Chapter 15 Fanny's revenge

That afternoon Joseph Poorgrass was bringing Fanny's coffin¹ back from Casterbridge. Feeling a little frightened of the dead body behind him in the cart，and de-pressed by the autumn fog，he stopped for some beer at a pub，where he met Jan Coggan and Laban Tall. There Gabriel Oak² found the three men，completely drunk，two hours later. As Joseph was clearly incapable³ of driving the cart，Gabriel drove it to Weatherbury himself. On the way into the village，the vicar stopped him.

‘I'm afraid it's too late now for the burial，’he said，‘but I can arrange for the body to be buried tomorrow. ’

‘I could take the coffin to the church for the night，sir，’offered Gabriel，hoping to prevent Bathsheba from seeing it.

But just then Bathsheba herself appeared. ‘No，Gabriel，’she said. ‘Poor Fanny must rest in her old home for her last night. Bring the coffin into the house. ’

The coffin was carried into a small sitting-room⁴ and Gabriel was left alone with it. In spite⁵ of all his care，the worst had happened，and Bathsheba was about to make a terrible discovery. But suddenly he had an idea. He looked at the words written simply on the coffin lid—Fanny Robin⁶ and child. With a cloth Gabriel carefully removed the last two words. Quietly he left the room.

Bathsheba was in a strange mood. She felt lonely and miser-able，but she had not stopped loving her husband，in spite of her anxiety about his past. She was waiting for him to come home，when Liddy knocked and entered.

‘Ma'am，Maryann has just heard something…’she hesitated a little. ‘Not about you or us，ma'am. About Fanny. There's a story in Weatherbury that…’Liddy whis-pered in her mistress's ear.

Bathsheba trembled from head to foot.

‘I don't believe it！’she cried. ‘There's only one name on the coffin lid！But I suppose it could be true. ’

She said no more，and Liddy went quietly out of the room. Bathsheba felt almost sure she knew the truth about Fanny and Troy，but she wanted to be certain. She entered the sitting-room where the coffin lay. Holding her hot hands to her fore-head she cried，‘Tell me your secret，Fanny！I hope it isn't true there are two of you！If I could only look. at you，I'd know！’

After a pause，she added slowly，‘And I will. ’

A few moments later，she stood beside the uncovered coffin. Staring in，she said，‘It was best to know the worst，and I know it now！’Her tears fell fast beside the dead pair in the coffin，tears for Fanny and for herself. Although Bathsheba，not Fanny，had married Troy，in death Fanny was the winner. She was taking her revenge⁷ now on Bathsheba for the difficulties she had experienced in her life.

Bathsheba forgot the passing of time as she looked at Fanny's cold white face and yellow hair，and did not realize Troy had arrived home. He threw open the door and came in. He did not guess who was in the coffin.

‘What's the matter？Who's dead？’he asked.

Bathsheba tried to push past him. ‘Let me out！’she cried.

‘No，stay，I insist！’He held her arm and together they looked into the coffin.

Troy stood completely still when he saw the mother and ba-by. Little by little his shoulders bent⁸ forward，and his face showed deep sadness. Bathsheba was watching his expression closely，and she had never been more miserable⁹. Slowly Troy knelt to give Fanny Robin a gentle kiss.

Bathsheba threw her arms round his neck，crying wildly from the depths of her heart，‘Don't，don't kiss them！Oh Frank，no！I love you better than she did！Kiss me too，Frank！You will kiss me too，Frank！’

Troy looked puzzled for a moment，not expecting this child-like cry from his proud wife. But then he pushed her away.

‘I will not kiss you！’he said.

‘Can you give me a reason？’asked Bathsheba，fighting to control herself. Perhaps it was unfortunate that she asked.

‘I've been a bad，black-hearted man，but this woman，dead as she is，is more to me than you ever were，or are，or can be. I would have married her，if I'd never seen your beau-tiful face！And I wish I had married her！’He turned to Fanny. ‘But never mind，darling，’he said，‘in the sight of God you are my wife！’

At these words a long，low cry of despair and anger came from Bathsheba's lips. ‘If she's—that，what—am I？’

‘You are nothing to me，nothing，’said Troy heartlessly. ‘A ceremony in front of a vicar doesn't make a marriage. I don't consider myself your husband. ’

Bathsheba wanted only to get away from him and his words. She ran straight out of the house. She stayed out all night，wrapped in a cloak，waiting for the coffin to be taken for burial. As soon as the men had taken it away the next morning，she re-entered the house，very cautiously¹⁰ to avoid Troy，but her husband had gone out very early and did not return.

1 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。

2 oak   

n.栎树，橡树，栎木，橡木

参考例句：

• The chair is of solid oak.这把椅子是纯橡木的。
• The carpenter will floor this room with oak.木匠将用橡木铺设这个房间的地板。

3 incapable   

adj.无能力的，不能做某事的

参考例句：

• He would be incapable of committing such a cruel deed.他不会做出这么残忍的事。
• Computers are incapable of creative thought.计算机不会创造性地思维。

4 sitting-room   

n.（BrE）客厅，起居室

参考例句：

• The sitting-room is clean.起居室很清洁。
• Each villa has a separate sitting-room.每栋别墅都有一间独立的起居室。

5 spite   

n.（用于短语）虽然，不顾，尽管

参考例句：

• He has modern ideas in spite of his great age.尽管他年事很高，但思想观念却很入时。
• In spite of his anger,his remarks were restrained.他尽管生气，说的话还是有节制的。

6 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

7 revenge   

v.报...之仇，为...报仇 ；n.报仇，复仇

参考例句：

• She poisoned his mind with ideas of hate and revenge.她用复仇的思想来毒害他的心灵。
• There was anger in his eyes and revenge in his heart.他两眼闪现怒火，一心只想复仇。

8 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

9 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

10 cautiously   

adv.小心地，谨慎地；小心翼翼；翼翼

参考例句：

• She walked cautiously up the drive towards the door. 她小心翼翼地沿着车道向门口走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》