CHAPTER XLIX

OAK’S ADVANCEMENT—A GREAT HOPE

The later autumn and the winter drew on apace, and the leaves lay thick

upon the turf of the glades and the mosses of the woods. Bathsheba,

having previously been living in a state of suspended feeling which was

not suspense, now lived in a mood of quietude which was not precisely

peacefulness. While she had known him to be alive she could have

thought of his death with equanimity; but now that it might be she had

lost him, she regretted that he was not hers still. She kept the farm

going, raked in her profits without caring keenly about them, and

expended money on ventures because she had done so in bygone days,

which, though not long gone by, seemed infinitely removed from her

present. She looked back upon that past over a great gulf, as if she

were now a dead person, having the faculty of meditation still left in

her, by means of which, like the mouldering gentlefolk of the poet’s

story, she could sit and ponder what a gift life used to be.

However, one excellent result of her general apathy was the

long-delayed installation of Oak as bailiff; but he having virtually

exercised that function for a long time already, the change, beyond the

substantial increase of wages it brought, was little more than a

nominal one addressed to the outside world.

Boldwood lived secluded and inactive. Much of his wheat and all his

barley of that season had been spoilt by the rain. It sprouted, grew

into intricate mats, and was ultimately thrown to the pigs in armfuls.

The strange neglect which had produced this ruin and waste became the

subject of whispered talk among all the people round; and it was

elicited from one of Boldwood’s men that forgetfulness had nothing to

do with it, for he had been reminded of the danger to his corn as many

times and as persistently as inferiors dared to do. The sight of the

pigs turning in disgust from the rotten ears seemed to arouse Boldwood,

and he one evening sent for Oak. Whether it was suggested by

Bathsheba’s recent act of promotion or not, the farmer proposed at the

interview that Gabriel should undertake the superintendence of the

Lower Farm as well as of Bathsheba’s, because of the necessity Boldwood

felt for such aid, and the impossibility of discovering a more

trustworthy man. Gabriel’s malignant star was assuredly setting fast.

Bathsheba, when she learnt of this proposal—for Oak was obliged to

consult her—at first languidly objected. She considered that the two

farms together were too extensive for the observation of one man.

Boldwood, who was apparently determined by personal rather than

commercial reasons, suggested that Oak should be furnished with a horse

for his sole use, when the plan would present no difficulty, the two

farms lying side by side. Boldwood did not directly communicate with

her during these negotiations, only speaking to Oak, who was the

go-between throughout. All was harmoniously arranged at last, and we

now see Oak mounted on a strong cob, and daily trotting the length and

breadth of about two thousand acres in a cheerful spirit of

surveillance, as if the crops all belonged to him—the actual mistress

of the one-half and the master of the other, sitting in their

respective homes in gloomy and sad seclusion.

Out of this there arose, during the spring succeeding, a talk in the

parish that Gabriel Oak was feathering his nest fast.

“Whatever d’ye think,” said Susan Tall, “Gable Oak is coming it quite

the dand. He now wears shining boots with hardly a hob in ’em, two or

three times a-week, and a tall hat a-Sundays, and ’a hardly knows the

name of smockfrock. When I see people strut enough to be cut up into

bantam cocks, I stand dormant with wonder, and says no more!”

It was eventually known that Gabriel, though paid a fixed wage by

Bathsheba independent of the fluctuations of agricultural profits, had

made an engagement with Boldwood by which Oak was to receive a share of

the receipts—a small share certainly, yet it was money of a higher

quality than mere wages, and capable of expansion in a way that wages

were not. Some were beginning to consider Oak a “near” man, for though

his condition had thus far improved, he lived in no better style than

before, occupying the same cottage, paring his own potatoes, mending

his stockings, and sometimes even making his bed with his own hands.

But as Oak was not only provokingly indifferent to public opinion, but

a man who clung persistently to old habits and usages, simply because

they were old, there was room for doubt as to his motives.

A great hope had latterly germinated in Boldwood, whose unreasoning

devotion to Bathsheba could only be characterized as a fond madness

which neither time nor circumstance, evil nor good report, could weaken

or destroy. This fevered hope had grown up again like a grain of

mustard-seed during the quiet which followed the hasty conjecture that

Troy was drowned. He nourished it fearfully, and almost shunned the

contemplation of it in earnest, lest facts should reveal the wildness

of the dream. Bathsheba having at last been persuaded to wear mourning,

her appearance as she entered the church in that guise was in itself a

weekly addition to his faith that a time was coming—very far off

perhaps, yet surely nearing—when his waiting on events should have its

reward. How long he might have to wait he had not yet closely

considered. What he would try to recognize was that the severe

schooling she had been subjected to had made Bathsheba much more

considerate than she had formerly been of the feelings of others, and

he trusted that, should she be willing at any time in the future to

marry any man at all, that man would be himself. There was a substratum

of good feeling in her: her self-reproach for the injury she had

thoughtlessly done him might be depended upon now to a much greater

extent than before her infatuation and disappointment. It would be

possible to approach her by the channel of her good nature, and to

suggest a friendly businesslike compact between them for fulfilment at

some future day, keeping the passionate side of his desire entirely out

of her sight. Such was Boldwood’s hope.

To the eyes of the middle-aged, Bathsheba was perhaps additionally

charming just now. Her exuberance of spirit was pruned down; the

original phantom of delight had shown herself to be not too bright for

human nature’s daily food, and she had been able to enter this second

poetical phase without losing much of the first in the process.

Bathsheba’s return from a two months’ visit to her old aunt at Norcombe

afforded the impassioned and yearning farmer a pretext for inquiring

directly after her—now possibly in the ninth month of her widowhood—and

endeavouring to get a notion of her state of mind regarding him. This

occurred in the middle of the haymaking, and Boldwood contrived to be

near Liddy, who was assisting in the fields.

“I am glad to see you out of doors, Lydia,” he said pleasantly.

She simpered, and wondered in her heart why he should speak so frankly

to her.

“I hope Mrs. Troy is quite well after her long absence,” he continued,

in a manner expressing that the coldest-hearted neighbour could

scarcely say less about her.

“She is quite well, sir.”

“And cheerful, I suppose.”

“Yes, cheerful.”

“Fearful, did you say?”

“Oh no. I merely said she was cheerful.”

“Tells you all her affairs?”

“No, sir.”

“Some of them?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Mrs. Troy puts much confidence in you, Lydia, and very wisely,

perhaps.”

“She do, sir. I’ve been with her all through her troubles, and was with

her at the time of Mr. Troy’s going and all. And if she were to marry

again I expect I should bide with her.”

“She promises that you shall—quite natural,” said the strategic lover,

throbbing throughout him at the presumption which Liddy’s words

appeared to warrant—that his darling had thought of re-marriage.

“No—she doesn’t promise it exactly. I merely judge on my own account.”

“Yes, yes, I understand. When she alludes to the possibility of

marrying again, you conclude—”

“She never do allude to it, sir,” said Liddy, thinking how very stupid

Mr. Boldwood was getting.

“Of course not,” he returned hastily, his hope falling again. “You

needn’t take quite such long reaches with your rake, Lydia—short and

quick ones are best. Well, perhaps, as she is absolute mistress again

now, it is wise of her to resolve never to give up her freedom.”

“My mistress did certainly once say, though not seriously, that she

supposed she might marry again at the end of seven years from last

year, if she cared to risk Mr. Troy’s coming back and claiming her.”

“Ah, six years from the present time. Said that she might. She might

marry at once in every reasonable person’s opinion, whatever the

lawyers may say to the contrary.”

“Have you been to ask them?” said Liddy, innocently.

“Not I,” said Boldwood, growing red. “Liddy, you needn’t stay here a

minute later than you wish, so Mr. Oak says. I am now going on a little

farther. Good-afternoon.”

He went away vexed with himself, and ashamed of having for this one

time in his life done anything which could be called underhand. Poor

Boldwood had no more skill in finesse than a battering-ram, and he was

uneasy with a sense of having made himself to appear stupid and, what

was worse, mean. But he had, after all, lighted upon one fact by way of

repayment. It was a singularly fresh and fascinating fact, and though

not without its sadness it was pertinent and real. In little more than

six years from this time Bathsheba might certainly marry him. There was

something definite in that hope, for admitting that there might have

been no deep thought in her words to Liddy about marriage, they showed

at least her creed on the matter.

This pleasant notion was now continually in his mind. Six years were a

long time, but how much shorter than never, the idea he had for so long

been obliged to endure! Jacob had served twice seven years for Rachel:

what were six for such a woman as this? He tried to like the notion of

waiting for her better than that of winning her at once. Boldwood felt

his love to be so deep and strong and eternal, that it was possible she

had never yet known its full volume, and this patience in delay would

afford him an opportunity of giving sweet proof on the point. He would

annihilate the six years of his life as if they were minutes—so little

did he value his time on earth beside her love. He would let her see,

all those six years of intangible ethereal courtship, how little care

he had for anything but as it bore upon the consummation.

Meanwhile the early and the late summer brought round the week in which

Greenhill Fair was held. This fair was frequently attended by the folk

of Weatherbury.