 her. At first he had taken no notice
of Henchard's brusque letter; but an exceptionally fortunate business
transaction put him on good terms with everybody, and revealed to him that he
could undeniably marry if he chose. Then who so pleasing, thrifty, and
satisfactory in every way as Elizabeth-Jane? Apart from her personal
recommendations a reconciliation with his former friend Henchard would, in the
natural course of things, flow from such a union. He therefore forgave the Mayor
his curtness; and this morning on his way to the fair he had called at her
house, where he learnt that she was staying at Miss Templeman's. A little
stimulated at not finding her ready and waiting - so fanciful are men! - he
hastened on to High-Place Hall to encounter no Elizabeth but its mistress
herself.
    »The fair to-day seems a large one,« she said when, by a natural deviation,
their eyes sought the busy scene without. »Your numerous fairs and markets keep
me interested. How many things I think of while I watch from here!«
    He seemed in doubt how to answer, and the babble without reached them as
they sat - voices as of wavelets on a lopping sea, one ever and anon rising
above the rest. »Do you look out often?« he asked.
    »Yes - very often.«
    »Do you look for any one you know?«
    Why should she have answered as she did?
    »I look as at a picture merely. But,« she went on, turning pleasantly to
him, »I may do so now - I may look for you. You are always there, are you not?
Ah - I don't mean it seriously! But it is amusing to look for somebody one knows
in a crowd, even if one does not want him. It takes off the terrible
oppressiveness of being surrounded by a throng, and having no point of junction
with it through a single individual.«
    »Ay! Maybe you'll be very lonely, ma'am?«
    »Nobody knows how lonely.«
    »But you are rich, they say?«
    »If so, I don't know how to enjoy my riches. I came to Casterbridge thinking
I should like to live here. But I wonder if I shall.«
    »Where did ye come from, ma'am?«
    »The neighbourhood of Bath.«
    »And I from near Edinboro',« he murmured. »It's better to stay at home, and
that's true
