Far From the Madding Crowd Chapter 32 Summary

Night: Horses Tramping

  • We're in Bathsheba's house, and it's nighttime. A servant named Maryann is awakened by some noise from down in the coach house, where the horse and carriage is kept. She glances out the window to see someone stealing the carriage. As quickly as she can, she raises the alarm, but the thief (and the carriage) is already gone.
  • Jan Coggan and Gabriel Oak are the first to respond. They both grab some horses from Boldwood's farm and chase after the stolen carriage. It takes them a long time, but they eventually catch up.
  • When they finally catch the carriage, though, they realize that the person driving it is none other than Bathsheba. She has tried to drive away without anyone noticing, but now she's been caught, and all she can do is ask the men to leave her alone.
  • It turns out that she wants to get to the town of Bath so she can tell Troy not to come to Weatherbury and run into Boldwood.
  • Oh yeah, and she also wants to tell Troy that the two of them can't be together anymore. We'll see how that works out soon enough.