CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Exactly two weeks later, Elizabeth heard a couple of townspeople outside her door talking about Henchard.

"The man's begun drinking again! I saw him just a few minutes ago at the Three Mariners!"

Immediately, Elizabeth left her home and went to the Inn. When she arrived, she found him drunk and frightening the poor Sunday churchgoers, who'd just come in to have a drink and discuss the speech the priest had given earlier that morning. Henchard stood at the door holding a long stick in his hands, threatening to hit anyone who did not sing his favorite song.

Elizabeth waited until the singing was over and then entered the pub and walked up to Henchard. He was calm now and he obeyed her when she took him by the hand and led him out of the pub and back to his home. Along the way, he sang and occasionally interrupted himself with drunken promises.

"The next time I see Farfrae, I'm going to have to do something to make up for everything I've lost to him!" he said.

Elizabeth pretended not to hear this, but in truth she was quite frightened by his words. She wanted to tell Farfrae, but, instead, decided to observe Henchard's behavior for a while, to see how serious he was.

One day, in order to watch him more closely, she joined her father in his work outside the Farfrae's home. Together, they worked in the hay barn, tying large bundles together and piling them up. They were busy at this when Donald and Lucetta came walking out of the back door of their home. Donald walked directly to his office, while Lucetta went to the hay barn. She had not known that Henchard was working for her husband, for he had never mentioned it. So it was with great surprise that she entered the barn and found herself facing Henchard and Elizabeth. She stood so still that it seemed impossible for her to move.

"Excuse me, ma'am," said Henchard, "Could you please tell us what time it is?"

Lucetta nervously looked at her watch and then said, "It's four thirty."

"Thank you, ma'am. It's almost time for our workday to end. You see. We poor people can't enjoy the easy life that you do. We greatly appreciate it when you come in to see us. It's not often that great people pay attention to us."

Lucetta tried her best to smile and then quickly left the barn. From that day on, she avoided meeting Henchard again. Donald, on the other hand, treated Henchard better than the other workers. He could not forget that this man had once been the owner of the business he now owned.

One day, Elizabeth came to give her father some tea, in hopes that he might not drink very much at the Inn later in the evening. As she entered the barn and climbed the stairs to the second floor where the untied hay was kept, she saw Henchard and Farfrae having a conversation. Donald's back was to Henchard, and he was talking to him while standing at the edge of the second-floor balcony, looking down at the floor below. Much to Elizabeth's horror, she thought that she saw Henchard reach out with his right hand toward Donald, as if to push him over the edge. Then he let his arm drop back down to his side and continued to listen to his boss speak.

Elizabeth took the tea to him and then immediately left. As she returned home, she began to think that her father was becoming more and more troubled about working for Farfrae. Because she feared that he might, eventually, do something to hurt the Scotsman, she decided to tell Donald to be careful.

The next morning, she got up earlier than usual and met Farfrae on his way to one of his work sites in town. It was his habit to begin his workday while the rest of the town still slept. He was surprised to see Elizabeth and greeted her in a very friendly way.

"Mr Farfrae, I'm sorry to bother you so early," she began, "but I wanted to warn you about my father. I'm afraid that he might want to do something to hurt you in the future. I hope that you might just be more careful when you're around him. That's all."

"Thank you for your kind warning, but I can't imagine him wanting to hurt me at all," Donald replied, "He and I are friends now."

"Just be careful, sir. His life has changed. He's capable of doing things he wouldn't have done before."

Elizabeth then left Farfrae and returned to her home. Farfrae did not think too much about what he had been told. However, later that same day, he was again warned, by another person, of Henchard's bad feelings toward him.

It had been Donald's plan to set up a small business for Henchard. However, one of his fellow townsmen, after hearing this plan, told Farfrae about the terrible things Henchard had been saying about him every night at the Three Mariners.

"Well, he helped me in the past. I'll always help him," Donald said, "But maybe I ought to think more about this small business I planned to give him."

When Henchard later heard that the Mayor's office had planned to help him start a new business, but that Farfrae had suggested that they not do it, his hatred of the Scotsman grew.

Later that evening, while talking about Henchard with Lucetta, a knock came at Farfrae's door. It was one of the Mayor's advisors.

"Donald, I've come to tell you that the Mayor has just died. Many of us in the advising council would like to see you become the new Mayor. Will you agree to it?"

"I ... " Donald looked over at Lucetta, who did not seem pleased.

"Donald and I were thinking about leaving Casterbridge, actually," she said. Lately, hearing about Henchard's growing anger, she had become nervous about the possibility of her past being uncovered. She had tried several times to convince her husband to move.

"If you all want me to be Mayor, then I suppose I'll have to do it!" Farfrae answered.

"Excellent! I'll tell the others right away!" And then the advisor left.

Two days later, the town was filled with the sound of music and the ringing of church bells. Donald Farfrae had been made the new Mayor of Casterbridge.

The celebration made Henchard's anger and sadness ten times worse than before. He drank more than usual that day, in order to pay as little attention as possible to the town's happiness. As he put the glass to his lips, an idea came to him, suddenly.

The next evening, he went to Farfrae's home and knocked at the front door. Donald answered.

"Sorry to bother you, but I believe that I've left something in your living room safe," Henchard explained, "It's quite important to me. Would you mind if I got it?"

"Of course I wouldn't mind. Please, come in!" Farfrae politely said.

The safe was immediately opened, and Henchard's papers were there, just as he had said. Farfrae handed them to him and invited him to have a seat.

"I'm sorry, Lucetta can't join us. She's already sleeping," Donald said. Henchard just waved his hand in the air to show it did not matter.

"Do you know what these are?" asked Henchard, holding a few envelopes in his hand, "These are letters from that woman I'd told you about long ago. The one in Jersey whom I'd planned to marry, but couldn't because of my wife."

"Ah, yes. I do remember. What happened to her?" asked the Scotsman.

"She married another man. Can you believe it?After my wife died, I went to her and proposed marriage again, but she had already found another man!"

"It sounds like she was very easy to change her mind!"

"Yes, indeed. Very easy," Henchard said with a strange smile on his face. He read a few of the letters to Farfrae, but never gave the name of the woman who had written them. It had been his plan to completely destroy the Farfrae family's happiness that night, by revealing Lucetta's past. However, as he sat in their living room, he could not get the courage to do it. In the end, he thanked Donald and went back home.

(end of section)