Far From the Madding Crowd Chapter 31 Summary

Blame: Fury

  • The night after writing Boldwood, Bathsheba decides to travel with Liddy to her sister's house. This is to make sure she won't be around when Boldwood comes knocking and demanding an explanation.
  • Unfortunately, she runs into Boldwood while leaving. This book is full of awkward moments.
  • Boldwood goes on a big rant about how Bathsheba has been leading him on and giving him hope where there was none. He even resorts to asking her to marry him out of pity. Yikes.
  • Eventually, Boldwood lands on the idea that someone else must have caught Bathsheba's eye while he was out of town. He then also realizes that it must be Sergeant Troy, since he has heard the talk around town just as much as anyone else.
  • Boldwood starts shouting about how Troy is a thief for stealing his fianceé, even though Bathsheba never actually agreed to marry him.
  • Finally, he essentially stamps his feet in a huff and tells Bathsheba to go ahead and marry Troy.
  • It turns out that Troy hasn't actually left town with his regiment, but had only left for a day or two to meet someone in the nearby town of Bath.
  • Bathsheba worries that if Troy comes back and runs into Boldwood, there'll be a fight.