Oak could pipe with Arcadian sweetness, and the sound of the well-known notes cheered his own heart as well as those of the loungers.

He played on with spirit, and in half an hour had earned in pence what was a small fortune to a destitute man.
By making inquiries he learnt that there was another fair at Shottsford the next day.
"How far is Shottsford ?" "Ten miles t'other side of Weatherbury." Weatherbury! It was where Bathsheba had gone two months before.
This information was like coming from night into noon.
"How far is it to Weatherbury ?" "Five or six miles." Bathsheba had probably left Weatherbury long before this time, but the place had enough interest attaching to it to lead Oak to choose Shottsford fair as his next field of inquiry, because it lay in the Weatherbury quarter.

Moreover, the Weatherbury folk were by no means uninteresting intrinsically.

If report spoke truly they were as hardy, merry, thriving, wicked a set as any in the whole county.

Oak resolved to sleep at Weatherbury that night on his way to Shottsford, and struck out at once into the high road which had been recommended as the direct route to the village in question.
The road stretched through water-meadows traversed by little brooks, whose quivering surfaces were braided along their centres, and folded into creases at the sides; or, where the flow was more rapid, the stream was pied with spots of white froth, which rode on in undisturbed serenity.