Hers lives in Casterbridge, and I believe he's a soldier." "Do you know his name ?" Bathsheba said.
"No, mistress; she was very close about it." "Perhaps I might be able to find out if I went to Casterbridge barracks," said William Smallbury.
"Very well; if she doesn't return to-morrow, mind you go there and try to discover which man it is, and see him.

I feel more responsible than I should if she had had any friends or relations alive.

I do hope she has come to no harm through a man of that kind....

And then there's this disgraceful affair of the bailiff--but I can't speak of him now." Bathsheba had so many reasons for uneasiness that it seemed she did not think it worth while to dwell upon any particular one.

"Do as I told you, then," she said in conclusion, closing the casement.
"Ay, ay, mistress; we will," they replied, and moved away.
That night at Coggan's, Gabriel Oak, beneath the screen of closed eyelids, was busy with fancies, and full of movement, like a river flowing rapidly under its ice.