CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Mrs Henchard soon became very ill. The best doctors in the area were called in to care for her and Elizabeth hardly ever left her mother's bedside.

During this time, Mr Henchard received a letter from his former lover in Jersey, Lucetta. In her letter she forgave him for leaving her and apologized for the angry letters she had sent him after hearing of his plan to remarry his wife. The letter also said that it was very important that he return all of the letters she had ever sent him, as no one could ever know about their relationship. Her reputation in Jersey was ruined, however, she planned to move to another town where she would be a stranger and try to start her life over again. She mentioned that she would be passing through Casterbridge in a few days and would appreciate it if he would bring the letters to her at the station.

Mr Henchard did as she asked and went to the station on the day indicated in the letter. Lucetta, however, was not there. After waiting for over an hour, he decided to give up and return home to his ill wife.

Mrs Henchard's health was so bad now that she could not get out of bed. It seemed that she had no strength at all to do anything. So it was surprising when, one day, she asked for a paper and pen. Although she could hardly hold the pen in her fingers, she refused to allow anyone to help her. When she finished writing, she folded the paper and put it in an envelope, on the cover of which she wrote:

To my husband. Do not open until Elizabeth-Jane marries.

Several days later, she died.

Three weeks later, as Henchard sat in his living room with his daughter, he found a strong desire within himself to talk about the past.

"Do you remember me at all in your childhood?" he asked.

"No. I only remember my parents," she answered.

A look of pain came over Henchard's face. He hated it that his daughter did not know the truth about him. "Do you miss Mr Newson?"

"Oh yes. He was such a good father."

Hearing this, he could no longer control himself. He walked around the room with his hands behind his back and finally ended up behind Elizabeth's chair.

"The time has come for me to tell you something, Elizabeth," he began, "Your mother and I were married long ago and it is I who am your real father. Later on, we separated and Newson replaced me."

This was as much as he could tell her. He did not want to go any further, for he knew that it would be too great a shock for his daughter.

After a few moments of sitting deathly still, Elizabeth threw her arms and head on the table before her and began to cry.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Elizabeth!" he said with tears in his eyes, "I hope that you're not too angry with me. I promise to be a good father. I used to be cruel to your mother, but that was because of my drinking. I've stopped that now. I'll never do anything to hurt you!"

Seeing that she was quite upset, he decided to let her cry for a while. However, before leaving the room, he turned around and added, "Just one other thing, Elizabeth. I wonder if you'd now reconsider changing your name to Henchard. It is your real name, after all."

She lifted her head and looked into the fire that was burning in the fireplace before her. "I suppose that I should," she said, "I ... just wonder why my mother never insisted on it?"

"Well, it probably wasn't as important to her. After all, it's more my name than hers," he replied. Then, after getting pen and paper for her, he told his daughter to write an announcement for the newspaper. He told her exactly what to write and then asked her to sign her name at the bottom.

"Good. Now, I'll go and gather the papers I have upstairs to prove to you that I'm your father. But I'll wait until tomorrow to share them with you. You need to be alone, I'm sure."

And with that he went up to his bedroom and began to look through the drawer, which contained the papers he had spoken of. Among them, he saw the envelope marked: To my husband. Do not open until Elizabeth-Jane marries. The seal of the envelope had weakened and opened. He could see, without much effort at all, the first sentence of her writing: Dear Michael, There's something I have not told you.

His interest was too great now to prevent him from reading further. He took the paper out of the envelope and read the whole thing.

Dear Michael,

There's something I have not told you. Elizabeth is not your real daughter. Our daughter died three months after we separated. I could not bear the sadness and decided to have another child with Mr Newson. Elizabeth is his. I gave her the same name as our daughter, hoping to forget about the daughter I lost. I am sorry that I did not tell you before. I hope that you can forgive me in the same way that I forgave you.

Susan Henchard

He did not move from his chair for several hours. The idea that God or some higher being was trying to destroy his life kept coming to him. He had lost the three closest people to him, his wife, Farfrae, and now his daughter, as well. He now understood why his wife did not insist on changing Elizabeth's last name.

Then, taking a candle in hand, he got up and went to Elizabeth's room. She was fast asleep and breathing heavily. He walked up to her bedside and placed the candle close to her face. It was true. She looked nothing like him. Their skin was a completely different color, and there was no denying her resemblance to Newson the sailor.

He left the house and went for a walk around the outer edge of town. As he walked, he thought about his situation. In the end, he decided to leave things as they were. He had taken steps for Elizabeth to become his daughter. It was the main reason he remarried his wife. There was nothing more to be said about it.

The next morning, as he entered the dining room, Elizabeth greeted him very warmly.

"After a lot of thinking, I've decided that I'm glad to know the truth now. You are my father."

Mr Henchard then went over to her and kissed her face. It was the moment that he had waited for so long to happen. And yet he was so troubled with guilt that he could not properly enjoy it.

(end of section)