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; but a man must live where his money is made. It is a
great pity, but it's always so! Yet I've done very well this year. O
yes," he went on with ingenuous enthusiasm. "You see that man with the
drab kerseymere coat? I bought largely of him in the autumn when wheat
was down, and then afterwards when it rose a little I sold off all
I had! It brought only a small profit to me; while the farmers kept
theirs, expecting higher figures--yes, though the rats were gnawing the
ricks hollow. Just when I sold the markets went lower, and I bought up
the corn of those who had been holding back at less price than my first
purchases. And then," cried Farfrae impetuously, his face alight, "I
sold it a few weeks after, when it happened to go up again! And so, by
contenting mysel' with small profits frequently repeated, I soon made
five hundred pounds--yes!"--(bringing down his hand upon the table, and
quite forgetting where he was)--"while the others by keeping theirs in
hand made nothing at all!"
Lucetta regarded him with a critical interest.
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