CHAPTER TWELVE

Elizabeth felt guilty after seeing her father leave the party. She believed that she had made him angry by dancing with Mr Farfrae. This destroyed her desire to celebrate any longer and she immediately walked out of the tent, towards home.

The streets were dark and quiet. Moments later, a man came running up to Elizabeth. When he got close enough and his face reflected the light of a nearby street lamp, Elizabeth could see that it was Mr Farfrae.

"Hi, Elizabeth! I've been searching for you all night!" he said, trying not to show how sad he was about losing his job. "I'll walk with you, if you don't mind."

Elizabeth said nothing. The two began to walk together towards the Henchard's home.

"To be honest, I wish I didn't have to leave town. I'd like to have more opportunities to dance with you," he went on.

"But I'm a terrible dancer," Elizabeth said.

"No, not at all! You've a natural talent for it. I enjoy dancing with you." Then after a moment of silence, the Scotsman said, "You know ... If I had enough money, I'd ask you ... Ah, never mind. I don't have the money. It's no use now. Anyway, don't forget me after I leave, you hear?"

"Of course I won't," she said, "I wish that you'd stay."

The Scotsman stopped walking for a moment and, with a smile, said, "I might consider that, actually. Well, I'd better leave you here. Your father would kill me if he saw us together now. Bye for now!"

And then he walked back into the darkness, leaving Elizabeth alone to walk the rest of the short distance to her home.

For the next few days, Elizabeth thought about Mr Farfrae more than ever. She became very anxious to know what decision he had made. Would he truly consider her wish that he stay in town, she wondered?

Apparently, he did consider it. News soon came that the Scotsman, almost immediately after leaving Mr Henchard's business, bought a corn and hay company of his own from a local small businessman.

When Mr Henchard heard about this during one of his town meetings, he exploded with anger.

"I helped that young man to get on his feet! And how does he repay me? How does he show his thanks? By going into competition with my business!" He cried, "Well, I'll prove to him that I have as much business sense as he does. We'll see who's more successful!"

The men at the meeting were not impressed with the Mayor's little speech. Their confidence in him had lessened over the two years that he had been the town's leader. So, no cheers of applause followed Mr Henchard's angry words.

After the meeting, he walked home with a look of determination on his face. When he arrived, he immediately called his stepdaughter into the living room.

"Elizabeth, dear, I've called you in here to ask that you never see Mr Farfrae again. He seems to have his eye on you and I won't allow for things to go any further between you two. Do you understand?"

After remaining silent for a moment, she replied, "Yes, sir." Then, seeing her stepfather sitting down at his desk to write a letter, she walked quickly out of the room. Meanwhile, Mr Henchard wrote the following:

Farfrae—I ask that you never speak with my daughter again. She has agreed to this and I expect you to accept this.

Michael Henchard

He went to his mailbox the following morning, completely ignoring the part of his brain that suggested he support a relationship between his daughter and Mr Farfrae. In truth, it would only have helped to restore good relations with everyone. Mr Henchard's anger and embarrassment, however, were too strong to allow him to accept this, so the letter soon left in the hands of the postman.

Over the next few days, Donald Farfrae began to be approached by customers from around the area. Strangely enough, he refused the first man who came to him for business, because he had been a recent customer of Henchard's. Donald was an honest businessman. He did not mean to take any of Henchard's customers away from him. He believed that the corn and hay business was large enough in the area to allow for two companies to exist at the same time. And he was right, for it was not long before Donald's business was up and running well.

After receiving the letter from Henchard concerning Elizabeth, Donald decided to obey the man's wishes. He focused on his business. There would be more opportunity, later on, to be romantic.

Soon, no matter how much he tried not to cause trouble, Farfrae was forced to directly compete with Henchard's business. Both companies had booths set up at the weekend market, where, almost every Sunday the two men saw each other. Farfrae wanted to be friendly, but Henchard made it impossible by ignoring him and throwing angry looks at him.

Immediately, a price war began between the two companies. Everyone predicted that if Henchard's business did not immediately destroy Farfrae's, then Farfrae would come away the winner and soon control the entire corn and hay industry.

(end of section)