Kabanata Kabanata 10 · Chapter X

While she still sat under the Scotchman’s eyes a man came up to the

door, reaching it as Henchard opened the door of the inner office to

admit Elizabeth. The newcomer stepped forward like the quicker cripple

at Bethesda, and entered in her stead. She could hear his words to

Henchard: “Joshua Jopp, sir—by appointment—the new manager.”

“The new manager!—he’s in his office,” said Henchard bluntly.

“In his office!” said the man, with a stultified air.

“I mentioned Thursday,” said Henchard; “and as you did not keep your

appointment, I have engaged another manager. At first I thought he must

be you. Do you think I can wait when business is in question?”

“You said Thursday or Saturday, sir,” said the newcomer, pulling out a

letter.

“Well, you are too late,” said the corn-factor. “I can say no more.”

“You as good as engaged me,” murmured the man.

“Subject to an interview,” said Henchard. “I am sorry for you—very

sorry indeed. But it can’t be helped.”

There was no more to be said, and the man came out, encountering

Elizabeth-Jane in his passage. She could see that his mouth twitched

with anger, and that bitter disappointment was written in his face

everywhere.

Elizabeth-Jane now entered, and stood before the master of the

premises. His dark pupils—which always seemed to have a red spark of

light in them, though this could hardly be a physical fact—turned

indifferently round under his dark brows until they rested on her

figure. “Now then, what is it, my young woman?” he said blandly.

“Can I speak to you—not on business, sir?” said she.

“Yes—I suppose.” He looked at her more thoughtfully.

“I am sent to tell you, sir,” she innocently went on, “that a distant

relative of yours by marriage, Susan Newson, a sailor’s widow, is in

the town, and to ask whether you would wish to see her.”

The rich _rouge-et-noir_ of his countenance underwent a slight change.

“Oh—Susan is—still alive?” he asked with difficulty.

“Yes, sir.”

“Are you her daughter?”

“Yes, sir—her only daughter.”

“What—do you call yourself—your Christian name?”

“Elizabeth-Jane, sir.”

“Newson?”

“Elizabeth-Jane Newson.”

This at once suggested to Henchard that the transaction of his early

married life at Weydon Fair was unrecorded in the family history. It

was more than he could have expected. His wife had behaved kindly to

him in return for his unkindness, and had never proclaimed her wrong to

her child or to the world.

“I am—a good deal interested in your news,” he said. “And as this is

not a matter of business, but pleasure, suppose we go indoors.”

It was with a gentle delicacy of manner, surprising to Elizabeth, that

he showed her out of the office and through the outer room, where

Donald Farfrae was overhauling bins and samples with the inquiring

inspection of a beginner in charge. Henchard preceded her through the

door in the wall to the suddenly changed scene of the garden and

flowers, and onward into the house. The dining-room to which he

introduced her still exhibited the remnants of the lavish breakfast

laid for Farfrae. It was furnished to profusion with heavy mahogany

furniture of the deepest red-Spanish hues. Pembroke tables, with leaves

hanging so low that they well-nigh touched the floor, stood against the

walls on legs and feet shaped like those of an elephant, and on one lay

three huge folio volumes—a Family Bible, a “Josephus,” and a “Whole

Duty of Man.” In the chimney corner was a fire-grate with a fluted

semi-circular back, having urns and festoons cast in relief thereon,

and the chairs were of the kind which, since that day, has cast lustre

upon the names of Chippendale and Sheraton, though, in point of fact,

their patterns may have been such as those illustrious carpenters never

saw or heard of.

“Sit down—Elizabeth-Jane—sit down,” he said, with a shake in his voice

as he uttered her name, and sitting down himself he allowed his hands

to hang between his knees while he looked upon the carpet. “Your

mother, then, is quite well?”

“She is rather worn out, sir, with travelling.”

“A sailor’s widow—when did he die?”

“Father was lost last spring.”

Henchard winced at the word “father,” thus applied. “Do you and she

come from abroad—America or Australia?” he asked.

“No. We have been in England some years. I was twelve when we came here

from Canada.”

“Ah; exactly.” By such conversation he discovered the circumstances

which had enveloped his wife and her child in such total obscurity that

he had long ago believed them to be in their graves. These things being

clear, he returned to the present. “And where is your mother staying?”

“At the Three Mariners.”

“And you are her daughter Elizabeth-Jane?” repeated Henchard. He arose,

came close to her, and glanced in her face. “I think,” he said,

suddenly turning away with a wet eye, “you shall take a note from me to

your mother. I should like to see her.... She is not left very well off

by her late husband?” His eye fell on Elizabeth’s clothes, which,

though a respectable suit of black, and her very best, were decidedly

old-fashioned even to Casterbridge eyes.

“Not very well,” she said, glad that he had divined this without her

being obliged to express it.

He sat down at the table and wrote a few lines, next taking from his

pocket-book a five-pound note, which he put in the envelope with the

letter, adding to it, as by an afterthought, five shillings. Sealing

the whole up carefully, he directed it to “Mrs. Newson, Three Mariners

Inn,” and handed the packet to Elizabeth.

“Deliver it to her personally, please,” said Henchard. “Well, I am glad

to see you here, Elizabeth-Jane—very glad. We must have a long talk

together—but not just now.”

He took her hand at parting, and held it so warmly that she, who had

known so little friendship, was much affected, and tears rose to her

aerial-grey eyes. The instant that she was gone Henchard’s state showed

itself more distinctly; having shut the door he sat in his dining-room

stiffly erect, gazing at the opposite wall as if he read his history

there.

“Begad!” he suddenly exclaimed, jumping up. “I didn’t think of that.

Perhaps these are impostors—and Susan and the child dead after all!”

However, a something in Elizabeth-Jane soon assured him that, as

regarded her, at least, there could be little doubt. And a few hours

would settle the question of her mother’s identity; for he had arranged

in his note to see her that evening.

“It never rains but it pours!” said Henchard. His keenly excited

interest in his new friend the Scotchman was now eclipsed by this

event, and Donald Farfrae saw so little of him during the rest of the

day that he wondered at the suddenness of his employer’s moods.

In the meantime Elizabeth had reached the inn. Her mother, instead of

taking the note with the curiosity of a poor woman expecting

assistance, was much moved at sight of it. She did not read it at once,

asking Elizabeth to describe her reception, and the very words Mr.

Henchard used. Elizabeth’s back was turned when her mother opened the

letter. It ran thus:—

“Meet me at eight o’clock this evening, if you can, at the Ring on the

Budmouth road. The place is easy to find. I can say no more now. The

news upsets me almost. The girl seems to be in ignorance. Keep her so

till I have seen you. M. H.”

He said nothing about the enclosure of five guineas. The amount was

significant; it may tacitly have said to her that he bought her back

again. She waited restlessly for the close of the day, telling

Elizabeth-Jane that she was invited to see Mr. Henchard; that she would

go alone. But she said nothing to show that the place of meeting was

not at his house, nor did she hand the note to Elizabeth.