第122章 Chapter XLIII(3)

"If I had only got her with me - if I only had!" he said. "Hard work would be nothing to me then! But that was not to be. I - Cain - go alone as I deserve - an outcast and a vagabond. But my punishment is not greater than I can bear!"He sternly subdued his anguish, shouldered his basket, and went on.

Elizabeth, in the meantime, had breathed him a sigh, recovered her equanimity, and turned her face to Casterbridge. Before she had reached the first house she was met in her walk by Donald Farfrae. This was evidently not their first meeting that day; they joined hands without ceremony, and Farfrae anxiously asked, "And is he gone - and did you tell him? - I mean of the other matter - not of ours.""He is gone; and I told him all I knew of your friend. Donald, who is he?""Well, well dearie; you will know soon about that. And Mr Henchard will hear of it if he does not go far.""He will go far - he's bent upon getting out of sight and sound!"She walked beside her lover, and when they reached the Crossways, or Bow, turned with him into Corn Street instead of going straight on to her own door. At Farfrae's house they stopped and went in.

Farfrae flung open the door of the ground-floor sittingroom, saying, "There he is waiting for you," and Elizabeth entered. In the arm-chair sat the broad-faced genial man who had called on Henchard on a memorable morning between one and two years before this time, and whom the latter had seen mount the coach and depart within half-an-hour of his arrival.

It was Richard Newson. The meeting with the light-hearted father from whom she had been separated half-a-dozen years, as if by death, need hardly be detailed. It was an affecting one, apart from the question of paternity.

Henchard's departure was in a moment explained. When the true facts came to be handled the difficulty of restoring her to her old belief in Newson was not so great as might have seemed likely, for Henchard's conduct itself was a proof that those facts were true. Moreover, she had grown up under Newson's paternal care; and even had Henchard been her father in nature, this father in early domiciliation might almost have carried the point against him, when the incidents of her parting with Henchard had a little worn off.

Newson's pride in what she had grown up to be was more than he could express. He kissed her again and again.

"I've saved you the trouble to come and meet me - ha-ha!" said Newson.

"The fact is that Mr Farfrae here, he said, ""Come up and stop with me for a day or two, Captain Newson, and I'll bring her round."" ""Faith,""says I, ""so I will""; and here I am."