
been
upward
.
He
was
not
to
be
numbered
among
the
aldermen
—
that
Peerage
of
burghers
—
as
he
had
expected
to
be
,
and
the
consciousness
of
this
soured
him
to-day
.
“
Well
,
where
have
you
been
?
”
he
said
to
her
with
offhand
laconism
.
“
I
've
been
strolling
in
the
Walks
and
churchyard
,
father
,
till
I
feel
quite
leery
.
”
She
clapped
her
hand
to
her
mouth
,
but
too
late
.
This
was
just
enough
to
incense
Henchard
after
the
other
crosses
of
the
day
.
“
I
WO
N'T
have
you
talk
like
that
!
”
he
thundered
.
“
'
Leery
,
'
indeed
.
One
would
think
you
worked
upon
a
farm
!
One
day
I
learn
that
you
lend
a
hand
in
public-houses
.
Then
I
hear
you
talk
like
a
clodhopper
.
I
'm
burned
,
if
it
goes
on
,
this
house
ca
n't
hold
us
two
.
”
The
only
way
of
getting
a
single
pleasant
thought
to
go
to
sleep
upon
after
this
was
by
recalling
the
lady
she
had
seen
that
day
,
and
hoping
she
might
see
her
again
.
Meanwhile
Henchard
was
sitting
up
,
thinking
over
his
jealous
folly
in
forbidding
Farfrae
to
pay
his
addresses
to
this
girl
who
did
not
belong
to
him
,
when
if
he
had
allowed
them
to
go
on
he
might
not
have
been
encumbered
with
her
.
At
last
he
said
to
himself
with
satisfaction
as
he
jumped
up
and
went
to
the
writing-table
:
“
Ah
!
he
'll
think
it
means
peace
,
and
a
marriage
portion
—
not
that
I
do
n't
want
my
house
to
be
troubled
with
her
,
and
no
portion
at
all
!
”
He
wrote
as
follows
:
—
Sir
,
—
On
consideration
,
I
do
n't
wish
to
interfere
with
your
courtship
of
Elizabeth-Jane
,
if
you
care
for
her
.
I
therefore
withdraw
my
objection
;
excepting
in
this
—
that
the
business
be
not
carried
on
in
my
house
.
—
Yours
,
M
.
HENCHARD
.
Mr.
Farfrae
.
The
morrow
,
being
fairly
fine
,
found
Elizabeth-Jane
again
in
the
churchyard
,
but
while
looking
for
the
lady
she
was
startled
by
the
apparition
of
Farfrae
,
who
passed
outside
the
gate
.
He
glanced
up
for
a
moment
from
a
pocket-book
in
which
he
appeared
to
be
making
figures
as
he
went
;
whether
or
not
he
saw
her
he
took
no
notice
,
and
disappeared
.
Unduly
depressed
by
a
sense
of
her
own
superfluity
she
thought
he
probably
scorned
her
;
and
quite
broken
in
spirit
sat
down
on
a
bench
.
She
fell
into
painful
thought
on
her
position
,
which
ended
with
her
saying
quite
loud
,
“
O
,
I
wish
I
was
dead
with
dear
mother
!
”
Behind
the
bench
was
a
little
promenade
under
the
wall
where
people
sometimes
walked
instead
of
on
the
gravel
.
The
bench
seemed
to
be
touched
by
something
,
she
looked
round
,
and
a
face
was
bending
over
her
,
veiled
,
but
still
distinct
,
the
face
of
the
young
woman
she
had
seen
yesterday
.
Elizabeth-Jane
looked
confounded
for
a
moment
,
knowing
she
had
been
overheard
,
though
there
was
pleasure
in
her
confusion
.
“
Yes
,
I
heard
you
,
”
said
the
lady
,
in
a
vivacious
voice
,
answering
her
look
.
“
What
can
have
happened
?
”
“
I
do
n't
—
I
ca
n't
tell
you
,
”
said
Elizabeth
,
putting
her
hand
to
her
face
to
hide
a
quick
flush
that
had
come
.
There
was
no
movement
or
word
for
a
few
seconds
;
then
the
girl
felt
that
the
young
lady
was
sitting
down
beside
her
.
“
I
guess
how
it
is
with
you
,
”
said
the
latter
.
“
That
was
your
mother
.
”
She
waved
her
hand
towards
the
tombstone
.
Elizabeth
looked
up
at
her
as
if
inquiring
of
herself
whether
there
should
be
confidence
.
The
lady
's
manner
was
so
desirous
,
so
anxious
,
that
the
girl
decided
there
should
be
confidence
.
“
It
was
my
mother
,
”
she
said
,
“
my
only
friend
.
”
“
But
your
father
,
Mr.
Henchard
.
He
is
living
?
”
“
Yes
,
he
is
living
,
”
said
Elizabeth-Jane
.
“
Is
he
not
kind
to
you
?
”
“
I
've
no
wish
to
complain
of
him
.
”
“
There
has
been
a
disagreement
?
”
“
A
little
.
”
“
Perhaps
you
were
to
blame
,
”
suggested
the
stranger
.
“
I
was
—
in
many
ways
,
”
sighed
the
meek
Elizabeth
.
“
I
swept
up
the
coals
when
the
servants
ought
to
have
done
it
;
and
I
said
I
was
leery
;
—
and
he
was
angry
with
me
.
”
The
lady
seemed
to
warm
towards
her
for
that
reply
.
“
Do
you
know
the
impression
your
words
give
me
?
”
she
said
ingenuously
.
“
That
he
is
a
hot-tempered
man
—
a
little
proud
—
perhaps
ambitious
;
but
not
a
bad
man
.
”
Her
anxiety
not
to
condemn
Henchard
while
siding
with
Elizabeth
was
curious
.
“
O
no
;
certainly
not
BAD
,
”
agreed
the
honest
girl
.
“
And
he
has
not
even
been
unkind
to
me
till
lately
—
since
mother
died
.
But
it
has
been
very
much
to
bear
while
it
has
lasted
.
All
is
owing
to
my
defects
,
I
daresay
;
and
my
defects
are
owing
to
my
history
.
”
“
What
is
your
history
?
”
Elizabeth-Jane
looked
wistfully
at
her
questioner
.
She
found
that
her
questioner
was
looking
at
her
,
turned
her
eyes
down
;
and
then
seemed
compelled
to
look
back
again
.
“
My
history
is
not
gay
or
attractive
,
”
she
said
.
“
And
yet
I
can
tell
it
,
if
you
really
want
to
know
.
”
The
lady
assured
her
that
she
did
want
to
know
;
whereupon
Elizabeth-Jane
told
the
tale
of
her
life
as
she
understood
it
,
which
was
in
general
the
true
one
,
except
that
the
sale
at
the
fair
had
no
part
therein
.
Contrary
to
the
girl
's
expectation
her
new
friend
was
not
shocked
.
This
cheered
her
;
and
it
was
not
till
she
thought
of
returning
to
that
home
in
which
she
had
been
treated
so
roughly
of
late
that
her
spirits
fell
.
“
I
do
n't
know
how
to
return
,
”
she
murmured
.
“
I
think
of
going
away
.
But
what
can
I
do
?
Where
can
I
go
?
”
“
Perhaps
it
will
be
better
soon
,
”
said
her
friend
gently
.
“
So
I
would
not
go
far
.
Now
what
do
you
think
of
this
:
I
shall
soon
want
somebody
to
live
in
my
house
,
partly
as
housekeeper
,
partly
as
companion
;
would
you
mind
coming
to
me
?
But
perhaps
—
”
“
O
yes
,
”
cried
Elizabeth
,
with
tears
in
her
eyes
.
“
I
would
,
indeed
—
I
would
do
anything
to
be
independent
;
for
then
perhaps
my
father
might
get
to
love
me
.
But
,
ah
!
”
“
What
?
”
“
I
am
no
accomplished
person
.
And
a
companion
to
you
must
be
that
.
”
“
O
,
not
necessarily
.
”
“
Not
?
But
I
ca
n't
help
using
rural
words
sometimes
,
when
I
do
n't
mean
to
.
”
“
Never
mind
,
I
shall
like
to
know
them
.
”
“
And
—
O
,
I
know
I
sha
n't
do
!
”
—
she
cried
with
a
distressful
laugh
.
“
I
accidentally
learned
to
write
round
hand
instead
of
ladies'-hand
.
And
,
of
course
,
you
want
some
one
who
can
write
that
?
”
“
Well
,
no.
”
“
What
,
not
necessary
to
write
ladies'-hand
?
”
cried
the
joyous
Elizabeth
.
“
Not
at
all
.
”
“
But
where
do
you
live
?
”
“
In
Casterbridge
,
or
rather
I
shall
be
living
here
after
twelve
o'clock
to-day
.
”
Elizabeth
expressed
her
astonishment
.
“
I
have
been
staying
at
Budmouth
for
a
few
days
while
my
house
was
getting
ready
.
The
house
I
am
going
into
is
that
one
they
call
High-Place
Hall
—
the
old
stone
one
looking
down
the
lane
to
the
market
.
Two
or
three
rooms
are
fit
for
occupation
,
though
not
all
:
I
sleep
there
to-night
for
the
first
time
.
Now
will
you
think
over
my
proposal
,
and
meet
me
here
the
first
fine
day
next
week
,
and
say
if
you
are
still
in
the
same
mind
?
”
Elizabeth
,
her
eyes
shining
at
this
prospect
of
a
change
from
an
unbearable
position
,
joyfully
assented
;
and
the
two
parted
at
the
gate
of
the
churchyard
.
21.
As
a
maxim
glibly
repeated
from
childhood
remains
practically
unmarked
till
some
mature
experience
enforces
it
,
so
did
this
High-Place
Hall
now
for
the
first
time
really
show
itself
to
Elizabeth-Jane
,
though
her
ears
had
heard
its
name
on
a
hundred
occasions
.
Her
mind
dwelt
upon
nothing
else
but
the
stranger
,
and
the
house
,
and
her
own
chance
of
living
there
,
all
the
rest
of
the
day
.
In
the
afternoon
she
had
occasion
to
pay
a
few
bills
in
the
town
and
do
a
little
shopping
when
she
learnt
that
what
was
a
new
discovery
to
herself
had
become
a
common
topic
about
the
streets
.
High-Place
Hall
was
undergoing
repair
;
a
lady
was
coming
there
to
live
shortly
;
all
the
shop-people
knew
it
,
and
had
already
discounted
the
chance
of
her
being
a
customer
.
Elizabeth-Jane
could
,
however
,
add
a
capping
touch
to
information
so
new
to
her
in
the
bulk
.
The
lady
,
she
said
,
had
arrived
that
day
.
When
the
lamps
were
lighted
,
and
it
was
yet
not
so
dark
as
to
render
chimneys
,
attics
,
and
roofs
invisible
,
Elizabeth
,
almost
with
a
lover
's
feeling
,
thought
she
would
like
to
look
at
the
outside
of
High-Place
Hall
.
She
went
up
the
street
in
that
direction
.
The
Hall
,
with
its
grey
facade
and
parapet
,
was
the
only
residence
of
its
sort
so
near
the
centre
of
the
town
.
It
had
,
in
the
first
place
,
the
characteristics
of
a
country
mansion
—
birds
'
nests
in
its
chimneys
,
damp
nooks
where
fungi
grew
and
irregularities
of
surface
direct
from
Nature
's
trowel
.
At
night
the
forms
of
passengers
were
patterned
by
the
lamps
in
black
shadows
upon
the
pale
walls
.
This
evening
motes
of
straw
lay
around
,
and
other
signs
of
the
premises
having
been
in
that
lawless
condition
which
accompanies
the
entry
of
a
new
tenant
.
The
house
was
entirely
of
stone
,
and
formed
an
example
of
dignity
without
great
size
.
It
was
not
altogether
aristocratic
,
still
less
consequential
,
yet
the
old-fashioned
stranger
instinctively
said
“
Blood
built
it
,
and
Wealth
enjoys
it
”
however
vague
his
opinions
of
those
accessories
might
be
.
Yet
as
regards
the
enjoying
it
the
stranger
would
have
been
wrong
,
for
until
this
very
evening
,
when
the
new
lady
had
arrived
,
the
house
had
been
empty
for
a
year
or
two
while
before
that
interval
its
occupancy
had
been
irregular
.
The
reason
of
its
unpopularity
was
soon
made
manifest
.
Some
of
its
rooms
overlooked
the
market-place
;
and
such
a
prospect
from
such
a
house
was
not
considered
desirable
or
seemly
by
its
would-be
occupiers
.
Elizabeth
's
eyes
sought
the
upper
rooms
,
and
saw
lights
there
.
The
lady
had
obviously
arrived
.
The
impression
that
this
woman
of
comparatively
practised
manner
had
made
upon
the
studious
girl
's
mind
was
so
deep
that
she
enjoyed
standing
under
an
opposite
archway
merely
to
think
that
the
charming
lady
was
inside
the
confronting
walls
,
and
to
wonder
what
she
was
doing
.
Her
admiration
for
the
architecture
of
that
front
was
entirely
on
account
of
the
inmate
it
screened
.
Though
for
that
matter
the
architecture
deserved
admiration
,
or
at
least
study
,
on
its
own
account
.
It
was
Palladian
,
and
like
most
architecture
erected
since
the
Gothic
age
was
a
compilation
rather
than
a
design
.
But
its
reasonableness
made
it
impressive
.
It
was
not
rich
,
but
rich
enough
.
A
timely
consciousness
of
the
ultimate
vanity
of
human
architecture
,
no
less
than
of
other
human
things
,
had
prevented
artistic
superfluity
.
Men
had
still
quite
recently
been
going
in
and
out
with
parcels
and
packing-cases
,
rendering
the
door
and
hall
within
like
a
public
thoroughfare
.
Elizabeth
trotted
through
the
open
door
in
the
dusk
,
but
becoming
alarmed
at
her
own
temerity
she
went
quickly
out
again
by
another
which
stood
open
in
the
lofty
wall
of
the
back
court
.
To
her
surprise
she
found
herself
in
one
of
the
little-used
alleys
of
the
town
.
Looking
round
at
the
door
which
had
given
her
egress
,
by
the
light
of
the
solitary
lamp
fixed
in
the
alley
,
she
saw
that
it
was
arched
and
old
—
older
even
than
the
house
itself
.
The
door
was
studded
,
and
the
keystone
of
the
arch
was
a
mask
.
Originally
the
mask
had
exhibited
a
comic
leer
,
as
could
still
be
discerned
;
but
generations
of
Casterbridge
boys
had
thrown
stones
at
the
mask
,
aiming
at
its
open
mouth
;
and
the
blows
thereon
had
chipped
off
the
lips
and
jaws
as
if
they
had
been
eaten
away
by
disease
.
The
appearance
was
so
ghastly
by
the
weakly
lamp-glimmer
that
she
could
not
bear
to
look
at
it
—
the
first
unpleasant
feature
of
her
visit
.
The
position
of
the
queer
old
door
and
the
odd
presence
of
the
leering
mask
suggested
one
thing
above
all
others
as
appertaining
to
the
mansion
's
past
history
—
intrigue
.
By
the
alley
it
had
been
possible
to
come
unseen
from
all
sorts
of
quarters
in
the
town
—
the
old
play-house
,
the
old
bull-stake
,
the
old
cock-pit
,
the
pool
wherein
nameless
infants
had
been
used
to
disappear
.
High-Place
Hall
could
boast
of
its
conveniences
undoubtedly
.
She
turned
to
come
away
in
the
nearest
direction
homeward
,
which
was
down
the
alley
,
but
hearing
footsteps
approaching
in
that
quarter
,
and
having
no
great
wish
to
be
found
in
such
a
place
at
such
a
time
she
quickly
retreated
.
There
being
no
other
way
out
she
stood
behind
a
brick
pier
till
the
intruder
should
have
gone
his
ways
.
Had
she
watched
she
would
have
been
surprised
.
She
would
have
seen
that
the
pedestrian
on
coming
up
made
straight
for
the
arched
doorway
:
that
as
he
paused
with
his
hand
upon
the
latch
the
lamplight
fell
upon
the
face
of
Henchard
.
But
Elizabeth-Jane
clung
so
closely
to
her
nook
that
she
discerned
nothing
of
this
.
Henchard
passed
in
,
as
ignorant
of
her
presence
as
she
was
ignorant
of
his
identity
,
and
disappeared
in
the
darkness
.
Elizabeth
came
out
a
second
time
into
the
alley
,
and
made
the
best
of
her
way
home
.
Henchard
's
chiding
,
by
begetting
in
her
a
nervous
fear
of
doing
anything
definable
as
unladylike
,
had
operated
thus
curiously
in
keeping
them
unknown
to
each
other
at
a
critical
moment
.
Much
might
have
resulted
from
recognition
—
at
the
least
a
query
on
either
side
in
one
and
the
selfsame
form
:
What
could
he
or
she
possibly
be
doing
there
?
Henchard
,
whatever
his
business
at
the
lady
's
house
,
reached
his
own
home
only
a
few
minutes
later
than
Elizabeth-Jane
.
Her
plan
was
to
broach
the
question
of
leaving
his
roof
this
evening
;
the
events
of
the
day
had
urged
her
to
the
course
.
But
its
execution
depended
upon
his
mood
,
and
she
anxiously
awaited
his
manner
towards
her
.
She
found
that
it
had
changed
.
He
showed
no
further
tendency
to
be
angry
;
he
showed
something
worse
.
Absolute
indifference
had
taken
the
place
of
irritability
;
and
his
coldness
was
such
that
it
encouraged
her
to
departure
,
even
more
than
hot
temper
could
have
done
.
“
Father
,
have
you
any
objection
to
my
going
away
?
”
she
asked
.
“
Going
away
!
No
—
none
whatever
.
Where
are
you
going
?
”
She
thought
it
undesirable
and
unnecessary
to
say
anything
at
present
about
her
destination
to
one
who
took
so
little
interest
in
her
.
He
would
know
that
soon
enough
.
“
I
have
heard
of
an
opportunity
of
getting
more
cultivated
and
finished
,
and
being
less
idle
,
”
she
answered
,
with
hesitation
.
“
A
chance
of
a
place
in
a
household
where
I
can
have
advantages
of
study
,
and
seeing
refined
life
.
”
“
Then
make
the
best
of
it
,
in
Heaven
's
name
—
if
you
ca
n't
get
cultivated
where
you
are
.
”
“
You
do
n't
object
?
”
“
Object
—
I
?
Ho
—
no
!
Not
at
all
.
”
After
a
pause
he
said
,
“
But
you
wo
n't
have
enough
money
for
this
lively
scheme
without
help
,
you
know
?
If
you
like
I
should
be
willing
to
make
you
an
allowance
,
so
that
you
not
be
bound
to
live
upon
the
starvation
wages
refined
folk
are
likely
to
pay
'
ee
.
”
She
thanked
him
for
this
offer
.
“
It
had
better
be
done
properly
,
”
he
added
after
a
pause
.
“
A
small
annuity
is
what
I
should
like
you
to
have
—
so
as
to
be
independent
of
me
—
and
so
that
I
may
be
independent
of
you
.
Would
that
please
ye
?
”
“
Certainly
.
”
“
Then
I
'll
see
about
it
this
very
day
.
”
He
seemed
relieved
to
get
her
off
his
hands
by
this
arrangement
,
and
as
far
as
they
were
concerned
the
matter
was
settled
.
She
now
simply
waited
to
see
the
lady
again
.
The
day
and
the
hour
came
;
but
a
drizzling
rain
fell
.
Elizabeth-Jane
having
now
changed
her
orbit
from
one
of
gay
independence
to
laborious
self-help
,
thought
the
weather
good
enough
for
such
declined
glory
as
hers
,
if
her
friend
would
only
face
it
—
a
matter
of
doubt
.
She
went
to
the
boot-room
where
her
pattens
had
hung
ever
since
her
apotheosis
;
took
them
down
,
had
their
mildewed
leathers
blacked
,
and
put
them
on
as
she
had
done
in
old
times
.
Thus
mounted
,
and
with
cloak
and
umbrella
,
she
went
off
to
the
place
of
appointment
—
intending
,
if
the
lady
were
not
there
,
to
call
at
the
house
.
One
side
of
the
churchyard
—
the
side
towards
the
weather
—
was
sheltered
by
an
ancient
thatched
mud
wall
whose
eaves
overhung
as
much
as
one
or
two
feet
.
At
the
back
of
the
wall
was
a
corn-yard
with
its
granary
and
barns
—
the
place
wherein
she
had
met
Farfrae
many
months
earlier
.
Under
the
projection
of
the
thatch
she
saw
a
figure
.
The
young
lady
had
come
.
Her
presence
so
exceptionally
substantiated
the
girl
's
utmost
hopes
that
she
almost
feared
her
good
fortune
.
Fancies
find
rooms
in
the
strongest
minds
.
Here
,
in
a
churchyard
old
as
civilization
,
in
the
worst
of
weathers
,
was
a
strange
woman
of
curious
fascinations
never
seen
elsewhere
:
there
might
be
some
devilry
about
her
presence
.
However
,
Elizabeth
went
on
to
the
church
tower
,
on
whose
summit
the
rope
of
a
flagstaff
rattled
in
the
wind
;
and
thus
she
came
to
the
wall
.
The
lady
had
such
a
cheerful
aspect
in
the
drizzle
that
Elizabeth
forgot
her
fancy
.
“
Well
,
”
said
the
lady
,
a
little
of
the
whiteness
of
her
teeth
appearing
with
the
word
through
the
black
fleece
that
protected
her
face
,
“
have
you
decided
?
”
“
Yes
,
quite
,
”
said
the
other
eagerly
.
“
Your
father
is
willing
?
”
“
Yes
.
”
“
Then
come
along
.
”
“
When
?
”
“
Now
—
as
soon
as
you
like
.
I
had
a
good
mind
to
send
to
you
to
come
to
my
house
,
thinking
you
might
not
venture
up
here
in
the
wind
.
But
as
I
like
getting
out
of
doors
,
I
thought
I
would
come
and
see
first
.
”
“
It
was
my
own
thought
.
”
“
That
shows
we
shall
agree
.
Then
can
you
come
to-day
?
My
house
is
so
hollow
and
dismal
that
I
want
some
living
thing
there
.
”
“
I
think
I
might
be
able
to
,
”
said
the
girl
,
reflecting
.
Voices
were
borne
over
to
them
at
that
instant
on
the
wind
and
raindrops
from
the
other
side
of
the
wall
.
There
came
such
words
as
“
sacks
,
”
“
quarters
,
”
“
threshing
,
”
“
tailing
,
”
“
next
Saturday
's
market
,
”
each
sentence
being
disorganized
by
the
gusts
like
a
face
in
a
cracked
mirror
.
Both
the
women
listened
.
“
Who
are
those
?
”
said
the
lady
.
“
One
is
my
father
.
He
rents
that
yard
and
barn
.
”
The
lady
seemed
to
forget
the
immediate
business
in
listening
to
the
technicalities
of
the
corn
trade
.
At
last
she
said
suddenly
,
“
Did
you
tell
him
where
you
were
going
to
?
”
“
No.
”
“
O
—
how
was
that
?
”
“
I
thought
it
safer
to
get
away
first
—
as
he
is
so
uncertain
in
his
temper
.
”
“
Perhaps
you
are
right
...
.Besides
,
I
have
never
told
you
my
name
.
It
is
Miss
Templeman
...
.Are
they
gone
—
on
the
other
side
?
”
“
No.
They
have
only
gone
up
into
the
granary
.
”
“
Well
,
it
is
getting
damp
here
.
I
shall
expect
you
to-day
—
this
evening
,
say
,
at
six
.
”
“
Which
way
shall
I
come
,
ma'am
?
”
“
The
front
way
—
round
by
the
gate
.
There
is
no
other
that
I
have
noticed
.
”
Elizabeth-Jane
had
been
thinking
of
the
door
in
the
alley
.
“
Perhaps
,
as
you
have
not
mentioned
your
destination
,
you
may
as
well
keep
silent
upon
it
till
you
are
clear
off
.
Who
knows
but
that
he
may
alter
his
mind
?
”
Elizabeth-Jane
shook
her
head
.
“
On
consideration
I
do
n't
fear
it
,
”
she
said
sadly
.
“
He
has
grown
quite
cold
to
me
.
”
“
Very
well
.
Six
o'clock
then
.
”
When
they
had
emerged
upon
the
open
road
and
parted
,
they
found
enough
to
do
in
holding
their
bowed
umbrellas
to
the
wind
.
Nevertheless
the
lady
looked
in
at
the
corn-yard
gates
as
she
passed
them
,
and
paused
on
one
foot
for
a
moment
.
But
nothing
was
visible
there
save
the
ricks
,
and
the
humpbacked
barn
cushioned
with
moss
,
and
the
granary
rising
against
the
church-tower
behind
,
where
the
smacking
of
the
rope
