ae's domestic plans.

Not a hint of the matter was thrown out to her stepfather by Elizabeth
herself or by Farfrae either. Reasoning on the cause of their reticence
he concluded that, estimating him by his past, the throbbing pair were
afraid to broach the subject, and looked upon him as an irksome obstacle
whom they would be heartily glad to get out of the way. Embittered as he
was against society, this moody view of himself took deeper and deeper
hold of Henchard, till the daily necessity of facing mankind, and of
them particularly Elizabeth-Jane, became well-nigh more than he could
endure. His health declined; he became morbidly sensitive. He wished he
could escape those who did not want him, and hide his head for ever.

But what if he were mistaken in his views, and there were no necessity
that his own absolute separation from her should be involved in the
incident of her marriage?

He proceeded to draw a picture of the alternative--himself living like a
fangless lion about the back rooms of a house in which his stepdaughter
was mistress, an inoffensive old man, tenderly smiled on by Elizabeth,
and good-naturedly tolerated by her husband. It was terrible to his
pride to think of descending so low; and yet, for the girl's sake
he might put up with anything; even from Farfrae; even snubbings and
masterful tongue-scourgings. The privilege of being in the house she
occupied would almost outweigh the personal humiliation.

Whether this were a dim possibility or the reverse, the courtship--which
it evidently now was--had an absorbing interest for him.

Elizabeth, as has been said, often took her walks on the Budmouth Road,
and Farfrae as often made it convenient to create an accidental meeting
with her there. Two miles out, a quarter of a mile from the highway,
was the prehistoric fort called Mai Dun, of huge dimensions and many
ramparts, within or upon whose enclosures a human being as seen from
the road, was but an insignificant speck. Hitherward Henchard often
resorted, glass in hand, and scanned the hedgeless Via--for it was the
original track laid out by the legions of the Empire--to a distance of
two or three miles, his object being to read the progress of affairs
between Farfrae and his charmer.

One day Henchard was at this spot when a masculine figure came along
the road from Budmouth, and lingered. Applying his telescope to his eye
Henchard expected that Farfrae's features would be disclosed as usual.
But