CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Much to Elizabeth's surprise, Henchard did not become the warm and loving father that she had thought he would. In fact, he became colder than he had ever been toward her. A new habit of his was to criticize her whenever she spoke like a person from the countryside.

One day, during a meeting with one of his customers, Henchard asked Elizabeth to write down their agreement as they said it aloud.

"Alright, start with: 'I, Michael Henchard, on the sixteenth of October ... '" he began.

As she wrote down these words in her own style of handwriting, Henchard became very embarrassed. It was not at all like a proper lady's writing. He immediately took the paper from her and asked her to leave.

"Forget it. I'll do it myself," he said.

Other times he would yell at her for being so kind to the servants in the house. She would often thank them for doing things for her and would even sometimes do things herself in order not to bother them.

"I pay them good money to be servants. Now, let them do their jobs and don't go thanking them every time they bring you a cup of tea!" he would say.

Elizabeth could not understand why, after changing her name to his, Henchard would suddenly begin to behave so differently toward her. It seemed that he began to like her less and less.

When, on another occasion, Henchard found his daughter serving tea with bread and cheese to one of the working women in his yard, he interrupted them and pulled Elizabeth away to have a word with her.

"You're going to destroy my reputation in town by doing things like this for such low people, especially that woman!" he said, looking angrily at his daughter.

Then the woman worker, having heard these words, approached Henchard and said, "Well, if you think this is bad, you should have seen when she was serving food and drinks at the Three Mariners! Those people are the lowest of them all!"

"What? When was this?" demanded Henchard.

"It was when mother and I first arrived in town," Elizabeth answered quietly, her eyes looking down at the ground in shame.

After that, Henchard took his meals with the farmers at a nearby hotel. And he did his best to avoid Elizabeth as often as he could. His embarrassment was so great that he could not stand to see her living in his own house.

Elizabeth, meanwhile, did her best to improve her education. She read all the time and even began to study Latin. It was, however, quite difficult to learn without a teacher.

In the winter, on rare sunny days, Elizabeth, with book in hand, would walk to the cemetery at the edge of town and visit her mother's tomb. One afternoon, she was surprised to find a stranger standing in front of her mother's tombstone, reading the words that were written there. Elizabeth stayed a good distance away and watched with great interest. The stranger was an attractively dressed young woman. She was much too well dressed to have been from the town of Casterbridge.

When the woman finally left Mrs Henchard's tomb and disappeared behind the cemetery gates, Elizabeth could not help wondering who she was and why she seemed so interested in her mother's grave. She had stood there for such a long time. Had they known each other?

When Elizabeth returned home, she found Henchard in a terrible mood. His time as Mayor was coming to an end soon and he had hoped to join the group of advisors for the next Mayor. That day, however, he learned that Donald Farfrae had been chosen for the position, instead of him. Henchard blamed his failure on his daughter, for having long ago worked at the Three Mariners. He cursed the day that his wife and Elizabeth came to Casterbridge; for since that day, he felt his luck changed.

Henchard wanted to get rid of Elizabeth. He could no longer live with her in the same home. But he could not just throw her out on the street. It would look terrible. He then sat down and wrote a letter to Farfrae. In the letter, he told the Scotsman that he could see Elizabeth-Jane again if he wanted.

The next day, while at the cemetery, Elizabeth saw Farfrae walk past the front gates. He, however, did not seem to have seen her. She imagined that he no longer cared at all about her. The idea made her very sad.

"Oh, mother! If only I could just die now and be with you!" she said aloud to herself.

Then suddenly, from behind her came the sound of a soft footstep. Elizabeth turned and found the woman she had seen the day before standing right behind her.

"What would make you say such a thing?" asked the stranger.

Elizabeth, however, did not answer. She felt very embarrassed that she had been heard.

The woman then sat down next to Elizabeth and, pointing to Mrs Henchard's tombstone, asked, "Was she your mother?"

"Yes. The only friend I had in the world," answered Elizabeth.

"But what about your father. Is he not good to you?"

"Yes, but I upset him often by helping the servants and speaking bad English."

The woman smiled at this answer. "Well, your father sounds like a man who is a little too concerned about his reputation. But I would bet that he loves you very much."

"I guess so. I really can't help myself sometimes. It's because of the way my life has been since I was young."

"Oh?" said the woman, suddenly more interested, "Could you tell me a little about that?"

Elizabeth then told her story and the woman seemed very pleased with what she heard. After she finished, Elizabeth became sad at the idea of having to return home.

"It's terrible. He doesn't want me there. I know it," she said.

"Well, I have an idea. I'm moving to a nice home in Casterbridge this afternoon. I'm looking for someone to live with me and help out with the housework. Would you be interested?"

Elizabeth almost jumped out of her seat with excitement. "I'd love to! But, I might be too simple a person for you to enjoy my company."

"Not at all. You needn't worry about speaking properly with me. Think about my offer for a week or so and then return here and let me know if you're still interested."

With that, the two women then left the cemetery and went their separate ways. And Elizabeth was full of happiness now that an opportunity to move away from her father had presented itself.

(end of section)