 townsmen came up, and Donald drew aside. »What's this, Henchard,«
said Alderman Tubber, applying his thumb to the corn-factor like a
cheese-taster. »An opposition randy to yours, eh? Jack's as good as his master,
eh? Cut ye out quite, hasn't he?«
    »You see, Mr. Henchard,« said the lawyer, another good-natured friend,
»where you made the mistake was in going so far afield. You should have taken a
leaf out of his book, and have had your sports in a sheltered place like this.
But you didn't think of it, you see; and he did, and that's where he's beat
you.«
    »He'll be top-sawyer soon of you two, and carry all afore him,« added
jocular Mr. Tubber.
    »No,« said Henchard gloomily. »He won't be that, because he's shortly going
to leave me.« He looked towards Donald, who had again come near. »Mr. Farfrae's
time as my manager is drawing to a close - isn't it, Farfrae?«
    The young man, who could now read the lines and folds of Henchard's
strongly-traced face as if they were clear verbal inscriptions, quietly
assented; and when people deplored the fact, and asked why it was, he simply
replied that Mr. Henchard no longer required his help.
    Henchard went home, apparently satisfied. But in the morning, when his
jealous temper had passed away, his heart sank within him at what he had said
and done. He was the more disturbed when he found that this time Farfrae was
determined to take him at his word.
 

                                      XVII

Elizabeth-Jane had perceived from Henchard's manner that in assenting to dance
she had made a mistake of some kind. In her simplicity she did not know what it
was till a hint from a nodding acquaintance enlightened her. As the Mayor's
step-daughter, she learnt, she had not been quite in her place in treading a
measure amid such a mixed throng as filled the dancing pavilion.
    Thereupon her ears, cheeks, and chin glowed like live coals at the dawning
of the idea that her tastes were not good enough for her position, and would
bring her into disgrace.
    This made her very miserable, and she looked about for her mother; but Mrs.
Henchard, who had less idea of conventionality than Elizabeth herself, had gone
away, leaving her
