
farming, if she had not already done so; and he would then become liable for her
maintenance: and what a life such a future of poverty with her would be, the
spectre of Fanny constantly between them, harrowing his temper and embittering
her words! Thus, for reasons touching on distaste, regret, and shame commingled,
he put off his return from day to day, and would have decided to put it off
altogether if he could have found anywhere else the ready-made establishment
which existed for him there.
    At this time - the July preceding the September in which we find him at
Greenhill Fair - he fell in with a travelling circus which was performing in the
outskirts of a northern town. Troy introduced himself to the manager by taming a
restive horse of the troupe, hitting a suspended apple with a pistol-bullet
fired from the animal's back when in full gallop, and other feats. For his
merits in these - all more or less based upon his experiences as a
dragoon-guardsman - Troy was taken into the company, and the play of Turpin was
prepared with a view to his personation of the chief character. Troy was not
greatly elated by the appreciative spirit in which he was undoubtedly treated,
but he thought the engagement might afford him a few weeks for consideration. It
was thus carelessly, and without having formed any definite plan for the future,
that Troy found himself at Greenhill Fair with the rest of the company on this
day.
    And now the mild autumn sun got lower, and in front of the pavilion the
following incident had taken place. Bathsheba - who was driven to the fair that
day by her odd man Poorgrass - had, like every one else, read or heard the
announcement that Mr. Francis, the Great Cosmopolitan Equestrian and Roughrider,
would enact the part of Turpin, and she was not yet too old and careworn to be
without a little curiosity to see him. This particular show was by far the
largest and grandest in the fair, a horde of little shows grouping themselves
under its shade like chickens around a hen. The crowd had passed in, and
Boldwood, who had been watching all the day for an opportunity of speaking to
her, seeing her comparatively isolated, came up to her side.
    »I hope the sheep have done well to-day, Mrs. Troy?« he said nervously.
    »O yes, thank you,« said Bathsheba, colour springing up in the centre of her
cheeks. »I was fortunate enough to sell them all just as we got upon the hill,
so we hadn
