The Malthouse: The Chat: News
- When he walks into the town malthouse, Oak is greeted really warmly. He's already won the respect of the men in the town. The man who runs the joint is old enough to have known Oak's grandfather.
- After some small talk, they invite Gabriel to drink with them.
- For the rest of the chat, he meets some of the local characters, most of who actually work for Bathsheba. It turns out that she has inherited her uncle's large estate.
- One local guy, Joseph Poorgrass, admits that he can hardly look his boss in the face because she's so pretty. The group tells some funny stories about Poorgrass's skittishness.
- The men then tell some stories about Bathsheba's dead father and how he used to cheat on his wife. It was only when he learned to pretend that his wife wasn't his wife that he was able to love her completely at all times. Apparently, the guy also became really religious after this and quit every bad habit he had.
- The discussion turns to the age of the man who owns the malthouse. He must be pretty old, considering that his son is sixty years old.
- The men notice that Oak is carrying a flute and ask him to play. So he does and this puts everyone in an even better mood.
- Eventually, the crowd breaks up and Oak leaves with a guy named Jan Coggan, who has agreed to let Oak crash at his house for the night.
- After they're gone, the workers talk about how Bathsheba recently fired her bailiff Pennyways because she caught him stealing from her.
- The men want to know who Bathsheba is going to get to run her farm now. The word on the street is that she plans on doing it herself, which sounds ridiculous to the men.
- Poorgrass runs back into the room and tells them there's more news. A young woman in Bathsheba's house named Fanny Robin has run away from home. This is no doubt the girl that Oak met on the road earlier. The men all rush off to the farmhouse to see what's up, leaving the old malthouse owner to sit alone and think.
- From her bedroom window, Bathsheba gives her men orders to set out first thing in the morning and find Fanny Robin. People wonder if she has run off with a young man, and they ask around to see if she's been courting any young men in the area.
- One young woman says that Fanny had a bundle with her when she left the house (remember that, folks).
- Meanwhile, Oak is standing amongst the crowd and just thinking about how happy he is to see Bathsheba's face.