CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

For the next week both women kept their eyes upon the street for any chance of Farfrae passing by. In their hearts, they could not wait for the following weekend, when the next market would open up again. Lucetta even brought out her best dress to wear for the day.

The next Sunday, the streets were full of people who had gathered around to see a new machine that had been brought to town for harvesting corn. Lucetta put on her dress and she and Elizabeth went outside to join the crowd.

"It looks like a strange piano," Lucetta commented.

"Yes, it's very strange, indeed," said a nearby voice. It was the voice of Michael Henchard, "And quite useless, if you ask me," he added. Lucetta looked in his direction and he greeted her with a gentlemanly bow. She then looked away and refocused her attention on the machine without replying.

Donald Farfrae soon came through the crowd and began to look at the machine very closely. He seemed to be familiar with it. Both Elizabeth and Lucetta became excited at the sight of him.

Mr Henchard, meanwhile, seeing that his former lover did not seem especially interested in him at the moment, went back to his sales booth.

"These machines will replace the workers in the fields," Elizabeth said loud enough for the Scotsman to hear.

"Yes," he replied, "I'm afraid they will. They make the job a lot easier and faster."

Although, Farfrae spoke to Elizabeth, his eyes were looking mostly at Lucetta. When the two women went back inside their home, Elizabeth commented that it seemed Donald and Lucetta knew each other. Her housemate then explained the meeting that had happened the Sunday before.

From that time forward, Elizabeth paid more attention to her housemate's behavior in the presence of Farfrae. It soon became obvious to her that Lucetta was romantically interested in him.

One early evening, Elizabeth noticed that her housemate seemed bothered by something. She asked what was the matter and Lucetta immediately told her.

"I've been thinking about a woman I'd known before. She had fallen in love with a man who didn't love her as much as she did him. One day, however, after years of being together, an opportunity came for her to marry him. The only problem was that she had met another man recently, whom she found more interesting and handsome."

"My goodness! Another man?" said Elizabeth.

"Yes. What would you have done if you were in that same situation?" asked Lucetta.

"That's much too difficult a problem for me. I'd have no idea how to handle it."

Then Lucetta looked in the mirror and, with a tired and sad voice, asked Elizabeth, "How much longer do you think I have before I start to look old and unattractive?"

Elizabeth looked at Lucetta carefully. She, of course, knew that Lucetta had been talking about herself and not some other woman. And, without a doubt, Farfrae was the man she had recently met and found interesting. And the third man, judging by the way that she had visited her mother's tomb, had to be her father. With this in mind, she answered, "If you live a simple life, without much pressure ... without men, I'd say you have ten more good years. However, love might take away five of those good years."

Over the next couple of weeks, Farfrae visited often. Although Elizabeth was present for each of his visits, the Scotsman hardly ever looked at her. His full attention was on Lucetta.

Meanwhile, Henchard was becoming more and more sure that he needed Lucetta as his wife. Her refusal to see him made him want her even more than before. Finally, one day, seeing that she was not going to come to him, he paid her a visit.

"Thank you for coming," Lucetta said to him, after he had taken a seat in her living room.

"'Thanks' is hardly necessary, Lucetta," he said, "I've come to ask you when you'd like to marry. I'm happy to do it whenever you like."

"It'd be good to wait a while, I think," she answered.

"Yes, of course." Then, taking a look at the decoration of the house, he added, "My goodness! None of the families in Casterbridge have anything like this in their home. I'm so happy that you've become wealthy. You deserve it. I must seem like a present to you now that you've gotten out of Jersey and begun to experience higher society people with proper manners."

"Don't speak to me about that terrible place! And how can you stand there and say such bad things about me! You act as if I didn't have any manners before now!"

"Alright. Well, what do you think of getting married?" he said returning to the original topic.

"We'll just have to wait a while and see," she answered.

"Ah. Fine then."

Henchard dropped his eyes to the ground and then turned and walked out of the living room and back into the street.

Lucetta, watching him go, felt relieved. She fell back onto the couch and then shouted to her furniture, "I know whom I love and it's definitely not that man!"

The next time Henchard came to visit, he sat in the living room with both Lucetta and Elizabeth. They discussed mostly simple, uninteresting things, as it was impossible to mention the marriage he now wanted so badly.

Then a knock came at the door. It was a cheerful knock. Immediately, Henchard, who had been worrying about the possibility of there being another man in Lucetta's life, wondered if it might not be an enemy at the door. In fact, it was Donald Farfrae.

The sudden change in Lucetta's behavior, upon the entrance of the Scotsman, made Henchard realize that he had been right. As Donald sat down next to the Mayor, an uncomfortable quiet settled upon the room.

The visit did not go very well at all and Henchard finally left feeling quite sure that Farfrae and Lucetta were lovers. He, of course, had no evidence of this, but it was clear that there was something between them. He did not like it and decided to do what he could to prevent their relationship from getting stronger.

The first thing he did was offer the manager's position to Jopp. The already poor man, after losing the position to Farfrae, became one of the poorest in town. Now, however, the position was his and Henchard expected hard work.

"Our biggest goal, Jopp, is to destroy Farfrae's business," Henchard said, "I still have the biggest corn and hay company in town and I plan to keep it that way. We will fight that Scotsman and win! You understand me? We must offer people the best price for our services. Even if it means losing a little money for a while."

Jopp looked forward to the fight, for he hated Farfrae. This, however, made him equally dangerous for Henchard, as hatred can make a man behave quite irresponsibly.

"I'll do everything I can, sir," he replied, "He's been very lucky until now. I'm guessing his luck is about to change."

When Elizabeth heard that her father had hired Jopp, she told her father how badly suited she felt he was for the job. Henchard, however, did not want to hear what she had to say and angrily told her to mind her own business.

(end of section)