 kind, are sometimes allowed to wander for a moment
prior to being sent off whence they came. One of these thoughts sailed into
Henchard's ken now.
    Suppose he were to communicate to Farfrae the fact that his betrothed was
not the child of Michael Henchard at all - legally, nobody's child; how would
that correct and leading townsman receive the information? He might possibly
forsake Elizabeth-Jane, and then she would be her stepsire's own again.
    Henchard shuddered, and exclaimed, »God forbid such a thing! Why should I
still be subject to these visitations of the devil, when I try so hard to keep
him away?«
 

                                     XLIII

What Henchard saw thus early was, naturally enough, seen at a little later date
by other people. That Mr. Farfrae »walked with that bankrupt Henchard's
stepdaughter, of all women,« became a common topic in the town, the simple
perambulating term being used hereabout to signify a wooing; and the nineteen
superior young ladies of Casterbridge, who had each looked upon herself as the
only woman capable of making the merchant Councilman happy, indignantly left off
going to the church Farfrae attended, left off conscious mannerisms, left off
putting him in their prayers at night amongst their blood relations; in short,
reverted to their natural courses.
    Perhaps the only inhabitants of the town to whom this looming choice of the
Scotchman's gave unmixed satisfaction were the members of the philosophic party,
which included Longways, Christopher Coney, Billy Wills, Mr. Buzzford, and the
like. The Three Mariners having been, years before, the house in which they had
witnessed the young man and woman's first and humble appearance on the
Casterbridge stage, they took a kindly interest in their career, not
unconnected, perhaps, with visions of festive treatment at their hands
hereafter. Mrs. Stannidge, having rolled into the large parlour one evening and
said that it was a wonder such a man as Mr. Farfrae, a pillow of the town, who
might have chosen one of the daughters of the professional men or private
residents, should stoop so low, Coney ventured to disagree with her.
    »No, ma'am, no wonder at all. 'Tis she that's a stooping to he - that's my
opinion. A widow man - whose first wife was no credit to him - what is it for a
young perusing woman that's her own mistress and well liked? But as a neat
patching up of things I see much good in it. When a man have put up a tomb of
