Young Farmer Oak¹ was in love. He waited for the girl's regular visits to the sick cow just as impatiently² as his dog waited to be fed. He discovered that her name was Bathsheba Everdene，and that she lived with her aunt，Mrs Hurst. His head was so full of her that he could think of nothing else.

‘I'll make her my wife，’he declared to himself，‘or I'll never be able to concentrate on work again！’

When she stopped coming to feed the sick cow，he had to find a reason for visiting her. So he took a young lamb，whose mother had died，and carried it in a basket across the fields to Mrs Hurst's house.

‘I've brought a lamb for Miss Everdene，’he told Bathshe－ba's aunt. ‘Girls usually like looking after lambs. ’

‘Thank you，Mr Oak，’replied Mrs Hurst，‘but Bathsheba is only a visitor here. I don't know if she'll keep it. ’

‘To tell you the truth，Mrs Hurst，the lamb isn't my real reason for coming. I want to ask Miss Everdene if she'd like to be married. ’

‘Really？’asked Mrs Hurst，looking closely³ at him.

‘Yes Because if she would，I'd like to marry her. Do you know if she has any other young men courting her at the moment？’

‘Oh yes，a lot of young men，’said Mrs Hurst. ‘You see，Farmer Oak，she's so handsome，and so well-educated too. Of course,I haven't actually seen any of her young men，but she must have at least ten or twelve！’

‘That's unfortunate，’said Farmer Oak，staring sadly at the floor. ‘I'm just a very ordinary man，and my only chance was being the first to ask to marry her. Well，that was all I came for. I'd better go home now， Mrs Hurst. ’

He had gone halfway⁴ across the first field when he heard a cry behind him. He turned，and saw a girl running after him. It was Bathsheba. Gabriel blushed⁵.

‘Farmer Oak，’she called breathlessly，‘I want to say——my aunt made a mistake when she told you I had a lot of young men courting me. In fact，I haven't got any，and I've never had any. ’

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