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PG24 | 26 | Is he going to farm here with you?
He shall do whatever he wants to, Alexandra declared warmly. He is
going to have a chance, a whole chance; thats what Ive worked for.
Sometimes he talks about studying law, and sometimes, just lately, hes
been talking about going out into the sand hills and taking up more
land. He ha... | 1,017 |
PG24 | 27 | Carl dropped the end of his cigar softly among the castor beans and
sighed. Yes, I suppose I must see the old place. Im cowardly about
things that remind me of myself. It took courage to come at all,
Alexandra. I wouldnt have, if I hadnt wanted to see you very, very
much.
Alexandra looked at him with her calm, deliber... | 1,082 |
PG24 | 28 | On Wednesday morning Carl got up before it was light, and stole
downstairs and out of the kitchen door just as old Ivar was making his
morning ablutions at the pump. Carl nodded to him and hurried up the
draw, past the garden, and into the pasture where the milking cows used
to be kept.
The dawn in the east looked lik... | 990 |
PG24 | 29 | VI
At dinner that day Alexandra said she thought they must really manage
to go over to the Shabatas that afternoon. Its not often I let three
days go by without seeing Marie. She will think I have forsaken her,
now that my old friend has come back.
After the men had gone back to work, Alexandra put on a white dress ... | 973 |
PG24 | 30 | Maria ran up panting and threw her arms about Alexandra. Oh, I had
begun to think you were not coming at all, maybe. I knew you were so
busy. Yes, Emil told me about Mr. Linstrum being here. Wont you come
up to the house?
Why not sit down there in your corner? Carl wants to see the orchard.
He kept all these trees ali... | 1,074 |
PG24 | 31 | And now hes come back to eat them, cried Marie, nodding at Carl.
That IS a good story. I can remember you a little, Mr. Linstrum. I
used to see you in Hanover sometimes, when Uncle Joe took me to town. I
remember you because you were always buying pencils and tubes of paint
at the drug store. Once, when my uncle left m... | 1,070 |
PG24 | 32 | VII
Maries father, Albert Tovesky, was one of the more intelligent
Bohemians who came West in the early seventies. He settled in Omaha and
became a leader and adviser among his people there. Marie was his
youngest child, by a second wife, and was the apple of his eye. She was
barely sixteen, and was in the graduating... | 1,074 |
PG24 | 33 | VIII
On the evening of the day of Alexandras call at the Shabatas, a heavy
rain set in. Frank sat up until a late hour reading the Sunday
newspapers. One of the Goulds was getting a divorce, and Frank took it
as a personal affront. In printing the story of the young mans marital
troubles, the knowing editor gave a su... | 1,094 |
PG24 | 34 | Emil, she said suddenlyhe was mowing quietly about under the tree so
as not to disturb herwhat religion did the Swedes have away back,
before they were Christians?
Emil paused and straightened his back. I dont know. About like the
Germans, wasnt it?
Marie went on as if she had not heard him. The Bohemians, you know,
... | 1,013 |
PG24 | 35 | Emil took a step nearer and stood frowning down at her bent head. He
stood in an attitude of self-defense, his feet well apart, his hands
clenched and drawn up at his sides, so that the cords stood out on his
bare arms. I cant play with you like a little boy any more, he said
slowly. Thats what you miss, Marie. Youll h... | 1,019 |
PG24 | 36 | But Amde had the zeal of the newly married, and he was not to be
lightly shaken off. Honest and true, Emil, dont you want ANY girl?
Maybe theres some young lady in Lincoln, now, very grand,Amde
waved his hand languidly before his face to denote the fan of heartless
beauty,and you lost your heart up there. Is that it?
... | 1,024 |
PG24 | 37 | Alexandra looked at him. What about?
Oscar met her eyes blankly. About you, keeping him here so long. It
looks bad for him to be hanging on to a woman this way. People think
youre getting taken in.
Alexandra shut her account-book firmly. Boys, she said seriously,
dont lets go on with this. We wont come out anywhere. ... | 1,029 |
PG24 | 38 | Maybe not, but it sometimes puts in the crop, and it sometimes keeps
the fields for corn to grow in, said Alexandra dryly. Why, Lou, I can
remember when you and Oscar wanted to sell this homestead and all the
improvements to old preacher Ericson for two thousand dollars. If Id
consented, youd have gone down to the rive... | 1,000 |
PG24 | 39 | Yes, sit down. Ill be dressed in a moment.
Alexandra closed her door, and Emil sank down on the old slat lounge
and sat with his head in his hands. When his sister came out, he looked
up, not knowing whether the interval had been short or long, and he was
surprised to see that the room had grown quite dark. That was j... | 962 |
PG24 | 40 | Emil grew more and more uneasy. Think so? Well, Marie said it would
serve us all right if you walked off with him.
Did she? Bless her little heart! SHE would. Alexandras voice broke.
Emil began unlacing his leggings. Why dont you talk to her about it?
Theres Carl, I hear his horse. I guess Ill go upstairs and get my
... | 1,011 |
PG24 | 41 | Carl rose and looked up at the picture of John Bergson. But I cant,
my dear, I cant! I will go North at once. Instead of idling about in
California all winter, I shall be getting my bearings up there. I wont
waste another week. Be patient with me, Alexandra. Give me a year!
As you will, said Alexandra wearily. All at ... | 1,109 |
PG24 | 42 | At two oclock in the afternoon Alexandras cart drove up to the
Shabatas gate, and Marie saw Mrs. Lees red shawl come bobbing up the
path. She ran to the door and pulled the old woman into the house with
a hug, helping her to take off her wraps while Alexandra blanketed the
horse outside. Mrs. Lee had put on her best bl... | 1,031 |
PG24 | 43 | The Bohemians, said Alexandra, as they drew up to the table,
certainly know how to make more kinds of bread than any other people
in the world. Old Mrs. Hiller told me once at the church supper that
she could make seven kinds of fancy bread, but Marie could make a
dozen.
Mrs. Lee held up one of the apricot rolls betwe... | 1,000 |
PG24 | 44 | Maria sprang up from the floor. Sure enough, we were looking for
patterns, werent we? Id forgot about everything but Franks other
wife. Ill put that away.
She poked the cane behind Franks Sunday clothes, and though she
laughed, Alexandra saw there were tears in her eyes.
When they went back to the kitchen, the snow h... | 1,130 |
PG24 | 45 | II
If Alexandra had had much imagination she might have guessed what was
going on in Maries mind, and she would have seen long before what was
going on in Emils. But that, as Emil himself had more than once
reflected, was Alexandras blind side, and her life had not been of the
kind to sharpen her vision. Her training... | 994 |
PG24 | 46 | As she grew older, this fancy more often came to her when she was tired
than when she was fresh and strong. Sometimes, after she had been in
the open all day, overseeing the branding of the cattle or the loading
of the pigs, she would come in chilled, take a concoction of spices and
warm home-made wine, and go to bed w... | 997 |
PG24 | 47 | The young men crowded round Emil to admire his costume and to tell him
in a breath everything that had happened since he went away. Emil had
more friends up here in the French country than down on Norway Creek.
The French and Bohemian boys were spirited and jolly, liked variety,
and were as much predisposed to favor an... | 1,093 |
PG24 | 48 | After supper the young people played charades for the amusement of
their elders, who sat gossiping between their guesses. All the shops in
Sainte-Agnes were closed at eight oclock that night, so that the
merchants and their clerks could attend the fair. The auction was the
liveliest part of the entertainment, for the F... | 1,053 |
PG24 | 49 | While Marie was chattering to the French boys, Amde called Emil to
the back of the room and whispered to him that they were going to play
a joke on the girls. At eleven oclock, Amde was to go up to the
switchboard in the vestibule and turn off the electric lights, and
every boy would have a chance to kiss his sweethear... | 987 |
PG24 | 50 | There was about Alexandra something of the impervious calm of the
fatalist, always disconcerting to very young people, who cannot feel
that the heart lives at all unless it is still at the mercy of storms;
unless its strings can scream to the touch of pain.
II
Signas wedding supper was over. The guests, and the t... | 1,047 |
PG24 | 51 | Marie drew back. Because I was in love with him, she said firmly.
Really? he asked incredulously.
Yes, indeed. Very much in love with him. I think I was the one who
suggested our running away. From the first it was more my fault than
his.
Emil turned away his face.
And now, Marie went on, Ive got to remember that. ... | 1,061 |
PG24 | 52 | Alexandra, he said suddenly, that old walnut secretary you use for a
desk was fathers, wasnt it?
Alexandra went on stitching. Yes. It was one of the first things he
bought for the old log house. It was a great extravagance in those
days. But he wrote a great many letters back to the old country. He had
many friends th... | 994 |
PG24 | 53 | Alexandra, said Emil suddenly, do you remember the wild duck we saw
down on the river that time?
His sister looked up. I often think of her. It always seems to me
shes there still, just like we saw her.
I know. Its queer what things one remembers and what things one
forgets. Emil yawned and sat up. Well, its time to ... | 1,064 |
PG24 | 54 | Emil thought the lad was unnaturally flushed and more excited than even
the cares of managing a big farm at a critical time warranted. As they
passed behind a last years stack, Amde clutched at his right side
and sank down for a moment on the straw.
Ouch! I got an awful pain in me, Emil. Somethings the matter with my
... | 1,075 |
PG24 | 55 | When she reached the stile she sat down and waited. How terrible it was
to love people when you could not really share their lives!
Yes, in so far as she was concerned, Emil was already gone. They
couldnt meet any more. There was nothing for them to say. They had
spent the last penny of their small change; there was n... | 1,193 |
PG24 | 56 | As the troop swept past the graveyard half a mile east of the town,the
first frame church of the parish had stood there,old Pierre Seguin was
already out with his pick and spade, digging Amdes grave. He knelt
and uncovered as the bishop passed. The boys with one accord looked
away from old Pierre to the red church on t... | 1,169 |
PG24 | 57 | Everywhere the grain stood ripe and the hot afternoon was full of the
smell of the ripe wheat, like the smell of bread baking in an oven. The
breath of the wheat and the sweet clover passed him like pleasant
things in a dream. He could feel nothing but the sense of diminishing
distance. It seemed to him that his mare w... | 996 |
PG24 | 58 | At the wheatfield corner, where the orchard hedge ended and the path
led across the pasture to the Bergsons, Frank stopped. In the warm,
breathless night air he heard a murmuring sound, perfectly
inarticulate, as low as the sound of water coming from a spring, where
there is no fall, and where there are no stones to fr... | 1,126 |
PG24 | 59 | There was a wrench in Franks mind. He did not honestly believe that of
her. He knew that he was doing her wrong. He stopped his horse to admit
this to himself the more directly, to think it out the more clearly. He
knew that he was to blame. For three years he had been trying to break
her spirit. She had a way of makin... | 1,026 |
PG24 | 60 | When Ivar reached the path by the hedge, he saw Shabatas rifle lying
in the way. He turned and peered through the branches, falling upon his
knees as if his legs had been mowed from under him. Merciful God! he
groaned.
Alexandra, too, had risen early that morning, because of her anxiety
about Emil. She was in Emils ro... | 1,121 |
PG24 | 61 | Signa did not laugh. She looked thoughtful as she followed Ivar out to
the wagon-shed and held the shafts up for him, while he backed in the
mare and buckled the hold-backs. You have been a good friend to the
mistress, Ivar, she murmured.
And you, God be with you, replied Ivar as he clambered into the cart
and put the... | 1,032 |
PG24 | 62 | As she lay with her eyes closed, she had again, more vividly than for
many years, the old illusion of her girlhood, of being lifted and
carried lightly by some one very strong. He was with her a long while
this time, and carried her very far, and in his arms she felt free from
pain. When he laid her down on her bed aga... | 981 |
PG24 | 63 | The day after Emils funeral, Alexandra had written to Carl Linstrum; a
single page of notepaper, a bare statement of what had happened. She
was not a woman who could write much about such a thing, and about her
own feelings she could never write very freely. She knew that Carl was
away from post-offices, prospecting so... | 1,009 |
PG24 | 64 | That big Bohemian, is it? Sure, hes gettin along fine, said Mr.
Schwartz cheerfully.
I am glad to hear that. I was afraid he might be quarrelsome and get
himself into more trouble. Mr. Schwartz, if you have time, I would like
to tell you a little about Frank Shabata, and why I am interested in
him.
The warden listene... | 1,040 |
PG24 | 65 | Alexandra was bewildered. Frank seemed to have undergone a change of
personality. There was scarcely anything by which she could recognize
her handsome Bohemian neighbor. He seemed, somehow, not altogether
human. She did not know what to say to him.
You do not feel hard to me, Frank? she asked at last.
Frank clenched... | 1,027 |
PG24 | 66 | Henceforth the world will only be
A wider prison-house to me,
and sighed. A disgust of life weighed upon her heart; some such feeling
as had twice frozen Frank Shabatas features while they talked
together. She wished she were back on the Divide.
When Alexandra entered her hotel, the clerk held up one finger and
beck... | 1,003 |
PG24 | 67 | Carl pressed her hand in silence. They were passing the Shabatas empty
house now, but they avoided the orchard path and took one that led over
by the pasture pond.
Can you understand it, Carl? Alexandra murmured. I have had nobody
but Ivar and Signa to talk to. Do talk to me. Can you understand it?
Could you have beli... | 1,040 |
PG27 | 0 | When Farmer Oak smiled, the corners of his mouth spread till they were
within an unimportant distance of his ears, his eyes were reduced to
mere chinks, and diverging wrinkles appeared round them, extending upon
his countenance like the rays in a rudimentary sketch of the rising
sun.
His Christian name was Gabriel, an... | 1,138 |
PG27 | 1 | The field he was in sloped steeply to a ridge called Norcombe Hill.
Through a spur of this hill ran the highway from Norcombe to
Casterbridge, sunk in a deep cutting. Casually glancing over the hedge,
Oak saw coming down the incline before him an ornamental spring waggon,
painted yellow and gaily marked, drawn by two h... | 1,091 |
PG27 | 3 | CHAPTER II.
NIGHTTHE FLOCKAN INTERIORANOTHER INTERIOR
It was nearly midnight on the eve of St. Thomass, the shortest day in
the year. A desolating wind wandered from the north over the hill
whereon Oak had watched the yellow waggon and its occupant in the
sunshine of a few days earlier.
Norcombe Hillforming part of ... | 1,086 |
PG27 | 4 | The image as a whole was that of a small Noahs Ark on a small Ararat,
allowing the traditionary outlines and general form of the Ark which
are followed by toymakersand by these means are established in mens
imaginations among their firmest, because earliest impressionsto pass
as an approximate pattern. The hut stood on... | 1,123 |
PG27 | 5 | The lamb, revived by the warmth, began to bleat, and the sound entered
Gabriels ears and brain with an instant meaning, as expected sounds
will. Passing from the profoundest sleep to the most alert wakefulness
with the same ease that had accompanied the reverse operation, he
looked at his watch, found that the hour-han... | 1,018 |
PG27 | 6 | The cow standing erect was of the Devon breed, and was encased in a
tight warm hide of rich Indian red, as absolutely uniform from eyes to
tail as if the animal had been dipped in a dye of that colour, her long
back being mathematically level. The other was spotted, grey and white.
Beside her, Oak now noticed a little ... | 540 |
PG27 | 7 | CHAPTER III.
A GIRL ON HORSEBACKCONVERSATION
The sluggish day began to break. Even its position terrestrially is one
of the elements of a new interest, and for no particular reason save
that the incident of the night had occurred there, Oak went again into
the plantation. Lingering and musing here, he heard the steps... | 1,245 |
PG27 | 8 | That the girls thoughts hovered about her face and form as soon as she
caught Oaks eyes conning the same page was natural, and almost
certain. The self-consciousness shown would have been vanity if a
little more pronounced, dignity if a little less. Rays of male vision
seem to have a tickling effect upon virgin faces i... | 1,051 |
PG27 | 9 | Gabriel had always known that when the fire was lighted and the door
closed one of these must be kept openthat chosen being always on the
side away from the wind. Closing the slide to windward, he turned to
open the other; on second thoughts the farmer considered that he would
first sit down, leaving both closed for a ... | 1,002 |
PG27 | 11 | CHAPTER IV.
GABRIELS RESOLVETHE VISITTHE MISTAKE
The only superiority in women that is tolerable to the rival sex is, as
a rule, that of the unconscious kind, but a superiority which
recognizes itself may sometimes please by suggesting at the same time
possibilities of impropriation to the subordinated man.
This wel... | 1,032 |
PG27 | 12 | Nothing disturbed the stillness of the cottage save the chatter of a
knot of sparrows on the eaves; one might fancy scandal and
_tracasseries_ to be no less the staple subject of these little
coteries on roofs than of those under them. It seemed that the omen was
an unpropitious one, for, as the rather untoward commenc... | 1,033 |
PG27 | 13 | YesI know that! she said, panting like a robin, her face red and
moist from her exertions, like a peony petal before the sun dries off
the dew. I didnt know you had come (pant) to ask to have me, or I
should have come in from the garden instantly. I ran after you to say
(pant) that my aunt made a mistake in sending you... | 1,008 |
PG27 | 14 | And a frame for cucumberslike a gentleman and lady.
Yes.
And when the wedding was over, wed have it put in the newspaper list
of marriages.
Dearly I should like that.
And the babies in the birthsevery man jack of em! And at home by the
fire, whenever you look up, there I shall beand whenever I look up,
there will b... | 1,018 |
PG27 | 16 | CHAPTER V.
DEPARTURE OF BATHSHEBAA PASTORAL TRAGEDY
The news which one day reached Gabriel, that Bathsheba Everdene had
left the neighbourhood, had an influence upon him which might have
surprised any who never suspected that the more emphatic the
renunciation the less absolute its character.
It may have been observ... | 1,195 |
PG27 | 17 | He jumped out of bed, dressed, tore down the lane through a foggy dawn,
and ascended the hill. The forward ewes were kept apart from those
among which the fall of lambs would be later, there being two hundred
of the latter class in Gabriels flock. These two hundred seemed to
have absolutely vanished from the hill. Ther... | 1,049 |
PG27 | 19 | CHAPTER VI.
THE FAIRTHE JOURNEYTHE FIRE
Two months passed away. We are brought on to a day in February, on
which was held the yearly statute or hiring fair in the town of
Casterbridge.
At one end of the street stood from two to three hundred blithe and
hearty labourers waiting upon Chanceall men of the stamp to whom... | 1,048 |
PG27 | 20 | By making inquiries he learnt that there was another fair at Shottsford
the next day.
Where is Shottsford?
Eight miles tother side of Weatherbury.
Weatherbury! It was where Bathsheba had gone two months before. This
information was like coming from night into noon.
How far is it to Weatherbury?
Five or six miles.
... | 1,023 |
PG27 | 21 | Two figures were dimly visible in front, sitting with their legs
outside the waggon, one of whom was driving. Gabriel soon found that
this was the waggoner, and it appeared they had come from Casterbridge
fair, like himself.
A conversation was in progress, which continued thus:
Be as twill, shes a fine handsome body ... | 1,069 |
PG27 | 22 | Oak suddenly ceased from being a mere spectator by discovering the case
to be more serious than he had at first imagined. A scroll of smoke
blew aside and revealed to him a wheat-rick in startling juxtaposition
with the decaying one, and behind this a series of others, composing
the main corn produce of the farm; so th... | 1,023 |
PG27 | 23 | Safe nowleastwise I think so. If this rick had gone the barn would
have followed. Tis that bold shepherd up there that have done the most
goodhe sitting on the top o rick, whizzing his great long arms about
like a windmill.
He does work hard, said the young woman on horseback, looking up at
Gabriel through her thick w... | 581 |
PG27 | 24 | CHAPTER VII.
RECOGNITIONA TIMID GIRL
Bathsheba withdrew into the shade. She scarcely knew whether most to be
amused at the singularity of the meeting, or to be concerned at its
awkwardness. There was room for a little pity, also for a very little
exultation: the former at his position, the latter at her own.
Embarras... | 1,065 |
PG27 | 26 | CHAPTER VIII.
THE MALTHOUSETHE CHATNEWS
Warrens Malthouse was inclosed by an old wall inwrapped with ivy, and
though not much of the exterior was visible at this hour, the character
and purposes of the building were clearly enough shown by its outline
upon the sky. From the walls an overhanging thatched roof sloped u... | 1,084 |
PG27 | 27 | Come, shepherd, and drink. Tis gape and swaller with usa drap of
sommit, but not of much account, said the maltster, removing from the
fire his eyes, which were vermilion-red and bleared by gazing into it
for so many years. Take up the God-forgive-me, Jacob. See if tis
warm, Jacob.
Jacob stooped to the God-forgive-me,... | 1,054 |
PG27 | 28 | Come, Mark Clarkcome. Thers plenty more in the barrel, said Jan.
Aythat I will, as the doctor said, replied Mr. Clark, who, twenty
years younger than Jan Coggan, revolved in the same orbit. He secreted
mirth on all occasions for special discharge at popular partieshis
productions of this class being more noticeably ad... | 1,245 |
PG27 | 29 | The question of which was right being tacitly waived by the company,
Jan went on meditatively:
And hes the fearfullest man, baint ye, Joseph? Ay, another time ye
were lost by Lambing-Down Gate, werent ye, Joseph?
I was, replied Poorgrass, as if there were some matters too serious
even for modesty to remember itself u... | 1,070 |
PG27 | 30 | True, said the maltster. Nature requires her swearing at the regular
times, or shes not herself; and unholy exclamations is a necessity of
life.
But Charlotte, continued Coggannot a word of the sort would
Charlotte allow, nor the smallest item of taking in vain. Ay, poor
Charlotte, I wonder if she had the good fortune... | 1,044 |
PG27 | 31 | Ay, at that time he thought of nothing but righteousness, added Billy
Smallbury. One day Parson Thirdly met him and said, Good-morning,
Mister Everdene; tis a fine day! Amen said Everdene, quite
absent-like, thinking only of religion when he seed a parson. Yes, he
was a very Christian man.
His second-cousin, John, was... | 1,078 |
PG27 | 32 | Well, then, thats my age, said the maltster, emphatically.
Oh, no, father! Jacob remonstrated. Your turnip-hoeing were in the
summer and your malting in the winter of the same years, and ye dont
ought to count both halves father.
Chok it all! I lived through the summers, didnt I? Thats my
question. I suppose yell say... | 1,091 |
PG27 | 33 | Ah, when I and my wife were married at Norcombe Church, said the old
maltster, not pleased at finding himself left out of the subject we
were called the handsomest couple in the neighbourhoodeverybody said
so.
Danged if ye baint altered now, malster, said a voice with the
vigour natural to the enunciation of a remarka... | 1,057 |
PG27 | 34 | They all hastened up the rise to the farm-house, excepting the old
maltster, whom neither news, fire, rain, nor thunder could draw from
his hole. There, as the others footsteps died away, he sat down again,
and continued gazing as usual into the furnace with his red, bleared
eyes.
From the bed-room window above their ... | 880 |
PG27 | 35 | CHAPTER IX.
THE HOMESTEADA VISITORHALF CONFIDENCES
By daylight, the bower of Oaks new-found mistress, Bathsheba Everdene,
presented itself as a hoary building, of the Jacobean stage of Classic
Renaissance as regards its architecture, and of a proportion which told
at a glance that, as is so frequently the case, it ha... | 1,070 |
PG27 | 36 | Why doesnt Mrs. Coggan go to the door? Bathsheba continued.
Rat-tat-tat-tat, resounded more decisively from Bathshebas oak.
Maryann, you go! said she, fluttering under the onset of a crowd of
romantic possibilities.
Oh, maamsee, heres a mess!
The argument was unanswerable after a glance at Maryann.
Liddyyou must, ... | 1,136 |
PG27 | 38 | CHAPTER X.
MISTRESS AND MEN
Half-an-hour later Bathsheba, in finished dress, and followed by Liddy,
entered the upper end of the old hall to find that her men had all
deposited themselves on a long form and a settle at the lower
extremity. She sat down at a table and opened the time-book, pen in her
hand, and a canva... | 1,149 |
PG27 | 39 | Now the next. Laban Tall. Youll stay on working for me?
For you or anybody that pays me well, maam, replied the young
married man.
Truethe man must live! said a woman in the back quarter, who had
just entered with clicking pattens.
What woman is that? Bathsheba asked.
I be his lawful wife! continued the voice with ... | 1,109 |
PG27 | 40 | Gabriel had listened with interest. I saw them go, he said.
Yes, continued William, they pranced down the street playing The
Girl I Left Behind Me, so tis said, in glorious notes of triumph.
Every looker-ons inside shook with the blows of the great drum to his
deepest vitals, and there was not a dry eye throughout the... | 533 |
PG27 | 41 | CHAPTER XI.
MELCHESTER MOORSNOWA MEETING
For dreariness, nothing could surpass a prospect in the outskirts of
the city of Melchester at a later hour on this same snowy eveningif
that may be called a prospect of which the chief constituent was
darkness.
It was a night when sorrow may come to the brightest without cau... | 1,021 |
PG27 | 42 | Another attempt, and another; till by degrees the wall must have become
pimpled with the adhering lumps of snow. At last one fragment struck
the fifth window.
The river would have been seen by day to be of that deep smooth sort
which races middle and sides with the same gliding precision, any
irregularities of speed b... | 1,067 |
PG27 | 44 | CHAPTER XII.
FARMERSA RULEAN EXCEPTION
The first public evidence of Bathshebas decision to be a farmer in her
own person and by proxy no more was her appearance the following
market-day in. the corn-market at Casterbridge.
The low though extensive hall, supported by Tuscan pillars, and
latterly dignified by the name... | 1,075 |
PG27 | 45 | The numerous evidences of her power to attract were only thrown into
greater relief by a marked exception. Women seem to have eyes in their
ribbons for such matters as these. Bathsheba, without looking within a
right angle of him, was conscious of a black sheep among the flock.
It perplexed her first. If there had bee... | 1,044 |
PG27 | 47 | CHAPTER XIII.
SORTES SANCTORUMTHE VALENTINE
It was Sunday afternoon in the farmhouse, on the thirteenth of
February. Dinner being over, Bathsheba, for want of a better companion,
had asked Liddy to come and sit with her. The mouldy pile was dreary in
winter-time before the candles were lighted and the shutters closed... | 1,075 |
PG27 | 48 | Heres a place for writing, said Bathsheba. What shall I put?
Something of this sort, I should think, returned Liddy promptly:
The rose is red,
The violet blue,
Carnations sweet,
And so are you.
Yes, that shall be it. It just suits itself to a chubby-faced child
like him, said Bathsheba. She inserted the words in a ... | 739 |
PG27 | 49 | CHAPTER XIV.
EFFECT OF THE LETTERSUNRISE
At dusk, on the evening of St. Valentines Day, Boldwood sat down to
supper as usual, by a beaming fire of aged logs. Upon the mantel-shelf
before him was a time-piece, surmounted by a spread eagle, and upon the
eagles wings was the letter Bathsheba had sent. Here the bachelors... | 1,045 |
PG27 | 50 | Then the dawn drew on. The full power of the clear heaven was not equal
to that of a cloudy sky at noon, when Boldwood arose and dressed
himself. He descended the stairs and went out towards the gate of a
field to the east, leaning over which he paused and looked around.
It was one of the usual slow sunrises of this t... | 856 |
PG27 | 51 | CHAPTER XV.
A MORNING MEETINGTHE LETTER AGAIN
The scarlet and orange light outside the malthouse did not penetrate to
its interior, which was, as usual, lighted by a rival glow of similar
hue, radiating from the hearth.
The maltster, after having lain down in his clothes for a few hours,
was now sitting beside a thr... | 1,078 |
PG27 | 52 | No, no; I dont agree withee there, said Mark Clark, decisively.
Gods a perfect gentleman in that respect.
Good works good pay, so to speak it, attested Joseph Poorgrass.
A short pause ensued, and as a sort of _entracte_ Henery turned and
blew out the lanterns, which the increase of daylight rendered no
longer necessa... | 1,118 |
PG27 | 53 | With all my heart, as the old woman said, replied Mr. Clark,
heartily.
I suppose youve been speaking against her? said Oak, turning to
Joseph Poorgrass with a very grim look.
No, nonot a word Itis a real joyful thing that shes no worse,
thats what I say, said Joseph, trembling and blushing with terror.
Matthew just s... | 1,154 |
PG27 | 54 | And she dont even let ye have the skins of the dead lambs, I hear?
resumed Joseph Poorgrass, his eyes lingering on the operations of Oak
with the necessary melancholy.
I dont have them, said Gabriel.
Ye be very badly used, shepherd, hazarded Joseph again, in the hope
of getting Oak as an ally in lamentation after all... | 1,049 |
PG27 | 55 | Oak took from his illimitable pockets a marking iron, dipped it into
the pot, and imprinted on the buttocks of the infant sheep the initials
of her he delighted to muse onB. E., which signified to all the
region round that henceforth the lambs belonged to farmer Bathsheba
Everdene, and to no one else.
Now, Cainy, shou... | 520 |
PG27 | 56 | CHAPTER XVI.
ALL SAINTS AND ALL SOULS
On a week-day morning a small congregation, consisting mainly of women
and girls, rose from its knees in the mouldy nave of All Saints
church, Melchester, at the end of a service without a sermon. They were
about to disperse, when a smart footstep, entering the porch and coming
u... | 1,036 |
PG27 | 58 | CHAPTER XVII.
IN THE MARKET-PLACE
On Saturday Boldwood was in the market-house as usual, when the
disturber of his dreams entered, and became visible to him. Adam had
awakened from his deep sleep, and behold! there was Eve. The farmer
took courage, and for the first time really looked at her.
Emotional causes and ef... | 1,023 |
PG27 | 60 | CHAPTER XVIII.
BOLDWOOD IN MEDITATIONA VISIT
Boldwood was tenant of what was called the Lower Farm, and his person
was the nearest approach to aristocracy that this remoter quarter of
Weatherbury could boast of. Genteel strangers, whose god was their
town, who might happen to be compelled to linger about this nook fo... | 1,151 |
PG27 | 61 | Farmer Boldwood came to the stable-door, and looked forth across the
level fields. Beyond the first enclosure was a hedge, and on the other
side of this a meadow, belonging to Bathshebas farm.
It was now early springthe time of going to grass with the sheep, when
they have the first feed of the meadows, before these a... | 1,132 |
PG27 | 63 | CHAPTER XIX.
THE SHEEP-WASHINGTHE OFFER
Boldwood did eventually call upon her. She was not at home. Of course
not, he murmured. In contemplating Bathsheba as a woman, he had
forgotten the accidents of her position as an agriculturistthat being
as much of a farmer, and as extensive a farmer, as himself, her
probable w... | 1,135 |
PG27 | 64 | Miss Everdene! said the farmer.
She trembled, turned, and said Good morning. His tone was so utterly
removed from all she had expected as a beginning. It was lowness and
quiet accentuated: an emphasis of deep meanings, their form, at the
same time, being scarcely expressed. Silence has sometimes a remarkable
power of ... | 1,061 |
PG27 | 65 | But you will just thinkin kindness and condescension thinkif you
cannot bear with me as a husband! I fear I am too old for you, but
believe me I will take more care of you than would many a man of your
own age. I will protect and cherish you with all my strengthI will
indeed. You shall have no caresbe worried by no hou... | 548 |
PG27 | 66 | CHAPTER XX.
PERPLEXITYGRINDING THE SHEARSA QUARREL
He is so disinterested and kind to offer me all that I can desire,
Bathsheba said, musingly.
Yet Farmer Boldwood, whether by nature kind or the reverse to kind, did
not exercise kindness here. The rarest offerings of the purest loves
are but a self-indulgence, and n... | 1,030 |
PG27 | 67 | Gabriel turned. Bathsheba then began, with some awkwardness, allowing
her thoughts to stray occasionally from her story to attend to the
shears, which required a little nicety in sharpening.
I wanted to ask you if the men made any observations on my going
behind the sedge with Mr. Boldwood yesterday?
Yes, they did, s... | 1,037 |
PG27 | 68 | I am glad you dont mind it, for I said it honestly, and with every
serious meaning.
I see. But, unfortunately, when you try not to speak in jest you are
amusingjust as when you wish to avoid seriousness you sometimes say a
sensible word.
It was a hard hit, but Bathsheba had unmistakably lost her temper, and
on that a... | 689 |
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