\n * This interface is public for historical purposes. You should have no need to\n * use it.\n *
\n */\n// forked from Apache Hadoop\nfinal class BZip2Constants\n{\n public static final int BASE_BLOCK_SIZE = 100000;\n public static final int MAX_ALPHA_SIZE = 258;\n public static final int RUN_A = 0;\n public static final int RUN_B = 1;\n public static final int N_GROUPS = 6;\n public static final int G_SIZE = 50;\n public static final int MAX_SELECTORS = (2 + (900000 / G_SIZE));\n\n private BZip2Constants() {}\n}\n" }, { "path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/bzip2/BZip2HadoopInputStream.java", "content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.bzip2;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.hadoop.HadoopInputStream;\n\nimport java.io.BufferedInputStream;\nimport java.io.IOException;\nimport java.io.InputStream;\n\n// forked from Apache Hadoop\nclass BZip2HadoopInputStream\n extends HadoopInputStream\n{\n private final BufferedInputStream bufferedIn;\n private CBZip2InputStream input;\n\n public BZip2HadoopInputStream(InputStream in)\n {\n bufferedIn = new BufferedInputStream(in);\n }\n\n @Override\n public int read(byte[] buffer, int offset, int length)\n throws IOException\n {\n if (length == 0) {\n return 0;\n }\n\n if (input == null) {\n // If the stream starts with `BZ`, skip it\n bufferedIn.mark(2);\n if (bufferedIn.read() != 'B' || bufferedIn.read() != 'Z') {\n bufferedIn.reset();\n }\n input = new CBZip2InputStream(bufferedIn);\n }\n\n int result = input.read(buffer, offset, length);\n\n // if the result is the end of block marker, no data was read\n if (result == CBZip2InputStream.END_OF_BLOCK) {\n // read one byte into the new block and update the position.\n result = input.read(buffer, offset, 1);\n }\n\n return result;\n }\n\n @Override\n public int read()\n throws IOException\n {\n byte[] buffer = new byte[1];\n int result = read(buffer, 0, 1);\n if (result < 0) {\n return result;\n }\n return buffer[0] & 0xff;\n }\n\n @Override\n public void resetState()\n {\n // drop the current compression stream, and new one will be created during the next read\n input = null;\n }\n\n @Override\n public void close()\n throws IOException\n {\n input = null;\n bufferedIn.close();\n }\n}\n" }, { "path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/bzip2/BZip2HadoopOutputStream.java", "content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.bzip2;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.hadoop.HadoopOutputStream;\n\nimport java.io.IOException;\nimport java.io.OutputStream;\n\nimport static java.util.Objects.requireNonNull;\n\n// forked from Apache Hadoop\nclass BZip2HadoopOutputStream\n extends HadoopOutputStream\n{\n private final OutputStream rawOutput;\n private boolean initialized;\n private CBZip2OutputStream output;\n\n public BZip2HadoopOutputStream(OutputStream out)\n {\n this.rawOutput = requireNonNull(out, \"out is null\");\n }\n\n @Override\n public void write(int b)\n throws IOException\n {\n openStreamIfNecessary();\n output.write(b);\n }\n\n @Override\n public void write(byte[] b, int off, int len)\n throws IOException\n {\n openStreamIfNecessary();\n output.write(b, off, len);\n }\n\n @Override\n public void finish()\n throws IOException\n {\n if (output != null) {\n output.finish();\n output = null;\n }\n }\n\n @Override\n public void flush()\n throws IOException\n {\n rawOutput.flush();\n }\n\n @Override\n public void close()\n throws IOException\n {\n try {\n // it the stream has never been initialized, create an empty block\n if (!initialized) {\n openStreamIfNecessary();\n }\n finish();\n }\n finally {\n rawOutput.close();\n }\n }\n\n private void openStreamIfNecessary()\n throws IOException\n {\n if (output == null) {\n initialized = true;\n // write magic\n rawOutput.write(new byte[] {'B', 'Z'});\n // open new block\n output = new CBZip2OutputStream(rawOutput);\n }\n }\n}\n" }, { "path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/bzip2/BZip2HadoopStreams.java", "content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.bzip2;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.hadoop.HadoopInputStream;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.hadoop.HadoopOutputStream;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.hadoop.HadoopStreams;\n\nimport java.io.InputStream;\nimport java.io.OutputStream;\nimport java.util.List;\n\nimport static java.util.Collections.singletonList;\n\npublic class BZip2HadoopStreams\n implements HadoopStreams\n{\n @Override\n public String getDefaultFileExtension()\n {\n return \".bz2\";\n }\n\n @Override\n public List\n * The decompression requires large amounts of memory. Thus you should call the\n * {@link #close() close()} method as soon as possible, to force\n * CBZip2InputStream to release the allocated memory. See\n * {@link CBZip2OutputStream CBZip2OutputStream} for information about memory\n * usage.\n *
\n *\n *\n * CBZip2InputStream reads bytes from the compressed source stream via\n * the single byte {@link InputStream#read() read()} method exclusively.\n * Thus you should consider to use a buffered source stream.\n *
\n *\n *\n * This Ant code was enhanced so that it can de-compress blocks of bzip2 data.\n * Current position in the stream is an important statistic for Hadoop. For\n * example in LineRecordReader, we solely depend on the current position in the\n * stream to know about the progress. The notion of position becomes complicated\n * for compressed files. The Hadoop splitting is done in terms of compressed\n * file. But a compressed file deflates to a large amount of data. So we have\n * handled this problem in the following way.\n *
\n * On object creation time, we find the next block start delimiter. Once such a\n * marker is found, the stream stops there (we discard any read compressed data\n * in this process) and the position is reported as the beginning of the block\n * start delimiter. At this point we are ready for actual reading\n * (i.e. decompression) of data.\n *
\n * The subsequent read calls give out data. The position is updated when the\n * caller of this class has read off the current block + 1 bytes. In between the\n * block reading, position is not updated. (We can only update the position on\n * block boundaries).\n *
\n *\n *\n * Instances of this class are not thread safe.\n *
\n */\n@SuppressWarnings({ \"AssignmentToForLoopParameter\", \"SpellCheckingInspection\"})\nclass CBZip2InputStream\n extends InputStream\n{\n // start of block\n private static final long BLOCK_DELIMITER = 0X314159265359L;\n private static final int MAX_CODE_LEN = 23;\n /**\n * End of a BZip2 block\n */\n public static final int END_OF_BLOCK = -2;\n /**\n * End of BZip2 stream.\n */\n private static final int END_OF_STREAM = -1;\n private static final int DELIMITER_BIT_LENGTH = 48;\n\n // The variable records the current advertised position of the stream.\n private long reportedBytesReadFromCompressedStream;\n // The following variable keep record of compressed bytes read.\n private long bytesReadFromCompressedStream;\n private boolean initialized;\n\n private final byte[] array = new byte[1];\n\n /**\n * Index of the last char in the block, so the block size == last + 1.\n */\n private int last;\n\n /**\n * Index in zptr[] of original string after sorting.\n */\n private int origPtr;\n\n /**\n * always: in the range 0 .. 9. The current block size is 100000 * this\n * number.\n */\n private int blockSize100k;\n\n private boolean blockRandomised;\n\n private long bsBuff;\n private long bsLive;\n private final Crc32 crc32 = new Crc32();\n\n private int nInUse;\n\n private BufferedInputStream in;\n\n private int currentChar = -1;\n\n /**\n * A state machine to keep track of current state of the de-coder\n */\n public enum STATE\n {\n EOF, START_BLOCK_STATE, RAND_PART_A_STATE, RAND_PART_B_STATE, RAND_PART_C_STATE, NO_RAND_PART_A_STATE, NO_RAND_PART_B_STATE, NO_RAND_PART_C_STATE, NO_PROCESS_STATE\n }\n\n private STATE currentState = STATE.START_BLOCK_STATE;\n\n private int storedBlockCRC;\n private int storedCombinedCRC;\n private int computedCombinedCRC;\n\n // used by skipToNextMarker\n private boolean skipResult;\n\n // Variables used by setup* methods exclusively\n\n private int suCount;\n private int suCh2;\n private int suChPrev;\n private int suI2;\n private int suJ2;\n private int suRNToGo;\n private int suRTPos;\n private int suTPos;\n private char suZ;\n\n /**\n * All memory intensive stuff. This field is initialized by initBlock().\n */\n private Data data;\n\n /**\n * Constructs a new CBZip2InputStream which decompresses bytes read from the\n * specified stream.\n *\n *\n * Although BZip2 headers are marked with the magic \"Bz\" this\n * constructor expects the next byte in the stream to be the first one after\n * the magic. Thus callers have to skip the first two bytes. Otherwise this\n * constructor will throw an exception.\n *
\n *\n * @throws IOException if the stream content is malformed or an I/O error occurs.\n * @throws NullPointerException if in == null\n */\n public CBZip2InputStream(final InputStream in)\n {\n int blockSize = 0X39; // i.e 9\n this.blockSize100k = blockSize - (int) '0';\n this.in = new BufferedInputStream(in, 1024 * 9); // >1 MB buffer\n }\n\n /**\n * This method reports the processed bytes so far. Please note that this\n * statistic is only updated on block boundaries and only when the stream is\n * initiated in BYBLOCK mode.\n */\n public long getProcessedByteCount()\n {\n return reportedBytesReadFromCompressedStream;\n }\n\n /**\n * This method keeps track of raw processed compressed\n * bytes.\n *\n * @param count count is the number of bytes to be\n * added to raw processed bytes\n */\n private void updateProcessedByteCount(int count)\n {\n this.bytesReadFromCompressedStream += count;\n }\n\n /**\n * This method reads a Byte from the compressed stream. Whenever we need to\n * read from the underlying compressed stream, this method should be called\n * instead of directly calling the read method of the underlying compressed\n * stream. This method does important record keeping to have the statistic\n * that how many bytes have been read off the compressed stream.\n */\n private int readAByte(InputStream inStream)\n throws IOException\n {\n int read = inStream.read();\n if (read >= 0) {\n this.updateProcessedByteCount(1);\n }\n return read;\n }\n\n /**\n * This method tries to find the marker (passed to it as the first parameter)\n * in the stream. It can find bit patterns of length <= 63 bits. Specifically\n * this method is used in CBZip2InputStream to find the end of block (EOB)\n * delimiter in the stream, starting from the current position of the stream.\n * If marker is found, the stream position will be at the byte containing\n * the starting bit of the marker.\n *\n * @param marker The bit pattern to be found in the stream\n * @param markerBitLength No of bits in the marker\n * @return true if the marker was found otherwise false\n * @throws IllegalArgumentException if marketBitLength is greater than 63\n */\n private boolean skipToNextMarker(long marker, int markerBitLength)\n throws IllegalArgumentException\n {\n try {\n if (markerBitLength > 63) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(\n \"skipToNextMarker can not find patterns greater than 63 bits\");\n }\n // pick next marketBitLength bits in the stream\n long bytes;\n bytes = this.bsR(markerBitLength);\n if (bytes == -1) {\n this.reportedBytesReadFromCompressedStream =\n this.bytesReadFromCompressedStream;\n return false;\n }\n while (true) {\n if (bytes == marker) {\n // Report the byte position where the marker starts\n long markerBytesRead = (markerBitLength + this.bsLive + 7) / 8;\n this.reportedBytesReadFromCompressedStream =\n this.bytesReadFromCompressedStream - markerBytesRead;\n return true;\n }\n else {\n bytes = bytes << 1;\n bytes = bytes & ((1L << markerBitLength) - 1);\n int oneBit = (int) this.bsR(1);\n if (oneBit != -1) {\n bytes = bytes | oneBit;\n }\n else {\n this.reportedBytesReadFromCompressedStream =\n this.bytesReadFromCompressedStream;\n return false;\n }\n }\n }\n }\n catch (IOException ex) {\n this.reportedBytesReadFromCompressedStream =\n this.bytesReadFromCompressedStream;\n return false;\n }\n }\n\n private void makeMaps()\n {\n final boolean[] inUse = this.data.inUse;\n final byte[] seqToUnseq = this.data.seqToUnseq;\n\n int nInUseShadow = 0;\n\n for (int i = 0; i < 256; i++) {\n if (inUse[i]) {\n seqToUnseq[nInUseShadow++] = (byte) i;\n }\n }\n\n this.nInUse = nInUseShadow;\n }\n\n private void changeStateToProcessABlock()\n throws IOException\n {\n if (skipResult) {\n initBlock();\n setupBlock();\n }\n else {\n this.currentState = STATE.EOF;\n }\n }\n\n @Override\n public int read()\n throws IOException\n {\n if (this.in != null) {\n int result = this.read(array, 0, 1);\n int value = 0XFF & array[0];\n return (result > 0 ? value : result);\n }\n else {\n throw new IOException(\"stream closed\");\n }\n }\n\n /**\n * In CONTINOUS reading mode, this read method starts from the\n * start of the compressed stream and end at the end of file by\n * emitting un-compressed data. In this mode stream positioning\n * is not announced and should be ignored.\n *\n * In BYBLOCK reading mode, this read method informs about the end\n * of a BZip2 block by returning EOB. At this event, the compressed\n * stream position is also announced. This announcement tells that\n * how much of the compressed stream has been de-compressed and read\n * out of this class. In between EOB events, the stream position is\n * not updated.\n *\n * @return int The return value greater than 0 are the bytes read. A value\n * of -1 means end of stream while -2 represents end of block\n * @throws IOException if the stream content is malformed or an I/O error occurs.\n */\n @Override\n public int read(final byte[] dest, final int offs, final int len)\n throws IOException\n {\n if (offs < 0) {\n throw new IndexOutOfBoundsException(\"offs(\" + offs + \") < 0.\");\n }\n if (len < 0) {\n throw new IndexOutOfBoundsException(\"len(\" + len + \") < 0.\");\n }\n if (offs + len > dest.length) {\n throw new IndexOutOfBoundsException(\"offs(\" + offs + \") + len(\"\n + len + \") > dest.length(\" + dest.length + \").\");\n }\n if (this.in == null) {\n throw new IOException(\"stream closed\");\n }\n\n if (!initialized) {\n this.init();\n this.initialized = true;\n }\n\n final int hi = offs + len;\n int destOffs = offs;\n int b = 0;\n\n while (((destOffs < hi) && ((b = read0())) >= 0)) {\n dest[destOffs++] = (byte) b;\n }\n\n int result = destOffs - offs;\n if (result == 0) {\n //report 'end of block' or 'end of stream'\n result = b;\n\n skipResult = this.skipToNextMarker(BLOCK_DELIMITER, DELIMITER_BIT_LENGTH);\n\n changeStateToProcessABlock();\n }\n return result;\n }\n\n private int read0()\n throws IOException\n {\n final int retChar = this.currentChar;\n\n switch (this.currentState) {\n case EOF:\n return END_OF_STREAM; // return -1\n\n case NO_PROCESS_STATE:\n return END_OF_BLOCK; // return -2\n\n case START_BLOCK_STATE:\n throw new IllegalStateException();\n\n case RAND_PART_A_STATE:\n throw new IllegalStateException();\n\n case RAND_PART_B_STATE:\n setupRandPartB();\n break;\n\n case RAND_PART_C_STATE:\n setupRandPartC();\n break;\n\n case NO_RAND_PART_A_STATE:\n throw new IllegalStateException();\n\n case NO_RAND_PART_B_STATE:\n setupNoRandPartB();\n break;\n\n case NO_RAND_PART_C_STATE:\n setupNoRandPartC();\n break;\n\n default:\n throw new IllegalStateException();\n }\n\n return retChar;\n }\n\n private void init()\n throws IOException\n {\n int magic2 = this.readAByte(in);\n if (magic2 != 'h') {\n throw new IOException(\"Stream is not BZip2 formatted: expected 'h'\"\n + \" as first byte but got '\" + (char) magic2 + \"'\");\n }\n\n int blockSize = this.readAByte(in);\n if ((blockSize < '1') || (blockSize > '9')) {\n throw new IOException(\"Stream is not BZip2 formatted: illegal \"\n + \"blocksize \" + (char) blockSize);\n }\n\n this.blockSize100k = blockSize - (int) '0';\n\n initBlock();\n setupBlock();\n }\n\n private void initBlock()\n throws IOException\n {\n char magic0 = bsGetUByte();\n char magic1 = bsGetUByte();\n char magic2 = bsGetUByte();\n char magic3 = bsGetUByte();\n char magic4 = bsGetUByte();\n char magic5 = bsGetUByte();\n\n if (magic0 == 0x17 && magic1 == 0x72 && magic2 == 0x45\n && magic3 == 0x38 && magic4 == 0x50 && magic5 == 0x90) {\n complete(); // end of file\n }\n else if (magic0 != 0x31 || // '1'\n magic1 != 0x41 || // ')'\n magic2 != 0x59 || // 'Y'\n magic3 != 0x26 || // '&'\n magic4 != 0x53 || // 'S'\n magic5 != 0x59 /* 'Y' */) {\n this.currentState = STATE.EOF;\n throw new IOException(\"bad block header\");\n }\n else {\n this.storedBlockCRC = bsGetInt();\n this.blockRandomised = bsR(1) == 1;\n\n // Allocate data here instead in constructor, so we do not allocate\n // it if the input file is empty.\n if (this.data == null) {\n this.data = new Data(this.blockSize100k);\n }\n\n // currBlockNo++;\n getAndMoveToFrontDecode();\n\n this.crc32.initialiseCRC();\n this.currentState = STATE.START_BLOCK_STATE;\n }\n }\n\n private void endBlock()\n throws IOException\n {\n int computedBlockCRC = this.crc32.getFinalCRC();\n\n // A bad CRC is considered a fatal error.\n if (this.storedBlockCRC != computedBlockCRC) {\n // make next blocks readable without error\n // (repair feature, not yet documented, not tested)\n this.computedCombinedCRC = (this.storedCombinedCRC << 1)\n | (this.storedCombinedCRC >>> 31);\n this.computedCombinedCRC ^= this.storedBlockCRC;\n\n throw new IOException(\"crc error\");\n }\n\n this.computedCombinedCRC = (this.computedCombinedCRC << 1)\n | (this.computedCombinedCRC >>> 31);\n this.computedCombinedCRC ^= computedBlockCRC;\n }\n\n private void complete()\n throws IOException\n {\n this.storedCombinedCRC = bsGetInt();\n this.currentState = STATE.EOF;\n this.data = null;\n\n if (this.storedCombinedCRC != this.computedCombinedCRC) {\n throw new IOException(\"crc error\");\n }\n }\n\n @Override\n public void close()\n throws IOException\n {\n InputStream inShadow = this.in;\n if (inShadow != null) {\n try {\n if (inShadow != System.in) {\n inShadow.close();\n }\n }\n finally {\n this.data = null;\n this.in = null;\n }\n }\n }\n\n private long bsR(final long n)\n throws IOException\n {\n long bsLiveShadow = this.bsLive;\n long bsBuffShadow = this.bsBuff;\n\n if (bsLiveShadow < n) {\n final InputStream inShadow = this.in;\n do {\n int thech = readAByte(inShadow);\n\n if (thech < 0) {\n throw new IOException(\"unexpected end of stream\");\n }\n\n bsBuffShadow = (bsBuffShadow << 8) | thech;\n bsLiveShadow += 8;\n } while (bsLiveShadow < n);\n\n this.bsBuff = bsBuffShadow;\n }\n\n this.bsLive = bsLiveShadow - n;\n return (bsBuffShadow >> (bsLiveShadow - n)) & ((1L << n) - 1);\n }\n\n private boolean bsGetBit()\n throws IOException\n {\n long bsLiveShadow = this.bsLive;\n long bsBuffShadow = this.bsBuff;\n\n if (bsLiveShadow < 1) {\n int thech = this.readAByte(in);\n\n if (thech < 0) {\n throw new IOException(\"unexpected end of stream\");\n }\n\n bsBuffShadow = (bsBuffShadow << 8) | thech;\n bsLiveShadow += 8;\n this.bsBuff = bsBuffShadow;\n }\n\n this.bsLive = bsLiveShadow - 1;\n return ((bsBuffShadow >> (bsLiveShadow - 1)) & 1) != 0;\n }\n\n private char bsGetUByte()\n throws IOException\n {\n return (char) bsR(8);\n }\n\n private int bsGetInt()\n throws IOException\n {\n return (int) ((((((bsR(8) << 8) | bsR(8)) << 8) | bsR(8)) << 8) | bsR(8));\n }\n\n /**\n * Called by createHuffmanDecodingTables() exclusively.\n */\n private static void hbCreateDecodeTables(final int[] limit,\n final int[] base, final int[] perm, final char[] length,\n final int minLen, final int maxLen, final int alphaSize)\n {\n for (int i = minLen, pp = 0; i <= maxLen; i++) {\n for (int j = 0; j < alphaSize; j++) {\n if (length[j] == i) {\n perm[pp++] = j;\n }\n }\n }\n\n for (int i = MAX_CODE_LEN; --i > 0; ) {\n base[i] = 0;\n limit[i] = 0;\n }\n\n for (int i = 0; i < alphaSize; i++) {\n base[(int) length[i] + 1]++;\n }\n\n for (int i = 1, b = base[0]; i < MAX_CODE_LEN; i++) {\n b += base[i];\n base[i] = b;\n }\n\n for (int i = minLen, vec = 0, b = base[i]; i <= maxLen; i++) {\n final int nb = base[i + 1];\n vec += nb - b;\n b = nb;\n limit[i] = vec - 1;\n vec <<= 1;\n }\n\n for (int i = minLen + 1; i <= maxLen; i++) {\n base[i] = ((limit[i - 1] + 1) << 1) - base[i];\n }\n }\n\n private void recvDecodingTables()\n throws IOException\n {\n final Data dataShadow = this.data;\n final boolean[] inUse = dataShadow.inUse;\n final byte[] pos = dataShadow.recvDecodingTablesPos;\n final byte[] selector = dataShadow.selector;\n final byte[] selectorMtf = dataShadow.selectorMtf;\n\n int inUse16 = 0;\n\n /* Receive the mapping table */\n for (int i = 0; i < 16; i++) {\n if (bsGetBit()) {\n inUse16 |= 1 << i;\n }\n }\n\n for (int i = 256; --i >= 0; ) {\n inUse[i] = false;\n }\n\n for (int i = 0; i < 16; i++) {\n if ((inUse16 & (1 << i)) != 0) {\n final int i16 = i << 4;\n for (int j = 0; j < 16; j++) {\n if (bsGetBit()) {\n inUse[i16 + j] = true;\n }\n }\n }\n }\n\n makeMaps();\n final int alphaSize = this.nInUse + 2;\n\n /* Now the selectors */\n final int nGroups = (int) bsR(3);\n final int nSelectors = (int) bsR(15);\n\n for (int i = 0; i < nSelectors; i++) {\n int j = 0;\n while (bsGetBit()) {\n j++;\n }\n selectorMtf[i] = (byte) j;\n }\n\n /* Undo the MTF values for the selectors. */\n for (int v = nGroups; --v >= 0; ) {\n pos[v] = (byte) v;\n }\n\n for (int i = 0; i < nSelectors; i++) {\n int v = selectorMtf[i] & 0xff;\n final byte tmp = pos[v];\n while (v > 0) {\n // nearly all times v is zero, 4 in most other cases\n pos[v] = pos[v - 1];\n v--;\n }\n pos[0] = tmp;\n selector[i] = tmp;\n }\n\n final char[][] len = dataShadow.tempCharArray2D;\n\n /* Now the coding tables */\n for (int t = 0; t < nGroups; t++) {\n int curr = (int) bsR(5);\n final char[] lenT = len[t];\n for (int i = 0; i < alphaSize; i++) {\n while (bsGetBit()) {\n curr += bsGetBit() ? -1 : 1;\n }\n lenT[i] = (char) curr;\n }\n }\n\n // finally create the Huffman tables\n createHuffmanDecodingTables(alphaSize, nGroups);\n }\n\n /**\n * Called by recvDecodingTables() exclusively.\n */\n private void createHuffmanDecodingTables(final int alphaSize,\n final int nGroups)\n {\n final Data dataShadow = this.data;\n final char[][] len = dataShadow.tempCharArray2D;\n final int[] minLens = dataShadow.minLens;\n final int[][] limit = dataShadow.limit;\n final int[][] base = dataShadow.base;\n final int[][] perm = dataShadow.perm;\n\n for (int t = 0; t < nGroups; t++) {\n int minLen = 32;\n int maxLen = 0;\n final char[] lenT = len[t];\n for (int i = alphaSize; --i >= 0; ) {\n final char lent = lenT[i];\n if (lent > maxLen) {\n maxLen = lent;\n }\n if (lent < minLen) {\n minLen = lent;\n }\n }\n hbCreateDecodeTables(limit[t], base[t], perm[t], len[t], minLen,\n maxLen, alphaSize);\n minLens[t] = minLen;\n }\n }\n\n private void getAndMoveToFrontDecode()\n throws IOException\n {\n this.origPtr = (int) bsR(24);\n recvDecodingTables();\n\n final InputStream inShadow = this.in;\n final Data dataShadow = this.data;\n final byte[] ll8 = dataShadow.ll8;\n final int[] unzftab = dataShadow.unzftab;\n final byte[] selector = dataShadow.selector;\n final byte[] seqToUnseq = dataShadow.seqToUnseq;\n final char[] yy = dataShadow.getAndMoveToFrontDecodeYy;\n final int[] minLens = dataShadow.minLens;\n final int[][] limit = dataShadow.limit;\n final int[][] base = dataShadow.base;\n final int[][] perm = dataShadow.perm;\n final int limitLast = this.blockSize100k * 100000;\n\n /*\n * Setting up the unzftab entries here is not strictly necessary, but it\n * does save having to do it later in a separate pass, and so saves a\n * block's worth of cache misses.\n */\n for (int i = 256; --i >= 0; ) {\n yy[i] = (char) i;\n unzftab[i] = 0;\n }\n\n int groupNo = 0;\n int groupPos = G_SIZE - 1;\n final int eob = this.nInUse + 1;\n int nextSym = getAndMoveToFrontDecode0(0);\n int bsBuffShadow = (int) this.bsBuff;\n int bsLiveShadow = (int) this.bsLive;\n int lastShadow = -1;\n int zt = selector[groupNo] & 0xff;\n int[] baseZt = base[zt];\n int[] limitZt = limit[zt];\n int[] permZt = perm[zt];\n int minLensZt = minLens[zt];\n\n while (nextSym != eob) {\n if ((nextSym == RUN_A) || (nextSym == RUN_B)) {\n int s = -1;\n\n for (int n = 1; true; n <<= 1) {\n if (nextSym == RUN_A) {\n s += n;\n }\n else if (nextSym == RUN_B) {\n s += n << 1;\n }\n else {\n break;\n }\n\n if (groupPos == 0) {\n groupPos = G_SIZE - 1;\n zt = selector[++groupNo] & 0xff;\n baseZt = base[zt];\n limitZt = limit[zt];\n permZt = perm[zt];\n minLensZt = minLens[zt];\n }\n else {\n groupPos--;\n }\n\n int zn = minLensZt;\n\n while (bsLiveShadow < zn) {\n final int thech = readAByte(inShadow);\n if (thech >= 0) {\n bsBuffShadow = (bsBuffShadow << 8) | thech;\n bsLiveShadow += 8;\n }\n else {\n throw new IOException(\"unexpected end of stream\");\n }\n }\n long zvec = (bsBuffShadow >> (bsLiveShadow - zn)) & ((1L << zn) - 1);\n bsLiveShadow -= zn;\n\n while (zvec > limitZt[zn]) {\n zn++;\n while (bsLiveShadow < 1) {\n final int thech = readAByte(inShadow);\n if (thech >= 0) {\n bsBuffShadow = (bsBuffShadow << 8) | thech;\n bsLiveShadow += 8;\n }\n else {\n throw new IOException(\"unexpected end of stream\");\n }\n }\n bsLiveShadow--;\n zvec = (zvec << 1)\n | ((bsBuffShadow >> bsLiveShadow) & 1);\n }\n nextSym = permZt[(int) (zvec - baseZt[zn])];\n }\n\n final byte ch = seqToUnseq[yy[0]];\n unzftab[ch & 0xff] += s + 1;\n\n while (s-- >= 0) {\n ll8[++lastShadow] = ch;\n }\n\n if (lastShadow >= limitLast) {\n throw new IOException(\"block overrun\");\n }\n }\n else {\n if (++lastShadow >= limitLast) {\n throw new IOException(\"block overrun\");\n }\n\n final char tmp = yy[nextSym - 1];\n unzftab[seqToUnseq[tmp] & 0xff]++;\n ll8[lastShadow] = seqToUnseq[tmp];\n\n /*\n * This loop is hammered during decompression, hence avoid\n * native method call overhead of System.arraycopy for very\n * small ranges to copy.\n */\n if (nextSym <= 16) {\n for (int j = nextSym - 1; j > 0; ) {\n yy[j] = yy[--j];\n }\n }\n else {\n //noinspection SuspiciousSystemArraycopy\n System.arraycopy(yy, 0, yy, 1, nextSym - 1);\n }\n\n yy[0] = tmp;\n\n if (groupPos == 0) {\n groupPos = G_SIZE - 1;\n zt = selector[++groupNo] & 0xff;\n baseZt = base[zt];\n limitZt = limit[zt];\n permZt = perm[zt];\n minLensZt = minLens[zt];\n }\n else {\n groupPos--;\n }\n\n int zn = minLensZt;\n\n while (bsLiveShadow < zn) {\n final int thech = readAByte(inShadow);\n if (thech >= 0) {\n bsBuffShadow = (bsBuffShadow << 8) | thech;\n bsLiveShadow += 8;\n }\n else {\n throw new IOException(\"unexpected end of stream\");\n }\n }\n int zvec = (bsBuffShadow >> (bsLiveShadow - zn))\n & ((1 << zn) - 1);\n bsLiveShadow -= zn;\n\n while (zvec > limitZt[zn]) {\n zn++;\n while (bsLiveShadow < 1) {\n final int thech = readAByte(inShadow);\n if (thech >= 0) {\n bsBuffShadow = (bsBuffShadow << 8) | thech;\n bsLiveShadow += 8;\n }\n else {\n throw new IOException(\"unexpected end of stream\");\n }\n }\n bsLiveShadow--;\n zvec = ((zvec << 1) | ((bsBuffShadow >> bsLiveShadow) & 1));\n }\n nextSym = permZt[zvec - baseZt[zn]];\n }\n }\n\n this.last = lastShadow;\n this.bsLive = bsLiveShadow;\n this.bsBuff = bsBuffShadow;\n }\n\n private int getAndMoveToFrontDecode0(final int groupNo)\n throws IOException\n {\n final InputStream inShadow = this.in;\n final Data dataShadow = this.data;\n final int zt = dataShadow.selector[groupNo] & 0xff;\n final int[] limitZt = dataShadow.limit[zt];\n int zn = dataShadow.minLens[zt];\n int zvec = (int) bsR(zn);\n int bsLiveShadow = (int) this.bsLive;\n int bsBuffShadow = (int) this.bsBuff;\n\n while (zvec > limitZt[zn]) {\n zn++;\n while (bsLiveShadow < 1) {\n final int thech = readAByte(inShadow);\n\n if (thech >= 0) {\n bsBuffShadow = (bsBuffShadow << 8) | thech;\n bsLiveShadow += 8;\n }\n else {\n throw new IOException(\"unexpected end of stream\");\n }\n }\n bsLiveShadow--;\n zvec = (zvec << 1) | ((bsBuffShadow >> bsLiveShadow) & 1);\n }\n\n this.bsLive = bsLiveShadow;\n this.bsBuff = bsBuffShadow;\n\n return dataShadow.perm[zt][zvec - dataShadow.base[zt][zn]];\n }\n\n private void setupBlock()\n throws IOException\n {\n if (this.data == null) {\n return;\n }\n\n final int[] cftab = this.data.cftab;\n final int[] tt = this.data.initTT(this.last + 1);\n final byte[] ll8 = this.data.ll8;\n cftab[0] = 0;\n System.arraycopy(this.data.unzftab, 0, cftab, 1, 256);\n\n for (int i = 1, c = cftab[0]; i <= 256; i++) {\n c += cftab[i];\n cftab[i] = c;\n }\n\n for (int i = 0, lastShadow = this.last; i <= lastShadow; i++) {\n tt[cftab[ll8[i] & 0xff]++] = i;\n }\n\n if ((this.origPtr < 0) || (this.origPtr >= tt.length)) {\n throw new IOException(\"stream corrupted\");\n }\n\n this.suTPos = tt[this.origPtr];\n this.suCount = 0;\n this.suI2 = 0;\n this.suCh2 = 256; /* not a char and not EOF */\n\n if (this.blockRandomised) {\n this.suRNToGo = 0;\n this.suRTPos = 0;\n setupRandPartA();\n }\n else {\n setupNoRandPartA();\n }\n }\n\n @SuppressWarnings(\"checkstyle:InnerAssignment\")\n private void setupRandPartA()\n throws IOException\n {\n if (this.suI2 <= this.last) {\n this.suChPrev = this.suCh2;\n int suCh2Shadow = this.data.ll8[this.suTPos] & 0xff;\n this.suTPos = this.data.tt[this.suTPos];\n if (this.suRNToGo == 0) {\n this.suRNToGo = R_NUMS[this.suRTPos] - 1;\n if (++this.suRTPos == 512) {\n this.suRTPos = 0;\n }\n }\n else {\n this.suRNToGo--;\n }\n this.suCh2 = suCh2Shadow ^= (this.suRNToGo == 1) ? 1 : 0;\n this.suI2++;\n this.currentChar = suCh2Shadow;\n this.currentState = STATE.RAND_PART_B_STATE;\n this.crc32.updateCRC(suCh2Shadow);\n }\n else {\n endBlock();\n initBlock();\n setupBlock();\n }\n }\n\n private void setupNoRandPartA()\n throws IOException\n {\n if (this.suI2 <= this.last) {\n this.suChPrev = this.suCh2;\n int suCh2Shadow = this.data.ll8[this.suTPos] & 0xff;\n this.suCh2 = suCh2Shadow;\n this.suTPos = this.data.tt[this.suTPos];\n this.suI2++;\n this.currentChar = suCh2Shadow;\n this.currentState = STATE.NO_RAND_PART_B_STATE;\n this.crc32.updateCRC(suCh2Shadow);\n }\n else {\n this.currentState = STATE.NO_RAND_PART_A_STATE;\n endBlock();\n initBlock();\n setupBlock();\n }\n }\n\n private void setupRandPartB()\n throws IOException\n {\n if (this.suCh2 != this.suChPrev) {\n this.currentState = STATE.RAND_PART_A_STATE;\n this.suCount = 1;\n setupRandPartA();\n }\n else if (++this.suCount >= 4) {\n this.suZ = (char) (this.data.ll8[this.suTPos] & 0xff);\n this.suTPos = this.data.tt[this.suTPos];\n if (this.suRNToGo == 0) {\n this.suRNToGo = R_NUMS[this.suRTPos] - 1;\n if (++this.suRTPos == 512) {\n this.suRTPos = 0;\n }\n }\n else {\n this.suRNToGo--;\n }\n this.suJ2 = 0;\n this.currentState = STATE.RAND_PART_C_STATE;\n if (this.suRNToGo == 1) {\n this.suZ ^= 1;\n }\n setupRandPartC();\n }\n else {\n this.currentState = STATE.RAND_PART_A_STATE;\n setupRandPartA();\n }\n }\n\n private void setupRandPartC()\n throws IOException\n {\n if (this.suJ2 < this.suZ) {\n this.currentChar = this.suCh2;\n this.crc32.updateCRC(this.suCh2);\n this.suJ2++;\n }\n else {\n this.currentState = STATE.RAND_PART_A_STATE;\n this.suI2++;\n this.suCount = 0;\n setupRandPartA();\n }\n }\n\n private void setupNoRandPartB()\n throws IOException\n {\n if (this.suCh2 != this.suChPrev) {\n this.suCount = 1;\n setupNoRandPartA();\n }\n else if (++this.suCount >= 4) {\n this.suZ = (char) (this.data.ll8[this.suTPos] & 0xff);\n this.suTPos = this.data.tt[this.suTPos];\n this.suJ2 = 0;\n setupNoRandPartC();\n }\n else {\n setupNoRandPartA();\n }\n }\n\n private void setupNoRandPartC()\n throws IOException\n {\n if (this.suJ2 < this.suZ) {\n int suCh2Shadow = this.suCh2;\n this.currentChar = suCh2Shadow;\n this.crc32.updateCRC(suCh2Shadow);\n this.suJ2++;\n this.currentState = STATE.NO_RAND_PART_C_STATE;\n }\n else {\n this.suI2++;\n this.suCount = 0;\n setupNoRandPartA();\n }\n }\n\n private static final class Data\n {\n // (with blockSize 900k)\n final boolean[] inUse = new boolean[256]; // 256 byte\n\n final byte[] seqToUnseq = new byte[256]; // 256 byte\n final byte[] selector = new byte[MAX_SELECTORS]; // 18002 byte\n final byte[] selectorMtf = new byte[MAX_SELECTORS]; // 18002 byte\n\n /**\n * Freq table collected to save a pass over the data during\n * decompression.\n */\n final int[] unzftab = new int[256]; // 1024 byte\n\n final int[][] limit = new int[N_GROUPS][MAX_ALPHA_SIZE]; // 6192 byte\n final int[][] base = new int[N_GROUPS][MAX_ALPHA_SIZE]; // 6192 byte\n final int[][] perm = new int[N_GROUPS][MAX_ALPHA_SIZE]; // 6192 byte\n final int[] minLens = new int[N_GROUPS]; // 24 byte\n\n final int[] cftab = new int[257]; // 1028 byte\n final char[] getAndMoveToFrontDecodeYy = new char[256]; // 512 byte\n final char[][] tempCharArray2D = new char[N_GROUPS][MAX_ALPHA_SIZE]; // 3096\n // byte\n final byte[] recvDecodingTablesPos = new byte[N_GROUPS]; // 6 byte\n // ---------------\n // 60798 byte\n\n int[] tt; // 3600000 byte\n byte[] ll8; // 900000 byte\n\n // ---------------\n // 4560782 byte\n // ===============\n\n Data(int blockSize100k)\n {\n this.ll8 = new byte[blockSize100k * BZip2Constants.BASE_BLOCK_SIZE];\n }\n\n /**\n * Initializes the {@link #tt} array.\n *
\n * This method is called when the required length of the array is known.\n * I don't initialize it at construction time to avoid unnecessary\n * memory allocation when compressing small files.\n */\n int[] initTT(int length)\n {\n int[] ttShadow = this.tt;\n\n // tt.length should always be >= length, but theoretically\n // it can happen, if the compressor mixed small and large\n // blocks. Normally only the last block will be smaller\n // than others.\n if ((ttShadow == null) || (ttShadow.length < length)) {\n ttShadow = new int[length];\n this.tt = ttShadow;\n }\n\n return ttShadow;\n }\n }\n\n private static final int[] R_NUMS = {\n 619, 720, 127, 481, 931, 816, 813, 233, 566, 247,\n 985, 724, 205, 454, 863, 491, 741, 242, 949, 214, 733, 859, 335,\n 708, 621, 574, 73, 654, 730, 472, 419, 436, 278, 496, 867, 210,\n 399, 680, 480, 51, 878, 465, 811, 169, 869, 675, 611, 697, 867,\n 561, 862, 687, 507, 283, 482, 129, 807, 591, 733, 623, 150, 238,\n 59, 379, 684, 877, 625, 169, 643, 105, 170, 607, 520, 932, 727,\n 476, 693, 425, 174, 647, 73, 122, 335, 530, 442, 853, 695, 249,\n 445, 515, 909, 545, 703, 919, 874, 474, 882, 500, 594, 612, 641,\n 801, 220, 162, 819, 984, 589, 513, 495, 799, 161, 604, 958, 533,\n 221, 400, 386, 867, 600, 782, 382, 596, 414, 171, 516, 375, 682,\n 485, 911, 276, 98, 553, 163, 354, 666, 933, 424, 341, 533, 870,\n 227, 730, 475, 186, 263, 647, 537, 686, 600, 224, 469, 68, 770,\n 919, 190, 373, 294, 822, 808, 206, 184, 943, 795, 384, 383, 461,\n 404, 758, 839, 887, 715, 67, 618, 276, 204, 918, 873, 777, 604,\n 560, 951, 160, 578, 722, 79, 804, 96, 409, 713, 940, 652, 934, 970,\n 447, 318, 353, 859, 672, 112, 785, 645, 863, 803, 350, 139, 93,\n 354, 99, 820, 908, 609, 772, 154, 274, 580, 184, 79, 626, 630, 742,\n 653, 282, 762, 623, 680, 81, 927, 626, 789, 125, 411, 521, 938,\n 300, 821, 78, 343, 175, 128, 250, 170, 774, 972, 275, 999, 639,\n 495, 78, 352, 126, 857, 956, 358, 619, 580, 124, 737, 594, 701,\n 612, 669, 112, 134, 694, 363, 992, 809, 743, 168, 974, 944, 375,\n 748, 52, 600, 747, 642, 182, 862, 81, 344, 805, 988, 739, 511, 655,\n 814, 334, 249, 515, 897, 955, 664, 981, 649, 113, 974, 459, 893,\n 228, 433, 837, 553, 268, 926, 240, 102, 654, 459, 51, 686, 754,\n 806, 760, 493, 403, 415, 394, 687, 700, 946, 670, 656, 610, 738,\n 392, 760, 799, 887, 653, 978, 321, 576, 617, 626, 502, 894, 679,\n 243, 440, 680, 879, 194, 572, 640, 724, 926, 56, 204, 700, 707,\n 151, 457, 449, 797, 195, 791, 558, 945, 679, 297, 59, 87, 824, 713,\n 663, 412, 693, 342, 606, 134, 108, 571, 364, 631, 212, 174, 643,\n 304, 329, 343, 97, 430, 751, 497, 314, 983, 374, 822, 928, 140,\n 206, 73, 263, 980, 736, 876, 478, 430, 305, 170, 514, 364, 692,\n 829, 82, 855, 953, 676, 246, 369, 970, 294, 750, 807, 827, 150,\n 790, 288, 923, 804, 378, 215, 828, 592, 281, 565, 555, 710, 82,\n 896, 831, 547, 261, 524, 462, 293, 465, 502, 56, 661, 821, 976,\n 991, 658, 869, 905, 758, 745, 193, 768, 550, 608, 933, 378, 286,\n 215, 979, 792, 961, 61, 688, 793, 644, 986, 403, 106, 366, 905,\n 644, 372, 567, 466, 434, 645, 210, 389, 550, 919, 135, 780, 773,\n 635, 389, 707, 100, 626, 958, 165, 504, 920, 176, 193, 713, 857,\n 265, 203, 50, 668, 108, 645, 990, 626, 197, 510, 357, 358, 850,\n 858, 364, 936, 638};\n}\n" }, { "path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/bzip2/CBZip2OutputStream.java", "content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.bzip2;\n\nimport java.io.IOException;\nimport java.io.OutputStream;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.bzip2.BZip2Constants.G_SIZE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.bzip2.BZip2Constants.MAX_ALPHA_SIZE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.bzip2.BZip2Constants.MAX_SELECTORS;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.bzip2.BZip2Constants.N_GROUPS;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.bzip2.BZip2Constants.RUN_A;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.bzip2.BZip2Constants.RUN_B;\n\n/**\n * An output stream that compresses into the BZip2 format (without the file\n * header chars) into another stream.\n *\n *
\n * The compression requires large amounts of memory. Thus you should call the\n * {@link #close() close()} method as soon as possible, to force\n * CBZip2OutputStream to release the allocated memory.\n *
\n *\n *\n * You can shrink the amount of allocated memory and maybe raise the compression\n * speed by choosing a lower blocksize, which in turn may cause a lower\n * compression ratio. You can avoid unnecessary memory allocation by avoiding\n * using a blocksize which is bigger than the size of the input.\n *
\n *\n *\n * You can compute the memory usage for compressing by the following formula:\n *
\n *\n *\n * <code>400k + (9 * blocksize)</code>.\n *\n *\n *
\n * To get the memory required for decompression by {@link CBZip2InputStream\n * CBZip2InputStream} use\n *
\n *\n *\n * <code>65k + (5 * blocksize)</code>.\n *\n *\n *
| Memory usage by blocksize | \n *||
|---|---|---|
| Blocksize | Compression \n * memory usage | Decompression \n * memory usage | \n *
| 100k | \n *1300k | \n *565k | \n *
| 200k | \n *2200k | \n *1065k | \n *
| 300k | \n *3100k | \n *1565k | \n *
| 400k | \n *4000k | \n *2065k | \n *
| 500k | \n *4900k | \n *2565k | \n *
| 600k | \n *5800k | \n *3065k | \n *
| 700k | \n *6700k | \n *3565k | \n *
| 800k | \n *7600k | \n *4065k | \n *
| 900k | \n *8500k | \n *4565k | \n *
\n * For decompression CBZip2InputStream allocates less memory if the\n * bzipped input is smaller than one block.\n *
\n *\n *\n * Instances of this class are not thread safe.\n *
\n *\n *\n * TODO: Update to BZip2 1.0.1\n *
\n */\n// forked from Apache Hadoop\nclass CBZip2OutputStream\n extends OutputStream\n{\n /**\n * The maximum supported block size == 9.\n */\n private static final int MAX_BLOCK_SIZE = 9;\n private static final int[] R_NUMS = {619, 720, 127, 481, 931, 816, 813, 233, 566, 247,\n 985, 724, 205, 454, 863, 491, 741, 242, 949, 214, 733, 859, 335,\n 708, 621, 574, 73, 654, 730, 472, 419, 436, 278, 496, 867, 210,\n 399, 680, 480, 51, 878, 465, 811, 169, 869, 675, 611, 697, 867,\n 561, 862, 687, 507, 283, 482, 129, 807, 591, 733, 623, 150, 238,\n 59, 379, 684, 877, 625, 169, 643, 105, 170, 607, 520, 932, 727,\n 476, 693, 425, 174, 647, 73, 122, 335, 530, 442, 853, 695, 249,\n 445, 515, 909, 545, 703, 919, 874, 474, 882, 500, 594, 612, 641,\n 801, 220, 162, 819, 984, 589, 513, 495, 799, 161, 604, 958, 533,\n 221, 400, 386, 867, 600, 782, 382, 596, 414, 171, 516, 375, 682,\n 485, 911, 276, 98, 553, 163, 354, 666, 933, 424, 341, 533, 870,\n 227, 730, 475, 186, 263, 647, 537, 686, 600, 224, 469, 68, 770,\n 919, 190, 373, 294, 822, 808, 206, 184, 943, 795, 384, 383, 461,\n 404, 758, 839, 887, 715, 67, 618, 276, 204, 918, 873, 777, 604,\n 560, 951, 160, 578, 722, 79, 804, 96, 409, 713, 940, 652, 934, 970,\n 447, 318, 353, 859, 672, 112, 785, 645, 863, 803, 350, 139, 93,\n 354, 99, 820, 908, 609, 772, 154, 274, 580, 184, 79, 626, 630, 742,\n 653, 282, 762, 623, 680, 81, 927, 626, 789, 125, 411, 521, 938,\n 300, 821, 78, 343, 175, 128, 250, 170, 774, 972, 275, 999, 639,\n 495, 78, 352, 126, 857, 956, 358, 619, 580, 124, 737, 594, 701,\n 612, 669, 112, 134, 694, 363, 992, 809, 743, 168, 974, 944, 375,\n 748, 52, 600, 747, 642, 182, 862, 81, 344, 805, 988, 739, 511, 655,\n 814, 334, 249, 515, 897, 955, 664, 981, 649, 113, 974, 459, 893,\n 228, 433, 837, 553, 268, 926, 240, 102, 654, 459, 51, 686, 754,\n 806, 760, 493, 403, 415, 394, 687, 700, 946, 670, 656, 610, 738,\n 392, 760, 799, 887, 653, 978, 321, 576, 617, 626, 502, 894, 679,\n 243, 440, 680, 879, 194, 572, 640, 724, 926, 56, 204, 700, 707,\n 151, 457, 449, 797, 195, 791, 558, 945, 679, 297, 59, 87, 824, 713,\n 663, 412, 693, 342, 606, 134, 108, 571, 364, 631, 212, 174, 643,\n 304, 329, 343, 97, 430, 751, 497, 314, 983, 374, 822, 928, 140,\n 206, 73, 263, 980, 736, 876, 478, 430, 305, 170, 514, 364, 692,\n 829, 82, 855, 953, 676, 246, 369, 970, 294, 750, 807, 827, 150,\n 790, 288, 923, 804, 378, 215, 828, 592, 281, 565, 555, 710, 82,\n 896, 831, 547, 261, 524, 462, 293, 465, 502, 56, 661, 821, 976,\n 991, 658, 869, 905, 758, 745, 193, 768, 550, 608, 933, 378, 286,\n 215, 979, 792, 961, 61, 688, 793, 644, 986, 403, 106, 366, 905,\n 644, 372, 567, 466, 434, 645, 210, 389, 550, 919, 135, 780, 773,\n 635, 389, 707, 100, 626, 958, 165, 504, 920, 176, 193, 713, 857,\n 265, 203, 50, 668, 108, 645, 990, 626, 197, 510, 357, 358, 850,\n 858, 364, 936, 638};\n private static final int N_ITERS = 4;\n private static final int NUM_OVERSHOOT_BYTES = 20;\n\n /**\n * This constant is accessible by subclasses for historical purposes. If you\n * don't know what it means then you don't need it.\n */\n private static final int SET_MASK = (1 << 21);\n\n /**\n * This constant is accessible by subclasses for historical purposes. If you\n * don't know what it means then you don't need it.\n */\n private static final int CLEAR_MASK = (~SET_MASK);\n\n /**\n * This constant is accessible by subclasses for historical purposes. If you\n * don't know what it means then you don't need it.\n */\n private static final int GREATER_ICOST = 15;\n\n /**\n * This constant is accessible by subclasses for historical purposes. If you\n * don't know what it means then you don't need it.\n */\n private static final int LESSER_ICOST = 0;\n\n /**\n * This constant is accessible by subclasses for historical purposes. If you\n * don't know what it means then you don't need it.\n */\n private static final int SMALL_THRESH = 20;\n\n /**\n * This constant is accessible by subclasses for historical purposes. If you\n * don't know what it means then you don't need it.\n */\n private static final int DEPTH_THRESH = 10;\n\n /**\n * This constant is accessible by subclasses for historical purposes. If you\n * don't know what it means then you don't need it.\n */\n private static final int WORK_FACTOR = 30;\n\n /**\n * This constant is accessible by subclasses for historical purposes. If you\n * don't know what it means then you don't need it.\n *\n * If you are ever unlucky/improbable enough to get a stack overflow whilst\n * sorting, increase the following constant and try again. In practice I\n * have never seen the stack go above 27 elems, so the following limit seems\n * very generous.\n *
\n */\n private static final int QSORT_STACK_SIZE = 1000;\n\n /**\n * Knuth's increments seem to work better than Incerpi-Sedgewick here.\n * Possibly because the number of elems to sort is usually small, typically\n * <= 20.\n */\n private static final int[] INCS = {1, 4, 13, 40, 121, 364, 1093, 3280, 9841, 29524, 88573, 265720, 797161, 2391484};\n\n private static void hbMakeCodeLengths(final byte[] len, final int[] freq,\n final Data dat, final int alphaSize, final int maxLen)\n {\n /*\n * Nodes and heap entries run from 1. Entry 0 for both the heap and\n * nodes is a sentinel.\n */\n final int[] heap = dat.heap;\n final int[] weight = dat.weight;\n final int[] parent = dat.parent;\n\n for (int i = alphaSize; --i >= 0; ) {\n weight[i + 1] = (freq[i] == 0 ? 1 : freq[i]) << 8;\n }\n\n for (boolean tooLong = true; tooLong; ) {\n tooLong = false;\n\n int nNodes = alphaSize;\n int nHeap = 0;\n heap[0] = 0;\n weight[0] = 0;\n parent[0] = -2;\n\n for (int i = 1; i <= alphaSize; i++) {\n parent[i] = -1;\n nHeap++;\n heap[nHeap] = i;\n\n int zz = nHeap;\n int tmp = heap[zz];\n while (weight[tmp] < weight[heap[zz >> 1]]) {\n heap[zz] = heap[zz >> 1];\n zz >>= 1;\n }\n heap[zz] = tmp;\n }\n\n while (nHeap > 1) {\n int n1 = heap[1];\n heap[1] = heap[nHeap];\n nHeap--;\n\n int yy;\n int zz = 1;\n int tmp = heap[1];\n\n while (true) {\n yy = zz << 1;\n\n if (yy > nHeap) {\n break;\n }\n\n if ((yy < nHeap)\n && (weight[heap[yy + 1]] < weight[heap[yy]])) {\n yy++;\n }\n\n if (weight[tmp] < weight[heap[yy]]) {\n break;\n }\n\n heap[zz] = heap[yy];\n zz = yy;\n }\n\n heap[zz] = tmp;\n\n int n2 = heap[1];\n heap[1] = heap[nHeap];\n nHeap--;\n\n zz = 1;\n tmp = heap[1];\n\n while (true) {\n yy = zz << 1;\n\n if (yy > nHeap) {\n break;\n }\n\n if ((yy < nHeap)\n && (weight[heap[yy + 1]] < weight[heap[yy]])) {\n yy++;\n }\n\n if (weight[tmp] < weight[heap[yy]]) {\n break;\n }\n\n heap[zz] = heap[yy];\n zz = yy;\n }\n\n heap[zz] = tmp;\n nNodes++;\n parent[n1] = nNodes;\n parent[n2] = nNodes;\n\n final int weightN1 = weight[n1];\n final int weightN2 = weight[n2];\n weight[nNodes] = ((weightN1 & 0xffffff00) + (weightN2 & 0xffffff00))\n | (1 + (Math.max((weightN1 & 0x000000ff), (weightN2 & 0x000000ff))));\n\n parent[nNodes] = -1;\n nHeap++;\n heap[nHeap] = nNodes;\n\n zz = nHeap;\n tmp = heap[zz];\n final int weightTmp = weight[tmp];\n while (weightTmp < weight[heap[zz >> 1]]) {\n heap[zz] = heap[zz >> 1];\n zz >>= 1;\n }\n heap[zz] = tmp;\n }\n\n for (int i = 1; i <= alphaSize; i++) {\n int j = 0;\n int k = i;\n\n for (int parentK; (parentK = parent[k]) >= 0; ) {\n k = parentK;\n j++;\n }\n\n len[i - 1] = (byte) j;\n if (j > maxLen) {\n tooLong = true;\n }\n }\n\n if (tooLong) {\n for (int i = 1; i < alphaSize; i++) {\n int j = weight[i] >> 8;\n j = 1 + (j >> 1);\n weight[i] = j << 8;\n }\n }\n }\n }\n\n /**\n * Index of the last char in the block, so the block size == last + 1.\n */\n private int last;\n\n /**\n * Index in fmap[] of original string after sorting.\n */\n private int origPtr;\n\n /**\n * Always: in the range 0 .. 9. The current block size is 100000 * this\n * number.\n */\n private final int blockSize100k;\n\n private boolean blockRandomised;\n\n private int bsBuff;\n private int bsLive;\n private final Crc32 crc32 = new Crc32();\n\n private int nInUse;\n\n private int nMTF;\n\n /*\n * Used when sorting. If too many long comparisons happen, we stop sorting,\n * randomise the block slightly, and try again.\n */\n private int workDone;\n private int workLimit;\n private boolean firstAttempt;\n\n private int currentChar = -1;\n private int runLength;\n\n private int combinedCRC;\n private int allowableBlockSize;\n\n /**\n * All memory intensive stuff.\n */\n private Data data;\n\n private OutputStream out;\n\n /**\n * Constructs a new CBZip2OutputStream with a block size of 900k.\n *\n *\n * Attention: The caller is responsible to write the two BZip2 magic\n * bytes \"BZ\" to the specified stream prior to calling this\n * constructor.\n *
\n *\n * @param out *\n * the destination stream.\n * @throws IOException if an I/O error occurs in the specified stream.\n * @throws NullPointerException ifout == null.\n */\n public CBZip2OutputStream(final OutputStream out)\n throws IOException\n {\n this(out, MAX_BLOCK_SIZE);\n }\n\n /**\n * Constructs a new CBZip2OutputStream with specified block size.\n *\n * \n * Attention: The caller is responsible to write the two BZip2 magic\n * bytes \"BZ\" to the specified stream prior to calling this\n * constructor.\n *
\n *\n * @param out the destination stream.\n * @param blockSize the blockSize as 100k units.\n * @throws IOException if an I/O error occurs in the specified stream.\n * @throws IllegalArgumentException if(blockSize < 1) || (blockSize > 9).\n * @throws NullPointerException if out == null.\n * @see #MAX_BLOCK_SIZE\n */\n private CBZip2OutputStream(final OutputStream out, final int blockSize)\n throws IOException\n {\n if (blockSize < 1) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(\"blockSize(\" + blockSize\n + \") < 1\");\n }\n if (blockSize > 9) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(\"blockSize(\" + blockSize\n + \") > 9\");\n }\n\n this.blockSize100k = blockSize;\n this.out = out;\n init();\n }\n\n @Override\n public void write(final int b)\n throws IOException\n {\n if (this.out != null) {\n write0(b);\n }\n else {\n throw new IOException(\"closed\");\n }\n }\n\n private void writeRun()\n throws IOException\n {\n final int lastShadow = this.last;\n\n if (lastShadow < this.allowableBlockSize) {\n final int currentCharShadow = this.currentChar;\n final Data dataShadow = this.data;\n dataShadow.inUse[currentCharShadow] = true;\n final byte ch = (byte) currentCharShadow;\n\n int runLengthShadow = this.runLength;\n this.crc32.updateCRC(currentCharShadow, runLengthShadow);\n\n switch (runLengthShadow) {\n case 1:\n dataShadow.block[lastShadow + 2] = ch;\n this.last = lastShadow + 1;\n break;\n\n case 2:\n dataShadow.block[lastShadow + 2] = ch;\n dataShadow.block[lastShadow + 3] = ch;\n this.last = lastShadow + 2;\n break;\n\n case 3: {\n final byte[] block = dataShadow.block;\n block[lastShadow + 2] = ch;\n block[lastShadow + 3] = ch;\n block[lastShadow + 4] = ch;\n this.last = lastShadow + 3;\n }\n break;\n\n default: {\n runLengthShadow -= 4;\n dataShadow.inUse[runLengthShadow] = true;\n final byte[] block = dataShadow.block;\n block[lastShadow + 2] = ch;\n block[lastShadow + 3] = ch;\n block[lastShadow + 4] = ch;\n block[lastShadow + 5] = ch;\n block[lastShadow + 6] = (byte) runLengthShadow;\n this.last = lastShadow + 5;\n }\n break;\n }\n }\n else {\n endBlock();\n initBlock();\n writeRun();\n }\n }\n\n /**\n * Overridden to close the stream.\n */\n @Override\n protected void finalize()\n throws Throwable\n {\n finish();\n super.finalize();\n }\n\n public void finish()\n throws IOException\n {\n if (out != null) {\n try {\n if (this.runLength > 0) {\n writeRun();\n }\n this.currentChar = -1;\n endBlock();\n endCompression();\n }\n finally {\n this.out = null;\n this.data = null;\n }\n }\n }\n\n @Override\n public void close()\n throws IOException\n {\n if (out != null) {\n OutputStream outShadow = this.out;\n try {\n finish();\n outShadow.close();\n outShadow = null;\n }\n finally {\n outShadow.close();\n }\n }\n }\n\n @Override\n public void flush()\n throws IOException\n {\n OutputStream outShadow = this.out;\n if (outShadow != null) {\n outShadow.flush();\n }\n }\n\n private void init()\n throws IOException\n {\n // write magic: done by caller who created this stream\n // this.out.write('B');\n // this.out.write('Z');\n\n this.data = new Data(this.blockSize100k);\n\n /*\n * Write `magic' bytes h indicating file-format == huffmanised, followed\n * by a digit indicating blockSize100k.\n */\n bsPutUByte('h');\n bsPutUByte((int) '0' + this.blockSize100k);\n\n this.combinedCRC = 0;\n initBlock();\n }\n\n private void initBlock()\n {\n // blockNo++;\n this.crc32.initialiseCRC();\n this.last = -1;\n // ch = 0;\n\n boolean[] inUse = this.data.inUse;\n for (int i = 256; --i >= 0; ) {\n inUse[i] = false;\n }\n\n /* 20 is just a paranoia constant */\n this.allowableBlockSize = (this.blockSize100k * BZip2Constants.BASE_BLOCK_SIZE) - 20;\n }\n\n private void endBlock()\n throws IOException\n {\n int blockCRC = this.crc32.getFinalCRC();\n this.combinedCRC = (this.combinedCRC << 1) | (this.combinedCRC >>> 31);\n this.combinedCRC ^= blockCRC;\n\n // empty block at end of file\n if (this.last == -1) {\n return;\n }\n\n /* sort the block and establish posn of original string */\n blockSort();\n\n /*\n * A 6-byte block header, the value chosen arbitrarily as 0x314159265359\n * :-). A 32 bit value does not really give a strong enough guarantee\n * that the value will not appear by chance in the compressed\n * data stream. Worst-case probability of this event, for a 900k block,\n * is about 2.0e-3 for 32 bits, 1.0e-5 for 40 bits and 4.0e-8 for 48\n * bits. For a compressed file of size 100Gb -- about 100000 blocks --\n * only a 48-bit marker will do. NB: normal compression/ decompression\n * do not rely on these statistical properties. They are only important\n * when trying to recover blocks from damaged files.\n */\n bsPutUByte(0x31);\n bsPutUByte(0x41);\n bsPutUByte(0x59);\n bsPutUByte(0x26);\n bsPutUByte(0x53);\n bsPutUByte(0x59);\n\n /* Now the block's CRC, so it is in a known place. */\n bsPutInt(blockCRC);\n\n /* Now a single bit indicating randomisation. */\n if (this.blockRandomised) {\n bsW(1, 1);\n }\n else {\n bsW(1, 0);\n }\n\n /* Finally, block's contents proper. */\n moveToFrontCodeAndSend();\n }\n\n private void endCompression()\n throws IOException\n {\n /*\n * Now another magic 48-bit number, 0x177245385090, to indicate the end\n * of the last block. (sqrt(pi), if you want to know. I did want to use\n * e, but it contains too much repetition -- 27 18 28 18 28 46 -- for me\n * to feel statistically comfortable. Call me paranoid.)\n */\n bsPutUByte(0x17);\n bsPutUByte(0x72);\n bsPutUByte(0x45);\n bsPutUByte(0x38);\n bsPutUByte(0x50);\n bsPutUByte(0x90);\n\n bsPutInt(this.combinedCRC);\n bsFinishedWithStream();\n }\n\n @Override\n public void write(final byte[] buf, int offs, final int len)\n throws IOException\n {\n if (offs < 0) {\n throw new IndexOutOfBoundsException(\"offs(\" + offs + \") < 0.\");\n }\n if (len < 0) {\n throw new IndexOutOfBoundsException(\"len(\" + len + \") < 0.\");\n }\n if (offs + len > buf.length) {\n throw new IndexOutOfBoundsException(\"offs(\" + offs + \") + len(\"\n + len + \") > buf.length(\" + buf.length + \").\");\n }\n if (this.out == null) {\n throw new IOException(\"stream closed\");\n }\n\n for (int hi = offs + len; offs < hi; ) {\n write0(buf[offs++]);\n }\n }\n\n private void write0(int b)\n throws IOException\n {\n if (this.currentChar != -1) {\n b &= 0xff;\n if (this.currentChar == b) {\n if (++this.runLength > 254) {\n writeRun();\n this.currentChar = -1;\n this.runLength = 0;\n }\n // else nothing to do\n }\n else {\n writeRun();\n this.runLength = 1;\n this.currentChar = b;\n }\n }\n else {\n this.currentChar = b & 0xff;\n this.runLength++;\n }\n }\n\n private static void hbAssignCodes(final int[] code, final byte[] length,\n final int minLen, final int maxLen, final int alphaSize)\n {\n int vec = 0;\n for (int n = minLen; n <= maxLen; n++) {\n for (int i = 0; i < alphaSize; i++) {\n if ((length[i] & 0xff) == n) {\n code[i] = vec;\n vec++;\n }\n }\n vec <<= 1;\n }\n }\n\n private void bsFinishedWithStream()\n throws IOException\n {\n while (this.bsLive > 0) {\n int ch = this.bsBuff >> 24;\n this.out.write(ch); // write 8-bit\n this.bsBuff <<= 8;\n this.bsLive -= 8;\n }\n }\n\n private void bsW(final int n, final int v)\n throws IOException\n {\n final OutputStream outShadow = this.out;\n int bsLiveShadow = this.bsLive;\n int bsBuffShadow = this.bsBuff;\n\n while (bsLiveShadow >= 8) {\n outShadow.write(bsBuffShadow >> 24); // write 8-bit\n bsBuffShadow <<= 8;\n bsLiveShadow -= 8;\n }\n\n this.bsBuff = bsBuffShadow | (v << (32 - bsLiveShadow - n));\n this.bsLive = bsLiveShadow + n;\n }\n\n private void bsPutUByte(final int c)\n throws IOException\n {\n bsW(8, c);\n }\n\n private void bsPutInt(final int u)\n throws IOException\n {\n bsW(8, (u >> 24) & 0xff);\n bsW(8, (u >> 16) & 0xff);\n bsW(8, (u >> 8) & 0xff);\n bsW(8, u & 0xff);\n }\n\n private void sendMTFValues()\n throws IOException\n {\n final byte[][] len = this.data.sendMTFValuesLen;\n final int alphaSize = this.nInUse + 2;\n\n for (int t = N_GROUPS; --t >= 0; ) {\n byte[] lenT = len[t];\n for (int v = alphaSize; --v >= 0; ) {\n lenT[v] = GREATER_ICOST;\n }\n }\n\n /* Decide how many coding tables to use */\n // assert (this.nMTF > 0) : this.nMTF;\n final int nGroups = (this.nMTF < 200) ? 2 : (this.nMTF < 600) ? 3\n : (this.nMTF < 1200) ? 4 : (this.nMTF < 2400) ? 5 : 6;\n\n /* Generate an initial set of coding tables */\n sendMTFValues0(nGroups, alphaSize);\n\n /*\n * Iterate up to N_ITERS times to improve the tables.\n */\n final int nSelectors = sendMTFValues1(nGroups, alphaSize);\n\n /* Compute MTF values for the selectors. */\n sendMTFValues2(nGroups, nSelectors);\n\n /* Assign actual codes for the tables. */\n sendMTFValues3(nGroups, alphaSize);\n\n /* Transmit the mapping table. */\n sendMTFValues4();\n\n /* Now the selectors. */\n sendMTFValues5(nGroups, nSelectors);\n\n /* Now the coding tables. */\n sendMTFValues6(nGroups, alphaSize);\n\n /* And finally, the block data proper */\n sendMTFValues7();\n }\n\n private void sendMTFValues0(final int nGroups, final int alphaSize)\n {\n final byte[][] len = this.data.sendMTFValuesLen;\n final int[] mtfFreq = this.data.mtfFreq;\n\n int remF = this.nMTF;\n int gs = 0;\n\n for (int nPart = nGroups; nPart > 0; nPart--) {\n final int tFreq = remF / nPart;\n int ge = gs - 1;\n int aFreq = 0;\n\n for (final int a = alphaSize - 1; (aFreq < tFreq) && (ge < a); ) {\n aFreq += mtfFreq[++ge];\n }\n\n if ((ge > gs) && (nPart != nGroups) && (nPart != 1)\n && (((nGroups - nPart) & 1) != 0)) {\n aFreq -= mtfFreq[ge--];\n }\n\n final byte[] lenNp = len[nPart - 1];\n for (int v = alphaSize; --v >= 0; ) {\n if ((v >= gs) && (v <= ge)) {\n lenNp[v] = LESSER_ICOST;\n }\n else {\n lenNp[v] = GREATER_ICOST;\n }\n }\n\n gs = ge + 1;\n remF -= aFreq;\n }\n }\n\n private int sendMTFValues1(final int nGroups, final int alphaSize)\n {\n final Data dataShadow = this.data;\n final int[][] rfreq = dataShadow.sendMTFValuesRfreq;\n final int[] fave = dataShadow.sendMTFValuesFave;\n final short[] cost = dataShadow.sendMTFValuesCost;\n final char[] sfmap = dataShadow.sfmap;\n final byte[] selector = dataShadow.selector;\n final byte[][] len = dataShadow.sendMTFValuesLen;\n final byte[] len0 = len[0];\n final byte[] len1 = len[1];\n final byte[] len2 = len[2];\n final byte[] len3 = len[3];\n final byte[] len4 = len[4];\n final byte[] len5 = len[5];\n final int nMTFShadow = this.nMTF;\n\n int nSelectors = 0;\n\n for (int iter = 0; iter < N_ITERS; iter++) {\n for (int t = nGroups; --t >= 0; ) {\n fave[t] = 0;\n int[] rfreqt = rfreq[t];\n for (int i = alphaSize; --i >= 0; ) {\n rfreqt[i] = 0;\n }\n }\n\n nSelectors = 0;\n\n for (int gs = 0; gs < this.nMTF; ) {\n /* Set group start & end marks. */\n\n /*\n * Calculate the cost of this group as coded by each of the\n * coding tables.\n */\n\n final int ge = Math.min(gs + G_SIZE - 1, nMTFShadow - 1);\n\n if (nGroups == N_GROUPS) {\n // unrolled version of the else-block\n\n short cost0 = 0;\n short cost1 = 0;\n short cost2 = 0;\n short cost3 = 0;\n short cost4 = 0;\n short cost5 = 0;\n\n for (int i = gs; i <= ge; i++) {\n final int icv = sfmap[i];\n cost0 += len0[icv] & 0xff;\n cost1 += len1[icv] & 0xff;\n cost2 += len2[icv] & 0xff;\n cost3 += len3[icv] & 0xff;\n cost4 += len4[icv] & 0xff;\n cost5 += len5[icv] & 0xff;\n }\n\n cost[0] = cost0;\n cost[1] = cost1;\n cost[2] = cost2;\n cost[3] = cost3;\n cost[4] = cost4;\n cost[5] = cost5;\n }\n else {\n for (int t = nGroups; --t >= 0; ) {\n cost[t] = 0;\n }\n\n for (int i = gs; i <= ge; i++) {\n final int icv = sfmap[i];\n for (int t = nGroups; --t >= 0; ) {\n cost[t] += len[t][icv] & 0xff;\n }\n }\n }\n\n /*\n * Find the coding table which is best for this group, and\n * record its identity in the selector table.\n */\n int bt = -1;\n for (int t = nGroups, bc = 999999999; --t >= 0; ) {\n final int costT = cost[t];\n if (costT < bc) {\n bc = costT;\n bt = t;\n }\n }\n\n fave[bt]++;\n selector[nSelectors] = (byte) bt;\n nSelectors++;\n\n /*\n * Increment the symbol frequencies for the selected table.\n */\n final int[] rfreqBt = rfreq[bt];\n for (int i = gs; i <= ge; i++) {\n rfreqBt[sfmap[i]]++;\n }\n\n gs = ge + 1;\n }\n\n /*\n * Recompute the tables based on the accumulated frequencies.\n */\n for (int t = 0; t < nGroups; t++) {\n hbMakeCodeLengths(len[t], rfreq[t], this.data, alphaSize, 20);\n }\n }\n\n return nSelectors;\n }\n\n private void sendMTFValues2(final int nGroups, final int nSelectors)\n {\n // assert (nGroups < 8) : nGroups;\n\n final Data dataShadow = this.data;\n byte[] pos = dataShadow.sendMTFValues2Pos;\n\n for (int i = nGroups; --i >= 0; ) {\n pos[i] = (byte) i;\n }\n\n for (int i = 0; i < nSelectors; i++) {\n final byte llI = dataShadow.selector[i];\n byte tmp = pos[0];\n int j = 0;\n\n while (llI != tmp) {\n j++;\n byte tmp2 = tmp;\n tmp = pos[j];\n pos[j] = tmp2;\n }\n\n pos[0] = tmp;\n dataShadow.selectorMtf[i] = (byte) j;\n }\n }\n\n private void sendMTFValues3(final int nGroups, final int alphaSize)\n {\n int[][] code = this.data.sendMTFValuesCode;\n byte[][] len = this.data.sendMTFValuesLen;\n\n for (int t = 0; t < nGroups; t++) {\n int minLen = 32;\n int maxLen = 0;\n final byte[] lenT = len[t];\n for (int i = alphaSize; --i >= 0; ) {\n final int l = lenT[i] & 0xff;\n if (l > maxLen) {\n maxLen = l;\n }\n if (l < minLen) {\n minLen = l;\n }\n }\n\n // assert (maxLen <= 20) : maxLen;\n // assert (minLen >= 1) : minLen;\n\n hbAssignCodes(code[t], len[t], minLen, maxLen, alphaSize);\n }\n }\n\n private void sendMTFValues4()\n throws IOException\n {\n final boolean[] inUse = this.data.inUse;\n final boolean[] inUse16 = this.data.sentMTFValues4InUse16;\n\n for (int i = 16; --i >= 0; ) {\n inUse16[i] = false;\n final int i16 = i * 16;\n for (int j = 16; --j >= 0; ) {\n if (inUse[i16 + j]) {\n inUse16[i] = true;\n break;\n }\n }\n }\n\n for (int i = 0; i < 16; i++) {\n bsW(1, inUse16[i] ? 1 : 0);\n }\n\n final OutputStream outShadow = this.out;\n int bsLiveShadow = this.bsLive;\n int bsBuffShadow = this.bsBuff;\n\n for (int i = 0; i < 16; i++) {\n if (inUse16[i]) {\n final int i16 = i * 16;\n for (int j = 0; j < 16; j++) {\n // inlined: bsW(1, inUse[i16 + j] ? 1 : 0);\n while (bsLiveShadow >= 8) {\n outShadow.write(bsBuffShadow >> 24); // write 8-bit\n bsBuffShadow <<= 8;\n bsLiveShadow -= 8;\n }\n if (inUse[i16 + j]) {\n bsBuffShadow |= 1 << (32 - bsLiveShadow - 1);\n }\n bsLiveShadow++;\n }\n }\n }\n\n this.bsBuff = bsBuffShadow;\n this.bsLive = bsLiveShadow;\n }\n\n private void sendMTFValues5(final int nGroups, final int nSelectors)\n throws IOException\n {\n bsW(3, nGroups);\n bsW(15, nSelectors);\n\n final OutputStream outShadow = this.out;\n final byte[] selectorMtf = this.data.selectorMtf;\n\n int bsLiveShadow = this.bsLive;\n int bsBuffShadow = this.bsBuff;\n\n for (int i = 0; i < nSelectors; i++) {\n for (int j = 0, hj = selectorMtf[i] & 0xff; j < hj; j++) {\n // inlined: bsW(1, 1);\n while (bsLiveShadow >= 8) {\n outShadow.write(bsBuffShadow >> 24);\n bsBuffShadow <<= 8;\n bsLiveShadow -= 8;\n }\n bsBuffShadow |= 1 << (32 - bsLiveShadow - 1);\n bsLiveShadow++;\n }\n\n // inlined: bsW(1, 0);\n while (bsLiveShadow >= 8) {\n outShadow.write(bsBuffShadow >> 24);\n bsBuffShadow <<= 8;\n bsLiveShadow -= 8;\n }\n // bsBuffShadow |= 0 << (32 - bsLiveShadow - 1);\n bsLiveShadow++;\n }\n\n this.bsBuff = bsBuffShadow;\n this.bsLive = bsLiveShadow;\n }\n\n private void sendMTFValues6(final int nGroups, final int alphaSize)\n throws IOException\n {\n final byte[][] len = this.data.sendMTFValuesLen;\n final OutputStream outShadow = this.out;\n\n int bsLiveShadow = this.bsLive;\n int bsBuffShadow = this.bsBuff;\n\n for (int t = 0; t < nGroups; t++) {\n byte[] lenT = len[t];\n int curr = lenT[0] & 0xff;\n\n // inlined: bsW(5, curr);\n while (bsLiveShadow >= 8) {\n outShadow.write(bsBuffShadow >> 24); // write 8-bit\n bsBuffShadow <<= 8;\n bsLiveShadow -= 8;\n }\n bsBuffShadow |= curr << (32 - bsLiveShadow - 5);\n bsLiveShadow += 5;\n\n for (int i = 0; i < alphaSize; i++) {\n int lti = lenT[i] & 0xff;\n while (curr < lti) {\n // inlined: bsW(2, 2);\n while (bsLiveShadow >= 8) {\n outShadow.write(bsBuffShadow >> 24); // write 8-bit\n bsBuffShadow <<= 8;\n bsLiveShadow -= 8;\n }\n bsBuffShadow |= 2 << (32 - bsLiveShadow - 2);\n bsLiveShadow += 2;\n\n curr++; /* 10 */\n }\n\n while (curr > lti) {\n // inlined: bsW(2, 3);\n while (bsLiveShadow >= 8) {\n outShadow.write(bsBuffShadow >> 24); // write 8-bit\n bsBuffShadow <<= 8;\n bsLiveShadow -= 8;\n }\n bsBuffShadow |= 3 << (32 - bsLiveShadow - 2);\n bsLiveShadow += 2;\n\n curr--; /* 11 */\n }\n\n // inlined: bsW(1, 0);\n while (bsLiveShadow >= 8) {\n outShadow.write(bsBuffShadow >> 24); // write 8-bit\n bsBuffShadow <<= 8;\n bsLiveShadow -= 8;\n }\n // bsBuffShadow |= 0 << (32 - bsLiveShadow - 1);\n bsLiveShadow++;\n }\n }\n\n this.bsBuff = bsBuffShadow;\n this.bsLive = bsLiveShadow;\n }\n\n private void sendMTFValues7()\n throws IOException\n {\n final Data dataShadow = this.data;\n final byte[][] len = dataShadow.sendMTFValuesLen;\n final int[][] code = dataShadow.sendMTFValuesCode;\n final OutputStream outShadow = this.out;\n final byte[] selector = dataShadow.selector;\n final char[] sfmap = dataShadow.sfmap;\n final int nMTFShadow = this.nMTF;\n\n int selCtr = 0;\n\n int bsLiveShadow = this.bsLive;\n int bsBuffShadow = this.bsBuff;\n\n for (int gs = 0; gs < nMTFShadow; ) {\n final int ge = Math.min(gs + G_SIZE - 1, nMTFShadow - 1);\n final int selectorSelCtr = selector[selCtr] & 0xff;\n final int[] codeSelCtr = code[selectorSelCtr];\n final byte[] lenSelCtr = len[selectorSelCtr];\n\n while (gs <= ge) {\n final int sfmapI = sfmap[gs];\n\n // inlined: bsW(lenSelCtr[sfmapI] & 0xff,\n // codeSelCtr[sfmapI]);\n while (bsLiveShadow >= 8) {\n outShadow.write(bsBuffShadow >> 24);\n bsBuffShadow <<= 8;\n bsLiveShadow -= 8;\n }\n final int n = lenSelCtr[sfmapI] & 0xFF;\n bsBuffShadow |= codeSelCtr[sfmapI] << (32 - bsLiveShadow - n);\n bsLiveShadow += n;\n\n gs++;\n }\n\n gs = ge + 1;\n selCtr++;\n }\n\n this.bsBuff = bsBuffShadow;\n this.bsLive = bsLiveShadow;\n }\n\n private void moveToFrontCodeAndSend()\n throws IOException\n {\n bsW(24, this.origPtr);\n generateMTFValues();\n sendMTFValues();\n }\n\n /**\n * This is the most hammered method of this class.\n *\n * \n * This is the version using unrolled loops. Normally I never use such ones\n * in Java code. The unrolling has shown a noticeable performance improvement\n * on JRE 1.4.2 (Linux i586 / HotSpot Client). Of course it depends on the\n * JIT compiler of the vm.\n *
\n */\n @SuppressWarnings(\"checkstyle:InnerAssignment\")\n private boolean mainSimpleSort(final Data dataShadow, final int lo,\n final int hi, final int d)\n {\n final int bigN = hi - lo + 1;\n if (bigN < 2) {\n return this.firstAttempt && (this.workDone > this.workLimit);\n }\n\n int hp = 0;\n while (INCS[hp] < bigN) {\n hp++;\n }\n\n final int[] fmap = dataShadow.fmap;\n final char[] quadrant = dataShadow.quadrant;\n final byte[] block = dataShadow.block;\n final int lastShadow = this.last;\n final int lastPlus1 = lastShadow + 1;\n final boolean firstAttemptShadow = this.firstAttempt;\n final int workLimitShadow = this.workLimit;\n int workDoneShadow = this.workDone;\n\n // Following block contains unrolled code which could be shortened by\n // coding it in additional loops.\n\n HP:\n while (--hp >= 0) {\n final int h = INCS[hp];\n final int mj = lo + h - 1;\n\n for (int i = lo + h; i <= hi; ) {\n // copy\n for (int k = 3; (i <= hi) && (--k >= 0); i++) {\n final int v = fmap[i];\n final int vd = v + d;\n int j = i;\n\n // for (int a;\n // (j > mj) && mainGtU((a = fmap[j - h]) + d, vd,\n // block, quadrant, lastShadow);\n // j -= h) {\n // fmap[j] = a;\n // }\n //\n // unrolled version:\n\n // start inline mainGTU\n boolean onceRunned = false;\n int a = 0;\n\n HAMMER:\n while (true) {\n if (onceRunned) {\n fmap[j] = a;\n if ((j -= h) <= mj) {\n break;\n }\n }\n else {\n onceRunned = true;\n }\n\n a = fmap[j - h];\n int i1 = a + d;\n int i2 = vd;\n\n // following could be done in a loop, but\n // unrolled it for performance:\n if (block[i1 + 1] == block[i2 + 1]) {\n if (block[i1 + 2] == block[i2 + 2]) {\n if (block[i1 + 3] == block[i2 + 3]) {\n if (block[i1 + 4] == block[i2 + 4]) {\n if (block[i1 + 5] == block[i2 + 5]) {\n if (block[(i1 += 6)] == block[(i2 += 6)]) {\n int x = lastShadow;\n while (x > 0) {\n x -= 4;\n\n if (block[i1 + 1] == block[i2 + 1]) {\n if (quadrant[i1] == quadrant[i2]) {\n if (block[i1 + 2] == block[i2 + 2]) {\n if (quadrant[i1 + 1] == quadrant[i2 + 1]) {\n if (block[i1 + 3] == block[i2 + 3]) {\n if (quadrant[i1 + 2] == quadrant[i2 + 2]) {\n if (block[i1 + 4] == block[i2 + 4]) {\n if (quadrant[i1 + 3] == quadrant[i2 + 3]) {\n if ((i1 += 4) >= lastPlus1) {\n i1 -= lastPlus1;\n }\n if ((i2 += 4) >= lastPlus1) {\n i2 -= lastPlus1;\n }\n workDoneShadow++;\n }\n else if ((quadrant[i1 + 3] > quadrant[i2 + 3])) {\n continue HAMMER;\n }\n else {\n break HAMMER;\n }\n }\n else if ((block[i1 + 4] & 0xff) > (block[i2 + 4] & 0xff)) {\n continue HAMMER;\n }\n else {\n break HAMMER;\n }\n }\n else if ((quadrant[i1 + 2] > quadrant[i2 + 2])) {\n continue HAMMER;\n }\n else {\n break HAMMER;\n }\n }\n else if ((block[i1 + 3] & 0xff) > (block[i2 + 3] & 0xff)) {\n continue HAMMER;\n }\n else {\n break HAMMER;\n }\n }\n else if ((quadrant[i1 + 1] > quadrant[i2 + 1])) {\n continue HAMMER;\n }\n else {\n break HAMMER;\n }\n }\n else if ((block[i1 + 2] & 0xff) > (block[i2 + 2] & 0xff)) {\n continue HAMMER;\n }\n else {\n break HAMMER;\n }\n }\n else if ((quadrant[i1] > quadrant[i2])) {\n continue HAMMER;\n }\n else {\n break HAMMER;\n }\n }\n else if ((block[i1 + 1] & 0xff) > (block[i2 + 1] & 0xff)) {\n continue HAMMER;\n }\n else {\n break HAMMER;\n }\n }\n break;\n } // while x > 0\n else {\n if ((block[i1] & 0xff) <= (block[i2] & 0xff)) {\n break;\n }\n }\n }\n else if ((block[i1 + 5] & 0xff) > (block[i2 + 5] & 0xff)) {\n // ignored\n }\n else {\n break;\n }\n }\n else if ((block[i1 + 4] & 0xff) > (block[i2 + 4] & 0xff)) {\n // ignored\n }\n else {\n break;\n }\n }\n else if ((block[i1 + 3] & 0xff) > (block[i2 + 3] & 0xff)) {\n // ignored\n }\n else {\n break;\n }\n }\n else if ((block[i1 + 2] & 0xff) > (block[i2 + 2] & 0xff)) {\n // ignored\n }\n else {\n break;\n }\n }\n else if ((block[i1 + 1] & 0xff) > (block[i2 + 1] & 0xff)) {\n // ignored\n }\n else {\n break;\n }\n }\n\n fmap[j] = v;\n }\n\n if (firstAttemptShadow && (i <= hi)\n && (workDoneShadow > workLimitShadow)) {\n break HP;\n }\n }\n }\n\n this.workDone = workDoneShadow;\n return firstAttemptShadow && (workDoneShadow > workLimitShadow);\n }\n\n private static void vswap(int[] fmap, int p1, int p2, int n)\n {\n n += p1;\n while (p1 < n) {\n int t = fmap[p1];\n fmap[p1++] = fmap[p2];\n fmap[p2++] = t;\n }\n }\n\n private static byte med3(byte a, byte b, byte c)\n {\n return (a < b) ? (b < c ? b : a < c ? c : a) : (b > c ? b : a > c ? c : a);\n }\n\n private void blockSort()\n {\n this.workLimit = WORK_FACTOR * this.last;\n this.workDone = 0;\n this.blockRandomised = false;\n this.firstAttempt = true;\n mainSort();\n\n if (this.firstAttempt && (this.workDone > this.workLimit)) {\n randomiseBlock();\n this.workLimit = 0;\n this.workDone = 0;\n this.firstAttempt = false;\n mainSort();\n }\n\n int[] fmap = this.data.fmap;\n this.origPtr = -1;\n for (int i = 0, lastShadow = this.last; i <= lastShadow; i++) {\n if (fmap[i] == 0) {\n this.origPtr = i;\n break;\n }\n }\n }\n\n /**\n * Method \"mainQSort3\", file \"blocksort.c\", BZip2 1.0.2\n */\n private void mainQSort3(final Data dataShadow, final int loSt, final int hiSt, final int dSt)\n {\n final int[] stackLl = dataShadow.stackLl;\n final int[] stackHh = dataShadow.stackHh;\n final int[] stackDd = dataShadow.stackDd;\n final int[] fmap = dataShadow.fmap;\n final byte[] block = dataShadow.block;\n\n stackLl[0] = loSt;\n stackHh[0] = hiSt;\n stackDd[0] = dSt;\n\n for (int sp = 1; --sp >= 0; ) {\n final int lo = stackLl[sp];\n final int hi = stackHh[sp];\n final int d = stackDd[sp];\n\n if ((hi - lo < SMALL_THRESH) || (d > DEPTH_THRESH)) {\n if (mainSimpleSort(dataShadow, lo, hi, d)) {\n return;\n }\n }\n else {\n final int d1 = d + 1;\n final int med = med3(block[fmap[lo] + d1], block[fmap[hi] + d1], block[fmap[(lo + hi) >>> 1] + d1]) & 0xff;\n\n int unLo = lo;\n int unHi = hi;\n int ltLo = lo;\n int gtHi = hi;\n\n while (true) {\n while (unLo <= unHi) {\n final int n = ((int) block[fmap[unLo] + d1] & 0xff) - med;\n if (n == 0) {\n final int temp = fmap[unLo];\n fmap[unLo++] = fmap[ltLo];\n fmap[ltLo++] = temp;\n }\n else if (n < 0) {\n unLo++;\n }\n else {\n break;\n }\n }\n\n while (unLo <= unHi) {\n final int n = ((int) block[fmap[unHi] + d1] & 0xff) - med;\n if (n == 0) {\n final int temp = fmap[unHi];\n fmap[unHi--] = fmap[gtHi];\n fmap[gtHi--] = temp;\n }\n else if (n > 0) {\n unHi--;\n }\n else {\n break;\n }\n }\n\n if (unLo <= unHi) {\n final int temp = fmap[unLo];\n fmap[unLo++] = fmap[unHi];\n fmap[unHi--] = temp;\n }\n else {\n break;\n }\n }\n\n if (gtHi < ltLo) {\n stackLl[sp] = lo;\n stackHh[sp] = hi;\n stackDd[sp] = d1;\n sp++;\n }\n else {\n int n = Math.min((ltLo - lo), (unLo - ltLo));\n vswap(fmap, lo, unLo - n, n);\n int m = Math.min((hi - gtHi), (gtHi - unHi));\n vswap(fmap, unLo, hi - m + 1, m);\n\n n = lo + unLo - ltLo - 1;\n m = hi - (gtHi - unHi) + 1;\n\n stackLl[sp] = lo;\n stackHh[sp] = n;\n stackDd[sp] = d;\n sp++;\n\n stackLl[sp] = n + 1;\n stackHh[sp] = m - 1;\n stackDd[sp] = d1;\n sp++;\n\n stackLl[sp] = m;\n stackHh[sp] = hi;\n stackDd[sp] = d;\n sp++;\n }\n }\n }\n }\n\n private void mainSort()\n {\n final Data dataShadow = this.data;\n final int[] runningOrder = dataShadow.mainSortRunningOrder;\n final int[] copy = dataShadow.mainSortCopy;\n final boolean[] bigDone = dataShadow.mainSortBigDone;\n final int[] ftab = dataShadow.ftab;\n final byte[] block = dataShadow.block;\n final int[] fmap = dataShadow.fmap;\n final char[] quadrant = dataShadow.quadrant;\n final int lastShadow = this.last;\n final int workLimitShadow = this.workLimit;\n final boolean firstAttemptShadow = this.firstAttempt;\n\n // Set up the 2-byte frequency table\n for (int i = 65537; --i >= 0; ) {\n ftab[i] = 0;\n }\n\n /*\n * In the various block-sized structures, live data runs from 0 to\n * last+NUM_OVERSHOOT_BYTES inclusive. First, set up the overshoot area\n * for block.\n */\n for (int i = 0; i < NUM_OVERSHOOT_BYTES; i++) {\n block[lastShadow + i + 2] = block[(i % (lastShadow + 1)) + 1];\n }\n for (int i = lastShadow + NUM_OVERSHOOT_BYTES + 1; --i >= 0; ) {\n quadrant[i] = 0;\n }\n block[0] = block[lastShadow + 1];\n\n // Complete the initial radix sort:\n\n int c1 = block[0] & 0xff;\n for (int i = 0; i <= lastShadow; i++) {\n final int c2 = block[i + 1] & 0xff;\n ftab[(c1 << 8) + c2]++;\n c1 = c2;\n }\n\n for (int i = 1; i <= 65536; i++) {\n ftab[i] += ftab[i - 1];\n }\n\n c1 = block[1] & 0xff;\n for (int i = 0; i < lastShadow; i++) {\n final int c2 = block[i + 2] & 0xff;\n fmap[--ftab[(c1 << 8) + c2]] = i;\n c1 = c2;\n }\n\n fmap[--ftab[((block[lastShadow + 1] & 0xff) << 8) + (block[1] & 0xff)]] = lastShadow;\n\n /*\n * Now ftab contains the first loc of every small bucket. Calculate the\n * running order, from smallest to largest big bucket.\n */\n for (int i = 256; --i >= 0; ) {\n bigDone[i] = false;\n runningOrder[i] = i;\n }\n\n for (int h = 364; h != 1; ) {\n h /= 3;\n for (int i = h; i <= 255; i++) {\n final int vv = runningOrder[i];\n final int a = ftab[(vv + 1) << 8] - ftab[vv << 8];\n final int b = h - 1;\n int j = i;\n for (int ro = runningOrder[j - h]; (ftab[(ro + 1) << 8] - ftab[ro << 8]) > a; ro = runningOrder[j - h]) {\n runningOrder[j] = ro;\n j -= h;\n if (j <= b) {\n break;\n }\n }\n runningOrder[j] = vv;\n }\n }\n\n /*\n * The main sorting loop.\n */\n for (int i = 0; i <= 255; i++) {\n /*\n * Process big buckets, starting with the least full.\n */\n final int ss = runningOrder[i];\n\n // Step 1:\n /*\n * Complete the big bucket [ss] by quick sorting any unsorted small\n * buckets [ss, j]. Hopefully previous pointer-scanning phases have\n * already completed many of the small buckets [ss, j], so we don't\n * have to sort them at all.\n */\n for (int j = 0; j <= 255; j++) {\n final int sb = (ss << 8) + j;\n final int ftabSb = ftab[sb];\n if ((ftabSb & SET_MASK) != SET_MASK) {\n final int lo = ftabSb & CLEAR_MASK;\n final int hi = (ftab[sb + 1] & CLEAR_MASK) - 1;\n if (hi > lo) {\n mainQSort3(dataShadow, lo, hi, 2);\n if (firstAttemptShadow\n && (this.workDone > workLimitShadow)) {\n return;\n }\n }\n ftab[sb] = ftabSb | SET_MASK;\n }\n }\n\n // Step 2:\n // Now scan this big bucket to synthesise the\n // sorted order for small buckets [t, ss] for all t != ss.\n\n for (int j = 0; j <= 255; j++) {\n copy[j] = ftab[(j << 8) + ss] & CLEAR_MASK;\n }\n\n for (int j = ftab[ss << 8] & CLEAR_MASK, hj = (ftab[(ss + 1) << 8] & CLEAR_MASK); j < hj; j++) {\n final int fmapJ = fmap[j];\n c1 = block[fmapJ] & 0xff;\n if (!bigDone[c1]) {\n fmap[copy[c1]] = (fmapJ == 0) ? lastShadow : (fmapJ - 1);\n copy[c1]++;\n }\n }\n\n for (int j = 256; --j >= 0; ) {\n ftab[(j << 8) + ss] |= SET_MASK;\n }\n\n // Step 3:\n /*\n * The ss big bucket is now done. Record this fact, and update the\n * quadrant descriptors. Remember to update quadrants in the\n * overshoot area too, if necessary. The \"if (i < 255)\" test merely\n * skips this updating for the last bucket processed, since updating\n * for the last bucket is pointless.\n */\n bigDone[ss] = true;\n\n if (i < 255) {\n final int bbStart = ftab[ss << 8] & CLEAR_MASK;\n final int bbSize = (ftab[(ss + 1) << 8] & CLEAR_MASK) - bbStart;\n int shifts = 0;\n\n while ((bbSize >> shifts) > 65534) {\n shifts++;\n }\n\n for (int j = 0; j < bbSize; j++) {\n final int a2update = fmap[bbStart + j];\n final char qVal = (char) (j >> shifts);\n quadrant[a2update] = qVal;\n if (a2update < NUM_OVERSHOOT_BYTES) {\n quadrant[a2update + lastShadow + 1] = qVal;\n }\n }\n }\n }\n }\n\n private void randomiseBlock()\n {\n final boolean[] inUse = this.data.inUse;\n final byte[] block = this.data.block;\n final int lastShadow = this.last;\n\n for (int i = 256; --i >= 0; ) {\n inUse[i] = false;\n }\n\n int rNToGo = 0;\n int rTPos = 0;\n for (int i = 0, j = 1; i <= lastShadow; i = j, j++) {\n if (rNToGo == 0) {\n rNToGo = (char) R_NUMS[rTPos];\n if (++rTPos == 512) {\n rTPos = 0;\n }\n }\n\n rNToGo--;\n block[j] ^= ((rNToGo == 1) ? 1 : 0);\n\n // handle 16 bit signed numbers\n inUse[block[j] & 0xff] = true;\n }\n\n this.blockRandomised = true;\n }\n\n private void generateMTFValues()\n {\n final int lastShadow = this.last;\n final Data dataShadow = this.data;\n final boolean[] inUse = dataShadow.inUse;\n final byte[] block = dataShadow.block;\n final int[] fmap = dataShadow.fmap;\n final char[] sfmap = dataShadow.sfmap;\n final int[] mtfFreq = dataShadow.mtfFreq;\n final byte[] unseqToSeq = dataShadow.unseqToSeq;\n final byte[] yy = dataShadow.generateMTFValuesYy;\n\n // make maps\n int nInUseShadow = 0;\n for (int i = 0; i < 256; i++) {\n if (inUse[i]) {\n unseqToSeq[i] = (byte) nInUseShadow;\n nInUseShadow++;\n }\n }\n this.nInUse = nInUseShadow;\n\n final int eob = nInUseShadow + 1;\n\n for (int i = eob; i >= 0; i--) {\n mtfFreq[i] = 0;\n }\n\n for (int i = nInUseShadow; --i >= 0; ) {\n yy[i] = (byte) i;\n }\n\n int wr = 0;\n int zPend = 0;\n\n for (int i = 0; i <= lastShadow; i++) {\n final byte llI = unseqToSeq[block[fmap[i]] & 0xff];\n byte tmp = yy[0];\n int j = 0;\n\n while (llI != tmp) {\n j++;\n byte tmp2 = tmp;\n tmp = yy[j];\n yy[j] = tmp2;\n }\n yy[0] = tmp;\n\n if (j == 0) {\n zPend++;\n }\n else {\n if (zPend > 0) {\n zPend--;\n while (true) {\n if ((zPend & 1) == 0) {\n sfmap[wr] = RUN_A;\n wr++;\n mtfFreq[RUN_A]++;\n }\n else {\n sfmap[wr] = RUN_B;\n wr++;\n mtfFreq[RUN_B]++;\n }\n\n if (zPend >= 2) {\n zPend = (zPend - 2) >> 1;\n }\n else {\n break;\n }\n }\n zPend = 0;\n }\n sfmap[wr] = (char) (j + 1);\n wr++;\n mtfFreq[j + 1]++;\n }\n }\n\n if (zPend > 0) {\n zPend--;\n while (true) {\n if ((zPend & 1) == 0) {\n sfmap[wr] = RUN_A;\n wr++;\n mtfFreq[RUN_A]++;\n }\n else {\n sfmap[wr] = RUN_B;\n wr++;\n mtfFreq[RUN_B]++;\n }\n\n if (zPend >= 2) {\n zPend = (zPend - 2) >> 1;\n }\n else {\n break;\n }\n }\n }\n\n sfmap[wr] = (char) eob;\n mtfFreq[eob]++;\n this.nMTF = wr + 1;\n }\n\n private static final class Data\n {\n // with blockSize 900k\n final boolean[] inUse = new boolean[256]; // 256 byte\n final byte[] unseqToSeq = new byte[256]; // 256 byte\n final int[] mtfFreq = new int[MAX_ALPHA_SIZE]; // 1032 byte\n final byte[] selector = new byte[MAX_SELECTORS]; // 18002 byte\n final byte[] selectorMtf = new byte[MAX_SELECTORS]; // 18002 byte\n\n final byte[] generateMTFValuesYy = new byte[256]; // 256 byte\n final byte[][] sendMTFValuesLen = new byte[N_GROUPS][MAX_ALPHA_SIZE]; // 1548\n // byte\n final int[][] sendMTFValuesRfreq = new int[N_GROUPS][MAX_ALPHA_SIZE]; // 6192\n // byte\n final int[] sendMTFValuesFave = new int[N_GROUPS]; // 24 byte\n final short[] sendMTFValuesCost = new short[N_GROUPS]; // 12 byte\n final int[][] sendMTFValuesCode = new int[N_GROUPS][MAX_ALPHA_SIZE]; // 6192\n // byte\n final byte[] sendMTFValues2Pos = new byte[N_GROUPS]; // 6 byte\n final boolean[] sentMTFValues4InUse16 = new boolean[16]; // 16 byte\n\n final int[] stackLl = new int[QSORT_STACK_SIZE]; // 4000 byte\n final int[] stackHh = new int[QSORT_STACK_SIZE]; // 4000 byte\n final int[] stackDd = new int[QSORT_STACK_SIZE]; // 4000 byte\n\n final int[] mainSortRunningOrder = new int[256]; // 1024 byte\n final int[] mainSortCopy = new int[256]; // 1024 byte\n final boolean[] mainSortBigDone = new boolean[256]; // 256 byte\n\n final int[] heap = new int[MAX_ALPHA_SIZE + 2]; // 1040 byte\n final int[] weight = new int[MAX_ALPHA_SIZE * 2]; // 2064 byte\n final int[] parent = new int[MAX_ALPHA_SIZE * 2]; // 2064 byte\n\n final int[] ftab = new int[65537]; // 262148 byte\n // ------------\n // 333408 byte\n\n final byte[] block; // 900021 byte\n final int[] fmap; // 3600000 byte\n final char[] sfmap; // 3600000 byte\n // ------------\n // 8433529 byte\n // ============\n\n /**\n * Array instance identical to sfmap, both are used only temporarily and\n * independently, so we do not need to allocate additional memory.\n */\n final char[] quadrant;\n\n Data(int blockSize100k)\n {\n final int n = blockSize100k * BZip2Constants.BASE_BLOCK_SIZE;\n this.block = new byte[(n + 1 + NUM_OVERSHOOT_BYTES)];\n this.fmap = new int[n];\n this.sfmap = new char[2 * n];\n this.quadrant = this.sfmap;\n }\n }\n}\n" }, { "path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/bzip2/Crc32.java", "content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.bzip2;\n\n// forked from Apache Hadoop\nfinal class Crc32\n{\n private static final int[] CRC_32_TABLE = {0x00000000, 0x04c11db7, 0x09823b6e,\n 0x0d4326d9, 0x130476dc, 0x17c56b6b, 0x1a864db2, 0x1e475005,\n 0x2608edb8, 0x22c9f00f, 0x2f8ad6d6, 0x2b4bcb61, 0x350c9b64,\n 0x31cd86d3, 0x3c8ea00a, 0x384fbdbd, 0x4c11db70, 0x48d0c6c7,\n 0x4593e01e, 0x4152fda9, 0x5f15adac, 0x5bd4b01b, 0x569796c2,\n 0x52568b75, 0x6a1936c8, 0x6ed82b7f, 0x639b0da6, 0x675a1011,\n 0x791d4014, 0x7ddc5da3, 0x709f7b7a, 0x745e66cd, 0x9823b6e0,\n 0x9ce2ab57, 0x91a18d8e, 0x95609039, 0x8b27c03c, 0x8fe6dd8b,\n 0x82a5fb52, 0x8664e6e5, 0xbe2b5b58, 0xbaea46ef, 0xb7a96036,\n 0xb3687d81, 0xad2f2d84, 0xa9ee3033, 0xa4ad16ea, 0xa06c0b5d,\n 0xd4326d90, 0xd0f37027, 0xddb056fe, 0xd9714b49, 0xc7361b4c,\n 0xc3f706fb, 0xceb42022, 0xca753d95, 0xf23a8028, 0xf6fb9d9f,\n 0xfbb8bb46, 0xff79a6f1, 0xe13ef6f4, 0xe5ffeb43, 0xe8bccd9a,\n 0xec7dd02d, 0x34867077, 0x30476dc0, 0x3d044b19, 0x39c556ae,\n 0x278206ab, 0x23431b1c, 0x2e003dc5, 0x2ac12072, 0x128e9dcf,\n 0x164f8078, 0x1b0ca6a1, 0x1fcdbb16, 0x018aeb13, 0x054bf6a4,\n 0x0808d07d, 0x0cc9cdca, 0x7897ab07, 0x7c56b6b0, 0x71159069,\n 0x75d48dde, 0x6b93dddb, 0x6f52c06c, 0x6211e6b5, 0x66d0fb02,\n 0x5e9f46bf, 0x5a5e5b08, 0x571d7dd1, 0x53dc6066, 0x4d9b3063,\n 0x495a2dd4, 0x44190b0d, 0x40d816ba, 0xaca5c697, 0xa864db20,\n 0xa527fdf9, 0xa1e6e04e, 0xbfa1b04b, 0xbb60adfc, 0xb6238b25,\n 0xb2e29692, 0x8aad2b2f, 0x8e6c3698, 0x832f1041, 0x87ee0df6,\n 0x99a95df3, 0x9d684044, 0x902b669d, 0x94ea7b2a, 0xe0b41de7,\n 0xe4750050, 0xe9362689, 0xedf73b3e, 0xf3b06b3b, 0xf771768c,\n 0xfa325055, 0xfef34de2, 0xc6bcf05f, 0xc27dede8, 0xcf3ecb31,\n 0xcbffd686, 0xd5b88683, 0xd1799b34, 0xdc3abded, 0xd8fba05a,\n 0x690ce0ee, 0x6dcdfd59, 0x608edb80, 0x644fc637, 0x7a089632,\n 0x7ec98b85, 0x738aad5c, 0x774bb0eb, 0x4f040d56, 0x4bc510e1,\n 0x46863638, 0x42472b8f, 0x5c007b8a, 0x58c1663d, 0x558240e4,\n 0x51435d53, 0x251d3b9e, 0x21dc2629, 0x2c9f00f0, 0x285e1d47,\n 0x36194d42, 0x32d850f5, 0x3f9b762c, 0x3b5a6b9b, 0x0315d626,\n 0x07d4cb91, 0x0a97ed48, 0x0e56f0ff, 0x1011a0fa, 0x14d0bd4d,\n 0x19939b94, 0x1d528623, 0xf12f560e, 0xf5ee4bb9, 0xf8ad6d60,\n 0xfc6c70d7, 0xe22b20d2, 0xe6ea3d65, 0xeba91bbc, 0xef68060b,\n 0xd727bbb6, 0xd3e6a601, 0xdea580d8, 0xda649d6f, 0xc423cd6a,\n 0xc0e2d0dd, 0xcda1f604, 0xc960ebb3, 0xbd3e8d7e, 0xb9ff90c9,\n 0xb4bcb610, 0xb07daba7, 0xae3afba2, 0xaafbe615, 0xa7b8c0cc,\n 0xa379dd7b, 0x9b3660c6, 0x9ff77d71, 0x92b45ba8, 0x9675461f,\n 0x8832161a, 0x8cf30bad, 0x81b02d74, 0x857130c3, 0x5d8a9099,\n 0x594b8d2e, 0x5408abf7, 0x50c9b640, 0x4e8ee645, 0x4a4ffbf2,\n 0x470cdd2b, 0x43cdc09c, 0x7b827d21, 0x7f436096, 0x7200464f,\n 0x76c15bf8, 0x68860bfd, 0x6c47164a, 0x61043093, 0x65c52d24,\n 0x119b4be9, 0x155a565e, 0x18197087, 0x1cd86d30, 0x029f3d35,\n 0x065e2082, 0x0b1d065b, 0x0fdc1bec, 0x3793a651, 0x3352bbe6,\n 0x3e119d3f, 0x3ad08088, 0x2497d08d, 0x2056cd3a, 0x2d15ebe3,\n 0x29d4f654, 0xc5a92679, 0xc1683bce, 0xcc2b1d17, 0xc8ea00a0,\n 0xd6ad50a5, 0xd26c4d12, 0xdf2f6bcb, 0xdbee767c, 0xe3a1cbc1,\n 0xe760d676, 0xea23f0af, 0xeee2ed18, 0xf0a5bd1d, 0xf464a0aa,\n 0xf9278673, 0xfde69bc4, 0x89b8fd09, 0x8d79e0be, 0x803ac667,\n 0x84fbdbd0, 0x9abc8bd5, 0x9e7d9662, 0x933eb0bb, 0x97ffad0c,\n 0xafb010b1, 0xab710d06, 0xa6322bdf, 0xa2f33668, 0xbcb4666d,\n 0xb8757bda, 0xb5365d03, 0xb1f740b4};\n\n private int globalCrc;\n\n Crc32()\n {\n initialiseCRC();\n }\n\n void initialiseCRC()\n {\n globalCrc = 0xffffffff;\n }\n\n int getFinalCRC()\n {\n return ~globalCrc;\n }\n\n void updateCRC(int value)\n {\n int temp = (globalCrc >> 24) ^ value;\n if (temp < 0) {\n temp = 256 + temp;\n }\n globalCrc = (globalCrc << 8) ^ CRC_32_TABLE[temp];\n }\n\n void updateCRC(int value, int repeat)\n {\n int globalCrcShadow = this.globalCrc;\n while (repeat-- > 0) {\n int temp = (globalCrcShadow >> 24) ^ value;\n globalCrcShadow = (globalCrcShadow << 8) ^ CRC_32_TABLE[(temp >= 0) ? temp : (temp + 256)];\n }\n this.globalCrc = globalCrcShadow;\n }\n}\n" }, { "path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/deflate/DeflateCompressor.java", "content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.deflate;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Compressor;\n\npublic interface DeflateCompressor\n extends Compressor\n{\n static DeflateCompressor create()\n {\n if (DeflateNativeCompressor.isEnabled()) {\n return new DeflateNativeCompressor();\n }\n return new DeflateJavaCompressor();\n }\n\n static DeflateCompressor create(int compressionLevel)\n {\n if (DeflateNativeCompressor.isEnabled()) {\n return new DeflateNativeCompressor(compressionLevel);\n }\n return new DeflateJavaCompressor(compressionLevel);\n }\n}\n" }, { "path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/deflate/DeflateDecompressor.java", "content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.deflate;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Decompressor;\n\npublic interface DeflateDecompressor\n extends Decompressor\n{\n static DeflateDecompressor create()\n {\n if (DeflateNativeDecompressor.isEnabled()) {\n return new DeflateNativeDecompressor();\n }\n return new DeflateJavaDecompressor();\n }\n}\n" }, { "path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/deflate/DeflateJavaCompressor.java", "content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.deflate;\n\nimport java.lang.foreign.MemorySegment;\nimport java.util.zip.Deflater;\n\nimport static java.lang.Math.toIntExact;\nimport static java.util.Objects.requireNonNull;\nimport static java.util.zip.Deflater.FULL_FLUSH;\n\npublic class DeflateJavaCompressor\n implements DeflateCompressor\n{\n private static final int EXTRA_COMPRESSION_SPACE = 16;\n private static final int COMPRESSION_LEVEL = 4;\n\n private final int compressionLevel;\n\n public DeflateJavaCompressor()\n {\n this(COMPRESSION_LEVEL);\n }\n\n public DeflateJavaCompressor(int compressionLevel)\n {\n if (compressionLevel < 0 || compressionLevel > 9) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(\"Invalid compression level: %d (must be 0-9)\".formatted(compressionLevel));\n }\n this.compressionLevel = compressionLevel;\n }\n\n @Override\n public int maxCompressedLength(int uncompressedSize)\n {\n // From Mark Adler's post http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1207877/java-size-of-compression-output-bytearray\n return uncompressedSize + ((uncompressedSize + 7) >> 3) + ((uncompressedSize + 63) >> 6) + 5 + EXTRA_COMPRESSION_SPACE;\n }\n\n @Override\n public int compress(byte[] input, int inputOffset, int inputLength, byte[] output, int outputOffset, int maxOutputLength)\n {\n verifyRange(input, inputOffset, inputLength);\n verifyRange(output, outputOffset, maxOutputLength);\n\n try (Deflater deflater = new Deflater(compressionLevel, true)) {\n deflater.setInput(input, inputOffset, inputLength);\n deflater.finish();\n\n int compressedDataLength = deflater.deflate(output, outputOffset, maxOutputLength, FULL_FLUSH);\n if (!deflater.finished()) {\n throw new IllegalStateException(\"Output buffer too small\");\n }\n return compressedDataLength;\n }\n }\n\n @Override\n public int compress(MemorySegment input, MemorySegment output)\n {\n int maxCompressedLength = maxCompressedLength(toIntExact(input.byteSize()));\n if (output.byteSize() < maxCompressedLength) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(\"Output buffer must be at least \" + maxCompressedLength + \" bytes\");\n }\n\n try (Deflater deflater = new Deflater(compressionLevel, true)) {\n deflater.setInput(input.asByteBuffer());\n deflater.finish();\n\n int compressedDataLength = deflater.deflate(output.asByteBuffer(), FULL_FLUSH);\n if (!deflater.finished()) {\n throw new IllegalStateException(\"maxCompressedLength formula is incorrect, because deflate produced more data\");\n }\n return compressedDataLength;\n }\n }\n\n private static void verifyRange(byte[] data, int offset, int length)\n {\n requireNonNull(data, \"data is null\");\n if (offset < 0 || length < 0 || offset + length > data.length) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(\"Invalid offset or length (%s, %s) in array of length %s\".formatted(offset, length, data.length));\n }\n }\n}\n" }, { "path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/deflate/DeflateJavaDecompressor.java", "content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.deflate;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.MalformedInputException;\n\nimport java.lang.foreign.MemorySegment;\nimport java.nio.ByteBuffer;\nimport java.util.zip.DataFormatException;\nimport java.util.zip.Inflater;\n\nimport static java.lang.String.format;\nimport static java.util.Objects.requireNonNull;\n\npublic class DeflateJavaDecompressor\n implements DeflateDecompressor\n{\n @Override\n public int decompress(byte[] input, int inputOffset, int inputLength, byte[] output, int outputOffset, int maxOutputLength)\n throws MalformedInputException\n {\n verifyRange(input, inputOffset, inputLength);\n verifyRange(output, outputOffset, maxOutputLength);\n\n try (Inflater inflater = new Inflater(true)) {\n inflater.setInput(input, inputOffset, inputLength);\n\n int uncompressedLength = 0;\n while (true) {\n uncompressedLength += inflater.inflate(output, outputOffset + uncompressedLength, maxOutputLength - uncompressedLength);\n if (inflater.finished() || uncompressedLength >= maxOutputLength) {\n break;\n }\n if (inflater.needsInput()) {\n throw new MalformedInputException(0, format(\"Premature end of input stream. Input length = %s, uncompressed length = %d\", inputLength, uncompressedLength));\n }\n }\n\n if (!inflater.finished()) {\n throw new MalformedInputException(0, \"Output buffer too small\");\n }\n\n return uncompressedLength;\n }\n catch (DataFormatException e) {\n throw new RuntimeException(\"Invalid compressed stream\", e);\n }\n }\n\n @Override\n public int decompress(MemorySegment input, MemorySegment output)\n throws MalformedInputException\n {\n ByteBuffer inputByteBuffer = input.asByteBuffer();\n try (Inflater inflater = new Inflater(true)) {\n inflater.setInput(inputByteBuffer);\n\n ByteBuffer outputByteBuffer = output.asByteBuffer();\n int uncompressedLength = 0;\n while (true) {\n uncompressedLength += inflater.inflate(outputByteBuffer);\n if (inflater.finished() || uncompressedLength >= output.byteSize()) {\n break;\n }\n if (inflater.needsInput()) {\n throw new MalformedInputException(inputByteBuffer.position(), \"Premature end of input stream. Input length = \" + input.byteSize() + \", uncompressed length = \" + uncompressedLength);\n }\n }\n\n if (!inflater.finished()) {\n throw new MalformedInputException(inputByteBuffer.position(), \"Could not decompress all input (output buffer too small?)\");\n }\n\n return uncompressedLength;\n }\n catch (DataFormatException e) {\n throw new RuntimeException(\"Invalid compressed stream\", e);\n }\n }\n\n private static void verifyRange(byte[] data, int offset, int length)\n {\n requireNonNull(data, \"data is null\");\n if (offset < 0 || length < 0 || offset + length > data.length) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(format(\"Invalid offset or length (%s, %s) in array of length %s\", offset, length, data.length));\n }\n }\n}\n" }, { "path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/deflate/DeflateNative.java", "content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.deflate;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.internal.NativeLoader;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.internal.NativeSignature;\n\nimport java.lang.foreign.MemorySegment;\nimport java.lang.invoke.MethodHandle;\nimport java.util.Optional;\n\nimport static java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles.lookup;\n\nfinal class DeflateNative\n{\n private record MethodHandles(\n @NativeSignature(name = \"libdeflate_alloc_compressor\", returnType = MemorySegment.class, argumentTypes = int.class)\n MethodHandle allocCompressor,\n @NativeSignature(name = \"libdeflate_free_compressor\", returnType = void.class, argumentTypes = MemorySegment.class)\n MethodHandle freeCompressor,\n @NativeSignature(name = \"libdeflate_deflate_compress\", returnType = long.class, argumentTypes = {MemorySegment.class, MemorySegment.class, long.class, MemorySegment.class, long.class})\n MethodHandle compress,\n @NativeSignature(name = \"libdeflate_deflate_compress_bound\", returnType = long.class, argumentTypes = {MemorySegment.class, long.class})\n MethodHandle compressBound,\n @NativeSignature(name = \"libdeflate_alloc_decompressor\", returnType = MemorySegment.class, argumentTypes = {})\n MethodHandle allocDecompressor,\n @NativeSignature(name = \"libdeflate_free_decompressor\", returnType = void.class, argumentTypes = MemorySegment.class)\n MethodHandle freeDecompressor,\n @NativeSignature(name = \"libdeflate_deflate_decompress\", returnType = int.class, argumentTypes = {MemorySegment.class, MemorySegment.class, long.class, MemorySegment.class, long.class, MemorySegment.class})\n MethodHandle decompress) {}\n\n private DeflateNative() {}\n\n private static final Optionalnull.\n * @param dest The byte[] to read bytes into. Must not be null.\n * @param offset The index in dest to start filling.\n * @param length The number of bytes to read.\n * @return Total number of bytes actually read.\n * @throws IndexOutOfBoundsException if offset or length are invalid.\n */\n static int readBytes(InputStream source, byte[] dest, int offset, int length)\n throws IOException\n {\n checkNotNull(source, \"source is null\");\n checkNotNull(dest, \"dest is null\");\n\n // how many bytes were read.\n int lastRead = source.read(dest, offset, length);\n\n int totalRead = lastRead;\n\n // if we did not read as many bytes as we had hoped, try reading again.\n if (lastRead < length) {\n // as long the buffer is not full (remaining() == 0) and we have not reached EOF (lastRead == -1) keep reading.\n while (totalRead < length && lastRead != -1) {\n lastRead = source.read(dest, offset + totalRead, length - totalRead);\n\n // if we got EOF, do not add to total read.\n if (lastRead != -1) {\n totalRead += lastRead;\n }\n }\n }\n\n return totalRead;\n }\n\n static int skip(InputStream source, int skip)\n throws IOException\n {\n // optimization also avoids potential for error with some implementation of\n // InputStream.skip() which throw exceptions with negative numbers (ie. ZipInputStream).\n if (skip <= 0) {\n return 0;\n }\n\n int toSkip = skip - (int) source.skip(skip);\n\n boolean more = true;\n while (toSkip > 0 && more) {\n // check to see if we reached EOF\n int read = source.read();\n if (read == -1) {\n more = false;\n }\n else {\n --toSkip;\n toSkip -= source.skip(toSkip);\n }\n }\n\n int skipped = skip - toSkip;\n\n return skipped;\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/snappy/SnappyJavaCompressor.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.snappy;\n\nimport java.lang.foreign.MemorySegment;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.snappy.UnsafeUtil.getAddress;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.snappy.UnsafeUtil.getBase;\nimport static java.lang.Math.addExact;\nimport static java.lang.String.format;\nimport static java.lang.ref.Reference.reachabilityFence;\nimport static java.util.Objects.requireNonNull;\nimport static sun.misc.Unsafe.ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET;\n\npublic final class SnappyJavaCompressor\n implements SnappyCompressor\n{\n private final short[] table = new short[SnappyRawCompressor.MAX_HASH_TABLE_SIZE];\n\n @Override\n public int maxCompressedLength(int uncompressedSize)\n {\n return SnappyRawCompressor.maxCompressedLength(uncompressedSize);\n }\n\n @Override\n public int compress(byte[] input, int inputOffset, int inputLength, byte[] output, int outputOffset, int maxOutputLength)\n {\n verifyRange(input, inputOffset, inputLength);\n verifyRange(output, outputOffset, maxOutputLength);\n\n long inputAddress = ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET + inputOffset;\n long inputLimit = inputAddress + inputLength;\n long outputAddress = ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET + outputOffset;\n long outputLimit = outputAddress + maxOutputLength;\n\n return SnappyRawCompressor.compress(input, inputAddress, inputLimit, output, outputAddress, outputLimit, table);\n }\n\n @Override\n public int compress(MemorySegment input, MemorySegment output)\n {\n try {\n byte[] inputBase = getBase(input);\n long inputAddress = getAddress(input);\n long inputLimit = addExact(inputAddress, input.byteSize());\n\n byte[] outputBase = getBase(output);\n long outputAddress = getAddress(output);\n long outputLimit = addExact(outputAddress, output.byteSize());\n\n return SnappyRawCompressor.compress(\n inputBase,\n inputAddress,\n inputLimit,\n outputBase,\n outputAddress,\n outputLimit,\n table);\n }\n finally {\n reachabilityFence(input);\n reachabilityFence(output);\n }\n }\n\n @Override\n public int getRetainedSizeInBytes(int inputLength)\n {\n return SnappyRawCompressor.getHashTableSize(inputLength);\n }\n\n private static void verifyRange(byte[] data, int offset, int length)\n {\n requireNonNull(data, \"data is null\");\n if (offset < 0 || length < 0 || offset + length > data.length) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(format(\"Invalid offset or length (%s, %s) in array of length %s\", offset, length, data.length));\n }\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/snappy/SnappyJavaDecompressor.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.snappy;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.MalformedInputException;\n\nimport java.lang.foreign.MemorySegment;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.snappy.UnsafeUtil.getAddress;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.snappy.UnsafeUtil.getBase;\nimport static java.lang.Math.addExact;\nimport static java.lang.String.format;\nimport static java.lang.ref.Reference.reachabilityFence;\nimport static java.util.Objects.requireNonNull;\nimport static sun.misc.Unsafe.ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET;\n\npublic final class SnappyJavaDecompressor\n implements SnappyDecompressor\n{\n @Override\n public int getUncompressedLength(byte[] compressed, int compressedOffset)\n {\n long compressedAddress = ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET + compressedOffset;\n long compressedLimit = ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET + compressed.length;\n\n return SnappyRawDecompressor.getUncompressedLength(compressed, compressedAddress, compressedLimit);\n }\n\n @Override\n public int decompress(byte[] input, int inputOffset, int inputLength, byte[] output, int outputOffset, int maxOutputLength)\n throws MalformedInputException\n {\n verifyRange(input, inputOffset, inputLength);\n verifyRange(output, outputOffset, maxOutputLength);\n\n long inputAddress = ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET + inputOffset;\n long inputLimit = inputAddress + inputLength;\n long outputAddress = ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET + outputOffset;\n long outputLimit = outputAddress + maxOutputLength;\n\n return SnappyRawDecompressor.decompress(input, inputAddress, inputLimit, output, outputAddress, outputLimit);\n }\n\n @Override\n public int decompress(MemorySegment input, MemorySegment output)\n throws MalformedInputException\n {\n try {\n byte[] inputBase = getBase(input);\n long inputAddress = getAddress(input);\n long inputLimit = addExact(inputAddress, input.byteSize());\n\n byte[] outputBase = getBase(output);\n long outputAddress = getAddress(output);\n long outputLimit = addExact(outputAddress, output.byteSize());\n\n return SnappyRawDecompressor.decompress(\n inputBase,\n inputAddress,\n inputLimit,\n outputBase,\n outputAddress,\n outputLimit);\n }\n finally {\n reachabilityFence(input);\n reachabilityFence(output);\n }\n }\n\n private static void verifyRange(byte[] data, int offset, int length)\n {\n requireNonNull(data, \"data is null\");\n if (offset < 0 || length < 0 || offset + length > data.length) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(format(\"Invalid offset or length (%s, %s) in array of length %s\", offset, length, data.length));\n }\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/snappy/SnappyNative.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.snappy;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.MalformedInputException;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.internal.NativeLoader.Symbols;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.internal.NativeSignature;\n\nimport java.lang.foreign.MemorySegment;\nimport java.lang.invoke.MethodHandle;\nimport java.util.Optional;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.internal.NativeLoader.loadSymbols;\nimport static java.lang.foreign.ValueLayout.JAVA_LONG;\nimport static java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles.lookup;\n\nfinal class SnappyNative\n{\n private final MemorySegment lengthBuffer = MemorySegment.ofArray(new long[1]);\n\n public static long maxCompressedLength(long inputLength)\n {\n return maxCompressedLengthInternal(inputLength);\n }\n\n public long compress(MemorySegment input, long inputLength, MemorySegment compressed, long compressedLength)\n {\n lengthBuffer.set(JAVA_LONG, 0, compressedLength);\n compressInternal(input, inputLength, compressed, lengthBuffer);\n return lengthBuffer.get(JAVA_LONG, 0);\n }\n\n public long decompress(MemorySegment compressed, long compressedLength, MemorySegment uncompressed, long uncompressedLength)\n {\n lengthBuffer.set(JAVA_LONG, 0, uncompressedLength);\n decompressInternal(compressed, compressedLength, uncompressed, lengthBuffer);\n return lengthBuffer.get(JAVA_LONG, 0);\n }\n\n public long decompressedLength(MemorySegment compressed, long compressedLength)\n {\n lengthBuffer.set(JAVA_LONG, 0, 0);\n decompressedLengthInternal(compressed, compressedLength, lengthBuffer);\n return lengthBuffer.get(JAVA_LONG, 0);\n }\n\n //\n // FFI stuff\n //\n\n // Defined in snappy-c.h: https://github.com/google/snappy/blob/1.2.1/snappy-c.h#L47\n private static final int SNAPPY_OK = 0;\n private static final int SNAPPY_INVALID_INPUT = 1;\n private static final int SNAPPY_BUFFER_TOO_SMALL = 2;\n\n private record MethodHandles(\n @NativeSignature(name = \"snappy_compress\", returnType = int.class, argumentTypes = {MemorySegment.class, long.class, MemorySegment.class, MemorySegment.class})\n MethodHandle compress,\n @NativeSignature(name = \"snappy_uncompress\", returnType = int.class, argumentTypes = {MemorySegment.class, long.class, MemorySegment.class, MemorySegment.class})\n MethodHandle uncompress,\n @NativeSignature(name = \"snappy_max_compressed_length\", returnType = long.class, argumentTypes = long.class)\n MethodHandle maxCompressedLength,\n @NativeSignature(name = \"snappy_uncompressed_length\", returnType = int.class, argumentTypes = {MemorySegment.class, long.class, MemorySegment.class})\n MethodHandle uncompressedLength) {}\n\n private static final Optional\n * Example usage:\n *
\n * try (XxHash3Hasher hasher = XxHash3.newHasher()) {\n * hasher.update(chunk1);\n * hasher.update(chunk2);\n * long hash = hasher.digest();\n * }\n * \n */\npublic interface XxHash3Hasher\n extends AutoCloseable\n{\n /**\n * Updates the hash state with the given input data.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash3Hasher update(byte[] input);\n\n /**\n * Updates the hash state with the given input data.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash3Hasher update(byte[] input, int offset, int length);\n\n /**\n * Updates the hash state with the given input data.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash3Hasher update(MemorySegment input);\n\n /**\n * Updates the hash state with the given long value in little-endian byte order.\n * This is useful for hashing length-prefixed data without manual byte conversion.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash3Hasher updateLE(long value);\n\n /**\n * Updates the hash state with the given int value in little-endian byte order.\n * This is useful for hashing length-prefixed data without manual byte conversion.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash3Hasher updateLE(int value);\n\n /**\n * Computes and returns the 64-bit hash of all data passed to update().\n * The state is not modified, so you can continue to call update() and digest().\n */\n long digest();\n\n /**\n * Resets the hasher to its initial state (no seed).\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash3Hasher reset();\n\n /**\n * Resets the hasher with the given seed.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash3Hasher reset(long seed);\n\n /**\n * Closes this hasher and releases native resources.\n */\n @Override\n void close();\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/xxhash/XxHash3Hasher128.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.xxhash;\n\nimport java.lang.foreign.MemorySegment;\n\n/**\n * Streaming hasher for computing 128-bit XXHash3 hashes incrementally.\n * \n * Example usage:\n *
\n * try (XxHash3Hasher128 hasher = XxHash3.newHasher128()) {\n * hasher.update(chunk1);\n * hasher.update(chunk2);\n * XxHash128 hash = hasher.digest();\n * }\n * \n */\npublic interface XxHash3Hasher128\n extends AutoCloseable\n{\n /**\n * Updates the hash state with the given input data.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash3Hasher128 update(byte[] input);\n\n /**\n * Updates the hash state with the given input data.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash3Hasher128 update(byte[] input, int offset, int length);\n\n /**\n * Updates the hash state with the given input data.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash3Hasher128 update(MemorySegment input);\n\n /**\n * Updates the hash state with the given long value in little-endian byte order.\n * This is useful for hashing length-prefixed data without manual byte conversion.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash3Hasher128 updateLE(long value);\n\n /**\n * Updates the hash state with the given int value in little-endian byte order.\n * This is useful for hashing length-prefixed data without manual byte conversion.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash3Hasher128 updateLE(int value);\n\n /**\n * Computes and returns the 128-bit hash of all data passed to update().\n * The state is not modified, so you can continue to call update() and digest().\n */\n XxHash128 digest();\n\n /**\n * Resets the hasher to its initial state (no seed).\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash3Hasher128 reset();\n\n /**\n * Resets the hasher with the given seed.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash3Hasher128 reset(long seed);\n\n /**\n * Closes this hasher and releases native resources.\n */\n @Override\n void close();\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/xxhash/XxHash3Native.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.xxhash;\n\nimport java.lang.foreign.Arena;\nimport java.lang.foreign.MemorySegment;\nimport java.lang.foreign.ValueLayout;\nimport java.lang.ref.Cleaner;\nimport java.nio.ByteOrder;\n\nimport static java.util.Objects.checkFromIndexSize;\n\n/**\n * XXHash3 hash function with support for both one-shot and streaming hashing.\n * \n * For one-shot hashing, use the static methods:\n *
\n * long hash = XxHash3Native.hash(data);\n * XxHash128 hash128 = XxHash3Native.hash128(data);\n *\n *
\n * For streaming (incremental) hashing, use the factory methods:\n *
\n * try (XxHash3Hasher hasher = XxHash3Native.newHasher()) {\n * hasher.update(chunk1);\n * hasher.update(chunk2);\n * long hash = hasher.digest();\n * }\n *\n * try (XxHash3Hasher128 hasher = XxHash3Native.newHasher128()) {\n * hasher.update(chunk1);\n * hasher.update(chunk2);\n * XxHash128 hash = hasher.digest();\n * }\n * \n *\n * \n * XXHash3 is significantly faster than XXHash64 for large inputs (~2.5x at 16KB+).\n *
\n * The 64-bit hash ({@link #hash}) has minimal overhead and is fast at all input sizes.\n *
\n * The 128-bit hash ({@link #hash128}) has additional overhead due to FFM struct-return\n * handling. For small inputs (<512 bytes), this overhead is noticeable. At larger sizes\n * (8KB+), the 64-bit and 128-bit variants have similar throughput as hash computation\n * dominates.\n */\npublic final class XxHash3Native\n{\n private static final Cleaner CLEANER = Cleaner.create();\n private static final ValueLayout.OfLong JAVA_LONG_LE_UNALIGNED = ValueLayout.JAVA_LONG_UNALIGNED.withOrder(ByteOrder.LITTLE_ENDIAN);\n private static final ValueLayout.OfInt JAVA_INT_LE_UNALIGNED = ValueLayout.JAVA_INT_UNALIGNED.withOrder(ByteOrder.LITTLE_ENDIAN);\n\n // XXHash3 constants for 8-byte hashing (XXH3_64_4to8 algorithm)\n private static final long PRIME_MX2 = 0x9FB21C651E98DF25L;\n private static final long SECRET_0 = 0x1cad21f72c81017cL; // kSecret bytes 8-15 as LE long\n private static final long SECRET_1 = 0xdb979083e96dd4deL; // kSecret bytes 16-23 as LE long\n\n private XxHash3Native() {}\n\n // ========== Factory methods for streaming ==========\n\n /**\n * Creates a new streaming hasher for 64-bit hashes with no seed.\n */\n public static XxHash3Hasher newHasher()\n {\n return new Hasher64Impl();\n }\n\n /**\n * Creates a new streaming hasher for 64-bit hashes with the specified seed.\n */\n public static XxHash3Hasher newHasher(long seed)\n {\n return new Hasher64Impl(seed);\n }\n\n /**\n * Creates a new streaming hasher for 128-bit hashes with no seed.\n */\n public static XxHash3Hasher128 newHasher128()\n {\n return new Hasher128Impl();\n }\n\n /**\n * Creates a new streaming hasher for 128-bit hashes with the specified seed.\n */\n public static XxHash3Hasher128 newHasher128(long seed)\n {\n return new Hasher128Impl(seed);\n }\n\n // ========== Static one-shot methods ==========\n\n public static boolean isEnabled()\n {\n return XxHash3Bindings.isEnabled();\n }\n\n // 64-bit hash variants\n\n public static long hash(long value)\n {\n return hash(value, 0);\n }\n\n public static long hash(long input, long seed)\n {\n // Pure Java implementation of XXH3_64_4to8 algorithm for exactly 8 bytes\n int inputLo = (int) input;\n int inputHi = (int) (input >>> 32);\n\n long modifiedSeed = seed ^ ((Integer.reverseBytes((int) seed) & 0xFFFFFFFFL) << 32);\n long combined = (inputHi & 0xFFFFFFFFL) | ((inputLo & 0xFFFFFFFFL) << 32);\n\n long value = ((SECRET_0 ^ SECRET_1) - modifiedSeed) ^ combined;\n value ^= Long.rotateLeft(value, 49) ^ Long.rotateLeft(value, 24);\n value *= PRIME_MX2;\n value ^= (value >>> 35) + 8;\n value *= PRIME_MX2;\n return value ^ (value >>> 28);\n }\n\n public static long hash(byte[] input)\n {\n return hash(input, 0, input.length);\n }\n\n public static long hash(byte[] input, int offset, int length)\n {\n checkFromIndexSize(offset, length, input.length);\n XxHash3Bindings.verifyEnabled();\n MemorySegment segment = MemorySegment.ofArray(input).asSlice(offset, length);\n return XxHash3Bindings.hash64(segment, length);\n }\n\n public static long hash(MemorySegment input)\n {\n XxHash3Bindings.verifyEnabled();\n return XxHash3Bindings.hash64(input, input.byteSize());\n }\n\n public static long hash(byte[] input, long seed)\n {\n return hash(input, 0, input.length, seed);\n }\n\n public static long hash(byte[] input, int offset, int length, long seed)\n {\n checkFromIndexSize(offset, length, input.length);\n XxHash3Bindings.verifyEnabled();\n MemorySegment segment = MemorySegment.ofArray(input).asSlice(offset, length);\n return XxHash3Bindings.hash64(segment, length, seed);\n }\n\n public static long hash(MemorySegment input, long seed)\n {\n XxHash3Bindings.verifyEnabled();\n return XxHash3Bindings.hash64(input, input.byteSize(), seed);\n }\n\n // 128-bit hash variants\n\n public static XxHash128 hash128(byte[] input)\n {\n return hash128(input, 0, input.length);\n }\n\n public static XxHash128 hash128(byte[] input, int offset, int length)\n {\n checkFromIndexSize(offset, length, input.length);\n XxHash3Bindings.verifyEnabled();\n MemorySegment segment = MemorySegment.ofArray(input).asSlice(offset, length);\n return XxHash3Bindings.hash128(segment, length);\n }\n\n public static XxHash128 hash128(MemorySegment input)\n {\n XxHash3Bindings.verifyEnabled();\n return XxHash3Bindings.hash128(input, input.byteSize());\n }\n\n public static XxHash128 hash128(byte[] input, long seed)\n {\n return hash128(input, 0, input.length, seed);\n }\n\n public static XxHash128 hash128(byte[] input, int offset, int length, long seed)\n {\n checkFromIndexSize(offset, length, input.length);\n XxHash3Bindings.verifyEnabled();\n MemorySegment segment = MemorySegment.ofArray(input).asSlice(offset, length);\n return XxHash3Bindings.hash128(segment, length, seed);\n }\n\n public static XxHash128 hash128(MemorySegment input, long seed)\n {\n XxHash3Bindings.verifyEnabled();\n return XxHash3Bindings.hash128(input, input.byteSize(), seed);\n }\n\n // ========== Implementation classes ==========\n\n /**\n * 64-bit streaming hasher implementation.\n */\n private static final class Hasher64Impl\n implements XxHash3Hasher\n {\n private final MemorySegment state;\n private final Cleaner.Cleanable cleanable;\n private final byte[] scratch = new byte[8];\n private boolean closed;\n\n Hasher64Impl()\n {\n XxHash3Bindings.verifyEnabled();\n\n NativeResources resources = new NativeResources();\n this.cleanable = CLEANER.register(this, resources);\n Arena arena = resources.arena();\n\n MemorySegment rawState = XxHash3Bindings.createState();\n if (rawState.equals(MemorySegment.NULL)) {\n cleanable.clean();\n throw new IllegalStateException(\"Failed to create XXH3 state\");\n }\n this.state = rawState.reinterpret(arena, XxHash3Bindings::freeState);\n XxHash3Bindings.reset64(state);\n }\n\n Hasher64Impl(long seed)\n {\n XxHash3Bindings.verifyEnabled();\n\n NativeResources resources = new NativeResources();\n this.cleanable = CLEANER.register(this, resources);\n Arena arena = resources.arena();\n\n MemorySegment rawState = XxHash3Bindings.createState();\n if (rawState.equals(MemorySegment.NULL)) {\n cleanable.clean();\n throw new IllegalStateException(\"Failed to create XXH3 state\");\n }\n this.state = rawState.reinterpret(arena, XxHash3Bindings::freeState);\n XxHash3Bindings.reset64(state, seed);\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash3Hasher update(byte[] input)\n {\n return update(input, 0, input.length);\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash3Hasher update(byte[] input, int offset, int length)\n {\n checkFromIndexSize(offset, length, input.length);\n checkNotClosed();\n MemorySegment segment = MemorySegment.ofArray(input).asSlice(offset, length);\n XxHash3Bindings.update64(state, segment, length);\n return this;\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash3Hasher update(MemorySegment input)\n {\n checkNotClosed();\n XxHash3Bindings.update64(state, input, input.byteSize());\n return this;\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash3Hasher updateLE(long value)\n {\n checkNotClosed();\n MemorySegment segment = MemorySegment.ofArray(scratch);\n segment.set(JAVA_LONG_LE_UNALIGNED, 0, value);\n XxHash3Bindings.update64(state, segment, 8);\n return this;\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash3Hasher updateLE(int value)\n {\n checkNotClosed();\n MemorySegment segment = MemorySegment.ofArray(scratch);\n segment.set(JAVA_INT_LE_UNALIGNED, 0, value);\n XxHash3Bindings.update64(state, segment, 4);\n return this;\n }\n\n @Override\n public long digest()\n {\n checkNotClosed();\n return XxHash3Bindings.digest64(state);\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash3Hasher reset()\n {\n checkNotClosed();\n XxHash3Bindings.reset64(state);\n return this;\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash3Hasher reset(long seed)\n {\n checkNotClosed();\n XxHash3Bindings.reset64(state, seed);\n return this;\n }\n\n private void checkNotClosed()\n {\n if (closed) {\n throw new IllegalStateException(\"Hasher has been closed\");\n }\n }\n\n @Override\n public void close()\n {\n if (!closed) {\n closed = true;\n cleanable.clean();\n }\n }\n }\n\n /**\n * 128-bit streaming hasher implementation.\n */\n private static final class Hasher128Impl\n implements XxHash3Hasher128\n {\n private final MemorySegment state;\n private final Cleaner.Cleanable cleanable;\n private final byte[] scratch = new byte[8];\n private boolean closed;\n\n Hasher128Impl()\n {\n XxHash3Bindings.verifyEnabled();\n\n NativeResources resources = new NativeResources();\n this.cleanable = CLEANER.register(this, resources);\n Arena arena = resources.arena();\n\n MemorySegment rawState = XxHash3Bindings.createState();\n if (rawState.equals(MemorySegment.NULL)) {\n cleanable.clean();\n throw new IllegalStateException(\"Failed to create XXH3 state\");\n }\n this.state = rawState.reinterpret(arena, XxHash3Bindings::freeState);\n XxHash3Bindings.reset128(state);\n }\n\n Hasher128Impl(long seed)\n {\n XxHash3Bindings.verifyEnabled();\n\n NativeResources resources = new NativeResources();\n this.cleanable = CLEANER.register(this, resources);\n Arena arena = resources.arena();\n\n MemorySegment rawState = XxHash3Bindings.createState();\n if (rawState.equals(MemorySegment.NULL)) {\n cleanable.clean();\n throw new IllegalStateException(\"Failed to create XXH3 state\");\n }\n this.state = rawState.reinterpret(arena, XxHash3Bindings::freeState);\n XxHash3Bindings.reset128(state, seed);\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash3Hasher128 update(byte[] input)\n {\n return update(input, 0, input.length);\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash3Hasher128 update(byte[] input, int offset, int length)\n {\n checkFromIndexSize(offset, length, input.length);\n checkNotClosed();\n MemorySegment segment = MemorySegment.ofArray(input).asSlice(offset, length);\n XxHash3Bindings.update128(state, segment, length);\n return this;\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash3Hasher128 update(MemorySegment input)\n {\n checkNotClosed();\n XxHash3Bindings.update128(state, input, input.byteSize());\n return this;\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash3Hasher128 updateLE(long value)\n {\n checkNotClosed();\n MemorySegment segment = MemorySegment.ofArray(scratch);\n segment.set(JAVA_LONG_LE_UNALIGNED, 0, value);\n XxHash3Bindings.update128(state, segment, 8);\n return this;\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash3Hasher128 updateLE(int value)\n {\n checkNotClosed();\n MemorySegment segment = MemorySegment.ofArray(scratch);\n segment.set(JAVA_INT_LE_UNALIGNED, 0, value);\n XxHash3Bindings.update128(state, segment, 4);\n return this;\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash128 digest()\n {\n checkNotClosed();\n return XxHash3Bindings.digest128(state);\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash3Hasher128 reset()\n {\n checkNotClosed();\n XxHash3Bindings.reset128(state);\n return this;\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash3Hasher128 reset(long seed)\n {\n checkNotClosed();\n XxHash3Bindings.reset128(state, seed);\n return this;\n }\n\n private void checkNotClosed()\n {\n if (closed) {\n throw new IllegalStateException(\"Hasher has been closed\");\n }\n }\n\n @Override\n public void close()\n {\n if (!closed) {\n closed = true;\n cleanable.clean();\n }\n }\n }\n\n /**\n * Holds native resources that must be freed.\n * Implements Runnable so it can be used with Cleaner.\n */\n private record NativeResources(Arena arena)\n implements Runnable\n {\n NativeResources()\n {\n this(Arena.ofShared());\n }\n\n @Override\n public void run()\n {\n arena.close();\n }\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/xxhash/XxHash64Bindings.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.xxhash;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.internal.NativeLoader;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.internal.NativeLoader.Symbols;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.internal.NativeSignature;\n\nimport java.lang.foreign.MemorySegment;\nimport java.lang.invoke.MethodHandle;\nimport java.util.Optional;\n\nimport static java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles.lookup;\n\nfinal class XxHash64Bindings\n{\n private XxHash64Bindings() {}\n\n private record MethodHandles(\n // One-shot hash\n @NativeSignature(name = \"XXH64\", returnType = long.class, argumentTypes = {MemorySegment.class, long.class, long.class})\n MethodHandle hash,\n // State management\n @NativeSignature(name = \"XXH64_createState\", returnType = MemorySegment.class, argumentTypes = {})\n MethodHandle createState,\n @NativeSignature(name = \"XXH64_freeState\", returnType = int.class, argumentTypes = MemorySegment.class)\n MethodHandle freeState,\n // Streaming\n @NativeSignature(name = \"XXH64_reset\", returnType = int.class, argumentTypes = {MemorySegment.class, long.class})\n MethodHandle reset,\n @NativeSignature(name = \"XXH64_update\", returnType = int.class, argumentTypes = {MemorySegment.class, MemorySegment.class, long.class})\n MethodHandle update,\n @NativeSignature(name = \"XXH64_digest\", returnType = long.class, argumentTypes = MemorySegment.class)\n MethodHandle digest) {}\n\n private static final Optional \n * For one-shot hashing, use the static methods:\n * \n * For streaming (incremental) hashing, use the factory methods:\n * \n * \n * ... [16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23] [8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15] [0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7]\n */\nfinal class BitInputStream\n{\n private BitInputStream()\n {\n }\n\n public static boolean isEndOfStream(long startAddress, long currentAddress, int bitsConsumed)\n {\n return startAddress == currentAddress && bitsConsumed == Long.SIZE;\n }\n\n private static long readTail(Object inputBase, long inputAddress, int inputSize)\n {\n long bits = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, inputAddress) & 0xFF;\n\n switch (inputSize) {\n case 7:\n bits |= (UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, inputAddress + 6) & 0xFFL) << 48;\n case 6:\n bits |= (UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, inputAddress + 5) & 0xFFL) << 40;\n case 5:\n bits |= (UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, inputAddress + 4) & 0xFFL) << 32;\n case 4:\n bits |= (UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, inputAddress + 3) & 0xFFL) << 24;\n case 3:\n bits |= (UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, inputAddress + 2) & 0xFFL) << 16;\n case 2:\n bits |= (UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, inputAddress + 1) & 0xFFL) << 8;\n }\n\n return bits;\n }\n\n /**\n * @return numberOfBits in the low-order bits of a long\n */\n public static long peekBits(int bitsConsumed, long bitContainer, int numberOfBits)\n {\n return (((bitContainer << bitsConsumed) >>> 1) >>> (63 - numberOfBits));\n }\n\n /**\n * numberOfBits must be > 0\n *\n * @return numberOfBits in the low-order bits of a long\n */\n public static long peekBitsFast(int bitsConsumed, long bitContainer, int numberOfBits)\n {\n return ((bitContainer << bitsConsumed) >>> (64 - numberOfBits));\n }\n\n static class Initializer\n {\n private final Object inputBase;\n private final long startAddress;\n private final long endAddress;\n private long bits;\n private long currentAddress;\n private int bitsConsumed;\n\n public Initializer(Object inputBase, long startAddress, long endAddress)\n {\n this.inputBase = inputBase;\n this.startAddress = startAddress;\n this.endAddress = endAddress;\n }\n\n public long getBits()\n {\n return bits;\n }\n\n public long getCurrentAddress()\n {\n return currentAddress;\n }\n\n public int getBitsConsumed()\n {\n return bitsConsumed;\n }\n\n public void initialize()\n {\n verify(endAddress - startAddress >= 1, startAddress, \"Bitstream is empty\");\n\n int lastByte = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, endAddress - 1) & 0xFF;\n verify(lastByte != 0, endAddress, \"Bitstream end mark not present\");\n\n bitsConsumed = SIZE_OF_LONG - highestBit(lastByte);\n\n int inputSize = (int) (endAddress - startAddress);\n if (inputSize >= SIZE_OF_LONG) { /* normal case */\n currentAddress = endAddress - SIZE_OF_LONG;\n bits = UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, currentAddress);\n }\n else {\n currentAddress = startAddress;\n bits = readTail(inputBase, startAddress, inputSize);\n\n bitsConsumed += (SIZE_OF_LONG - inputSize) * 8;\n }\n }\n }\n\n static final class Loader\n {\n private final Object inputBase;\n private final long startAddress;\n private long bits;\n private long currentAddress;\n private int bitsConsumed;\n private boolean overflow;\n\n public Loader(Object inputBase, long startAddress, long currentAddress, long bits, int bitsConsumed)\n {\n this.inputBase = inputBase;\n this.startAddress = startAddress;\n this.bits = bits;\n this.currentAddress = currentAddress;\n this.bitsConsumed = bitsConsumed;\n }\n\n public long getBits()\n {\n return bits;\n }\n\n public long getCurrentAddress()\n {\n return currentAddress;\n }\n\n public int getBitsConsumed()\n {\n return bitsConsumed;\n }\n\n public boolean isOverflow()\n {\n return overflow;\n }\n\n public boolean load()\n {\n if (bitsConsumed > 64) {\n overflow = true;\n return true;\n }\n\n else if (currentAddress == startAddress) {\n return true;\n }\n\n int bytes = bitsConsumed >>> 3; // divide by 8\n if (currentAddress >= startAddress + SIZE_OF_LONG) {\n if (bytes > 0) {\n currentAddress -= bytes;\n bits = UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, currentAddress);\n }\n bitsConsumed &= 0b111;\n }\n else if (currentAddress - bytes < startAddress) {\n bytes = (int) (currentAddress - startAddress);\n currentAddress = startAddress;\n bitsConsumed -= bytes * SIZE_OF_LONG;\n bits = UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, startAddress);\n return true;\n }\n else {\n currentAddress -= bytes;\n bitsConsumed -= bytes * SIZE_OF_LONG;\n bits = UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, currentAddress);\n }\n\n return false;\n }\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/BitOutputStream.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_LONG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.UnsafeUtil.UNSAFE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.checkArgument;\n\nclass BitOutputStream\n{\n private static final long[] BIT_MASK = {\n 0x0, 0x1, 0x3, 0x7, 0xF, 0x1F,\n 0x3F, 0x7F, 0xFF, 0x1FF, 0x3FF, 0x7FF,\n 0xFFF, 0x1FFF, 0x3FFF, 0x7FFF, 0xFFFF, 0x1FFFF,\n 0x3FFFF, 0x7FFFF, 0xFFFFF, 0x1FFFFF, 0x3FFFFF, 0x7FFFFF,\n 0xFFFFFF, 0x1FFFFFF, 0x3FFFFFF, 0x7FFFFFF, 0xFFFFFFF, 0x1FFFFFFF,\n 0x3FFFFFFF, 0x7FFFFFFF}; // up to 31 bits\n\n private final Object outputBase;\n private final long outputAddress;\n private final long outputLimit;\n\n private long container;\n private int bitCount;\n private long currentAddress;\n\n public BitOutputStream(Object outputBase, long outputAddress, int outputSize)\n {\n checkArgument(outputSize >= SIZE_OF_LONG, \"Output buffer too small\");\n\n this.outputBase = outputBase;\n this.outputAddress = outputAddress;\n outputLimit = this.outputAddress + outputSize - SIZE_OF_LONG;\n\n currentAddress = this.outputAddress;\n }\n\n public void addBits(int value, int bits)\n {\n container |= (value & BIT_MASK[bits]) << bitCount;\n bitCount += bits;\n }\n\n /**\n * Note: leading bits of value must be 0\n */\n public void addBitsFast(int value, int bits)\n {\n container |= ((long) value) << bitCount;\n bitCount += bits;\n }\n\n public void flush()\n {\n int bytes = bitCount >>> 3;\n\n UNSAFE.putLong(outputBase, currentAddress, container);\n currentAddress += bytes;\n\n if (currentAddress > outputLimit) {\n currentAddress = outputLimit;\n }\n\n bitCount &= 7;\n container >>>= bytes * 8;\n }\n\n public int close()\n {\n addBitsFast(1, 1); // end mark\n flush();\n\n if (currentAddress >= outputLimit) {\n return 0;\n }\n\n return (int) ((currentAddress - outputAddress) + (bitCount > 0 ? 1 : 0));\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/BlockCompressionState.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport java.util.Arrays;\n\nclass BlockCompressionState\n{\n public final int[] hashTable;\n public final int[] chainTable;\n\n private final long baseAddress;\n\n // starting point of the window with respect to baseAddress\n private int windowBaseOffset;\n\n public BlockCompressionState(CompressionParameters parameters, long baseAddress)\n {\n this.baseAddress = baseAddress;\n hashTable = new int[1 << parameters.getHashLog()];\n chainTable = new int[1 << parameters.getChainLog()]; // TODO: chain table not used by Strategy.FAST\n }\n\n public void slideWindow(int slideWindowSize)\n {\n for (int i = 0; i < hashTable.length; i++) {\n int newValue = hashTable[i] - slideWindowSize;\n // if new value is negative, set it to zero branchless\n newValue = newValue & (~(newValue >> 31));\n hashTable[i] = newValue;\n }\n for (int i = 0; i < chainTable.length; i++) {\n int newValue = chainTable[i] - slideWindowSize;\n // if new value is negative, set it to zero branchless\n newValue = newValue & (~(newValue >> 31));\n chainTable[i] = newValue;\n }\n }\n\n public void reset()\n {\n Arrays.fill(hashTable, 0);\n Arrays.fill(chainTable, 0);\n }\n\n public void enforceMaxDistance(long inputLimit, int maxDistance)\n {\n int distance = (int) (inputLimit - baseAddress);\n\n int newOffset = distance - maxDistance;\n if (windowBaseOffset < newOffset) {\n windowBaseOffset = newOffset;\n }\n }\n\n public long getBaseAddress()\n {\n return baseAddress;\n }\n\n public int getWindowBaseOffset()\n {\n return windowBaseOffset;\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/BlockCompressor.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\ninterface BlockCompressor\n{\n BlockCompressor UNSUPPORTED = (inputBase, inputAddress, inputSize, sequenceStore, blockCompressionState, offsets, parameters) -> { throw new UnsupportedOperationException(); };\n\n int compressBlock(Object inputBase, long inputAddress, int inputSize, SequenceStore output, BlockCompressionState state, RepeatedOffsets offsets, CompressionParameters parameters);\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/CompressionContext.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MAX_BLOCK_SIZE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.checkArgument;\nimport static java.lang.Math.clamp;\n\nclass CompressionContext\n{\n public final CompressionParameters parameters;\n public final RepeatedOffsets offsets = new RepeatedOffsets();\n public final BlockCompressionState blockCompressionState;\n public final SequenceStore sequenceStore;\n\n public final SequenceEncodingContext sequenceEncodingContext = new SequenceEncodingContext();\n\n public final HuffmanCompressionContext huffmanContext = new HuffmanCompressionContext();\n\n public CompressionContext(CompressionParameters parameters, long baseAddress, int inputSize)\n {\n this.parameters = parameters;\n\n int windowSize = clamp(inputSize, 1, parameters.getWindowSize());\n int blockSize = Math.min(MAX_BLOCK_SIZE, windowSize);\n int divider = (parameters.getSearchLength() == 3) ? 3 : 4;\n\n int maxSequences = blockSize / divider;\n\n sequenceStore = new SequenceStore(blockSize, maxSequences);\n\n blockCompressionState = new BlockCompressionState(parameters, baseAddress);\n }\n\n public void slideWindow(int slideWindowSize)\n {\n checkArgument(slideWindowSize > 0, \"slideWindowSize must be positive\");\n blockCompressionState.slideWindow(slideWindowSize);\n }\n\n public void commit()\n {\n offsets.commit();\n huffmanContext.saveChanges();\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/CompressionParameters.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MAX_BLOCK_SIZE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MAX_WINDOW_LOG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MIN_WINDOW_LOG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.cycleLog;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.highestBit;\nimport static java.lang.Math.clamp;\n\nclass CompressionParameters\n{\n private static final int MIN_HASH_LOG = 6;\n\n public static final int DEFAULT_COMPRESSION_LEVEL = 3;\n private static final int MAX_COMPRESSION_LEVEL = 22;\n\n private final int windowLog; // largest match distance : larger == more compression, more memory needed during decompression\n private final int windowSize; // computed: 1 << windowLog\n private final int blockSize; // computed: min(MAX_BLOCK_SIZE, windowSize)\n private final int chainLog; // fully searched segment : larger == more compression, slower, more memory (useless for fast)\n private final int hashLog; // dispatch table : larger == faster, more memory\n private final int searchLog; // nb of searches : larger == more compression, slower\n private final int searchLength; // match length searched : larger == faster decompression, sometimes less compression\n private final int targetLength; // acceptable match size for optimal parser (only) : larger == more compression, slower\n private final Strategy strategy;\n\n private static final CompressionParameters[][] DEFAULT_COMPRESSION_PARAMETERS = new CompressionParameters[][] {\n {\n // default\n new CompressionParameters(19, 12, 13, 1, 6, 1, Strategy.FAST), /* base for negative levels */\n new CompressionParameters(19, 13, 14, 1, 7, 0, Strategy.FAST), /* level 1 */\n new CompressionParameters(19, 15, 16, 1, 6, 0, Strategy.FAST), /* level 2 */\n new CompressionParameters(20, 16, 17, 1, 5, 1, Strategy.DFAST), /* level 3 */\n new CompressionParameters(20, 18, 18, 1, 5, 1, Strategy.DFAST), /* level 4 */\n new CompressionParameters(20, 18, 18, 2, 5, 2, Strategy.GREEDY), /* level 5 */\n new CompressionParameters(21, 18, 19, 2, 5, 4, Strategy.LAZY), /* level 6 */\n new CompressionParameters(21, 18, 19, 3, 5, 8, Strategy.LAZY2), /* level 7 */\n new CompressionParameters(21, 19, 19, 3, 5, 16, Strategy.LAZY2), /* level 8 */\n new CompressionParameters(21, 19, 20, 4, 5, 16, Strategy.LAZY2), /* level 9 */\n new CompressionParameters(21, 20, 21, 4, 5, 16, Strategy.LAZY2), /* level 10 */\n new CompressionParameters(21, 21, 22, 4, 5, 16, Strategy.LAZY2), /* level 11 */\n new CompressionParameters(22, 20, 22, 5, 5, 16, Strategy.LAZY2), /* level 12 */\n new CompressionParameters(22, 21, 22, 4, 5, 32, Strategy.BTLAZY2), /* level 13 */\n new CompressionParameters(22, 21, 22, 5, 5, 32, Strategy.BTLAZY2), /* level 14 */\n new CompressionParameters(22, 22, 22, 6, 5, 32, Strategy.BTLAZY2), /* level 15 */\n new CompressionParameters(22, 21, 22, 4, 5, 48, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 16 */\n new CompressionParameters(23, 22, 22, 4, 4, 64, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 17 */\n new CompressionParameters(23, 23, 22, 6, 3, 256, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 18 */\n new CompressionParameters(23, 24, 22, 7, 3, 256, Strategy.BTULTRA), /* level 19 */\n new CompressionParameters(25, 25, 23, 7, 3, 256, Strategy.BTULTRA), /* level 20 */\n new CompressionParameters(26, 26, 24, 7, 3, 512, Strategy.BTULTRA), /* level 21 */\n new CompressionParameters(27, 27, 25, 9, 3, 999, Strategy.BTULTRA) /* level 22 */\n },\n {\n // for size <= 256 KB\n new CompressionParameters(18, 12, 13, 1, 5, 1, Strategy.FAST), /* base for negative levels */\n new CompressionParameters(18, 13, 14, 1, 6, 0, Strategy.FAST), /* level 1 */\n new CompressionParameters(18, 14, 14, 1, 5, 1, Strategy.DFAST), /* level 2 */\n new CompressionParameters(18, 16, 16, 1, 4, 1, Strategy.DFAST), /* level 3 */\n new CompressionParameters(18, 16, 17, 2, 5, 2, Strategy.GREEDY), /* level 4.*/\n new CompressionParameters(18, 18, 18, 3, 5, 2, Strategy.GREEDY), /* level 5.*/\n new CompressionParameters(18, 18, 19, 3, 5, 4, Strategy.LAZY), /* level 6.*/\n new CompressionParameters(18, 18, 19, 4, 4, 4, Strategy.LAZY), /* level 7 */\n new CompressionParameters(18, 18, 19, 4, 4, 8, Strategy.LAZY2), /* level 8 */\n new CompressionParameters(18, 18, 19, 5, 4, 8, Strategy.LAZY2), /* level 9 */\n new CompressionParameters(18, 18, 19, 6, 4, 8, Strategy.LAZY2), /* level 10 */\n new CompressionParameters(18, 18, 19, 5, 4, 16, Strategy.BTLAZY2), /* level 11.*/\n new CompressionParameters(18, 19, 19, 6, 4, 16, Strategy.BTLAZY2), /* level 12.*/\n new CompressionParameters(18, 19, 19, 8, 4, 16, Strategy.BTLAZY2), /* level 13 */\n new CompressionParameters(18, 18, 19, 4, 4, 24, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 14.*/\n new CompressionParameters(18, 18, 19, 4, 3, 24, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 15.*/\n new CompressionParameters(18, 19, 19, 6, 3, 64, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 16.*/\n new CompressionParameters(18, 19, 19, 8, 3, 128, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 17.*/\n new CompressionParameters(18, 19, 19, 10, 3, 256, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 18.*/\n new CompressionParameters(18, 19, 19, 10, 3, 256, Strategy.BTULTRA), /* level 19.*/\n new CompressionParameters(18, 19, 19, 11, 3, 512, Strategy.BTULTRA), /* level 20.*/\n new CompressionParameters(18, 19, 19, 12, 3, 512, Strategy.BTULTRA), /* level 21.*/\n new CompressionParameters(18, 19, 19, 13, 3, 999, Strategy.BTULTRA) /* level 22.*/\n },\n {\n // for size <= 128 KB\n new CompressionParameters(17, 12, 12, 1, 5, 1, Strategy.FAST), /* base for negative levels */\n new CompressionParameters(17, 12, 13, 1, 6, 0, Strategy.FAST), /* level 1 */\n new CompressionParameters(17, 13, 15, 1, 5, 0, Strategy.FAST), /* level 2 */\n new CompressionParameters(17, 15, 16, 2, 5, 1, Strategy.DFAST), /* level 3 */\n new CompressionParameters(17, 17, 17, 2, 4, 1, Strategy.DFAST), /* level 4 */\n new CompressionParameters(17, 16, 17, 3, 4, 2, Strategy.GREEDY), /* level 5 */\n new CompressionParameters(17, 17, 17, 3, 4, 4, Strategy.LAZY), /* level 6 */\n new CompressionParameters(17, 17, 17, 3, 4, 8, Strategy.LAZY2), /* level 7 */\n new CompressionParameters(17, 17, 17, 4, 4, 8, Strategy.LAZY2), /* level 8 */\n new CompressionParameters(17, 17, 17, 5, 4, 8, Strategy.LAZY2), /* level 9 */\n new CompressionParameters(17, 17, 17, 6, 4, 8, Strategy.LAZY2), /* level 10 */\n new CompressionParameters(17, 17, 17, 7, 4, 8, Strategy.LAZY2), /* level 11 */\n new CompressionParameters(17, 18, 17, 6, 4, 16, Strategy.BTLAZY2), /* level 12 */\n new CompressionParameters(17, 18, 17, 8, 4, 16, Strategy.BTLAZY2), /* level 13.*/\n new CompressionParameters(17, 18, 17, 4, 4, 32, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 14.*/\n new CompressionParameters(17, 18, 17, 6, 3, 64, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 15.*/\n new CompressionParameters(17, 18, 17, 7, 3, 128, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 16.*/\n new CompressionParameters(17, 18, 17, 7, 3, 256, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 17.*/\n new CompressionParameters(17, 18, 17, 8, 3, 256, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 18.*/\n new CompressionParameters(17, 18, 17, 8, 3, 256, Strategy.BTULTRA), /* level 19.*/\n new CompressionParameters(17, 18, 17, 9, 3, 256, Strategy.BTULTRA), /* level 20.*/\n new CompressionParameters(17, 18, 17, 10, 3, 256, Strategy.BTULTRA), /* level 21.*/\n new CompressionParameters(17, 18, 17, 11, 3, 512, Strategy.BTULTRA) /* level 22.*/\n },\n {\n // for size <= 16 KB\n new CompressionParameters(14, 12, 13, 1, 5, 1, Strategy.FAST), /* base for negative levels */\n new CompressionParameters(14, 14, 15, 1, 5, 0, Strategy.FAST), /* level 1 */\n new CompressionParameters(14, 14, 15, 1, 4, 0, Strategy.FAST), /* level 2 */\n new CompressionParameters(14, 14, 14, 2, 4, 1, Strategy.DFAST), /* level 3.*/\n new CompressionParameters(14, 14, 14, 4, 4, 2, Strategy.GREEDY), /* level 4.*/\n new CompressionParameters(14, 14, 14, 3, 4, 4, Strategy.LAZY), /* level 5.*/\n new CompressionParameters(14, 14, 14, 4, 4, 8, Strategy.LAZY2), /* level 6 */\n new CompressionParameters(14, 14, 14, 6, 4, 8, Strategy.LAZY2), /* level 7 */\n new CompressionParameters(14, 14, 14, 8, 4, 8, Strategy.LAZY2), /* level 8.*/\n new CompressionParameters(14, 15, 14, 5, 4, 8, Strategy.BTLAZY2), /* level 9.*/\n new CompressionParameters(14, 15, 14, 9, 4, 8, Strategy.BTLAZY2), /* level 10.*/\n new CompressionParameters(14, 15, 14, 3, 4, 12, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 11.*/\n new CompressionParameters(14, 15, 14, 6, 3, 16, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 12.*/\n new CompressionParameters(14, 15, 14, 6, 3, 24, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 13.*/\n new CompressionParameters(14, 15, 15, 6, 3, 48, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 14.*/\n new CompressionParameters(14, 15, 15, 6, 3, 64, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 15.*/\n new CompressionParameters(14, 15, 15, 6, 3, 96, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 16.*/\n new CompressionParameters(14, 15, 15, 6, 3, 128, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 17.*/\n new CompressionParameters(14, 15, 15, 8, 3, 256, Strategy.BTOPT), /* level 18.*/\n new CompressionParameters(14, 15, 15, 6, 3, 256, Strategy.BTULTRA), /* level 19.*/\n new CompressionParameters(14, 15, 15, 8, 3, 256, Strategy.BTULTRA), /* level 20.*/\n new CompressionParameters(14, 15, 15, 9, 3, 256, Strategy.BTULTRA), /* level 21.*/\n new CompressionParameters(14, 15, 15, 10, 3, 512, Strategy.BTULTRA) /* level 22.*/\n }\n };\n\n public enum Strategy\n {\n // from faster to stronger\n\n // YC: fast is a \"single probe\" strategy : at every position, we attempt to find a match, and give up if we don't find any. similar to lz4.\n FAST(BlockCompressor.UNSUPPORTED),\n\n // YC: double_fast is a 2 attempts strategies. They are not symmetrical by the way. One attempt is \"normal\" while the second one looks for \"long matches\". It was\n // empirically found that this was the best trade off. As can be guessed, it's slower than single-attempt, but find more and better matches, so compresses better.\n DFAST(new DoubleFastBlockCompressor()),\n\n // YC: greedy uses a hash chain strategy. Every position is hashed, and all positions with same hash are chained. The algorithm goes through all candidates. There are\n // diminishing returns in going deeper and deeper, so after a nb of attempts (which can be selected), it abandons the search. The best (longest) match wins. If there is\n // one winner, it's immediately encoded.\n GREEDY(BlockCompressor.UNSUPPORTED),\n\n // YC: lazy will do something similar to greedy, but will not encode immediately. It will search again at next position, in case it would find something better.\n // It's actually fairly common to have a small match at position p hiding a more worthy one at position p+1. This obviously increases the search workload. But the\n // resulting compressed stream generally contains larger matches, hence compresses better.\n LAZY(BlockCompressor.UNSUPPORTED),\n\n // YC: lazy2 is same as lazy, but deeper. It will search at P, P+1 and then P+2 in case it would find something even better. More workload. Better matches.\n LAZY2(BlockCompressor.UNSUPPORTED),\n\n // YC: btlazy2 is like lazy2, but trades the hash chain for a binary tree. This becomes necessary, as the nb of attempts becomes prohibitively expensive. The binary tree\n // complexity increases with log of search depth, instead of proportionally with search depth. So searching deeper in history quickly becomes the dominant operation.\n // btlazy2 cuts into that. But it costs 2x more memory. It's also relatively \"slow\", even when trying to cut its parameters to make it perform faster. So it's really\n // a high compression strategy.\n BTLAZY2(BlockCompressor.UNSUPPORTED),\n\n // YC: btopt is, well, a hell of lot more complex.\n // It will compute and find multiple matches per position, will dynamically compare every path from point P to P+N, reverse the graph to find cheapest path, iterate on\n // batches of overlapping matches, etc. It's much more expensive. But the compression ratio is also much better.\n BTOPT(BlockCompressor.UNSUPPORTED),\n\n // YC: btultra is about the same, but doesn't cut as many corners (btopt \"abandons\" more quickly unpromising little gains). Slower, stronger.\n BTULTRA(BlockCompressor.UNSUPPORTED);\n\n private final BlockCompressor compressor;\n\n Strategy(BlockCompressor compressor)\n {\n this.compressor = compressor;\n }\n\n public BlockCompressor getCompressor()\n {\n return compressor;\n }\n }\n\n public CompressionParameters(int windowLog, int chainLog, int hashLog, int searchLog, int searchLength, int targetLength, Strategy strategy)\n {\n this.windowLog = windowLog;\n this.windowSize = 1 << windowLog;\n this.blockSize = Math.min(MAX_BLOCK_SIZE, windowSize);\n this.chainLog = chainLog;\n this.hashLog = hashLog;\n this.searchLog = searchLog;\n this.searchLength = searchLength;\n this.targetLength = targetLength;\n this.strategy = strategy;\n }\n\n public int getWindowLog()\n {\n return windowLog;\n }\n\n public int getWindowSize()\n {\n return windowSize;\n }\n\n public int getBlockSize()\n {\n return blockSize;\n }\n\n public int getSearchLength()\n {\n return searchLength;\n }\n\n public int getChainLog()\n {\n return chainLog;\n }\n\n public int getHashLog()\n {\n return hashLog;\n }\n\n public int getSearchLog()\n {\n return searchLog;\n }\n\n public int getTargetLength()\n {\n return targetLength;\n }\n\n public Strategy getStrategy()\n {\n return strategy;\n }\n\n public static CompressionParameters compute(int compressionLevel, int estimatedInputSize)\n {\n CompressionParameters defaultParameters = getDefaultParameters(compressionLevel, estimatedInputSize);\n if (estimatedInputSize < 0) {\n return defaultParameters;\n }\n\n int targetLength = defaultParameters.targetLength;\n int windowLog = defaultParameters.windowLog;\n int chainLog = defaultParameters.chainLog;\n int hashLog = defaultParameters.hashLog;\n int searchLog = defaultParameters.searchLog;\n int searchLength = defaultParameters.searchLength;\n Strategy strategy = defaultParameters.strategy;\n\n if (compressionLevel < 0) {\n targetLength = -compressionLevel; // acceleration factor\n }\n\n // resize windowLog if input is small enough, to use less memory\n long maxWindowResize = 1L << (MAX_WINDOW_LOG - 1);\n if (estimatedInputSize < maxWindowResize) {\n int hashSizeMin = 1 << MIN_HASH_LOG;\n int inputSizeLog = (estimatedInputSize < hashSizeMin) ? MIN_HASH_LOG : highestBit(estimatedInputSize - 1) + 1;\n if (windowLog > inputSizeLog) {\n windowLog = inputSizeLog;\n }\n }\n\n if (hashLog > windowLog + 1) {\n hashLog = windowLog + 1;\n }\n\n int cycleLog = cycleLog(chainLog, strategy);\n if (cycleLog > windowLog) {\n chainLog -= (cycleLog - windowLog);\n }\n\n if (windowLog < MIN_WINDOW_LOG) {\n windowLog = MIN_WINDOW_LOG;\n }\n\n return new CompressionParameters(windowLog, chainLog, hashLog, searchLog, searchLength, targetLength, strategy);\n }\n\n private static CompressionParameters getDefaultParameters(int compressionLevel, long estimatedInputSize)\n {\n int table = 0;\n\n if (estimatedInputSize >= 0) {\n if (estimatedInputSize <= 16 * 1024) {\n table = 3;\n }\n else if (estimatedInputSize <= 128 * 1024) {\n table = 2;\n }\n else if (estimatedInputSize <= 256 * 1024) {\n table = 1;\n }\n }\n\n int row = DEFAULT_COMPRESSION_LEVEL;\n\n if (compressionLevel != 0) { // TODO: figure out better way to indicate default compression level\n row = clamp(compressionLevel, 0, MAX_COMPRESSION_LEVEL);\n }\n\n return DEFAULT_COMPRESSION_PARAMETERS[table][row];\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/Constants.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nfinal class Constants\n{\n public static final int SIZE_OF_BYTE = 1;\n public static final int SIZE_OF_SHORT = 2;\n public static final int SIZE_OF_INT = 4;\n public static final int SIZE_OF_LONG = 8;\n\n public static final int MAGIC_NUMBER = 0xFD2FB528;\n\n public static final int MIN_WINDOW_LOG = 10;\n public static final int MAX_WINDOW_LOG = 31;\n\n public static final int SIZE_OF_BLOCK_HEADER = 3;\n\n public static final int MIN_SEQUENCES_SIZE = 1;\n public static final int MIN_BLOCK_SIZE = 1 // block type tag\n + 1 // min size of raw or rle length header\n + MIN_SEQUENCES_SIZE;\n public static final int MAX_BLOCK_SIZE = 128 * 1024;\n\n public static final int REPEATED_OFFSET_COUNT = 3;\n\n // block types\n public static final int RAW_BLOCK = 0;\n public static final int RLE_BLOCK = 1;\n public static final int COMPRESSED_BLOCK = 2;\n\n // sequence encoding types\n public static final int SEQUENCE_ENCODING_BASIC = 0;\n public static final int SEQUENCE_ENCODING_RLE = 1;\n public static final int SEQUENCE_ENCODING_COMPRESSED = 2;\n public static final int SEQUENCE_ENCODING_REPEAT = 3;\n\n public static final int MAX_LITERALS_LENGTH_SYMBOL = 35;\n public static final int MAX_MATCH_LENGTH_SYMBOL = 52;\n public static final int MAX_OFFSET_CODE_SYMBOL = 31;\n public static final int DEFAULT_MAX_OFFSET_CODE_SYMBOL = 28;\n\n public static final int LITERAL_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG = 9;\n public static final int MATCH_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG = 9;\n public static final int OFFSET_TABLE_LOG = 8;\n\n // literal block types\n public static final int RAW_LITERALS_BLOCK = 0;\n public static final int RLE_LITERALS_BLOCK = 1;\n public static final int COMPRESSED_LITERALS_BLOCK = 2;\n public static final int TREELESS_LITERALS_BLOCK = 3;\n\n public static final int LONG_NUMBER_OF_SEQUENCES = 0x7F00;\n\n public static final int[] LITERALS_LENGTH_BITS = {0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,\n 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,\n 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3,\n 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,\n 13, 14, 15, 16};\n\n public static final int[] MATCH_LENGTH_BITS = {0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,\n 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,\n 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,\n 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,\n 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3,\n 4, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,\n 12, 13, 14, 15, 16};\n\n private Constants()\n {\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/DoubleFastBlockCompressor.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_INT;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_LONG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.UnsafeUtil.UNSAFE;\n\nclass DoubleFastBlockCompressor\n implements BlockCompressor\n{\n private static final int MIN_MATCH = 3;\n private static final int SEARCH_STRENGTH = 8;\n private static final int REP_MOVE = Constants.REPEATED_OFFSET_COUNT - 1;\n\n @Override\n public int compressBlock(Object inputBase, final long inputAddress, int inputSize, SequenceStore output, BlockCompressionState state, RepeatedOffsets offsets, CompressionParameters parameters)\n {\n int matchSearchLength = Math.max(parameters.getSearchLength(), 4);\n\n // Offsets in hash tables are relative to baseAddress. Hash tables can be reused across calls to compressBlock as long as\n // baseAddress is kept constant.\n // We don't want to generate sequences that point before the current window limit, so we \"filter\" out all results from looking up in the hash tables\n // beyond that point.\n final long baseAddress = state.getBaseAddress();\n final long windowBaseAddress = baseAddress + state.getWindowBaseOffset();\n\n int[] longHashTable = state.hashTable;\n int longHashBits = parameters.getHashLog();\n\n int[] shortHashTable = state.chainTable;\n int shortHashBits = parameters.getChainLog();\n\n final long inputEnd = inputAddress + inputSize;\n final long inputLimit = inputEnd - SIZE_OF_LONG; // We read a long at a time for computing the hashes\n\n long input = inputAddress;\n long anchor = inputAddress;\n\n int offset1 = offsets.getOffset0();\n int offset2 = offsets.getOffset1();\n\n int savedOffset = 0;\n\n if (input - windowBaseAddress == 0) {\n input++;\n }\n int maxRep = (int) (input - windowBaseAddress);\n\n if (offset2 > maxRep) {\n savedOffset = offset2;\n offset2 = 0;\n }\n\n if (offset1 > maxRep) {\n savedOffset = offset1;\n offset1 = 0;\n }\n\n while (input < inputLimit) { // < instead of <=, because repcode check at (input+1)\n int shortHash = hash(inputBase, input, shortHashBits, matchSearchLength);\n long shortMatchAddress = baseAddress + shortHashTable[shortHash];\n\n int longHash = hash8(UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, input), longHashBits);\n long longMatchAddress = baseAddress + longHashTable[longHash];\n\n // update hash tables\n int current = (int) (input - baseAddress);\n longHashTable[longHash] = current;\n shortHashTable[shortHash] = current;\n\n int matchLength;\n int offset;\n\n if (offset1 > 0 && UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, input + 1 - offset1) == UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, input + 1)) {\n // found a repeated sequence of at least 4 bytes, separated by offset1\n matchLength = count(inputBase, input + 1 + SIZE_OF_INT, inputEnd, input + 1 + SIZE_OF_INT - offset1) + SIZE_OF_INT;\n input++;\n output.storeSequence(inputBase, anchor, (int) (input - anchor), 0, matchLength - MIN_MATCH);\n }\n else {\n // check prefix long match\n if (longMatchAddress > windowBaseAddress && UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, longMatchAddress) == UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, input)) {\n matchLength = count(inputBase, input + SIZE_OF_LONG, inputEnd, longMatchAddress + SIZE_OF_LONG) + SIZE_OF_LONG;\n offset = (int) (input - longMatchAddress);\n while (input > anchor && longMatchAddress > windowBaseAddress && UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input - 1) == UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, longMatchAddress - 1)) {\n input--;\n longMatchAddress--;\n matchLength++;\n }\n }\n else {\n // check prefix short match\n if (shortMatchAddress > windowBaseAddress && UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, shortMatchAddress) == UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, input)) {\n int nextOffsetHash = hash8(UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, input + 1), longHashBits);\n long nextOffsetMatchAddress = baseAddress + longHashTable[nextOffsetHash];\n longHashTable[nextOffsetHash] = current + 1;\n\n // check prefix long +1 match\n if (nextOffsetMatchAddress > windowBaseAddress && UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, nextOffsetMatchAddress) == UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, input + 1)) {\n matchLength = count(inputBase, input + 1 + SIZE_OF_LONG, inputEnd, nextOffsetMatchAddress + SIZE_OF_LONG) + SIZE_OF_LONG;\n input++;\n offset = (int) (input - nextOffsetMatchAddress);\n while (input > anchor && nextOffsetMatchAddress > windowBaseAddress && UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input - 1) == UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, nextOffsetMatchAddress - 1)) {\n input--;\n nextOffsetMatchAddress--;\n matchLength++;\n }\n }\n else {\n // if no long +1 match, explore the short match we found\n matchLength = count(inputBase, input + SIZE_OF_INT, inputEnd, shortMatchAddress + SIZE_OF_INT) + SIZE_OF_INT;\n offset = (int) (input - shortMatchAddress);\n while (input > anchor && shortMatchAddress > windowBaseAddress && UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input - 1) == UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, shortMatchAddress - 1)) {\n input--;\n shortMatchAddress--;\n matchLength++;\n }\n }\n }\n else {\n input += ((input - anchor) >> SEARCH_STRENGTH) + 1;\n continue;\n }\n }\n\n offset2 = offset1;\n offset1 = offset;\n\n output.storeSequence(inputBase, anchor, (int) (input - anchor), offset + REP_MOVE, matchLength - MIN_MATCH);\n }\n\n input += matchLength;\n anchor = input;\n\n if (input <= inputLimit) {\n // Fill Table\n longHashTable[hash8(UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, baseAddress + current + 2), longHashBits)] = current + 2;\n shortHashTable[hash(inputBase, baseAddress + current + 2, shortHashBits, matchSearchLength)] = current + 2;\n\n longHashTable[hash8(UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, input - 2), longHashBits)] = (int) (input - 2 - baseAddress);\n shortHashTable[hash(inputBase, input - 2, shortHashBits, matchSearchLength)] = (int) (input - 2 - baseAddress);\n\n while (input <= inputLimit && offset2 > 0 && UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, input) == UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, input - offset2)) {\n int repetitionLength = count(inputBase, input + SIZE_OF_INT, inputEnd, input + SIZE_OF_INT - offset2) + SIZE_OF_INT;\n\n // swap offset2 <=> offset1\n int temp = offset2;\n offset2 = offset1;\n offset1 = temp;\n\n shortHashTable[hash(inputBase, input, shortHashBits, matchSearchLength)] = (int) (input - baseAddress);\n longHashTable[hash8(UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, input), longHashBits)] = (int) (input - baseAddress);\n\n output.storeSequence(inputBase, anchor, 0, 0, repetitionLength - MIN_MATCH);\n\n input += repetitionLength;\n anchor = input;\n }\n }\n }\n\n // save reps for next block\n offsets.saveOffset0(offset1 != 0 ? offset1 : savedOffset);\n offsets.saveOffset1(offset2 != 0 ? offset2 : savedOffset);\n\n // return the last literals size\n return (int) (inputEnd - anchor);\n }\n\n // TODO: same as LZ4RawCompressor.count\n\n /**\n * matchAddress must be < inputAddress\n */\n public static int count(Object inputBase, final long inputAddress, final long inputLimit, final long matchAddress)\n {\n long input = inputAddress;\n long match = matchAddress;\n\n int remaining = (int) (inputLimit - inputAddress);\n\n // first, compare long at a time\n int count = 0;\n while (count < remaining - (SIZE_OF_LONG - 1)) {\n long diff = UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, match) ^ UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, input);\n if (diff != 0) {\n return count + (Long.numberOfTrailingZeros(diff) >> 3);\n }\n\n count += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n input += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n match += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n }\n\n while (count < remaining && UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, match) == UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input)) {\n count++;\n input++;\n match++;\n }\n\n return count;\n }\n\n private static int hash(Object inputBase, long inputAddress, int bits, int matchSearchLength)\n {\n switch (matchSearchLength) {\n case 8:\n return hash8(UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, inputAddress), bits);\n case 7:\n return hash7(UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, inputAddress), bits);\n case 6:\n return hash6(UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, inputAddress), bits);\n case 5:\n return hash5(UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, inputAddress), bits);\n default:\n return hash4(UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, inputAddress), bits);\n }\n }\n\n private static final int PRIME_4_BYTES = 0x9E3779B1;\n private static final long PRIME_5_BYTES = 0xCF1BBCDCBBL;\n private static final long PRIME_6_BYTES = 0xCF1BBCDCBF9BL;\n private static final long PRIME_7_BYTES = 0xCF1BBCDCBFA563L;\n private static final long PRIME_8_BYTES = 0xCF1BBCDCB7A56463L;\n\n private static int hash4(int value, int bits)\n {\n return (value * PRIME_4_BYTES) >>> (Integer.SIZE - bits);\n }\n\n private static int hash5(long value, int bits)\n {\n return (int) (((value << (Long.SIZE - 40)) * PRIME_5_BYTES) >>> (Long.SIZE - bits));\n }\n\n private static int hash6(long value, int bits)\n {\n return (int) (((value << (Long.SIZE - 48)) * PRIME_6_BYTES) >>> (Long.SIZE - bits));\n }\n\n private static int hash7(long value, int bits)\n {\n return (int) (((value << (Long.SIZE - 56)) * PRIME_7_BYTES) >>> (Long.SIZE - bits));\n }\n\n private static int hash8(long value, int bits)\n {\n return (int) ((value * PRIME_8_BYTES) >>> (Long.SIZE - bits));\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/FiniteStateEntropy.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.BitInputStream.peekBits;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_INT;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_LONG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_SHORT;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.UnsafeUtil.UNSAFE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.checkArgument;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.verify;\nimport static sun.misc.Unsafe.ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET;\n\nfinal class FiniteStateEntropy\n{\n public static final int MAX_SYMBOL = 255;\n public static final int MAX_TABLE_LOG = 12;\n public static final int MIN_TABLE_LOG = 5;\n\n private static final int[] REST_TO_BEAT = new int[] {0, 473195, 504333, 520860, 550000, 700000, 750000, 830000};\n private static final short UNASSIGNED = -2;\n\n private FiniteStateEntropy()\n {\n }\n\n public static int decompress(FiniteStateEntropy.Table table, final Object inputBase, final long inputAddress, final long inputLimit, byte[] outputBuffer)\n {\n final Object outputBase = outputBuffer;\n final long outputAddress = ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET;\n final long outputLimit = outputAddress + outputBuffer.length;\n\n long input = inputAddress;\n long output = outputAddress;\n\n // initialize bit stream\n BitInputStream.Initializer initializer = new BitInputStream.Initializer(inputBase, input, inputLimit);\n initializer.initialize();\n int bitsConsumed = initializer.getBitsConsumed();\n long currentAddress = initializer.getCurrentAddress();\n long bits = initializer.getBits();\n\n // initialize first FSE stream\n int state1 = (int) peekBits(bitsConsumed, bits, table.log2Size);\n bitsConsumed += table.log2Size;\n\n BitInputStream.Loader loader = new BitInputStream.Loader(inputBase, input, currentAddress, bits, bitsConsumed);\n loader.load();\n bits = loader.getBits();\n bitsConsumed = loader.getBitsConsumed();\n currentAddress = loader.getCurrentAddress();\n\n // initialize second FSE stream\n int state2 = (int) peekBits(bitsConsumed, bits, table.log2Size);\n bitsConsumed += table.log2Size;\n\n loader = new BitInputStream.Loader(inputBase, input, currentAddress, bits, bitsConsumed);\n loader.load();\n bits = loader.getBits();\n bitsConsumed = loader.getBitsConsumed();\n currentAddress = loader.getCurrentAddress();\n\n byte[] symbols = table.symbol;\n byte[] numbersOfBits = table.numberOfBits;\n int[] newStates = table.newState;\n\n // decode 4 symbols per loop\n while (output <= outputLimit - 4) {\n int numberOfBits;\n\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output, symbols[state1]);\n numberOfBits = numbersOfBits[state1];\n state1 = (int) (newStates[state1] + peekBits(bitsConsumed, bits, numberOfBits));\n bitsConsumed += numberOfBits;\n\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output + 1, symbols[state2]);\n numberOfBits = numbersOfBits[state2];\n state2 = (int) (newStates[state2] + peekBits(bitsConsumed, bits, numberOfBits));\n bitsConsumed += numberOfBits;\n\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output + 2, symbols[state1]);\n numberOfBits = numbersOfBits[state1];\n state1 = (int) (newStates[state1] + peekBits(bitsConsumed, bits, numberOfBits));\n bitsConsumed += numberOfBits;\n\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output + 3, symbols[state2]);\n numberOfBits = numbersOfBits[state2];\n state2 = (int) (newStates[state2] + peekBits(bitsConsumed, bits, numberOfBits));\n bitsConsumed += numberOfBits;\n\n output += SIZE_OF_INT;\n\n loader = new BitInputStream.Loader(inputBase, input, currentAddress, bits, bitsConsumed);\n boolean done = loader.load();\n bitsConsumed = loader.getBitsConsumed();\n bits = loader.getBits();\n currentAddress = loader.getCurrentAddress();\n if (done) {\n break;\n }\n }\n\n while (true) {\n verify(output <= outputLimit - 2, input, \"Output buffer is too small\");\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output++, symbols[state1]);\n int numberOfBits = numbersOfBits[state1];\n state1 = (int) (newStates[state1] + peekBits(bitsConsumed, bits, numberOfBits));\n bitsConsumed += numberOfBits;\n\n loader = new BitInputStream.Loader(inputBase, input, currentAddress, bits, bitsConsumed);\n loader.load();\n bitsConsumed = loader.getBitsConsumed();\n bits = loader.getBits();\n currentAddress = loader.getCurrentAddress();\n\n if (loader.isOverflow()) {\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output++, symbols[state2]);\n break;\n }\n\n verify(output <= outputLimit - 2, input, \"Output buffer is too small\");\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output++, symbols[state2]);\n int numberOfBits1 = numbersOfBits[state2];\n state2 = (int) (newStates[state2] + peekBits(bitsConsumed, bits, numberOfBits1));\n bitsConsumed += numberOfBits1;\n\n loader = new BitInputStream.Loader(inputBase, input, currentAddress, bits, bitsConsumed);\n loader.load();\n bitsConsumed = loader.getBitsConsumed();\n bits = loader.getBits();\n currentAddress = loader.getCurrentAddress();\n\n if (loader.isOverflow()) {\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output++, symbols[state1]);\n break;\n }\n }\n\n return (int) (output - outputAddress);\n }\n\n public static int compress(Object outputBase, long outputAddress, int outputSize, byte[] input, int inputSize, FseCompressionTable table)\n {\n return compress(outputBase, outputAddress, outputSize, input, ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET, inputSize, table);\n }\n\n public static int compress(Object outputBase, long outputAddress, int outputSize, Object inputBase, long inputAddress, int inputSize, FseCompressionTable table)\n {\n checkArgument(outputSize >= SIZE_OF_LONG, \"Output buffer too small\");\n\n final long start = inputAddress;\n final long inputLimit = start + inputSize;\n\n long input = inputLimit;\n\n if (inputSize <= 2) {\n return 0;\n }\n\n BitOutputStream stream = new BitOutputStream(outputBase, outputAddress, outputSize);\n\n int state1;\n int state2;\n\n if ((inputSize & 1) != 0) {\n input--;\n state1 = table.begin(UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input));\n\n input--;\n state2 = table.begin(UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input));\n\n input--;\n state1 = table.encode(stream, state1, UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input));\n\n stream.flush();\n }\n else {\n input--;\n state2 = table.begin(UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input));\n\n input--;\n state1 = table.begin(UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input));\n }\n\n // join to mod 4\n inputSize -= 2;\n\n if ((SIZE_OF_LONG * 8 > MAX_TABLE_LOG * 4 + 7) && (inputSize & 2) != 0) { /* test bit 2 */\n input--;\n state2 = table.encode(stream, state2, UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input));\n\n input--;\n state1 = table.encode(stream, state1, UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input));\n\n stream.flush();\n }\n\n // 2 or 4 encoding per loop\n while (input > start) {\n input--;\n state2 = table.encode(stream, state2, UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input));\n\n if (SIZE_OF_LONG * 8 < MAX_TABLE_LOG * 2 + 7) {\n stream.flush();\n }\n\n input--;\n state1 = table.encode(stream, state1, UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input));\n\n if (SIZE_OF_LONG * 8 > MAX_TABLE_LOG * 4 + 7) {\n input--;\n state2 = table.encode(stream, state2, UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input));\n\n input--;\n state1 = table.encode(stream, state1, UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input));\n }\n\n stream.flush();\n }\n\n table.finish(stream, state2);\n table.finish(stream, state1);\n\n return stream.close();\n }\n\n public static int optimalTableLog(int maxTableLog, int inputSize, int maxSymbol)\n {\n if (inputSize <= 1) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(); // not supported. Use RLE instead\n }\n\n int result = maxTableLog;\n\n result = Math.min(result, Util.highestBit((inputSize - 1)) - 2); // we may be able to reduce accuracy if input is small\n\n // Need a minimum to safely represent all symbol values\n result = Math.max(result, Util.minTableLog(inputSize, maxSymbol));\n\n result = Math.max(result, MIN_TABLE_LOG);\n result = Math.min(result, MAX_TABLE_LOG);\n\n return result;\n }\n\n public static int normalizeCounts(short[] normalizedCounts, int tableLog, int[] counts, int total, int maxSymbol)\n {\n checkArgument(tableLog >= MIN_TABLE_LOG, \"Unsupported FSE table size\");\n checkArgument(tableLog <= MAX_TABLE_LOG, \"FSE table size too large\");\n checkArgument(tableLog >= Util.minTableLog(total, maxSymbol), \"FSE table size too small\");\n\n long scale = 62 - tableLog;\n long step = (1L << 62) / total;\n long vstep = 1L << (scale - 20);\n\n int stillToDistribute = 1 << tableLog;\n\n int largest = 0;\n short largestProbability = 0;\n int lowThreshold = total >>> tableLog;\n\n for (int symbol = 0; symbol <= maxSymbol; symbol++) {\n if (counts[symbol] == total) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(); // TODO: should have been RLE-compressed by upper layers\n }\n if (counts[symbol] == 0) {\n normalizedCounts[symbol] = 0;\n continue;\n }\n if (counts[symbol] <= lowThreshold) {\n normalizedCounts[symbol] = -1;\n stillToDistribute--;\n }\n else {\n short probability = (short) ((counts[symbol] * step) >>> scale);\n if (probability < 8) {\n long restToBeat = vstep * REST_TO_BEAT[probability];\n long delta = counts[symbol] * step - (((long) probability) << scale);\n if (delta > restToBeat) {\n probability++;\n }\n }\n if (probability > largestProbability) {\n largestProbability = probability;\n largest = symbol;\n }\n normalizedCounts[symbol] = probability;\n stillToDistribute -= probability;\n }\n }\n\n if (-stillToDistribute >= (normalizedCounts[largest] >>> 1)) {\n // corner case. Need another normalization method\n // TODO size_t const errorCode = FSE_normalizeM2(normalizedCounter, tableLog, count, total, maxSymbolValue);\n normalizeCounts2(normalizedCounts, tableLog, counts, total, maxSymbol);\n }\n else {\n normalizedCounts[largest] += (short) stillToDistribute;\n }\n\n return tableLog;\n }\n\n private static int normalizeCounts2(short[] normalizedCounts, int tableLog, int[] counts, int total, int maxSymbol)\n {\n int distributed = 0;\n\n int lowThreshold = total >>> tableLog; // minimum count below which frequency in the normalized table is \"too small\" (~ < 1)\n int lowOne = (total * 3) >>> (tableLog + 1); // 1.5 * lowThreshold. If count in (lowThreshold, lowOne] => assign frequency 1\n\n for (int i = 0; i <= maxSymbol; i++) {\n if (counts[i] == 0) {\n normalizedCounts[i] = 0;\n }\n else if (counts[i] <= lowThreshold) {\n normalizedCounts[i] = -1;\n distributed++;\n total -= counts[i];\n }\n else if (counts[i] <= lowOne) {\n normalizedCounts[i] = 1;\n distributed++;\n total -= counts[i];\n }\n else {\n normalizedCounts[i] = UNASSIGNED;\n }\n }\n\n int normalizationFactor = 1 << tableLog;\n int toDistribute = normalizationFactor - distributed;\n\n if ((total / toDistribute) > lowOne) {\n /* risk of rounding to zero */\n lowOne = ((total * 3) / (toDistribute * 2));\n for (int i = 0; i <= maxSymbol; i++) {\n if ((normalizedCounts[i] == UNASSIGNED) && (counts[i] <= lowOne)) {\n normalizedCounts[i] = 1;\n distributed++;\n total -= counts[i];\n }\n }\n toDistribute = normalizationFactor - distributed;\n }\n\n if (distributed == maxSymbol + 1) {\n // all values are pretty poor;\n // probably incompressible data (should have already been detected);\n // find max, then give all remaining points to max\n int maxValue = 0;\n int maxCount = 0;\n for (int i = 0; i <= maxSymbol; i++) {\n if (counts[i] > maxCount) {\n maxValue = i;\n maxCount = counts[i];\n }\n }\n normalizedCounts[maxValue] += (short) toDistribute;\n return 0;\n }\n\n if (total == 0) {\n // all of the symbols were low enough for the lowOne or lowThreshold\n for (int i = 0; toDistribute > 0; i = (i + 1) % (maxSymbol + 1)) {\n if (normalizedCounts[i] > 0) {\n toDistribute--;\n normalizedCounts[i]++;\n }\n }\n return 0;\n }\n\n // TODO: simplify/document this code\n long vStepLog = 62 - tableLog;\n long mid = (1L << (vStepLog - 1)) - 1;\n long rStep = (((1L << vStepLog) * toDistribute) + mid) / total; /* scale on remaining */\n long tmpTotal = mid;\n for (int i = 0; i <= maxSymbol; i++) {\n if (normalizedCounts[i] == UNASSIGNED) {\n long end = tmpTotal + (counts[i] * rStep);\n int sStart = (int) (tmpTotal >>> vStepLog);\n int sEnd = (int) (end >>> vStepLog);\n int weight = sEnd - sStart;\n\n if (weight < 1) {\n throw new AssertionError();\n }\n normalizedCounts[i] = (short) weight;\n tmpTotal = end;\n }\n }\n\n return 0;\n }\n\n public static int writeNormalizedCounts(Object outputBase, long outputAddress, int outputSize, short[] normalizedCounts, int maxSymbol, int tableLog)\n {\n checkArgument(tableLog <= MAX_TABLE_LOG, \"FSE table too large\");\n checkArgument(tableLog >= MIN_TABLE_LOG, \"FSE table too small\");\n\n long output = outputAddress;\n long outputLimit = outputAddress + outputSize;\n\n int tableSize = 1 << tableLog;\n\n int bitCount = 0;\n\n // encode table size\n int bitStream = (tableLog - MIN_TABLE_LOG);\n bitCount += 4;\n\n int remaining = tableSize + 1; // +1 for extra accuracy\n int threshold = tableSize;\n int tableBitCount = tableLog + 1;\n\n int symbol = 0;\n\n boolean previousIs0 = false;\n while (remaining > 1) {\n if (previousIs0) {\n // From RFC 8478, section 4.1.1:\n // When a symbol has a probability of zero, it is followed by a 2-bit\n // repeat flag. This repeat flag tells how many probabilities of zeroes\n // follow the current one. It provides a number ranging from 0 to 3.\n // If it is a 3, another 2-bit repeat flag follows, and so on.\n int start = symbol;\n\n // find run of symbols with count 0\n while (normalizedCounts[symbol] == 0) {\n symbol++;\n }\n\n // encode in batches if 8 repeat sequences in one shot (representing 24 symbols total)\n while (symbol >= start + 24) {\n start += 24;\n bitStream |= (0b11_11_11_11_11_11_11_11 << bitCount);\n checkArgument(output + SIZE_OF_SHORT <= outputLimit, \"Output buffer too small\");\n\n UNSAFE.putShort(outputBase, output, (short) bitStream);\n output += SIZE_OF_SHORT;\n\n // flush now, so no need to increase bitCount by 16\n bitStream >>>= Short.SIZE;\n }\n\n // encode remaining in batches of 3 symbols\n while (symbol >= start + 3) {\n start += 3;\n bitStream |= 0b11 << bitCount;\n bitCount += 2;\n }\n\n // encode tail\n bitStream |= (symbol - start) << bitCount;\n bitCount += 2;\n\n // flush bitstream if necessary\n if (bitCount > 16) {\n checkArgument(output + SIZE_OF_SHORT <= outputLimit, \"Output buffer too small\");\n\n UNSAFE.putShort(outputBase, output, (short) bitStream);\n output += SIZE_OF_SHORT;\n\n bitStream >>>= Short.SIZE;\n bitCount -= Short.SIZE;\n }\n }\n\n int count = normalizedCounts[symbol++];\n int max = (2 * threshold - 1) - remaining;\n remaining -= count < 0 ? -count : count;\n count++; /* +1 for extra accuracy */\n if (count >= threshold) {\n count += max;\n }\n bitStream |= count << bitCount;\n bitCount += tableBitCount;\n bitCount -= (count < max ? 1 : 0);\n previousIs0 = (count == 1);\n\n if (remaining < 1) {\n throw new AssertionError();\n }\n\n while (remaining < threshold) {\n tableBitCount--;\n threshold >>= 1;\n }\n\n // flush bitstream if necessary\n if (bitCount > 16) {\n checkArgument(output + SIZE_OF_SHORT <= outputLimit, \"Output buffer too small\");\n\n UNSAFE.putShort(outputBase, output, (short) bitStream);\n output += SIZE_OF_SHORT;\n\n bitStream >>>= Short.SIZE;\n bitCount -= Short.SIZE;\n }\n }\n\n // flush remaining bitstream\n checkArgument(output + SIZE_OF_SHORT <= outputLimit, \"Output buffer too small\");\n UNSAFE.putShort(outputBase, output, (short) bitStream);\n output += (bitCount + 7) / 8;\n\n checkArgument(symbol <= maxSymbol + 1, \"Error\"); // TODO\n\n return (int) (output - outputAddress);\n }\n\n public static final class Table\n {\n int log2Size;\n final int[] newState;\n final byte[] symbol;\n final byte[] numberOfBits;\n\n public Table(int log2Capacity)\n {\n int capacity = 1 << log2Capacity;\n newState = new int[capacity];\n symbol = new byte[capacity];\n numberOfBits = new byte[capacity];\n }\n\n public Table(int log2Size, int[] newState, byte[] symbol, byte[] numberOfBits)\n {\n int size = 1 << log2Size;\n if (newState.length != size || symbol.length != size || numberOfBits.length != size) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(\"Expected arrays to match provided size\");\n }\n\n this.log2Size = log2Size;\n this.newState = newState;\n this.symbol = symbol;\n this.numberOfBits = numberOfBits;\n }\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/FrameHeader.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport java.util.Objects;\nimport java.util.StringJoiner;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.checkState;\nimport static java.lang.Math.min;\nimport static java.lang.Math.toIntExact;\n\nclass FrameHeader\n{\n final long headerSize;\n final int windowSize;\n final long contentSize;\n final long dictionaryId;\n final boolean hasChecksum;\n\n public FrameHeader(long headerSize, int windowSize, long contentSize, long dictionaryId, boolean hasChecksum)\n {\n checkState(windowSize >= 0 || contentSize >= 0, \"Invalid frame header: contentSize or windowSize must be set\");\n this.headerSize = headerSize;\n this.windowSize = windowSize;\n this.contentSize = contentSize;\n this.dictionaryId = dictionaryId;\n this.hasChecksum = hasChecksum;\n }\n\n public int computeRequiredOutputBufferLookBackSize()\n {\n if (contentSize < 0) {\n return windowSize;\n }\n if (windowSize < 0) {\n return toIntExact(contentSize);\n }\n return toIntExact(min(windowSize, contentSize));\n }\n\n @Override\n public boolean equals(Object o)\n {\n if (this == o) {\n return true;\n }\n if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) {\n return false;\n }\n FrameHeader that = (FrameHeader) o;\n return headerSize == that.headerSize &&\n windowSize == that.windowSize &&\n contentSize == that.contentSize &&\n dictionaryId == that.dictionaryId &&\n hasChecksum == that.hasChecksum;\n }\n\n @Override\n public int hashCode()\n {\n return Objects.hash(headerSize, windowSize, contentSize, dictionaryId, hasChecksum);\n }\n\n @Override\n public String toString()\n {\n return new StringJoiner(\", \", FrameHeader.class.getSimpleName() + \"[\", \"]\")\n .add(\"headerSize=\" + headerSize)\n .add(\"windowSize=\" + windowSize)\n .add(\"contentSize=\" + contentSize)\n .add(\"dictionaryId=\" + dictionaryId)\n .add(\"hasChecksum=\" + hasChecksum)\n .toString();\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/FseCompressionTable.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.FiniteStateEntropy.MAX_SYMBOL;\n\nclass FseCompressionTable\n{\n private final short[] nextState;\n private final int[] deltaNumberOfBits;\n private final int[] deltaFindState;\n\n private int log2Size;\n\n public FseCompressionTable(int maxTableLog, int maxSymbol)\n {\n nextState = new short[1 << maxTableLog];\n deltaNumberOfBits = new int[maxSymbol + 1];\n deltaFindState = new int[maxSymbol + 1];\n }\n\n public static FseCompressionTable newInstance(short[] normalizedCounts, int maxSymbol, int tableLog)\n {\n FseCompressionTable result = new FseCompressionTable(tableLog, maxSymbol);\n result.initialize(normalizedCounts, maxSymbol, tableLog);\n\n return result;\n }\n\n public void initializeRleTable(int symbol)\n {\n log2Size = 0;\n\n nextState[0] = 0;\n nextState[1] = 0;\n\n deltaFindState[symbol] = 0;\n deltaNumberOfBits[symbol] = 0;\n }\n\n public void initialize(short[] normalizedCounts, int maxSymbol, int tableLog)\n {\n int tableSize = 1 << tableLog;\n\n byte[] table = new byte[tableSize]; // TODO: allocate in workspace\n int highThreshold = tableSize - 1;\n\n // TODO: make sure FseCompressionTable has enough size\n log2Size = tableLog;\n\n // For explanations on how to distribute symbol values over the table:\n // http://fastcompression.blogspot.fr/2014/02/fse-distributing-symbol-values.html\n\n // symbol start positions\n int[] cumulative = new int[MAX_SYMBOL + 2]; // TODO: allocate in workspace\n cumulative[0] = 0;\n for (int i = 1; i <= maxSymbol + 1; i++) {\n if (normalizedCounts[i - 1] == -1) { // Low probability symbol\n cumulative[i] = cumulative[i - 1] + 1;\n table[highThreshold--] = (byte) (i - 1);\n }\n else {\n cumulative[i] = cumulative[i - 1] + normalizedCounts[i - 1];\n }\n }\n cumulative[maxSymbol + 1] = tableSize + 1;\n\n // Spread symbols\n int position = spreadSymbols(normalizedCounts, maxSymbol, tableSize, highThreshold, table);\n\n if (position != 0) {\n throw new AssertionError(\"Spread symbols failed\");\n }\n\n // Build table\n for (int i = 0; i < tableSize; i++) {\n byte symbol = table[i];\n nextState[cumulative[symbol]++] = (short) (tableSize + i); /* TableU16 : sorted by symbol order; gives next state value */\n }\n\n // Build symbol transformation table\n int total = 0;\n for (int symbol = 0; symbol <= maxSymbol; symbol++) {\n switch (normalizedCounts[symbol]) {\n case 0:\n deltaNumberOfBits[symbol] = ((tableLog + 1) << 16) - tableSize;\n break;\n case -1:\n case 1:\n deltaNumberOfBits[symbol] = (tableLog << 16) - tableSize;\n deltaFindState[symbol] = total - 1;\n total++;\n break;\n default:\n int maxBitsOut = tableLog - Util.highestBit(normalizedCounts[symbol] - 1);\n int minStatePlus = normalizedCounts[symbol] << maxBitsOut;\n deltaNumberOfBits[symbol] = (maxBitsOut << 16) - minStatePlus;\n deltaFindState[symbol] = total - normalizedCounts[symbol];\n total += normalizedCounts[symbol];\n break;\n }\n }\n }\n\n public int begin(byte symbol)\n {\n int outputBits = (deltaNumberOfBits[symbol] + (1 << 15)) >>> 16;\n int base = ((outputBits << 16) - deltaNumberOfBits[symbol]) >>> outputBits;\n return nextState[base + deltaFindState[symbol]];\n }\n\n public int encode(BitOutputStream stream, int state, int symbol)\n {\n int outputBits = (state + deltaNumberOfBits[symbol]) >>> 16;\n stream.addBits(state, outputBits);\n return nextState[(state >>> outputBits) + deltaFindState[symbol]];\n }\n\n public void finish(BitOutputStream stream, int state)\n {\n stream.addBits(state, log2Size);\n stream.flush();\n }\n\n private static int calculateStep(int tableSize)\n {\n return (tableSize >>> 1) + (tableSize >>> 3) + 3;\n }\n\n public static int spreadSymbols(short[] normalizedCounters, int maxSymbolValue, int tableSize, int highThreshold, byte[] symbols)\n {\n int mask = tableSize - 1;\n int step = calculateStep(tableSize);\n\n int position = 0;\n for (byte symbol = 0; symbol <= maxSymbolValue; symbol++) {\n for (int i = 0; i < normalizedCounters[symbol]; i++) {\n symbols[position] = symbol;\n do {\n position = (position + step) & mask;\n }\n while (position > highThreshold);\n }\n }\n return position;\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/FseTableReader.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.FiniteStateEntropy.MAX_SYMBOL;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.FiniteStateEntropy.MIN_TABLE_LOG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.UnsafeUtil.UNSAFE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.highestBit;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.verify;\n\nclass FseTableReader\n{\n private final short[] nextSymbol = new short[MAX_SYMBOL + 1];\n private final short[] normalizedCounters = new short[MAX_SYMBOL + 1];\n\n public int readFseTable(FiniteStateEntropy.Table table, Object inputBase, long inputAddress, long inputLimit, int maxSymbol, int maxTableLog)\n {\n // read table headers\n long input = inputAddress;\n verify(inputLimit - inputAddress >= 4, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n\n int threshold;\n int symbolNumber = 0;\n boolean previousIsZero = false;\n\n int bitStream = UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, input);\n\n int tableLog = (bitStream & 0xF) + MIN_TABLE_LOG;\n\n int numberOfBits = tableLog + 1;\n bitStream >>>= 4;\n int bitCount = 4;\n\n verify(tableLog <= maxTableLog, input, \"FSE table size exceeds maximum allowed size\");\n\n int remaining = (1 << tableLog) + 1;\n threshold = 1 << tableLog;\n\n while (remaining > 1 && symbolNumber <= maxSymbol) {\n if (previousIsZero) {\n int n0 = symbolNumber;\n while ((bitStream & 0xFFFF) == 0xFFFF) {\n n0 += 24;\n if (input < inputLimit - 5) {\n input += 2;\n bitStream = (UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, input) >>> bitCount);\n }\n else {\n // end of bit stream\n bitStream >>>= 16;\n bitCount += 16;\n }\n }\n while ((bitStream & 3) == 3) {\n n0 += 3;\n bitStream >>>= 2;\n bitCount += 2;\n }\n n0 += bitStream & 3;\n bitCount += 2;\n\n verify(n0 <= maxSymbol, input, \"Symbol larger than max value\");\n\n while (symbolNumber < n0) {\n normalizedCounters[symbolNumber++] = 0;\n }\n if ((input <= inputLimit - 7) || (input + (bitCount >>> 3) <= inputLimit - 4)) {\n input += bitCount >>> 3;\n bitCount &= 7;\n bitStream = UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, input) >>> bitCount;\n }\n else {\n bitStream >>>= 2;\n }\n }\n\n short max = (short) ((2 * threshold - 1) - remaining);\n short count;\n\n if ((bitStream & (threshold - 1)) < max) {\n count = (short) (bitStream & (threshold - 1));\n bitCount += numberOfBits - 1;\n }\n else {\n count = (short) (bitStream & (2 * threshold - 1));\n if (count >= threshold) {\n count -= max;\n }\n bitCount += numberOfBits;\n }\n count--; // extra accuracy\n\n remaining -= Math.abs(count);\n normalizedCounters[symbolNumber++] = count;\n previousIsZero = count == 0;\n while (remaining < threshold) {\n numberOfBits--;\n threshold >>>= 1;\n }\n\n if ((input <= inputLimit - 7) || (input + (bitCount >> 3) <= inputLimit - 4)) {\n input += bitCount >>> 3;\n bitCount &= 7;\n }\n else {\n bitCount -= (int) (8 * (inputLimit - 4 - input));\n input = inputLimit - 4;\n }\n bitStream = UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, input) >>> (bitCount & 31);\n }\n\n verify(remaining == 1 && bitCount <= 32, input, \"Input is corrupted\");\n\n maxSymbol = symbolNumber - 1;\n verify(maxSymbol <= MAX_SYMBOL, input, \"Max symbol value too large (too many symbols for FSE)\");\n\n input += (bitCount + 7) >> 3;\n\n // populate decoding table\n int symbolCount = maxSymbol + 1;\n int tableSize = 1 << tableLog;\n int highThreshold = tableSize - 1;\n\n table.log2Size = tableLog;\n\n for (byte symbol = 0; symbol < symbolCount; symbol++) {\n if (normalizedCounters[symbol] == -1) {\n table.symbol[highThreshold--] = symbol;\n nextSymbol[symbol] = 1;\n }\n else {\n nextSymbol[symbol] = normalizedCounters[symbol];\n }\n }\n\n int position = FseCompressionTable.spreadSymbols(normalizedCounters, maxSymbol, tableSize, highThreshold, table.symbol);\n\n // position must reach all cells once, otherwise normalizedCounter is incorrect\n verify(position == 0, input, \"Input is corrupted\");\n\n for (int i = 0; i < tableSize; i++) {\n byte symbol = table.symbol[i];\n short nextState = nextSymbol[symbol]++;\n table.numberOfBits[i] = (byte) (tableLog - highestBit(nextState));\n table.newState[i] = (short) ((nextState << table.numberOfBits[i]) - tableSize);\n }\n\n return (int) (input - inputAddress);\n }\n\n public static void initializeRleTable(FiniteStateEntropy.Table table, byte value)\n {\n table.log2Size = 0;\n table.symbol[0] = value;\n table.newState[0] = 0;\n table.numberOfBits[0] = 0;\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/Histogram.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport java.util.Arrays;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.UnsafeUtil.UNSAFE;\nimport static sun.misc.Unsafe.ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET;\n\nfinal class Histogram\n{\n private Histogram()\n {\n }\n\n // TODO: count parallel heuristic for large inputs\n private static void count(Object inputBase, long inputAddress, int inputSize, int[] counts)\n {\n long input = inputAddress;\n\n Arrays.fill(counts, 0);\n\n for (int i = 0; i < inputSize; i++) {\n int symbol = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input) & 0xFF;\n input++;\n counts[symbol]++;\n }\n }\n\n public static int findLargestCount(int[] counts, int maxSymbol)\n {\n int max = 0;\n for (int i = 0; i <= maxSymbol; i++) {\n if (counts[i] > max) {\n max = counts[i];\n }\n }\n\n return max;\n }\n\n public static int findMaxSymbol(int[] counts, int maxSymbol)\n {\n while (counts[maxSymbol] == 0) {\n maxSymbol--;\n }\n return maxSymbol;\n }\n\n public static void count(byte[] input, int length, int[] counts)\n {\n count(input, ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET, length, counts);\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/Huffman.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport java.util.Arrays;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.BitInputStream.isEndOfStream;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.BitInputStream.peekBitsFast;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_INT;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_SHORT;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.UnsafeUtil.UNSAFE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.isPowerOf2;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.verify;\n\nclass Huffman\n{\n public static final int MAX_SYMBOL = 255;\n public static final int MAX_SYMBOL_COUNT = MAX_SYMBOL + 1;\n\n public static final int MAX_TABLE_LOG = 12;\n public static final int MIN_TABLE_LOG = 5;\n public static final int MAX_FSE_TABLE_LOG = 6;\n\n // stats\n private final byte[] weights = new byte[MAX_SYMBOL + 1];\n private final int[] ranks = new int[MAX_TABLE_LOG + 1];\n\n // table\n private int tableLog = -1;\n private final byte[] symbols = new byte[1 << MAX_TABLE_LOG];\n private final byte[] numbersOfBits = new byte[1 << MAX_TABLE_LOG];\n\n private final FseTableReader reader = new FseTableReader();\n private final FiniteStateEntropy.Table fseTable = new FiniteStateEntropy.Table(MAX_FSE_TABLE_LOG);\n\n public boolean isLoaded()\n {\n return tableLog != -1;\n }\n\n public int readTable(final Object inputBase, final long inputAddress, final int size)\n {\n Arrays.fill(ranks, 0);\n long input = inputAddress;\n\n // read table header\n verify(size > 0, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n int inputSize = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input++) & 0xFF;\n\n int outputSize;\n if (inputSize >= 128) {\n outputSize = inputSize - 127;\n inputSize = ((outputSize + 1) / 2);\n\n verify(inputSize + 1 <= size, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n verify(outputSize <= MAX_SYMBOL + 1, input, \"Input is corrupted\");\n\n for (int i = 0; i < outputSize; i += 2) {\n int value = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input + i / 2) & 0xFF;\n weights[i] = (byte) (value >>> 4);\n weights[i + 1] = (byte) (value & 0b1111);\n }\n }\n else {\n verify(inputSize + 1 <= size, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n\n long inputLimit = input + inputSize;\n input += reader.readFseTable(fseTable, inputBase, input, inputLimit, FiniteStateEntropy.MAX_SYMBOL, MAX_FSE_TABLE_LOG);\n outputSize = FiniteStateEntropy.decompress(fseTable, inputBase, input, inputLimit, weights);\n }\n\n int totalWeight = 0;\n for (int i = 0; i < outputSize; i++) {\n ranks[weights[i]]++;\n totalWeight += (1 << weights[i]) >> 1; // TODO same as 1 << (weights[n] - 1)?\n }\n verify(totalWeight != 0, input, \"Input is corrupted\");\n\n tableLog = Util.highestBit(totalWeight) + 1;\n verify(tableLog <= MAX_TABLE_LOG, input, \"Input is corrupted\");\n\n int total = 1 << tableLog;\n int rest = total - totalWeight;\n verify(isPowerOf2(rest), input, \"Input is corrupted\");\n\n int lastWeight = Util.highestBit(rest) + 1;\n\n weights[outputSize] = (byte) lastWeight;\n ranks[lastWeight]++;\n\n int numberOfSymbols = outputSize + 1;\n\n // populate table\n int nextRankStart = 0;\n for (int i = 1; i < tableLog + 1; ++i) {\n int current = nextRankStart;\n nextRankStart += ranks[i] << (i - 1);\n ranks[i] = current;\n }\n\n for (int n = 0; n < numberOfSymbols; n++) {\n int weight = weights[n];\n int length = (1 << weight) >> 1; // TODO: 1 << (weight - 1) ??\n\n byte symbol = (byte) n;\n byte numberOfBits = (byte) (tableLog + 1 - weight);\n for (int i = ranks[weight]; i < ranks[weight] + length; i++) {\n symbols[i] = symbol;\n numbersOfBits[i] = numberOfBits;\n }\n ranks[weight] += length;\n }\n\n verify(ranks[1] >= 2 && (ranks[1] & 1) == 0, input, \"Input is corrupted\");\n\n return inputSize + 1;\n }\n\n public void decodeSingleStream(final Object inputBase, final long inputAddress, final long inputLimit, final Object outputBase, final long outputAddress, final long outputLimit)\n {\n BitInputStream.Initializer initializer = new BitInputStream.Initializer(inputBase, inputAddress, inputLimit);\n initializer.initialize();\n\n long bits = initializer.getBits();\n int bitsConsumed = initializer.getBitsConsumed();\n long currentAddress = initializer.getCurrentAddress();\n\n int tableLog = this.tableLog;\n byte[] numbersOfBits = this.numbersOfBits;\n byte[] symbols = this.symbols;\n\n // 4 symbols at a time\n long output = outputAddress;\n long fastOutputLimit = outputLimit - 4;\n while (output < fastOutputLimit) {\n BitInputStream.Loader loader = new BitInputStream.Loader(inputBase, inputAddress, currentAddress, bits, bitsConsumed);\n boolean done = loader.load();\n bits = loader.getBits();\n bitsConsumed = loader.getBitsConsumed();\n currentAddress = loader.getCurrentAddress();\n if (done) {\n break;\n }\n\n bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output, bits, bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output + 1, bits, bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output + 2, bits, bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output + 3, bits, bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n output += SIZE_OF_INT;\n }\n\n decodeTail(inputBase, inputAddress, currentAddress, bitsConsumed, bits, outputBase, output, outputLimit);\n }\n\n public void decode4Streams(final Object inputBase, final long inputAddress, final long inputLimit, final Object outputBase, final long outputAddress, final long outputLimit)\n {\n verify(inputLimit - inputAddress >= 10, inputAddress, \"Input is corrupted\"); // jump table + 1 byte per stream\n\n long start1 = inputAddress + 3 * SIZE_OF_SHORT; // for the shorts we read below\n long start2 = start1 + (UNSAFE.getShort(inputBase, inputAddress) & 0xFFFF);\n long start3 = start2 + (UNSAFE.getShort(inputBase, inputAddress + 2) & 0xFFFF);\n long start4 = start3 + (UNSAFE.getShort(inputBase, inputAddress + 4) & 0xFFFF);\n\n verify(start2 < start3 && start3 < start4 && start4 < inputLimit, inputAddress, \"Input is corrupted\");\n\n BitInputStream.Initializer initializer = new BitInputStream.Initializer(inputBase, start1, start2);\n initializer.initialize();\n int stream1bitsConsumed = initializer.getBitsConsumed();\n long stream1currentAddress = initializer.getCurrentAddress();\n long stream1bits = initializer.getBits();\n\n initializer = new BitInputStream.Initializer(inputBase, start2, start3);\n initializer.initialize();\n int stream2bitsConsumed = initializer.getBitsConsumed();\n long stream2currentAddress = initializer.getCurrentAddress();\n long stream2bits = initializer.getBits();\n\n initializer = new BitInputStream.Initializer(inputBase, start3, start4);\n initializer.initialize();\n int stream3bitsConsumed = initializer.getBitsConsumed();\n long stream3currentAddress = initializer.getCurrentAddress();\n long stream3bits = initializer.getBits();\n\n initializer = new BitInputStream.Initializer(inputBase, start4, inputLimit);\n initializer.initialize();\n int stream4bitsConsumed = initializer.getBitsConsumed();\n long stream4currentAddress = initializer.getCurrentAddress();\n long stream4bits = initializer.getBits();\n\n int segmentSize = (int) ((outputLimit - outputAddress + 3) / 4);\n\n long outputStart2 = outputAddress + segmentSize;\n long outputStart3 = outputStart2 + segmentSize;\n long outputStart4 = outputStart3 + segmentSize;\n\n long output1 = outputAddress;\n long output2 = outputStart2;\n long output3 = outputStart3;\n long output4 = outputStart4;\n\n long fastOutputLimit = outputLimit - 7;\n int tableLog = this.tableLog;\n byte[] numbersOfBits = this.numbersOfBits;\n byte[] symbols = this.symbols;\n\n while (output4 < fastOutputLimit) {\n stream1bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output1, stream1bits, stream1bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n stream2bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output2, stream2bits, stream2bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n stream3bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output3, stream3bits, stream3bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n stream4bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output4, stream4bits, stream4bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n\n stream1bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output1 + 1, stream1bits, stream1bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n stream2bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output2 + 1, stream2bits, stream2bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n stream3bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output3 + 1, stream3bits, stream3bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n stream4bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output4 + 1, stream4bits, stream4bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n\n stream1bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output1 + 2, stream1bits, stream1bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n stream2bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output2 + 2, stream2bits, stream2bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n stream3bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output3 + 2, stream3bits, stream3bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n stream4bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output4 + 2, stream4bits, stream4bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n\n stream1bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output1 + 3, stream1bits, stream1bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n stream2bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output2 + 3, stream2bits, stream2bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n stream3bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output3 + 3, stream3bits, stream3bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n stream4bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, output4 + 3, stream4bits, stream4bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n\n output1 += SIZE_OF_INT;\n output2 += SIZE_OF_INT;\n output3 += SIZE_OF_INT;\n output4 += SIZE_OF_INT;\n\n BitInputStream.Loader loader = new BitInputStream.Loader(inputBase, start1, stream1currentAddress, stream1bits, stream1bitsConsumed);\n boolean done = loader.load();\n stream1bitsConsumed = loader.getBitsConsumed();\n stream1bits = loader.getBits();\n stream1currentAddress = loader.getCurrentAddress();\n\n if (done) {\n break;\n }\n\n loader = new BitInputStream.Loader(inputBase, start2, stream2currentAddress, stream2bits, stream2bitsConsumed);\n done = loader.load();\n stream2bitsConsumed = loader.getBitsConsumed();\n stream2bits = loader.getBits();\n stream2currentAddress = loader.getCurrentAddress();\n\n if (done) {\n break;\n }\n\n loader = new BitInputStream.Loader(inputBase, start3, stream3currentAddress, stream3bits, stream3bitsConsumed);\n done = loader.load();\n stream3bitsConsumed = loader.getBitsConsumed();\n stream3bits = loader.getBits();\n stream3currentAddress = loader.getCurrentAddress();\n if (done) {\n break;\n }\n\n loader = new BitInputStream.Loader(inputBase, start4, stream4currentAddress, stream4bits, stream4bitsConsumed);\n done = loader.load();\n stream4bitsConsumed = loader.getBitsConsumed();\n stream4bits = loader.getBits();\n stream4currentAddress = loader.getCurrentAddress();\n if (done) {\n break;\n }\n }\n\n verify(output1 <= outputStart2 && output2 <= outputStart3 && output3 <= outputStart4, inputAddress, \"Input is corrupted\");\n\n /// finish streams one by one\n decodeTail(inputBase, start1, stream1currentAddress, stream1bitsConsumed, stream1bits, outputBase, output1, outputStart2);\n decodeTail(inputBase, start2, stream2currentAddress, stream2bitsConsumed, stream2bits, outputBase, output2, outputStart3);\n decodeTail(inputBase, start3, stream3currentAddress, stream3bitsConsumed, stream3bits, outputBase, output3, outputStart4);\n decodeTail(inputBase, start4, stream4currentAddress, stream4bitsConsumed, stream4bits, outputBase, output4, outputLimit);\n }\n\n private void decodeTail(final Object inputBase, final long startAddress, long currentAddress, int bitsConsumed, long bits, final Object outputBase, long outputAddress, final long outputLimit)\n {\n int tableLog = this.tableLog;\n byte[] numbersOfBits = this.numbersOfBits;\n byte[] symbols = this.symbols;\n\n // closer to the end\n while (outputAddress < outputLimit) {\n BitInputStream.Loader loader = new BitInputStream.Loader(inputBase, startAddress, currentAddress, bits, bitsConsumed);\n boolean done = loader.load();\n bitsConsumed = loader.getBitsConsumed();\n bits = loader.getBits();\n currentAddress = loader.getCurrentAddress();\n if (done) {\n break;\n }\n\n bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, outputAddress++, bits, bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n }\n\n // not more data in bit stream, so no need to reload\n while (outputAddress < outputLimit) {\n bitsConsumed = decodeSymbol(outputBase, outputAddress++, bits, bitsConsumed, tableLog, numbersOfBits, symbols);\n }\n\n verify(isEndOfStream(startAddress, currentAddress, bitsConsumed), startAddress, \"Bit stream is not fully consumed\");\n }\n\n private static int decodeSymbol(Object outputBase, long outputAddress, long bitContainer, int bitsConsumed, int tableLog, byte[] numbersOfBits, byte[] symbols)\n {\n int value = (int) peekBitsFast(bitsConsumed, bitContainer, tableLog);\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, outputAddress, symbols[value]);\n return bitsConsumed + numbersOfBits[value];\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/HuffmanCompressionContext.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nclass HuffmanCompressionContext\n{\n private final HuffmanTableWriterWorkspace tableWriterWorkspace = new HuffmanTableWriterWorkspace();\n private final HuffmanCompressionTableWorkspace compressionTableWorkspace = new HuffmanCompressionTableWorkspace();\n\n private HuffmanCompressionTable previousTable = new HuffmanCompressionTable(Huffman.MAX_SYMBOL_COUNT);\n private HuffmanCompressionTable temporaryTable = new HuffmanCompressionTable(Huffman.MAX_SYMBOL_COUNT);\n\n private HuffmanCompressionTable previousCandidate = previousTable;\n private HuffmanCompressionTable temporaryCandidate = temporaryTable;\n\n public HuffmanCompressionTable getPreviousTable()\n {\n return previousTable;\n }\n\n public HuffmanCompressionTable borrowTemporaryTable()\n {\n previousCandidate = temporaryTable;\n temporaryCandidate = previousTable;\n\n return temporaryTable;\n }\n\n public void discardTemporaryTable()\n {\n previousCandidate = previousTable;\n temporaryCandidate = temporaryTable;\n }\n\n public void saveChanges()\n {\n temporaryTable = temporaryCandidate;\n previousTable = previousCandidate;\n }\n\n public HuffmanCompressionTableWorkspace getCompressionTableWorkspace()\n {\n return compressionTableWorkspace;\n }\n\n public HuffmanTableWriterWorkspace getTableWriterWorkspace()\n {\n return tableWriterWorkspace;\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/HuffmanCompressionTable.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport java.util.Arrays;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Huffman.MAX_FSE_TABLE_LOG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Huffman.MAX_SYMBOL;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Huffman.MAX_SYMBOL_COUNT;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Huffman.MAX_TABLE_LOG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Huffman.MIN_TABLE_LOG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.UnsafeUtil.UNSAFE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.checkArgument;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.minTableLog;\n\nfinal class HuffmanCompressionTable\n{\n private final short[] values;\n private final byte[] numberOfBits;\n\n private int maxSymbol;\n private int maxNumberOfBits;\n\n public HuffmanCompressionTable(int capacity)\n {\n this.values = new short[capacity];\n this.numberOfBits = new byte[capacity];\n }\n\n public static int optimalNumberOfBits(int maxNumberOfBits, int inputSize, int maxSymbol)\n {\n if (inputSize <= 1) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(); // not supported. Use RLE instead\n }\n\n int result = maxNumberOfBits;\n\n result = Math.min(result, Util.highestBit((inputSize - 1)) - 1); // we may be able to reduce accuracy if input is small\n\n // Need a minimum to safely represent all symbol values\n result = Math.max(result, minTableLog(inputSize, maxSymbol));\n\n result = Math.max(result, MIN_TABLE_LOG); // absolute minimum for Huffman\n result = Math.min(result, MAX_TABLE_LOG); // absolute maximum for Huffman\n\n return result;\n }\n\n public void initialize(int[] counts, int maxSymbol, int maxNumberOfBits, HuffmanCompressionTableWorkspace workspace)\n {\n checkArgument(maxSymbol <= MAX_SYMBOL, \"Max symbol value too large\");\n\n workspace.reset();\n\n NodeTable nodeTable = workspace.nodeTable;\n nodeTable.reset();\n\n int lastNonZero = buildTree(counts, maxSymbol, nodeTable);\n\n // enforce max table log\n maxNumberOfBits = setMaxHeight(nodeTable, lastNonZero, maxNumberOfBits, workspace);\n checkArgument(maxNumberOfBits <= MAX_TABLE_LOG, \"Max number of bits larger than max table size\");\n\n // populate table\n int symbolCount = maxSymbol + 1;\n for (int node = 0; node < symbolCount; node++) {\n int symbol = nodeTable.symbols[node];\n numberOfBits[symbol] = nodeTable.numberOfBits[node];\n }\n\n short[] entriesPerRank = workspace.entriesPerRank;\n short[] valuesPerRank = workspace.valuesPerRank;\n\n for (int n = 0; n <= lastNonZero; n++) {\n entriesPerRank[nodeTable.numberOfBits[n]]++;\n }\n\n // determine starting value per rank\n short startingValue = 0;\n for (int rank = maxNumberOfBits; rank > 0; rank--) {\n valuesPerRank[rank] = startingValue; // get starting value within each rank\n startingValue += entriesPerRank[rank];\n startingValue >>>= 1;\n }\n\n for (int n = 0; n <= maxSymbol; n++) {\n values[n] = valuesPerRank[numberOfBits[n]]++; // assign value within rank, symbol order\n }\n\n this.maxSymbol = maxSymbol;\n this.maxNumberOfBits = maxNumberOfBits;\n }\n\n private int buildTree(int[] counts, int maxSymbol, NodeTable nodeTable)\n {\n // populate the leaves of the node table from the histogram of counts\n // in descending order by count, ascending by symbol value.\n short current = 0;\n\n for (int symbol = 0; symbol <= maxSymbol; symbol++) {\n int count = counts[symbol];\n\n // simple insertion sort\n int position = current;\n while (position > 1 && count > nodeTable.count[position - 1]) {\n nodeTable.copyNode(position - 1, position);\n position--;\n }\n\n nodeTable.count[position] = count;\n nodeTable.symbols[position] = symbol;\n\n current++;\n }\n\n int lastNonZero = maxSymbol;\n while (nodeTable.count[lastNonZero] == 0) {\n lastNonZero--;\n }\n\n // populate the non-leaf nodes\n short nonLeafStart = MAX_SYMBOL_COUNT;\n current = nonLeafStart;\n\n int currentLeaf = lastNonZero;\n\n // combine the two smallest leaves to create the first intermediate node\n int currentNonLeaf = current;\n nodeTable.count[current] = nodeTable.count[currentLeaf] + nodeTable.count[currentLeaf - 1];\n nodeTable.parents[currentLeaf] = current;\n nodeTable.parents[currentLeaf - 1] = current;\n current++;\n currentLeaf -= 2;\n\n int root = MAX_SYMBOL_COUNT + lastNonZero - 1;\n\n // fill in sentinels\n for (int n = current; n <= root; n++) {\n nodeTable.count[n] = 1 << 30;\n }\n\n // create parents\n while (current <= root) {\n int child1;\n if (currentLeaf >= 0 && nodeTable.count[currentLeaf] < nodeTable.count[currentNonLeaf]) {\n child1 = currentLeaf--;\n }\n else {\n child1 = currentNonLeaf++;\n }\n\n int child2;\n if (currentLeaf >= 0 && nodeTable.count[currentLeaf] < nodeTable.count[currentNonLeaf]) {\n child2 = currentLeaf--;\n }\n else {\n child2 = currentNonLeaf++;\n }\n\n nodeTable.count[current] = nodeTable.count[child1] + nodeTable.count[child2];\n nodeTable.parents[child1] = current;\n nodeTable.parents[child2] = current;\n current++;\n }\n\n // distribute weights\n nodeTable.numberOfBits[root] = 0;\n for (int n = root - 1; n >= nonLeafStart; n--) {\n short parent = nodeTable.parents[n];\n nodeTable.numberOfBits[n] = (byte) (nodeTable.numberOfBits[parent] + 1);\n }\n\n for (int n = 0; n <= lastNonZero; n++) {\n short parent = nodeTable.parents[n];\n nodeTable.numberOfBits[n] = (byte) (nodeTable.numberOfBits[parent] + 1);\n }\n\n return lastNonZero;\n }\n\n // TODO: consider encoding 2 symbols at a time\n // - need a table with 256x256 entries with\n // - the concatenated bits for the corresponding pair of symbols\n // - the sum of bits for the corresponding pair of symbols\n // - read 2 symbols at a time from the input\n public void encodeSymbol(BitOutputStream output, int symbol)\n {\n output.addBitsFast(values[symbol], numberOfBits[symbol]);\n }\n\n public int write(Object outputBase, long outputAddress, int outputSize, HuffmanTableWriterWorkspace workspace)\n {\n byte[] weights = workspace.weights;\n\n long output = outputAddress;\n\n int maxNumberOfBits = this.maxNumberOfBits;\n int maxSymbol = this.maxSymbol;\n\n // convert to weights per RFC 8478 section 4.2.1\n for (int symbol = 0; symbol < maxSymbol; symbol++) {\n int bits = numberOfBits[symbol];\n\n if (bits == 0) {\n weights[symbol] = 0;\n }\n else {\n weights[symbol] = (byte) (maxNumberOfBits + 1 - bits);\n }\n }\n\n // attempt weights compression by FSE\n int size = compressWeights(outputBase, output + 1, outputSize - 1, weights, maxSymbol, workspace);\n\n if (maxSymbol > 127 && size > 127) {\n // This should never happen. Since weights are in the range [0, 12], they can be compressed optimally to ~3.7 bits per symbol for a uniform distribution.\n // Since maxSymbol has to be <= MAX_SYMBOL (255), this is 119 bytes + FSE headers.\n throw new AssertionError();\n }\n\n if (size != 0 && size != 1 && size < maxSymbol / 2) {\n // Go with FSE only if:\n // - the weights are compressible\n // - the compressed size is better than what we'd get with the raw encoding below\n // - the compressed size is <= 127 bytes, which is the most that the encoding can hold for FSE-compressed weights (see RFC 8478 section 4.2.1.1). This is implied\n // by the maxSymbol / 2 check, since maxSymbol must be <= 255\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output, (byte) size);\n return size + 1; // header + size\n }\n else {\n // Use raw encoding (4 bits per entry)\n\n // #entries = #symbols - 1 since last symbol is implicit. Thus, #entries = (maxSymbol + 1) - 1 = maxSymbol\n int entryCount = maxSymbol;\n\n size = (entryCount + 1) / 2; // ceil(#entries / 2)\n checkArgument(size + 1 /* header */ <= outputSize, \"Output size too small\"); // 2 entries per byte\n\n // encode number of symbols\n // header = #entries + 127 per RFC\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output, (byte) (127 + entryCount));\n output++;\n\n weights[maxSymbol] = 0; // last weight is implicit, so set to 0 so that it doesn't get encoded below\n for (int i = 0; i < entryCount; i += 2) {\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output, (byte) ((weights[i] << 4) + weights[i + 1]));\n output++;\n }\n\n return (int) (output - outputAddress);\n }\n }\n\n /**\n * Can this table encode all symbols with non-zero count?\n */\n public boolean isValid(int[] counts, int maxSymbol)\n {\n if (maxSymbol > this.maxSymbol) {\n // some non-zero count symbols cannot be encoded by the current table\n return false;\n }\n\n for (int symbol = 0; symbol <= maxSymbol; ++symbol) {\n if (counts[symbol] != 0 && numberOfBits[symbol] == 0) {\n return false;\n }\n }\n return true;\n }\n\n public int estimateCompressedSize(int[] counts, int maxSymbol)\n {\n int numberOfBits = 0;\n for (int symbol = 0; symbol <= Math.min(maxSymbol, this.maxSymbol); symbol++) {\n numberOfBits += this.numberOfBits[symbol] * counts[symbol];\n }\n\n return numberOfBits >>> 3; // convert to bytes\n }\n\n // http://fastcompression.blogspot.com/2015/07/huffman-revisited-part-3-depth-limited.html\n private static int setMaxHeight(NodeTable nodeTable, int lastNonZero, int maxNumberOfBits, HuffmanCompressionTableWorkspace workspace)\n {\n int largestBits = nodeTable.numberOfBits[lastNonZero];\n\n if (largestBits <= maxNumberOfBits) {\n return largestBits; // early exit: no elements > maxNumberOfBits\n }\n\n // there are several too large elements (at least >= 2)\n int totalCost = 0;\n int baseCost = 1 << (largestBits - maxNumberOfBits);\n int n = lastNonZero;\n\n while (nodeTable.numberOfBits[n] > maxNumberOfBits) {\n totalCost += baseCost - (1 << (largestBits - nodeTable.numberOfBits[n]));\n nodeTable.numberOfBits[n ] = (byte) maxNumberOfBits;\n n--;\n } // n stops at nodeTable.numberOfBits[n + offset] <= maxNumberOfBits\n\n while (nodeTable.numberOfBits[n] == maxNumberOfBits) {\n n--; // n ends at index of smallest symbol using < maxNumberOfBits\n }\n\n // renormalize totalCost\n totalCost >>>= (largestBits - maxNumberOfBits); // note: totalCost is necessarily a multiple of baseCost\n\n // repay normalized cost\n int noSymbol = 0xF0F0F0F0;\n int[] rankLast = workspace.rankLast;\n Arrays.fill(rankLast, noSymbol);\n\n // Get pos of last (smallest) symbol per rank\n int currentNbBits = maxNumberOfBits;\n for (int pos = n; pos >= 0; pos--) {\n if (nodeTable.numberOfBits[pos] >= currentNbBits) {\n continue;\n }\n currentNbBits = nodeTable.numberOfBits[pos]; // < maxNumberOfBits\n rankLast[maxNumberOfBits - currentNbBits] = pos;\n }\n\n while (totalCost > 0) {\n int numberOfBitsToDecrease = Util.highestBit(totalCost) + 1;\n for (; numberOfBitsToDecrease > 1; numberOfBitsToDecrease--) {\n int highPosition = rankLast[numberOfBitsToDecrease];\n int lowPosition = rankLast[numberOfBitsToDecrease - 1];\n if (highPosition == noSymbol) {\n continue;\n }\n if (lowPosition == noSymbol) {\n break;\n }\n int highTotal = nodeTable.count[highPosition];\n int lowTotal = 2 * nodeTable.count[lowPosition];\n if (highTotal <= lowTotal) {\n break;\n }\n }\n\n // only triggered when no more rank 1 symbol left => find closest one (note : there is necessarily at least one !)\n // HUF_MAX_TABLELOG test just to please gcc 5+; but it should not be necessary\n while ((numberOfBitsToDecrease <= MAX_TABLE_LOG) && (rankLast[numberOfBitsToDecrease] == noSymbol)) {\n numberOfBitsToDecrease++;\n }\n totalCost -= 1 << (numberOfBitsToDecrease - 1);\n if (rankLast[numberOfBitsToDecrease - 1] == noSymbol) {\n rankLast[numberOfBitsToDecrease - 1] = rankLast[numberOfBitsToDecrease]; // this rank is no longer empty\n }\n nodeTable.numberOfBits[rankLast[numberOfBitsToDecrease]]++;\n if (rankLast[numberOfBitsToDecrease] == 0) { /* special case, reached largest symbol */\n rankLast[numberOfBitsToDecrease] = noSymbol;\n }\n else {\n rankLast[numberOfBitsToDecrease]--;\n if (nodeTable.numberOfBits[rankLast[numberOfBitsToDecrease]] != maxNumberOfBits - numberOfBitsToDecrease) {\n rankLast[numberOfBitsToDecrease] = noSymbol; // this rank is now empty\n }\n }\n }\n\n while (totalCost < 0) { // Sometimes, cost correction overshoot\n if (rankLast[1] == noSymbol) { /* special case : no rank 1 symbol (using maxNumberOfBits-1); let's create one from largest rank 0 (using maxNumberOfBits) */\n while (nodeTable.numberOfBits[n] == maxNumberOfBits) {\n n--;\n }\n nodeTable.numberOfBits[n + 1]--;\n rankLast[1] = n + 1;\n totalCost++;\n continue;\n }\n nodeTable.numberOfBits[rankLast[1] + 1]--;\n rankLast[1]++;\n totalCost++;\n }\n\n return maxNumberOfBits;\n }\n\n /**\n * All elements within weightTable must be <= Huffman.MAX_TABLE_LOG\n */\n private static int compressWeights(Object outputBase, long outputAddress, int outputSize, byte[] weights, int weightsLength, HuffmanTableWriterWorkspace workspace)\n {\n if (weightsLength <= 1) {\n return 0; // Not compressible\n }\n\n // Scan input and build symbol stats\n int[] counts = workspace.counts;\n Histogram.count(weights, weightsLength, counts);\n int maxSymbol = Histogram.findMaxSymbol(counts, MAX_TABLE_LOG);\n int maxCount = Histogram.findLargestCount(counts, maxSymbol);\n\n if (maxCount == weightsLength) {\n return 1; // only a single symbol in source\n }\n if (maxCount == 1) {\n return 0; // each symbol present maximum once => not compressible\n }\n\n short[] normalizedCounts = workspace.normalizedCounts;\n\n int tableLog = FiniteStateEntropy.optimalTableLog(MAX_FSE_TABLE_LOG, weightsLength, maxSymbol);\n FiniteStateEntropy.normalizeCounts(normalizedCounts, tableLog, counts, weightsLength, maxSymbol);\n\n long output = outputAddress;\n long outputLimit = outputAddress + outputSize;\n\n // Write table description header\n int headerSize = FiniteStateEntropy.writeNormalizedCounts(outputBase, output, outputSize, normalizedCounts, maxSymbol, tableLog);\n output += headerSize;\n\n // Compress\n FseCompressionTable compressionTable = workspace.fseTable;\n compressionTable.initialize(normalizedCounts, maxSymbol, tableLog);\n int compressedSize = FiniteStateEntropy.compress(outputBase, output, (int) (outputLimit - output), weights, weightsLength, compressionTable);\n if (compressedSize == 0) {\n return 0;\n }\n output += compressedSize;\n\n return (int) (output - outputAddress);\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/HuffmanCompressionTableWorkspace.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport java.util.Arrays;\n\nclass HuffmanCompressionTableWorkspace\n{\n public final NodeTable nodeTable = new NodeTable((2 * Huffman.MAX_SYMBOL_COUNT - 1)); // number of nodes in binary tree with MAX_SYMBOL_COUNT leaves\n\n public final short[] entriesPerRank = new short[Huffman.MAX_TABLE_LOG + 1];\n public final short[] valuesPerRank = new short[Huffman.MAX_TABLE_LOG + 1];\n\n // for setMaxHeight\n public final int[] rankLast = new int[Huffman.MAX_TABLE_LOG + 2];\n\n public void reset()\n {\n Arrays.fill(entriesPerRank, (short) 0);\n Arrays.fill(valuesPerRank, (short) 0);\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/HuffmanCompressor.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_LONG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_SHORT;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.UnsafeUtil.UNSAFE;\n\nfinal class HuffmanCompressor\n{\n private HuffmanCompressor()\n {\n }\n\n public static int compress4streams(Object outputBase, long outputAddress, int outputSize, Object inputBase, long inputAddress, int inputSize, HuffmanCompressionTable table)\n {\n long input = inputAddress;\n long inputLimit = inputAddress + inputSize;\n long output = outputAddress;\n long outputLimit = outputAddress + outputSize;\n\n int segmentSize = (inputSize + 3) / 4;\n\n if (outputSize < 6 /* jump table */ + 1 /* first stream */ + 1 /* second stream */ + 1 /* third stream */ + 8 /* 8 bytes minimum needed by the bitstream encoder */) {\n return 0; // minimum space to compress successfully\n }\n\n if (inputSize <= 6 + 1 + 1 + 1) { // jump table + one byte per stream\n return 0; // no saving possible: input too small\n }\n\n output += SIZE_OF_SHORT + SIZE_OF_SHORT + SIZE_OF_SHORT; // jump table\n\n int compressedSize;\n\n // first segment\n compressedSize = compressSingleStream(outputBase, output, (int) (outputLimit - output), inputBase, input, segmentSize, table);\n if (compressedSize == 0) {\n return 0;\n }\n UNSAFE.putShort(outputBase, outputAddress, (short) compressedSize);\n output += compressedSize;\n input += segmentSize;\n\n // second segment\n compressedSize = compressSingleStream(outputBase, output, (int) (outputLimit - output), inputBase, input, segmentSize, table);\n if (compressedSize == 0) {\n return 0;\n }\n UNSAFE.putShort(outputBase, outputAddress + SIZE_OF_SHORT, (short) compressedSize);\n output += compressedSize;\n input += segmentSize;\n\n // third segment\n compressedSize = compressSingleStream(outputBase, output, (int) (outputLimit - output), inputBase, input, segmentSize, table);\n if (compressedSize == 0) {\n return 0;\n }\n UNSAFE.putShort(outputBase, outputAddress + SIZE_OF_SHORT + SIZE_OF_SHORT, (short) compressedSize);\n output += compressedSize;\n input += segmentSize;\n\n // fourth segment\n compressedSize = compressSingleStream(outputBase, output, (int) (outputLimit - output), inputBase, input, (int) (inputLimit - input), table);\n if (compressedSize == 0) {\n return 0;\n }\n output += compressedSize;\n\n return (int) (output - outputAddress);\n }\n\n public static int compressSingleStream(Object outputBase, long outputAddress, int outputSize, Object inputBase, long inputAddress, int inputSize, HuffmanCompressionTable table)\n {\n if (outputSize < SIZE_OF_LONG) {\n return 0;\n }\n\n BitOutputStream bitstream = new BitOutputStream(outputBase, outputAddress, outputSize);\n long input = inputAddress;\n\n int n = inputSize & ~3; // join to mod 4\n\n switch (inputSize & 3) {\n case 3:\n table.encodeSymbol(bitstream, UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input + n + 2) & 0xFF);\n if (SIZE_OF_LONG * 8 < Huffman.MAX_TABLE_LOG * 4 + 7) {\n bitstream.flush();\n }\n // fall-through\n case 2:\n table.encodeSymbol(bitstream, UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input + n + 1) & 0xFF);\n if (SIZE_OF_LONG * 8 < Huffman.MAX_TABLE_LOG * 2 + 7) {\n bitstream.flush();\n }\n // fall-through\n case 1:\n table.encodeSymbol(bitstream, UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input + n + 0) & 0xFF);\n bitstream.flush();\n // fall-through\n case 0: /* fall-through */\n default:\n break;\n }\n\n for (; n > 0; n -= 4) { // note: n & 3 == 0 at this stage\n table.encodeSymbol(bitstream, UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input + n - 1) & 0xFF);\n if (SIZE_OF_LONG * 8 < Huffman.MAX_TABLE_LOG * 2 + 7) {\n bitstream.flush();\n }\n table.encodeSymbol(bitstream, UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input + n - 2) & 0xFF);\n if (SIZE_OF_LONG * 8 < Huffman.MAX_TABLE_LOG * 4 + 7) {\n bitstream.flush();\n }\n table.encodeSymbol(bitstream, UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input + n - 3) & 0xFF);\n if (SIZE_OF_LONG * 8 < Huffman.MAX_TABLE_LOG * 2 + 7) {\n bitstream.flush();\n }\n table.encodeSymbol(bitstream, UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input + n - 4) & 0xFF);\n bitstream.flush();\n }\n\n return bitstream.close();\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/HuffmanTableWriterWorkspace.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Huffman.MAX_FSE_TABLE_LOG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Huffman.MAX_SYMBOL;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Huffman.MAX_TABLE_LOG;\n\nclass HuffmanTableWriterWorkspace\n{\n // for encoding weights\n public final byte[] weights = new byte[MAX_SYMBOL]; // the weight for the last symbol is implicit\n\n // for compressing weights\n public final int[] counts = new int[MAX_TABLE_LOG + 1];\n public final short[] normalizedCounts = new short[MAX_TABLE_LOG + 1];\n public final FseCompressionTable fseTable = new FseCompressionTable(MAX_FSE_TABLE_LOG, MAX_TABLE_LOG);\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/NodeTable.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport java.util.Arrays;\n\nclass NodeTable\n{\n int[] count;\n short[] parents;\n int[] symbols;\n byte[] numberOfBits;\n\n public NodeTable(int size)\n {\n count = new int[size];\n parents = new short[size];\n symbols = new int[size];\n numberOfBits = new byte[size];\n }\n\n public void reset()\n {\n Arrays.fill(count, 0);\n Arrays.fill(parents, (short) 0);\n Arrays.fill(symbols, 0);\n Arrays.fill(numberOfBits, (byte) 0);\n }\n\n public void copyNode(int from, int to)\n {\n count[to] = count[from];\n parents[to] = parents[from];\n symbols[to] = symbols[from];\n numberOfBits[to] = numberOfBits[from];\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/RepeatedOffsets.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nclass RepeatedOffsets\n{\n private int offset0 = 1;\n private int offset1 = 4;\n\n private int tempOffset0;\n private int tempOffset1;\n\n public int getOffset0()\n {\n return offset0;\n }\n\n public int getOffset1()\n {\n return offset1;\n }\n\n public void saveOffset0(int offset)\n {\n tempOffset0 = offset;\n }\n\n public void saveOffset1(int offset)\n {\n tempOffset1 = offset;\n }\n\n public void commit()\n {\n offset0 = tempOffset0;\n offset1 = tempOffset1;\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/SequenceEncoder.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.DEFAULT_MAX_OFFSET_CODE_SYMBOL;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.LITERALS_LENGTH_BITS;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.LITERAL_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.LONG_NUMBER_OF_SEQUENCES;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MATCH_LENGTH_BITS;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MATCH_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MAX_LITERALS_LENGTH_SYMBOL;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MAX_MATCH_LENGTH_SYMBOL;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MAX_OFFSET_CODE_SYMBOL;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.OFFSET_TABLE_LOG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SEQUENCE_ENCODING_BASIC;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SEQUENCE_ENCODING_COMPRESSED;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SEQUENCE_ENCODING_RLE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_SHORT;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.FiniteStateEntropy.optimalTableLog;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.UnsafeUtil.UNSAFE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.checkArgument;\n\nfinal class SequenceEncoder\n{\n private static final int DEFAULT_LITERAL_LENGTH_NORMALIZED_COUNTS_LOG = 6;\n private static final short[] DEFAULT_LITERAL_LENGTH_NORMALIZED_COUNTS = {4, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2,\n 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1,\n 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2,\n 2, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,\n -1, -1, -1, -1};\n\n private static final int DEFAULT_MATCH_LENGTH_NORMALIZED_COUNTS_LOG = 6;\n private static final short[] DEFAULT_MATCH_LENGTH_NORMALIZED_COUNTS = {1, 4, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2,\n 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,\n 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,\n 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,\n 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,\n 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, -1, -1,\n -1, -1, -1, -1, -1};\n\n private static final int DEFAULT_OFFSET_NORMALIZED_COUNTS_LOG = 5;\n private static final short[] DEFAULT_OFFSET_NORMALIZED_COUNTS = {1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2,\n 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,\n 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,\n -1, -1, -1, -1, -1};\n\n private static final FseCompressionTable DEFAULT_LITERAL_LENGTHS_TABLE = FseCompressionTable.newInstance(DEFAULT_LITERAL_LENGTH_NORMALIZED_COUNTS, MAX_LITERALS_LENGTH_SYMBOL, DEFAULT_LITERAL_LENGTH_NORMALIZED_COUNTS_LOG);\n private static final FseCompressionTable DEFAULT_MATCH_LENGTHS_TABLE = FseCompressionTable.newInstance(DEFAULT_MATCH_LENGTH_NORMALIZED_COUNTS, MAX_MATCH_LENGTH_SYMBOL, DEFAULT_LITERAL_LENGTH_NORMALIZED_COUNTS_LOG);\n private static final FseCompressionTable DEFAULT_OFFSETS_TABLE = FseCompressionTable.newInstance(DEFAULT_OFFSET_NORMALIZED_COUNTS, DEFAULT_MAX_OFFSET_CODE_SYMBOL, DEFAULT_OFFSET_NORMALIZED_COUNTS_LOG);\n\n private SequenceEncoder()\n {\n }\n\n public static int compressSequences(Object outputBase, final long outputAddress, int outputSize, SequenceStore sequences, CompressionParameters.Strategy strategy, SequenceEncodingContext workspace)\n {\n long output = outputAddress;\n long outputLimit = outputAddress + outputSize;\n\n checkArgument(outputLimit - output > 3 /* max sequence count Size */ + 1 /* encoding type flags */, \"Output buffer too small\");\n\n int sequenceCount = sequences.sequenceCount;\n if (sequenceCount < 0x7F) {\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output, (byte) sequenceCount);\n output++;\n }\n else if (sequenceCount < LONG_NUMBER_OF_SEQUENCES) {\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output, (byte) (sequenceCount >>> 8 | 0x80));\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output + 1, (byte) sequenceCount);\n output += SIZE_OF_SHORT;\n }\n else {\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output, (byte) 0xFF);\n output++;\n UNSAFE.putShort(outputBase, output, (short) (sequenceCount - LONG_NUMBER_OF_SEQUENCES));\n output += SIZE_OF_SHORT;\n }\n\n if (sequenceCount == 0) {\n return (int) (output - outputAddress);\n }\n\n // flags for FSE encoding type\n long headerAddress = output++;\n\n int maxSymbol;\n int largestCount;\n\n // literal lengths\n int[] counts = workspace.counts;\n Histogram.count(sequences.literalLengthCodes, sequenceCount, workspace.counts);\n maxSymbol = Histogram.findMaxSymbol(counts, MAX_LITERALS_LENGTH_SYMBOL);\n largestCount = Histogram.findLargestCount(counts, maxSymbol);\n\n int literalsLengthEncodingType = selectEncodingType(largestCount, sequenceCount, DEFAULT_LITERAL_LENGTH_NORMALIZED_COUNTS_LOG, true, strategy);\n\n FseCompressionTable literalLengthTable;\n switch (literalsLengthEncodingType) {\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_RLE:\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output, sequences.literalLengthCodes[0]);\n output++;\n workspace.literalLengthTable.initializeRleTable(maxSymbol);\n literalLengthTable = workspace.literalLengthTable;\n break;\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_BASIC:\n literalLengthTable = DEFAULT_LITERAL_LENGTHS_TABLE;\n break;\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_COMPRESSED:\n output += buildCompressionTable(\n workspace.literalLengthTable,\n outputBase,\n output,\n outputLimit,\n sequenceCount,\n LITERAL_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG,\n sequences.literalLengthCodes,\n workspace.counts,\n maxSymbol,\n workspace.normalizedCounts);\n literalLengthTable = workspace.literalLengthTable;\n break;\n default:\n throw new UnsupportedOperationException(\"not yet implemented\");\n }\n\n // offsets\n Histogram.count(sequences.offsetCodes, sequenceCount, workspace.counts);\n maxSymbol = Histogram.findMaxSymbol(counts, MAX_OFFSET_CODE_SYMBOL);\n largestCount = Histogram.findLargestCount(counts, maxSymbol);\n\n // We can only use the basic table if max <= DEFAULT_MAX_OFFSET_CODE_SYMBOL, otherwise the offsets are too large .\n boolean defaultAllowed = maxSymbol < DEFAULT_MAX_OFFSET_CODE_SYMBOL;\n\n int offsetEncodingType = selectEncodingType(largestCount, sequenceCount, DEFAULT_OFFSET_NORMALIZED_COUNTS_LOG, defaultAllowed, strategy);\n\n FseCompressionTable offsetCodeTable;\n switch (offsetEncodingType) {\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_RLE:\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output, sequences.offsetCodes[0]);\n output++;\n workspace.offsetCodeTable.initializeRleTable(maxSymbol);\n offsetCodeTable = workspace.offsetCodeTable;\n break;\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_BASIC:\n offsetCodeTable = DEFAULT_OFFSETS_TABLE;\n break;\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_COMPRESSED:\n output += buildCompressionTable(\n workspace.offsetCodeTable,\n outputBase,\n output,\n output + outputSize,\n sequenceCount,\n OFFSET_TABLE_LOG,\n sequences.offsetCodes,\n workspace.counts,\n maxSymbol,\n workspace.normalizedCounts);\n offsetCodeTable = workspace.offsetCodeTable;\n break;\n default:\n throw new UnsupportedOperationException(\"not yet implemented\");\n }\n\n // match lengths\n Histogram.count(sequences.matchLengthCodes, sequenceCount, workspace.counts);\n maxSymbol = Histogram.findMaxSymbol(counts, MAX_MATCH_LENGTH_SYMBOL);\n largestCount = Histogram.findLargestCount(counts, maxSymbol);\n\n int matchLengthEncodingType = selectEncodingType(largestCount, sequenceCount, DEFAULT_MATCH_LENGTH_NORMALIZED_COUNTS_LOG, true, strategy);\n\n FseCompressionTable matchLengthTable;\n switch (matchLengthEncodingType) {\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_RLE:\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output, sequences.matchLengthCodes[0]);\n output++;\n workspace.matchLengthTable.initializeRleTable(maxSymbol);\n matchLengthTable = workspace.matchLengthTable;\n break;\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_BASIC:\n matchLengthTable = DEFAULT_MATCH_LENGTHS_TABLE;\n break;\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_COMPRESSED:\n output += buildCompressionTable(\n workspace.matchLengthTable,\n outputBase,\n output,\n outputLimit,\n sequenceCount,\n MATCH_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG,\n sequences.matchLengthCodes,\n workspace.counts,\n maxSymbol,\n workspace.normalizedCounts);\n matchLengthTable = workspace.matchLengthTable;\n break;\n default:\n throw new UnsupportedOperationException(\"not yet implemented\");\n }\n\n // flags\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, headerAddress, (byte) ((literalsLengthEncodingType << 6) | (offsetEncodingType << 4) | (matchLengthEncodingType << 2)));\n\n output += encodeSequences(outputBase, output, outputLimit, matchLengthTable, offsetCodeTable, literalLengthTable, sequences);\n\n return (int) (output - outputAddress);\n }\n\n private static int buildCompressionTable(FseCompressionTable table, Object outputBase, long output, long outputLimit, int sequenceCount, int maxTableLog, byte[] codes, int[] counts, int maxSymbol, short[] normalizedCounts)\n {\n int tableLog = optimalTableLog(maxTableLog, sequenceCount, maxSymbol);\n\n // this is a minor optimization. The last symbol is embedded in the initial FSE state, so it's not part of the bitstream. We can omit it from the\n // statistics (but only if its count is > 1). This makes the statistics a tiny bit more accurate.\n if (counts[codes[sequenceCount - 1]] > 1) {\n counts[codes[sequenceCount - 1]]--;\n sequenceCount--;\n }\n\n FiniteStateEntropy.normalizeCounts(normalizedCounts, tableLog, counts, sequenceCount, maxSymbol);\n table.initialize(normalizedCounts, maxSymbol, tableLog);\n\n return FiniteStateEntropy.writeNormalizedCounts(outputBase, output, (int) (outputLimit - output), normalizedCounts, maxSymbol, tableLog); // TODO: pass outputLimit directly\n }\n\n private static int encodeSequences(\n Object outputBase,\n long output,\n long outputLimit,\n FseCompressionTable matchLengthTable,\n FseCompressionTable offsetsTable,\n FseCompressionTable literalLengthTable,\n SequenceStore sequences)\n {\n byte[] matchLengthCodes = sequences.matchLengthCodes;\n byte[] offsetCodes = sequences.offsetCodes;\n byte[] literalLengthCodes = sequences.literalLengthCodes;\n\n BitOutputStream blockStream = new BitOutputStream(outputBase, output, (int) (outputLimit - output));\n\n int sequenceCount = sequences.sequenceCount;\n\n // first symbols\n int matchLengthState = matchLengthTable.begin(matchLengthCodes[sequenceCount - 1]);\n int offsetState = offsetsTable.begin(offsetCodes[sequenceCount - 1]);\n int literalLengthState = literalLengthTable.begin(literalLengthCodes[sequenceCount - 1]);\n\n blockStream.addBits(sequences.literalLengths[sequenceCount - 1], LITERALS_LENGTH_BITS[literalLengthCodes[sequenceCount - 1]]);\n blockStream.addBits(sequences.matchLengths[sequenceCount - 1], MATCH_LENGTH_BITS[matchLengthCodes[sequenceCount - 1]]);\n blockStream.addBits(sequences.offsets[sequenceCount - 1], offsetCodes[sequenceCount - 1]);\n blockStream.flush();\n\n if (sequenceCount >= 2) {\n for (int n = sequenceCount - 2; n >= 0; n--) {\n byte literalLengthCode = literalLengthCodes[n];\n byte offsetCode = offsetCodes[n];\n byte matchLengthCode = matchLengthCodes[n];\n\n int literalLengthBits = LITERALS_LENGTH_BITS[literalLengthCode];\n int offsetBits = offsetCode;\n int matchLengthBits = MATCH_LENGTH_BITS[matchLengthCode];\n\n // (7)\n offsetState = offsetsTable.encode(blockStream, offsetState, offsetCode); // 15\n matchLengthState = matchLengthTable.encode(blockStream, matchLengthState, matchLengthCode); // 24\n literalLengthState = literalLengthTable.encode(blockStream, literalLengthState, literalLengthCode); // 33\n\n if ((offsetBits + matchLengthBits + literalLengthBits >= 64 - 7 - (LITERAL_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG + MATCH_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG + OFFSET_TABLE_LOG))) {\n blockStream.flush(); /* (7)*/\n }\n\n blockStream.addBits(sequences.literalLengths[n], literalLengthBits);\n if (((literalLengthBits + matchLengthBits) > 24)) {\n blockStream.flush();\n }\n\n blockStream.addBits(sequences.matchLengths[n], matchLengthBits);\n if ((offsetBits + matchLengthBits + literalLengthBits > 56)) {\n blockStream.flush();\n }\n\n blockStream.addBits(sequences.offsets[n], offsetBits); // 31\n blockStream.flush(); // (7)\n }\n }\n\n matchLengthTable.finish(blockStream, matchLengthState);\n offsetsTable.finish(blockStream, offsetState);\n literalLengthTable.finish(blockStream, literalLengthState);\n\n int streamSize = blockStream.close();\n checkArgument(streamSize > 0, \"Output buffer too small\");\n\n return streamSize;\n }\n\n private static int selectEncodingType(\n int largestCount,\n int sequenceCount,\n int defaultNormalizedCountsLog,\n boolean isDefaultTableAllowed,\n CompressionParameters.Strategy strategy)\n {\n if (largestCount == sequenceCount) { // => all entries are equal\n if (isDefaultTableAllowed && sequenceCount <= 2) {\n /* Prefer set_basic over set_rle when there are 2 or fewer symbols,\n * since RLE uses 1 byte, but set_basic uses 5-6 bits per symbol.\n * If basic encoding isn't possible, always choose RLE.\n */\n return SEQUENCE_ENCODING_BASIC;\n }\n\n return SEQUENCE_ENCODING_RLE;\n }\n\n if (strategy.ordinal() < CompressionParameters.Strategy.LAZY.ordinal()) { // TODO: more robust check. Maybe encapsulate in strategy objects\n if (isDefaultTableAllowed) {\n int factor = 10 - strategy.ordinal(); // TODO more robust. Move it to strategy\n int baseLog = 3;\n long minNumberOfSequences = ((1L << defaultNormalizedCountsLog) * factor) >> baseLog; /* 28-36 for offset, 56-72 for lengths */\n\n if ((sequenceCount < minNumberOfSequences) || (largestCount < (sequenceCount >> (defaultNormalizedCountsLog - 1)))) {\n /* The format allows default tables to be repeated, but it isn't useful.\n * When using simple heuristics to select encoding type, we don't want\n * to confuse these tables with dictionaries. When running more careful\n * analysis, we don't need to waste time checking both repeating tables\n * and default tables.\n */\n return SEQUENCE_ENCODING_BASIC;\n }\n }\n }\n else {\n // TODO implement when other strategies are supported\n throw new UnsupportedOperationException(\"not yet implemented\");\n }\n\n return SEQUENCE_ENCODING_COMPRESSED;\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/SequenceEncodingContext.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MAX_LITERALS_LENGTH_SYMBOL;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MAX_MATCH_LENGTH_SYMBOL;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MAX_OFFSET_CODE_SYMBOL;\n\nclass SequenceEncodingContext\n{\n private static final int MAX_SEQUENCES = Math.max(MAX_LITERALS_LENGTH_SYMBOL, MAX_MATCH_LENGTH_SYMBOL);\n\n public final FseCompressionTable literalLengthTable = new FseCompressionTable(Constants.LITERAL_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG, MAX_LITERALS_LENGTH_SYMBOL);\n public final FseCompressionTable offsetCodeTable = new FseCompressionTable(Constants.OFFSET_TABLE_LOG, MAX_OFFSET_CODE_SYMBOL);\n public final FseCompressionTable matchLengthTable = new FseCompressionTable(Constants.MATCH_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG, MAX_MATCH_LENGTH_SYMBOL);\n\n public final int[] counts = new int[MAX_SEQUENCES + 1];\n public final short[] normalizedCounts = new short[MAX_SEQUENCES + 1];\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/SequenceStore.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_LONG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.UnsafeUtil.UNSAFE;\nimport static sun.misc.Unsafe.ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET;\n\nfinal class SequenceStore\n{\n public final byte[] literalsBuffer;\n public int literalsLength;\n\n public final int[] offsets;\n public final int[] literalLengths;\n public final int[] matchLengths;\n public int sequenceCount;\n\n public final byte[] literalLengthCodes;\n public final byte[] matchLengthCodes;\n public final byte[] offsetCodes;\n\n public LongField longLengthField;\n public int longLengthPosition;\n\n public enum LongField\n {\n LITERAL, MATCH\n }\n\n private static final byte[] LITERAL_LENGTH_CODE = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,\n 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15,\n 16, 16, 17, 17, 18, 18, 19, 19,\n 20, 20, 20, 20, 21, 21, 21, 21,\n 22, 22, 22, 22, 22, 22, 22, 22,\n 23, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23, 23,\n 24, 24, 24, 24, 24, 24, 24, 24,\n 24, 24, 24, 24, 24, 24, 24, 24};\n\n private static final byte[] MATCH_LENGTH_CODE = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15,\n 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31,\n 32, 32, 33, 33, 34, 34, 35, 35, 36, 36, 36, 36, 37, 37, 37, 37,\n 38, 38, 38, 38, 38, 38, 38, 38, 39, 39, 39, 39, 39, 39, 39, 39,\n 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 40, 40,\n 41, 41, 41, 41, 41, 41, 41, 41, 41, 41, 41, 41, 41, 41, 41, 41,\n 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42,\n 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42, 42};\n\n public SequenceStore(int blockSize, int maxSequences)\n {\n offsets = new int[maxSequences];\n literalLengths = new int[maxSequences];\n matchLengths = new int[maxSequences];\n\n literalLengthCodes = new byte[maxSequences];\n matchLengthCodes = new byte[maxSequences];\n offsetCodes = new byte[maxSequences];\n\n literalsBuffer = new byte[blockSize];\n\n reset();\n }\n\n public void appendLiterals(Object inputBase, long inputAddress, int inputSize)\n {\n UNSAFE.copyMemory(inputBase, inputAddress, literalsBuffer, ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET + literalsLength, inputSize);\n literalsLength += inputSize;\n }\n\n public void storeSequence(Object literalBase, long literalAddress, int literalLength, int offsetCode, int matchLengthBase)\n {\n long input = literalAddress;\n long output = ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET + literalsLength;\n int copied = 0;\n do {\n UNSAFE.putLong(literalsBuffer, output, UNSAFE.getLong(literalBase, input));\n input += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n output += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n copied += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n }\n while (copied < literalLength);\n\n literalsLength += literalLength;\n\n if (literalLength > 65535) {\n longLengthField = LongField.LITERAL;\n longLengthPosition = sequenceCount;\n }\n literalLengths[sequenceCount] = literalLength;\n\n offsets[sequenceCount] = offsetCode + 1;\n\n if (matchLengthBase > 65535) {\n longLengthField = LongField.MATCH;\n longLengthPosition = sequenceCount;\n }\n\n matchLengths[sequenceCount] = matchLengthBase;\n\n sequenceCount++;\n }\n\n public void reset()\n {\n literalsLength = 0;\n sequenceCount = 0;\n longLengthField = null;\n }\n\n public void generateCodes()\n {\n for (int i = 0; i < sequenceCount; ++i) {\n literalLengthCodes[i] = (byte) literalLengthToCode(literalLengths[i]);\n offsetCodes[i] = (byte) Util.highestBit(offsets[i]);\n matchLengthCodes[i] = (byte) matchLengthToCode(matchLengths[i]);\n }\n\n if (longLengthField == LongField.LITERAL) {\n literalLengthCodes[longLengthPosition] = Constants.MAX_LITERALS_LENGTH_SYMBOL;\n }\n if (longLengthField == LongField.MATCH) {\n matchLengthCodes[longLengthPosition] = Constants.MAX_MATCH_LENGTH_SYMBOL;\n }\n }\n\n private static int literalLengthToCode(int literalLength)\n {\n if (literalLength >= 64) {\n return Util.highestBit(literalLength) + 19;\n }\n else {\n return LITERAL_LENGTH_CODE[literalLength];\n }\n }\n\n /*\n * matchLengthBase = matchLength - MINMATCH\n * (that's how it's stored in SequenceStore)\n */\n private static int matchLengthToCode(int matchLengthBase)\n {\n if (matchLengthBase >= 128) {\n return Util.highestBit(matchLengthBase) + 36;\n }\n else {\n return MATCH_LENGTH_CODE[matchLengthBase];\n }\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/UnsafeUtil.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.IncompatibleJvmException;\nimport sun.misc.Unsafe;\n\nimport java.lang.foreign.MemorySegment;\nimport java.lang.reflect.Field;\nimport java.nio.ByteOrder;\n\nimport static java.lang.String.format;\nimport static sun.misc.Unsafe.ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET;\n\nfinal class UnsafeUtil\n{\n public static final Unsafe UNSAFE;\n\n private UnsafeUtil() {}\n\n static {\n ByteOrder order = ByteOrder.nativeOrder();\n if (!order.equals(ByteOrder.LITTLE_ENDIAN)) {\n throw new IncompatibleJvmException(format(\"Zstandard requires a little endian platform (found %s)\", order));\n }\n\n try {\n Field theUnsafe = Unsafe.class.getDeclaredField(\"theUnsafe\");\n theUnsafe.setAccessible(true);\n UNSAFE = (Unsafe) theUnsafe.get(null);\n }\n catch (Exception e) {\n throw new IncompatibleJvmException(\"Zstandard requires access to sun.misc.Unsafe\");\n }\n }\n\n public static byte[] getBase(MemorySegment segment)\n {\n if (segment.isNative()) {\n return null;\n }\n if (segment.isReadOnly()) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(\"MemorySegment is read-only\");\n }\n Object inputBase = segment.heapBase().orElse(null);\n if (!(inputBase instanceof byte[] byteArray)) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(\"MemorySegment is not backed by a byte array\");\n }\n return byteArray;\n }\n\n public static long getAddress(MemorySegment segment)\n {\n if (segment.isNative()) {\n return segment.address();\n }\n return segment.address() + ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET;\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/Util.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.MalformedInputException;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_SHORT;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.UnsafeUtil.UNSAFE;\n\nfinal class Util\n{\n private Util()\n {\n }\n\n public static int highestBit(int value)\n {\n return 31 - Integer.numberOfLeadingZeros(value);\n }\n\n public static boolean isPowerOf2(int value)\n {\n return (value & (value - 1)) == 0;\n }\n\n public static int mask(int bits)\n {\n return (1 << bits) - 1;\n }\n\n public static void verify(boolean condition, long offset, String reason)\n {\n if (!condition) {\n throw new MalformedInputException(offset, reason);\n }\n }\n\n public static void checkArgument(boolean condition, String reason)\n {\n if (!condition) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(reason);\n }\n }\n\n static void checkPositionIndexes(int start, int end, int size)\n {\n // Carefully optimized for execution by hotspot (explanatory comment above)\n if (start < 0 || end < start || end > size) {\n throw new IndexOutOfBoundsException(badPositionIndexes(start, end, size));\n }\n }\n\n private static String badPositionIndexes(int start, int end, int size)\n {\n if (start < 0 || start > size) {\n return badPositionIndex(start, size, \"start index\");\n }\n if (end < 0 || end > size) {\n return badPositionIndex(end, size, \"end index\");\n }\n // end < start\n return String.format(\"end index (%s) must not be less than start index (%s)\", end, start);\n }\n\n private static String badPositionIndex(int index, int size, String desc)\n {\n if (index < 0) {\n return String.format(\"%s (%s) must not be negative\", desc, index);\n }\n else if (size < 0) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(\"negative size: \" + size);\n }\n else { // index > size\n return String.format(\"%s (%s) must not be greater than size (%s)\", desc, index, size);\n }\n }\n\n public static void checkState(boolean condition, String reason)\n {\n if (!condition) {\n throw new IllegalStateException(reason);\n }\n }\n\n public static MalformedInputException fail(long offset, String reason)\n {\n throw new MalformedInputException(offset, reason);\n }\n\n public static int cycleLog(int hashLog, CompressionParameters.Strategy strategy)\n {\n int cycleLog = hashLog;\n if (strategy == CompressionParameters.Strategy.BTLAZY2 || strategy == CompressionParameters.Strategy.BTOPT || strategy == CompressionParameters.Strategy.BTULTRA) {\n cycleLog = hashLog - 1;\n }\n return cycleLog;\n }\n\n public static int get24BitLittleEndian(Object inputBase, long inputAddress)\n {\n return (UNSAFE.getShort(inputBase, inputAddress) & 0xFFFF)\n | ((UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, inputAddress + SIZE_OF_SHORT) & 0xFF) << Short.SIZE);\n }\n\n public static void put24BitLittleEndian(Object outputBase, long outputAddress, int value)\n {\n UNSAFE.putShort(outputBase, outputAddress, (short) value);\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, outputAddress + SIZE_OF_SHORT, (byte) (value >>> Short.SIZE));\n }\n\n // provides the minimum logSize to safely represent a distribution\n public static int minTableLog(int inputSize, int maxSymbolValue)\n {\n if (inputSize <= 1) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(\"Not supported. RLE should be used instead\"); // TODO\n }\n\n int minBitsSrc = highestBit((inputSize - 1)) + 1;\n int minBitsSymbols = highestBit(maxSymbolValue) + 2;\n return Math.min(minBitsSrc, minBitsSymbols);\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/XxHash64.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport java.io.IOException;\nimport java.io.InputStream;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_LONG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.UnsafeUtil.UNSAFE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.checkPositionIndexes;\nimport static java.lang.Long.rotateLeft;\nimport static java.lang.Math.min;\nimport static sun.misc.Unsafe.ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET;\n\n// Forked from https://github.com/airlift/slice\n// This Unsafe-based implementation exists only to serve the Zstd Java implementation,\n// which also uses Unsafe throughout. For public use, see io.airlift.compress.v3.xxhash.XxHash64Hasher\nfinal class XxHash64\n{\n private static final long PRIME64_1 = 0x9E3779B185EBCA87L;\n private static final long PRIME64_2 = 0xC2B2AE3D27D4EB4FL;\n private static final long PRIME64_3 = 0x165667B19E3779F9L;\n private static final long PRIME64_4 = 0x85EBCA77C2b2AE63L;\n private static final long PRIME64_5 = 0x27D4EB2F165667C5L;\n\n private static final long DEFAULT_SEED = 0;\n\n private final long seed;\n\n private static final long BUFFER_ADDRESS = ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET;\n private final byte[] buffer = new byte[32];\n private int bufferSize;\n\n private long bodyLength;\n\n private long v1;\n private long v2;\n private long v3;\n private long v4;\n\n public XxHash64()\n {\n this(DEFAULT_SEED);\n }\n\n private XxHash64(long seed)\n {\n this.seed = seed;\n this.v1 = seed + PRIME64_1 + PRIME64_2;\n this.v2 = seed + PRIME64_2;\n this.v3 = seed;\n this.v4 = seed - PRIME64_1;\n }\n\n public XxHash64 update(byte[] data)\n {\n return update(data, 0, data.length);\n }\n\n public XxHash64 update(byte[] data, int offset, int length)\n {\n checkPositionIndexes(offset, offset + length, data.length);\n updateHash(data, ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET + offset, length);\n return this;\n }\n\n public long hash()\n {\n long hash;\n if (bodyLength > 0) {\n hash = computeBody();\n }\n else {\n hash = seed + PRIME64_5;\n }\n\n hash += bodyLength + bufferSize;\n\n return updateTail(hash, buffer, BUFFER_ADDRESS, 0, bufferSize);\n }\n\n private long computeBody()\n {\n long hash = rotateLeft(v1, 1) + rotateLeft(v2, 7) + rotateLeft(v3, 12) + rotateLeft(v4, 18);\n\n hash = update(hash, v1);\n hash = update(hash, v2);\n hash = update(hash, v3);\n hash = update(hash, v4);\n\n return hash;\n }\n\n private void updateHash(Object base, long address, int length)\n {\n if (bufferSize > 0) {\n int available = min(32 - bufferSize, length);\n\n UNSAFE.copyMemory(base, address, buffer, BUFFER_ADDRESS + bufferSize, available);\n\n bufferSize += available;\n address += available;\n length -= available;\n\n if (bufferSize == 32) {\n updateBody(buffer, BUFFER_ADDRESS, bufferSize);\n bufferSize = 0;\n }\n }\n\n if (length >= 32) {\n int index = updateBody(base, address, length);\n address += index;\n length -= index;\n }\n\n if (length > 0) {\n UNSAFE.copyMemory(base, address, buffer, BUFFER_ADDRESS, length);\n bufferSize = length;\n }\n }\n\n private int updateBody(Object base, long address, int length)\n {\n int remaining = length;\n while (remaining >= 32) {\n v1 = mix(v1, UNSAFE.getLong(base, address));\n v2 = mix(v2, UNSAFE.getLong(base, address + 8));\n v3 = mix(v3, UNSAFE.getLong(base, address + 16));\n v4 = mix(v4, UNSAFE.getLong(base, address + 24));\n\n address += 32;\n remaining -= 32;\n }\n\n int index = length - remaining;\n bodyLength += index;\n return index;\n }\n\n public static long hash(long value)\n {\n long hash = DEFAULT_SEED + PRIME64_5 + SIZE_OF_LONG;\n hash = updateTail(hash, value);\n hash = finalShuffle(hash);\n\n return hash;\n }\n\n public static long hash(InputStream in)\n throws IOException\n {\n return hash(DEFAULT_SEED, in);\n }\n\n public static long hash(long seed, InputStream in)\n throws IOException\n {\n XxHash64 hash = new XxHash64(seed);\n byte[] buffer = new byte[8192];\n while (true) {\n int length = in.read(buffer);\n if (length == -1) {\n break;\n }\n hash.update(buffer, 0, length);\n }\n return hash.hash();\n }\n\n public static long hash(long seed, Object base, long address, int length)\n {\n long hash;\n if (length >= 32) {\n hash = updateBody(seed, base, address, length);\n }\n else {\n hash = seed + PRIME64_5;\n }\n\n hash += length;\n\n // round to the closest 32 byte boundary\n // this is the point up to which updateBody() processed\n int index = length & 0xFFFFFFE0;\n\n return updateTail(hash, base, address, index, length);\n }\n\n private static long updateTail(long hash, Object base, long address, int index, int length)\n {\n while (index <= length - 8) {\n hash = updateTail(hash, UNSAFE.getLong(base, address + index));\n index += 8;\n }\n\n if (index <= length - 4) {\n hash = updateTail(hash, UNSAFE.getInt(base, address + index));\n index += 4;\n }\n\n while (index < length) {\n hash = updateTail(hash, UNSAFE.getByte(base, address + index));\n index++;\n }\n\n hash = finalShuffle(hash);\n\n return hash;\n }\n\n private static long updateBody(long seed, Object base, long address, int length)\n {\n long v1 = seed + PRIME64_1 + PRIME64_2;\n long v2 = seed + PRIME64_2;\n long v3 = seed;\n long v4 = seed - PRIME64_1;\n\n int remaining = length;\n while (remaining >= 32) {\n v1 = mix(v1, UNSAFE.getLong(base, address));\n v2 = mix(v2, UNSAFE.getLong(base, address + 8));\n v3 = mix(v3, UNSAFE.getLong(base, address + 16));\n v4 = mix(v4, UNSAFE.getLong(base, address + 24));\n\n address += 32;\n remaining -= 32;\n }\n\n long hash = rotateLeft(v1, 1) + rotateLeft(v2, 7) + rotateLeft(v3, 12) + rotateLeft(v4, 18);\n\n hash = update(hash, v1);\n hash = update(hash, v2);\n hash = update(hash, v3);\n hash = update(hash, v4);\n\n return hash;\n }\n\n private static long mix(long current, long value)\n {\n return rotateLeft(current + value * PRIME64_2, 31) * PRIME64_1;\n }\n\n private static long update(long hash, long value)\n {\n long temp = hash ^ mix(0, value);\n return temp * PRIME64_1 + PRIME64_4;\n }\n\n private static long updateTail(long hash, long value)\n {\n long temp = hash ^ mix(0, value);\n return rotateLeft(temp, 27) * PRIME64_1 + PRIME64_4;\n }\n\n private static long updateTail(long hash, int value)\n {\n long unsigned = value & 0xFFFF_FFFFL;\n long temp = hash ^ (unsigned * PRIME64_1);\n return rotateLeft(temp, 23) * PRIME64_2 + PRIME64_3;\n }\n\n private static long updateTail(long hash, byte value)\n {\n int unsigned = value & 0xFF;\n long temp = hash ^ (unsigned * PRIME64_5);\n return rotateLeft(temp, 11) * PRIME64_1;\n }\n\n private static long finalShuffle(long hash)\n {\n hash ^= hash >>> 33;\n hash *= PRIME64_2;\n hash ^= hash >>> 29;\n hash *= PRIME64_3;\n hash ^= hash >>> 32;\n return hash;\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/ZstdCodec.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.hadoop.CodecAdapter;\n\npublic class ZstdCodec\n extends CodecAdapter\n{\n public ZstdCodec()\n {\n super(configuration -> new ZstdHadoopStreams());\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/ZstdCompressor.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Compressor;\n\nimport java.lang.foreign.MemorySegment;\n\npublic interface ZstdCompressor\n extends Compressor\n{\n int compress(MemorySegment input, MemorySegment output);\n\n static ZstdCompressor create()\n {\n if (ZstdNativeCompressor.isEnabled()) {\n return new ZstdNativeCompressor();\n }\n return new ZstdJavaCompressor();\n }\n\n static ZstdCompressor create(int compressionLevel)\n {\n if (ZstdNativeCompressor.isEnabled()) {\n return new ZstdNativeCompressor(compressionLevel);\n }\n if (compressionLevel != CompressionParameters.DEFAULT_COMPRESSION_LEVEL) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(\"Compression level different from default cannot be used for non-native Zstd compressor\");\n }\n return new ZstdJavaCompressor();\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/ZstdDecompressor.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Decompressor;\n\npublic interface ZstdDecompressor\n extends Decompressor\n{\n long getDecompressedSize(byte[] input, int offset, int length);\n\n static ZstdDecompressor create()\n {\n if (ZstdNativeDecompressor.isEnabled()) {\n return new ZstdNativeDecompressor();\n }\n return new ZstdJavaDecompressor();\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/ZstdFrameCompressor.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.COMPRESSED_BLOCK;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.COMPRESSED_LITERALS_BLOCK;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MAGIC_NUMBER;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MIN_BLOCK_SIZE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MIN_WINDOW_LOG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.RAW_BLOCK;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.RAW_LITERALS_BLOCK;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.RLE_LITERALS_BLOCK;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_BLOCK_HEADER;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_INT;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_SHORT;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.TREELESS_LITERALS_BLOCK;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Huffman.MAX_SYMBOL;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Huffman.MAX_SYMBOL_COUNT;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.UnsafeUtil.UNSAFE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.checkArgument;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.put24BitLittleEndian;\nimport static sun.misc.Unsafe.ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET;\n\nfinal class ZstdFrameCompressor\n{\n static final int MAX_FRAME_HEADER_SIZE = 14;\n\n private static final int CHECKSUM_FLAG = 0b100;\n private static final int SINGLE_SEGMENT_FLAG = 0b100000;\n\n private static final int MINIMUM_LITERALS_SIZE = 63;\n\n // the maximum table log allowed for literal encoding per RFC 8478, section 4.2.1\n private static final int MAX_HUFFMAN_TABLE_LOG = 11;\n\n private ZstdFrameCompressor()\n {\n }\n\n // visible for testing\n static int writeMagic(final Object outputBase, final long outputAddress, final long outputLimit)\n {\n checkArgument(outputLimit - outputAddress >= SIZE_OF_INT, \"Output buffer too small\");\n\n UNSAFE.putInt(outputBase, outputAddress, MAGIC_NUMBER);\n return SIZE_OF_INT;\n }\n\n // visible for testing\n static int writeFrameHeader(final Object outputBase, final long outputAddress, final long outputLimit, int inputSize, int windowSize)\n {\n checkArgument(outputLimit - outputAddress >= MAX_FRAME_HEADER_SIZE, \"Output buffer too small\");\n\n long output = outputAddress;\n\n int contentSizeDescriptor = 0;\n if (inputSize != -1) {\n contentSizeDescriptor = (inputSize >= 256 ? 1 : 0) + (inputSize >= 65536 + 256 ? 1 : 0);\n }\n int frameHeaderDescriptor = (contentSizeDescriptor << 6) | CHECKSUM_FLAG; // dictionary ID missing\n\n boolean singleSegment = inputSize != -1 && windowSize >= inputSize;\n if (singleSegment) {\n frameHeaderDescriptor |= SINGLE_SEGMENT_FLAG;\n }\n\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output, (byte) frameHeaderDescriptor);\n output++;\n\n if (!singleSegment) {\n int base = Integer.highestOneBit(windowSize);\n\n int exponent = 32 - Integer.numberOfLeadingZeros(base) - 1;\n if (exponent < MIN_WINDOW_LOG) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(\"Minimum window size is \" + (1 << MIN_WINDOW_LOG));\n }\n\n int remainder = windowSize - base;\n if (remainder % (base / 8) != 0) {\n throw new IllegalArgumentException(\"Window size of magnitude 2^\" + exponent + \" must be multiple of \" + (base / 8));\n }\n\n // mantissa is guaranteed to be between 0-7\n int mantissa = remainder / (base / 8);\n int encoded = ((exponent - MIN_WINDOW_LOG) << 3) | mantissa;\n\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output, (byte) encoded);\n output++;\n }\n\n switch (contentSizeDescriptor) {\n case 0:\n if (singleSegment) {\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output++, (byte) inputSize);\n }\n break;\n case 1:\n UNSAFE.putShort(outputBase, output, (short) (inputSize - 256));\n output += SIZE_OF_SHORT;\n break;\n case 2:\n UNSAFE.putInt(outputBase, output, inputSize);\n output += SIZE_OF_INT;\n break;\n default:\n throw new AssertionError();\n }\n\n return (int) (output - outputAddress);\n }\n\n // visible for testing\n static int writeChecksum(Object outputBase, long outputAddress, long outputLimit, Object inputBase, long inputAddress, long inputLimit)\n {\n checkArgument(outputLimit - outputAddress >= SIZE_OF_INT, \"Output buffer too small\");\n\n int inputSize = (int) (inputLimit - inputAddress);\n\n long hash = XxHash64.hash(0, inputBase, inputAddress, inputSize);\n\n UNSAFE.putInt(outputBase, outputAddress, (int) hash);\n\n return SIZE_OF_INT;\n }\n\n public static int compress(Object inputBase, long inputAddress, long inputLimit, Object outputBase, long outputAddress, long outputLimit, int compressionLevel)\n {\n int inputSize = (int) (inputLimit - inputAddress);\n\n CompressionParameters parameters = CompressionParameters.compute(compressionLevel, inputSize);\n\n long output = outputAddress;\n\n output += writeMagic(outputBase, output, outputLimit);\n output += writeFrameHeader(outputBase, output, outputLimit, inputSize, parameters.getWindowSize());\n output += compressFrame(inputBase, inputAddress, inputLimit, outputBase, output, outputLimit, parameters);\n output += writeChecksum(outputBase, output, outputLimit, inputBase, inputAddress, inputLimit);\n\n return (int) (output - outputAddress);\n }\n\n private static int compressFrame(Object inputBase, long inputAddress, long inputLimit, Object outputBase, long outputAddress, long outputLimit, CompressionParameters parameters)\n {\n int blockSize = parameters.getBlockSize();\n\n int outputSize = (int) (outputLimit - outputAddress);\n int remaining = (int) (inputLimit - inputAddress);\n\n long output = outputAddress;\n long input = inputAddress;\n\n CompressionContext context = new CompressionContext(parameters, inputAddress, remaining);\n do {\n checkArgument(outputSize >= SIZE_OF_BLOCK_HEADER + MIN_BLOCK_SIZE, \"Output buffer too small\");\n\n boolean lastBlock = blockSize >= remaining;\n blockSize = Math.min(blockSize, remaining);\n\n int compressedSize = writeCompressedBlock(inputBase, input, blockSize, outputBase, output, outputSize, context, lastBlock);\n\n input += blockSize;\n remaining -= blockSize;\n output += compressedSize;\n outputSize -= compressedSize;\n }\n while (remaining > 0);\n\n return (int) (output - outputAddress);\n }\n\n static int writeCompressedBlock(Object inputBase, long input, int blockSize, Object outputBase, long output, int outputSize, CompressionContext context, boolean lastBlock)\n {\n checkArgument(lastBlock || blockSize == context.parameters.getBlockSize(), \"Only last block can be smaller than block size\");\n\n int compressedSize = 0;\n if (blockSize > 0) {\n compressedSize = compressBlock(inputBase, input, blockSize, outputBase, output + SIZE_OF_BLOCK_HEADER, outputSize - SIZE_OF_BLOCK_HEADER, context);\n }\n\n if (compressedSize == 0) { // block is not compressible\n checkArgument(blockSize + SIZE_OF_BLOCK_HEADER <= outputSize, \"Output size too small\");\n\n int blockHeader = (lastBlock ? 1 : 0) | (RAW_BLOCK << 1) | (blockSize << 3);\n put24BitLittleEndian(outputBase, output, blockHeader);\n UNSAFE.copyMemory(inputBase, input, outputBase, output + SIZE_OF_BLOCK_HEADER, blockSize);\n compressedSize = SIZE_OF_BLOCK_HEADER + blockSize;\n }\n else {\n int blockHeader = (lastBlock ? 1 : 0) | (COMPRESSED_BLOCK << 1) | (compressedSize << 3);\n put24BitLittleEndian(outputBase, output, blockHeader);\n compressedSize += SIZE_OF_BLOCK_HEADER;\n }\n return compressedSize;\n }\n\n private static int compressBlock(Object inputBase, long inputAddress, int inputSize, Object outputBase, long outputAddress, int outputSize, CompressionContext context)\n {\n if (inputSize < MIN_BLOCK_SIZE + SIZE_OF_BLOCK_HEADER + 1) {\n // don't even attempt compression below a certain input size\n return 0;\n }\n\n CompressionParameters parameters = context.parameters;\n context.blockCompressionState.enforceMaxDistance(inputAddress + inputSize, parameters.getWindowSize());\n context.sequenceStore.reset();\n\n int lastLiteralsSize = parameters.getStrategy()\n .getCompressor()\n .compressBlock(inputBase, inputAddress, inputSize, context.sequenceStore, context.blockCompressionState, context.offsets, parameters);\n\n long lastLiteralsAddress = inputAddress + inputSize - lastLiteralsSize;\n\n // append [lastLiteralsAddress .. lastLiteralsSize] to sequenceStore literals buffer\n context.sequenceStore.appendLiterals(inputBase, lastLiteralsAddress, lastLiteralsSize);\n\n // convert length/offsets into codes\n context.sequenceStore.generateCodes();\n\n long outputLimit = outputAddress + outputSize;\n long output = outputAddress;\n\n int compressedLiteralsSize = encodeLiterals(\n context.huffmanContext,\n parameters,\n outputBase,\n output,\n (int) (outputLimit - output),\n context.sequenceStore.literalsBuffer,\n context.sequenceStore.literalsLength);\n output += compressedLiteralsSize;\n\n int compressedSequencesSize = SequenceEncoder.compressSequences(outputBase, output, (int) (outputLimit - output), context.sequenceStore, parameters.getStrategy(), context.sequenceEncodingContext);\n\n int compressedSize = compressedLiteralsSize + compressedSequencesSize;\n if (compressedSize == 0) {\n // not compressible\n return compressedSize;\n }\n\n // Check compressibility\n int maxCompressedSize = inputSize - calculateMinimumGain(inputSize, parameters.getStrategy());\n if (compressedSize > maxCompressedSize) {\n return 0; // not compressed\n }\n\n // confirm repeated offsets and entropy tables\n context.commit();\n\n return compressedSize;\n }\n\n private static int encodeLiterals(\n HuffmanCompressionContext context,\n CompressionParameters parameters,\n Object outputBase,\n long outputAddress,\n int outputSize,\n byte[] literals,\n int literalsSize)\n {\n // TODO: move this to Strategy\n boolean bypassCompression = (parameters.getStrategy() == CompressionParameters.Strategy.FAST) && (parameters.getTargetLength() > 0);\n if (bypassCompression || literalsSize <= MINIMUM_LITERALS_SIZE) {\n return rawLiterals(outputBase, outputAddress, outputSize, literals, ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET, literalsSize);\n }\n\n int headerSize = 3 + (literalsSize >= 1024 ? 1 : 0) + (literalsSize >= 16384 ? 1 : 0);\n\n checkArgument(headerSize + 1 <= outputSize, \"Output buffer too small\");\n\n int[] counts = new int[MAX_SYMBOL_COUNT]; // TODO: preallocate\n Histogram.count(literals, literalsSize, counts);\n int maxSymbol = Histogram.findMaxSymbol(counts, MAX_SYMBOL);\n int largestCount = Histogram.findLargestCount(counts, maxSymbol);\n\n long literalsAddress = ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET;\n if (largestCount == literalsSize) {\n // all bytes in input are equal\n return rleLiterals(outputBase, outputAddress, outputSize, literals, ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET, literalsSize);\n }\n else if (largestCount <= (literalsSize >>> 7) + 4) {\n // heuristic: probably not compressible enough\n return rawLiterals(outputBase, outputAddress, outputSize, literals, ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET, literalsSize);\n }\n\n HuffmanCompressionTable previousTable = context.getPreviousTable();\n HuffmanCompressionTable table;\n int serializedTableSize;\n boolean reuseTable;\n\n boolean canReuse = previousTable.isValid(counts, maxSymbol);\n\n // heuristic: use existing table for small inputs if valid\n // TODO: move to Strategy\n boolean preferReuse = parameters.getStrategy().ordinal() < CompressionParameters.Strategy.LAZY.ordinal() && literalsSize <= 1024;\n if (preferReuse && canReuse) {\n table = previousTable;\n reuseTable = true;\n serializedTableSize = 0;\n }\n else {\n HuffmanCompressionTable newTable = context.borrowTemporaryTable();\n\n newTable.initialize(\n counts,\n maxSymbol,\n HuffmanCompressionTable.optimalNumberOfBits(MAX_HUFFMAN_TABLE_LOG, literalsSize, maxSymbol),\n context.getCompressionTableWorkspace());\n\n serializedTableSize = newTable.write(outputBase, outputAddress + headerSize, outputSize - headerSize, context.getTableWriterWorkspace());\n\n // Check if using previous huffman table is beneficial\n if (canReuse && previousTable.estimateCompressedSize(counts, maxSymbol) <= serializedTableSize + newTable.estimateCompressedSize(counts, maxSymbol)) {\n table = previousTable;\n reuseTable = true;\n serializedTableSize = 0;\n context.discardTemporaryTable();\n }\n else {\n table = newTable;\n reuseTable = false;\n }\n }\n\n int compressedSize;\n boolean singleStream = literalsSize < 256;\n if (singleStream) {\n compressedSize = HuffmanCompressor.compressSingleStream(outputBase, outputAddress + headerSize + serializedTableSize, outputSize - headerSize - serializedTableSize, literals, literalsAddress, literalsSize, table);\n }\n else {\n compressedSize = HuffmanCompressor.compress4streams(outputBase, outputAddress + headerSize + serializedTableSize, outputSize - headerSize - serializedTableSize, literals, literalsAddress, literalsSize, table);\n }\n\n int totalSize = serializedTableSize + compressedSize;\n int minimumGain = calculateMinimumGain(literalsSize, parameters.getStrategy());\n\n if (compressedSize == 0 || totalSize >= literalsSize - minimumGain) {\n // incompressible or no savings\n\n // discard any temporary table we might have borrowed above\n context.discardTemporaryTable();\n\n return rawLiterals(outputBase, outputAddress, outputSize, literals, ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET, literalsSize);\n }\n\n int encodingType = reuseTable ? TREELESS_LITERALS_BLOCK : COMPRESSED_LITERALS_BLOCK;\n\n // Build header\n switch (headerSize) {\n case 3: { // 2 - 2 - 10 - 10\n int header = encodingType | ((singleStream ? 0 : 1) << 2) | (literalsSize << 4) | (totalSize << 14);\n put24BitLittleEndian(outputBase, outputAddress, header);\n break;\n }\n case 4: { // 2 - 2 - 14 - 14\n int header = encodingType | (2 << 2) | (literalsSize << 4) | (totalSize << 18);\n UNSAFE.putInt(outputBase, outputAddress, header);\n break;\n }\n case 5: { // 2 - 2 - 18 - 18\n int header = encodingType | (3 << 2) | (literalsSize << 4) | (totalSize << 22);\n UNSAFE.putInt(outputBase, outputAddress, header);\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, outputAddress + SIZE_OF_INT, (byte) (totalSize >>> 10));\n break;\n }\n default: // not possible : headerSize is {3,4,5}\n throw new IllegalStateException();\n }\n\n return headerSize + totalSize;\n }\n\n private static int rleLiterals(Object outputBase, long outputAddress, int outputSize, Object inputBase, long inputAddress, int inputSize)\n {\n int headerSize = 1 + (inputSize > 31 ? 1 : 0) + (inputSize > 4095 ? 1 : 0);\n\n switch (headerSize) {\n case 1: // 2 - 1 - 5\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, outputAddress, (byte) (RLE_LITERALS_BLOCK | (inputSize << 3)));\n break;\n case 2: // 2 - 2 - 12\n UNSAFE.putShort(outputBase, outputAddress, (short) (RLE_LITERALS_BLOCK | (1 << 2) | (inputSize << 4)));\n break;\n case 3: // 2 - 2 - 20\n UNSAFE.putInt(outputBase, outputAddress, RLE_LITERALS_BLOCK | 3 << 2 | inputSize << 4);\n break;\n default: // impossible. headerSize is {1,2,3}\n throw new IllegalStateException();\n }\n\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, outputAddress + headerSize, UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, inputAddress));\n\n return headerSize + 1;\n }\n\n private static int calculateMinimumGain(int inputSize, CompressionParameters.Strategy strategy)\n {\n // TODO: move this to Strategy to avoid hardcoding a specific strategy here\n int minLog = strategy == CompressionParameters.Strategy.BTULTRA ? 7 : 6;\n return (inputSize >>> minLog) + 2;\n }\n\n private static int rawLiterals(Object outputBase, long outputAddress, int outputSize, Object inputBase, long inputAddress, int inputSize)\n {\n int headerSize = 1;\n if (inputSize >= 32) {\n headerSize++;\n }\n if (inputSize >= 4096) {\n headerSize++;\n }\n\n checkArgument(inputSize + headerSize <= outputSize, \"Output buffer too small\");\n\n switch (headerSize) {\n case 1:\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, outputAddress, (byte) (RAW_LITERALS_BLOCK | (inputSize << 3)));\n break;\n case 2:\n UNSAFE.putShort(outputBase, outputAddress, (short) (RAW_LITERALS_BLOCK | (1 << 2) | (inputSize << 4)));\n break;\n case 3:\n put24BitLittleEndian(outputBase, outputAddress, RAW_LITERALS_BLOCK | (3 << 2) | (inputSize << 4));\n break;\n default:\n throw new AssertionError();\n }\n\n // TODO: ensure this test is correct\n checkArgument(inputSize + 1 <= outputSize, \"Output buffer too small\");\n\n UNSAFE.copyMemory(inputBase, inputAddress, outputBase, outputAddress + headerSize, inputSize);\n\n return headerSize + inputSize;\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/ZstdFrameDecompressor.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.MalformedInputException;\n\nimport java.util.Arrays;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.BitInputStream.peekBits;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.COMPRESSED_BLOCK;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.COMPRESSED_LITERALS_BLOCK;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.DEFAULT_MAX_OFFSET_CODE_SYMBOL;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.LITERALS_LENGTH_BITS;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.LITERAL_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.LONG_NUMBER_OF_SEQUENCES;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MAGIC_NUMBER;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MATCH_LENGTH_BITS;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MATCH_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MAX_BLOCK_SIZE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MAX_LITERALS_LENGTH_SYMBOL;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MAX_MATCH_LENGTH_SYMBOL;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MIN_BLOCK_SIZE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MIN_SEQUENCES_SIZE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.MIN_WINDOW_LOG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.OFFSET_TABLE_LOG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.RAW_BLOCK;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.RAW_LITERALS_BLOCK;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.RLE_BLOCK;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.RLE_LITERALS_BLOCK;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SEQUENCE_ENCODING_BASIC;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SEQUENCE_ENCODING_COMPRESSED;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SEQUENCE_ENCODING_REPEAT;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SEQUENCE_ENCODING_RLE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_BLOCK_HEADER;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_BYTE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_INT;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_LONG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_SHORT;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.TREELESS_LITERALS_BLOCK;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.UnsafeUtil.UNSAFE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.fail;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.get24BitLittleEndian;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.mask;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.verify;\nimport static java.lang.String.format;\nimport static sun.misc.Unsafe.ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET;\n\nclass ZstdFrameDecompressor\n{\n private static final int[] DEC_32_TABLE = {4, 1, 2, 1, 4, 4, 4, 4};\n private static final int[] DEC_64_TABLE = {0, 0, 0, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3};\n\n private static final int V07_MAGIC_NUMBER = 0xFD2FB527;\n\n static final int MAX_WINDOW_SIZE = 1 << 23;\n\n private static final int[] LITERALS_LENGTH_BASE = {\n 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15,\n 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 28, 32, 40, 48, 64, 0x80, 0x100, 0x200, 0x400, 0x800, 0x1000,\n 0x2000, 0x4000, 0x8000, 0x10000};\n\n private static final int[] MATCH_LENGTH_BASE = {\n 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,\n 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34,\n 35, 37, 39, 41, 43, 47, 51, 59, 67, 83, 99, 0x83, 0x103, 0x203, 0x403, 0x803,\n 0x1003, 0x2003, 0x4003, 0x8003, 0x10003};\n\n private static final int[] OFFSET_CODES_BASE = {\n 0, 1, 1, 5, 0xD, 0x1D, 0x3D, 0x7D,\n 0xFD, 0x1FD, 0x3FD, 0x7FD, 0xFFD, 0x1FFD, 0x3FFD, 0x7FFD,\n 0xFFFD, 0x1FFFD, 0x3FFFD, 0x7FFFD, 0xFFFFD, 0x1FFFFD, 0x3FFFFD, 0x7FFFFD,\n 0xFFFFFD, 0x1FFFFFD, 0x3FFFFFD, 0x7FFFFFD, 0xFFFFFFD};\n\n private static final FiniteStateEntropy.Table DEFAULT_LITERALS_LENGTH_TABLE = new FiniteStateEntropy.Table(\n 6,\n new int[] {\n 0, 16, 32, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 32, 0, 0, 0, 0, 32, 0, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 0, 16, 32, 0, 0, 48, 16, 32, 32, 32,\n 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 0, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 32, 0, 0, 0, 0},\n new byte[] {\n 0, 0, 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 31, 0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 25, 26, 28, 30, 0,\n 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 35, 34, 33, 32},\n new byte[] {\n 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5,\n 6, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6});\n\n private static final FiniteStateEntropy.Table DEFAULT_OFFSET_CODES_TABLE = new FiniteStateEntropy.Table(\n 5,\n new int[] {0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 16, 0, 0, 0, 0, 16, 0, 0, 0, 16, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0},\n new byte[] {0, 6, 9, 15, 21, 3, 7, 12, 18, 23, 5, 8, 14, 20, 2, 7, 11, 17, 22, 4, 8, 13, 19, 1, 6, 10, 16, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24},\n new byte[] {5, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 5, 5, 5, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 4, 5, 5, 5, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5});\n\n private static final FiniteStateEntropy.Table DEFAULT_MATCH_LENGTH_TABLE = new FiniteStateEntropy.Table(\n 6,\n new int[] {\n 0, 0, 32, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 16, 0, 32, 0, 32, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 32, 48, 16, 32, 32, 32, 32,\n 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0},\n new byte[] {\n 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41, 43, 45, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 1,\n 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 52, 51, 50, 49, 48, 47, 46},\n new byte[] {\n 6, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6,\n 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6});\n\n private final byte[] literals = new byte[MAX_BLOCK_SIZE + SIZE_OF_LONG]; // extra space to allow for long-at-a-time copy\n\n // current buffer containing literals\n private Object literalsBase;\n private long literalsAddress;\n private long literalsLimit;\n\n private final int[] previousOffsets = new int[3];\n\n private final FiniteStateEntropy.Table literalsLengthTable = new FiniteStateEntropy.Table(LITERAL_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG);\n private final FiniteStateEntropy.Table offsetCodesTable = new FiniteStateEntropy.Table(OFFSET_TABLE_LOG);\n private final FiniteStateEntropy.Table matchLengthTable = new FiniteStateEntropy.Table(MATCH_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG);\n\n private FiniteStateEntropy.Table currentLiteralsLengthTable;\n private FiniteStateEntropy.Table currentOffsetCodesTable;\n private FiniteStateEntropy.Table currentMatchLengthTable;\n\n private final Huffman huffman = new Huffman();\n private final FseTableReader fse = new FseTableReader();\n\n public int decompress(\n final Object inputBase,\n final long inputAddress,\n final long inputLimit,\n final Object outputBase,\n final long outputAddress,\n final long outputLimit)\n {\n if (outputAddress == outputLimit) {\n return 0;\n }\n\n long input = inputAddress;\n long output = outputAddress;\n\n while (input < inputLimit) {\n reset();\n long outputStart = output;\n input += verifyMagic(inputBase, input, inputLimit);\n\n FrameHeader frameHeader = readFrameHeader(inputBase, input, inputLimit);\n input += frameHeader.headerSize;\n\n boolean lastBlock;\n do {\n verify(input + SIZE_OF_BLOCK_HEADER <= inputLimit, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n\n // read block header\n int header = get24BitLittleEndian(inputBase, input);\n input += SIZE_OF_BLOCK_HEADER;\n\n lastBlock = (header & 1) != 0;\n int blockType = (header >>> 1) & 0b11;\n int blockSize = (header >>> 3) & 0x1F_FFFF; // 21 bits\n\n int decodedSize;\n switch (blockType) {\n case RAW_BLOCK:\n verify(input + blockSize <= inputLimit, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n decodedSize = decodeRawBlock(inputBase, input, blockSize, outputBase, output, outputLimit);\n input += blockSize;\n break;\n case RLE_BLOCK:\n verify(input + 1 <= inputLimit, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n decodedSize = decodeRleBlock(blockSize, inputBase, input, outputBase, output, outputLimit);\n input += 1;\n break;\n case COMPRESSED_BLOCK:\n verify(input + blockSize <= inputLimit, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n decodedSize = decodeCompressedBlock(inputBase, input, blockSize, outputBase, output, outputLimit, frameHeader.windowSize, outputAddress);\n input += blockSize;\n break;\n default:\n throw fail(input, \"Invalid block type\");\n }\n\n output += decodedSize;\n }\n while (!lastBlock);\n\n if (frameHeader.hasChecksum) {\n int decodedFrameSize = (int) (output - outputStart);\n\n long hash = XxHash64.hash(0, outputBase, outputStart, decodedFrameSize);\n\n verify(input + SIZE_OF_INT <= inputLimit, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n int checksum = UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, input);\n if (checksum != (int) hash) {\n throw new MalformedInputException(input, format(\"Bad checksum. Expected: %s, actual: %s\", Integer.toHexString(checksum), Integer.toHexString((int) hash)));\n }\n\n input += SIZE_OF_INT;\n }\n }\n\n return (int) (output - outputAddress);\n }\n\n void reset()\n {\n previousOffsets[0] = 1;\n previousOffsets[1] = 4;\n previousOffsets[2] = 8;\n\n currentLiteralsLengthTable = null;\n currentOffsetCodesTable = null;\n currentMatchLengthTable = null;\n }\n\n static int decodeRawBlock(Object inputBase, long inputAddress, int blockSize, Object outputBase, long outputAddress, long outputLimit)\n {\n verify(outputAddress + blockSize <= outputLimit, inputAddress, \"Output buffer too small\");\n\n UNSAFE.copyMemory(inputBase, inputAddress, outputBase, outputAddress, blockSize);\n return blockSize;\n }\n\n static int decodeRleBlock(int size, Object inputBase, long inputAddress, Object outputBase, long outputAddress, long outputLimit)\n {\n verify(outputAddress + size <= outputLimit, inputAddress, \"Output buffer too small\");\n\n long output = outputAddress;\n long value = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, inputAddress) & 0xFFL;\n\n int remaining = size;\n if (remaining >= SIZE_OF_LONG) {\n long packed = value\n | (value << 8)\n | (value << 16)\n | (value << 24)\n | (value << 32)\n | (value << 40)\n | (value << 48)\n | (value << 56);\n\n do {\n UNSAFE.putLong(outputBase, output, packed);\n output += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n remaining -= SIZE_OF_LONG;\n }\n while (remaining >= SIZE_OF_LONG);\n }\n\n for (int i = 0; i < remaining; i++) {\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output, (byte) value);\n output++;\n }\n\n return size;\n }\n\n int decodeCompressedBlock(\n Object inputBase,\n final long inputAddress,\n int blockSize,\n Object outputBase,\n long outputAddress,\n long outputLimit,\n int windowSize,\n long outputAbsoluteBaseAddress)\n {\n long inputLimit = inputAddress + blockSize;\n long input = inputAddress;\n\n verify(blockSize <= MAX_BLOCK_SIZE, input, \"Expected match length table to be present\");\n verify(blockSize >= MIN_BLOCK_SIZE, input, \"Compressed block size too small\");\n\n // decode literals\n int literalsBlockType = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input) & 0b11;\n\n switch (literalsBlockType) {\n case RAW_LITERALS_BLOCK: {\n input += decodeRawLiterals(inputBase, input, inputLimit);\n break;\n }\n case RLE_LITERALS_BLOCK: {\n input += decodeRleLiterals(inputBase, input, blockSize);\n break;\n }\n case TREELESS_LITERALS_BLOCK:\n verify(huffman.isLoaded(), input, \"Dictionary is corrupted\");\n case COMPRESSED_LITERALS_BLOCK: {\n input += decodeCompressedLiterals(inputBase, input, blockSize, literalsBlockType);\n break;\n }\n default:\n throw fail(input, \"Invalid literals block encoding type\");\n }\n\n verify(windowSize <= MAX_WINDOW_SIZE, input, \"Window size too large (not yet supported)\");\n\n return decompressSequences(\n inputBase, input, inputAddress + blockSize,\n outputBase, outputAddress, outputLimit,\n literalsBase, literalsAddress, literalsLimit,\n outputAbsoluteBaseAddress);\n }\n\n private int decompressSequences(\n final Object inputBase, final long inputAddress, final long inputLimit,\n final Object outputBase, final long outputAddress, final long outputLimit,\n final Object literalsBase, final long literalsAddress, final long literalsLimit,\n long outputAbsoluteBaseAddress)\n {\n final long fastOutputLimit = outputLimit - SIZE_OF_LONG;\n final long fastMatchOutputLimit = fastOutputLimit - SIZE_OF_LONG;\n\n long input = inputAddress;\n long output = outputAddress;\n\n long literalsInput = literalsAddress;\n\n int size = (int) (inputLimit - inputAddress);\n verify(size >= MIN_SEQUENCES_SIZE, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n\n // decode header\n int sequenceCount = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input++) & 0xFF;\n if (sequenceCount != 0) {\n if (sequenceCount == 255) {\n verify(input + SIZE_OF_SHORT <= inputLimit, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n sequenceCount = (UNSAFE.getShort(inputBase, input) & 0xFFFF) + LONG_NUMBER_OF_SEQUENCES;\n input += SIZE_OF_SHORT;\n }\n else if (sequenceCount > 127) {\n verify(input < inputLimit, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n sequenceCount = ((sequenceCount - 128) << 8) + (UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input++) & 0xFF);\n }\n\n verify(input + SIZE_OF_INT <= inputLimit, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n\n byte type = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input++);\n\n int literalsLengthType = (type & 0xFF) >>> 6;\n int offsetCodesType = (type >>> 4) & 0b11;\n int matchLengthType = (type >>> 2) & 0b11;\n\n input = computeLiteralsTable(literalsLengthType, inputBase, input, inputLimit);\n input = computeOffsetsTable(offsetCodesType, inputBase, input, inputLimit);\n input = computeMatchLengthTable(matchLengthType, inputBase, input, inputLimit);\n\n // decompress sequences\n BitInputStream.Initializer initializer = new BitInputStream.Initializer(inputBase, input, inputLimit);\n initializer.initialize();\n int bitsConsumed = initializer.getBitsConsumed();\n long bits = initializer.getBits();\n long currentAddress = initializer.getCurrentAddress();\n\n FiniteStateEntropy.Table currentLiteralsLengthTable = this.currentLiteralsLengthTable;\n FiniteStateEntropy.Table currentOffsetCodesTable = this.currentOffsetCodesTable;\n FiniteStateEntropy.Table currentMatchLengthTable = this.currentMatchLengthTable;\n\n int literalsLengthState = (int) peekBits(bitsConsumed, bits, currentLiteralsLengthTable.log2Size);\n bitsConsumed += currentLiteralsLengthTable.log2Size;\n\n int offsetCodesState = (int) peekBits(bitsConsumed, bits, currentOffsetCodesTable.log2Size);\n bitsConsumed += currentOffsetCodesTable.log2Size;\n\n int matchLengthState = (int) peekBits(bitsConsumed, bits, currentMatchLengthTable.log2Size);\n bitsConsumed += currentMatchLengthTable.log2Size;\n\n int[] previousOffsets = this.previousOffsets;\n\n byte[] literalsLengthNumbersOfBits = currentLiteralsLengthTable.numberOfBits;\n int[] literalsLengthNewStates = currentLiteralsLengthTable.newState;\n byte[] literalsLengthSymbols = currentLiteralsLengthTable.symbol;\n\n byte[] matchLengthNumbersOfBits = currentMatchLengthTable.numberOfBits;\n int[] matchLengthNewStates = currentMatchLengthTable.newState;\n byte[] matchLengthSymbols = currentMatchLengthTable.symbol;\n\n byte[] offsetCodesNumbersOfBits = currentOffsetCodesTable.numberOfBits;\n int[] offsetCodesNewStates = currentOffsetCodesTable.newState;\n byte[] offsetCodesSymbols = currentOffsetCodesTable.symbol;\n\n while (sequenceCount > 0) {\n sequenceCount--;\n\n BitInputStream.Loader loader = new BitInputStream.Loader(inputBase, input, currentAddress, bits, bitsConsumed);\n loader.load();\n bitsConsumed = loader.getBitsConsumed();\n bits = loader.getBits();\n currentAddress = loader.getCurrentAddress();\n if (loader.isOverflow()) {\n verify(sequenceCount == 0, input, \"Not all sequences were consumed\");\n break;\n }\n\n // decode sequence\n int literalsLengthCode = literalsLengthSymbols[literalsLengthState];\n int matchLengthCode = matchLengthSymbols[matchLengthState];\n int offsetCode = offsetCodesSymbols[offsetCodesState];\n\n int literalsLengthBits = LITERALS_LENGTH_BITS[literalsLengthCode];\n int matchLengthBits = MATCH_LENGTH_BITS[matchLengthCode];\n int offsetBits = offsetCode;\n\n int offset = OFFSET_CODES_BASE[offsetCode];\n if (offsetCode > 0) {\n offset += peekBits(bitsConsumed, bits, offsetBits);\n bitsConsumed += offsetBits;\n }\n\n if (offsetCode <= 1) {\n if (literalsLengthCode == 0) {\n offset++;\n }\n\n if (offset != 0) {\n int temp;\n if (offset == 3) {\n temp = previousOffsets[0] - 1;\n }\n else {\n temp = previousOffsets[offset];\n }\n\n if (temp == 0) {\n temp = 1;\n }\n\n if (offset != 1) {\n previousOffsets[2] = previousOffsets[1];\n }\n previousOffsets[1] = previousOffsets[0];\n previousOffsets[0] = temp;\n\n offset = temp;\n }\n else {\n offset = previousOffsets[0];\n }\n }\n else {\n previousOffsets[2] = previousOffsets[1];\n previousOffsets[1] = previousOffsets[0];\n previousOffsets[0] = offset;\n }\n\n int matchLength = MATCH_LENGTH_BASE[matchLengthCode];\n if (matchLengthCode > 31) {\n matchLength += peekBits(bitsConsumed, bits, matchLengthBits);\n bitsConsumed += matchLengthBits;\n }\n\n int literalsLength = LITERALS_LENGTH_BASE[literalsLengthCode];\n if (literalsLengthCode > 15) {\n literalsLength += peekBits(bitsConsumed, bits, literalsLengthBits);\n bitsConsumed += literalsLengthBits;\n }\n\n int totalBits = literalsLengthBits + matchLengthBits + offsetBits;\n if (totalBits > 64 - 7 - (LITERAL_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG + MATCH_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG + OFFSET_TABLE_LOG)) {\n BitInputStream.Loader loader1 = new BitInputStream.Loader(inputBase, input, currentAddress, bits, bitsConsumed);\n loader1.load();\n\n bitsConsumed = loader1.getBitsConsumed();\n bits = loader1.getBits();\n currentAddress = loader1.getCurrentAddress();\n }\n\n int numberOfBits;\n\n numberOfBits = literalsLengthNumbersOfBits[literalsLengthState];\n literalsLengthState = (int) (literalsLengthNewStates[literalsLengthState] + peekBits(bitsConsumed, bits, numberOfBits)); // <= 9 bits\n bitsConsumed += numberOfBits;\n\n numberOfBits = matchLengthNumbersOfBits[matchLengthState];\n matchLengthState = (int) (matchLengthNewStates[matchLengthState] + peekBits(bitsConsumed, bits, numberOfBits)); // <= 9 bits\n bitsConsumed += numberOfBits;\n\n numberOfBits = offsetCodesNumbersOfBits[offsetCodesState];\n offsetCodesState = (int) (offsetCodesNewStates[offsetCodesState] + peekBits(bitsConsumed, bits, numberOfBits)); // <= 8 bits\n bitsConsumed += numberOfBits;\n\n final long literalOutputLimit = output + literalsLength;\n final long matchOutputLimit = literalOutputLimit + matchLength;\n\n verify(matchOutputLimit <= outputLimit, input, \"Output buffer too small\");\n long literalEnd = literalsInput + literalsLength;\n verify(literalEnd <= literalsLimit, input, \"Input is corrupted\");\n\n long matchAddress = literalOutputLimit - offset;\n verify(matchAddress >= outputAbsoluteBaseAddress, input, \"Input is corrupted\");\n\n if (literalOutputLimit > fastOutputLimit) {\n executeLastSequence(outputBase, output, literalOutputLimit, matchOutputLimit, fastOutputLimit, literalsInput, matchAddress);\n }\n else {\n // copy literals. literalOutputLimit <= fastOutputLimit, so we can copy\n // long at a time with over-copy\n output = copyLiterals(outputBase, literalsBase, output, literalsInput, literalOutputLimit);\n copyMatch(outputBase, fastOutputLimit, output, offset, matchOutputLimit, matchAddress, matchLength, fastMatchOutputLimit);\n }\n output = matchOutputLimit;\n literalsInput = literalEnd;\n }\n }\n\n // last literal segment\n output = copyLastLiteral(input, literalsBase, literalsInput, literalsLimit, outputBase, output, outputLimit);\n\n return (int) (output - outputAddress);\n }\n\n private static long copyLastLiteral(long input, Object literalsBase, long literalsInput, long literalsLimit, Object outputBase, long output, long outputLimit)\n {\n long lastLiteralsSize = literalsLimit - literalsInput;\n verify(output + lastLiteralsSize <= outputLimit, input, \"Output buffer too small\");\n UNSAFE.copyMemory(literalsBase, literalsInput, outputBase, output, lastLiteralsSize);\n output += lastLiteralsSize;\n return output;\n }\n\n private static void copyMatch(Object outputBase,\n long fastOutputLimit,\n long output,\n int offset,\n long matchOutputLimit,\n long matchAddress,\n int matchLength,\n long fastMatchOutputLimit)\n {\n matchAddress = copyMatchHead(outputBase, output, offset, matchAddress);\n output += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n matchLength -= SIZE_OF_LONG; // first 8 bytes copied above\n\n copyMatchTail(outputBase, fastOutputLimit, output, matchOutputLimit, matchAddress, matchLength, fastMatchOutputLimit);\n }\n\n private static void copyMatchTail(Object outputBase, long fastOutputLimit, long output, long matchOutputLimit, long matchAddress, int matchLength, long fastMatchOutputLimit)\n {\n // fastMatchOutputLimit is just fastOutputLimit - SIZE_OF_LONG. It needs to be passed in so that it can be computed once for the\n // whole invocation to decompressSequences. Otherwise, we'd just compute it here.\n // If matchOutputLimit is < fastMatchOutputLimit, we know that even after the head (8 bytes) has been copied, the output pointer\n // will be within fastOutputLimit, so it's safe to copy blindly before checking the limit condition\n if (matchOutputLimit < fastMatchOutputLimit) {\n int copied = 0;\n do {\n UNSAFE.putLong(outputBase, output, UNSAFE.getLong(outputBase, matchAddress));\n output += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n matchAddress += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n copied += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n }\n while (copied < matchLength);\n }\n else {\n while (output < fastOutputLimit) {\n UNSAFE.putLong(outputBase, output, UNSAFE.getLong(outputBase, matchAddress));\n matchAddress += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n output += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n }\n\n while (output < matchOutputLimit) {\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output++, UNSAFE.getByte(outputBase, matchAddress++));\n }\n }\n }\n\n private static long copyMatchHead(Object outputBase, long output, int offset, long matchAddress)\n {\n // copy match\n if (offset < 8) {\n // 8 bytes apart so that we can copy long-at-a-time below\n int increment32 = DEC_32_TABLE[offset];\n int decrement64 = DEC_64_TABLE[offset];\n\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output, UNSAFE.getByte(outputBase, matchAddress));\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output + 1, UNSAFE.getByte(outputBase, matchAddress + 1));\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output + 2, UNSAFE.getByte(outputBase, matchAddress + 2));\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output + 3, UNSAFE.getByte(outputBase, matchAddress + 3));\n matchAddress += increment32;\n\n UNSAFE.putInt(outputBase, output + 4, UNSAFE.getInt(outputBase, matchAddress));\n matchAddress -= decrement64;\n }\n else {\n UNSAFE.putLong(outputBase, output, UNSAFE.getLong(outputBase, matchAddress));\n matchAddress += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n }\n return matchAddress;\n }\n\n private static long copyLiterals(Object outputBase, Object literalsBase, long output, long literalsInput, long literalOutputLimit)\n {\n long literalInput = literalsInput;\n do {\n UNSAFE.putLong(outputBase, output, UNSAFE.getLong(literalsBase, literalInput));\n output += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n literalInput += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n }\n while (output < literalOutputLimit);\n output = literalOutputLimit; // correction in case we over-copied\n return output;\n }\n\n private long computeMatchLengthTable(int matchLengthType, Object inputBase, long input, long inputLimit)\n {\n switch (matchLengthType) {\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_RLE:\n verify(input < inputLimit, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n\n byte value = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input++);\n verify(value <= MAX_MATCH_LENGTH_SYMBOL, input, \"Value exceeds expected maximum value\");\n\n FseTableReader.initializeRleTable(matchLengthTable, value);\n currentMatchLengthTable = matchLengthTable;\n break;\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_BASIC:\n currentMatchLengthTable = DEFAULT_MATCH_LENGTH_TABLE;\n break;\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_REPEAT:\n verify(currentMatchLengthTable != null, input, \"Expected match length table to be present\");\n break;\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_COMPRESSED:\n input += fse.readFseTable(matchLengthTable, inputBase, input, inputLimit, MAX_MATCH_LENGTH_SYMBOL, MATCH_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG);\n currentMatchLengthTable = matchLengthTable;\n break;\n default:\n throw fail(input, \"Invalid match length encoding type\");\n }\n return input;\n }\n\n private long computeOffsetsTable(int offsetCodesType, Object inputBase, long input, long inputLimit)\n {\n switch (offsetCodesType) {\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_RLE:\n verify(input < inputLimit, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n\n byte value = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input++);\n verify(value <= DEFAULT_MAX_OFFSET_CODE_SYMBOL, input, \"Value exceeds expected maximum value\");\n\n FseTableReader.initializeRleTable(offsetCodesTable, value);\n currentOffsetCodesTable = offsetCodesTable;\n break;\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_BASIC:\n currentOffsetCodesTable = DEFAULT_OFFSET_CODES_TABLE;\n break;\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_REPEAT:\n verify(currentOffsetCodesTable != null, input, \"Expected match length table to be present\");\n break;\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_COMPRESSED:\n input += fse.readFseTable(offsetCodesTable, inputBase, input, inputLimit, DEFAULT_MAX_OFFSET_CODE_SYMBOL, OFFSET_TABLE_LOG);\n currentOffsetCodesTable = offsetCodesTable;\n break;\n default:\n throw fail(input, \"Invalid offset code encoding type\");\n }\n return input;\n }\n\n private long computeLiteralsTable(int literalsLengthType, Object inputBase, long input, long inputLimit)\n {\n switch (literalsLengthType) {\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_RLE:\n verify(input < inputLimit, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n\n byte value = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input++);\n verify(value <= MAX_LITERALS_LENGTH_SYMBOL, input, \"Value exceeds expected maximum value\");\n\n FseTableReader.initializeRleTable(literalsLengthTable, value);\n currentLiteralsLengthTable = literalsLengthTable;\n break;\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_BASIC:\n currentLiteralsLengthTable = DEFAULT_LITERALS_LENGTH_TABLE;\n break;\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_REPEAT:\n verify(currentLiteralsLengthTable != null, input, \"Expected match length table to be present\");\n break;\n case SEQUENCE_ENCODING_COMPRESSED:\n input += fse.readFseTable(literalsLengthTable, inputBase, input, inputLimit, MAX_LITERALS_LENGTH_SYMBOL, LITERAL_LENGTH_TABLE_LOG);\n currentLiteralsLengthTable = literalsLengthTable;\n break;\n default:\n throw fail(input, \"Invalid literals length encoding type\");\n }\n return input;\n }\n\n private void executeLastSequence(Object outputBase, long output, long literalOutputLimit, long matchOutputLimit, long fastOutputLimit, long literalInput, long matchAddress)\n {\n // copy literals\n if (output < fastOutputLimit) {\n // wild copy\n do {\n UNSAFE.putLong(outputBase, output, UNSAFE.getLong(literalsBase, literalInput));\n output += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n literalInput += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n }\n while (output < fastOutputLimit);\n\n literalInput -= output - fastOutputLimit;\n output = fastOutputLimit;\n }\n\n while (output < literalOutputLimit) {\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output, UNSAFE.getByte(literalsBase, literalInput));\n output++;\n literalInput++;\n }\n\n // copy match\n while (output < matchOutputLimit) {\n UNSAFE.putByte(outputBase, output, UNSAFE.getByte(outputBase, matchAddress));\n output++;\n matchAddress++;\n }\n }\n\n private int decodeCompressedLiterals(Object inputBase, final long inputAddress, int blockSize, int literalsBlockType)\n {\n long input = inputAddress;\n verify(blockSize >= 5, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n\n // compressed\n int compressedSize;\n int uncompressedSize;\n boolean singleStream = false;\n int headerSize;\n int type = (UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input) >> 2) & 0b11;\n switch (type) {\n case 0:\n singleStream = true;\n case 1: {\n int header = UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, input);\n\n headerSize = 3;\n uncompressedSize = (header >>> 4) & mask(10);\n compressedSize = (header >>> 14) & mask(10);\n break;\n }\n case 2: {\n int header = UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, input);\n\n headerSize = 4;\n uncompressedSize = (header >>> 4) & mask(14);\n compressedSize = (header >>> 18) & mask(14);\n break;\n }\n case 3: {\n // read 5 little-endian bytes\n long header = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input) & 0xFF |\n (UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, input + 1) & 0xFFFF_FFFFL) << 8;\n\n headerSize = 5;\n uncompressedSize = (int) ((header >>> 4) & mask(18));\n compressedSize = (int) ((header >>> 22) & mask(18));\n break;\n }\n default:\n throw fail(input, \"Invalid literals header size type\");\n }\n\n verify(uncompressedSize <= MAX_BLOCK_SIZE, input, \"Block exceeds maximum size\");\n verify(headerSize + compressedSize <= blockSize, input, \"Input is corrupted\");\n\n input += headerSize;\n\n long inputLimit = input + compressedSize;\n if (literalsBlockType != TREELESS_LITERALS_BLOCK) {\n input += huffman.readTable(inputBase, input, compressedSize);\n }\n\n literalsBase = literals;\n literalsAddress = ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET;\n literalsLimit = ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET + uncompressedSize;\n\n if (singleStream) {\n huffman.decodeSingleStream(inputBase, input, inputLimit, literals, literalsAddress, literalsLimit);\n }\n else {\n huffman.decode4Streams(inputBase, input, inputLimit, literals, literalsAddress, literalsLimit);\n }\n\n return headerSize + compressedSize;\n }\n\n private int decodeRleLiterals(Object inputBase, final long inputAddress, int blockSize)\n {\n long input = inputAddress;\n int outputSize;\n\n int type = (UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input) >> 2) & 0b11;\n switch (type) {\n case 0:\n case 2:\n outputSize = (UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input) & 0xFF) >>> 3;\n input++;\n break;\n case 1:\n outputSize = (UNSAFE.getShort(inputBase, input) & 0xFFFF) >>> 4;\n input += 2;\n break;\n case 3:\n // we need at least 4 bytes (3 for the header, 1 for the payload)\n verify(blockSize >= SIZE_OF_INT, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n outputSize = (UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, input) & 0xFF_FFFF) >>> 4;\n input += 3;\n break;\n default:\n throw fail(input, \"Invalid RLE literals header encoding type\");\n }\n\n verify(outputSize <= MAX_BLOCK_SIZE, input, \"Output exceeds maximum block size\");\n\n byte value = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input++);\n Arrays.fill(literals, 0, outputSize + SIZE_OF_LONG, value);\n\n literalsBase = literals;\n literalsAddress = ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET;\n literalsLimit = ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET + outputSize;\n\n return (int) (input - inputAddress);\n }\n\n private int decodeRawLiterals(Object inputBase, final long inputAddress, long inputLimit)\n {\n long input = inputAddress;\n int type = (UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input) >> 2) & 0b11;\n\n int literalSize;\n switch (type) {\n case 0:\n case 2:\n literalSize = (UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input) & 0xFF) >>> 3;\n input++;\n break;\n case 1:\n literalSize = (UNSAFE.getShort(inputBase, input) & 0xFFFF) >>> 4;\n input += 2;\n break;\n case 3:\n // read 3 little-endian bytes\n int header = ((UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input) & 0xFF) |\n ((UNSAFE.getShort(inputBase, input + 1) & 0xFFFF) << 8));\n\n literalSize = header >>> 4;\n input += 3;\n break;\n default:\n throw fail(input, \"Invalid raw literals header encoding type\");\n }\n\n verify(input + literalSize <= inputLimit, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n\n // Set literals pointer to [input, literalSize], but only if we can copy 8 bytes at a time during sequence decoding\n // Otherwise, copy literals into buffer that's big enough to guarantee that\n if (literalSize > (inputLimit - input) - SIZE_OF_LONG) {\n literalsBase = literals;\n literalsAddress = ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET;\n literalsLimit = ARRAY_BYTE_BASE_OFFSET + literalSize;\n\n UNSAFE.copyMemory(inputBase, input, literals, literalsAddress, literalSize);\n Arrays.fill(literals, literalSize, literalSize + SIZE_OF_LONG, (byte) 0);\n }\n else {\n literalsBase = inputBase;\n literalsAddress = input;\n literalsLimit = literalsAddress + literalSize;\n }\n input += literalSize;\n\n return (int) (input - inputAddress);\n }\n\n static FrameHeader readFrameHeader(final Object inputBase, final long inputAddress, final long inputLimit)\n {\n long input = inputAddress;\n verify(input < inputLimit, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n\n int frameHeaderDescriptor = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input++) & 0xFF;\n boolean singleSegment = (frameHeaderDescriptor & 0b100000) != 0;\n int dictionaryDescriptor = frameHeaderDescriptor & 0b11;\n int contentSizeDescriptor = frameHeaderDescriptor >>> 6;\n\n int headerSize = 1 +\n (singleSegment ? 0 : 1) +\n (dictionaryDescriptor == 0 ? 0 : (1 << (dictionaryDescriptor - 1))) +\n (contentSizeDescriptor == 0 ? (singleSegment ? 1 : 0) : (1 << contentSizeDescriptor));\n\n verify(headerSize <= inputLimit - inputAddress, input, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n\n // decode window size\n int windowSize = -1;\n if (!singleSegment) {\n int windowDescriptor = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input++) & 0xFF;\n int exponent = windowDescriptor >>> 3;\n int mantissa = windowDescriptor & 0b111;\n\n int base = 1 << (MIN_WINDOW_LOG + exponent);\n windowSize = base + (base / 8) * mantissa;\n }\n\n // decode dictionary id\n long dictionaryId = -1;\n switch (dictionaryDescriptor) {\n case 1:\n dictionaryId = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input) & 0xFF;\n input += SIZE_OF_BYTE;\n break;\n case 2:\n dictionaryId = UNSAFE.getShort(inputBase, input) & 0xFFFF;\n input += SIZE_OF_SHORT;\n break;\n case 3:\n dictionaryId = UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, input) & 0xFFFF_FFFFL;\n input += SIZE_OF_INT;\n break;\n }\n verify(dictionaryId == -1, input, \"Custom dictionaries not supported\");\n\n // decode content size\n long contentSize = -1;\n switch (contentSizeDescriptor) {\n case 0:\n if (singleSegment) {\n contentSize = UNSAFE.getByte(inputBase, input) & 0xFF;\n input += SIZE_OF_BYTE;\n }\n break;\n case 1:\n contentSize = UNSAFE.getShort(inputBase, input) & 0xFFFF;\n contentSize += 256;\n input += SIZE_OF_SHORT;\n break;\n case 2:\n contentSize = UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, input) & 0xFFFF_FFFFL;\n input += SIZE_OF_INT;\n break;\n case 3:\n contentSize = UNSAFE.getLong(inputBase, input);\n input += SIZE_OF_LONG;\n break;\n }\n\n boolean hasChecksum = (frameHeaderDescriptor & 0b100) != 0;\n\n return new FrameHeader(\n input - inputAddress,\n windowSize,\n contentSize,\n dictionaryId,\n hasChecksum);\n }\n\n public static long getDecompressedSize(final Object inputBase, final long inputAddress, final long inputLimit)\n {\n long input = inputAddress;\n input += verifyMagic(inputBase, input, inputLimit);\n return readFrameHeader(inputBase, input, inputLimit).contentSize;\n }\n\n static int verifyMagic(Object inputBase, long inputAddress, long inputLimit)\n {\n verify(inputLimit - inputAddress >= 4, inputAddress, \"Not enough input bytes\");\n\n int magic = UNSAFE.getInt(inputBase, inputAddress);\n if (magic != MAGIC_NUMBER) {\n if (magic == V07_MAGIC_NUMBER) {\n throw new MalformedInputException(inputAddress, \"Data encoded in unsupported ZSTD v0.7 format\");\n }\n throw new MalformedInputException(inputAddress, \"Invalid magic prefix: \" + Integer.toHexString(magic));\n }\n\n return SIZE_OF_INT;\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/ZstdHadoopInputStream.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.hadoop.HadoopInputStream;\n\nimport java.io.IOException;\nimport java.io.InputStream;\n\nimport static java.util.Objects.requireNonNull;\n\nclass ZstdHadoopInputStream\n extends HadoopInputStream\n{\n private final InputStream in;\n private ZstdInputStream zstdInputStream;\n\n public ZstdHadoopInputStream(InputStream in)\n {\n this.in = requireNonNull(in, \"in is null\");\n zstdInputStream = new ZstdInputStream(in);\n }\n\n @Override\n public int read()\n throws IOException\n {\n return zstdInputStream.read();\n }\n\n @Override\n public int read(byte[] b)\n throws IOException\n {\n return zstdInputStream.read(b);\n }\n\n @Override\n public int read(byte[] outputBuffer, int outputOffset, int outputLength)\n throws IOException\n {\n return zstdInputStream.read(outputBuffer, outputOffset, outputLength);\n }\n\n @Override\n public void resetState()\n {\n zstdInputStream = new ZstdInputStream(in);\n }\n\n @Override\n public void close()\n throws IOException\n {\n zstdInputStream.close();\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/ZstdHadoopOutputStream.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.hadoop.HadoopOutputStream;\n\nimport java.io.IOException;\nimport java.io.OutputStream;\n\nimport static java.util.Objects.requireNonNull;\n\nclass ZstdHadoopOutputStream\n extends HadoopOutputStream\n{\n private final OutputStream out;\n private boolean initialized;\n private ZstdOutputStream zstdOutputStream;\n\n public ZstdHadoopOutputStream(OutputStream out)\n {\n this.out = requireNonNull(out, \"out is null\");\n }\n\n @Override\n public void write(int b)\n throws IOException\n {\n openStreamIfNecessary();\n zstdOutputStream.write(b);\n }\n\n @Override\n public void write(byte[] buffer, int offset, int length)\n throws IOException\n {\n openStreamIfNecessary();\n zstdOutputStream.write(buffer, offset, length);\n }\n\n @Override\n public void finish()\n throws IOException\n {\n if (zstdOutputStream != null) {\n zstdOutputStream.finishWithoutClosingSource();\n zstdOutputStream = null;\n }\n }\n\n @Override\n public void flush()\n throws IOException\n {\n out.flush();\n }\n\n @Override\n public void close()\n throws IOException\n {\n try {\n // it the stream has never been initialized, create a valid empty file\n if (!initialized) {\n openStreamIfNecessary();\n }\n finish();\n }\n finally {\n out.close();\n }\n }\n\n private void openStreamIfNecessary()\n throws IOException\n {\n if (zstdOutputStream == null) {\n initialized = true;\n zstdOutputStream = new ZstdOutputStream(out);\n }\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/ZstdHadoopStreams.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.hadoop.HadoopInputStream;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.hadoop.HadoopOutputStream;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.hadoop.HadoopStreams;\n\nimport java.io.IOException;\nimport java.io.InputStream;\nimport java.io.OutputStream;\nimport java.util.List;\n\nimport static java.util.Collections.singletonList;\n\npublic class ZstdHadoopStreams\n implements HadoopStreams\n{\n @Override\n public String getDefaultFileExtension()\n {\n return \".zst\";\n }\n\n @Override\n public List Run from Maven:\n * To run with specific sizes:\n * \nDESCRIPTION OF FARMER OAK -- AN INCIDENT\nWhen Farmer Oak smiled, the corners of his mouth\nspread till they were within an unimportant distance of\nhis ears, his eyes were reduced to chinks, and diverging\nwrinkles appeared round them, extending upon his\ncountenance like the rays in a rudimentary sketch of\nthe rising sun.\nHis Christian name was Gabriel, and on working\ndays he was a young man of sound judgment, easy\nmotions, proper dress, and general good character. On\nSundays he was a man of misty views, rather given to\npostponing, and hampered by his best clothes and\numbrella : upon the whole, one who felt himself to\noccupy morally that vast middle space of Laodicean\nneutrality which lay between the Communion people\nof the parish and the drunken section, -- that is, he went\nto church, but yawned privately by the time the con+\ngegation reached the Nicene creed,- and thought of\nwhat there would be for dinner when he meant to be\nlistening to the sermon. Or, to state his character as\nit stood in the scale of public opinion, when his friends\nand critics were in tantrums, he was considered rather a\nbad man ; when they were pleased, he was rather a good\nman ; when they were neither, he was a man whose\nmoral colour was a kind of pepper-and-salt mixture.\nSince he lived six times as many working-days as\nSundays, Oak's appearance in his old clothes was most\npeculiarly his own -- the mental picture formed by his\nneighbours in imagining him being always dressed in\nthat way. He wore a low-crowned felt hat, spread out\nat the base by tight jamming upon the head for security\nin high winds, and a coat like Dr. Johnson's ; his lower\nextremities being encased in ordinary leather leggings\nand boots emphatically large, affording to each foot a\nroomy apartment so constructed that any wearer might\nstand in a river all day long and know nothing of\n \ndamp -- their maker being a conscientious man who\nendeavoured to compensate for any weakness in his cut\nby unstinted dimension and solidity.\nMr. Oak 'carried 'about him, by way of watch,+\nwhat may be called a small silver clock; in other\nwords, it was a watch as to shape and intention, and\na small clock as to size. This instrument being several\nyears older than Oak's grandfather, had the peculiarity\nof going either too fast or not at all. The smaller\nof its hands, too, occasionally slipped round on the\npivot, and thus, though the minutes were told with\nprecision, nobody could be quite certain of the hour\nthey belonged to. The stopping peculiarity of his\nwatch Oak remedied by thumps and shakes, and he\nescaped any evil consequences from the other two\ndefects by constant comparisons with and observations\nof the sun and stars, and by pressing his face close\nto the glass of his neighbours' windows, till he could\ndiscern the hour marked by the green-faced timekeepers\nwithin. It may be mentioned that Oak's fob being\ndifficult of access, by reason of its somewhat high\nsituation in the waistband of his trousers (which also\nlay at a remote height under his waistcoat), the watch\nwas as a necessity pulled out by throwing the body to\none-side, compressing the- mouth and face to a mere\nmass of- ruddy flesh- on account -of the exertion, and\ndrawing up the watch by its chain, like a bucket from a\nwell.\nBut some thoughtfull persons, who had seen him\nwalking across one of his fields on a certain December\nmorning -- sunny and exceedingly mild -- might have\nregarded Gabriel Oak in other aspects than these. In\nhis face one might notice that many of the hues and\ncurves of youth had tarried on to manhood: there even\nremained in his remoter crannies some relics of the boy.\nHis height and breadth would have been sufficient to\nmake his presence imposing, had they been exhibited\nwith due consideration. But there is a way some men\nhave, rural and urban alike, for which the mind is more\nresponsible than flesh and sinew : it is a way of curtail+\ning their dimensions by their manner of showing them.\nAnd from a quiet modesty that would have become a\nvestal which seemed continually to impress upon him\n \nthat he had no great claim on the world's room, Oak\nwalked unassumingly and with a faintly perceptible\nbend, yet distinct from a bowing of the shoulders.\nThis may be said to be a defect in an individual if he\ndepends for his valuation more upon his appearance\nthan upon his capacity to wear well, which Oak did not.\nHe had just reached the time of life at which \" young'\nis ceasing to be the prefix of \"man ' in speaking of one.\nHe was at the brightest period of masculine growth,\nfor his intellect and his emotions were clearly separated :\nhe had passed the time during which the influence of\nyouth indiscriminately mingles them in the character\nof impulse, and he had not yet arrived at the stage\nwherein they become united again, in the character of\nprejudice, by the influence of a wife and family. In\nshort, he was twenty-eight, and a bachelor.\nThe field he was in this morning sloped to a\nridge called Norcombe Hill. Through a spur of this\nhill ran the highway between Emminster and Chalk+\nNewton. Casually glancing over the hedge, Oak saw\ncoming down the incline before him an ornamental\nspring waggon, painted yellow and gaily marked,\ndrawn by two horses, a waggoner walking alongside\nbearing a whip perpendicularly. The waggon was\nladen with household goods and window plants, and\non the apex of the whole sat a woman, 'young-'and\nattractive. Gabriel had not beheld the sight for more\nthan half a minute, when the vehicle was brought to a\nstandstill just beneath his eyes.\n\" The tailboard of the waggon is gone, Miss,' said the\nwaggoner.\n\"Then I heard it fall,' said the girl, in a soft, though\nnot particularly low voice. \"I heard a noise I could\nnot account for when we were coming up the hill.'\n\"I'll run back.' +\n\" Do,' she answered. +\nThe sensible horses stood -- perfectly still, and the\nwaggoner's steps sank fainter and fainter in the distance.\nThe girl on the summit of the load sat motionless,\nsurrounded by tables and chairs with their legs upwards,\nbacked by an oak settle, and ornamented in front by\npots of geraniums, myrtles, and cactuses, together with\n \na caged canary -- all probably from the windows of the\nhouse just vacated. There was also a cat in a willow\nbasket, from the partly-opened lid of which she gazed\nwith half-closed eyes, and affectionately-surveyed the\nsmall birds around.\nThe handsome girl waited for some time idly in her\nplace, and the only sound heard in the stillness-was -the\nhopping of the canary up-and down the perches of its\nprison. Then she looked attentively downwards. It\nwas not at the bird, nor at the cat; it was at an oblong\npackage tied in paper, and lying between them. She\nturned her head to learn if the waggoner were coming.\nHe was not yet in sight; and her-eyes crept back to\nthe package, her thoughts seeming to run 'upon what\nwas inside it. At length she drew the article into her\nlap, and untied the paper covering; a small swing\nlooking-glass was disclosed, in which she proceeded to\nsurvey herself attentively. She parted her lips and\nsmiled.\nIt was a fine morning, and the sun lighted up to a\nscarlet glow the crimson jacket she wore, and painted\na soft lustre upon her bright face and dark hair. The\nmyrtles, geraniums, and cactuses packed around her\nwere fresh and green, and at such a leafless season they\ninvested the whole concern of horses, waggon, furniture,\nand girl with a peculiar vernal charm. What possessed\nher to indulge in such a performance in the sight of the\nsparrows, blackbirds, and unperceived farmer who were\nalone its spectators, -- whether the smile began as a\nfactitious one, to test her capacity in that art, -- nobody\nknows ; it ended certainly in a real smile. She blushed\nat herself, and seeing her reflection blush, blushed the\nmore.\nThe change from the customary spot and necessary\noccasion of such an act -- from the dressing hour in a\nbedroom to a time of travelling out of doors -- lent to\nthe idle deed a novelty it did not intrinsically possess.\nThe picture was a delicate one. Woman's prescriptive\ninfirmity had stalked into the sunlight, which had\nclothed it in the freshness of an originality. A\ncynical inference was irresistitle by Gabriel Oak as he\nregarded the scene, generous though he fain would have\nbeen. There was no necessity whatever for her looking\nin the glass. She did not adjust her hat, or pat her\n \nhair, or press a dimple into shape, or do one thing to\nsignify that any such intention had been her motive in\ntaking up the glass. She simply observed herself as a\nfair product of Nature in the feminine kind, her thoughts\nseeming to glide into far-off though likely dramas in\nwhich men would play a part -- vistas of probable\ntriumphs -- the smiles being of a phase suggesting that\nhearts were imagined as lost and won. Still, this was\nbut conjecture, and the whole series of actions was so\nidly put forth as to make it rash to assert that intention\nhad any part in them at all.\nThe waggoner's steps were heard returning. She\nput the glass in the paper, and the whole again into its\nplace.\nWhen the waggon had passed on, Gabriel withdrew\nfrom his point of espial, and descending into the road,\nfollowed the vehicle to the turnpike-gate some way\nbeyond the bottom of the hill, where the object of his\ncontemplation now halted for the payment of toll. About\ntwenty steps still remained between him and the gate,\nwhen he heard a dispute. lt was a difference con+\ncerning twopence between the persons with the waggon\nand the man at the toll-bar.\n\" Mis'ess's niece is upon the top of the things, and\nshe says that's enough that I've offered ye, you great\nmiser, and she won't pay any more.' These were the\nwaggoner's words.\n\"Very well ; then mis'ess's niece can't pass,' said the\nturnpike-keeper, closing the gate.\nOak looked from one to the other of the disputants,\nand fell into a reverie. There was something in the\ntone of twopence remarkably insignificant. Threepence\nhad a definite value as money -- it was an appreciable\ninfringement on a day's wages, and, as such, a higgling\nmatter ; but twopence -- -- \" Here,' he said, stepping\nforward and handing twopence to the gatekeeper ; \"let\nthe young woman pass.' He looked up at her then;\nshe heard his words, and looked down.\nGabriel's features adhered throughout their form so\nexactly to the middle line between the beauty of St.\nJohn and the ugliness of Judas Iscariot, as represented\nin a window of the church he attended, that not a single\nlineament could be selected and called worthy either of\ndistinction or notoriety. The redjacketed and dark+\n \nhaired maiden seemed to think so too, for she carelessly\nglanced over him, and told her man to drive on. She\nmight have looked her thanks to Gabriel on a minute\nscale, but she did not speak them; more probably she\nfelt none, for in gaining her a passage he had lost her\nher point, and we know how women take a favour of\nthat kind.\nThe gatekeeper surveyed the retreating vehicle.\n\" That's a handsome maid ' he said to Oak\n\" But she has her faults,' said Gabriel.\n\" True, farmer. '\n\"And the greatest of them is -- well, what it is\nalways.'\n\" Beating people down ? ay, 'tis so.'\n\"O no.'\n\" What, then ? '\nGabriel, perhaps a little piqued by the comely\ntraveller's indifference, glanced back to where he had\nwitnessed her performance over the hedge, and said,\n\" Vanity.'\n \nNIGHT -- THE FLOCK -- AN INIERIOR -- ANOTHER INTERIOR\nIT was nearly midnight on the eve of St. Thomas\"s, the\nshortest day in the year. A desolating wind wandered\nfrom the north over the hill whereon Oak had watched\nthe yellow waggon and its occupant in the sunshine of\na few days earlier.\n Norcombe Hill -- not far from lonely Toller-Down\n -- was one of the spots which suggest to a passer-by\nthat he is in the presence of a shape approaching the\nindestructible as nearly as any to be found on earth.\nIt was a featureless convexity of chalk and soil -- an\nordinary specimen of those smoothly-outlined protuber+\nances of the globe which may remain undisturbed on\nsome great day of confusion, when far grander heights\nand dizzy granite precipices topple down.\nThe hill was covered on its northern side by an\nancient and decaying plantation of beeches, whose\nupper verge formed a line over the crest, fringing its\narched curve against the sky, like a mane. To-night\nthese trees sheltered the southern slope from the keenest\nblasts, which smote the wood and floundered through\nit with a sound as of grumbling, or gushed over its\ncrowning boughs in a weakened moan. The dry leaves\nin the ditch simmered and boiled in the same breezes,\na tongue of air occasionally ferreting out a few, and\nsending them spinning across the grass. A group or\ntwo of the latest in date amongst the dead multitude\nhad remained till this very mid-winter time on the twigs\nwhich bore them and in falling rattled against the trunks\nwith smart taps:\nBetwenne this half-wooded, half naked hill, and the\nvague still horizon that its summit indistinctly com+\nmanded, was a mysterious sheet of fathomless shade\n -- the sounds from which suggested that what it con+\ncealed bore some reduced resemblance to features here.\n \nThe thin grasses, more or less coating the hill, were\ntouched by the wind in breezes of differing powers, and\nalmost of differing natures -- one rubbing the blades\nheavily, another raking them piercingly, another brushing\nthem like a soft broom. The instinctive act of human+\nkind was to stand and listen, and learn how the trees\nto each other in the regular antiphonies of a cathedral\nchoir; how hedges and other shapes to leeward them\ncaught the note, lowering it to the tenderest sob; and\nhow the hurrying gust then plunged into the south, to\nbe heard no more.\nThe sky was clear -- remarkably clear -- and the\ntwinkling of all the stars seemed to be but throbs of\none body, timed by a common pulse. The North Star\nwas directly in the wind's eye, and since evening the\nBear had swung round it outwardly to the east, till he\nwas now at a right angle with the meridian. A\ndifference of colour in the stars -- oftener read of than\nseen in England-was really perceptible here. The\nsovereign brilliancy of Sirius pierced the eye with a steely\nglitter, the star called Capella was yellow, Aldebaran and\nBetelgueux shone with a fiery red.\nTo persons standing alone on a hill during a clear\nmidnight such as this, the roll of the world eastward is\nalmost a palpable movement. The sensation may be\ncaused by the panoramic glide of the stars past earthly\nobjects, which is perceptible in a few minutes of still+\nness, or by the better outlook upon space that a hill\naffords, or by the wind, or by the solitude ; but whatever\nbe its origin, the impression of riding along is vivid and\nabiding. The poetry of motion is a phrase much in\nuse, and to enjoy the epic form of that gratification it\nis necessary to stand on a hill at a small hour of the\nnight, and, having first expanded with a sense of differ+\nence from the mass of civilised mankind, who are\ndreamwrapt and disregardful of all such proceedings at\nthis time, long and quietly watch your stately progress\nthrough the stars. After such a nocturnal reconnoitre\nit is hard to get back to earth, and to believe that the\nconsciousness of such majestic speeding is derived from\na tiny human frame.\nSuddenly an unexpected series of sounds began to\n \nbe heard\nin this place up against the sky. They had a\nclearness which was to be found nowhere in the wind,\nand a sequence which was to be found nowhere in\nnature. They were the notes of Farmer Oak's flute.\nThe tune was not floating unhindered into the open\nair : it seemed muffled in some way, and was altogether\ntoo curtailed in power to spread high or wide. It came\nfrom the direction of a small dark object under the\nplantation hedge -- a shepherd's hut -- now presenting\nan outline to which an uninitiated person might have\nbeen puzzled to attach either meaning or use.\nThe image as a whole was that of a small Noah's\nArk on a small Ararat, allowing the traditionary outlines\nand general form of the Ark which are followed by toy+\nmakers -- and by these means are established in men's\nimaginations among their firmest, because earliest im+\npressions -- to pass as an approximate pattern. The\nhut stood on little wheels, which raised its floor about a\nfoot from the ground. Such shepherds' huts are dragged\ninto the fields when the lambing season comes on, to\nshelter the shepherd in his- enforced nightly attendance.\nIt was only latterly that people had begun to call\nGabriel !Farmer' Oak. During the twelvemonth pre+\nceding this time he had been enabled by sustained\nefforts of industry and chronic good spirits to lease the\nsmall shepp farm of which Norcombe Hill was a portion,\nand stock it with two hundred sheep. Previously he\nhad been a bailiff for a short time, and earlier still a\nshepherd only, having from his childhood assisted his\nfather in tending the floeks of large proprietors, till old\nGabriel sank to rest.\nThis venture, unaided and alone, into the paths of\nfarming as master and not as man, with an advance of\nsheep not yet paid for, was a critical juncture with\nGabriel Oak, and he recognised his position clearly.\nThe first movement in his new progress was the lambing\nof his ewes, and sheep having been his speciality from\nhis \"youth, he wisely refrained from deputing -- the task\nof tending them at this season to a hireling or a novice.\nThe wind continued to beat-about the corners of the\nhut, but the flute-playing ceased. A rectangular space\nof light\n \nappeared in the side of the hut, and in the\nopening the outline of Farmer Oak's figure. He carried\na lantern in his hand, and closing the door behind him,\ncame forward and busied himself about this nook of the\nfield for nearly twenty minutes, the lantern light appear+\ning and disappearing here and there, and brightening\nhim or darkening him as he stood before or behind it.\nOak's motions, though they had a quiet-energy, were\nslow, and their deliberateness accorded well with his\noccupation. Fitness being the basis of beauty, nobody\ncould-have denied that his steady swings and turns\"\nin and- about the flock had elements of grace, Yet,\nalthough if occasion demanded he could do or think a\nthing with as mercurial a dash as can the men of towns\nwho are more to the manner born, his special power,\nmorally, physically, and mentally, was static, owing\nlittle or nothing to momentum as a rule.\nA close examination of the ground hereabout, even\nby the wan starlight only, revealed how a portion of\nwhat would have been casually called a wild slope had\nbeen appropriated by Farmer Oak for his great purpose\nthis winter. Detached hurdles thatched with straw\nwere stuck into the ground at various scattered points,\namid and under which the whitish forms of his meek\newes moved and rustled. The ring of the sheep-bell,\nwhich had been silent during his absence, recommenced,\nin tones that had more mellowness than clearness, owing\nto an increasing growth of surrounding wool. This\ncontinued till Oak withdrew again from the flock. He\n -- returned to the hut, bringing in his arms a new-born\nlamb, consisting of four legs large enough for a full+\ngrown sheep, united by a seemingly inconsiderable mem+\nbrane about half the substance of the legs collectively,\nwhich constituted the animal's entire body just at present.\nThe little speck of life he placed on a wisp of hay\nbefore the small stove, where a can of milk was simmer+\ning. Oak extinguished the lantern by blowing into it\nand then pinching the snuff, the cot being lighted\nby a candle suspended by a twisted wire. A rather\nhard couch, formed of a few corn sacks thrown carelessly\ndown, covered half the floor of this little\n \nhabitation, and\nhere the young man stretched himself along, loosened\nhis woollen cravat, and closed his eyes. In about the\ntime a person unaccustomed to bodily labour would have\ndecided upon which side to lie, Farmer Oak was asleep.\nThe inside of the hut, as it now presented itself, was\ncosy and alluring, and the scarlet handful of fire in\naddition to the candle, reflecting its own genial colour\nupon whatever it could reach, flung associations of\nenjoyment even over utensils and tools. In the corner\nstood the sheep-crook, and along a shelf at one side\nwere ranged bottles and canisters of the simple prepara+\ntions pertaining to ovine surgery and physic; spirits of\nwine, turpentine, tar, magnesia, ginger, and castor-oil\nbeing the chief. On a triangular shelf across the corner\nstood bread, bacon, cheese, and a cup for ale or cider,\nwhich was supplied from a flagon beneath. Beside the\nprovisions lay the flute whose notes had lately been\ncalled forth by the lonely watcher to beguile a tedious\nhour. The house was ventilated by two round holes,\nlike the lights of a ship's cabin, with wood slides+\nThe lamb, revived by the warmth' began to bleat'\ninstant meaning, as expected sounds will. Passing\nfrom the profoundest sleep to the most alert wakefulness\nwith the same ease that had accompanied the reverse\noperation, he looked at his watch, found that the hour+\nhand had shifted again, put on his hat, took the lamb\nin his arms, and carried it into the darkness. After\nplacing the little creature with its mother, he stood and\ncarefully examined the sky, to ascertain the time of\nnight from the altitudes of the stars.\nThe Dog-star and Aldebaran, pointing to the restless\nPleiades, were half-way up the Southern sky, and between\nthem hung Orion, which gorgeous constellation never\nburnt more vividly than now, as it soared forth above\nthe rim of the landscape. Castor and Pollux will\nthe north-west; far away through the plantation Vega\nand Cassiopeia's chair stood daintily poised on the\nuppermost boughs.\n \n\"One o'clock,' said Gabriel.\nBeing a man not without a frequent consciousness\nthat there was some charm in this life he led, he stood\nstill after looking at the sky as a useful instrument, and\nregarded it in an appreciative spirit, as a work of art\nsuperlatively beautiful. For a moment he seemed\nimpressed with the speaking loneliness of the scene, or\nrather with the complete abstraction from all its compass\nof the sights and sounds of man. Human shapes,interferences,\ntroubles, and joys were all as if they were not, and there\nseemed to be on the shaded hemisphere of the globe no sentient being\nsave himself; he could fancy them all gone round to the sunny side.\n Occupied this, with eyes stretched afar, Oak gradually per+\nceived that what he had previously taken to be a star low\ndown behind the outskirts of the plantation was in reality no\nsuch thing. It was an artificial light, almost close at hand.\n To find themselves utterly alone at night where company\nis desirable and expected makes some people fearful; but a\ncase more trying by far to the nerves is to discover some\nmysterious companionship when intuition, sensation, memory,\nanalogy, testimony, probability, induction -- every kind of\nevidence in the logician's list -- have united to persuade con+\nsciousness that it is quite in isolation.\n Farmer Oak went towards the plantation and pushed\nthrough its lower boughs to the windy side. A dim mass under\nthe slope reminded him that a shed occupied a place here,\nthe site being a cutting into the slope of the hill, so that at\nits back part the roof was almost level with the ground. In\nfront it was formed of board nailed to posts and covered with\ntar as apreservative. Through crevices in the roof and side\nspread streaks and spots of light, a combination of which made\nthe radiance that had attracted him. Oak stepped up behind,\nwhere,leaning down upon the roof and putting his eye close\nto a hole, he could see into the interior clearly.\n The place contained two women and two cows. By the side\nof the latter a steaming bran-mash stood in a bucket. One\nof the women was past middle age. Her companion was ap+\nparently young and graceful; he could form no decided opinion\n \nupon her looks, her position being almost beneath his eye, so\nthat he saw her in a bird's-eye view, as Milton's Satan first saw\nParadise. She wore no bonnet or het, but had enveloped her+\nself in a large cloak, which was carelessly flung over her head\nas a covering.\n \"There, now we'll go home,\" said the elder of the two, resting\n her knuckles upon her hips, and looking at their goings-on as\na whole. \"I do hope Daisy will fetch round again now. I have\nnever been more frightened in my life, but I don't mind break+\ning my rest if she recovers.\"\n The young woman, whose eyelids were apparently inclined\nto fall together on the smallest provocation of silence,yawned\nin sympathy.\n \"I wish we were rich enough to pay a man to do these\nthings,\" she said.\n \"As we are not, we must do them ourselves,\" said the other;\n\"for you must help me if you stay.\"\n\"Well, my hat is gone, however,\" continued the younger. \"It\nwent over the hedge, I think. The idea of such a slight wind\ncatching it.\"\n The cow standing erect was of the Devon breed, and was\nencased in a tight warm hide of rich Indian red, as absolutely\nuniform from eyes to tail as if the animal had been dipped in\na dye of that colour, her long back being mathematically level.\nThe other was spotted,grey and white. Beside her Oak now\nnoticed a little calf about a day old, looking idiotically at\nthe two women, which showed that it had not long been\naccustomed to the phenomenon of eyesight, and often turn+\ning to the lantern, which it apparently mistook for the moon.\ninherited instinct having as yet had little time for correction\nby experience. Between the sheep and the cows Lucina had\nbeen busy on Norcombe hill lately.\n \"I think we had better send for some oatmeal,\" said the\n\"Yes, aunt; and I'll ride over for it as soon as it is\nlight. '\n\" But there's no side-saddle.'\n \n\"I can ride on the other : trust me.'\nOak, upon hearing these remarks, became more\ncurious to observe her features, but this prospect being\ndenied him by the hooding efect of the cloak, and by his\naerial position, he felt himself drawing upon his fancy\nfor their details. In making even horizontal and clear\ninspections we colour and mould according to the warts\nwithin us whatever our eyes bring in. Had Gabriel\nbeen able from the first to get a distinct view of her +\ncountenance, his estimate of it as very handsome or\nslightly so would have been as his soul required a\ndivinity at the moment or was ready supplied with one.\nHaving for some time known the want of a satisfactory\nform to fill an increasing void within him, his position\nmoreover affording the widest scope for his fancy, he\npainted her a beauty.\nBy one of those whimsical coincidences in which\nNature, like a busy mother, seems to spare a moment\nfrom her unremitting labours to turn and make her\nchildren smile, the girl now dropped the cloak, and\nforth tumbled ropes of black hair over a red jacket.\nOak knew her instantly as the heroine of the yellow\nwaggon, myrtles, and looking-glass : prosily, as the\nwoman who owed him twopence.\nThey placed the calf beside its mother again, took\nup the lantern, and went out, the light sinking down\nthe hill till it was no more than a nebula. Gabriel\nOak returned to his flock.\n \nA GIRL ON HORSEBACK -- CONVERSATION\nTHE sluggish day began to break. Even its position\nterrestrially is one of the elements of a new interest,\nand for no particular reason save that the incident of\nthe night had occurred there, Oak went again into\nthe plantation. Lingering and musing here, he heard\nthe steps of a horse at the foot of the hill, and soon\nthere appeared in view an auburn pony with a girl on\nits back, ascending by the path leading past the cattle+\nshed. She was the young woman of the night before.\nGabriel instantly thought of the hat she had mentioned\nas having lost in the wind; possibly she had come to\nlook for it. He hastily scanned the ditch and after\nwalking about ten yards along it, found the hat among the\nleaves. Gabriel took it in his hand and returned to his\nhut. Here he ensconced himself, and peeped through\nthe loophole in the direction of the riders approach.\nShe came up and looked around -- then on the other\nside of the hedge. Gabriel was about to advance and\nrestore the missing article when an unexpected per+\nformance induced him to suspend the action for the\npresent. The path, after passing the cowshed, bisected\nthe plantation. It was not a bridle-path -- merely a\npedestrian's track, and the boughs spread horizontally\nat a height not greater than seven feet above the ground,\nwhich made it impossible to ride erect beneath them.\nThe girl, who wore no riding-habit, looked around for\na moment, as if to assure herself that all humanity was\nout of view, then dexterously dropped backwards flat\nupon the pony's back, her head over its tail, her feet\nagainst its shoulders, and her eyes to the sky. The\nrapidity of her glide into this position was that of a\nkingfisher -- its noiselessness that of a hawk. Gabriel's\neyes had scarcely been able to follow her. The tall lank\npony seemed used to such doings, and ambled\n \nalong unconcerned. Thus she passed under the level boughs.\nThe performer seemed quite at home anywhere\nbetween a horse's head and its tail, and the necessity\nfor this abnormal attitude having ceased with the\npassage of the plantation, she began to adopt another,\neven more obviously convenient than the first. She had\nno side-saddle, and it was very apparent that a firm\nseat upon the smooth leather beneath her was un+\nattainable sideways. Springing to her accustomed\nperpendicular like a bowed sapling, and satisfying her,\nself that nobody was in sight, she seated herself in the\nmanner demanded by the saddle, though hardly expected\nof the woman, and trotted off in the direction of Tewnell\nMill.\nOak was amused, perhaps a little astonished, and\nhanging up the hat in his hut, went again among his\newes. An hour passed, the girl returned, properly\nseated now, with a bag of bran in front of her. On\nnearing the cattle-shed she was met by a boy bringing\na milking-pail, who held the reins of the pony whilst\nshe slid off. The boy led away the horse, leaving the\npail with the young woman.\nSoon soft spirts alternating with loud spirts came\nin regular succession from within the shed, the obvious\nsounds of a person milking a cow. Gabriel took the\nlost hat in his hand, and waited beside the path she\nwould follow in leaving the hill.\nShe came, the pail in one hand, hanging against her\nknee. The left arm was extended as a balance, enough\nof it being shown bare to make Oak wish that the event\nha happened in the summer, when the whole would\nhave been revealed. There was a bright air and manner\nabout her now, by which she seemed to imply that the\ndesirability of her existence could not be questioned;\nand this rather saucy assumption failed in being offensive,\nbecause a beholder felt it to be, upon the whole, true.\nLike exceptional emphasis in the tone of a genius, that\nwhich would have made mediocrity ridiculous was an\naddition to recognised power. It was with some\nsurprise that she saw Gabriel's face rising like the\nmoon behind the hedge.\nThe adjustment of the farmer's hazy conceptions of\nher\n \ncharms to the portrait of herself she now presented\nhim with was less a diminuition than a difference. The\nstarting-point selected by the judgment was. her height\nShe seemed tall, but the pail was a small one, and the\nhedge diminutive; hence, making allowance for error\nby comparison with these, she could have been not\nabove the height to be chosen by women as best. All\nfeatures of consequence were severe and regular. It\nmay have been observed by persons who go about the\nshires with eyes for beauty, that in Englishwoman a\nclassically-formed face is seldom found to be united\nwith a figure of the same pattern, the highly-finished\nfeatures being generally too large for the remainder of\nthe frame ; that a graceful and proportionate figure of\neight heads usually goes off into random facial curves.\nWithout throwing a Nymphean tissue over a milkmaid,\nlet it be said that here criticism checked itself as out\nof place, and looked at her proportions with a long\nconsciousness of pleasure. From the contours of her\nfigure in its upper part, she must have had a beautiful\nneek and shoulders ; but since her infancy nobody had\never seen them. Had she been put into a low dress\nshe would have run and thrust her head into a bush.\nYet she was not a shy girl by any means; it was merely\nher instinct to draw the line dividing the seen from the\nunseen higher than they do it in towns.\nThat the girl's thoughts hovered about her face\nand form as soon as she caught Oak's eyes conning the\nsame page was natural, and almost certain. The self+\nconsciousness shown would have been vanity if a little\nmore pronounced, dignity if a little less. Rays of male\nvision seem to have a tickling effect upon virgin faces\nin rural districts ; she brushed hers with her hand, as if\nGabriel had been irritating its pink surface by actual\ntouch, and the free air of her previous movements was\nreduced at the same time to a chastened phase of\nitself. Yet it was the man who blushed, the maid not\nat all.\n\" I found a hat,' said Oak.\n\" It is mine,' said she, and, from a sense of proportion,\nkept down to a small smile an inclination to laugh dis+\ntinctly : \"it flew away last night.'\n\" One o'clock this morning ? '\n \n\" Well -- it was.' She was surprised. \" How did you\nknow ? ' she said.\n\" I was here.'\n\" You are Farmer Oak, are you not ? '\n\" That or thereabouts. I'm lately come to this place.'\n\" A large farm ? ' she inquired, casting her eyes round,\nand swinging back her hair, which was black in the\nshaded hollows of its mass; but it being now an hour\npast sunrise, the rays touched its prominent curves with\na colour of their own.\n\" No ; not large. About a hundred.' (In speaking\nof farms the word \"acres ' is omitted by the natives, by\nanalogy to such old expressions as \"a stag of ten.')\n' \"I wanted my hat this morning,' she went on.\nhad to ride to Tewnell Mill.'\n\"Yes you had.'\n\"How do you know?'\n\"I saw you!\n\"Where?' she inquired, a misgiving bringing every\nmuscle of her lineaments and frame to a standstill.\n\"Here-going through the plantation, and all down\nthe hill,' said Farmer Oak, with an aspect excessively\nknowing with regard to some matter in his mind, as he\ngazed at a remote point in the direction named, and then\nturned back to meet his colloquist's eyes.\nA perception caused him to withdraw his own eyes\nfrom hers as suddenly as if he had been caught in a\ntheft. Recollection of the strange antics she had\nindulged in when passing through the trees, was suc+\nceeded in the girl by a nettled palpitation, and that' by\na hot face. It was a time to see a woman redden who\nwas not given to reddening s a rule; not a point in\nthe milkmaid but was of the deepest rose-colour. From\nthe Maiden's Blush, through all varieties of the Provence\ndown to the Crimson Tuscany, the countenance of Oak's\nacquaintance quickly graduated ; whereupon he, in con+\nsiderateness, turned away his head.\nThe sympathetic man still looked the other way, and\nwondered when she would recover coolness sufficient to\njustify him in facing her again. He heard what seemed\nto be the flitting of a\n \ndead leaf upon the breeze, and\nlooked. She had gone away.\nWith an air between that of Tragedy and Comedy !\nGabriel returned to his work.\nFive mornings and evenings passed. The young\nwoman came regularly to milk the healthy cow or to\nattend to the sick one, but never allowed her vision to\nstray in the direction of Oak's person. His want of\ntact had deeply offended her -- not by seeing what he\ncould not help, but by letting her know that he had\nseen it. For, as without law there is no sin, without\neyes there is no indecorum; and she appeared to feel\nthat Gabriel's espial had made her an indecorous woman\nwithout her own connivance. It was food for great regret\nwith him; it was also a contretemps which touched into\nlife a latent heat he had experienced in that direction.\nThe acquaintanceship might, however, have ended in\na slow forgetting, but for an incident which occurred at\nthe end of the same week. One afternoon it began to\nfreeze, and the frost increased with evening, which drew\non like a stealthy tightening of bonds. It was a time\nwhen in cottages the breath of the sleepers freezes to\nthe sheets; when round the drawing-room fire of a\nthick-walled mansion the sitters' backs are cold, even\nwhilst their faces are all aglow. Many a small bird went\nto bed supperless that night among the bare boughs.\nAs the milking-hour drew near, Oak kept his usual\nwatch upon the cowshed. At last he felt cold, and\nshaking an extra quantity of bedding round the yeaning\newes he entered the hut and heaped more fuel upon\nthe stove. The wind came in at the bottom of the door,\nand to prevent it Oak laid a sack there and wheeled the\ncot round a little more to the south. Then the wind\nspouted in at a ventilating hole -- of which there was one\non each side of the hut.\nGabriel had always known that when the fire was\nlighted and the door closed one of these must be kept\nopen -- that chosen being always on the side away from\nthe wind. Closing the slide to windward, he turned to\nopen the other; on second -- -thoughts the farmer con+\nsidered that he would first sit down leaving both\nclosed for a minute or two, till the temperature of the\nhut was a little raised. He sat down.\n \nHis head began to ache in an unwonted manner, and,\nfancying himself weary by reason of the broken rests of\nthe preceding nights, Oak decided to get up, open the\nslide, and then allow himself to fall asleep. He fell\nasleep, however, without having performed the necessary\npreliminary.\nHow long he remained unconseious Gabriel never\nknew. During the first stages of his return to percep+\ntion peculiar deeds seemed to be in course of enactment.\nHis dog was howling, his head was aching fearfully --\nsomebody was pulling him about, hands were loosening\nhis neckerchief.\nOn opening his eyes he found that evening had sunk\nto dusk in a strange manner of unexpectedness. The\nyoung girl with the remarkably pleasant lips and white\nteeth was beside him. More than this -- astonishingly\nmore -- his head was upon her lap, his face and neck\nwere disagreeably wet, and her fingers were unbuttoning\nhis collar.\n\"Whatever is the matter?' said Oak, vacantly.\nShe seemed to experience mirth, but of too insignifi+\ncant a kind to start enjoyment.\n\"Nothing now', she answered, \"since you are not\ndead It is a wonder you were not,suffocated in this\nhut of yours.'\n\"Ah, the hut ! ' murmured Gabriel. \"I gave ten\npounds for that hut. But I'll sell it, and sit under\nthatched hurdles as they did in old times, curl up\nto sleep in a lock of straw! It played me nearly the\nsame trick the other day .! ' Gabriel, by way of emphasis,\nbrought down his fist upon the floor.\n\"It was not exactly the fault of the hut,' she ob+\nserved in a tone which showed her to be that novelty\namong women -- one who finished a thought before\nbeginning the sentence which was to convey it. \" You\nshould I think, have considered, and not have been so\nfoolish as to leave the slides closed.'\n\"Yes I suppose I should,' said Oak, absently. He\nwas endeavouring to catch and appreciate the sensation\nof being thus with her, his head upon her dress, before\nthe event passed on into the heap of bygone things.\nHe wished she knew his impressions ; but he would as\nsoon have thought of carrying an odour in a net as of\nattempting to convey the intangibilities\n \nof his feeling\nin the coarse meshes of language. So he remained\nsilent.\nShe made him sit up, and then Oak began wiping\nhis face and shaking himself like a Samson. \"How\ncan I thank 'ee ? ' he said at last, gratefully, some of the\nnatural rusty red having returned to his face.\n \" Oh, never mind that,' said the girl, smiling, and\nallowing her smile to hold good for Gabriel's next\nremark, whatever that might prove to be.\n\"How did you find me?\"\n\"I heard your dog howling and scratching at the\ndoor of the hut when I came to the milking (it was so\nlucky, Daisy's milking is almost over for the season, and\n I shall not come here after this week or the next). The\ndog saw me, and jumped over to me, and laid hold of\nmy skirt. I came across and looked round the hut the\nvery first thing to see if the slides were closed. My\nuncle has a hut like this one, and I have heard him tell\nhis shepherd not to go to sleep without leaving a slide\nopen. I opened the door, and there you were like\ndead. I threw the milk over you, as there was no\nwater, forgetting it was warm, and no use.'\n\"I wonder if I should have died ? ' Gabriel said, in a\nlow voice, which was rather meant to travel back to\nhimself than to her.\n\"O no,\" the girl replied. She seemed to prefer a\nless tragic probability ; to have saved a man from death\n'involved talk that should harmonise with the dignity of\nsuch a deed -- and she shunned it.\n\"I believe you saved my life, Miss -- -- I don!t know\nyour name. I know your aunt's, but not yours.'\n\" I would just as soon not tell it -- rather not. There\nis no reason either why I should, as you probably will\nnever have much to do with me.'\n \" Still, I should like to know.'\n\" You can inquire at my aunt's -- she will tell you.'\n'My name is Gabriel Oak.'\n\"And mine isn't. You seem fond of yours in\nspeaking it so decisively, Gabriel Oak.'\n \n\" You see, it is the only one I shall ever have, and I\nmust make the most of it.'\n\" I always think mine sounds odd and disagreeable.'\n\"I should think you might soon get a new one.'\n\"Mercy ! -- how many opinions you keep about you\nconcerning other people, Gabriel Oak.\n\"Well Miss-excuse the words-I thought you\nwould like them But I can't match you I know in\nnapping out my mind upon my tongue. I never was\nvery clever in my inside. But I thank you. Come\ngive me your hand!'\nShe hesitated, somewhat disconcerted at Oak's old+\nfashioned earnest conclusion. to a dialogue lightly\ncarried on.\"Very well,' she said, and gave him her\nhand, compressing her lips to a demure impassivity.\nHe held it but an instant, and in his fear of being too\ndemonstrative, swerved to the opposite extreme, touching\nher fingers with the lightness of a small-hearted person.\n\" I am sorry,' he said, the instant after.\n\" What for?'\n\"You may have it again if you like; there it is.'\nShe gave him her hand again.\nOak held it longer this time -- indeed, curiously long.\n\"How soft it is -- being winter time, too -- not chapped\nor rough or anything!' he said.\n\"There -- that's long enough,' said she, though with+\nout pulling it away \"But I suppose you are thinking\nyou would like to kiss it? You may if you want to.'\n\"I wasn't thinking of any such thing,' said Gabriel,\nsimply ; \"but I will'\n\"That you won't!' She snatched back her hand.\nGabriel felt himself guilty of another want of tact.\n\"Now find out my name,' she said, teasingly; and\nwithdrew.\n \nGABRIEL'S RESOLVE -- THE VISIT -- THE MISTAKE\nTHE only superiority in women that is tolerable to the\nrival sex is, as a rule, that of the unconscious kind ; but\na superiority which recognizes itself may sometimes\nplease by suggesting possibilities of capture to the\nsubordinated man.\nThis well-favoured and comely girl soon made appre+\nciable inroads upon the emotional constitution of young\nFarmer Oak.\nLove, being an extremely exacting usurer (a sense of\nexorbitant profit, spiritually, by an exchange of hearts,\nbeing at the bottom of pure passions, as that of exorbi+\ntant profit, bodily or materially, is at the bottom of\nthose of lower atmosphere), every morning Oak's feelings\nwere as sensitive as the money-market in calculations\nupon his chances. His dog waited for his meals in a\nway so like that in which Oak waited for the girl's\npresence, that the farmer was quite struck with the\nresemblance, felt it lowering, and would not look at the\ndog. However, he continued to watch through the\nhedge for her regular coming, and thus his sentiments\ntowards her were ideepened without any corresponding\neffect being produced upon herself. Oak had nothing\nfinished and ready to say as yet, and not being able\nto frame love phrases which end where they begin ;\npassionate tales -- +\n -- -Full of sound and fury\n -- -signifting nothing -- +\nhe said no word at all.\nBy making inquiries he found that the girl's name\nwas Bathsheba Everdene, and that the cow would go\ndry in about seven days. He dreaded the eight day.\nAt last the eighth day came. The cow had ceased\nto give milk for that year, and Bathsheba Everdene\ncame up the hill no more. Gabriel had reached a\npitch of existence he never\n \ncould have anticipated a\nshort time before. He liked saying 'Bathsheba' as a\nprivate enjoyment instead of whistling; turned over his\ntaste to black hair, though he had sworn by brown ever\nsince he was a boy, isolated himself till the space he\nfilled in a possible strength in an actual weakness. Marriage\ntransforms a distraction into a support, the power of\nwhich should be, and happily often is, in direct pro+\nportion to the degree of imbecility it supplants. Oak\nbegan now to see light in this direction, and said to\nhimself, \"I'll make her my wife, or upon my soul I shall\nbe good for nothing .! '\nAll this while he was perplexing himself about an\nerrand on which he might consistently visit the cottage\nof Bathsheba's aunt.\nHe found his opportunity in the death of a ewe,\nmother of a living lamb. On a day which had a\nsummer face and a winter constitution-a fine January\nmorning, when there was just enough blue sky visible to\nmake cheerfully-disposed people wish for more, and an\noccasional gleam of silvery sunshine, Oak put the lamb\ninto a respectable Sunday basket, and stalked across the\nfields to the house of Mrs. Hurst, the aunt -- George,\nthe dog walking behind, with a countenance of great\nconcern at the serious turn pastoral affairs seemed to be\ntaking.\nGabriel had watched the blue wood-smoke curling\nfrom the chimney with strange meditation. At evening\nhe had fancifully traced it down the chimney to the\nspot of its origin -- seen the hearth and Bathsheba\nbeside it -- beside it in her out-door dress; for the\nclothes she had worn on the hill were by association\nequally with her person included in the compass of his\naffection; they seemed at this early time of his love a\nnecessary ingredient of the sweet mixture called Bath+\nsheba Everdene.\nHe had made a toilet of a nicely-adjusted kind -- of a\nnature between the carefully neat and the carelessly\nornate -- of a degree between fine-market-day and wet+\nSunday selection. He thoroughly cleaned his silver\nwatch-chain with whiting, put new lacing straps to his\nboots, looked to the brass eyelet-holes,\n \n went to the\ninmost heart of the plantation for a new walking-stick,\nand trimmed it vigorously on his way back; took a new\nhandkerchief from the bottom of his clothes-box, put\non the light waistcoat patterned all over with sprigs\nof an elegant flower uniting the beauties of both rose\nand lily without the defects of either, and used all the\nhair-oil he possessed upon his usually dry, sandy, and\ninextricably curly hair, till he had deepened it to a\nsplendidly novel colour, between that of guano and\nRoman cement, making it stick to his head like mace\nround a nutmeg, or wet seaweed round a boulder after\nthe ebb.\nNothing disturbed the stillness of the cottage save\n the chatter of a knot of sparrows on the eaves; one\nmight fancy scandal and rumour to be no less the\nstaple topic of these little coteries on roofs than of\nthose under them. It seemed that the omen was an\nunpropitious one, for, as the rather untoward commence+\nment of Oak's overtures, just as he arrived by the garden\ngate, he saw a cat inside, going into various arched shapes\nand fiendish convulsions at the sight of his dog George.\nThe dog took no notice , for he had arrived at an age\nat which all superfluous barking was cynically avoided\nas a waste of breath -- -in fact he never barked even\nat the sheep except to order, when it was done with\nan absolutely neutral countenance, as a sort of Com+\nmination-service, which, though offensive, had to be\ngone through once now and then to frighten the flock\nfor their own good.\nA voice came from behind some laurel-bushes into\nwhich the cat had run:\n\"Poor dear! Did a nasty brute of a dog want to\nkill it; -- did he poor dear !'\n\"I beg your pardon,' said Oak to the voice, 'but\nGeorge was walking on behind me with a temper as\nmild as milk.'\nAlmost before he had ceased speaking, Oak was\nseized with a misgiving as to whose ear was the recipient\nof his answer. Nobody appeared, and he heard the\nperson retreat among the bushes.\nGabriel meditated, and so deeply that he brought\nsmall furrows into his forehead by sheer force of\nreverie. Where the\n \nissue of an interview is as likely\nto be a vast change for the worse as for the better,\nany initial difference from expectation causes nipping\nsensations of failure. Oak went up to the door a little\nabashed : his mental rehearsal and the reality had had\nno common grounds of opening.\nBathsheba's aunt was indoors. \" Will you tell Miss\nEverdene that somebody would be glad to speak to\nher ?'said Mr. Oak. (Calling one's self merely Some+\nbody, without giving a name, is not to be taken as\nan example of the ill-breeding of the rural world: it\nsprings from a refined modesty, of which townspeople,\nwith their cards and announcements, have no notion\nwhatever.)\nBathsheba was out. The voice had evidently been\nhers.\n\" Will you come in, Mr. Oak ? '\n\"Oh, thank 'ee, said Gabriel, following her to the\nfireplace. \"I've brought a lamb for Miss Everdene.\nI thought she might like one to rear; girls do.'\n\" She might,' said Mrs. Hurst, musingly ; \" though\nshe's only a visitor here. If you will wait a minute,\nBathsheba will be in.'\n\" Yes, I will wait,' said Gabriel, sitting down. \" The\nlamb isn't really the business I came about, Mrs. Hurst.\nIn short, I was going to ask her if she'd like to be\nmarried.'\n\"And were you indeed ?'\n\" Yes. Because if she would, I should be very glad\nto marry her. D'ye know if she's got any other young\nman hanging about her at all ?'\n\"Let me think,\" said Mrs. Hurst, poking the fire\nsuperfluously.... \" Yes -- bless you, ever so many young\nmen. You see, Farmer Oak, she's so good-looking, and\nan excellent scholar besides -- she was going to be a\ngoverness once, you know, only she was too wild. Not\nthat her young men ever come here -- but, Lord, in the\nnature of women, she must have a dozen ! '\n\" That's unfortunate,' said Farmer Oak, contemplating\na crack in the stone floor with sorrow. \"I'm only an\nevery-day sort of man, and my only chance was in being\nthe first comer... , Well, there's no use in my waiting,\nfor that was all I came about: so I'll take myself off\nhome-along, Mrs. Hurst.'\nWhen Gabriel had gone about two hundred yards\nalong the\n \ndown, he heard a \"hoi-hoi .! \" uttered behind\nhim, in a piping note of more treble quality than that\nin which the exclamation usually embodies itself when\nshouted across a field. He looked round, and saw a girl\nracing after him, waving a white handkerchief.\nOak stood still -- and the runner drew nearer. It was\nBathsheba Everdene. Gabriel's colour deepened: hers\nwas already deep, not, as it appeared, from emotion,\nbut from running.\n\"Farmer Oak -- I -- ' she said, pausing for want of\nbreath pulling up in front of him with a slanted face\nand putting her hand to her side.\n\"I have just called to see you ' said Gabriel, pending\nher further speech.\n\"Yes-I know that,! she said panting like a robin,\nher face red and moist from her exertions, like a peony\npetal before the sun dries off the dew. \"I didn't know\nyou had come to ask to have me, or I should have come\nin from the garden instantly. I ran after you to say --\nthat my aunt made a mistake in sending you away from\ncourting me -- -- -- '\nGabriel expanded.\"I'm sorry to have made you\nrun so fast, my dear,' he said, with a grateful sense of\nfavours to come. \"Wait a bit till you've found your\nbreath.'\n\" -- It was quite a mistake-aunt's telling you I had\na young man \"already,'- Bathsheba went on. \" I haven't\na sweetheart at all -- and I never had one, and I thought\nthat, as times go with women, it was such a pity to send\nyou away thinking that I had several.'\n\"Really and truly I am glad to hear that.!' said .=\nFarmer Oak, smiling one of his long special smiles, and\nblushing with gladness. He held out his hand to take\nhers, which, when she had eased her side by pressing\nit there, was prettily extended upon her bosom to still\nher loud-beating heart. Directly he seized it she put\nit behind her, so that it slipped through his fingers like\nan eel. \"\n\"I have a nice snug little farm,' said Gabriel, with\nhalf a degree less assurance than when he had seized\nher hand.\n\"Yes ; you have.'\n\"A man has advanced me money to begin with, but\nstill, it\n \nwill soon be paid off and though I am only an\nevery-day sort of man, I have got on a little since I was\na boy.' Gabriel uttered \"a little' in a tone to-show\nher that it was the complacent form of \"a great deal.'\nHe continued : \" When we be married, I am quite sure\nI can work twice as hard as I do now.'\n He went forward and stretched out his arm again.\nBathsheba had overtaken him at a point beside which\nstood a low stunted holly bush, now laden with red\nberries. Seeing his advance take the form of an attitude\nthreatening a possible enclosure, if not compression, of\nher person, she edged off round the bush.\n\" Why, Farmer Oak,' she said, over the top, looking\nat him with rounded eyes, \"I never said I was going to\nmarry you.'\n\" Well -- that is a tale .! ' said Oak, with dismay. \" To\nrun after anybody like this, and then say you don\"t\nwant him ! '\n\"What I meant to tell you was only this,' she said\neagerly, and yet half conscious of the absurdity of the\nposition she had made for herself -- \"that nobody has\ngot me yet as a sweetheart, instead of my having a\ndozen, as my aunt said; I hate to be thought men's\nproperty in that way, though possibly I shall be had\nsome day. Why, if I'd wanted you I shouldn't have\nrun after you like this ; 'twould have'been the forwardest\nthing ! But there was no harm in 'hurrying to correct\na piece of false news that had been told you.'\n\"Oh, no -- no harm at all.\" But there is such a thing\nas being too generous in expressing a judgment impuls+\nively, and Oak added with a more appreciative sense\nof all the circumstances -- ' Well, I am not quite certain\nit was no harm.'\n\"Indeed, I hadn't time to think before starting\nwhether I wanted to marry or not, for you'd have been\ngone over the hill.'\n\" Come,' said Gabriel, freshening again ; \"think a\nminute or two. I'll wait a while, Miss Everdene. Will\nyou marry me? Do, Bathsheba. I love you far more\nthan common!'\n\"I'll try to think,' she observed, rather more timor+\nously ; \"if I can think out of doors; my mind spreads\naway so.'\n\"But you can give a guess.'\n \n\"Then give me time.' Bathsheba looked thought+\nfully into the distance, away from the direction in which\nGabriel stood.\n\"I can make you happy,' said he to the back of her\nhead, across the bush. \"You shallo have as piano in a\nyear or two -- -farmers' wives are getting to have pianos\nnow -- and I'll practise up the flute right well to play\nwith you in the evenings.'\n\" Yes ; I should like that.'\n\"And have one of those little ten-pound\" gigs for\nmarket -- and nice flowers, and birds -- cocks and hens\nI mean, because they be useful,' continued Gabriel,\nfeeling balanced between poetry and practicality.\n\"I should like it very much.'\n\"And a frame for cucumbers -- like a gentlman and\nlady.'\n\"Yes.'\n\"And when the wedding was over, we'd have it put\nin the newspaper list of marriages.'\n\" Dearly I should like that ! '\n\"And the babies in the births -- every man jack of\n'em! And at home by the fire, whenever you look up,\nthere I shall be -- and whenever I look up' there will\nbe you.'\n\"Wait wait and don't be improper .!'\nHer countenance fell, and she was silent awhile.\nHe regarded the red berries between them over and\nover again, to such an extent, that holly seemed in\nhis after life to be a cypher signifying a proposal of\nmarriage. Bathsheba decisively turned to him.\n\"No;' 'tis no use,' she said. 'I don't want to marry\nyou. '\n' Try.'\n\"I have tried hard all the time I've been thinking;\nfor a marriage would be very nice in one sense.\nPeople would talk about me, and think I had won my\nbattle, and I should feel triumphant, and' all that,\nBut a husband -- -- ' - +\n\" Well .! '\n\" Why, he'd always be there, as you say; whenever\nI looked up, there he'd be.'\n\" Of course he would -- I, that is.'\n \n\" Well, what I mean is that I shouldn't mind being\na bride at a wedding, if I could be one without having\na husband. But since a woman can't show off in that\nway by herself, I shan't marry -- at least yet.'\n' That's a terrible wooden story.'\nAt this criticism of her statement Bathsheba made\nan addition to her dignity by a slight sweep away\nfrom him.\n\"Upon my heart and soul, I don't know what a\nmaid can say stupider than that,' said Oak. \"But\ndearest,' he continued in a palliative voice, \"don't be\nlike it !.' Oak sighed a deep honest sigh -- none the\nless so in that, being like the sigh of a pine plantation,\nit was rather noticeable as a disturbance of the atmo+\nsphere. \" Why won't you have me ? ' he appealed,\ncreeping round the holly to reach her side.\n\" I cannot,' she said, retreating.\n\"But why ?' he persisted, standing still at last in\ndespair of ever reaching her, and facing over the\nbush.\n' Because I don't love you.'\n\" Yes, but -- -- '\nShe contracted a yawn to an inoffensive smallness,\nso that it was hardly ill-mannered at all. \"I don't love\nyou,' she said.'\n\"But I love you -- and, as for myself, I am content\nto be liked.'\n\" O Mr. Oak -- that's very fine ! You'd get to\ndespise me.'\n\"Never,' said Mr Oak, so earnestly that he seemed\nto be coming, by the forceof his words, straight\nthrough the bush and into her arms. \"I shall do one\nthing in this life -- one thing certain -- that is, love you,\nand long for you, and keep wanting you till I die.' His\nvoice had a genuine pathos now, and his large brown\nhands perceptibly trembled.\n\"It seems dreadfully wrong not to have you when\nyou feel so much!' she said with a little distress, and\nlooking hopeleely around for some means of escape\nfrom her moral dilemma. \" H(ow I wish I hadn't run\nafter you!' However she seemed to have a short cut\nfor getting back to cheerfulness, and set her face to\nsignify archness. \"It wouldn't do, Mr Oak. I want\nsomebody to tame me; I am too independent ; and\nyou would never be able to, I know.'\n \nOak cast his eyes down the field in a way implying\nthat it was useless to attempt argument.\n\" Mr. Oak,' she said, with luminous distinctness and\ncommon sense, \" you are better off than I. I have\nhardly a penny in the world -- I am staying with my\naunt for my bare sustenance. I am better educated\nthan you -- and I don't love you a bit: that's my side\nof the case. Now yours: you are a farmer just begin+\ning; and you ought in common prudence, if you marry\nat all (which you should certainly not think of doing\nat present) to marry a woman with money, who would\nadmiration.\n\"That's the very thing I had been thinking myself !'\nhe naively said.\nFarmer Oak had one-and-a-half Christian character\nistics too many to succeed with Bathsheba : his humility,\nand a superfluous moiety of honesty. Bathsheba was\ndecidedly disconcerted,\n\"Well, then, why did you come and disturb me?'\nshe said, almost angrily, if not quite, an enlarging red\nspot rising in each cheek.\n\" I can't do what I think would be -- would be -- -- '\n\" Right ? '\n\" No : wise.'\n\" You have made an admission now, Mr. Oak,' she\nexclaimed, with even more hauteur, and rocking her\nhead disdainfully. 'After that, do you think I could\nmarry you? Not if I know it.'\nHe broke in passionately ! \"But don't mistake me\nlike that! Because I am open enough to own what\nevery man in my shoes would have thought of, you\nmake your colours come up your face, and get crabbed\nwith me. That about your not being good enough for\nme is nonsense. You speak like a lady -- all the parish\nnotice it, and your uncle at Weatherbury is, I have\nheerd, a large farmer -- much larger than ever I shall\nbe. May I call in the evening, or will you walk along\nwith me o' Sundays? I don't want you to make-up\nyour mind at once, if you'd rather not.'\n \n\" No -- no -- I cannot. Don't press me any more --\ndon't. I don't love you -- so 'twould be ridiculous,'\nshe said, with a laugh.\nNo man likes to see his emotions the sport of a\nmerry-go-round of skittishness. \" Very well,' said Oak,\nfirmly, with the bearing of one who was going to give '\nhis days and nights to Ecclesiastes for ever. \"Then\nI'll ask you no more.'\n \nDEPARTURE OF BATHSHEBA -- A PASTORAL TRAGEDY\nTHE news which one day reached Gabriel, that Bath+\nsheba Everdene had left the neighbourhood, had an\ninfluence upon him which might have surprised any\nwho never suspected that the more emphatic the renun+\nciation the less absolute its character.\nIt may have been observed that there is no regula\npath for getting out of love as there is for getting in.\nSome people look upon marriage as a short cut that way,\nbut it has been known to fail. Separation, which was\nthe means that chance offered to Gabriel Oak by\nBathsheba's disappearance though effectual with people\nof certain humours is apt to idealise the removcd object\nwith others -- notably those whose affection, placid and\nregular as it may be flows deep and long. Oak belonged\nto the even-tempered order of humanity, and felt the\nsecret fusion of himself in Bathsheba to be burning with\na finer flame now that she was gone -- that was all.\nHis incipient friendship with her aunt-had been\nnipped by the failure of his suit, and all that Oak learnt\nof Bathsheba's movements was done indirectly. It ap+\npeared that she had gone to a place called Weatherbury,\nmore than twenty miles off, but in what capacity --\nwhether as a visitor, or permanently, he could not\ndiscover.\nGabriel had two dogs. George, the elder, exhibited\nan ebony-tipped nose, surrounded by a narrow margin\nof pink flesh, and a coat marked in random splotches\napproximating in colour to white and slaty grey ; but the\ngrey, after years of sun and rain, had been scorched and\nwashed out of the more prominent locks, leaving them\nof a reddish-brown, as if the blue component of the grey\nhad faded, like the indigo from the same kind of colour in\nTurner's pictures. In substance it had originally been\nhair, but long contact with sheep seemed\n \nto be turning\nit by degrees into wool of a poor quality and staple.\nThis dog had originally belonged to a shepherd of\ninferior morals and dreadful temper, and the result was\nthat George knew the exact degrees of condemnation\nsignified by cursing and swearing of all descriptions\nbetter than the wickedest old man in the neighbourhood.\nLong experience had so precisely taught the animal the\ndifference between such exclamations as 'Come in .! '\nand 'D -- -- ye, come in !.' that he knew to a hair's\nbreadth the rate of trotting back from the ewes' tails\nthat each call involved, if a staggerer with the sheep\ncrook was to be escaped. Though old, he was clever\nand trustworthy still.\nThe young dog, George's son, might possibly have\nbeen the image of his mother, for there was not much\nresemblance between him and George. He was learn+\ning the sheep-keeping business, so as to follow on at\nthe flock when the other should die, but had got no\nfurther than the rudiments as yet -- still finding an\ninsuperable difculty in distinguishing between doing a\nthing well enough and doing it too well. So earnest\nand yet so wrong-headed was this young dog (he had no,\nname in particular, and answered with perfect readiness\nto any pleasant interjection), that if sent behind the\nflock to help them on, he did it so thoroughly that he\nwould have chased them across the whole county with\nthe greatest pleasure if not called off or reminded when\nto step by the example of old George.\nThus much for the dogs. On the further side of\nNorcombe Hill was a chalk-pit, from which chalk had\nbeen drawn for generations, and spread over adjacent\nfarms. Two hcdges converged upon it in the form of\na V, but without quite meeting. The narrow opening\nleft, which was immediately over the brow of the pit,\nwas protected by a rough railing.\nOne night, when Farmer Oak had returned to, his\nhouse, believing there would be no further necessity for\nhis attendance on the down, he called as usual to the\ndogs, previously to shutting them up in the outhouse till\nnext morning. Only one responded -- old George ; the\nother-could not be found, either in the house, lane, or\ngarden. - Gabriel then remembered\n \nthat he had left the\ntwo dogs on the hill eating a dead lamb (a kind of meat\nhe usually kept from them, except when other food-ran\nfinished his meal, he went indoors to the luxury of a bed,\nwhich latterly he had only enjoyed on Sundays.\nIt was a still, moist night. Just before dawn he was\nassisted in waking by the abnormal reverberation of\nfamiliar music. To the shepherd, the note of the sheep'\nchronic sound that only makes itself noticed by ceasing\never distant, that all is well in the fold. In the solemn\nThis exceptional ringing may be caused in two ways -- +\nby the rapid feeding of the sheep bearing the bell, as\nwhen the flock breaks into new pasture, which gives it\nan intermittent rapidity, or by the sheep starting off in\na run, when the sound has a regular palpitation. The\nexperieced ear of Oak knew the sound he now' heard\nto be caused by the running of the flock with great\nvelocity.\nHe jumped out of bed, dressed, tore down the lane\nthrough a foggy dawn, and ascended the hill. The\nforward ewes were kept apart from those among which\nthe fall of lambs would be later, there being two hundred\nof the latter class in Gabriel's flock. These two hundred\nseemed to have absolutely vanished from the hill. There\nwere the fifty with their lambs, enclosed at the other end\nas he had left them, but the rest, forming the bulk of\nthe flock, were nowhere. Gabriel called at the top of\nhis voice the shepherd's call.\n\" Ovey, ovey, ovey .! '\nNot a single bleat. He went to the hedge -- a gap\nhad been broken through it, and in the gap were the\nfootprints of the sheep. Rather surprised to find\nthem break fence at this season, yet putting it down\ninstantly to their great fondness for ivy in winter-time,\nof which a great deal grew in the plantation, he followed\nthrough the hedge. They were not in the plantation.\nHe called again : the valleys and farthest hills\n \nresounded\nas when the sailors invoked the lost Hylas on the Mysian\nshore ; but no sheep. He passed through the trees and\nalong the ridge of the hill. On the extreme summit,\nwhere the ends of the two converging hedges of which\nwe have spoken were stopped short by meeting the brow\nof the chalk-pit, he saw the younger dog standing against\nthe sky -- dark and motionless as Napoleon at St.\nHelena.\nA horrible conviction darted through Oak. With\na sensation of bodily faintness he advanced : at one\npoint the rails were broken through, and there he saw\nthe footprints of his ewes. The dog came up, licked\nhis hand, and made signs implying that he expected\nsome great reward for signal services rendered. Oak\nlooked over the precipice. The ewes lay dead and dying\nat its foot -- a heap of two hundred mangled careases,\nrepresenting in their condition just now at least two\nhundred more.\nOak was an intensely humane man: indeed, his\nhumanity often tore in pieces any politic intentions of\nhis which bordered on strategy, and carried him on as\nby gravitation. A shadow in his life had always been\nthat his flock ended in mutton -- that a day came and\nfound every shepherd an arrant traitor to his defenceless\nsheep. His first feeling now was one of pity for the\nuntimely fate of these gentle ewes and their unborn\nlambs.\nIt was a second to remember another phase of the\nmatter. The sheep were not insured. All the savings\nof a frugal life had been dispersed at a blow ; his hopes\nof being an independent farmer were laid low -- possibly\nfor ever. Gabriel's energies, patience, and industry had\nbeen so severely taxed during the years of his life between\neighteen and eight-and-twenty, to reach his present stage\nof progress' that no more seemed to be left in him. He\nhands.\nStupors, however, do not last for ever, and Farmer\nOak recovered from his. It was as remarkable as it was\ncharacteristic that the one sentence he uttered was in\nthankfulness : --\n'Thank God I am not married : what would she have\ndone in the poverty now coming upon me ! '\n \nOak raised his head, and wondering what he could\ndo listlessly surveyed the scene. By the outer margin\nof the Pit was an oval pond, and over it hung the\nattenuated skeleton of a chrome-yellow moon which\nhad only a few days to last -- the morning star dogging\nher on the left hand. The pool glittered like a dead\nman's eye, and as the world awoke a breeze blew,\nshaking and elongating the reflection of the moon\nwithout breaking it, and turning the image of the star\nto a phosphoric streak upon the water. All this Oak\nsaw and remembered.\nAs far as could be learnt it appeared that the poor\nyoung dog, still under the impression that since he was\nkept for running after sheep, the more he ran after\nthem the better, had at the end of his meal off the\ndead lamb, which may have given him additional energy\nand spirits, collected all the ewes into a corner, driven\nthe timid creatures through the hedge, across the upper\nfield, and by main force of worrying had given them\nmomentum enough to break down a portion of the\nrotten railing, and so hurled them over the edge.\nGeorge's son had done his work so thoroughly that\nhe was considered too good a workman to live, and was,\nin fact, taken and tragically shot at twelve o'clcck that\nsame day -- another instance of the untoward fate which\nso often attends dogs and other philosophers who\nfollow out a train of reasoning to its logical conclusion,\nand attempt perfectly consistent conduct in a world\nmade up so largely of compromise.\nGabriel's farm had been stocked by a dealer -- on the\nstrength of Oak's promising look and character -- who\nwas receiving a percentage from the farmer till such\ntime as the advance should be cleared off Oak found+\nthat the value of stock, plant, and implements which\nwere really his own would be about sufficient to pay his\ndebts, leaving himself a free man with the clothes he\nstood up in, and nothing more.\n \nTHE FAIR -- THE JOURNEY -- THE FIRE\nTWO months passed away. We are brought on to a\nday in February, on which was held the yearly statute\nor hiring fair in the county-town of Casterbridge.\nAt one end of the street stood from two to three\nhundred blithe and hearty labourers waiting upon Chance\n -- all men of the stamp to whom labour suggests nothing\nworse than a wrestle with gravitation, and pleasure\nnothing better than a renunciation of the same among\nthese, carters and waggoners were distinguished by\nhaving a piece of whip-cord twisted round their hats;\nthatchers wore a fragment of woven straw; shepherds\nheld their sheep-crooks in their hands; and thus the\nsituation required was known to the hirers at a\nglance.\nIn the crowd was an athletic young fellow of some+\nwhat superior appearance to the rest -- in fact, his\nsuperiority was marked enough to lead several ruddy\npeasants standing by to speak to him inquiringly, as to\na farmer, and to use 'Sir' as a finishing word. His\nanswer always was,\n'I am looking for a place myself -- a bailiff's. Do\nYe know of anybody who wants one ?'\nGabriel was paler now. His eyes were more medi+\ntative, and his expression was more sad. He had\npassed through an ordeal of wretchedness which had\ngiven him more than it had taken away. He had sunk\nfrom his modest elevation as pastoral king into the very\nslime-pits of Siddim ; but there was left to him a digni+\nfied calm he had never before known, and that indiffer+\nence to fate which, though it often makes a villain of\na man, is the basis of his sublimity when it does not.\nAnd thus the abasement had been exaltation, and the\nloss gain.\nIn the morning a regiment of cavalry had left the\ntown, and a sergeant and his party had been beating up\nfor recruits through the four streets. As the end of the\nday drew on, and\n \nhe found himself not hired, Gabriel\nalmost wished that he had joined them, and gone off to\nserve his country. Weary of standing in the market+\nplace, and not much minding the kind of work he\nturned his hand to, he decided to offer himself in some\nother capacity than that of bailiff.\nAll the farmers seemed to be wanting shepherds.\nSheep-tending was Gabriel's speciality. Turning down\nan obscure street and entering an obscurer lane, he went\nup to a smith's shop.\n'How long would it take you to make a shepherd's\ncrook ? '\n'Twenty minutes.'\n'How much ? '\n'Two shillings.'\nHe sat on a bench and the crook was made, a stem\nbeing given him into the bargain.\nHe then went to a ready-made clothes' shop, the\nowner of which had a large rural connection. As the\ncrook had absorbed most of Gabriel's money, he\nattempted, and carried out, an exchange of his overcoat\nfor a shepherd's regulation smock-frock.\nThis transaction having been completed, he again\nhurried off to the centre of the town, and stood on the\nkerb of the pavement, as a shepherd, crook in hand.\nNow that Oak had turned himself into a shepherd, it\nseemed that bailifs were most in demand. However, two\nor three farmers noticed him and drew near. Dialogues\nfollowed, more or lessin the subjoined for: --\n'Where do you come from?'\n'Norcombe.'\n'That's a long way.\n'Fifteen miles.'\n'Who's farm were you upon last?'\n'My own.'\nThis reply invariably operated like a rumour of\ncholera. The inquring farmer would edge away and\nshake his head dubiously. Gabriel, like his dog, was\ntoo good to be trustworthy,. and he never made advance\nbeyond this point.\nIt is safer to accept any chance that offers itself, and\n \n \n \nextemporize a procedure to fit it, than to get a good\nshepherd, but had laid himself out for anything in the\nwhole cycle of labour that was required in the fair. It\ngrew dusk. Some merry men were whistling and\nsinging by the corn-exchange. Gabriel's hand, which\nhad lain for some time idle in his smock-frock pocket,\ntouched his flute which he carried there. Here was\nan opportunity for putting his dearly bought wisdom\ninto practice.\nHe drew out his flute and began to play Jockey to\nthe Fair' in the style of a man who had never known\nmoment's sorrow. Oak could pipe with Arcadian\nsweetness and the sound of the well-known notes\ncheered his own heart as well as those of the loungers.\nHe played on with spirit, and in half an hour had\nearned in pence what was a small fortune to a destitute\nman.\nBy making inquiries he learnt that there was another\nfair at Shottsford the next day.\n'How far is Shottsford?'\n'Ten miles t'other side of Weatherbury.'\nWeatherbury!. It was where Bathsheba had gone\ntwo months before. This information was like coming\nfrom night into noon.\n'How far is it to Weatherbury ?'\n'Five or six miles.'\nBathsheba had probably left Weatherbury long before\nthis time, but the place had enough interest attaching\nto it to lead Oak to choose Shottsford fair as his next\nfield of inquiry, because it lay in the Weatherbury\nquarter. Moreover, the Weatherbury folk were by no\nmeans uninteresting intrinsically. If report spoke truly\nthey were as hardy, merry, thriving, wicked a set as\nany in the whole county. Oak resolved to sleep at\nWeatherbury -- -that -- night on his way to Shottsford,\nand struck out at once -- into the -- high road which had\nbeen recommended as the direct route to the village in\nquestion.\nThe road stretched through water-meadows traversed\nby little brooks, whose quivering surfaces were braided\nalong their centres, and folded into creases at the sides;\nor, where the flow was more rapid, the stream was pied\nwith spots of white froth,\n \nwhich rode on in undisturbed\nserenity. On the higher levels the dead and dry carcases\nof leaves tapped the ground as they bowled along helter+\nskelter upon the shoulders of the wind, and little birds\nin the hedges were rustling their feathers and tucking\nthemselves in comfortably for the night, retaining their\nplaces if Oak kept moving, but flying away if he\nstopped to look at them. He passed by Yalbury-Wood\nwhere the game-birds were rising to their roosts, and\nheard the crack-voiced cock-pheasants' 'cu-uck, cuck,'\nand the wheezy whistle of the hens.\nBy the time he had walked three or four miles every\nshape in the-landscape had assumed a uniform hue of\nblackness. He descended Yalbury Hill and could just\ndiscern ahead of him a waggon, drawn up under a great\nover-hanging tree by the roadside.\nOn coming close, he found there were no horses\nattached to it, the spot being apparently quite deserted.\nThe waggon, from its position, seemed to have been left\nthere for the night, for beyond about half a truss of hay\nwhich was heaped in the bottom, it was quite empty.\nGabriel sat down on the shafts of the vehicle and con+\nsidered his position. He calculated that he had walked\na very fair proportion of the journey; and having been\non foot since daybreak, he felt tempted to lie down upon\nthe hay in the waggon instead of pushing on to the\nvillage of Weatherbury, and having to pay for a lodging.\nEating his las slices of bread and ham, and drinking\nfrom the bottle of cider he had taken the precaution to\nbring with him, he got into the lonely waggon. Here\nhe spread half of the hay as a bed, and, as well as he\ncould in the darkness, pulled the other half over him\nby way of bed-clothes, covering himself entirely, and\nfeeling, physically, as comfortable as ever he had been\nin his life. Inward melancholy it was impossible for\na man like Oak, introspective far beyond his neighbours,\nto banish quite, whilst conning the present. untoward\npage of his history. So, thinking of his misfortunes,\namorous and pastoral he fell asleep, shepherds enjoying,\nin common with sailors, the privilege of being able to\nsummon the god instead of having to wait for him.\n \nOn somewhat suddenly awaking after a sleep of\nwhose length he had no idea, Oak found that the waggon\nwas in motion. He was being carried along the road\nat a rate rather considerable for a vehicle without\nsprings, and under circumstances of physical uneadiness,\nhis head being dandled up and down on the bed of\nthe waggon like a kettledrum-stick. He then dis+\ntinguished voices in conversation, comig from the\nforpart of the waggon. His concern at this dilemma\n(which would have been alarm, had he been a thriving\nman; but -- misfortune is a fine opiate to personal terror)\nled him to peer cautiously from the hay, and the first\nsight he beheld was the stars above him. Charles's\nWain was getting towards a right angle with the Pole\nstar, and Gabriel concluded that it must be about nine\no'clock -- in other words, that he had slept two hours.\nThis small astronomical calculation was made without\nany positive effort, and whilst he was stealthily turning\nto discover, if possible, into whose hands he had fallen.\nTwo figures were dimly visible in front, sitting with\ntheir legs outside the waggon, one of whom was driving.\nGabriel soon found that this was the waggoner, and it\nappeared they had come from Casterbridge fair, like\nhimself.\nA conversation was in progress, which continued\nthus : --\n'Be as 'twill, she's a fine handsome body as far's\nlooks be concerned. But that's only the skin of the\nwoman, and these dandy cattle be as-proud as a lucifer\nin their insides.'\n'Ay -- so 'a do seem, Billy Smallbury -- so 'a do seem.'\nThis utterance was very shaky by nature, and more so\nby circumstance, the jolting of the waggon not being+\nwithout its effect upon the speaker's larynx. It came\n'from the man who held the reins.\n'She's a very vain feymell -- so 'tis said here and\nthere.'\n'Ah, now. If so be 'tis like that, I can't look her in\nthe face. Lord, no : not I -- heh-heh-heh .! Such a shy\nman as I be.!'\n'Yes -- she's very vain. 'Tis said that every night at\ngoing to bed she looks in the glass to put on her night+\ncap properly.'\n'And not a married woman. Oh, the world .!\n\"And 'a can play the peanner, so 'tis said. Can\nplay so clever\n \nthat 'a can make a psalm tune sound as\nwell as the merriest loose song a man can wish for.'\n'D'ye tell o't .! A happy time for us, and I feel quite\na new man! And how do she play?'\n'That I dson't know, Master Poorgrass.'\nOn hearing these and other similar remarks, a wild\nthought flashed into Gabriel's mind that they might\nbe speaking of Bathsheba. There were, however, no\nground for retaining such a supposition, for the waggon,\nthough going in the direction of Weatherbury, might be\ngoing beyond it, and the woman alluded to seemed to be\nthe mistress of some estate. They were now apparently\nclose upon Weatherbury and not to alarm the speakers\nunnecessarily, Gabriel slipped out of the waggon unseen.\nHe turned to an opening in the hedge, which he\nfound to be a gate, and mounting thereon, he sat\nmeditating whether to seek a cheap lodging in the\nvillage, or to ensure a cheaper one by lying under\nsome hay or corn-stack. The crunching jangle of the\nwaggon died upon his ear. He was about to walk on,\nwhen he noticed on his left hand an unusual light -- +\nappearing about half a mile distant. Oak watched it,\nand the glow increased. Something was on fire.\nGabriel again mounted the gate, and, leaping down\non the other side upon what he found to be ploughed\nsoil, made across the field in the exact direction of the\nfire. The blaze, enlarging in a double ratio by his\napproach and its own increase, showed him as he drew\nnearer the outlines of ricks beside it, lighted up to great\ndistinctness. A rick-yard was the source of the fire.\nHis weary face now began to be painted over with a\nrich orange glow, and the whole front of his smock+\nfrock and gaiters was covered with a dancing shadow\npattern of thorn-twigs -- the light reaching him through\na leafless intervening hedge -- and the metallic curve of\nhis sheep-crook shone silver-bright in the same abound+\ning rays. He came up to the boundary fence, and\nstood to regain breath. It seemed as if the spot was\nunocupied by a living soul.\nThe fire was issuing from a long straw-stack, which\nwas so\n \nfar gone as to preclude a possibility of saving it.\nA rick burns differently from a house. As the wind\nblows the fire inwards, the portion in flames completely\ndisappears like melting sugar, and the outline is lost\nto the eye. However, a hay or a wheat-rick, well put\ntogether, will resist combustion for a length of time, if\nit begins on the outside.\nThis before Gabriel's eyes was a- rick of straw, loosely\nput together, and the flames darted into it with lightning\nswiftness. It glowed on the windward side, rising and\nfalling in intensity, like the coal of a cigar. Then a\nsuperincumbent bundle rolled down, with a whisking\nnoise ; flames elongated, and bent themselves about\nwith a quiet roar, but no crackle. Banks of smoke\nwent off horizontally at the back like passing clouds,\nand behind these burned hidden pyres, illuminating\nthe semi-transparent sheet of smoke to a lustrous yellow\nuniformity. Individual straws in the foreground were\nconsumed in a creeping movement of ruddy heat, as\nif they were knots of red worms, and above shone\nimaginary fiery faces, tongues hanging from lips, glaring\neyes, and other impish forms, from which at intervals\nsparks flew in clusters like birds from a nest,\nOak suddenly ceased from being a mere spectator\nby discovering the case to be more serious than he had\nat first imagined. A scroll of smoke blew aside and\nrevealed to him a wheat-rick in startling juxtaposition\nwith the decaying one, and behind this a series of\nothers, composing the main corn produce of the farm;\nso that instead of the straw-stack standing, as he had\nimagined comparatively isolated, there was a regular\nconnection between it and the remaining stacks of the\ngroup.\nGabriel leapt over the hedge, and saw that he was\nnot alone. The first man he came to was running\nabout in a great hurry, as if his thoughts were several\nyards in advance of his body, which they could never\ndrag on fast enough.\n'O, man -- fire, fire ! A good master and a. bad\nservant is fire, fire .! -- I mane a bad servant and a good\nmaster O, Mark Clark -- come !- And you, Billy\nSmallbury -- and you, Maryann Money -- and you, Jan\nCoggan, and Matthew there!' Other figures now\nappeared behind this shouting man and among the\nsmoke, and\n \nGabriel found that, far from being alone\nhe was in a great company -- whose shadows danced\nmerrily up and down, timed by the jigging of the\nflames, and not at all by their owners' movements.\nThe assemblage -- -belonging to that class of society\nwhich casts its thoughts into the form of feeling, and\nits feelings into the form of commotion -- set to work\nwith a remarkable confusion of purpose.\n'Stop the draught under the wheat-rick!' cried\nGabriel to those nearest to him. The corn stood on\nstone staddles, and between these, tongues of yellow\nhue from the burning straw licked and darted playfully.\nIf the fire once got under this stack, all would be\nlost.\n'Get a tarpaulin -- quick .! ' said Gabriel.\nA rick-cloth was brought, and they hung it like a\ncurtain across the channel. The flames immediately\nceased to go under the bottom of the corn-stack, and\nstood up vertical.\n'Stand here with a bucket of water and keep the\ncloth wet,' said Gabriel again.\nThe flames, now driven upwards, began to attack\nthe angles of the huge roof covering the wheat-stack.\n'A ladder,' cried Gabriel.\n'The ladder was against the straw-rick and is burnt\nto a cinder,' said a spectre-like form in the smoke.\nOak seized the cut ends of the sheaves, as if he\nwere going to engage in the operation of ' reed-drawing,'\nand digging in his feet, and occasionally sticking in the\nstem of his sheep-crook, he clambered up the beetling\nface. He at once sat astride the very apex, and began\nwith his crook to beat off the fiery fragments which had\nlodged thereon, shouting to the others to get him a\nbough and a ladder, and some water.\nBilly Smallbury -- one of the men who had been on\nthe waggon -- by this time had found a ladder, which\nMark Clark ascended, holding on beside Oak upon the\nthatch. The smoke at this corner was stifling, and\nClark, a nimble fellow, having been handed a bucket\nof water, bathed Oak's face and sprinkled him generally,\nwhilst Gabriel, now with a long beech-bough in one\nhand, in addition to his crook in the other, kept\nsweeping the stack and dislodging all fiery particles.\n \nOn the ground the groups of villagers were still\noccupied in doing all they could to keep down the\nconflagration, which was not much. They were all\ntinged orange, and backed up by shadows of varying\npattern. Round the corner of the largest stack, out\nof the direct rays of the fire, stood a pony, bearing a\nyoung woman on its back. By her side was another\nwoman, on foot. These two seemed to keep at a\ndistance from the fire, that the horse might not beome\nrestive.\n'He's a shepherd,' said the woman on foot. 'Yes --\nhe is. See how his crook shines as he beats the rick\nwith it. And his smock-frock is burnt in two holes, I\ndeclare.! A fine young shepherd he is too, ma'am.'\n' Whose shepherd is he?' said the equestrian in a\nclear voice.\n'Don't know, ma'am.'\n \" Don't any of the others know ?'\n \" Nobody at all -- I've asked 'em. Quite a stranger,\n they say.'\n The young woman on the pony rode out from the\nshade and looked anxiously around.\n\"Do you think the barn is safe ?\" she said.\n\"D'ye think the barn is safe, Jan Coggan ?' said\nthe second woman, passing on the question to the\nnearest man in that direction.\n\"Safe -now -- leastwise I think so. If this rick had\ngone the barn would have followed. 'Tis- that bold\nshepherd up there that have done the most good -- he\nsitting on the top o' rick, whizzing his great long-arms\nabout like a windmill.'\n\" He does work hard,' said the young woman on\nhorseback, looking up at Gabriel through her thick\nwoollen veil. \"I wish he was shepherd here. Don't\nany of you know his name.'\n\"Never heard the man's name in my life, or seed\nhis form afore.'\nThe fire began to get worsted, and Gabriel's elevated\nposition being no longer required of him, he made as\nif to descend.\n\"Maryann,' said the girl on horseback, \"go to him\nas he comes down, and say that the farmer wishes to\nthank him for the great service he has done.'\nMaryann stalked off towards the rick and met\nOak at the foot of the ladder. She delivered ber\nmessage.\n \n\" Where is your master the farmer ?' asked Gabriel,\nkindling with the idea of getting employment that\nseemed to strike him now.\n\" 'Tisn't a master ; 'tis a mistress, shepherd.'\n\" A woman farmer ? '\n\"Ay, 'a b'lieve, and a rich one too .!' said a by\"\nstander. \" Lately 'a came here from a distance. Took\non her uncle's farm, who died suddenly. Used to\nmeasure his money in half-pint cups. They say now\nthat she've business in every bank in Casterbridge, and\nthinks no more of playing pitch-and-toss sovereign than\nyou and I, do pitch-halfpenny -- not a bit in the world,\nshepherd.'\n\"That's she, back there upon the pony,' said Mary+\nann ;\"wi'her face a-covered up in that black cloth with\nholes in it.'\nOak, his features smudged, grimy, and undiscoverable\nfrom the smoke and heat, his smock-frock burnt-into\nholes and dripping with water, the ash stem of his sheep+\ncrook charred six inches shorter, advansed with the\nhumility stern adversity had thrust upon him up to\nthe slight female form in the saddle. He lifted his\nhat with respect, and not without galantry: stepping\nclose to her hanging feet he said in a hesitating voice, --\n\" Do you happen to want a shepherd, ma'am ? '\nShe lifted the wool veil tied round her face, and\nlooked all astonishment. Gabriel and his cold-hearted\ndarling, Bathsheba Everdene, were face to face.\nBathsheba did not speak, and he mechanically\nrepeated in an abashed and sad voice, --\n\" Do you want a shepherd, ma'am ? '\n \nRECOGNITION -- A TIMID GIRL\nBATHSHEBA withdrew into the shade. She scarcely\nknew whether most to be amused at the singularity of\nthe meeting, or to be concerned at its awkwardness.\nThere was room for a little pity, also for a very little\nexultation : the former at his position, the latter at her\nown. Embarrassed she was not, and she\" remembered\nGabriel's declaration of love to her at Norcombe only\nto think she had nearly forgotten it.\n\" Yes,' she murmured, putting on an air of dignity,\nand turning again to him with a little warmth of cheek ;\n\" I do want a shepherd. But -- -- '\n\" He's the very man, ma'am,' said one of the villagers,\nquietly.\nConviction breeds conviction. \" Ay, that 'a is,' said\na second, decisively.\n\"The man, truly .! ' said a third, with heartiness.\"\n\" He's all there ! ' said number four, fervidly.\"\nThen will you tell him to speak to the bailiff, said\nBathsheba.\nAll \"was practical again now. A summer eve and\nloneliness would have been necessary to give the\nmeeting its proper fulness of romance.\nthe palpitation within his breast at discovering that this\nAshtoreth of strange report was only a modification of\nVenus the well-known and admired, retired with him to\ntalk over the necessary preliminaries of hiring.\nThe fire before them wasted away. \"Men,' said\nBathsheba, \" you shall take a little refreshment after this\nextra work. Will you come to the house ?'\n\"We could knock in a bit and a drop a good deal\nfreer, Miss,\n \nif so be ye'd send it to Warren's Malthouse,'\nreplied the spokesman.\nBathsheba then rode off into the darkness, and the\nmen straggled on to the village in twos and threes -- Oak\nand the bailiff being left by the rick alone.\n\"And now,' said the bailiff, finally, \"all is settled, I\nthink, about your coming, and I am going home-along.\nGood-night to ye, shepherd.'\n\" Can you get me a lodging ? ' inquired Gabriel.\n'That I can't, indeed,\" he said, moving past Oak as\na Christian edges past an offertory-plate when he does\nnot mean to contribute. \"If you follow on the road till\nyou come to Warren's Malthouse, where they are all\ngone to have their snap of victuals, I daresay some of\n'em will tell you of a place. Good-night to ye, shepherd.'\nThe bailiff who showed this nervous dread of loving\nhis neighbour as himself, went up the hill, and Oak\nwalked on to the village, still astonished at the ren+\ncounter with Bathsheba, glad of his nearness to her, and\nperplexed at the rapidity with which the unpractised girl\nof Norcombe had developed into the supervising and cool\nwoman here. But some women only require an emerg+\nency to make them fit for one.\nObligcd, to some extent, to forgo dreaming in order\nto find the way, he reachcd the churchyard, and passed\nround it under the wall where several ancient trees grew.\nThere was a wide margin of grass along here, and\nGabriel's footsteps were deadened by its softness, even\nat this indurating period of the year. When abreast of\na trunk which appeared to be the oldest of the old, he\nbecame aware that a figure was standing behind it.\nGabriel did not pause in his walk, and in another\nmoment he accidentally kicked a loose stone. The noise\nwas enough to disturb the motionless stranger, who\nstarted and assumed a careless position.\nIt was a slim girl, rather thinly clad.\n\" Good-night to you,' said Gabriel, heartily.\n\" Good-night,' said the girl to Gabriel.\nThe voice was unexpectedly attractive ; it was \"the\nlow and\n \ndulcet note suggestive of romance ; common in\ndescriptions, rare in experience.\n'I'll thank you to tell me if I'm in the way for\nWarren's Malthouse ? ' Gabriel resumed, primarily to gain\nthe information, indirectly to get more of the music.\n\"Quite right. It's at the bottom of the hill. And\ndo you know -- -- ' The girl hesitated and then went\non again. \"Do you know how late they keep open\nthe Buck's Head Inn?' She seemed\" to be won by\nGabriel's heartiness, as Gabriel had been won by her\nmodulations.\n\" I don't know where the Buck's Head is, or anything\nabout it. Do you think of going there to-night ?'\n\" Yes -- -- ' The woman again paused. There was\nno necessity for any continuance of speech, and the fact\nthat she did add more seemed to proceed from an\nunconscious desire to show unconcern by making a\nremark, which is noticeable in the ingenuous when they\nare acting by stealth. \" You are not a Weatherbury man ? '\nshe said, timorously.\n' I am not. I am the new shepherd -- just arrived.'\n\"Only a shepherd -- and you seem almost a farmer by\nyour ways.'\n\" Only a shepherd,' Gabriel repeated, in a dull cadence\nof finality. \" His thoughts were directed to the past, his\neyes to the feet of the girl; and for the first time he\nsaw lying there a bundle of some sort. She may have\nperceived the direction of his face, for she said\ncoaxingly, --\n\" You won't say anything in the parish about having\nseen me here, will you -- at least, not for a day or two ?'\n\"I won't if you wish me not to,' said Oak.\n\"Thank you, indeed,' the other replied.'I am\nrather poor, and I don't want people to know anything\nabout me.' Then she was silent and shivered.\n'You ought to have a cloak on such a cold night,'\nGabriel observed. \" I would advise 'ee to get indoors.\"\n\"O no! Would you mind going on and leaving\nme ? I thank you much for what you have told me.'\n\" I will go on,' he said ; adding hesitatingly, -- ' Since\nyou are\n \nnot very well off, perhaps you would accept this\ntrifle from me. It is only a shilling, but'it is all I have\nto spare.'\n' Yes, I will take it,' said the stranger, gratefully.\nShe extended her hand ; Gabriel his. In feeling for\neach other's palm in the gloom before the money could\nbe passed, a minute incident occurred which told much.\nGabriel's fingers alighted on the young woman's wrist.\nIt was beating with a throb of tragic intensity. He had\nfrequently felt the same quick, hard beat in the femoral\nartery of -- his lambs when overdriven. It suggested a\nconsumption too great of a vitality which, to judge from\nher figure and stature, was already too little.\n\"What is the matter ?'\n\" Nothing.'\n'But there is?'\n\" No, no, no ! Let your having seen me be a.secret .! \"\n' Very well ; I will. Good-night, again.'\n\" Good-night.'\nThe young girl remained motionless by the tree, and\nGabriel descended into the village of Weatherbury, or\nLower Longpuddle as it was sometimes called. He\nfancied that he had felt himself in the penumbra of a\nvery deep sadness when touching that slight and fragile\ncreature. But wisdom lies in moderating mere impres+\nsions, and Gabriel endeavoured to think little of this.\n \nTHE MALTHOUSE -- THE CHAT -- NEWS\nWARREN'S Malthouse was enclosed by an old wall\ninwrapped with ivy, and though not much of the exterior\nwas visible at this hour, the character and purposes of\nthe building were clearly enough shown by its outline\nupon the sky. From the walls an overhanging thatched\nroof sloped up to a point in the centre, upon which rose\na small wooden lantern, fitted with louvre-boards on all\nthe four sides, and from these openings a mist was dimly\nperceived to be escaping into the night air. There was\nno window in front ; but a square hole in the door was\nglazed with a single pane, through which red, comfortable\nrays now stretched out upon the ivied wall in front.\nVoices were to be heard inside.\nOak's hand skimmed the surface of the door with\nfingers extended to an Elymas-the-Somerer pattern, till\nhe found a leathern strap, which he pulled. This lifted\na wooden latch, and the door swung open.\nThe room inside was lighted only by the, ruddy glow\nfrom the kiln mouth, which shone over ,the floor with\nthe streaming, horizontality of the setting sun, and threw\nupwards the shadows of all facial irregularities in those\nassembled around. The stone-flag floor was worn into\na path from the doorway to the kiln, and into undula+\ntions everywhere. A curved settle of unplaned oak\nstretched along one side, and in a remote corner was a\nsmall bed and bedstead, the owner and frequent occupier\nof which was the maltster.\nThis aged man was now sitting opposite the fire, his\nfrosty white hair and beard overgrowing his gnarled\nfigure like the grey moss and lichen upon a leafless\napple-tree. He wore breeches and the laced-up shoes\ncalled ankle-jacks; he kept his eyes fixed upon the\nfire.\n \nGabriel's nose was greeted by an atmosphere laden\nwith the sweet smell of new malt. The conversation\n(which seemed to have been concerning the origin of the\nfire) immediately ceased, and every one ocularly criticised\nhim to the degree expressed by contracting the flesh of\ntheir foreheads and looking at him with narrowed eye+\nlids, as if he had been a light too strong for their sight.\nSeveral exclaimed meditatively, after this operation had\nbeen completed : --\n\"Oh, 'tis the new shepherd, 'a b'lieve.'\n\"We thought we heard a hand pawing about the\ndoor for the bobbin, but weren't sure 'twere not a dead\nleaf blowed across,' said another. \" Come in, shepherd ;\nsure ye be welcome, though we don't know yer name.'\n\" Gabriel Oak, that's my name, neighbours.'\nThe ancient maltster sitting in the midst turned up\nthis -- his turning being as the turning of a rusty\ncrane.\n\"That's never Gable Oak's grandson over at Nor+\ncombe -- never !. ' he said, as a formula expressive of\nsurprise, which nobody was supposed to take literally'.\n'My father and my grandfather were old men of the\nname of Gabriel,' said the shepherd, placidly.\n\"Thought I knowed the man's face as I seed him\non the rick ! -- thought I did.! And where be ye trading\no't to now, shepherd ? '\n\" I'm thinking of biding here,' said Mr. Oak.\n\"Knowed yer grandfather for years and years !'\ncontinued the maltster, the words coming forth of their\nown accord as if the momentum previously imparted\nhad been sufficient.\n'Ah -- and did you! '\n\" Knowed yer grandmother.'\n'And her too!'\n\"Likewise knowed yer father when he was a child.\nWhy, my boy Jacob there and your father were sworn\nbrothers -- that they were sure -- weren't ye, Jacob ? '\n\"Ay, sure,' said his son, a young man about sixty+\nfive, with a semi-bald head and one tooth in the left\ncentre of his upper jaw, which made much of itself by\nstanding prominent, like a\n \nmilestone in a bank. 'But\n'twas Joe had most to do with him. However, my son\nWilliam must have knowed the very man afore us --\ndidn't ye, Billy, afore ye left Norcombe ? '\n\"No, 'twas Andrew,' said Jacob's son Billy, a child\nof forty, or thereabouts, who manifested the peculiarity\nof possessing a cheerful soul in a gloomy body, and\nwhose whiskers were assuming a chinchilla shade here\nand there.\n\"I can mind Andrew,' said Oak, 'as being a man in\nthe place when I was quite a child.'\n\"Ay -- the other day I and my youngest daughter,\nLiddy, were over at my grandson's christening,' continued\nBilly. ' We were talking about this very family, and\n'twas only last Purification Day in this very world, when\nthe use-money is gied away to the second-best poor\nfolk, you know, shepherd, and I can mind the day\nbecause they all had to traypse up to the vestry -- yes,\nthis very man's family.'\n' Come, shepherd, and drink. 'Tis gape and\nswaller with us -- a drap of sommit, but not of much\naccount,' said the maltster, removing from the fire his\neyes, which were vermilion-red and bleared by gazing\ninto it for so many years. \"Take up the God-forgive\"\nme, Jacob. See if 'tis warm, Jacoh.'\nJacob stooped to the God-forgive-me, which was a\ntwo-handled tall mug standing in the ashes, cracked\nand charred with heat : it was rather furred with ex\"\ntraneous matter about the outside, especially in the\ncrevices of the handles, the innermost curves of which\nmay not have seen daylight for several years by reason\nof this encrustation thereon -- formed of ashes accident+\nally wetted with cider and baked hard; but to the mind\nof any sensible drinker the cup was no worse for that,\nbeing incontestably clean on the inside and about the\nrim. It may be observed that such a class of mug is\ncalled a God-forgive-me in Weatherbury and its vicinity\nfor uncertain reasons ; probably because its size makes\nany given toper feel ashamed of himself when he sees\nits bottom in drinking it empty.\nJacob, on receiving the order to see if the liquor was\nwarm enough, placidly dipped his forefinger into it by\nway of thermometer, and having pronounced it nearly\nof the proper degree, raised the cup and very civilly\nattempted to dust some of the\n \nashes from the bottom\nwith the skirt of his smock-frock, because Shepherd Oak\nwas a stranger.\n\"A clane cup for the shepherd,' said the maltster\ncommandingly.\n\"No -- not at all,\" said Gabriel, in a reproving tone\nof considerateness. \"I never fuss about dirt in its pure\nstate, and when I know what sort it is.' Taking the\nmug he drank an inch or more from the depth of its\ncontents, and duly passed it to the next man.\nwouldn't think of giving such trouble to neighbours in\nwashing up when there's so much work to be done in\nthe world already,' continued Oak in a moister tone,\nafter recovering from the stoppage of breath which is\noccasioned by pulls at large mugs.\n' A right sensible man,' said Jacob.\n\" True, true ; it can't be gainsaid!.' observed a brisk\nyoung man -- Mark Clark by name, a genial and pleasant\ngentleman, whom to meet anywhcre in your travels was\nto know, to know was to drink with, and to drink with\nwas, unfortunately, to pay for.\n\"And here's a mouthful of bread and bacon that\nmis'ess have sent, shepherd. The cider will go down\nbetter with a bit of victuals. Don't ye chaw quite close,\nshepherd, for I let the bacon fall in the road outside as\nI was bringing it along, and may be 'tis rather gritty.\nThere, 'tis clane dirt; and we all know what that is,\nas you say, and you bain't a particular man we see,\nshepherd.'\n\" True, true -- not at all,' said the friendly Oak.\n'Don't let your teeth quite meet, and you won't feel\nthe sandiness at all. Ah !. 'tis wonderful what can be\ndone by contrivance .! '\n\" My own mind exactly, neighbour.'\n\" Ah, he's his grandfer's own grandson .! -- his grandfer\nwere just such a nice unparticular man !.' said the maltster.\n\" Drink, Henry Fray -- drink,' magnanimously said\nJan Coggan, a person who held Saint-Simonian notions\nof share and share alike where liquor was concerned, as\nthe vessel showed signs of approaching him in its gradual\nrevolution among them.\nHaving at this moment reached the end of a wistful\ngaze\n \ninto mid-air, Henry did not refuse. He was a man\nof more than middle age, with eyebrows high up in his\nforehead, who laid it down that the law of the world\nwas bad, with a long-suffering look through his listeners\nat the world alluded to, as it presented itself to his\nimagination. He always signed his name 'Henery' --\nstrenuously insisting upon that spelling, and if any\npassing schoolmaster ventured to remark that the second\n'e' was superfluous and old-fashioned, he received the\nreply that ' H-e-n-e-r-y' was the name he was christened\nand the name he 'would stick to -- in the tone of one\nto whom orthographical differences were matters which\nhad a great deal to do with personal character.\nMr. Jan Coggan, who had passed the cup to Henery,\nwas a crimson man with a spacious countenance, and\nprivate glimmer in his eye, whose name had appeared\non the marriage register of Weatherbury and neighbour+\ning parishes as best man and chief witness in countless\nunions of the previous twenty years; he also very\nfrequently filled the post of head godfather in baptisms\nof the subtly-jovial kind.\n\" Come, Mark Clark -- come. Ther's plenty more\nin the barrel,' said Jan.\n\"Ay -- that I will; 'tis my only doctor,' replied Mr.\nClark, who, twenty years younger than Jan Coggan,\nrevolved in the same orbit. He secreted mirth on all\noccasions for special discharge at popular parties.\n\" Why, Joseph Poorgrass, ye han't had a drop! ' said\nMr. Coggan to a self-conscious man in the background,\nthrusting the cup towards him.\n\" Such a modest man as he is !. ' said Jacob Smallbury.\n\" Why, ye've hardly had strength of eye enough to look\nin our young mis'ess's face, so I hear, Joseph ?'\nAll looked at Joseph Poorgrass with pitying reproach.\n\" No -- I've hardly looked at her at all,' simpered\nJoseph, reducing his body smaller whilst talking,\napparently from a meek sense of undue prominence.\n\"And when I seed her, 'twas nothing but blushes with\nme!'\n' Poor feller,' said Mr. Clark.\n\"'Tis a curious nature for a man,' said Jan Coggan.\n \n\" Yes,' continued Jdseph Poorgrass -- his shyness,\nwhich was so painful as a defect, filling him with a\nmild complacency now that it was regarded as an\ninteresting study. \" 'Twere blush, blush, blush with\nme every minute of the time, when she was speaking\nto me.'\n\"I believe ye, Joseph Poorgrass, for we all know ye\nto be a very bashful man.'\n\"'Tis a' awkward gift for a man, poor soul,' said the\nmaltster. \"And ye have suffered from it a long time,\nwe know.'\n\"Ay ever since I was a boy. Yes -- mother was\nconcerned to her heart about it -- yes. But twas all\nnought.'\n\"Did ye ever go into the world to try and stop it,\nJoseph Poorgrass ? '\n\"Oh ay, tried all sorts o' company. They took me\nto Greenhill Fair, and into a great gay jerry-go-nimble\nshow, where there were women-folk riding round --\nstanding upon horses, with hardly anything on but their\nsmocks; but it didn't cure me a morsel. And then I\nwas put errand-man at the Women's Skittle Alley at the\nback of the Tailor's Arms in Casterbridge. 'Twas a\nhorrible sinful situation, and a very curious place for a\ngood man. I had to stand and look ba'dy people in\nthe face from morning till night; but 'twas no use -- I\nwas just as-bad as ever after all. Blushes hev been\nin the family for generations. There, 'tis a happy pro+\nvidence that I be no worse.'\n\" True,' said Jacob Smallbury, deepening his thoughts\nto a profounder view of the subject. \"'Tis a thought\nto look at, that ye might have been worse; but even\nas you be, 'tis a very bad affliction for 'ee, Joseph. For\nye see, shepherd, though 'tis very well for a woman,\ndang it all, 'tis awkward for a man like him, poor\nfeller ? '\n\" 'Tis -- 'tis,' said Gabriel, recovering from a medita+\ntion. \" Yes, very awkward for the man.'\n\" Ay, and he's very timid, too,' observed Jan Coggan.\n\"Once he had been working late at Yalbury Bottom,\nand had had a drap of drink, and lost his way as he was\ncoming home-along through Yalbury Wood, didn't ye,\nMaster Poorgrass ? '\n\" No, no, no ; not that story !' expostulated the\nmodest man, forcing a laugh to bury his concern.\n \n\" -- -- And so 'a lost himself quite,' continued Mr\nCoggan, with an impassive face, implying that a true\nnarrative, like time and tide, must run its course and\nwould respect no man. \"And as he was coming along\nin the middle of the night, much afeared, and not able\nto find his way out of the trees nohow, 'a cried out,\n\" Man-a-lost!. man-a-lost !.\" A owl in a tree happened\nto be crying \"Whoo-whoo-whoo !\" as owls do, you\nknow, shepherd ' (Gabriel nodded), \" and Joseph, all\nin a tremble, said, \" Joseph Poorgrass, of Weatherbury,\nsir.!\"\n\"No, no, now -- that's too much! ' said the timid\nman, becoming a man of brazen courage all of a sudden.\n\"I didn't say sir. I'll tike my oath I didn't say \" Joseph\nPoorgrass o' Weatherbury, sir.\" No, no ; what's right\nis right, and I never said sir to the bird, knowing very\nwell that no man of a gentleman's rank would be\nhollering there at that time o' night. \" Joseph Poor+\ngrass of Weatherbury,\" -- that's every word I said, and\nI shouldn't ha' said that if 't hadn't been for Keeper\nDay's metheglin.... There, 'twas a merciful thing it\nended where it did.'\nThe question of which was right being tacitly waived\nby the company, Jan went on meditatively : --\n\"And he's the fearfullest man, bain't ye, Joseph?\nAy, another time ye were lost by Lambing-Down Gate,\nweren't ye, Joseph ? '\n\"I was,' replied Poorgrass, as if there were some\nconditions too serious even for modesty to remember\nitself under, this being one.\n' Yes ; that were the middle of the night, too. The\ngate would not open, try how he would, and knowing\nthere was the Devil's hand in it, he kneeled down.'\n'Ay,' said Joseph, acquiring confidence from the\nwarmth of the fire, the cider, and a perception of the\nnarrative capabilities of the experience alluded to.\n\" My heart died within me, that time; but I kneeled\ndown and said the Lord's Prayer, and then the Belie\nTHE CHAT\nright through, and then the Ten Commandments, in\nearnest prayer. But no, the gate wouldn't open; and\nthen I went on with Dearly Beloved Brethren, and,\nthinks I, this makes four, and 'tis all I know out of\nbook, and if this don't do it nothing will, and I'm a\nlost man. Well, when I got to\n \nSaying After Me, I\nrose from my knees and found the gate would open\n -- yes, neighbours, the gate opened the same as ever.'\n A meditation on the obvious inference wsas indulged\nin by all, and during its continuance each directed his\nvision into the ashpit, which glowed like a desert in\nthe tropics under a vertical sun, shaping their eyes long\nand liny, partly because of the light, partly from the\ndepth of the subject discussed.\n Gabriel broke the silence. \"What sort of a place\nis this to live at, and what sort of a mis'ess is she to\nwork under?' Gabriel's bosom thrilled gently as he\nthus slipped under the notice of the assembly the inner+\nmost subject of his heart.\n \"We d' know little of her -- nothing. She only\nshowed herself a few days ago. Her uncle was took\nbad, and the doctor was called with his world-wide\nskill; but he couldn't save the man. As I take it,\nshe's going to keep on the farm.\n \"That's abouyt the shape o't, 'a b'lieve,' said Jan\nuncle was a very fair sort of man. Did ye know en,\nbe under 'em as under one here and there. Her\nuncle was a very fair sort of man. Did ye know 'en,\nshepherd -- a bachelor-man ? '\n \"Not at all.'\n \"I used to go to his house a-courting my first wife,\nCharlotte, who was his dairymaid. Well, a very good+\nhearted man were Farmer Everdene, and I being a\nrespectable young fellow was allowed to call and see\nher and drink as much ale as I liked, but not to carry\naway any -- outside my skin I mane of course.'\n \"Ay, ay, Jan Coggan; we know yer maning.'\n \"And so you see 'twas beautiful ale, and I wished\nto value his kindness as much as I could, and not to\nbe so ill-mannered as to drink only a thimbleful, which\nwould have been insulting the man's generosity -- -- '\n \"True, Master Coggan, 'twould so,' corroborated\nMark Clark.\n \" -- -- And so I used to eat a lot of salt fish afore\ngoing, and then by the time I got there I were as dry\nas a lime-basket -- so thorough dry that that ale would\nslip down -- ah, 'twould slip down sweet! Happy\ntimes! heavenly times! Such lovely drunks as I\nused to have at that house! You can mind, Jacob?\nYou used to go wi' me sometimes.'\n \n \"I can -- I can,' said Jacob. \"That one, too, that\nwe had at Buck's Head on a White Monday was a\npretty tipple.'\n \"'Twas. But for a wet of the better class, that\nbrought you no nearer to the horned man than you were\nafore you begun, there was none like those in Farmer\nEverdene's kitchen. Not a single damn allowed; no,\nnot a bare poor one, even at the most cheerful moment\nwhen all were blindest, though the good old word of\nsin thrown in here and there at such times is a great\nrelief to a merry soul.'\n \"True,' said the maltster. \"Nater requires her\nswearing at the regular times, or she's not herself; and\nunholy exclamations is a necessity of life.'\n \"But Charlotte,' continued Coggan -- \"not a word of\nthe sort would Charlotte allow, nor the smallest item of\ntaking in vain.... Ay, poor Charlotte, I wonder if she\nhad the good fortune to get into Heaven when 'a died!.\nBut 'a was never much in luck's way, and perhaps 'a\nwent downwards after all, poor soul.'\n \"And did any of you know Miss Everdene's-father\nand mother?' inquired the shepherd, who found some\ndifficulty in keeping the conversation in the desired\nchannel.\nTHE CHAT\n \"I knew them a little,' said Jacob Smallbury; \"but\nthey were townsfolk, and didn't live here. They've\nbeen dead for years. Father, what sort of people were\nmis'ess' father and mother?'\n \"Well,' said the maltster, \"he wasn't much to look\nat; but she was a lovely woman. He was fond enough\nof her as his sweetheart.'\n \"Used to kiss her scores and long-hundreds o times,\nso 'twas said,' observed Coggan.\n \"He was very proud of her, too, when they were\nmarried, as I've been told,' said the maltster.\n \"Ay,' said Coggan. \"He admired her so much that\nhe used to light the candle three time a night to look\nat her.'\n \"Boundless love; I shouldn't have supposed it in the\nuniverse!' murmered Joseph Poorgrass, who habitually\nspoke on a large scale in his moral reflections.\n \"Well, to be sure,' said Gabriel.\n \"Oh, 'tis true enough. I knowed the man and\nwoman both well. Levi Everdene -- that was the man's\nname, sure. \"\"Man,''\n \nsaith I in my hurry, but he were\nof a higher circle of life than that -- 'a was a gentleman+\ntailor really, worth scores of pounds. And he became\na very celebrated bankrupt two or three times.'\n \"Oh, I thought he was quite a common man!.' said\nJoseph.\n \"O no, no! That man failed for heaps of money;\nhundreds in gold and silver.'\n The maltster being rather short of breath, Mr. Coggan,\nafter absently scrutinising a coal which had fallen among\nthe ashes, took up the narrative, with a private twirl of\nhis eye: --\n \"Well, now, you'd hardly believe it, but that man --\nhusbands alive, after a while. Understand' 'a didn't\nwant to be fickle, but he couldn't help it. The poor\nfeller were faithful and true enough to her in his wish,\nbut his heart would rove, do what he would. He spoke\nto me in real tribulation about it once. \"\"Coggan,''\nhe said, \"\"I could never wish for a handsomer woman\nthan I've got, but feeling she's ticketed as my lawful\nwife, I can't help my wicked heart wandering, do what\nI will.'' But at last I believe he cured it by making her\ntake off her wedding-ring and calling her by her maiden\nname as they sat together after the shop was shut, and\nso 'a would get to fancy she was only his sweetheart, and\nnot married to him at all. And as soon as he could\nthoroughly fancy he was doing wrong and committing\nthe seventh, 'a got to like her as well as ever, and they\nlived on a perfect picture of mutel love.'\n \"Well, 'twas a most ungodly remedy,' murmured\nJoseph Poorgrass; \"but we ought to feel deep cheerful+\nness that a 'happy Providence kept it from being any\nworse. You see, he might have gone the bad road and\ngiven his eyes to unlawfulness entirely -- yes, gross un+\nlawfulness, so to say it.'\n \"You see,' said Billy Smallbury, \"The man's will was\nto do right, sure enough, but his heart didn't chime in.'\n \"He got so much better, that he was quite godly\nin his later years, wasn't he, Jan ?' said Joseph Poor+\ngrass. \"He got himself confirmed over again in a more\nserious way, and took to saying \"\"Amen'' almost as loud\nas the clerk, and he liked to copy comforting verses\nfrom the tombstones. He used, too, to hold the money+\nplate at Let Your Light so Shine, and stand\n \ngodfather\nto poor little come-by-chance children; and he kept a\nmissionary' box upon his table to nab folks unawares\nwhen they called; yes, and he would-box the charity+\nboys' ears, if they laughed in church, till they could\nhardly stand upright, and do other deeds of piety\nnatural to the saintly inclined.'\n \"Ay, at that time he thought of nothing but high\nthings,' added Billy Smallbury. \"One day Parson Thirdly\nmet him and said, \"\"Good-Morning, Mister Everdene; 'tis\nTHE CHAT\na fine day!'' \"\"Amen'' said Everdene, quite absent+\nlike, thinking only of religion when he seed a parson+\n \"Their daughter was not at all a pretty chiel at that\ntime,' said Henery Fray. \"Never should have. thought\nshe'd have growed up such a handsome body as she is.'\n \"'Tis to be hoped her temper is as good as her face.'\n \"Well, yes; but the baily will have most to do with\nthe business and ourselves. Ah!' Henery gazed into\nthe ashpit, and smiled volumes of ironical knowledge.\n \"A queer Christian, like the Devil's head in a cowl,\n \"He is,' said Henery, implying that irony must cease\nat a certain point. \"Between we two, man and man, I\nbelieve that man would as soon tell a lie Sundays as\nworking-days -- that I do so.'\n \"Good faith, you do talk!' said Gabriel.\n \"True enough,' said the man of bitter moods, looking\nround upon the company with the antithetic laughter\nthat comes from a keener appreciation of the miseries\nof life than ordinary men are capable of. 'Ah, there's\npeople of one sort, and people of another, but that man\n -- bless your souls!'\n Gabriel thought fit to change the subject. \"You\nmust be a very aged man, malter, to have sons growed\nmild and ancient' he remarked.\n \"Father's so old that 'a can't mind his age, can ye,\nfather?' interposed Jacob. \"And he growled terrible\ncrooked too, lately' Jacob continued, surveying his\nfather's figure, which\n \nwas rather more bowed than his own.\n\"Really one may say that father there is three-double.'\n \"Crooked folk will last a long while,' said the maltster,\ngrimly, and not in the best humour.\n \"Shepherd would like to hear the pedigree of yer\nlife, father -- wouldn't ye, shepherd ?\n \"Ay that I should,' said Gabriel with the heartiness\nof a man who had longed to hear it for several months.\n\"What may your age be, malter?'\n The maltster cleared his throat in an exaggerated\nform for emphasis, and elongating his gaze to the\nremotest point of the ashpit! said, in the slow speech\njustifiable when the importance of a subject is so\ngenerally felt that any mannerism must be tolerated\nin getting at it, \"Well, I don't mind the year I were\nborn in, but perhaps I can reckon up the places I've\nlived at, and so get it that way. I bode at Upper Long+\npuddle across there' (nodding to the north) \"till I were\neleven. I bode seven at Kingsbere' (nodding to the\neast) \"where I took to malting. I went therefrom to\nNorcombe, and malted there two-and-twenty years, and+\ntwo-and-twenty years I was there turnip-hoeing and\nharvesting. Ah, I knowed that old place, Norcombe,\nyears afore you were thought of, Master Oak' (Oak smiled\nsincere belief in the fact). \"Then I malted at Dur+\nnover four year, and four year turnip-hoeing; and\nI was fourteen times eleven months at Millpond St.\nJude's ' (nodding north-west-by-north). \"Old Twills\nwouldn't hire me for more than eleven months at a\ntime, to keep me from being chargeable to the parish\nif so be I was disabled. Then I was three year at\nMellstock, and I've been here one-and-thirty year come\nCandlemas. How much is that?\"\n \"Hundred and seventeen,' chuckled another old\ngentleman, given to mental arithmetic and little con+\nversation, who had hitherto sat unobserved in a corner.\n \"Well, then, that's my age,' said the maltster, em+\nphatically.\n \"O no, father!' said Jacob. \"Your turnip-hoeing\nwere in the summer and your malting in the winter of\nthe same years, and ye don't ought to count-both halves\nfather.'\n \n \"Chok' it all! I lived through the summers, didn't\nI? That's my question. I suppose ye'll say next I be\nno age at all to speak of?'\n \"Sure we shan't,' said Gabriel, soothingly.\n \"Ye be a very old aged person, malter,' attested Jan\nmust have a wonderful talented constitution to be able\nto live so long, mustn't he, neighbours?'\n \"True, true; ye must, malter, wonderful;' said the\nmeeting unanimously.\n The maltster, being know pacified, was even generous\nenough to voluntarily disparage in a slight degree the\nvirtue of having lived a great many years, by mentioning\nthat the cup they were drinking out of was three years\nolder than he.\n While the cup was being examined, the end of\nGabriel Oak's flute became visible over his smock-frock\nI seed you blowing into a great flute by now at Caster+\nbridge?'\n \"You did,' said Gabriel, blushingh faintly. \"I've been\nin great trouble, neighbours, and was driven to it.\ntake it careless-like, shepherd and your time will come\ntired?'\n \"Neither drum nor trumpet have I heard since\nChristmas,' said Jan Coggan. \"Come, raise a tune,\nMaster Oak!'\n \"That I will,' said Gabriel, pulling out his flute and\nputting it together. \"A poor tool, neighbours; but\nsuch as I can do ye shall have and welcome.'\n Oak then struck up \"Jockey to the Fair,' and played\nthat sparkling melody three times through accenting the\nnotes in the third round in a most artistic and lively\nmanner by bending his body in small jerks and tapping\nwith his foot to beat time.\n \"He can blow the flute very well -- that 'a can,' said\na young married man, who having no individuality worth\nmentioning was known as \"Susan Tall's husband.' He\ncontinued, \"I'd as lief as not be able to blow into a\nflute as well-as that.'\n \n \"He's a clever man, and 'tis a true comfort for us to\nhave such a shepherd,' murmured Joseph Poorgrass, in\na soft cadence. \"We ought to feel full o' thanksgiving\nthat he's not a player of ba'dy songs 'instead of these\nmerry tunes; for 'twould have been just as easy for God\nto have made the shepherd a loose low man -- a man of\niniquity, so to speak it -- as what he is. Yes, for our wives'\nand daughters' sakes we should feel real thanks giving.'\n \"True, true, -- real thanksgiving!' dashed in Mark\nClark conclusively, not feeling it to be of any conse+\nquence to his opinion that he had only heard about a\nword and three-quarters of what Joseph had said.\n \"Yes,' added Joseph, beginning to feel like a man in\nthe Bible; \"for evil do thrive so in these times that ye\nmay be as much deceived in the clanest shaved and\nwhitest shirted man as in the raggedest tramp upon the\nturnpike, if I may term it so.'\n \"Ay, I can mind yer face now, shepherd,' said\nHenery Fray, criticising Gabriel with misty eyes as he\nentered upon his second tune. \"Yes -- now I see 'ee\nblowing into the flute I know 'ee to be the same man\nI see play at Casterbridge, for yer mouth were scrimped\nup and yer eyes a-staring out like a strangled man's --\njust as they be now.'\n \"'Tis a pity that playing the flute should make a man\nlook such a scarecrow,' observed Mr. Mark Clark, with\nadditional criticism of Gabriel's countenance, the latter\nperson jerking out, with the ghastly grimace required by\nthe instrument, the chorus of \"Dame Durden!\n \"I hope you don't mind that young man's bad\nmanners in naming your features?' whispered Joseph to\nGabriel.\n \"Not at all,' said Mr. Oak.\n \"For by nature ye be a very handsome man,\nshepherd,' continued Joseph Poorgrass, with winning\nsauvity.\n \"Ay, that ye be, shepard,' said the company.\n \"Thank you very much,' said Oak, in the modest\ntone good\n \nmanners demanded, thinking, however, that\nhe would never let Bathsheba see him playing the\nflute; in this severe showing s discretion equal to that\nrelated to its sagacious inventress, the divine Minerva\nherself.\n \"Ah, when I and my wife were married at Norcombe\nChurch,' said the old maltster, not pleased at finding\nhimself left out of the subject \"we were called the\nhandsomest couple in the neighbourhood -- everybody\nsaid so.'\n \"Danged if ye bain't altered now, malter,' said a voice\nwith the vigour natural to the enunciation of a remark+\nably evident truism. It came from the old man in the\nbackground, whose offensiveness and spiteful ways were\nbarely atoned for by the occasional chuckle he con+\ntributed to general laughs.\n \"O no, no,' said Gabriel.\n \"Don't ye play no more shepherd ' said Susan Tall's\nhusband, the young married man who had spoken once\nbefore. \"I must be moving and when there's tunes\ngoing on I seem as if hung in wires. If I thought after\nI'd left that music was still playing, and I not there, I\nshould be quite melancholy-like.'\n \"What's yer hurry then, Laban?' inquired Coggan+\n\"You used to bide as late as the latest.'\n \"Well, ye see, neighbours, I was lately married to a\nwoman, and she's my vocation now, and so ye see -- -- '\nThe young man hated lamely.\n \"New Lords new laws, as the saying is, I suppose,'\nremarked Coggan.\n \"Ay, 'a b'lieve -- ha, ha!' said Susan Tall's husband,\nin a tone intended to imply his habitual reception of\njokes without minding them at all. The young man\nthen wished them good-night and withdrew.\n Henery Fray was the first to follow. Then Gabriel\narose and went off with Jan Coggan, who had offered\nhim a lodging. A few minutes later, when the remaining\nones were on their legs and about to depart, Fray came\nback again in a hurry. Flourishing his finger ominously\nhe threw a gaze teeming with tidings just -- where his eye\nalighted by accident, which happened to be in Joseph\nPoorgrass's face.\n \n \"O -- what's the matter, what's the matter, Henery?'\nsaid Joseph, starting back.\n \"What's a-brewing, Henrey?' asked Jacob and Mark\nClark.\n \"Baily Pennyways -- Baily Pennyways -- I said so; yes,\nI said so!'\n \"What, found out stealing anything?'\n \"Stealing it is. The news is, that after Miss\nEverdene got home she went out again to see all was\nsafe, as she usually do, and coming in found Baily\nPennyways creeping down the granary steps with half a\na bushel of barley. She fleed at him like a cat -- never\nsuch a tomboy as she is -- of course I speak with closed\ndoors?'\n \"You do -- you do, Henery.'\n \"She fleed at him, and, to cut a long story short,\nhe owned to having carried off five sack altogether, upon\nher promising not to persecute him. Well, he's turned\nout neck and crop, and my question is, who's going to\nbe baily now?'\n The question was such a profound one that Henery\nwas obliged to drink there and then from the large\ncup till the bottom was distinctly visible inside. Before\nhe had replaced it on the table, in came the young man,\nSusan Tall's husband, in a still greater hurry.\n \"Have ye heard the news that's all over parish?'\n \"About Baily Pennyways?'\n \"But besides that?'\n \"No -- not a morsel of it!' they replied, looking into\nthe very midst of Laban Tall as if to meet his words\nhalf-way down his throat.\n \"What a night of horrors!' murmured Joseph Poor+\ngrass, waving his hands spasmodically. \"I've had the\nnews-bell ringing in my left ear quite bad enough for a\nmurder, and I've seen a magpie all alone!'\n \"Fanny Robin -- Miss everdene's youngest servant --\ncan't be found. They've been wanting to lock up the\ndoor these two hours, but she isn't come in. And they\ndon't know what to do about going to hed for fear of\nlocking her out. They wouldn't be so concerned if she\nhadn't been noticed in such low spirits\n \nthese last few\ndays, and Maryann d'think the beginning of a crowner's\ninquest has happened to the poor girl.'\n \"O -- 'tis burned -- 'tis burned!' came from Joseph\nPoorgrass's dry lips.\n \"No -- 'tis drowned!' said 'Tall.\n \"Or 'tis her father's razor!' suggested Billy Smallbury,\nwith a vivid sense of detail.\n \"Well -- Miss Everdene wants to speak to one or two\nof us before we go to bed. What with this trouble about\nthe baily, and now about the girl, mis'ess is almost wild.'\n They all hastened up the lane to the farmhouse,\nexcepting the old maltster, whom neither news, fire,\nrain, nor thunder could draw from his hole. There, as\nthe others' footsteps died away he sat down again and\ncontinued gazing as usual into the furnace with his red,\nbleared eyes.\n From the bedroom window above their heads Bath+\nsheba's head and shoulders, robed in mystic white, were\ndimly seen extended into the air.\n \"Are any of my men among you?' she said anxiously.\n \"Yes, ma'am, several,' said Susan Tall's husband.\n \"Tomorrow morning I wish two or three of you to\nmake inquiries in the villages round if they have seen\nsuch a person as Fanny Robin. Do it quietly; there is\nno reason for alarm as yet. She must have left whilst\nwe were all at the fire.'\n \"I beg yer pardon, but had she any young man court+\ning her in the parish, ma'am?\" asked Jacob Smallbury.\n \"I don't know,' said Bathsheba.\n \"I've never heard of any such thing, ma'am,' said\ntwo or three.\n \"It is hardly likely, either,' continued Bathsheba.\n\"For any lover of hers might have come to the house if\nhe had been a respectable lad. The most mysterious\nmatter connected with her absence -- indeed, the only\nthing which gives me serious alarm -- is that she was\nseen to go out of the house by Maryann with only her\nindoor working gown on -- not even a bonnet.'\n \"And you mean, ma'am, excusing my words, that a\nyoung\n \nwoman would hardly go to see her young man\nwithout dressing up,' said Jacob, turning his mental\nvision upon past experiences. \"That's true -- she would\nnot, ma'am.'\n \"She had, I think, a bundle, though I couldn't see\nvery well,' said a female voice from another window,\nwhich seemed that of Maryann. \"But she had no\nyoung man about here. Hers lives in Casterbridge, and\nI believe he's a soldier.'\n \"Do you know his name?' Bathsheba said.\n \"No, mistress; she was very close about it.'\n \"Perhaps I might be able to find out if I went to\nCasterbridge barracks,' said William Smallbury.\n \"Very well; if she doesn't return tomorrow, mind\nyou go there and try to discover which man it is, and\nsee him. I feel more responsible than I should if she\nhad had any friends or relations alive. I do hope she\nhas come to no harm through a man of that kind....\nAnd then there's this disgraceful affair of the bailiff --\nbut I can't speak of him now.'\n Bathsheba had so many reasons for uneasiness that\nit seemed she did not think it worth while to dwell\nupon any particular one. \"Do as I told you, then'\nshe said in conclusion, closing the casement.\n \"Ay, ay, mistress; we will,' they replied, and moved\naway.\n That night at Coggan's, Gabriel Oak, beneath the\nscreen of closed eyelids, was busy with fancies, and full\nof movement, like a river flowing rapidly under its ice.\nNight had always been the time at which he saw Bath+\nsheba most vividly, and through the slow hours of\nshadow he tenderly regarded her image now. It is\nrarely that the pleasures of the imagination will compen+\nsate for the pain of sleeplessness, but they possibly did\nwith Oak to-night, for the delight of merely seeing her\neffaced for the time his perception of the great differ+\nence between seeing and possessing.\n He also thought of Plans for fetching his few utensils\nand books from Norcombe. The Young Man's Best\nCompanion, The Farrier's Sure Guide, The Veterinary\nSurgeon, Paradise Lost, The Pilgrim's Progress, Robinson\nCrusoe, Ash's Dictionary, the Walkingame's Arithmetic,\nconstituted his library;\n \nand though a limited series, it was\none from which he had acquired more sound informa+\ntion by diligent perusal than many a man of opportunities\nhas done from a furlong of laden shelves.\n \nTHE HOMESTEAD -- A VISITOR -- HALF-CONFIDENCES\nBy daylight, the Bower of Oak's new-found mistress,\nBathsheba Everdene, presented itself as a hoary build+\ning, of the early stage of Classic Renaissance as regards\nits architecture, and of 'a proportion which told at a\nglance that, as is so frequently the case, it had once\nbeen the memorial hall upon a small estate around it,\nnow altogether effaced as a distinct property, and merged\nin the vast tract of a non-resident landlord, which com+\nprised several such modest demesnes.\n Fluted pilasters, worked from the solid stone,\ndecorated its front, and above the roof the chimneys\nwere panelled or columnar, some coped gables with\nfinials and like features still retaining traces of their\nGothic extraction. Soft Brown mosses, like faded\nvelveteen, formed cushions upon the stone tiling, and\ntufts of the houseleek or sengreen sprouted from the\neaves of the low surrounding buildings. A gravel walk\nleading from the door to the road in front was encrusted\nat the sides with more moss -- here it was a silver-green\nvariety, the nut-brown of the gravel being visible to the\nwidth of only a foot or two in the centre. This circum+\nstance, and the generally sleepy air of the whole prospect\nhere, together with the animated and contrasting state\nof the reverse facade, suggested to the imagination that\non the adaptation of the building for farming purposes\nthe vital principle' of the house had turned round inside\nits body to face the other way. Reversals of this kind,\nstrange deformities, tremendous paralyses, are often seen\nto be inflicted by trade upon edifices -- either individual\nor in the aggregate as streets and towns -- which were\noriginally planned for pleasure alone.\n Lively voices were heard this morning in the upper\nrooms, the main staircase to which was of hard oak, the\nbalusters, heavy as bed-posts, being turned and moulded\nin the quaint\n \nfashion of their century, the handrail as\nstout as a parapet-top, and the stairs themselves con+\ntinually twisting round like a person trying to look over\nhis shoulder. Going up, the floors above were found\nto have a very irregular surface, rising to ridges, sinking\ninto valley; and being just then uncarpeted, the face\nof the boards was seen to be eaten into innumerable\nthe opening and shutting of every door a tremble\nfollowed every bustling movement, and a creak accom+\npanied a walker about the house like a spirit, wherever+\nhe went.\n In the room from which the conversation proceeded,\nBathsheba and her servant-companion, Liddy Small+\nbury were to be discovered sitting upon the floor, and\nsorting a complication of papers, books, bottles, and\nrubbish spread out thereon -- remnants from the house+\nhold stores of the late occupier. Liddy, the maltster's\ngreat-granddaughter, was about Bathsheba's equal in\nage, and her face was a prominent advertisement of the\nfeatures' might have lacked in form was amply made up\nfor by perfection of hue, which at this winter-time was\nthe softened ruddiness on a surface of high rotundity\nand, like the presentations of those great colourists, it\nwas a face which kept well back from the boundary\nbetween comeliness and the ideal. Though elastic in\nnature she was less daring than Bathsheba, and occa+\nsionally showed some earnestness, which consisted half\nof genuine feeling, and half of mannerliness superadded\nby way of duty.\n Through a partly-opened door the noise of a scrubbing+\nbrush led up to the charwoman, Maryann Money, a person\nwho for a face had a circular disc, furrowed less by age\nthan by long gazes of perplexity at distant objects. To\nthink of her was to get good-humoured; to speak of\nher was to raise the image of a dried Normandy\npippin.\n \"Stop your scrubbing a moment,' said Bathsheba\nthrough the door to her. \"I hear something.'\n Maryann suspended the brush.\n \n The tramp of a horse was apparent, approaching the\nfront of the building. The paces slackened, turned in\nat the wicket, and, what was most unusual, came up\nthe mossy path close to the door. The door was\ntapped with the end of a crop or stick.\n \"What impertinence!' said Liddy, in a low voice.\n\"To ride up the footpath like that! Why didn't he\nstop at the gate? Lord! \"tis a gentleman! I see the\ntop of his hat.'\n \"Be quiet!' said Bathsheba.\n The further expression of Liddy's concern was con+\ntinued by aspect instead of narrative.\n \"Why doesn't Mrs. Coggan go to the door?' Bath+\nsheba continued.\n Rat-tat-tat-tat, resounded more decisively from Bath+\nsheba's oak.\n \"Maryann, you go!' said she, fluttering under the\nonset ot a crowd of romantic possibilities.\n \"O ma'am -- see, here's a mess!'\n The argument was unanswerable after a glance at\nMaryann.\n \"Liddy -- you must,' said Bathsheba.\n Liddy held up her hands and arms, coated with dust\nfrom the rubbish they were sorting, and looked implor+\ningly at her mistress.\n \"There -- -Mrs. Coggan is going!' said Bathsheba,\nexhaling her relief in the form of a long breath which\nhad lain in her bosom a minute or more.\n The door opened, and a deep voice said --\n \"Is Miss Everdene at home?'\n \"I'll see, sir,' said Mrs. Coggan, and in a minute\nappeared in the room.\n \"Dear, what a thirtover place this world is!' con+\ntinued Mrs. Coggan (a wholesome-looking lady who\nhad a voice for each class of remark according to the\nemotion involved; who could toss a pancake or twirl\na mop with the accuracy of pure mathematics, and\nwho at this moment showed hands shaggy with frag+\nments of dough and arms encrusted with flour). \"I\nam never up to my elbows, Miss, in making a pudding\nbut one of two things do happen -- either my nose must\nneeds begin\n \ntickling, and I can't live without scratching\n A woman's dress being a part of her countenance,\nand any disorder in the one being of the same nature\nwith a malformation or wound in the other, Bathsheba\nsaid at once --\n \"I can't see him in this state. Whatever shall I do?'\n Not-at-homes were hardly naturalized in Weatherbury\nfarmhouses, so Liddy suggested -- \"Say you're a fright\nwith dust, and can't come down.'\n \"Yes -- that sounds very well,' said Mrs. Coggan,\ncritically.\n \"Say I can't see him -- that will do.'\n Mrs. Coggan went downstairs, and returned the\nanswer as requested, adding, however, on her own\nresponsibility, \"Miss is dusting bottles, sir, and is quite\na object -- that's why 'tis.'\n \"Oh, very well,' said the deep voice,' indifferently.\n\"All I wanted to ask was, if anything had been heard\nof Fanny Robin?'\n \"Nothing, sir -- but we may know to-night. William\nSmallbury is gone to Casterbridge, where her young\nman lives, as is supposed, and the other men be inquir+\ning about everywhere.'\n The horse's tramp then recommenced and -retreated,\nand the door closed.\n \"Who is Mr. Boldwood?' said Bathsheba.\n \"A gentleman-farmer at Little Weatherbury.'\n \"Married?'\n \"No, miss.'\n \"How old is he?'\n \"Forty, I should say -- very handsome -- rather stern+\nlooking -- and rich.'\n \"What a bother this dusting is! I am always in\nsome unfortunate plight or other;' Bathsheba said,\ncomplainingly. \"Why should he inquire aboat Fanny?'\n \"Oh, because, as she had no friends in her childhood,\nhe took her and put her to school, and got her her\nplace here under your uncle. He's a very kind man\nthat way, but Lord -- there!'\n \"What?'\n \"Never was such a hopeless man for a woman!\nHe's been\n \ncourted by sixes and sevens -- all the girls,\ngentle and simple, for miles round, have tried him. Jane\nPerkins worked at him for two months like a slave,\nand the two Miss Taylors spent a year upon him,\nand he cost Farmer Ives's daughter nights of tears\nand twenty pounds' worth of new clothes; but Lord --\nthe money might as well have been thrown out of the\nwindow.'\n A little boy came up at this moment and looked in\nupon them. This child was one of the Coggans who,\nwith the Smallburys, were as common among the\nfamilies of this district as the Avons and Derwents\namong our rivers. He always had a loosened tooth or\na cut finger to show to particular friends, which he did\nwith an air of being thereby elevated above the common\nherd of afflictionless humanity -- to which exhibition\nof congratulation as well as pity.\n \"I've got a pen-nee!' said Master Coggan in a\nscanning measure.\n \"Well -- who gave it you, Teddy?' said Liddy.\n \"Mis-terr Bold-wood! He gave it to me for opening\nthe gate.'\n \"What did he say?'\n \"He said \"Where are you going, my little man?''\nand I said, \"To Miss Everdene's please;'' and he said,\n\"She is a staid woman, isn't she, my little man?' and\nI said, \"\"Yes.'''\n \"You naughty child! What did you say that for?'\n \"Cause he gave me the penny!'\n \"What a pucker evrything is in!' said Bathsheba,\ndiscontentedly when the child had gone. 'Get away,\nthing! You ought to be married by this time, and not\nhere troubling me!'\n \"Ay, mistress -- so I did. But what between the poor\nmen I won't have, and the rich men who won't have me,\nI stand as a pelicon in the wilderness!'\n \"Did anybody ever want to marry you miss?' Liddy\nventured to ask when they were again alone. \"Lots of\n'em, i daresay.?'\n Bathsheba paused, as if about to refuse a reply, but\nthe temptation to say yes, since it was really in her\npower was irresistible by aspiring virginity, in spite of\nher spleen at having been published as old.\n \n \"A man wanted to once,' she said, in a highly experi+\nenced tone and the image of Gabriel Oak, as the farmer,\nrose before her.\n \"How nice it must seem!' said Liddy, with the fixed\nfeatures of mental realization. \"And you wouldn't have\nhim?'\n \"He wasn't quite good enough for me.'\n \"How sweet to be able to disdain, when most of us\nare glad to say, \"\"Thank you!'' I seem I hear it.\n\"\"No, sir -- I'm your better,'' or \"\"Kiss my foot, sir; my\nface is for mouths of consequence.'' And did you love\nhim, miss?'\n \"Oh, no. But I rather liked him.'\n \"Do you now?'\n \"Of course not -- what footsteps are those I hear?'\n Liddy looked from a back window into the courtyard\nbehind, which was now getting low-toned and dim with\nthe earliest films of night. A crooked file of men was\napproaching the back door. The whole string of trailing\nindividuals advanced in the completest balance of inten+\ntion, like the remarkable creatures known as Chain\nSalpae, which, distinctly organized in other respects, have\none will common to a whole family. Some were, as\nusual, in snow-white smock-frocks of Russia duck, and\nsome in whitey-brown ones of drabbet -- marked on the\nwrists, breasts, backs, and sleeves with honeycomb-work.\nTwo or three womcn in pattens brought up the rear.\n \"The Philistines be upon us,' said Liddy, making her\nnose white against the glass.\n \"Oh, very well. Maryann, go down and keep them\nin the kitchen till I am dressed, and then show them in\nto me in the hall.'\n \nHALF-AN-HOUR later Bathsheba, in finished dress,\nand followed by Liddy, entered the upper end of the old\nhall to find that her men had all deposited themselves on\na long form and a settle at the lower extremity. She sat\ndown at a table and opened th e time-book, pen in her\nhand, with a canvas money-bag beside her. From this\nshe poured a small heap of coin. Liddy chose a\nposition at her elbow and began to sew, sometimes\npausing and looking round, or with the air of a privileged\nperson, taking up one of the half-sovereigns lying before\nher and surveying it merely as a work of art, while\nstrictly preventing her countenance from expressing any\nwish to possess it as money.\n \"Now before I begin, men,' said Bathsheba, \"I have\ntwo matters to speak of. The first is that the bailiff is\ndismissed for thieving, and that I have formed a resolu+\ntion to have no bailiff at all, but to manage everything\nwith my own head and hands.'\n The men breathed an audible breath of amazement.\n \"The next matter is, have you heard anything of\nFanny?'\n \"Nothing, ma'am.\n \"Have you done anything?'\n \"I met Farmer Boldwood,' said Jacob Smallbury, 'and\nI went with him and two of his men, and dragged New+\nmill Pond, but we found nothing.'\n \"And the new shepherd have been to Buck's Head,\nby Yalbury, thinking she had gone there, but nobody\nhad seed her,' said Laban Tall.\n \"Hasn't William Smallbury been to Casterbridge?'\n \"Yes, ma'am, but he's not yet come home. He\npromised to be back by six.'\n \"It wants a quarter to six at present,' said Bathsheba,\n \n \nlooking at her watch. \"I daresay he'll be in directly.\nWell, now then' -- she looked into the book -- \"Joseph\nPoorgrass, are you there?'\n \"Yes, sir -- ma'am I mane,' said the person addressed.\n\"I be the personal name of Poorgrass.'\n \"And what are you?'\n \"Nothing in my own eye. In the eye of other people\n -- well, I don't say it; though public thought will out.'\n \"What do you do on the farm?'\n \"I do do carting things all the year, and in seed time I\nshoots the rooks and sparrows, and helps at pig-killing, sir.'\n \"How much to you ?'\n \"Please nine and ninepence and a good halfpenny\nwhere 'twas a bad one, sir -- ma'am I mane.'\n \"Quite correct. Now here are ten shillings in addi+\ntion as a small present, as I am a new comer.'\n Bathsheba blushed slightly at the sense of being\ngenerous in public, and Henery Fray, who had drawn\nup towards her chair, lifted his eyebrows and fingers to\nexpress amazement on a small scale.\n \"How much do I owe you -- that man in the corner --\nwhat's your name?' continued Bathsheba.\n \"Matthew Moon, ma'am,' said a singular framework of\nclothes with nothing of any consequence inside them,\nwhich advanced with the toes in no definite direction\nforwards, but turned in or out as they chanced to swing.\n \"Matthew Mark, did you say? -- speak out -- I shall\nnot hurt you,' inquired the young farmer, kindly.\n \"Matthew Moon mem' said Henery Fray, correct+\ningly, from behind her chair, to which point he had\nedged himself.\n \"Matthew Moon,' murmured Bathsheba, turning her\nbright eyes to the book. \"Ten and twopence halfpenny\nis the sum put down to you, I see?'\n \"Yes, mis'ess,' said Matthew, as the rustle of wind\namong dead leaves.\n \"Here it is and ten shillings. Now -the next -- Andrew\nRandle, you are a new man, I hear. How come you to\nleave your last farm?'\n \n \"P-p-p-p-p-pl-pl-pl-pl-l-l-l-l-ease, ma'am, p-p-p-p-pl-pl+\npl-pl-please, ma'am-please'm-please'm -- -- '\n \"'A's a stammering man, mem,' said Henery Fray in\nan undertone, \"and they turned him away because the\nonly time he ever did speak plain he said his soul was\nhis own, and other iniquities, to the squire. \"A can cuss,\nmem, as well as you or I, but 'a can't speak a common\nspeech to save his life.'\n \"Andrew Randle, here's yours -- finish thanking me\nin a day or two. Temperance Miller -- oh, here's another,\nSoberness -- both women I suppose?'\n \"Yes'm. Here we be, 'a b'lieve,' was echoed in shrill\nunison.\n \"What have you been doing?'\n \"Tending thrashing-machine and wimbling haybonds,\nand saying \"\"Hoosh!'' to the cocks and hens when they\ngo upon your seeds and planting Early Flourballs and\nThompson's Wonderfuls with a dibble.'\n \"Yes -- I see. Are they satisfactory women?' she\ninquired softly of Henery Fray.\n \"O mem -- don't ask me! Yeilding women?' as\nscarlet a pair as ever was!' groaned Henery under his\nbreath.\n \"Sit down.\n \"Who, mem?'\n \"Sit down,'\n Joseph Poorgrass, in the background twitched, and\nhis lips became dry with fear of some terrible conse+\nquences, as he saw Bathsheba summarily speaking, and\nHenery slinking off to a corner.\n \"Now the next. Laban Tall, you'll stay on working\nfor me?'\n \"For you or anybody that pays me well, ma'am,'\nreplied the young married man.\n \"True -- the man must live!' said a woman in the\nback quarter, who had just entered with clicking pattens.\n \"What woman is that?\" Bathsheba asked.\n \"I be his lawful wife!' continued the voice with\ngreater prominence of manner and tone. This lady\ncalled herself five-and-twenty, looked thirty, passed as\nthirty-five, and was forty. She was a woman who never,\nlike some newly married, showed\n \nconjugal tenderness in\npublic, perhaps because she had none to show.\n \"Oh, you are,' said Bathsheba. \"Well, Laban, will\nyou stay on ?'\n \"Yes, he'll stay, ma'am!' said again the shrill tongue\nof Laban's lawful wife.\n \"Well, he can speak for himself, I suppose.'\n \"O Lord, not he, ma'am! A simple tool. Well\nenough, but a poor gawkhammer mortal,' the wife replied\n \"Heh-heh-heh!' laughed the married man with a\nhideous effort of appreciation, for he was as irrepressibly\ngood-humoured under ghastly snubs as a parliamentary\ncandidate on the hustings.\n The names remaining were called in the same\nmanner.\n \"Now I think I have done with you,' said Bathsheba,\nclosing the book and shaking back a stray twine of hair.\n\"Has William Smallbury returned?'\n \"No, ma'am.'\n \"The new shepherd will want a man under him,'\nsuggested Henery Fray, trying to make himself official\nagain by a sideway approach towards her chair.\n \"Oh -- he will. Who can he have?'\n \"Young Cain Ball is a very good lad,' Henery said,\n\"and Shepherd Oak don't mind his youth?' he added,\nturning with an apologetic smile to the shepherd, who\nhad just appeared on the scene, and was now leaning\nagainst the doorpost with his arms folded.\n \"No, I don't mind that,' said Gabriel.\n \"How did Cain come by such a name?' asked\nBathsheba.\n \"Oh you see, mem, his pore mother, not being a\nScripture-read woman made a mistake at his christening,\nthinking 'twas Abel killed Cain, and called en Cain,\nbut 'twas too late, for the name could never be got rid\nof in the parish. \"Tis very unfortunate for the boy.'\n \"It is rather unfortunate.'\n \"Yes. However, we soften it down as much as we\ncan, and call him Cainey. Ah, pore widow-woman!\nshe cried her heart\n \nout about it almost. She was\nbrought up by a very heathen father and mother, who\nnever sent her to church or school, and it shows how\nthe sins of the parents are visited upon the children,\nmem.'\n Mr. Fray here drew up his features to the mild degree\nof melancholy required when the persons involved in\nthe given misfortune do not belong to your own family.\n \"Very well then, Cainey Ball to be under-shepherd\nAnd you quite understand your duties? -- you I mean,\nGabriel Oak?'\n \"Quite well, I thank you Miss Everdene,' said\nShepard Oak from the doorpost. \"If I don't, I'll\ninquire.' Gabriel was rather staggered by the remark+\nable coolness of her manner. Certainly nobody without\nprevious information would have dreamt that Oak and\nthe handsome woman before whom he stood had ever\nbeen other than strangers. But perhaps her air was\nthe inevitable result of the social rise which had advanced\nher from a cottage to a large house and fields. The\ncase is not unexampled in high places. When, in the\nwritings of the later poets, Jove and his family are found\nto have moved from their cramped quarters on the peak\nof Olympus into the wide sky above it, their words show\na proportionate increase of arrogance and reserve.\nFootsteps were heard in the passage, combining in\ntheir character the qualities both of weight and measure,\nrather at the expense of velocity.\n(All.) 'Here's Billy Smallbury come from Caster+\nbridge.'\n' And what's the news ? ' said Bathsheba, as William,\nafter marching to the middle of the hall, took a hand+\nkerchief from his hat and wiped his forehead from its\ncentre to its remoter boundaries.\n'I should have been sooner, miss,' he said, 'if it\nhadn't been for the weather.' He then stamped with\neach foot severely, and on looking down his boots were\nperceived to be clogged with snow.\n'Come at last, is it ?' said Henery.\n\" Well, what about Fanny ? ' said Bathsheba.\n\"Well, ma'am, in round numbers, she's run away with\nthe soldiers,' said William.\n \n\" No; not a steady girl like Fanny ! '\n\"I'll tell ye all particulars. When I got to Caster,\nbridge Barracks, they said, \" The Eleventh Dragoon+\nGuards be gone away, and new troops have come.\"\nThe Eleventh left last week for Melchester and onwards.\nThe Route came from Government like a thief in the\nnight, as is his nature to, and afore the Eleventh knew\nit almost, they wem on the march. They passed near\nhere.'\nGabriel had listened with interest. 'I saw them go,'\nhe said.\n' Yes,' continued William, ' they pranced down the\nstreet playing \"The Girl I Left Behind Me,' so 'tis\nsaid, in glorious notes of triumph. Every looker-on's\ninside shook with the blows of the great drum to his\ndeepest vitals, and there was not a dry eye throughout\nthe town among the public-house people and the name+\nless women !.'\n'But they're not gone to any war?'\n'No, ma'am; but they be gone to take the places\nof them who may, which is very close connected. And\nso I said to myself, Fanny's young man was one of the\nregiment, and she's gone after him. There, ma'am,\nthat's it in black and white.'\nGabriel remained musing and said nothing, for he\nwas in doubt.\n'Well, we are not likely to know more to-night, at\nany rate,' said Bathsheba. 'But one of you had better\nrun across to Farmer Boldwood's and tell him that\nmuch.'\nShe then rose; but before retiring, addressed a few\nwords to them with a pretty dignity, to which her\nmourning dress added a soberness that was hardly to\nbe found in the words themselves.\n'Now mind, you have a mistress instead of a master\nI don't yet know my powers or my talents in farming;\nbut I shall do my best, and if you serve me well, so\nshall I serve you. Don't any unfair ones among you\n(if there are any such, but I hope not) suppose that\nbecause I'm a woman I don't understand the difference\nbetween bad goings-on and good.'\n \n(All.) 'Nom!.\n(Liddy.) 'Excellent well said.'\n'I shall be up before you are awake; I shall be\nafield before you are up ; and I shall have breakfasted\nbefore you are afield. In short, I shall astonish you all.\n(All.) 'Yes'm!'\n'And so good-night.'\n(All.) 'Good-night, ma'am.'\nThen this small-thesmothete stepped from the table,\nand surged out of the hall, her black silk dress licking\nup a few straws and dragging them along with a scratch+\ning noise upon the floor. biddy, elevating her feelings\nto the occasion from a sense of grandeur, floated off\nbehind Bathsheba with a milder dignity not entirely\nfree from travesty, and the door was closed.\n \nOUTSIDE THE BARRACKS -- SNOW -- A MEETING\nFOR dreariness nothing could surpass a prospect in the\noutskirts of a certain town and military station, many\nmiles north of Weatherbury, at a later hour on this\nsame snowy evening -- if that may be called a prospect\nof which the chief constituent was darkness.\nIt was a night when sorrow may come to the\nbrightest without causing any great sense of incongruity :\nwhen, with impressible persons, love becomes solicitous+\nness, hope sinks to misgiving, and faith to hope : when\nthe exercise of memory does not stir feelings of regret\nat opportunities for ambition that have been passed by,\nand anticipation does not prompt to enterprise.\nThe scene was a public path, bordered on the left\nhand by a river, behind which rose a high wall. On\nthe right was a tract of land, partly meadow'and partly\nmoor, reaching, at its remote verge, to a wide undulating\nuplan.\nThe changes of the seasons are less obtrusive on\nspots of this kind than amid woodland scenery. Still,\nto a close observer, they are just as perceptible ; the\ndifference is that their media of manifestation are less\ntrite and familiar than such well-known ones as the\nbursting of the buds or the fall of the leaf. Many are\nnot so stealthy and gradual as we may be apt to\nimagine in considering the general torpidity of a moor\nor waste. Winter, in coming to the country hereabout,\nadvanced in well-marked stages, wherein might have\nbeen successively observed the retreat of the snakes,\nthe transformation of the ferns, the filling of the pools,\na rising of fogs, the embrowning by frost, the collapse\nof the fungi, and an obliteration by snow.\nThis climax of the series had been reached to-night on\nthe aforesaid moor, and for the first time in the season\nits\n \nirregularities were forms without features ; suggestive\nof anything, proclaiming nothing, and without more\ncharacter than that of being the limit of something\nelse -- the lowest layer of a firmament of snow. From\nthis chaotic skyful of crowding flakes the mead and\nmoor momentarily received additional clothing, only\nto appear momentarily more naked thereby. The vast\narch of cloud above was strangely low, and formed as\nit were the roof of a large dark cavern, gradually sinking\nin upon its floor; for the instinctive thought was that\nthe snow lining the heavens and that encrusting the\nearth would soon unite into one mass without any\nintervening stratum of air at all.\nWe turn our attention to the left-hand characteristics ;\nwhich were flatness in respect of the river, verticality\nin respect of the wall behind it, and darkness as to\nboth. These features made up the mass. If anything\ncould be darker than the sky, it was the wall, and if any\nthing could be gloomier than the wall it was the river\nbeneath. The indistinct summit of the facade was\nnotched and pronged by chimneys here and there, and\nupon its face were faintly signified the oblong shapes\nof windows, though only in the upper part. Below,\ndown to the water's edge, the flat was unbroken by\nhole or projection.\nAn indescribable succession of dull blows, perplexing\nin their regularity, sent their sound- with difficulty\nthrough the fluffy atmosphere. It was a neighbouring\nclock striking ten The bell was in the open air, and\nbeing overlaid with several inches of muffling snow, had\nlost its voiee for the time.\nAbout this hour the snow abated : ten flakes fell\nwhere twenty had fallen, then one had the room of\nten. Not long after a form moved by the brink of\nthe river.\nBy its outline upon the colourless background, a close\nobserver might have seen 'that it was small. This was\nall that was positively discoverable, though it seemed\nhuman.\nThe shape went slowly along, but without much\nexertion, for the snow, though sudden, was not as yet\nmore than two inches deep. At this time some words\nwere spoken aloud : --\n' One. Two. 'Three. Four. Five.'\n Between each utterance the little shape advanced\nabout half a dozen yards. It was evident now that\nthe windows high\n \nin the wall were being counted.\nThe word 'Five' represented the fifth window from\nthe end of the wall.\nHere the spot stopped, and dwindled smaller. The\nfigure was stooping. Then a morsel of snow flew\nacross the river towards the fifth window. It smacked\nagainst the wall at a point several yards from its mark.\nThe throw was the idea of a man conjoined with the\nexecution of a woman. No man who had ever seen bird,\nrabbit, or squirrel in his childhood, could possibly have\nthrown with such utter imbecility as was shown here.\nAnother attempt, and another ; till by degrees the\nwall must have become pimpled with the adhering\nlumps of snow At last one fragment struck the fifth\nwindow.\nThe river would have been; seen by day to be of\nthat deep smooth sort which races middle and' sides\nwith the same gliding precision, any irregularities of\nspeed being immediately corrected by a small whirl+\npool. Nothing was heard in reply to the signal but\nthe gurgle and cluck of one of these invisible wheels --\ntogether with a few small sounds which a sad man\nwould have called moans, and a happy man laughter --\ncaused by the flapping of the waters against trifling\nobjects in other parts of the stream.\nThe window was struck again in the same manner.\nThen a noise was heard, apparently produced by\nthe opening of the window. This was followed by a\nvoice from the same quarter.\n'Who's there ? '\nThe tones were masculine, and not those of surprise.\nThe high wall being that of a barrack, and marriage\nbeing looked upon with disfavour in the army, assigna+\ntions and communications had probably been made\nacross the river before tonight.\n\"Is it Sergeant Troy?' said the blurred spot in the\nsnow, tremulously.\nThis person was so much like a mere shade upon\nthe earth, and the other speaker so much a part of\nthe building, that one would have said the wall was\nholding a conversation with the snow.\n \n'Yes,' came suspiciously from the shadow. ' What\ngirl are you ? '\n'O, Frank -- don't you know me ?' said the spot.\n'Your wife, Fanny Robin.'\n' Fanny !.' said the wall, in utter astonishment.\n'Yes,' said the girl, with a half-suppressed gasp of\nemotion.\nThere was something in the woman's tone which is\nnot that of the wife, and there was a mannerin the man\nwhich is rarely a husband's. The dialogue went on:\n'How did you come here ?'\n'I asked which was your window. Forgive me !. '\n\"I did not expect you to-night. Indeed, I did not\nthink you would come at all. It was a wonder you\nfound me here. I am orderly to-morrow.'\n'You said I was to come.'\n' Well -- I said that you might.'\n'Yes, I mean that I might. You are glad to see me,\nFrank ? '\n' O yes -- of course.'\n' Can you -- come to me !.'\n'My dear Fan, no .! The bugle has sounded, the\nbarrack gates are closed, and I have no leave. We are\nall of us as good as in the county gaol till to-morrow\nmorning.'\n' Then I shan't see you till then .! ' The words- were\nin a faltering tone of disappointment.\n' How did you get here from Weatherbury ? '\n'I walked -- some part of the way -- the rest by the\ncarriers.'\n' I am surprised.'\n' Yes -- so am I. And Frank, when will it 'be ? '\n' What ? '\n' That you promised.'\n\" I don't quite recollect.'\n'0 You do! Don't speak like that. It weighs me\nto the earth. It makes me say what ought to be said\nfirst by you.'\n' Never mind -- say it.'\n'0, must I? -- it is, when shall we be married,\nFrank ? '\n\" Oh, I \" see. Well -- you have to get proper\nclothes.'\n\"I have money. Will it be by banns or license ?'\n \n\" Banns, I should think.'\n\" And we live in two parishes.'\n\"Do we ? What then?'\n\"My lodgings are in St. Mary's, and this is not. So\nthey will have to be published in both.'\n\"Is that the law?'\n\" Yes. O Frank -- you think me forward, I am\nafraid .! Don't, dear Frank -- will you -- for I love you so.\nAnd you said lots of times you would marry me, and\nand -- I -- I -- I -- -- '\n \"Don't cry, now! It is foolish. If i said so, of\ncourse I will.'\n'And shall I put up the banns in my parish, and will\nyou in yours?'\n\"Yes'\n\"To-morrow?'\n\"Not tomorrow. We'll settle in a few days.'\n\"You have the permission of the officers?'\n\"No, not yet.'\n\"O -- how is it? You said you almost had before\nyou left Casterbridge.'\n\"The fact is, I forgot to ask. Your coming like this\nI'll go away now. Will you qoDe,and seq be to-morroy\nis so sudden and unexpected.'\n\"Yes -- yes -- it is. It was wrong of me to worry you.\nI'll go away now. Will you come and see me to-morrow,\nat Mrs. Twills's, in North Street? I don't like to come\nto the Barracks. There are bad women about, and they\nthink me one.'\n\"Quite,so. I'll come to you, my dean Good-night.'\n\"Good-night, Frank -- good-night!'\nAnd the noise was again heard of a window closing\nThe little spot moved away. When she passed the\ncorner a subdued exclamation was heard inside the\nwall.\n\"Ho -- ho -- Sergeant -- ho -- ho!' An expostulation\nfollowed, but it was indistinct; and it became lost amid\na low peal of laughter, which was hardly distinguishable\nfrom the gurgle of the tiny whirlpools outside.\n \nFARMERS -- A RULE -- IN EXCEPTION\nTHE first public evidence of Bathsheba's decision to\nbe a farmer in her own person and by proxy no more\nwas her appearance the following market-day in. the\ncornmarket at Casterbridge.\nThe low though extensive hall, supported by beams\nand pillars, and latterly dignified by-the name of Corn Ex+\nchange, was thronged with hot men who talked among\neach other in twos and threes, the speaker of the minute\nlooking sideways into his auditor's face and concentrating\nhis argument by a contraction of one eyelid during de+\nlivery. The greater number carried in their hands\nground-ash saplings, using them partly as walking-sticks\nand partly for poking up pigs, sheep, neighbours with\ntheir backs turned, and restful things in general, which\nseemed to require such treatment in the course of their\nperegrinations. During conversations each subjected\nhis sapling to great varieties of usage -- bending it round\nhis back, forming an\"arch of it between his two hands,\noverweighting it on the ground till it reached nearly a\nsemicircle; or perhaps it was hastily tucked under the\narm whilst the sample-bag was pulled forth and a hand+\nful of corn poured into the palm, which, after criticism,\nwas flung upon the floor, an issue of events perfectly\nwell known to half-a-dozen acute town-bred fowls which\nhad as usual crept into the building unobserved, and\nwaited the fulfilment of their anticipations with a high+\nstretched neck and oblique eye.\nAmong these heavy yeomen a feminine figure glided,\nthe single one of her sex that the room contained. She\nwas prettily and even daintily dressed. She moved\nbetween them as a chaise between carts, was heard after\nthem as a romance after sermons, was felt among them\nlike a breeze among furnaces. It had required a little\ndetermination -- far more than she had at\n \nfirst imagined\n -- to take up a position here, for at her first entry the\nlumbering dialogues had ceased, nearly every face had\nbeen turned towards her, and those that were already\nturned rigidly fixed there.\nTwo or three only of the farmers were personally\nknown to Bathsheba, and to these she had made her\nway. But if she was to be the practical woman she had\nintended to show herself, business must be carried on,\nintroductions or none, and she ultimately acquired con+\nfidence enough to speak and reply boldly to men merely\nknown to her by hearsay. Bathsheba too had her\nsample-bags, and by degrees adopted the professional\npour into the hand -- holding up the grains in her narrow\npalm for inspection, in perfect Casterbridge manner.\nSomething in the exact arch of her upper unbroken\nrow of teeth, and in the keenly pointed corners of her\nred mouth when, with parted lips, she somewhat\ndefiantly turned up her face to argue a point with a\ntall man, suggested that there was potentiality enough\nin that lithe slip of humanity for alarming exploits of\nsex, and daring enough to carry them out. But her eyes\nhad a softness -- invariably a softness -- which, had they\nnot been dark, would have seemed mistiness; as they\nwere, it lowered an expression that might have been\npiercing to simple clearness,\nStrange to say of a woman in full bloom and vigor,\nshe always allowed her interlocutors to finish their state+\nments before rejoining with hers. In arguing on prices,\nhe held to her own firmly, as was natural in a dealer,\nand reduced theirs persistently, as was inevitable in a\noman. But there was an elasticity in her firmness\nwhich removed it from obstinacy, as there was a naivete\nin her cheapening which saved it from meanness.\nThose of the farmers with whom she had no dealings\nby far the greater part) were continually asking each\nother, \"Who is she?' The reply would be --\n\"Farmer Everdene's niece; took on Weatherbury\nUpper Farm; turned away the baily, and swears she'll do\nverything herself.'\nThe other man would then shake his head.\n \n\"Yes, 'tis a pity she's so headstrong,' the first would\nsay. \"But we ought to be proud of her here -- she\nlightens up the old place. 'Tis such a shapely maid,\nhowever, that she'll soon get picked up.'\nIt would be ungallant to suggest that the novelty of\nher engagement in such an occupation had almost as\nmuch to do with the magnetism as had the beauty of\nher face and movements. However, te interest was\neneral, and this Saturday's debut in the forum, whatever\nit may have been to Bathsheba as the buying and selling\nfarmer, was unquestionably a triumph to her as the\nmaiden. Indeed, the sensation was so pronounced that\nher instinct on two or three occasions was merely to\nvalk as a queen among these gods of the fallow, like a\nlittle sister of a little Jove, and\"to neglect closing prices\naltogether.\nThe numerous evidences of-her power to attract were\nonly thrown into greater relief by a marked exception.\nWomen seem to have eyes in their ribbons for such\nmatters as these. Bathsheba, without looking within\na right angle of him, was conscious of a black sheep\namong the flock.\nIt perplexed her first. If there had been a respect+\nable minority on either side, the case would have been\nmost natural. If nobody had regarded her, she would\nhave -- -taken the matter indifferently -- such cases had\noccurred. If eveybody, this man included, she would\nhave taken it as a matter of course -- people had done\nso before. But the smallness of the exception made the\nmystery.\nShe soon knew thus much of the recusant's appear+\nance. He was a gentlemanly man, with full and\ndistinctly outlined Roman features, the prominences\nof which glowed in the sun with a bronze-like richness\nof tone. He was erect in attitude, and quiet in\ndemeanour. One characteristic pre-eminently marked\nhim -- dignity.\nApparently he had some time ago reached that\nentrance to middle age at which a man's aspect naturally\nceases to alter for the term of a dozen years or so; and,\nartificially, a woman't does likewise. Thirty-five and\nfifiy were his limits of variation -- he might have been\neither, or anywhere between the two.\nIt may be said that married men of forty are usually\nready\n \nand generous enough to fling passing glances at\nany specimen of moderate beauty they may discern by\nthe way. Probably, as with persons playing whist for\nlove, the consciousness of a certain immunity under\nany circumstances from that worst possible ultimate,\nthe having to pay, makes them unduly speculative.\nBathsheba was convinced that this unmoved person\nwas not a married man.\nWhen marketing was over, she rushed off to Liddy,\nwho was waiting for her -- beside the yellowing in which\nthey had driven to town. The horse was put in, and\non they trotted Bathsheba's sugar, tea, and drapery\nparcels being packed behind, and expeessing in some\nindescribable manner, by their colour, shape, and\ngeneral lineaments, that they were that youmg lady+\nfarmer's property, and the grocer's and drapers no\nmore.\n\" I've been through it, Liddy, and it is over. I shan't\nmind it again, for they will all have grown accustomed\nto seeing me there; but this morning it was as bad as\nbeing married -- eyes everywhere!'\n\"I knowed it would. be,' Liddy said \"Men be such\na terrible class of society to look at a body.'\n\"But there was one man who had more sense than\nto waste his time upon me.' The information was put\nin this form that Liddy might not for a moment suppose\nher mistress was at all piqued. \"A very good-looking\nman,' she continued, \"upright; about forty, I should\nthink. Do you know at all who he could be?'\nLiddy couldn't think.\n\"Can't you guess at all?' said Bathsheba with some\ndisappointment.\n\"I haven't a notion; besides, 'tis no difference, since\nhe took less notice of you than any of the rest. Now,\nif he'd taken more, it would have mattered a great deal.'\nBathsheba was suffering from the reverse feeling just\nthen, and they bowled along in silence. A low carriage,\nbowling along still more rapidly behind a horse of un+\nimpeachable breed, overtook and passed them.\n\"Why, there he is!' she said.\nLiddy looked. \"That! That's Farmer Boldwood --\nof course\n \n'tis -- the man you couldn't see the other day\nwhen he called.'\n\"Oh, Farmer Boldwood,' murmured Bathsheba, and\nlooked at him as he outstripped them. The farmer had\nnever turned his head once, but with eyes fixed on the\nmost advanced point along the road, passed as uncon+\nsciously and abstractedly as if Bathshea and her charms\nwere thin air.\n\"He's an interesting man -- don't you think so?' she\nremarked.\n\"O yes, very. Everybody owns it,' replied Liddy.\n\"I wonder why he is so wrapt up and indifferent, and\nseemingly so far away from all he sees around him,'\n\"It is said -- but not known for certain -- that he met\nwith some bitter disappointment when he was a young\nman and merry. A woman jilted him, they say.'\n\"People always say that -- and we know very well\nwomen scarcely ever jilt men; 'tis the men who jilt us.\nI expect it is simply his nature to be so reserved.'\n\"Simply his nature -- I expect so, miss -- nothing else\nin the world.'\n\"Still, 'tis more romantic to think he has been served\ncruelly, poor thing'! Perhaps, after all, he has! I\n\"Depend upon it he has. O yes, miss, he has!\nfeel he must have.'\n\"However, we are very apt to think extremes of\npeople. I -- shouldn't wonder after all if it wasn't a\nlittle of both -- just between the two -- rather cruelly\nused and rather reserved.'\n\"O dear no, miss -- I can't think it between the\ntwo!'\n\"That's most likely.'\n\"Well, yes, so it is. I am convinced it is most likely.\nYou may -- take my word, miss, that that's what's the\nmatter with him.'\n \nSORTES SANCTORUM -- THE VALENTINE\nIT was Sunday afternoon in the farmhouse, on the\nthirteenth of February. Dinner being over, Bathsheba,\nfor want of a better companion, had asked Liddy to\ncome and sit with her. The mouldy pile was dreary\nin winter-time before the candles were lighted and the\nshutters closed ; the atmosphere of the place seemed\nas old as the walls; every nook behind the furniture\nhad a temperature of its own, for the fire was not\nkindled in this part of the house early in the day;\nand Bathsheba's new piano, which was an old one\nin other annals, looked particularly sloping and out\nof level on the warped floor before night threw a\nshade over its less prominent angles and hid the\nunpleasantness. Liddy, like a little brook, though\nshallow, was always rippling; her presence had not so\nmuch weight as to task thought, and yet enough to\nexercise it.\nOn the table lay an old quarto Bible, bound in\nleather. Liddy looking at it said, --\n\"Did you ever find out, miss, who you are going to\nmarry by means of the Bible and key ?,\n\"Don't be so foolish, Liddy. As if such things\ncould be.'\n\" Well, there's a good deal in it, all the same.'\n' Nonsense, child.'\n\" And it makes your heart beat fearful. Some believe\nin it; some don't; I do.'\n\"Very well, let's try it,' said Bathsheba, bounding\nfrom her seat with that total disregard of consistency\nwhich can be indulged in towards a dependent, and\nentering into the spirit of divination at once. 'Go and\nget the front door key.'\nLiddy fetched it. 'I wish it wasn't Sunday,' she\nsaid, on returning. ' Perhaps 'tis wrong.'\n' What's right week days is right Sundays,' replied her\nmistress in a tone which was a proof in itself.\n \nThe book was opened -- the leaves, drab with age,\nbeing quite worn away at much-read verses by the fore'\nfingers \"of unpractised readers in former days, where they\nwere moved along under the line as an aid to the vision.\nThe special verse in the Book of Ruth was sought out\nby Bathsheba, and the sublime words met her eye. They\nslightly thrilled and abashed her. It was Wisdom in\nthe abstract facing Folly in the concrete. Folly in the\nconcrete blushed, persisted in her intention, and placed\nthe key on -the book. A rusty patch immediately upon\nthe verse, caused by previous pressure of an iron\nsubstance thereon, told that this was not the first time\nthe old volume had been used for the purpose.\n'Now keep steady, and be silent,' said Bathsheba.\nThe 'verse was repeated; the book turned round ;\nBathsheba blushed guiltily.\n'Who did you try ?' said Liddy curiously.\n'I shall not tell you.'\n'Did you notice Mr. Boldwood's doings in church\nthis morning, miss ? 'Liddy continued, adumbrating by\nthe remark the track her thoughts had taken.\n'No, indeed,' said Bathsheba, with serene indifference\n\" His pew is exactly opposite yours, miss.'\n\"I know it.'\n\"And you did not see his goings on !,'\nCertainly I did not, I tell you.'\nLiddy assumed a smaller physiognomy, and shut\nher lips decisively.\nThis move was unexpected, and proportionately dis\nconcerting. \" What did he do?' Bathsheba said perforce.\n\"Didn't turn his head to look at you once all the\nservice.\n\"Why should he?' again demanded her mistress,\nwearing a nettled look. \"I didn't ask him to.\n'Oh no. But everybody else was noticing you ; and\nit was odd he didn't. There, 'tis like him. Rich and\ngentlemanly, what does he care ? '\nBathsheba dropped into a silence intended to ex+\npress that she had opinions on the matter too abstruse\nfor Liddy's comprehension, rather than that she had\nnothing to say.\n\"\n \nDear me -- I had nearly forgotten the valentine\nI bought yesterday,' she exclaimed at length.\n\"Valentine ! who for, miss ? ' said Liddy. \" Farmer\nBoldwood ?'\nIt was the single name among all possible wrong\nones that just at this moment seemed to Bathsheba\nmore pertinent than the right.\n\"Well, no. It is only for little Teddy Coggan.\nhave promised him something, and this will be a pretty\nsurprise for him. Liddy, you may as well bring me\nmy desk and I'll direct it at once.'\nBathsheba took from her desk a gorgeously illumin+\nated and embossed design in post-octavo, which had\nbeen \"bought on the previous market-day at the chief\nstationer's in Casterbridge. In the eentre was a small\noval enclosure ; this was left blank, that the sender\nmight insert tender words more appropriate to the\nspecial occasion than any generalities by a printer\ncould possibly be.\n\" Here's a place for writing,' said Bathsheba. 'What\nshall I put ?'\n\" Something of this sort, I should think', returned\nLiddy promptly : --\n\" The rose is red,\n The violet blue,\n Camation's sweet,\n And so are you.'\n\" Yes, that shall be it. It just suits itself to a chubby+\nfaced child like him,' said Bathsheba. She ins.erted the\nwords in a small though legible handwriting; enelosed\nthe sheet in an envelope, and dipped her pen for the\ndirection.\n\"What fun it would be to send it to the stupid old\nBoldwood, and how he would wonder.! ' said the\nirrepressible Liddy, lifting her eyebrows, and indulging\nin an awful mirth on the verge of fear as she thought\nof the moral and social magnitude of the man contem+\nplated.\nBathsheba paused to regard the idea at full length.\nBoldwood's had begun to be a troublesome image -- a\nspecies of Daniel in her kingdom who persisted in\nkneeling eastward\n \nwhen reason and common sense\nsaid that he might just as well follow suit with the\nrest, and afford her the official glance of admiration\nwhich cost nothing at all. She was far from being\nseriously concerned about his nonconformity. Still,\nit was faintly depressing that the most dignified and\nvaluable man in the parish should withhold his eyes,\nand that a girl like Liddy should talk about it. So\nLiddy's idea was at first rather harassing than piquant.\n\" No, I won't do that. He wouldn't see any humour\nin it.'\n\" He'd worry to death,' said the persistent Liddy.\n\" Really, I don't care particularly to send it to\nTeddy,' remarked her mistress. \" He's rather a naughty\nchild sometimes.'\n\" Yes -- that he is.'\n\" Let's toss as men do,' said Bathsheba, idly. 'Now\nthen, head, Boldwood ; tail, Teddy. No, we won't toss\nmoney on a Sunday that would be tempting the devil\nindeed.'\n\"Toss this hymn-book; there can't be no sinfulness\nin that, miss.'\n'Very well. Open, Boldwood -- shut, Teddy. No;\nit's more likely to fall open. Open, Teddy -- shut,\nBoldwood.'\nThe book went fluttering in the air and came down shut.\nBathsheba, a small yawn upon her mouth, took the\npen, and with off-hand serenity directed the missive to\nBoldwood.\n'Now light a candle, Liddy. Which seal shall we\nuse? Here's a unicorn's head -- there's nothing in\nthat. What's this ? -- two doves -- no. It ought to be\nsomething extraodinary, ought it not, Lidd? Here's\none with a motto -- I remember it is some funny one,\nbut I can't read it. We'll try this, and if it doen't\ndo we'll have another.'\nA large red seal was duly affixed. Bathsheba looked\nclosely at the hot wax to discover the words.\n'Capital!' she exclaimed, throwing down the letter\nfrolicsomely. \" 'Twould upset the solemnity of a parson\n \n \nThe same evening the letter was sent, and was duly\nreturned to Weatherbury again in the morning.\nOf love as a spectacle Bathsheba had a fair knowledge;\nbut of love subjectively she knew nothing.\n \nEFFECT OF THE LETTER -- SUNRISE\nAT dusk, on the evening of St. Valentine's Day, Bold+\nwood sat down to supper as usual, by a beaming fire\nof aged logs. Upon the matel-shelf before him was\na time-piece, surmounted by a spread eagle, and upon\nthe eagle's wings was the letter Bathsheba had sent.\nHere the bachelor's gaze was continually fastening\nitself, till the large red seal became as a blot of blood\non the retina of his eye; and as he ate and drank he\nstill read in fancy the words thereon, although they\nwere too remote for his sight --\n\" MARRY ME.'\nThe pert injunction was like those crystal substances\nwhich, colourless themselves, assume the tone of objects\nabout them. Here, in the quiet of Boldwood's parlour,\nwhere everything that ,was not grave was extraneous,\nand where the atmosphere was that of a Puritan Sunday\nlasting all the week, the letter and its dictum changed'\ntheir tenor from the thoughtlessness of their origin to\na deep solemnity, imbibed from their accessories\nnow.\nSince the receipt of the missive in the morning,\nBoldwood had felt the symmetry of his existence to\nbe slowly getting distorted in the direction of an ideal\npassion. The disturbance was as the first floating\nweed to Columbus -- the eontemptibly little suggesting\npossibilities of the infinitely great.\nThe letter must have had an origin and a motive.\nThat the latter was of the smallest magnitude com+\npatible with its existence at all, Boldwood, of course,\ndid not know. And such an explanation did not\nstrike him as a possibility even. It is foreign to a\nmystified condition of mind to realize of the mystifier\nthat the processes of approving a course suggested by\ncircumstance, and of striking out a course from inner\nimpulse, would look the same in the result. The vast\ndifference between\n \nstarting a train of events, and direct+\ning into a particular groove a series already started, is\nrarely apparent to the person confounded by the\nissue.\nWhen Boldwood went to bed he placed the valen+\ntine in the corner of the looking-glass. He was\nconscious of its presence, even when his back was\nturned upon it. It was the first time in Boldwood's\nlife that such an event had occurred. The same\nfascination that caused him to think it an act which had\na deliberate motive prevented him from regarding it as\nan impertinence. He looked again at the direction.\nThe mysterious influences of night invested the writing\nwith the presence of the unknown writer. Somebody's\nsome woman's -- hand had travelled softly over the\npaper bearing his name ; her unrevealed eyes had\nwatched every curve as she formed it ; her brain had\nseen him in imagination the while. Why should\nshe have imagined him ? Her mouth -- were the lips\nred or pale, plump or creased? -- had curved itself to a\ncertain expression as the pen went on -- the corners had\nmoved with all their natural tremulousness : what had\nbeen the expression ?\nThe vision of the woman writing, as a supplement to\nthe words written, had no individuality. She was a\nmisty shape, and well she might be, considering that\nher original was at that moment sound asleep and\noblivious of all love and letter-writing under the sky.\nWhenever Boldwood dozed she took a form, and com+\nparatively ceased to be a vision : when he awoke there\nwas the letter justifying the dream.\nThe moon shone to-night, and its light was not of\na customary kind. His window admitted only a\nreflection of its rays, and the pale sheen had that\nreversed direction which snow gives, coming upward\nand lighting up his ceiling in an unnatural way, casting\nshadows in strange places, and putting lights where\nshadows had used to be.\nThe substance of the epistle had occupied him but\nlittle in comparison with the fact of its arrival. He\nsuddenly wondered if anything more might be found in\nthe envelope than what he had withdrawn. He jumped\nout of bed in the weird light, took the letter, pulled out\nthe flimsy sheet, shook the envelope -- searched it.\nNothing more was there. Boldwood looked, as he\n \nhad a hundred times the preceding day, at the insistent red\nseal : \" Marry me,' he said aloud.\nThe solemn and reserved yeoman again closed the\nletter, and stuck it in the frame of the glass. In doing\nso he caught sight of his reflected features, wan in\nexpression, and insubstantial in form. He saw how\nclosely compressed was his mouth, and that his eyes\nwere wide-spread and vacant. Feeling uneasy and dis+\nsatisfied with himself for this nervous excitability, he\nreturned to bed.\nThen the dawn drew on. The full power of the\nclear heaven was not equal to that of a cloudy sky at\nnoon, when Boldwood arose and dressed himself. He\ndescended the stairs and went out towards the gate of\na field to the east, leaning over which he paused and\nlooked around.\nIt was one of the usual slow sunrises of this time of\nthe year, and the sky, pure violet in the zenith, was\nleaden to the northward, and murky to the east, where,\nover the snowy down or ewe-lease on Weatherbury\nUpper Farm, and apparently resting upon the ridge, the\nonly half of the sun yet visible burnt rayless, like a red\nand flameless fire shining over a white hearthstone.\nThe whole effect resembled a sunset as childhood\nresembles age.\nIn other directions, the fields and sky were so much\nof one colour by the snow, that it was difficult in a\nhasty glance to tell whereabouts the horizon occurred ;\nand in general there was here, too, that before-mentioned\npreternatural inversion of light and shade which attends\nthe prospect when the garish brightness commonly in\nthe sky is found on the earth, and the shades of earth\nare in the sky. Over the west hung the wasting moon,\nnow dull and greenish-yellow, like tarnished brass.\nBoldwood was listlessly noting how the frost had\nhardened and glazed the surface of the snow, till it\nshone in the red eastern light wit-h the polish of marble;\nhow, in some portions of the slope, withered grass-bents,\nencased in icicles, bristled through the smooth wan\ncoverlet in the twisted and curved shapes of old\nVenetian glass; and how the footprints of a few birds,\nwhich had hopped over the snow whilst it lay in the\nstate of a soft fleece, were now frozen to a short perma+\n \nnency. A half-muffled noise of light wheels interrupted\nhim. Boldwood turned back into the road. It was\nthe mail-cart -- a crazy, two-wheeled vehicle, hardly\nheavy enough to resist a puff of wind. The driver held\nout a letter. Boldwood seized it and opened it, ex+\npecting another anonymous one -- so greatly are people's\nideas of probability a mere sense that precedent will\nrepeat itself.\n\"I don't think it is for you, sir,' said the man, when\nhe saw Boldwood's action. \"Though there is no name\nI think it is for your shepherd.'\nBoldwood looked then at the address --\nTo the New Shepherd,\nWeatherbury Farm,\nNear Casterbridge.\n\"Oh -- what a mistake !. -- it is not mine. Nor is it\nfor my shepherd. It is for Miss Everdene's.' You had\nbetter take it on to him -- Gabriel Oak -- and say I opencd\nit in mistake.\"\nAt this moment, on the ridge, up against the blazing\nsky, a figure was visible, like the black snuff in the\nmidst of a candle-flame. Then it moved and began to\nbustle about vigorously from place to place, carrying\nsquare skeleton masses, which were riddled by the same\nrays. A small figure on all fours followed behind. The\ntall form was that of Gabriel Oak ; the small one that\nof George ; the articles in course of transit were hurdles.\n'Wait, 'said Boldwood. \" That's the man on the hill.\nI'll take the letter to him myself.\"\nTo Boldwood it was now no longer merely a letter to\nI another man. It was an opportunity. Exhibiting a\nface pregnant with intention, he entered the snowy field.\nGabriel, at that minute, descended the hill towards\nthe right. The glow stretched down in this direction\nnow, and touched the distant roof of Warren's Malthouse\nwhither the shepherd was apparently bent : Boldwood\nfollowed at a distance.\n \nTHE scarlet and orange light outside the malthouse did\nnot penetrate to its interior, which was, as usual, lighted\nby a rival glow of similar hue, radiating from the hearth.\nThe maltster, after having lain down in his clothes\nfor a few hours, was now sitting beside a three-leggcd\ntable, breakfasting of bread and bacon. This was\neaten on the plateless system, which is performed by\nplacing a slice of bread upon the table, the meat flat\nupon the bread, a mustard plaster upon the meat, and\na pinch of salt upon the whole, then cutting them\nvertically downwards with a large pocket-knife till wood\nis reached, when the severed lamp is impaled on the\nknife, elevated, and sent the proper way of food.\nThe maltster's lack of teeth appeared not to sensibly\ndiminish his powers as a mill. He had been without\nthem for so many years that toothlessness was felt less\nto be a defect than hard gums an acquisition. Indeed,\nhe seemed to approach the grave as a hyperbolic curve\napproaches a stmight line -- less directly as he got nearer,\ntill it was doubtful if he would ever reach it at all.\nIn the ashpit was a heap of potatoes roasting, and a\nboiling pipkin of charred bread, callcd 'coffee,' for the\nbenefit of whomsoever should call, for Warren's was a\nsort of clubhouse. used as an alternative to the in!.\n\"I say, says I, we get a fine day, and then down\ncomes a snapper at night,' was a remark now suddenly\nheard spreading into the malthouse from the door, which\nhad been opened the previous moment. The form of\nHenery Fray advanced to the fire, stamping the snow\nfrom his boots when about half-way there. The speech\nand entry had not seemed to be at all an abrupt begin+\nning to the maltster, introductoy matter being often\nomitted in this neighbourhood, both from word and\n \ndeed, and the maltster having the same latitude allowed\nhim, did not hurry to reply. He picked up a fragment\nof cheese, by pecking upon it with his knife, as a butcher\npicks up skewers.\nHenery appeared in a drab kerseymere great-coat,\nbuttoned over his smock-frock, the white skirts of the\nlatter being visible to the distance of about a foot below\nthe coat-tails, which, when you got used to the style of\ndress, looked natural enough, and even ornamental -- it\ncertainly was comfortable.\nMatthew Moon, Joseph Poorgrass, and other carters\nand waggoners followed at his heels, with great lanterns\ndangling from their hands, which showed that they had\njust come from the cart-horse stables, where they had\nbeen busily engaged since four o'clock that morning.\n\"And how is she getting on without a baily?' the\nmaltster inquired.\nHenery shook his head, and smiled one of the bitter\nsmiles, dragging all the flesh of his forehead into a\ncorrugated heap in the centre.\n\" She'll rue it -- surely, surely ! ' he said \" Benjy\nPennyways were not a true man or an honest baily --\nas big a betrayer as Joey Iscariot himself. But to think\nshe can carr' on alone! ' He allowed his head to swing\nlaterally three or four times in silence. \" Never in all my\ncreeping up -- never! '\nThis was recognized by all as the conclusion of some\ngloomy speech which had been expressed in thought\nalone during the shake of the head; Henery meanwhile\nretained several marks of despair upon his face, to\nimply that they would be required for use again directly\nhe should go on speaking.\n'All will be ruined, and ourselves too, or there's no\nmeat in gentlemen's houses!' said Mark Clark.\n'A headstrong maid, that's what she is -- and won't\nlisten to no advice at all. Pride and vanity have ruined\nmany a cobbler's dog. Dear, dear, when I think o' it,\nI sorrows like a man in travel ! '\n'True, Henery, you do, I've heard ye,' said Joseph\nPoorgrass in a voice of thorough attestation, and with\na wire-drawn smile of misery.\n\"'Twould do a martel man no harm to have what's\nunder\n \nher bonnet,' said Billy Smallbury, who had just\nentered, bearing his one tooth before him. \"She can\nspaik real language, and must have some sense some+\nwhere. Do ye foller me ?'\n\"I do: but no baily -- I deserved that place,' wailed\nHenery, signifying wasted genius by gazing blankly at\nvisions of a high destiny apparently visible to him on\nBilly Smallbury's smock-frock. \" There, 'twas to be, I\nsuppose. Your lot is your lot, and Scripture is nothing;\nfor if you do good you don't get rewarded according to\nyour works, but be cheated in some mean way out of\nyour recompense.'\n\"No, no; I don't agree with'ee there,' said Mark\nClark. God's a perfect gentleman in that respect.'\n\"Good works good pay, so to speak it,' attested\nJoseph Poorgrass.\nA short pause ensued, and as a sort of entr'acte\nHenery turned and blew out the lanterns, which the\nincrease of daylight rendered no longer necessary even\nin the malthouse, with its one pane of glass.\n\"I wonder what a farmer-woman can want with a\nharpsichord, dulcimer, pianner, or whatever 'tis they d'call\nit?' said the maltster. 'Liddy saith she've a new one.'\n\"Got a pianner?'\n\"Ay. Seems her old uncle's things were not good\nenough for her. She've bought all but everything new.\nThere's heavy chairs for the stout, weak and wiry ones\nfor the slender; great watches, getting on to the size\nof clocks, to stand upon the chimbley-piece.'\nPictures, for the most part wonderful frames.'\n\" And long horse-hair settles for the drunk, with horse+\nhair pillows at each end,' said Mr. Clark. \" Likewise\nlooking-glasses for the pretty, and lying books for the\nwicked.'\nA firm loud tread was now heard stamping outside;\nthe door was opened about six inches, and somebody on\nthe other side exclaimed --\n\"Neighbours, have ye got room for a few new-born\nlambs?'\n\" Ay, sure, shepherd,' said the conclave.\nThe door was flung back till it kicked the wall and\ntrembled from top to bottom with the blow. Mr.\nOak appeared in the\n \nentry with a steaming face, hay+\nbands wound about his ankles to keep out the snow, a\nleather strap round his waist outside the smock-frock,\nand looking altogether an epitome of the world's health\nand vigour. Four lambs hung in various embarrassing\nattitudes over his shoulders, and the dog George, whom\nGabriel had contrived to fetch from Norcombe, stalked\nsolemnly behind.\n\" Well, Shepherd Oak, and how's lambing this year,\nif I mid say it?' inquired Joseph Poorgrass.\n\"Terrible trying,\" said Oak. \"I've been wet through\ntwice a-day, either in snow or rain, this last fortnight.\nCainy and I haven't tined our eyes to-night.'\n\"A good few twins, too, I hear ?'\n\"Too many by half. Yes ; 'tis a very queer lambing\nthis year. We shan't have done by Lady Day.'\n\"And last year 'twer all over by Sexajessamine\nSunday,' Joseph remarked.\n\"Bring on the rest Cain,' said Gabriel, \" and then run\nback to the ewes. I'll follow you soon.'\nCainy Ball -- a cheery-faced young lad, with a small\ncircular orifice by way of mouth, advanced and deposited\ntwo others, and retired as he was bidden. Oak lowered\nthe lambs from their unnatural elevation, wrapped them\nin hay, and placed them round the fire.\n\" We've no lambing-hut here, as I used to have at\nNorcombe,' said Gabriel, \" and 'tis such a plague to bring\nthe weakly ones to a house. If 'twasn't for your place\nhere, malter, I don't know what I should do! this keen\nweather. And how is it with you to-day, malter? '\n\" Oh, neither sick nor sorry, shepherd ; 'but no\nyounger.'\n\" Ay -- I understand.\n\"Sit down, Shepherd Oak', continued the ancient man\nof malt. \" And how was the old place at Norcombe,\nwhen ye went for your dog? I should like to see the\nold familiar spot ; but faith, I shouldn't\" know a soul\nthere now.'\n\" I suppose you wouldn't. 'Tis' altered very much.'\n\"Is it true that Dicky Hill's wooden cider-house is\npulled down?'\n \n\" O yes -- years ago, and Dicky's cottage just above it.'\n\"Well, to be sure!,\n\" Yes ; and Tompkins's old apple-tree is rooted that\nused to bear two hogsheads of cider; and no help from\nother trees.'\n'Rooted? -- you don't say it! Ah! stirring times we\nlive in -- stirring times.'\n\"And you can mind the old well that used to be in\nthe middle of the place? That's turned into a solid\niron pump with a large stone trough, and all complete.'\n\"Dear, dear -- how the face of nations alter, and\nwhat we live to see nowadays! Yes -- and 'tis the same\nhere. They've been talking but now of the mis'ess's\nstrange doings.'\n\" What have you been saying about her?' inquired\nOak, sharply turning to the rest, and getting very\nwarm.\n\" These middle-aged men have been pulling her over\nthe coals for pride and vanity,' said Mark Clark; \"but\nI say, let her have rope enough. Bless her pretty face\nshouldn't I like to do so -- upon her cherry lips!'\nThe gallant Mark Clark here made a peculiar and well\nknown sound with his own.\n\" Mark,' said Gabriel, sternly, 'now you mind this !\nnone of that dalliance-talk -- that smack-and-coddle style\nof yours -- about Miss Everdene. I don't allow it. Do\nyou hear? '\n\" With all my heart, as I've got no chance,' replied\nMr. Clark, cordially.\n' I suppose you've been speaking against her? ' said\nOak, turning to Joseph Poorgrass with a very grim\nlook.\n\"No, no -- not a word I -- 'tis a real joyful thing that\nshe's no worse, that's what I say,' said Joseph, trembling\nand blushing with terror. \" Matthew just said -- -- '\n\" Matthew Moon, what have you been saying ? ' asked\nOak.\n'I? Why ye know I wouldn't harm a worm -- no,\nnot one underground worm ?' said Matthew Moon,\nlooking very uneasy.\n\"Well, somebody has -- and look here, neighbours.'\nGabriel, though one of the quietest and most gentle\nmen on earth, rose to the occasion, with martial\npromptness and vigour. \"That's my fist.' Here he\nplaced his fist, rather smaller in size than a common\nloaf, in the mathemarical centre of the maltster's little\ntable, and with it gave a bump or two thereon, as if\n \nto ensure that their eyes all thoroughly took in the\nidea of fistiness before he went further. \"Now -- the\nfirst man in the parish that I hear prophesying bad of\nour mistress, why' (here the fist was raised and let fall\nas T'hor might have done with his hammer in assaying\nit) -- \"he'll smell and taste that -- or I'm a Dutchman.'\nAll earnestly expressed by their features that their\nminds did not wander to Holland for a moment on\naccount of this statement, but were deploring the\ndifference which gave rise to the figure ; and Mark\nClark cried \"Hear, hear; just what I should ha' said.'\nThe dog George looked up at the same time after the\nshepherd's menace, and though he understood English\nbut imperfectly, began to growl.\n\" Now, don't ye take on so, shepherd, and sit down!'\nsaid Henery, with a deprecating peacefulness equal to\nanything of the kind in Christianity.\n\"We hear that ye bc a extraordinary good and\nclever man, shepherd,' said Joseph Poorgrass with\nconsiderable anxiety from behind the maltster's bed+\nstead whither he had retired for safety. \"'Tis a great\nthing to be clever, I'm sure,' he added, making move+\nments associated with states of mind rather than body ;\n\" we wish we were, don't we, neighbours ? '\n\"Ay, that we do, sure,' said Matthew Moon, with\na small anxious laugh towards Oak, to show how very\nfriendly disposed he was likewise.\n\" Who's been telling you I'm clever?' said Oak.\n\"'Tis blowed about from pillar to post quite common,'\nsaid Matthew. \" We hear that ye can tell the t1me as\nwell by the stars as we can by the sun and moon,\nshepherd.'\n\" Yes, I can do a little that way,' said Gabriel, as a\nman of medium sentiments on the subject.\nnames upon their waggons almost like copper-plate,\nwith beautiful flourishes, and great long tails. A\nexcellent fine thing for ye to be such a clever man,\nshepherd. Joseph Poorgrass used to prent to Farmer\nJames Everdene's waggons before you came, and 'a\ncould never mind which way to turn the J's and E's\n -- could ye, Joseph?' Joseph shook his head to express\nhow absolute was\n \nthe fact that he couldn't. \"And so\nyou used to do 'em the wrong way, like this, didn't ye,\nJoseph ?' Matthew marked on the dusty floor with his\nwhip-handle\nLAMES\n\"And how Farmer James would cuss, and call thee a\nfool, wouldn't he, Joseph, when 'a seed his name\nlooking so inside-out-like ?' continued Matthew Moon\nwith feeling.\n'Ay -- 'a would,' said Joseph, meekly. \" But, you see,\nI wasn't so much to blame, for them J's and E's be\nsuch trying sons o' witches for the memory to mind\nwhether they face backward or forward ; and I always\nhad such a forgetful memory, too.'\n\"'Tis a bad afiction for ye, being such a man of\ncalamities in other ways.'\n\" Well, 'tis ; but a happy Providence ordered that it\nshould be no worse, and I feel my thanks. As to\nshepherd, there, I'm sure mis'ess ought to have made\nye her baily -- such a fitting man for't as you be.'\n\"I don't mind owning that I expected it,' said Oak,\nfrankly. ' Indeed, I hoped for the place. At the same\ntime, Miss Everdene has a right to be own baily if\nshe choose -- and to keep me down to be a common\nshepherd only.' Oak drew a slow breath, looked sadly\ninto the bright ashpit, and seemed lost in thoughts not\nof the most hopeful hue.\nThe genial warmth of the fire now began to stimulate\nthe nearly lifeless lambs to bleat and move their limbs\nbriskly upon the hay, and to recognize for the first time\nthe fact that they were born. Their noise increased to a\nchorus of baas, upon which Oak pulled the milk-can from\nbefore the fire, and taking a small tea-pot from the pocket\nof his smock-frock, filled it with milk, and taught those of\nthe helpless creatures which were not to be restored to\ntheir dams how to drink from the spout -- a trick they\nacquired with astonishing aptitude.\n\"And she don't even let ye have the skins of the\ndead lambs, I hear?' resumed Joseph Poorgrass, his\neyes lingering on the operations of Oak with the neces+\nsary melancholy.\n\"I don't have them,' said Gabriel.\n\"Ye be very badly used, shepherd,' hazardcd Joseph\nagain, in\n \nthe hope of getting Oak as an ally in lamenta+\ntion after all. \"I think she's took against ye -- that\nI do.'\n'O no -- not at all,' replied Gabriel, hastily, and a\nsigh escaped him, which the deprivation of lamb skins\ncould hardly have caused.\nBefore any further remark had been added a shade\ndarkened the door, and Boldwood entered the malthouse,\nbestowing upon each a nod of a quality between friendli+\nness and condescension.\n\"Ah! Oak, I thought you were here,' he said. 'I\nmet the mail-cart ten minutes ago, and a letter was put\ninto my hand, which I opened without reading the\naddress. I believe it is yours. You must excuse the\naccident please.'\n\"O yes -- not a bit of difference, Mr. Boldwood --\nnot a bit,' said Gabriel, readily. He had not a corre+\nspondent on earth, nor was there a possible letter coming\nto him whose contents the whole parish would not have\nbeen welcome to persue.\nOak stepped aside, and read the following in an\nunknown hand: --\n\" DEAR FRIEND, -- I do not know your name, but l think\nthese few lines will reach you, which I wrote to thank you\nfor your kindness to me the night I left Weatherbury in a\nreckless way. I also return the money I owe you, which\nyou will excuse my not keeping as a gift. All has ended\nwell, and I am happy to say I am going to be married to\nthe young man who has courted me for some time -- Sergeant\nTroy, of the 11th Dragoon Guards, now quartered in this\ntown. He would, I know, object to my having received\nanything except as a loan, being a man of great respecta+\nbility and high honour -- indeed, a nobleman by blood.\n \"I should be much obliged to you if you would keep the\ncontents of this letter a secret for the present, dear friend.\nWe mean to surprise Weatherbury by coming there soon\nas husband and wife, though l blush to state it to one nearly\na strangen The sergeant grew up in Weatherbury. Thank+\ning you again for your kindness,\n\"I am, your sincere well-wisher,\n\" FANNV ROBIN.'\n' Have you read it, Mr. Boldwood?' said Gabriel;\n\"if not, you had better do so. I know you are interested\nin Fanny Robin.'\n \nBoldwood read the letter and looked grieved.\n\"Fanny -- poor Fanny! the end she is so confident\nof has not yet come, she should remember -- and may\nnever come. I see she gives no address.'\n\"What sort of a man is this Sergeant Troy?' said\nGabriel.\n\"H'm -- I'm afraid not one to build much hope upon\nin such a case as this,' the farmer murmured, \"though\nhe's a clever fellow, and up to everything. A slight\nromance attaches to him, too. His mother was a French\ngoverness, and it seems that a secret attachment existed\nbetween her and the late Lord Severn. She was married\nto a poor medical man, and soon after an infant was\nhorn; and while money was forthcoming all went on\nwell. Unfortunately for her boy, his best friends died;\nand he got then a situation as second clerk at a lawyer's\nin Casterbridge. He stayed there for some time, and\nmight have worked himself into a dignified position of\nsome sort had he not indulged in the wild freak of\nenlisting. I have much doubt if ever little Fanny will\nsurprise us in the way she mentions -- very much doubt\nA silly girl! -- silly girl!'\nThe door was hurriedly burst open again, and in\ncame running Cainy Ball out of breath, his mouth red\nand open, like the bell of a penny trumpet, from which\nhe coughed with noisy vigour and great distension of face.\n\"Now, Cain Ball,' said Oak, sternly, \"why will you\nrun so fast and lose your breath so? I'm always telling\nyou of it.'\n'Oh -- I -- a puff of mee breath -- went -- the -- wrong\nway, please, Mister Oak, and made me cough -- hok --\nhok!'\n\"Well -- what have you come for?'\n\"I've run to tell ye,' said the junior shepherd,\nsupporting his exhausted youthful frame against the\ndoorpost, ' that you must come directly'. Two more ewes\nhave twinned -- that's what's the matter, Shepherd Oak.'\n\" Oh, that's it,' said Oak, jumping up, and dimissing\nfor the present his thoughts on poor Fanny. \" You are\na good boy to run and tell me, Cain, and you shall\nsmell a large plum pudding some day as a treat. But,\nbefore we go, Cainy, bring the tarpot, and we'll mark\nthis lot and have done with 'em.'\n \nOak took from his illimitable pockets a marking iron,\ndipped it into the pot, and imprintcd on the buttocks\nof the infant sheep the initials of her he delighted to\nmuse on -- \"B. E.,' which signified to all the region\nround that henceforth the lambs belonged to Farmer\nBathsheba Everdene, and to no one else.\n\" Now, Cainy, shoulder your two, and off Good\nmorning, Mr. Boldwood.' The shepherd lifted the\nsixteen large legs and four small bodies he had himself\nbrought, and vanished with them in the direction of\nthe lambing field hard by -- their frames being now in a\nsleek and hopeful state, pleasantly contrasting with their\ndeath's-door plight of hialf an hour before.\nBoldwood followed him a little way up the field,\nhesitated, and turned back. He followed him again\nwith a last resolve, annihilating return. On approaching\nthe nook in which the fold was constructed, the farmer\ndrew out-his pocket-book, unfastened-it, and allowed it\nto lie open on his hand. A letter was revealed -- Bath+\nsheba's.\n\"I was going to ask you, Oak,' he said, with unreal\ncarelessness, \"if you know whose writing this is? '\nOak glanced into the book, and replied instantly,\nwith a flushed face, \" Miss Everdene's.'\nOak had coloured simply at the consciousness of\nsounding her name. He now felt a strangely distressing\nqualm from a new thought. ' The letter could of course\nbe no other than anonymous, or the inquiry would not\nhave been necessary.\nBoldwood mistook his confusion : sensitive persons\nare always ready with their \"Is it I ? ' in prefercnce to\nobjective reasoning.\n\" The question was perfectly fair,' he returned -- and\nthere was something incongruous in the serious eamest+\nness with which he applied himself to an argument on\na valentine. \" You know it is always expected that\nprivy inquiries will be made : that's where the -- fun\nlies.' If the word \"fun' had been \"torture,' it could\nnot have been uttered with a more constrained and\nrestless countenance than was Boldwood's then.'\nSoon parting from Gabriel, the lonely and reserved\nman returned to his house to breakfast -- feeling twinges\nof shame and regret at having so far exposed his mood\nby those fevered\n \nquestions to a stranger. He again\nplaced the letter on the mantelpiece, and sat down to\nthink of the circumstances attending it by the light of\nGabriel's information.\nALL SAINTS' AND ALL SOULS\"\n \nALL SAINTS' AND ALL SOULS'\nON a week-day morning a small congregation, con+\nsisting mainly of women and girls, rose from its knees\nin the mouldy nave of a church called All Saints', in\nthe distant barrack-town before mentioned, at the end\nof a service without a sermon. They were about to\ndisperse, when a smart footstep, entering the porch and\ncoming up the central passage, arrested their attention.\nThe step echoed with a ring unusual in a church; it\nwas the clink of spurs. Everybody looked. A young\ncavalry soldier in a red uniform, with the three chevrons\nof a sergeant upon his sleeve, strode up the aisle, with\nan embarrassment which was only the more marked\nby the intense vigour of his step, and by the deter+\nmination upon his face to show none. A slight flush\nhad mounted his cheek by the time he had run the\ngauntlet between these women ; but, passing on through\nthe chancel arch, he never paused till he came close\nto the altar railing. Here for a moment he stood\nalone.\nThe officiating curate, who had not yet doffed his\nsurplice, perceived the new-comer, and followed him\nto the communion-space. He whispered to the soldier,\nand then beckoned to the clerk, who in his turn\nwhispered to an elderly woman, apparently his wife, and\nthey also went up the chancel steps.\n\"'Tis a wedding!' murmured some of the women,\nbrightening. \" Let's wait!'\nThe majority again sat down.\nThere was a creaking of machinery behind, and\nsome of the young ones turned their heads. From the\ninterior face of the west wall of the tower projected a\nlittle canopy with a quarter-jack and small bcll beneath\nit, the automaton being driven by the same clock\nmachinery that struck the large bell in the tower. Be+\ntween the tower and the church was a close sereen, the\ndoor of which was kept shut during services, hiding\nthis\n \ngrotesque clockwork from sight. At present, how+\never, the door was open, and the egress of the jack, the\nblows on the bell, and the mannikin's retreat intc.the\nnook again, were visible to many, and audible through+\nout the church.\nThe jack had struck half-past eleven.\n\" Where's the woman ?\" whispered some of the\nspectators.\nThe young sergeant stood still with the abnormal\nrigidity of the old pillars around. He faced the south+\neast, and was as silent as he was still.\nThe silence grew to be a noticeable thing as the\nminutes went on, and nobody else appeared, and not a\nsoul moved. The rattle of the quarter-jack again from\nits niche, its blows for three-quarters, its fussy retreat,\nwere almost painfully abrupt, and caused many of the\ncongregation to start palpably.\n\"I wonder where the woman is!' a voice whispered\nagain.\nThere began now that slight shifting of feet, that\nartificial coughing among several, which betrays a\nnervous suspense. At length there was a titter. But\nthe soldier never moved. There he stood, his face to\nthe south-east, upright as a column, his cap in his hand.\nThe clock ticked on. The women threw off their\nnervousness, and titters and giggling became more\nfrequent. Then came a dead silence. Every one was\nwaiting for the end. Some persons may have noticed\nhow extraordinarily the striking of quarters. seems to\nquicken the flight of time. It was hardly credible that\nthe jack had not got wrong with the minutes when the\nrattle began again, the puppet emerged, and the four\nquarters were struck fitfully as before: One could al+\nmost be positive that there was a malicious leer upon\nthe hideous creature's face, and a mischievous delight\nin its twitchings. Then, followed the dull and remote\nresonance of the twelve heavy strokes in the tower\nabove. The women were impressed, and there was no\ngiggle this time.\nThe clergyman glided into the vestry, and the clerk\nvanished. The sergeant had not yet turned ; every\nwoman in the church was waiting to see his face, and\nhe appeared to know it. At last he did turn, and\nstalked resolutely down the nave, braving them all,\nwith a compressed lip. Two bowed and toothless old\n \nalmsmen then looked at each other and chuckled,\ninnocently enough ; but the sound had a strange weird\neffect in that place.\nOpposite to the church was a paved square, around\nwhich several overhanging wood buildings of old time\ncast a picturesque shade. The young man on leaving\nthe door went to cross the square, when, in the middle,\nhe met a little woman. The expression of her face,\nwhich had been one of intense anxiety, sank at the\nsight of his nearly to terror.\n\" Well ? ' he said, in a suppressed passion, fixedly\nlooking at her.\n\" O, Frank -- I made a mistake! -- I thought that\nchurch with the spire was All Saints', and I was at the\ndoor at half-past eleven to a minute as you said.\nwaited till a quarter to twelve, and found then that I\nwas in All Souls'. But I wasn't much frightened, for\nI thought it could be to-morrow as well.'\n\"You fool, for so fooling me! But say no more.'\n\" Shall it be to-monow, Frank ? ' she asked blankly.\n\"To-morrow !' and he gave vent to a hoarse laugh.\n\"I don't go through that experience again for some\ntime, I warrant you ! '\n\" But after all,' she expostulated in a trembling voice,\n\"the mistake was not such a terrible thing! Now, dear\nFrank, when shall it be?'\n\"Ah, when ? God knows !' he said, with a light\nirony, and turning from her walked rapidly away.\n \nIN THE MARKET-PLACE\nON Saturday Boldwood was in Casterbridge market\nhouse as usual, when the disturber of his dreams entered\nand became visible to him. Adam had awakened from\nhis deep sleep, and behold! there was Eve. The\nfarmer took courage, and for the first time really looked\nat her.\nMaterial causes and emotional effects are not to be\narranged in regular equation. The result from capital\nemployed in the production of any movement of a\nmental nature is sometimes as tremendous as the cause\nitself is absurdly minute. When women are in a freakish\nmood, their usual intuition, either from carelessness or\ninherent defect, seemingly fails to teaeh them this, and\nhence it was that Bathsheba was fated to be astonished\ntoday.\nBoldwood looked at her -- not slily, critically, or\nunderstandingly, but blankly at gaze, in the way a\nreaper looks up at a passing train -- as something foreign\nto his element, and but dimly understood. To Bold+\nwood women had been remote phenomena rather than\nnecessary complements -- comets of such uncertain\naspeet, movement, and permanence, that whether\ntheir orbits were as geometrical, unchangeable, and\nas subject to laws as his own, or as absolutely erratic\nas they superficially appeared, he had not deemed it\nhis duty to consider.\nHe saw her black hair, her correct facial curves\nand profile, and the roundness of her chin and throat.\nHe saw then the side of her eyelids, eyes, and lashes,\nand the shape of her ear. Next he noticed her figure,\nher skirt, and the very soles of her shoes.\nBoldwood thought her beautiful, but wondered\nwhether he was right in his thought, for it seemed\nimpossible that this romance in the flesh, if so sweet\nas he imagined, could have\n \nbeen going on long without\ncreating a commotion of delight among men, and pro+\nvoking more inquiry than Bathsheba had done, even\nthough that was not a little. To the best of his judg+\nment neither nature nor art could improve this perfect\none of an imperfect many. His heart began to move\nwithin him. Boldwood, it must be remembered, though\nforty years of age, had never before inspected a woman\nwith the very centre and force of his glance; they had\nstruck upon all his senses at wide angles.\nWas she really beautiful? He could not assure\nhimself that his opinion was true even now. He fur+\ntively said to a neighbour, 'Is Miss Everdene considered\nhandsome?'\n\"0 yes; she was a good deal 'notied the first\ntime she came, if you remember. A very handsome\ngirl indeed.'\nA man is never more credulous than in receiving\nfavourable opinions on the beauty of a woman he is\nhalf, or quite, in love with; a mere child's word on the\npoint has the weight of an R.A.'s. Boldwood was\nsatisfied now.\nAnd this charming woman had in effect said to\nhim, \"Marry me.' Why should she have done that\nstrange thing ? Boldwood's blindness to the difference\nbetween approving of what circumstances suggest, and\noriginating what they do not suggest, was well matched\nby Bathsheba's insensibility to the possibly great issues\nof little beginnings.\nShe was at this moment coolly dealing with a dashing\nyoung farmer, adding up accounts with him as indiffer+\nently as if his face had been the pages of a ledger. It\nwas evident that such a nature as his had no attraction\nfor a woman of Bathsheba's taste. But Boldwood grew\nhot down to his hands with an incipient jealousy; he\ntrod for the first time the threshold of \"the injured\nlover's hell.' His first impulse was to go and thrust\nhimself between them. This could be done, but only\nin one way -- by asking to see a sample of her corn.\nBoldwood renounced the idea. He could not make\nthe request; it was debasing loveliness to ask it to\nbuy and sell, and jarred with his conceptions of her.\nAll this time Bathsheba was conscious of having\nbroken into that dignified stronghold at last. His\neyes, she knew, were\n \nfollowing her everywhere. This\nwas a triumph; and had it come naturally, such a\ntriumph would have been the sweeter to her for this\npiquing delay. But it had been brought about by\nmisdirected ingenuity, and she valued it only as she\nvalued an artificial flower or a wax fruit.\nBeing a woman with some good sense in reasoning\non subjects wherein her heart was not involved, Bath+\nsheba genuinely repented that a freak which had owed\nits existence as much to Liddy as to herself, should\never have been undertaken, to disturb the placidity of\na man she respected too highly to deliberately tease.\nShe that day nearly formed the intention of begging\nhis pardon on the very next occasion of their meeting.\nThe worst features of this arrangement were that, if\nhe thought she ridiculed him, an apology would in+\ncrease the offence by being disbelieved; and if he\nthought she wanted him to woo her, it would read\nlike additional evidence of her forwardness.\n \nBOLDWOOD IN MEDITATION -- REGRET\nBOLDWOOD was tenant of what was called Little\nWeatherbury Farm, and his person was the nearest ap+\nproach to aristocracy that this remoter quarter of the\nparish could boast of. Genteel strangers, whose god\nwas their town, who might happen to be compelled to\nlinger about this nook for a day, heard the sound of\nlight wheels, and prayed to see good society, to the\ndegree of a solitary lord, or squire at the very least,\nbut it was only Mr. Boldwood going out for the day.\nThey heard the sound of wheels yet once more, and\nwere re-animated to expectancy : it was only Mr. Bold+\nwood coming home again.\nHis house stood recessed from the road, and the\nstables, which are to a farm what a fireplace is to a\nroom, were behind, their lower portions being lost\namid bushes of laurel. Inside the blue door, open\nhalf-way down, were to be seen at this time the backs\nand tails of half-a-dozen warm and contented horses\nstanding in their stalls; and as thus viewed, they pre+\nsented alternations of roan and bay, in shapes like a\nMoorish arch, the tail being a streak down the midst\nof each. Over these, and lost to the eye gazing in\nfrom the outer light, the mouths of the same animals\ncould be heard busily sustaining the above-named\nwarmth and plumpness by quantities of oats and hay.\nThe restless and shadowy figure of a colt wandered\nabout a loose-box at the end, whilst the steady grind\nof all the eaters was occasionally diversified by the\nrattle of a rope or the stamp of a foot.\nPacing up and down at the heels of the animals was\nFarmer Boldwood himself. This place was his almonry\nand cloister in one : here, after looking to the feeding\nof his four-footed dependants, the celibate would walk\nand meditate of an evening till the moon's rays streamed\nin through the cobwebbed windows, or total darkness\nenveloped the scene.\n \nHis square-framed perpendicularity showed more fully\nnow than in the crowd and bustle of the market-house.\nIn this meditative walk his foot met the floor with heel\nand toe simultaneously, and his fine reddish-fleshed face\nwas bent downwards just enough to render obscure the\nstill mouth and the well-rounded though rather prominent\nand broad chin. A few clear and thread-like horizontal\nlines were the only interruption to the otherwise smooth\nsurface of his large forehead.\nThe phases of Boldwood's life were ordinary enough,\nbut his was not an ordinary nature. That stillness,\nwhich struck casual observers more than anything else\nin his character and habit, and seemed so precisely\nlike the rest of inanition, may have been the perfect\nbalance of enormous antagonistic forces -- positives and\nnegatives in fine adjustment. His equilibrium disturbed,\nhe was in extremity at once. If an emotion possessed\nhim at all, it ruled him; a feeling not mastering him\nwas entirely latent. Stagnant or rapid, it was never\nslow. He was always hit mortally, or he was missed.\nHe had no light and careless touches in his constitu+\ntion, either for good or for evil. Stern in the outlines of\naction, mild in the details, he was serious throughout all.\nHe saw no absurd sides to the follies of life, and thus,\nthough not quite companionable in the eyes of merry\nmen and scoffers, and those to whom all things show\nlife as a jest, he was not intolerable to the earnest and\nthose acquainted with grief. Being a man -who read\nall the dramas of life seriously, if he failed to please\nwhen they were comedies, there was no frivolous treat+\nment to reproach him for when they chanced to end\ntragically.\nBathsheba was far from dreaming that the dark and\nsilent shape upon which she had so carelessly thrown a\nseed was a hotbed of tropic intensity. Had she known\nBoldwood's moods, her blame would have been fearful,\nand the stain upon her heart ineradicable. Moreover,\nhad she known her present power for good or evil over\nthis man, she would have trembled at her responsibility.\nLuckily for her present, unluckily for her future tran+\nquillity, her understanding had not yet told her what\nBoldwood was. Nobody knew entirely ; for though it\nwas possible to form guesses concerning his wild 'capa+\n \nbilities from old floodmarks faintly visible, he had never\nbeen seen at the high tides which caused them.\nFarmer Boldwood came to the stable-door and looked\nforth across the level fields. Beyond the first enclosure\nwas a hedge, and on the other side of this a meadow\nbelonging to Bathsheba's farm.\nIt was now early spring -- the time of going to grass\nwith the sheep, when they have the first feed of the\nmeadows, before these are laid up for mowing. The\nwind, which had been blowing east for several weeks,\nhad veered to the southward, and the middle of spring\nhad come abruptly -- almost without a beginning. It\nwas that period in the vernal quarter when we map\nsuppose the Dryads to be waking for the season. The\nvegetable world begins to move and swell and the saps\nto rise, till in the completest silence of lone gardens\nand trackless plantations, where- everything seems -help+\nless and still after the bond and slavery of frost, there\nare bustlings, strainings, united thrusts, and pulls-all+\ntogether, in comparison with which the powerful tugs of\ncranes and pulleys in a noisy city are but. pigmy efforts.\n\"Boldwood, looking into the distant meadows, saw\nthere three figures. They were those of Miss' Everdene,\nShepherd Oak, and Cainy Ball.\nWhen Bathsheba's figure shone upon the farmer's\neyes it lighted him up as the moon lights up a great\ntower. A man's body is as the shell; or the tablet, of\nhis soul, as he is reserved or ingenuous, overflowing or\nself-contained. There was a change in Boldwood's\nexterior from its former impassibleness ; and his face\nshowed that he was now living outside his defences\nfor the first time, and with a fearful sense of exposure.\nIt is the usual experience of strong natures when they\nlove.\nAt last he arrived at a conclusion. It was to go\nacross and inquire boldly of her.\nThe insulation of his heart by reserve during these\nmany years, without a channel of any kind for disposable\nemotion, had worked its effect. It has been observed\nmore than once that the causes of love are chiefly\n \nsubjective, and Boldwood was a living testimony to\nthe truth of the proposition. No mother existed to\nabsorb his devotion, no sister for his tenderness, no\nidle ties for sense. He became surcharged with the\ncompound, which was genuine lover's love.\nHe approached the gate of the meadow. Beyond\nit the ground was melodious with ripples, and the sky\nwith larks; the low bleating of the flock mingling with\nboth. Mistress and man were engaged in the operation\nof making a lamb \"take,' which is performed whenever\nan ewe has lost her own offspring, one of the twins of\nanother ewe being given her as a substitute. Gabriel\nhad skinned the dead lamb, and was tying the skin\nover the body of the live lamb, in the customary manner,\nwhilst Bathsheba was holding open a little pen of four\nhurdles, into which the Mother and foisted lamb were\ndriven, where they would remain till the old sheep\nconceived an affection for the young one.\nBathsheba looked up at the completion of the\nmanouvre, and saw the farmer by the gate, where he\nwas overhung by a willow tree in full bloom. Gabriel,\nto whom her face was as the uncertain glory of an April\nday, was ever regardful of its faintest changes, and\ninstantly discerned thereon the mark of some influence\nfrom without, in the form of a keenly self-conscious\nreddening. He also turned and beheld Boldwood.\nAt onee connecting these signs with the letter Bold+\nwood had shown him, Gabriel suspected her of some\ncoquettish procedure begun by that means, and carried\non since, he knew not how.\nFarmer Boldwood had read the pantomime denoting\nthat they were aware of his presence, and the perception\nwas as too much light turned upon his new sensibility.\nHe was still in the road, and by moving on he hoped\nthat neither would recognize that he had originally\nintended to enter the field. He passed by with an\nutter and overwhelming sensation of ignorance, shyness,\nand doubt. Perhaps in her manner there were signs\nthat she wished to see him -- perhaps not -- he could not\nread a woman. The cabala of this erotic philosophy\nseemed to consist of the subtlest meanings expressed in\nmisleading ways.\n \nEvery turn, look, word, and accent\ncontained a mystery quite distinct from its obvious\nimport, and not one had ever been pondered by him\nuntil now.\nAs for Bathsheba, she was not deceived into the\nbelief that Farmer Boldwood had walked by on business\nor in idleness. She collected the probabilities of the\ncase, and concluded that she was herself responsible for\nBoldwood's appearance there. It troubled her much\nto see what a great flame a little Wildfire was likely to\nkindle. Bathsheba was no schemer for marriage, nor\nwas she deliberately a trifler with the affections of men,\nand a censor's experience on seeing an actual flirt after\nobserving her would have been a feeling of surprise\nthat Bathsheba could be so different from such a one,\nand yet so like what a flirt is supposed to be.\nShe resolved never again, by look or by sign, to\ninterrupt the steady flow of this man's life. But a\nresolution to avoid an evil is seldom framed till the evil\nis so far advanced as to make avoidance impossible.\n \nTHE SHEEP-WASHING -- THE OFFER\nBOLDWOOD did eventually call upon her. She was\nnot at home. \" Of course not,' he murmured. In con+\ntemplating Bathsheba as a woman, he had forgotten the\naccidents of her position as an agriculturist -- that being\nas much of a farmer, and as extensive a farmer, as\nhimself, her probable whereabouts was out-of-dooTs at\nthis time of the year. This, and the other oversights\nBoldwood was guilty of, were natural to the mood, and\nstill more natural to the circumstances. The great aids\nto idealization in love were present here : occasional\nobservation of her from a distance, and the absence of\nsocial intercourse with her -- visual familiarity, oral\nstrangeness. The smaller human elements were kept\nout of sight ; the pettinesses that enter so largely into\nall earthly living and doing were disguised by the\naccident of lover and loved-one not being on visiting\nterms ; and there was hardly awakened a thought in\nBoldwood that sorry household realities appertained to\nher, or that she, like all others, had moments of\ncommonplace, when to be least plainly seen was to be\nmost prettily remembered. Thus a mild sort of\napotheosis took place in his fancy, whilst she still lived\nand breathed within his own horizon, a troubled creature\nlike himself.\nIt was the end of May when the farmer determined\nto be no longer repulsed by trivialities or distracted by\nsuspense. He had by this time grown used to being in\nlove; the passion now startled him less even when it\ntortured him more, and he felt himself adequate to the\nsituation. On inquiring for her at her house they had\ntold him she was at the sheepwashing, and he went off\nto seek her there.\nThe sheep-washing pool was a perfectly circular basin\nof brickwork in the meadows, full of the clearest water.\nTo birds on the wing its glassy surface, reflecting the\nlight sky, must have been\n \nvisible for miles around as a\nglistening Cyclops' eye in a green face. The grass\nabout the margin at this season was a sight to remember\nlong -- in a minor sort of way. Its activity in sucking\nthe moisture from the rich damp sod. was almost a pro+\ncess observable by the eye. The outskirts of this level\nwater-meadow were diversified by rounded and hollow\npastures, where just now every flower that was not a\nbuttercup was a daisy. The river slid along noiselessly\nas a shade, the swelling reeds and sedge forming a\nflexible palisade upon its moist brink. To the north\nof the mead were trees, the leaves of which were new,\nsoft, and moist, not yet having stiffened and darkened\nunder summer sun and drought, their colour being\nyellow beside a green -- green beside a yellow.\nFrom the recesses of this knot of foliage the loud\nnotes of three cuckoos were resounding through the\nstill air.\nBoldwood went meditating down the slopes with his\neyes on his boots, which the yellow pollen from the\nbuttercups had bronzed in artistic gradations. A tribu+\ntary of the main stream flowed through the basin of the\npool by an inlet and outlet at opposite points of its\ndiameter. Shepherd Oak, Jan Coggan, Moon, Poor+\ngrass, Cain Ball, and several others were assembled\nhere, all dripping wet to the very roots of their hair,\nand Bathsheba was standing by in a new riding-habit --\nthe most elegant she had ever worn -- the reins of her\nhorse being looped over her arm. Flagons of cider\nwere rolling about upon the green. The meek sheep\nwere pushed into the pool by Coggan and Matthew\nMoon, who stood by the lower hatch, immersed to their\nwaists; then Gabriel, who stood on the brink, thrust\nthem under as they swam along, with an instrument\nlike a crutch, formed for the purpose, and also for\nassisting the exhausted animals when the wool became\nsaturated and they began to sink. They were let out\nagainst the stream, and through the upper opening, all\nimpurities flowing away below. Cainy Ball and Joseph,\nwho performed this latter operation, were if possible\nwetter than the rest ; they resembled dolphins under a\nfountain, every protuberance and angle of their clothes\ndribbling forth a small rill.\n \nBoldwood came close and bade her good-morning, with\nsuch constraint that she could not but think he had\nstepped across to the washing for its own sake, hoping\nnot to find her there ; more, she fancied his brow severe\nand his eye slighting. Bathsheba immediately contrived\nto withdraw, and glided along by the river till she was\na stone's throw off. She heard footsteps brushing the\ngrass, and had a consciousness that love was encircling\nher like a perfume. Instead of turning or waiting,\nBathsheba went further among the high sedges, but\nBoldwood seemed determined, and pressed on till they\nwere completely past the bend of the river. Here,\nwithout being seen, they could hear the splashing and\nshouts of the washers above.\n\"Miss Everdene!' said the farmer.\nShe trembled, turned, and said 'Good morning.'\nHis tone was so utterly removed from all she had\nexpected as a beginning. It was lowness and quiet\naccentuated : an emphasis of deep meanings, their form,\nat the same time, being scarcely expressed. Silence\nhas sometimes a remarkable power of showing itself as\nthe disembodied soul of feeling wandering without its\ncarcase, and it is then more impressive than speech.\nIn the same way, to say a little is often to tell more\nthan to say a great deal. Boldwood told everything in\nthat word.\nAs the conseiousness expands on learning that what\nwas fancied to be the rumble of wheels is the reverbera+\ntion of thunder, so did Bathsheba's at her intuitive\nconviction.\n'I feel -- almost too much -- to think,' he said, with a\nsolemn simplicity. \"I have come to speak to you with+\nout preface. My life is not my own since I have beheld\nyou clearly, Miss Everdene -- I come to make you an\noffer of marriage.'\nBathsheba tried to preserve an absolutely neutral\ncountenance, and all the motion she made was that of\nclosing lips which had previously been a little parted.\n\"I am now forty-one years old,' he went on. \"I may\nhave been called a confirmed bachelor, and I was a\nconfirmed bachelor. I had never any views of myself\nas a husband in my earlier days, nor have I made any\ncalculation on the subject since I have been older.\nBut we all change, and my change, in this matter,\n \ncame\nwith seeing you. I have felt lately, more and more,\nthat my present way of living is bad in every respect.\nBeyond all things, I want you as my wife.'\n\"I feel, Mr. Boldwood, that though I respect you\nmuch, I do not feel -- what would justify me to -- in\naccepting your offer,' she stammered.\nThis giving back of dignity for dignity seemed to\nopen the sluices of feeling that Boldwood had as yet\nkept closed.\n\" My life is a burden without you,' he exclaimed, in\na low voice. \"I want you -- I want you to let me say\nI love you again and again!'\nBathsheba answered nothing, and the mare upon\nher arm seemed so impressed that instead of cropping\nthe herbage she looked up.\n\"I think and hope you care enough for me to listen\nto what I have to tell!\"\n Bathsheba's momentary impulse at hearing this was\nto ask why he thought that, till she remembered that,\nfar from being a conceited assumption on Boldwood's\npart, it was but the natural conclusion of serious reflec+\ntion based on deceptive premises of her own offering.\n\"I wish I could say courteous flatteries to you,' the\nfarmer continued in an easier tone, \" and put my rugged\nfeeling into a graceful shape: but I have neither power\nnor patience to learn such things. I want you for my\nwife -- so wildly that no other feeling can abide in me;\nbut I should not have spoken out had I not been led\nto hope.'\n\"The valentine again! O that valentine!' she\nsaid to herself, but not a word to him.\n \"If you can love me say so, Miss Everdene. If not\n -- don't say no!'\n \"Mr. Boldwood, it is painful to have to say I am\nsurprised, so that I don't know how to answer you with\npropriety and respect -- but am only just able to speak\nout my feeling -- I mean my meaning; that I am afraid\nI can't marry you, much as I respect you. You are too\ndignified for me to suit you, sir.'\n \"But, Miss Everdene!'\n\"I -- I didn't -- I know I ought never to have dreamt\nof sending\n \nthat valentine -- forgive me, sir -- it was a\nwanton thing which no woman with any self-respect\nshould have done. If you will only pardon my thought+\nlessness, I promise never to -- -- '\n\" No, no, no. Don't say thoughtlessness! Make me\nthink it was something more -- that it was a sort of\nprophetic instinct -- the beginning of a feeling that you\nwould like me. You torture me to say it was done in\nthoughtlessness -- I never thought of it in that light, and\nI can't endure it. Ah ! I wish I knew how to win you!\nbut that I can't do -- I can only ask if I have already got\nyou. If I have not, and it is not true that you have\ncome unwittingly to me as I have to you, I can say no\nmore.'\n \"I have not fallen in love with you, Mr. Boldwood --\ncertainly I must say that.' She allowed a very small\nsmile to creep for the first time over her serious face in\nsaying this, and the white row of upper teeth, and keenly+\ncut lips already noticed, suggested an idea of heartless+\nness, which was immediately contradicted by the pleasant\neyes.\n\"But you will just think -- in kindness and conde+\nscension think -- if you cannot bear with me as a husband!\nI fear I am too old for you, but believe me I will take\nmore care of you than would many a man of your own\nage. I will protect and cherish you with all my strength\n -- I will indeed! You shall have no cares -- be worried\nby no household affairs, and live quite at ease, Miss\nEverdene. The dairy superintendence shall be done by\na man -- I can afford it will -- you shall never have so\nmuch as to look out of doors at haymaking time, or to\nthink of weather in the harvest. I rather cling; to the\nchaise, because it is he same my poor father and mother\ndrove, but if you don't like it I will sell it, and you shall\nhave a pony-carriage of your own. I cannot say how\nfar above every other idea and object on earth you seem\nto me -- nobody knows -- God only knows -- how much\nyou are to me!'\nBathsheba's heart was young, and it swelled with\nsympathy for the deep-natured man who spoke so\nsimply.\n \"Don't say it! don't! I cannot bear you to feel so\nmuch, and me to feel nothing. And I am afraid they\nwill notice us, Mr. Boldwood. Will you let the matter\nrest now? I cannot think\n \ncollectedly. I did not know\nyou were going to say this to me. 0, I am wicked to\nhave made you suffer so!' She was frightened as well\nas agitated at his vehemence.\n \"Say then, that you don't absolutely refuse. Do not\nquite refuse?'\n\"I can do nothing. I cannot answer.'\n\"I may speak to you again on the subject?'\n\"Yes.'\n\"I may think of you?'\n\"Yes, I suppose you may think of me.'\n\"And hope to obtain you?'\n\"No -- do not hope! Let us go on.'\n\"I will call upon you again to-morrow.'\n\"No -- please not. Give me time.'\n\"Yes -- I will give you any time,' he said earnestly and\ngratefully. \"I am happier now.'\n\"No -- I beg you! Don't be happier if happiness\nonly comes from my agreeing. Be neutral, Mr. Bold+\nwood! I must think.'\n\"I will wait,' he said.\nAnd then she turned away. Boldwood dropped his\ngaze to the ground, and stood long like a man who did not\nknow where he was. Realities then returned upon him\nlike the pain of a wound received in an excitement\nwhich eclipses it, and he, too, then went on.\n \nPERPLEXITy -- GRINDING THE SHEARS -- A QUARREL\n\"HE is so disinterested and kind to offer me all that I\ncan desire,' Bathsheba mused.\nYet Farmer Boldwood, whether by nature kind or\nthe reverse to kind, did not exercise kindness, here.\nThe rarest offerings of the purest loves are but a self+\nindulgence, and no generosity at all.\nBathsheba, not being the least in love with him, was\neventually able to look calmly at his offer. It was one\nwhich many women of her own station in the neighbour+\nhood, and not a few of higher rank, would have been\nwild to accept and proud to publish. In every point of\nview, ranging from politic to passionate, it was desirable\nthat she, a lonely girl, should marry, and marry this\nearnest, well-to-do, and respected man. He was close\nto her doors: his standing was sufficient: his qualities\nwere even supererogatory. Had she felt, which she did\nnot, any wish whatever for the married state in the\nabstract, she could not reasonably have rejected him,\nbeing a woman who frequently appealed to her under,\nstanding for deliverance from her whims. Boldwood as\na means to marriage was unexceptionable: she esteemed\nand liked him, yet she did not want him. It appears\nthat ordinary men take wives because possession is not\npossible without marriage, and that ordinary women\naccept husbands because marriage is not possible with,\nout possession; with totally differing aims the method is\nthe same on both sides. But the understood incentive\non the woman's part was wanting here. Besides, Bath+\nsheba's position as absolute mistress of a farm and house\nwas a novel one, and the novelty had not yet begun to\nwear off.\nBut a disquiet filled her which was somewhat to her\ncredit, for it would have affected few. Beyond the men+\ntioned reasons with which she combated her objections,\nshe had a strong\n \nfeeling that, having been the one who\nbegan the game, she ought in honesty to accept the conse,\nquences. Still the reluctance remained. She said in the\nsame breath that it would be ungenerous not to marry\nBoldwood, and that she couldn't do it to save her life.\nBathsheba's was an impulsive nature under a delibera,\ntive aspect. An Elizabeth in brain and a Mary Stuart\nin spirit, she often performed actions of the greatest\ntemerity with a manner of extreme discretion. Many of\nher thoughts were perfect syllogisms; unluckily they\nalways remained thoughts. Only a few were irrational\nassumptions; but, unfortunately, they were the ones\nwhich most frequently grew into deeds.\n The next day to that of the declaration she found\nGabriel Oak at the bottom of her garden, grinding his\nshears for the sheep-shearing. All the surrounding\ncottages were more or less scenes of the same operation;\nthe scurr of whetting spread into the sky from all parts\nof the village as from an armury previous to a campaign.\nPeace and war kiss each other at their hours of prepara+\ntion -- sickles, scythes, shears, and pruning-hooks, ranking\nwith swords, bayonets, and lances, in their common\nnecessity for point and edge.\nCainy Ball turned the handle of Gabriel's grinstone,\nhis head performing a melancoly see-saw up and down\nwith each turn of the wheel. Oak stood somewhat as\nEros is represented when in the act of sharpening his\narrows: his figure slightly bent, the weight of his body\nthrown over on the shears, and his head balanced side+\nways, with a critical compression of the lips and contrac+\ntion of the eyelids to crown the attitude.\nHis mistress came up and looked upon them in\nsilence for a minute or two; then she said --\n\"Cain, go to the lower mead and catch the bay mare.\nI'll turn the winch of the grindstone. I want to speak\nto you, Gabriel.\nCain departed, and Bathsheba took the handle.\nGabriel had glanced up in intense surprise, quelled its\nexpression, and looked down again. Bathsheba turned\nthe winch, and Gabriel applied the shears.\nThe peculiar motion involved in turning a wheel\nhas a wonderful tendency to benumb the mind. It\nis a sort of\n \nattenuated variety of Ixion's punishment,\nand contributes a dismal chapter to the history of\nheavy, and the body's centre of gravity seems to\nsettle by degrees in a leaden lump somewhere be+\ntween the eyebrows and the crown. Bathsheba felt\nthe unpleasant symptoms after two or three dozen\nturns.\n \"Will you turn, Gabriel, and let me hold the shears?\"\nshe said. \"My head is in a'whirl, and I can't talk.\nGabriel turned. Bathsheba then began, with some\nawkwardness, allowing her thoughts to stray occasion+\nally from her story to attend to the shears, which\nrequired a little nicety in sharpening.\n \"I wanted to ask you if the men made any observa+\ntions on my going behind the sedge with Mr. Boldwood\nyesterday?'\n \"Yes, they did,' said Gabriel. \"You don't hold\nthe shears right, miss -- I knew you wouldn't know the\nway -- hold like this.'\nHe relinquished the winch, and inclosing her two\nhands completely i his own (taking each as we some+\ntimes slasp a child's hand in teaching him to write),\ngrasped the shears with her. \"Incline the edge so,'\nhe said.\n Hands and shears were inclined to suit the words,\nand held thus for a peculiarly long time by the in+\nstructor as he spoke.\n \"That will do,' exclaimed Bathsheba. \"Loose my\nhands. I won't have them held! Turn the winch.'\nGabriel freed her hands quietly, retired to his\nhandle, and the grinding went on.\n \"Did the men think it odd?' she said again.\n\"Odd was not the idea, miss.'\n\"What did they say?'\n\"That Farmer Boldwood's name and your own\nwere likely to be flung over pulpit together before the\nyear was out.'\n\"I thought so by the look of them! Why, there's\nnothing in it. A more foolish remark was never made,\nand I want you to contradict it! that's what I came for.'\n Gabriel looked incredulous and sad, but between\nhis moments of incredulity, relieved.\n\"They must have heard our conversation,' she\ncontinued.\n \n\"Well, then, Bathsheba!' said Oak, stopping the\nhandle, and gazing into her face with astonishment.\n \"Miss Everdene, you mean,\" she said, with dignity.\n \"I mean this, that if Mr. Boldwood really spoke of\nmarriage, I bain't going to tell a story and say he\ndidn't to please you. I have already tried to please\nyou too much for my own good!'\nHathsheba regarded him with round-eyed perplexity.\nShe did not know whether to pity him for disappointed\nlove of her, or to be angry with him for having got\nover it -- his tone being ambiguous.\n \"I said I wanted you just to mention that it was\nnot true I was going to be married to him,' she mur+\nmured, with a slight decline in her assurance.\n\"I can say that to them if you wish, Miss Everdene.\nAnd I could likewise give an opinion to 'ee on what\nyou have done.'\n\"I daresay. But I don't want your opinion.'\n\"I suppose not,' said Gabriel bitterly, and going on\nwith his turning, his words rising and falling in a\nregular swell and cadence as he stooped or rose with\nthe winch, which directed them, according to his\nposition, perpendiculary into the earth, or horizontally\nalong the garden, his eyes being fixed on a leaf upon\nthe ground.\n With Bathsheba a hastened act was a rash act;\nbut, as does not always happen, time gained was\nprudence insured. It must be added, however, that\ntime was very seldom gained. At this period the\nsingle opinion in the parish on herself and her doings\nthat she valued as sounder than her own was Gabriel\nOak's. And the outspoken honesty of his character\nwas such- that on any subject even that of her love\nfor, or marriage with, another man, the same disinter+\nestedness of opinion might be calculated on, and be\nhad for the asking. Thoroughly convinced of the\nimpossibility of his own suit, a high resolve constrained\nhim not to injure that of another. This is a lover's\nmost stoical virtue, as the lack of it is a lover's most\nvenial sin. Hnowing he would reply truly, she asked\nthe question, painful as she must have known the sub+\nject would be. Such is the selfishness of some charm+\ning women. Perhaps it was some excuse for her thus\ntorturing honesty to her own advantage, that she had\n \nabsolutely no other sound judgment within easy reach.\n\"Well, what is your opinion of my conduct,' she\nsaid, quietly.\n\"That it is unworthy of any thoughtful, and meek,\nand comely woman.'\nIn an instant Bathsheba's face coloured with the\nangry crimson of a danby sunset. But she forbore\nto utter this feeling, and the reticence of her tongue\nonly made the loquacity of her face the more notice+\nable.\nThe next thing Gabriel did was to make a mistake.\n\"Perhaps you don't like the rudeness of my repri+\nmanding you, for I know it is rudeness; but I thought\nit would do good.'\nShe instantly replied sarcastically --\n\"On the contrary, my opinion of you is so low, that\nI see in your abuse the praise of discerning people!'\n\"I am glad you don't mind it, for I said it honestly\nand with every serious meaning.'\n \"I see. But, unfortunately, when you try not to\nspeak in jest you are amusing -- just as when you wish\nto avoid seriousness you sometimes say a sensible word\nIt was a hard hit, but Bathsheba had unmistakably\nlost her temper, and on that account Gabriel had\nnever in his life kept his own better. He said nothing.\nShe then broke out --\n \"I may ask, I suppose, where in particular my\nunworthiness lies? In my not marrying you, perhaps!\n\"Not by any means,' said Gabriel quietly. \"I have\nlong given up thinking of that matter.'\n\"Or wishing it, I suppose,' she said; and it was\napparent that she expected an unhesitating denial of\nthis supposition.\nWhatever Gabriel felt, he coolly echoed her words --\n\"Or wishing it either.'\n A woman may be treated with a bitterness which\nis sweet to her, and with a rudeness which is not\noffensive. Bathsheba would have submitted to an\nindignant chastisement for her levity had Gabriel pro+\ntested that he was loving her at the same time; the\nimpetuosity of passion unrequited is bearable, even if\nit stings and anathematizes there is a triumph in the\nhumiliation, and a tenderness in the strife. This was\nwhat she had been expecting, and what she had not\ngot. To be lectured\n \nbecause the lecturer saw her in\nthe cold morning light of open-shuttered disillusion\nwas exasperating. He had not finished, either. He\ncontinued in a more agitated voice: --\n\"My opinion is (since you ask it) that you are\ngreatly to blame for playing pranks upon a man like\nMr. Boldwood, merely as a pastime. Leading on a\nman you don't care for is not a praiseworthy action.\nAnd even, Miss Everdene, if you seriously inclined\ntowards him, you might have let him find it out in\nsome way of true loving-kindness, and not by sending\nhim a valentine's letter.'\nBathsheba laid down the shears.\n \"I cannot allow any man to -- to criticise my private\nConduct!' she exclaimed. \"Nor will I for a minute.\nSo you'll please leave the farm at the end of the week!'\nIt may have been a peculiarity -- at any rate it was\na fact -- that when Bathsheba was swayed by an emotion\nof an earthly sort her lower lip trembled: when by a\nrefined emotion, her upper or heavenward one. Her\nnether lip quivered now.\n\"Very well, so I will,' said Gabriel calmly. He had\nbeen held to her by a beautiful thread which it pained\nhim to spoil by breaking, rather than by a chain he\ncould not break. \"I should be even better pleased to\ngo at once,' he added.\n\"Go at once then, in Heaven's name!' said she,her\neyes flashing at his, though never meeting them.\n\"Don't let me see your face any more.'\n\"Very well, Miss Everdene -- so it shall be.'\nAnd he took his shears and went away from her in\nplacid dignity, as Moses left the presence of Pharaoh.\n \nTROUBLES IN THE FOLD -- A MESSAGE\nGABRIEL OAK had ceased to feed the Weatherbury\nflock for about four-and-twenty hours, when on Sunday\nafternoon the elderly gentlemen Joseph Poorgrass,\nMatthew Moon, Fray, and half-a-dozen others, came\nrunning up to the house of the mistress of the Upper\nFarm.\n \"Whatever is the matter, men?' she said, meeting\nthem at the door just as she was coming out on her\nway to church, and ceasing in a moment from the close\ncompression of her two red lips, with which she had\naccompanied the exertion of pelling on a tight glove.\n\"Sixty!' said Joseph Poorgrass.\n\"Seventy!' said Moon.\n\"Fifty-nine!' said Susan Tall's husband.\n\" -- Sheep have broke fence,' said Fray.\n\" -- And got into a field of young clover,' said Tall.\n\" -- Young clover!' said Moon.\n\" -- Clover!' said Joseph Poorgrass.\n\"And they be getting blasted,' said Henery Fray.\n\"That they be,' said Joseph.\n\"And will all die as dead as nits, if they bain't got\nout and cured!'said Tall.\nJoseph's countenance was drawn into lines and\npuckers by his concern. Fray's forehead was wrinkled\nboth perpendicularly and crosswise, after the pattern of\na portcullis, expressive of a double despair. Laban\nTall's lips were thin, and his face were rigid. Matthew's\njaws sank, and his eyes turned whichever way the\nstrongest muscle happened to pull them.\n \"Yes,' said Joseph, \"and I was sitting at home,\nlooking for Ephesians, and says I to myself, \"'Tis\nnothing but Corinthians and Thessalonians in this\ndanged Testament,'' when\n \nwho should come in but\nHenery there: \"\"Joseph,'' he said, \"\"the sheep have\nWith Bathsheba it was a moment when thought was\nblasted theirselves -- -'''\n With Bathsheba it was a moment when thought was\nspeech and speech exclamation. Moreover, she had\nhardly recovered her equanimity since the disturbance\nwhich she had suffered from Oak's remarks.\n'Thats enought -- that's enough! -- oh, you fools!'\nshe cried, throwing the parasol and Prayer-book into\nthe passage, and running out of doors in the direction\nsignified. \"To come to me, and not go and get them\nout directly! Oh, the stupid numskulls!'\nHer eyes were at their darkest and brightest now.\nBathsheba's beauty belonged rather to the demonian\nthan to the angelic school, she never looked so well as\nwhen she was angry -- and particularly when the effect\nwas heightened by a rather dashing velvet dress, care+\nfully put on before a glass.\nAll the ancient men ran in a jumbled throng after\nher to the clover-field, Joseph sinking down in the\nmidst when about half-way, like an individual withering\nin a world which was more and more insupportable.\nHaving once received the stimulus that her presence\nalways gave them they went round among the sheep\nwith a will. The majority of the afflicted animals were\nlying down, and could not be stirred. These were\nbodily lifted out, and the others driven into the adjoining\nfield. Here, after the lapse of a few minutes, several\nmore fell down, and lay helpless and livid as the rest.\nBathsheba, with a sad, bursting heart, looked at these\nprimest specimens of her prime flock as they rolled\nthere --\nSwoln with wind and the rank mist they drew.\nMany of them foamed at the mouth, their breathing\nbeing quick and short, whilst the bodies of all were\nfearfully distended.\n\"O, what can I do, what can I do!' said Bathsheba,\nhelplessly. \"Sheep are such unfortunate animals! --\nthere's always something happening to them! I never\nknew a flock pass a year without getting into some scrape\nor other.'\n\"There's only one way of saving them,' said Tall.\n \n\"What way? Tell me quick!'\n\"They must be pierced in the side with a thing made\non purpose.'\n\"Can you do it? Can I?'\n\"No, ma'am. We can't, nor you neither. It must\nbe done in a particular spot. If ye go to the right or\nleft but an inch you stab the ewe and kill her. Not\neven a shepherd can do it, as a rule.'\n\"Then they must die,' she said, in a resigned tone.\n\"Only one man in the neighbourhood knows the way,'\nsaid Joseph, now just come up. \"He could cure 'em\nall if he were here.'\n\"Who is he? Let's get him!'\n\"Shepherd Oak,\" said Matthew. \"Ah, he's a clever\nman in talents!'\n\"Ah, that he is so!' said Joseph Poorgrass.\n\"True -- he's the man,' said Laban Tall.\n\"How dare you name that man in my presence!' she\nsaid excitedly. \"I told you never to allude to him, nor\nshall you if you stay with me. Ah!' she added, brighten+\ning, \"Farmer Boldwood knows!'\n \"0 no, ma'am' said Matthew. \"Two of his store\newes got into some vetches t'other day, and were just\nlike these. He sent a man on horseback here post-haste\nfor Gable, and Gable went and saved 'em, Farmer\nBoldwood hev got the thing they do it with. 'Tis a\nholler pipe, with a sharp pricker inside. Isn't it,\nJoseph?'\n \"Ay -- a holler pipe,' echoed Joseph. \"That's what\n'tis.'\n\"Ay, sure -- that's the machine,' chimed in Henery\nFray, reflectively, with an Oriental indifference to the\nflight of time.\n\"Well,\" burst out Bathsheba, \"don't stand there with\nyour \"\"ayes'' and your \"\"sures,'' talking at me! Get\nsomebody to cure the sheep instantly!'\n All then stalked or in eonsternation, to get some+\nbody as directed, without any idea of who it was to be.\nIn a minute they had vanished through the gate,.and\nshe stood alone with the dying flock.\n\"Never will I send for him never!' she said firmly.\n \nOne of the ewes here contracted its muscles horribly,\nextended itself, and jumped high into the air. The\nleap was an astonishing one. The ewe fell heavily, and\nlay still.\nBathsheba went up to it. The sheep was dead.\n\"O, what shall I do -- what shall I do!' she again\nexclaimed, wringing her hands. \"I won't send for him.\nNo, I won't!'\nThe most vigorous expression of a resolution does\nnot always coinicide with the greatest vigour of the\nresolution itself. It is often flung out as a sort of prop\nto support a decaying conviction which, whilst strong,\nrequired no enunciation to prove it so. The \"No, I\nwon't' of Bathsheba meant virtually, \"I think I must.'\nShe followed her assistants through the gate, and\nlifted her hand to one of them. Laban answered to her\nsignal.\n\"Where is Oak staying?'\n\"Across the valley at Nest Cottage!'\n\"Jump on the bay mare, and ride across, and say he\nmust return instantly -- that I say so.'\nTall scrambled off to the field, and in two minutes\nwas on Poll, the bay, bare-backed, and with only a\nhalter by way of rein. He diminished down the\nhill.\nBathsheba watched. So did all the rest. Tall\ncantered along the bridle-path through Sixteen Acres,\nSheeplands, Middle Field The Flats, Cappel's Piece,\nshrank almost to a point, crossed the bridge, and\nascended from the valley through Springmead and\nWhitepits on the other side. The cottage to which\nGabriel had retired before taking his final departure\nfrom the locality was visible as a white spot on the\nopposite hill, backed by blue firs. Bathsheba walked\nup and down. The men entered the field and\nendeavoured to ease the anguish of the dumb creatures\nby rubbing them. Nothing availed.\nBathsheba continued walking. The horse was seen\ndescending the hill, and the wearisome series had to be\nrepeated in reverse order: Whitepits, Springmead,\nCappel's Piece, The Flats, Middle Field, Sheeplands,\nSixteen Acres. She hoped Tall had had presence of\nmind enough to give the mare up to Gabriel, and return\nhimself on foot. The rider neared them. It was Tall.\n \n\"O, what folly!' said Bathsheba.\nGabriel was not visible anywhere.\n\"Perhaps he is already gone!' she said.\nTall came into the inclosure, and leapt off, his face\ntragic as Morton's after the battle of Shrewsbury.\n\"Well?' said Bathsheba, unwilling to believe that\nher verbal lettre-de-cachet could possibly have miscarried.\n\"He says beggars mustn't be choosers,' replied Laban.\n\"What!' said the young farmer, opening her eyes\nand drawing in her breath for an outburst. Joseph\nPoorgrass retired a few steps behind a hurdle.\n\"He says he shall not come onless you request en\nto come civilly and in a proper manner, as becomes any\n'ooman begging a favour.'\n\"Oh, oh, that's his answer! Where does he get his\nairs? Who am I, then, to be treated like that? Shall\nI beg to a man who has begged to me?'\nAnother of the flock sprang into the air, and fell\ndead.\nThe men looked grave, as if they suppressed opinion.\nBathsheba turned aside, her eyes full of tears. The\nstrait she was in through pride and shrewishness could\nnot be disguised longer: she burst out crying bitterly;\nthey all saw it; and she attempted no further concealment.\n\"I wouldn't cry about it, miss,' said William Small+\nbury, compassionately. \"Why not ask him softer like?\nI'm sure he'd come then. Gable is a true man in that\nway.'\nBathsheba checked her grief and wiped her eyes.\n\"O, it is a wicked cruelty to me -- it is -- it is!' she\nmurmured. \"And he drives me to do what I wouldn't;\nyes, he does ! -- Tall, come indoors.'\nAfter this collapse, not very dignified for the head\nof an establishment, she went into the house, Tall at\nher heels. Here she sat down and hastily scribbled a\nnote between the small convulsive sobs of convalescence\nwhich follow a fit of crying as a ground-swell follows a\nstorm. The note was none the less polite for being\nwritten in a hurry. She held it at a distance, was\nabout to fold it, then added these words at the\nbottom: --\n\"Do not desert me, Gabriel!'\n \nShe looked a little redder in refolding it, and closed\nher lips, as if thereby to suspend till too late the action\nof conscience in examining whether such strategy were\njustifiable. The note was despatched as the message\nhad been, and Bathsheba waited indoors for the result.\nIt was an anxious quarter of an hour that intervened\nbetween the messenger's departure and the sound of the\nhorse's tramp again outside. She- could not watch this\ntime, but, leaning over the old bureau at which she had\nwritten the letter, closed her eyes, as if to keep out both\nhope and fear.\n The case, however, was a promising one. Gabriel\nwas not angry: he was simply neutral, although her first\ncommand had been so haughty. Such imperiousness\nwould have damned a little less beauty; and on the\nother hand, such beauty would have redeemed a little\nless imperiousness.\nShe went out when the horse was heard, and looked\nup. A mounted figure passed between her and the\nsky, and drew on towards the fleld of sheep, the rider\nturning his face in receding. Gabriel looked at her.\nIt was a moment when a woman's eyes and tongue tell\ndistinctly opposite tales. Bathsheba looked full of\ngratitude, and she said: --\n \"O, Gabriel, how could you serve me so unkindly!'\nSuch a tenderly-shaped reproach for his previous\ndelay was the one speech in the language that he could\npardon for not being commendation of his readiness\nnow.\nGabriel murmured a confused reply, and hastened\non. She knew from the look which sentence in her\nnote had brought him. Bathsheba followed to the\nfield.\nGabriel was already among the turgid, prostrate forms.\nHe had flung off his coat, rolled up his shirt-sleeves,\nand taken from his pocket the instrument of salvation.\nIt was a small tube or trochar, with a lance passing\ndown the inside; and Gabriel began to use it with a\ndexterity that would have graced a hospital surgeon.\nPassing his hand over the sheep's left flank, and\nselecting the proper point, he punctured the skin and\nrumen with the lance as it stood in the tube; then he\nsuddenly withdrew the lance, retaining the tube in its\nplace. A current of air rushed up the tube, forcible\nenough to have extinguished a candle held at the\norifice.\nIt has been said that mere ease after torment is de+\nlight for a time; and the countenances of these poor\ncreatures expressed it now. Forty-nine operations were\nsuccessfully performed. Owing to the great hurry\nnecessitated by the far-gone state of some of the flock,\nGabriel missed his aim in one case, and in one only --\nstriking wide of the mark, and inflicting a mortal blow\nat once upon the suffering ewe. Four had died; three\nrecovered without an operation. The total number of\nsheep which had thus strayed and injured themselves\nso dangerously was fifty-seven.\nWhen the love-led man had ceased from his labours,\nBathsheba came and looked him in the face.\n\"Gabriel, will you stay on with me?' she, said,\nsmiling winningly, and not troubling to bring her lips\nquite together again at the end, because there was going\nto be another smile soon.\n\"I will,' said Gabriel.\nAnd she smiled on him again.\n \nTHE GREAT BARN AnD THE SHEEP-SHEARERS\nMEN thin away to insignificance and oblivion quite as\noften by not making the most of good spirits when they\nhave them as by lacking good spirits when they are\nindispensable. Gabriel lately, for the first time since\nhis prostration by misfortune, had been independent in\nthought and vigorous in action to a marked extent --\nconditions which, powerless without an opportunity as\nan opportunity without them is barren, would have\ngiven him a sure lift upwards when the favourable-con+\njunction should have occurred. But this incurable\nloitering beside Bathsheba Everdene stole his time\nruinously. The spring tides were going by without\nfloating him off, and the neap might soon come which\ncould not.\nIt was the first day of June, and the sheep-shearing\nseason culminated, the landscape, even to the leanest\npasture, being all health and colour. Every green was\nyoung, every pore was open, and every stalk was swollen\nwith racing currents of juice. God was palpably present\nin the country, and the devil had gone with the world\nto town. Flossy catkins of the later kinds, fern-sprouts\nlike bishops' croziers, the square-headed moschatel, the\nodd cuckoo-pint, -- like an apoplectic saint in a niche\nof malachite, -- snow-white ladies'-smocks, the toothwort,\napproximating to human flesh, the enchanter's night+\nshade, and the black-petaled doleful-bells, were among\nthe quainter objects of the vegetable world in and about\nWeatherbury at this teeming time; and of the animal,\nthe metamorphosed figures of Mr. Jan Coggan, the\nmaster-shearer; the second and third shearers, who\ntravelled in the exercise of their calling, and do not re+\nquire definition by name; Henery Fray the fourth\nshearer, Susan Tall's husband the fifth, Joseph Poorgrass\nthe sixth, young Cain Ball as assistant-shearer, and\nGabriel Oak as general supervisor. None of these were\nclothed\n \nto any extent worth mentioning, each appearing\nto have hit in the matter of raiment the decent mean\nbetween a high and low caste Hindoo. An angularity\nof lineament, and a fixity of facial machinery in general,\nproclaimed that serious work was the order of the day.\nThey sheared in the great barn, called for the nonce\nthe Shearing-barn, which on ground-plan resembled a\nchurch with transepts. It not only emulated the form\nof the neighbouring church of the parish, but vied with\nit in antiquity. Whether the barn had ever formed one\nof a group of conventual buildings nobody seemed to be\naware; no trace of such surroundings remained. The\nvast porches at the sides, lofty enough to admit a waggon\nladen to its highest with corn in the sheaf, were spanned\nby heavy-pointed arches of stone, broadly and boldly cut,\nwhose very simplicity was the origin of a grandeur not\napparent in erections where more ornament has been\nattempted. The dusky, filmed, chestnut roof, braced\nand tied in by huge collars, curves, and diagonals, was\nfar nobler in design, because more wealthy in material,\nthan nine-tenths of those in our modern churches.\nAlong each side wall was a range of striding buttresses,\nthrowing deep shadows on the spaces between them,\nwhich were perforated by lancet openings, combining\nin their proportions the precise requirements both of\nbeauty and ventilation.\nOne could say about this barn, what could hardly\nbe said of either the church or the castle, akin to it in\nage and style, that the purpose which had dictated its\noriginal erection was the same with that to which it\nwas still applied. Unlike and superior to either of\nthose two typical remnants of mediaevalism, the old\nbarn embodied practices which had suffered no mutila+\ntion at the hands of time. Here at least the spirit of\nthe ancient builders was at one with the spirit of the\nmodern beholder. Standing before this abraded pile,\nthe eye regarded its present usage, the mind-dwelt upon\nits past history, with a satisfied sense of functional\ncontinuity throughout -- a feeling almost of gratitude,\nand quite of pride, at the permanence of the idea\nwhich had heaped it up. The fact that four centuries\nhad neither proved it to be founded on a mistake,\n \ninspired any hatred of its purpose, nor given rise to\nany reaction that had battered it down, invested this\nsimple grey effort of old minds with a repose, if not a\ngrandeur, which a too curious reflection was apt to\ndisturb in its ecclesiastical and military compeers. For\nonce medievalism and modernism had a common stand+\npoint. The lanccolate windows, the time-eaten arch+\nstones and chamfers, the orientation of the axis, the\nmisty chestnut work of the rafters, referred to no exploded\nfortifying art or worn-out religious creed. The defence\nand salvation of the body by daily bread is still a study,\na religion, and a desire.\nTo-day the large side doors were thrown open\ntowards the sun to admit a bountiful light to the\nimmediate spot of the shearers' operations, which was\nthe wood threshing-floor in the centre, formed of thick\noak, black with age and polished by the beating of flails\nfor many generations, till it had grown as slippery and\nas rich in hue as the state-room floors of an Elizabethan\nmansion. Here the shearers knelt, the sun slanting in\nupon their bleached shirts, tanned arms, and the polished\nshears they flourished, causing these to bristle with a\nthousand rays strong enough to blind a weak-eyed man.\nBeneath them a captive sheep lay panting, quickening\nits pants as misgiving merged in terror, till it quivered\nlike the hot landscape outside.\nThis picture of to-day in its frame of four hundred\nyears ago did not produce that marked contrast between\nancient and modern which is implied by the contrast\nof date. In comparison with cities, Weatherbury was\nimmutable. The citizen's Then is the rustic's Now.\nIn London, twenty or thirty-years ago are old times;\nin Paris ten years, or five; in Weatherbury three or\nfour score years were included in the mere present,\nand nothing less than a century set a mark on its\nface or tone. Five decades hardly modified the cut of\na gaiter, the embroidery of a smock-frock, by the breadth\nof a hair. Ten generations failed to alter the turn of\na single phrase. In these Wessex nooks the busy out+\nsider's ancient times are only old; his old times are still\nnew; his present is futurity.\nSo the barn was natural to the shearers, and the\nshearers were in harmony with the barn.\nThe spacious ends of the building, answering ecclesi+\nastically\n \nto nave and chancel extremities, were fenced\noff with hurdles, the sheep being all collected in a crowd\nwithin these two enclosures; and in one angle a catching+\npen was formed, in which three or four sheep were\ncontinuously kept ready for the shearers to seize without\nloss of time. In the background, mellowed by tawny\nshade, were the three women, Maryann Money, and\nTemperance and Soberness Miller, gathering up the\nfleeces and twisting ropes of wool with a wimble for\ntying them round. They were indifferently well assisted\nby the old maltster, who, when the malting season from\nOctober to April had passed, made himself useful upon\nany of the bordering farmsteads.\n\"Behind all was Bathsheba, carefully watching the\nmen to see that there was no cutting or wounding\nthrough carelessness, and that the animals were shorn\nclose. Gabriel, who flitted and hovered under her\nbright eyes like a moth, did not shear continuously,\nhalf his time being spent in attending to the others\nand selecting the sheep for them. At the present\nmoment he was engaged in handing round a mug of\nmild liquor, supplied from a barrel in the corner,\nand cut pieces of bread and cheese.\nBathsheba, after throwing a glance here, a caution\nthere, and lecturing one of the younger operators who\nhad allowed his last finished sheep to go off among\nthe flock without re-stamping it with her initials, came\nagain to Gabriel, as he put down the luncheon to drag\na frightened ewe to his shear-station, flinging it over\nupon its back with a dexterous twist of the arm\nHe lopped off the tresses about its head, and opened\nup the neck and collar, his mistress quietly looking\non:\n\"She blushes at the insult,' murmured Bathsheba,\nwatching the pink flush which arose and overspread\nthe neck and shoulders of the ewe where they were\nleft bare by the clicking shears -- a flush which was\nenviable, for its delicacy, by many queens of coteries,\nand would have been creditable, for its promptness, to\nany woman in the world.\nPoor Gabriel's soul was fed with a luxury of content\nby having her over him, her eyes critically regarding\nhis skilful shears, which apparently were going to gather\nup a piece of the flesh at every close, and yet never did\nso. Like Guildenstern,\n \nOak was happy in that he was\nnot over happy. He had no wish to converse with her:\nthat his bright lady and himself formed one group,\nexclusively their own, and containing no others in the\nworld, was enough.\nSo the chatter was all on her side. There is a\nloquacity that tells nothing, which was Bathsheba's;\nand there is a silence which says much: that was\nGabriel's. Full of this dim and temperate bliss, he\nwent on to fling the ewe over upon her other side,\ncovering her head with his knee, gradually running\nthe shears line after line round her dewlap; thence\nabout her flank and back, and finishing over the tail.\n\"Well done, and done quickly!' said Bathsheba,\nlooking at her watch as the last snip resounded.\n\"How long, miss?' said Gabriel, wiping his brow.\n\"Three-and-twenty minutes and a half since you took\nthe first lock from its forehead. It is the first time that\nI have ever seen one done in less than half an hour.'\nThe clean, sleek creature arose from its fleece -- how\nperfectly like Aphrodite rising from the foam should\nhave been seen to be realized -- looking startled and\nshy at the loss of its garment, which lay on the floor\nin one soft cloud, united throughout, the portion visible\nbeing the inner surface only, which, never before exposed,\nwas white as snow, and without flaw or blemish of the\nminutest kind.\n\"Cain Ball!'\n\"Yes, Mister Oak; here I be!'\nCainy now runs forward with the tar-pot. \"B. E.' is\nnewly stamped upon the shorn skin, and away the simplc\ndam lcaps, panting, over the board into the shirtless\nflock outside. Then up comes Maryann; throws the\nloose locks into the middle of the fleece, rolls it up,\nand carries it into the background as three-and-a-half\npounds of unadulterated warmth for the winter enjoy+\nment of persons unknown and far away, who will,\nhowever, never experience the superlative comfort\nderivable from the wool as it here exists, new and pure\n -- before the unctuousness of its nature whilst in a\nliving state has dried, stiffened, and been washed out\n -- rendering it just now as superior to anything woollen\nas cream is superior to milk-and-water.\n \nBut heartless circumstance could not leave entire\nGabriel's happiness of this morning. The rams, old\newes, and two-shear ewes had duly undergone their\nstripping, and the men were proceeding with the shear+\nlings and hogs, when Oak's belief that she was going to\nstand pleasantly by and time him through another\nperformance was painfully interrupted by Farmer Bold+\nwood's appearance in the extremest corner of the barn.\nNobody seemed to have perceived his entry, but there\nhe certainly was. Boldwood always carried with him a\nsocial atmosphere of his own, which everybody felt who\ncame near him; and the talk, which Bathsheba's\npresence had somewhat suppressed, was now totally\nsuspended.\n He crossed over rowards Bathsheba, who turned to\ngreet him with a carriage of perfect ease. He spoke to\nher in low tones, and she instinctively modulated her\nown to the same pitch, and her voice ultimately even\ncaught the inflection of his. She was far from having\na wish to appear mysteriously connected with him; but\nwoman at the impressionable age gravitates to the larger\nbody not only in her choice of words, which is apparent\nevery day, but even in her shades of tone and humour,\nwhen the influence is great.\n What they conversed about was not audible to\nGabriel, who was too independent to get near, though\ntoo concerned to disregard. The issue of their dialogue\nwas the taking of her hand by the courteous farmer to\nhelp her over the spreading-board into the bright June\nsunlight outside. Standing beside the sheep already\nshorn, they went on talking again. Concerning the\nflock? Apparently not. Gabriel theorized, not without\ntruth, that in quiet discussion of any matter within reach\nof the speakers' eyes, these are usually fixed upon it.\nBathsheba demurely regarded a contemptible straw lying\nupon the ground, in a way which suggested less ovine\ncriticism than womanly embarrassment. She became\nmore or less red in the cheek, the blood wavering in\nuncertain flux and reflux over the sensitive space between\nebb and flood. Gabriel sheared on, constrained and\nsad.\nShe left Boldwood's side, and he walked up and\ndown alone for nearly a quarter of an hour. Then she\nreappeared in her\n \nnew riding-habit of myrtle-green, which\nfitted her to the waist as a rind fits its fruit; and young\nBob Coggan led -on -her mare, Boldwood fetching his\nown horse from the tree under which it had been tied.\n Oak's eyes could not forsake them; and in en+\ndeavouring to continue his shearing at the same time\nthat he watched Boldwood's manner, he snipped the\nsheep in the groin. The animal plunged; Bathsheba\ninstantly gazed towards it, and saw the blood.\n\"O, Gabriel!' she exclaimed, with severe remon+\nstrance you who are so strict with the other men -- see\nwhat you are doing yourself!'\nTo an outsider there was not much to complain of\nin this remark ; but to Oak, who \"knew Bathsheba to be\nwell aware that she herself was the cause of the poor\newe's wound, because she had wounded the ewe's shearer\nin a -- still more vital part, it had a sting which the abiding\nsense of his inferiority to both herself and Boldwood was\nnot calculated to heal. But a manly resolve to recognize\nboldly that he had no longer a lover's interest in her,\nhelped him oceasionally to conceal a feeling.\n\" Bottle .! ' he shouted, in an unmoved voice of routine.\nCainy Ball ran up, the wound was anointed, and the\nshearing continued.\nBoldwood gently tossed Bathsheba into the saddle,\nand before they turned away she again spoke out to Oak\nwith the same dominative and tantalizing graciousness.\n\"I am going now to see Mr. Boldwood's Leicesters.\nTake my place in the barn, Gabriel, and keep the men\ncarefully to their work.'\nThe horses' heads were put about, and they trotted\naway.\nBoldwood's deep attachment was a matter of great\ninterest among all around him ; but, after having been\npointed out for so many years as the perfect exemplar\nof thriving bachelorship, his lapse was an anticlimax\nsomewhat resembling that of St. John Long's death by\nconsumption in the midst of his proofs that it was not\na fatal disease.\n \n\" That means matrimony,' said Temperance Miller,\nfollowing them out of sight with her eyes.\n\"I reckon that's the size o't,' said Coggan, working\nalong without looking up.\n\" Well, better wed over the mixen than over the moor,'\nsaid Laban Tall, turning his sheep.\nHenery Fray spoke, exhibiting miserable eyes at the\nsame time: \"I don't see why a maid should take a\nhusband when she's bold enough to fight her own\nbattles, and don't want a home ; for 'tis keeping another\nwoman out. But let it be, for 'tis a pity he and she\nshould trouble two houses.'\nAs usual with decided characters, Bathsheba invari+\nably provoked the criticism of individuals like Henery\nFray. Her emblazoned fault was to be too pronounced\nin her objections, and not sufficiently overt in her\nlikings. We learn that it is not the rays which bodies\nabsorb, but those which they reject, that give them the\ncolours they are known by ; and win the same way people\nare specialized by their dislikes and antagonisms, whilst\ntheir goodwill is looked upon as no attribute at all.\nHenery continued in a more complaisant mood : \"I\nonce hinted my mind to her on a few things, as nearly\nas a battered frame dared to do 'so to such a froward\npiece. You all know, neighbours, what a man I be,\nand how I come down with my powerful words when\nmy pride is boiling wi' scarn ?'\n\" We do, we do, Henery.'\n\" So I said, \"\" Mistress Everdene, there's places empty,\nand there's gifted men willing ; but the spite '' -- no. not\nthe spite -- I didn't say spite -- \"\"but the villainy of the\ncontrarikind,'' I said (meaning womankind), \"\" keeps 'em\nout.'' That wasn't too strong for her, say ? '\n\" Passably well put.'\n\"Yes; and I would have said it, had death and\nsalvation overtook me for it. Such is my spirit when I\nhave a mind.'\n\"A true man, and proud as a lucifer.'\n\"You see the artfulness ? Why, 'twas about being\nbaily really; but I didn't put it so plain that she could\nunderstand my meaning, so I could lay it on all the\n \nstronger. That was my depth .! ... However, let her\nmarry an she will. Perhaps 'tis high time. I believe\nFarmer Boldwood kissed her behind the spear-bed at the\nsheep-washing t'other day -- that I do.'\n\" What a lie !.' said Gabriel.\n\" Ah, neighbour Oak -- how'st know ? ' said, Henery,\nmildly.\n\" Because she told me all that passed,' said Oak, with\na pharisaical sense that he was not as other shearers in\nthis matter.\n\"Ye have a right to believe it,' said Henery, with\ndudgeon; \"a very true right. But I mid see a little\ndistance into things !. To be long-headed enough for a\nbaily's place is a poor mere trifle -- yet a trifle more than\nnothing. However, I look round upon life quite cool.\nDo you heed me, neighbours ? My words, though made\nas simple as I can, mid be rather deep for some heads.'\n\" O yes, Henery, we quite heed ye.'\n\" A strange old piece, goodmen -- whirled about from\nhere to yonder, as if I were nothing ! A little warped,\ntoo. But I have my depths; ha, and even my great\ndepths ! I might gird at a certain shepherd, brain to\nbrain. But no -- O no !.'\n\" A strange old piece, ye say .! ' interposed the maltster,\nin a querulous voice. \"At the same time ye be no old\nman worth naming -- no old man at all. Yer teeth\nbain't half gone yet ; and what's a old man's standing\nif se be his teeth bain't gone? Weren't I stale in\nwedlock afore ye were out of arms ? 'Tis a poor thing\nto be sixty, when there's people far past four-score -- a\nboast'weak as water.'\nIt was the unvaying custom in Weatherbury to\nsink minor differences when the maltster had to be\npacified.\n\" Weak as-water .! yes,' said Jan Coggan.- \"Malter,\nwe feel ye to be a wonderful veteran man, and nobody\ncan gainsay it.'\n\" Nobody,' said Joseph Poorgrass. \"Ye be a very\nrare old spectacle, malter, and we all admire ye for that\ngift. '\n\"Ay, and as a young man, when my senses were in\nprosperity, I was likewise liked by a good-few who\nknowed me,' said the maltster.\n\" 'Ithout doubt you was -- 'ithout doubt.'\nThe bent and hoary 'man was satisfied, and so\napparently was Henery Frag. That matters should\ncontinue pleasant Maryann\n \nspoke, who, what with her\nbrown complexion, and the working wrapper of rusty\nlinsey, had at present the mellow hue of an old sketch\nin oils -- notably some of Nicholas Poussin's: --\n\" Do anybody know of a crooked man, or a lame, or\nany second-hand fellow at all that would do for poor\nme ?' said Maryann. \"A perfect one I don't expect to\n at my time of life. If I could hear of such a thing\ntwould do me more good thantoast and ale.'\n Coggan furnished a suitable reply. Oak went on\nwith his shearing, and said not another word. Pestilent\nmoods had come, and teased away his quiet. Bathsheba\nhad shown indications of anointing him above his\nfellows by installing him as the bailiff that the farm\nimperatively required. He did not covet the post\nrelatively to the farm : in relation to herself, as beloved\nby him and unmarried to another, he had coveted it.\nHis readings of her seemed now to be vapoury and\nindistinct. His lecture to her was, he thought, one of\nthe absurdest mistakes. Far from coquetting with\nBoldwood, she had trifled with himself in thus feigning\nthat she had trifled with another. He was inwardly\nconvinced that, in accordance with the anticipations of\nhis easy-going and worse-educated comrades, that day\nwould see Boldwood the accepted husband of Miss\nEverdene. Gabriel at this time of his life had out+\ngrown the instinctive dislike which every Christian\nboy has for reading the Bible, perusing it now quite\nfrequently, and he inwardly said, \" ''I find more bitter\nthan death the woman whose heart is snares and\nnets .! '' ' This was mere exclamation -- the froth of the\nstorm. He adored Bathsheba just the same.\n\" We workfolk shall have some lordly- junketing\nto-night,' said Cainy Ball, casting forth his thoughts in\na new direction. \"This morning I see'em making the\ngreat puddens in the milking-pails -- lumps of fat as big\nas yer thumb, Mister Oak ! I've never seed such\nsplendid large knobs of fat before in the days of my\nlife -- they never used to be bigger then a horse-bean.\nAnd there was a great black crock upon the brandise\nwith his legs a-sticking out, but I dont know what was\nin within.\"\n'And there's two bushels of biffins for apple-pies,'\nsaid Maryann.\n \n\"Well, I hope to do my duty by it all,' said Joseph\nPoorgrass, in a pleasant, masticating manner of anticipa+\ntion. \" Yes ; victuals and drink is a cheerful thing,\nand gives nerves to the nerveless, if the form of words\nmay be used. 'Tis the gospel of the body, without\nwhich we perish, so to speak it.'\n \nEVENTIDE -- A SECOND DECLARATION\nFOR the shearing-supper a long table was placed on the\ngrass-plot beside the house, the end of the table being\nthrust over the sill of the wide parlour window and a\nfoot or two into the room. Miss Everdene sat inside\nthe window, facing down the table. She was thus at\nthe head without mingling with the men.\nThis evening Bathsheba was unusually excited, her\nred cheeks and lips contrasting lustrously with the mazy\nskeins of her shadowy hair. She seemed to expect\nassistance, and the seat at the bottom of the table was\nat her request left vacant until after they had begun\nand the duties appertaining to that end, which he did\nwith great readiness.\nAt this moment Mr. Boldwood came in at the gate,\nand crossed the green to Bathsheba at the window.\nHe apologized for his lateness : his arrival was evidently\nby arrangement.\n\" Gabriel,' said she, \" will you move again, please,\nand let Mr. Boldwood come there ?'\nOak moved in silence back to his original seat.\nThe gentleman-farmer was dressed in cheerful style,\nin a new coat and white waistcoat, quite contrasting\nwith his usual sober suits of grey. Inwardy, too, he\nwas blithe, and consequently chatty to an exceptional\ndegree. So also was Bathsheba now that he had come,\nthough the uninvited presence of Pennyways, the bailiff\nwho had been dismissed for theft, disturbed her equan+\nimity for a while.\nSupper being ended, Coggan began on his own\nprivate account, without reference to listeners : --\nl've lost my love and l care not,\nI've lost my love, and l care not;\nI shall soon have another\n \nThat's better than t'other!\nI've lost my love, and I care not.\nThis lyric, when concluded, was received with a\nsilently appreciative gaze at the table, implying that the\nperformance, like a work by those established authors\nwho are independent of notices in the papers, was a\nwell-known delight which required no applause.\n\"Now, Master Poorgass, your song!' said Coggan.\n\"I be all but in liquor, and the gift is wanting in\nme,' said Joseph, diminishing himself.\n\"Nonsense; wou'st never be so ungrateful, Joseph --\nnever!' said Coggan, expressing hurt feelings by an\ninflection of voice. \"And mistress is looking hard at\nye, as much as to say, \"\"Sing at once, Joseph Poor+\ngrass.'' '\n\"Faith, so she is; well, I must suffer it! ... Just\neye my features, and see if the tell-tale blood overheats\nme much, neighbours?'\n\"No, yer blushes be quite reasonable,' said Coggan.\n\"I always tries to keep my colours from rising when\na beauty's eyes get fixed on me,' said Joseph, differently;\n\"but if so be 'tis willed they do, they must.'\n\"Now, Joseph, your song, please,' said Bathsheba,\nfrom the window.\n\"Well, really, ma'am,' he replied, in a yielding tone,\n\"I don't know what to say. It would be a poor plain\nballet of my own composure.'\n'Hear, hear! ' said the supper-party.\nPoorgrass, thus assured, trilled forth a flickering yet\ncommendable piece of sentiment, the tune of which\nconsisted of the key-note and another, the latter being\nthe sound chiefly dwelt upon. This was so successful\nthat he rashly plunged into a second in the same\nbreath, after a few false starts : --\nI sow'-ed th'-e\nI sow'-ed\nI sow'-ed the'-e seeds' of love',\nI-it was' all' i'-in the'-e spring',\nI-in A'-pril', Ma'-ay, a'-nd sun'-ny' June',\nWhen sma'-all bi'-irds they' do' sing.\n \n\" Well put out of hand,' said Coggan, at the end of the\nverse. ' \"\" They do sing '' was a very taking paragraph.'\n\"Ay; and there was a pretty place at \"seeds of\nlove,'' and 'twas well heaved out. Though \"love '' is\na nasty high corner when a man's voice is getting\ncrazed. Next verse, Master Poorgrass.'\nBut during this rendering young Bob Coggan ex+\nhibited one of those anomalies which will afflict little\npeople when other persons are particularly serious : in\ntrying to check his laughter, he pushed down his throat\nas much of the tablecloth as he could get hold of, when,\nafter continuing hermetically sealed for a short time, his\nmirth burst out through his nose. Joseph perceived it,\nand with hectic cheeks of indignation instantly ceased\nsinging. Coggan boxed Bob's ears immediately.\n\"Go on, Joseph -- go on, and never mind the young\nscamp,' said Coggan. \"'Tis a very catching ballet.\nNow then again -- the next bar; I'll help ye to flourish\nup the shrill notes where yer wind is rather wheezy : --\nO the wi'-il-lo'-ow tree' will' twist',\nAnd the wil'-low' tre'-ee wi'ill twine'.\nBut the singer could not be set going again. Bob\nCoggan was sent home for his ill manners, and tran+\nquility was restored by Jacob Smallbury, who volunteered\na ballad as inclusive and interminable as that with which\nthe worthy toper old Silenus amused on a similar occasion\nthe swains Chromis and Mnasylus, and other jolly dogs\nof his day.\nIt' was still the beaming time .of evening, though\nnight was stealthily making itself visible low down upon\nthe ground, the western lines of light taking the earth\nwithout alighting upon it to any extent, or illuminating\nthe dead levels at all. The sun had crept round the\ntree as a last effort before death, and then began to\nsink, the shearers' lower parts becoming steeped in\nembrowning twilight, whilst their heads and shoulders\nwere still enjoying day, touched with a yellow of self+\nsustained brilliancy that seemed inherent rather than\nacquired.\nThe sun went down in an ochreous mist; but they\nsat, and\n \ntalked on, and grew as merry as the gods in\nHomer's heaven. Bathsheba still remained enthroned\ninside the window, and occupied herself in knitting,\nfrom which she sometimes looked up to view the fading\nscene outside. The slow twilight expanded and enveloped\nthem completely before the signs of moving were shown.\nGabriel suddenly missed Farmer Boldwood from his\nplace at the bottom of the table. How long he had\nbeen gone Oak did not know; but he had apparently\nwithdrawn into the eneircling dusk. Whilst he was\nthinking of this, Liddy brought candles into the back\npart of the room overlooking the shearers, and their\nlively new flames shone down the table and over the\nmen, and dispersed among the green shadows behind.\nBathsheba's form, still in its original position, was now\nagain distinct between their eyes and the light, which\nrevealed that Boldwood had gone inside the room, and\nwas sitting near her.\nNext came the question of the evening. Would Miss\nEverdene sing to them the song she always sang so\ncharmingly -- \" The Banks of Allan Water ' -- before they\nwent home ?\nAfter a moment's consideration Bathsheba assented,\nbeckoning to Gabriel, who hastened up into the coveted\natmosphere.\n\" Have you brought your flute ? \" she whispered.\n\" Yes, miss.'\n\" Play to my singing, then.'\nShe stood up in the window-opening, facing the\nmen, the candles behind her, Gabriel on her right hand,\nimmediately outside the sash-frame. Boldwood had\ndrawn up on her left, within the room. Her singing\nwas soft and rather tremulous at first, but it soon swelled\nto a steady clearness. Subsequent events caused one\nof the verses to be remembered for many months, and\neven years, by more than one of those who were gathered\nthere : --\nFor his bride a soldier sought her,\nAnd a winning tongue had he :\nOn the banks of Allan Water\nNone was gay as she !.\n \nIn addition to the dulcet piping of Gabriel's flute,\nBoldwood supplied a bass in his customary profound\nvoice, uttering his notes so softly, however, as to abstain\nentirely from making anything like an ordinary duet of\nthe song ; they rather formed a rich unexplored shadow,\nwhich threw her tones into relief. The shearers reclined\nagainst each other as at suppers in the early ages of the\nworld, and so silent and absorbed were they that her\nbreathing could almost be heard between the bars ; and\nat the end of the ballad, when the last tone loitered on\nto an inexpressible close, there arose that buzz of\npleasure which is the attar of applause.\nIt is scarcely necessary to state that Gabriel could\nnot avoid noting the farmer's bearing to-night towards\ntheir entertainer. Yet there was nothing exceptional in\nhis actions beyond what appertained to his time of\nperforming them. It was when the rest were all looking\naway that Boldwood observed her ; when they regarded\nher he turned aside; when they thanked or praised he\nwas silent; when they were inattentive he murmured\nhis thanks. The meaning lay in the difference between\nactions, none of which had any meaning of itself;\nand the necessity of being jealous, which lovers are\ntroubled with, did not lead Oak to underestimate these\nsigns.\nBathsheba then wished them good-night, withdrew\nfrom the window, and retired to the back part of the\nroom, Boldwood thereupon closing the sash and the\nshutters, and remaining inside with her. Oak wandered\naway under the quiet and scented trees. Recovering\nfrom the softer impressions produced by Bathsheba's\nvoice, the shearers rose to leave, Coggan turning to\nPennyways as he pushed back the bench to pass out : --\n\"I like to give praise where praise is due, and the\nman deserves it -- that 'a do so,' he remarked, looking at\nthe worthy thief, as if he were the masterpiece of some\nworld-renowned artist.\n \n\"I'm sure I should never have believed it if we hadn t\nproved it, so to allude,' hiccupped Joseph Poorgrass, \" that\nevery cup, every one of the best knives and forks, and\nevery empty bottle be in their place as perfect now as\nat the beginning, and not one stole at all.\n\"I'm sure I don't deserve half the praise you give\nme,' said the virtuous thief, grimly.\n\" Well, I'll say this for Pennyways,' added Coggan,\n\"that whenever he do really make up his mind to do a\nnoble thing in the shape of a good action, as I could\nsee by his face he. did to-night afore sitting down, he's\ngenerally able to carry it out. Yes, I'm proud to say.\nneighbours, that he's stole nothing at all.\n\"Well,' -- 'tis an honest deed, and we thank ye for it,\nPennyways,' said Joseph; to which opinion the remainder\nof the company subscribed unanimously.\n At this time of departure, when nothing more was\nvisible of the inside of the parlour than a thin and still\nchink of light between the shutters, a passionate scene\nwas in eourse of enactment there.'\nMiss Everdene and Boldwood were alone. Her\ncheeks had lost a great deal of their healthful fire from\nthe very seriousness of her position ; but her eye was\nbright with the excitement of a triumph -- though it was\na triumph which had rather been contemplated than\ndesired.\nShe was standing behind a low arm-chair, from which\nshe had just risen, and he was kneeling in it -- inclining\nhimself over its back towards her, and holding her hand\nin both his own. His body moved restlessly, and it was\nwith what Keats daintily calls a too happy happiness.\nThis unwonted abstraction by love of all dignity from\na man of whom it had ever seemed the chief component,\nwas, in its distressing incongruity, a pain to her which\nquenched much of the pleasure she derived from the\nproof that she was idolized.\n\" I will try to love you,' she was saying, in a trembling\nvoice quite unlike her usual self-confidence. \" And if I\ncan believe in any way that I shall make you a good\nwife I shall indeed be willing to marry you. But, Mr.\nBoldwood, hesitation on so high a matter is honourable\nin any woman, and I don't want to give a solemn\npromise to-night. I would rather ask you to wait a few\nweeks till I can see my situation better.'\n\"But you have every reason to believe that then -- -- '\n'I have every reason to hope that at the end of the\nfive or\n \nsix weeks, between this time and harvest, that\nyou say you are going to be away from home, I shall be\nable to promise to be your wife,' she said, firmly. \"But\nremember this distinctly, I don't promise yet.'\n\"It is enough I don't ask more. I can wait on\nthose dear words. And now, Miss Everdene, good+\nnight!'\n\" Good-night,' she said, graciously -- almost tenderly;\nand Boldwood withdrew with a serene smile.\nBathsheba knew more of him now ; he had entirely\nbared his heart before her, even until he had almost\nworn in her eyes the sorry look of a grand bird without\nthe feathers that make it grand. She had been awe+\nstruck at her past temerity, and was struggling to make\namends without thinking whether the sin quite deserved\nthe penalty she was schooling herself to pay. To have\nbrought all this about her ears was terrible; but after a\nwhile the situation was not without a fearful joy. The\nfacility with which even the most timid woman some+\ntimes acquire a relish for the dreadful when that is\namalgamated with a little triumph, is marvellous.\n \nTHE SAME NIGHT -- THE FIR PLANTATION\nAMONG the multifarious duties which Bathsheba had\nvoluntarily imposed upon herself by dispensing with the\nservices of a bailiff, was the particular one of looking\nround the homestead before going to bed, to see that\nall was right and safe for the night. Gabriel had almost\nconstantly preceded her in this tour every evening,\nwatching her affairs as carefully as any specially appointed\nofficer of surveillance could have done; but this tender\ndevotion was to a great extent unknown to his mistress,\nand as much as was known was somewhat thanklessly\nreceived. Women are never tired of bewailing man's\nfickleness in love, but they only seem to snub his con+\nstancy.\nAs watching is best done invisibly, she usually carried\na dark lantern in her hand, and every now and then\nturned on the light to examine nooks and corners with\nthe coolness of a metropolitan policeman. This cool+\nness may have owed its existence not so much to her\nfearlessness of expected danger as to her freedom from\nthe suspicion of any; her worst anticipated discovery\nbeing that a horse might not be well bedded, the fowls\nnot all in, or a door not closed.\nThis night the buildings were inspected as usual,\nand she went round to the farm paddock. Here the\nonly sounds disturbing the stillness were steady munch+\nings of many mouths, and stentorian breathings from all\nbut invisible noses, ending in snores and puffs like the\nblowing of bellows slowly. Then the munching would\nrecommence, when the lively imagination might assist\nthe eye to discern a group of pink-white nostrils, shaped\nas caverns, and very clammy and humid on their sur+\nfaces, not exactly pleasant to the touch until one got\nused to them; the mouths beneath having a great\npartiality for closing upon any loose end of Bathsheba's\napparel which came within\n \nreach of their tongues.\nAbove each of these a still keener vision suggested a\nbrown forehead and two staring though not unfriendly\neyes, and above all a pair of whitish crescent-shaped\nhorns like two particularly new moons, an occasional\nstolid \" moo!' proclaiming beyond the shade of a doubt\nthat these phenomena were the features and persons of\nDaisy, Whitefoot, Bonny-lass, Jolly-O, Spot, Twinkle-eye,\netc., etc. -- the respectable dairy of Devon cows belonging\nto Bathsheba aforesaid.\nHer way back to the house was by a path through a\nyoung plantation of tapering firs, which had been planted\nsome years earlier to shelter the premises from the north\nwind. By reason of the density of the interwoven foliage\noverhead, it was gloomy there at cloudless noontide,\ntwilight in the evening, dark as midnight at dusk, and\nblack as the ninth plague of Egypt at midnight. To\ndescribe the spot is to call it a vast, low, naturally formed\nhall, the plumy ceiling of which was supported by slender\npillars of living wood, the floor being covered with a soft\ndun carpet of dead spikelets and mildewed cones, with\na tuft of grass-blades here and there.\nThis bit of the path was always the crux of the\nnight's ramble, though, before starting, her apprehen+\nsions of danger were not vivid enough to lead her to\ntake a companion. Slipping along here covertly as\nTime, Bathsheba fancied she could hear footsteps enter+\ning the track at the opposite end. It was certainly a\nrustle of footsteps. Her own instantly fell as gently as\nsnowflakes. She reassured herself by a remembrance\nthat the path was public, and that the traveller was\nprobably some villager returning home ; regetting, at\nthe same time, that the meeting should be about to\noccur in' the darkest point of her route, even though\nonly just outside her own door.\nThe noise approached, came close, and a figure was\napparently on the point of gliding past her when some+\nthing tugged at her skirt and pinned it forcibly to the\nground. The instantaneous check nearly threw Bath+\nsheba off her balance. In recovering she struck against\nwarm clothes and buttons.\n'A rum start, upon my soul!' said a masculine voice,\na foot or so above her head. 'Have I hurt you, mate?'\n\"No,' said Bathsheba, attempting to shrink a way.\n \n\" We have got hitched together somehow, I think.'\n\" Yes.'\n\"Are you a woman ?'\n'Yes.'\n\"A lady, I should have said.'\n\"It doesn't matter.'\n\"I am a man.'\n\"Oh!'\nBathsheba softly tugged again, but to no purpose.\n\"Is that a dark lantern you have ? I fancy so,' said\nthe man.\n'Yes.'\n\"If you'll allow me I'll open it, and set you free.'\nA hand seized the lantern, the door was opened, the\nrays burst out from their prison, and Bathsheba beheld\nher position with astonishment.\nThe man to whom she was hooked was brilliant in\nbrass and scarlet. He was a soldier. His sudden\nappearance was to darkness what the sound of a trumpet\nis to silense. Gloom, the genius loci at all times hitherto,\nwas now totally overthrown, less by the lantern-light\nthan by what the lantern lighted. The contrast of this\nrevelation with her anticipations of some sinister figure\nin sombre garb was so great that it had upon her the\neffect of a fairy transformation.\nIt was immediately apparent that the military man's\nspur had become entangled in the gimp which decorated\nthe skirt of her dress. He caught a view of her face.\n\"I'll unfasten you in one moment, miss,' he said,\nwith new-born gallantry.\n\" O no -- I can do it, thank you,' she hastily replied,\nand stooped for the performance.\nThe unfastening was not such a trifling affair. The\nrowel of the spur had so wound itself among the gimp\ncords in those few moments, that separation was likely\nto be a matter of time.\nHe too stooped, and the lantern standing on the\nground betwixt them threw the gleam from its open side\namong the fir-tree needles and the blades of long damp\ngrass with the effect of a large glowworm. It radiated\nupwards into their\n \nfaces, and sent over half the planta+\ntion gigantic shadows of both man and woman, each\ndusky shape becoming distorted and mangled upon the\ntree-trunks till it wasted to nothing.\nHe looked hard into her eyes when she raised them\nfor a moment; Bathsheba looked down again, for his\ngaze was too strong to be received point-blank with her\nown. But she had obliquely noticed that he was young\nand slim, and that he wore three chevrons upon his\nsleeve.\nBathsheba pulled again.\n\" You are a prisoner, miss; it is no use blinking the\nmatter,' said the soldier, drily. \" I must cut your dress\nif you are in such a hurry.'\n\" Yes -- please do!' she exclaimed, helplessly. '\n\"It wouldn't be necessary if you could wait a\nmoment;' and he unwound a cord from the little\nwheel. She withdrew her own hand, but, whether by\naccident or design, he touched it. Bathsheba was\nvexed; she hardly knew why.\nHis unravelling went on, but it nevertheless seemed\ncoming to no end. She looked at him again.\n'Thank you for the sight of such a beautiful face!'\nsaid the young sergeant, without ceremony.\nShe coloured with embarrassment. \"'Twas un+\nwillingly shown,' she replied, stiffly, and with as much\ndignity -- which was very little -- as she could infuse into\na position of captivity\n\"I like you the better for that incivility, miss,' he\nsaid.\n\" I should have liked -- I wish -- you had never shown\nyourself to me by intruding here!' She pulled again,\nand the gathers of her dress began to give way like\nliliputian musketry.\n\" I deserve the chastisement your words give me.\nBut why should such a fair and dutiful girl have such\nan aversion to her father's sex ? '\n\"Go on your way, please.'\n' What, Beauty, and drag you after me ? Do but\nlook; I never saw such a tangle!'\n'O, 'tis shameful of you ; you have been making\nit worse on purpose to keep me here -- you have ! '\n\"Indeed, I don't think so,' said the sergeant, with a\nmerry twinkle.\n \n\"I tell you you have!' she exclaimed, in high\ntemper. I insist upon undoing it. Now, allow me!'\n\"Certainly, miss; I am not of steel.' He added a\nsigh which had as much archness in it as a sigh could\npossess without losing its nature altogether. 'I am\nthankful for beauty, even when 'tis thrown to me like\na bone to a dog. These moments will be over too\nsoon!'\nShe closed her lips in a determined silence.\nBathsheba was revolving in her mind whether by a\nbold and desperate rush she could free herself at the\nrisk of leaving her skirt bodily behind her. The\nthought was too dreadful. The dress -- which she had\nput on to appear stately at the supper -- was the head\nand front of her wardrobe ; not another in her stock\nbecame her so well. What woman in Bathsheba's\nposition, not naturally timid, and within call of her\nretainers, would have bought escape from a dashing\nsoldier at so dear a price ?\n\"All in good time ; it will soon be done, I perceive,'\nsaid her cool friend.\n\" This trifling provokes, and -- and -- -- '\n\" Not too cruel!'\n\" -- Insults me.!'\n\"It is done in order that I may have the pleasure\nof apologizing to so charming a woman, which I\nstraightway do most humbly, madam,' he said, bowing\nlow.\nBathsheba really knew not what to say.\n\"I've seen a good many women in my time,\ncontinued the young man in a murmur, and more\nthoughtfully than hitherto, critically regarding her bent\nhead at the same time; \"but I've never seen a woman\nso beautiful as you. Take it or leave it -- be offended\nor like it -- I don't care.'\n\" Who are you, then, who can so well afford to\ndespise opinion ? '\n\" No stranger. Sergeant Troy. I am staying in\nthis place. -- There ! it is undone at last, you see.\nYour light fingers were more eager than mine. I wish it\nhad been the knot of knots, which there's no untying !. '\nThis was worse and worse. She started up, and so\ndid he.\n \nHow to decently get away from him -- that\nwas her difficulty now. She sidled off inch by inch,\nthe lantern in her hand, till she could see the redness\nof his coat no longer.\n\" Ah, Beauty ; good-bye !. ' he said.\nShe made no reply, and, reaching a distance of\ntwenty or thirty yards, turned about, and ran indoors.\nLiddy had just retired to rest. In ascending to her\nown chamber, Bathsheba opened the girl's door an\ninch or two, and, panting, said --\n\" Liddy, is any soldier staying in the village --\nsergeant somebody -- rather gentlemanly for a sergeant,\nand good looking -- a red coat with blue facings ?'\n'No, miss ... No, I say; but really it might be\nSergeant Troy home on furlough, though I have not\nseen him. He was here once in that way when the\nregiment was at Casterbridge.'\n\" Yes; that's the name. Had he a moustache -- no\nwhiskers or beard ?'\n\" He had.'\n\" What kind of a person is he ?'\n\"O ! miss -- I blush to name it -- a gay man! But\nI know him to be very quick and trim, who might have\nmade his thousands, like a squire. Such a clever\nyoung dand as he is! He's a doctor's son by name,\nwhich is a great deal; and he's an earl's son by\nnature!'\n\" Which is a great deal more. Fancy! Is it true ? '\n\" Yes. And, he was brought up so well, and sent to\nCasterbridge Grammar School for years and years.\nLearnt all languages while he was there ; and it was\nsaid he got on so far that he could take down Chinese\nin shorthand ; but that I don't answer for, as it was\nonly reported. However, he wasted his gifted lot,\nand listed a soldier; but even then he rose to be a\nsergeant without trying at all. Ah! such a blessing it\nis to be high-born ; nobility of blood will shine out even\nin the ranks and files. And is he really come home,\nmiss ?\"\n' I believe so. Good-night, Liddy.'\nAfter all, how could a cheerful wearer of skirts\nbe permanently offended with the man ? There are\noccasions when girls like Bathsheba will put up with\na great deal of\n \nunconventional behaviour. When they\nwant to be praised, which is often, when they want to\nbe mastered, which is sometimes ; and when they want\nno nonsense, which is seldom. Just now the first\nfeeling was in the ascendant with Bathsheba, with a dash\nof the second. Moreover, by chance or by devilry, the\nministrant was antecedently made interesting by being\na handsome stranger who had evidently seen better\ndays.\nSo she could not clearly decide whether it was her\nopinion that he had insulted her or not. '\n\"Was ever anything so odd! ' she at last exclaimed\nto herself, in her own room. \"And was ever anything\nso meanly done as what I did to to sulk away like that\nfrom a man who was only civil and kind!' Clearly she\ndid not think his barefaced praise of her person an\ninsult now.\nIt was a fatal omission of Boldwood's that he had\nnever once told her she was beautiful.\n \nTHE NEW ACQUAINTANCE DESCRIBED\nIDIOSYNCRASY and vicissitude had combined to\nstamp Sergeant Troy as an exceptional being.\nHe was a man to whom memories were an in+\ncumbrance, and anticipations a superfluity. Simply\nfeeling, considering, and caring for what was before his\neyes, he was vulnerable only in the present. His out+\nlook upon time was as a transient flash of the eye now\nand then : that projection of consciousness into days\ngone by and to come, which makes the past a synonym\nfor the pathetic and the future a word for circum+\nspection, was foreign to Troy. With him the past\nwas yesterday ; the future, to-morrow ; never, the day\nafter.\nOn this account he might, in certain lights, have\nbeen regarded as one of the most fortunate of his\norder. For it may be argued with great plausibility\nthat reminiscence is less an endowment than a disease,\nand that expectation in its only comfortable form -- that\nof absolute faith -- is practically an impossibility; whilst\nin the form of hope and the secondary compounds,\npatience, impatience, resolve, curiosity, it is a constant\nfluctuation between pleasure and pain.\nSergeant Troy, being entirely innocent of the\npractice of expectation, was never disappointed. To\nset against this negative gain there may have been\nsome positive losses from a certain narrowing of the\nhigher tastes and sensations which it entailed. But\nlimitation of the capacity is never recognized as a loss\nby the loser therefrom : in this attribute moral or\naesthetic poverty contrasts plausibly with material, since\nthose who suffer do not mind it, whilst those who mind\nit soon cease to suffer. It is not a denial of anything\nto have been always without it, and what Troy had\nnever enjoyed he did not miss; but, being fully\nconscious that what sober\n \npeople missed he enjoyed,\nhis capacity, though really less, seemed greater than\ntheirs.\nHe was moderately truthful towards men, but to\nwomen lied like a Cretan -- a system of ethics above all\nothers calculated to win popularity at the first flush of\nadmission into lively society ; and the possibility of the\nfavour gained being transitory had reference only to\nthe future.\nHe never passed the line which divides the spruce\nvices from the ugly ; and hence, though his morals had\nhardly been applauded, disapproval of them\" had fre+\nquently been tempered with a smile. This treatment\nhad led to his becoming a sort of regrater of other\nmen's gallantries, to his own aggrandizement as a\nCorinthian, rather than to the moral profit of his\nhearers.\nHis reason and his propensities had seldom any\nreciprocating influence, having separated by mutual\nconsent long ago : thence it sometimes happened that,\nwhile his intentions were as honourable as could be\nwished, any particular deed formed a dark background\nwhich threw them into fine relief. The sergeant's\nvicious phases being the offspring of impulse, and\nhis virtuous phases of cool meditation, the latter\nhad a modest tendency to be oftener heard of than\nseen.\nTroy was full of activity, but his activities were less of\na locomotive than a vegetative nature ; and, never being\nbased upon any original choice of foundation or direc+\ntion, they were exercised on whatever object chance\nmight place in their way. Hence, whilst he sometimes\nreached the brilliant in speech because that -was\nspontaneous, he fell below the commonplace in action,\nfrom inability to guide incipient effort. He had a\nquick comprehension and considerable force of char+\nacter ; but, being without the power to combine them,\nthe comprehension became engaged with trivialities\nwhilst waiting for the will to direct it, and the force\nwasted itself in useless grooves through unheeding the\ncomprehension.\nHe was a fairly well-educated man for one of middle\nclass -- exceptionally well educated for a common soldier.\nHe spoke fluently and unceasingly. He could in this\nway be one thing and seem another : for instance, he\ncould speak of love and\n \nthink of dinner; call on the\nintend to owe.\nThe wondrous power of flattery in passados at woman\nis a perception so universal as to be remarked upon by\nmany people almost as automatically as they repeat a\nproverb, or say that they are Christians and the like,\nwithout thinking much of the enormous corollaries\nwhich spring from the proposition. Still less is it acted\nupon for the good of the complemental being alluded\nto. With the majority such an opinion is shelved with\nall those trite aphorisms which require some catastrophe\nto bring their tremendous meanings thoroughly home.\nWhen expressed with some amount of reflectiveness it\nseems co-ordinate with a belief that this flattery must\nbe reasonable to be effective. It is to the credit of\nmen that few attempt to settle the question by experi+\nment, and it is for their happiness, perhaps, that accident\nhas never settled it for them. Nevertheless, that a\nmale dissembler who by deluging her with untenable\nfictions charms the female wisely, may acquire powers\nreaching to the extremity of perdition, is a truth taught\nto many by unsought and wringing occurrences. And\nsome profess to have attained to the same knowledge\nby experiment as aforesaid, and jauntily continue their\nindulgence in such experiments with terrible effect.\nSergeant Troy was one.\nHe had been known to observe casually that in\ndealing with womankind the only alternative to flattery\nwas cursing and swearing. There was no third method.\n\" Treat them fairly, and you are a lost man,' he would\nsay.\nThis philosopher's public appearance in Weatherbury\npromptly followed his arrival there. A week or two\nafter the shearing, Bathsheba, feeling a nameless relief\nof spirits on account of Boldwood's absence, approached\nher hayfields and looked over the hedge towards the\nhaymakers. They consisted in about equal proportions\nof gnarled and flexuous forms, the former being the\nmen, the latter the women, who wore tilt bonnets\ncovered with nankeen, which hung in a curtain upon\ntheir shoulders. Coggan and Mark Clark were mowing\nin a less forward meadow, Clark humming a tune to\nthe strokes of his\n \nscythe, to which Jan made no attempt\nto keep time with his. In the first mead they were\nalready loading hay, the women raking it into cocks\nand windrows, and the men tossing it upon the\nwaggon.\nFrom behind the waggon a bright scarlet spot\nemerged, and went on loading unconcernedly with the\nrest. It was the gallant sergeant, who had come hay+\nmaking for pleasure ; and nobody could deny that he\nwas doing the mistress of the farm real knight-service\nby this voluntary contribution of his labour at a busy\ntime.\nAs soon as she had entered the field Troy saw her,\nand sticking his pitchfork into the ground and picking\nup his crop or cane, he came forward. Bathsheba\nblushed with half-angry embarrassment, and adjusted\nher eyes as well as her feet to the direct line of her\npath.\n \nSCENE ON THE VERGE OF THE HAY-MEAD\n'AH, Miss Everdene!' said the sergeant, touching his\ndiminutive cap. \"Little did I think it was you I was\nspeaking to the other night. And yet, if I had reflected,\nthe \"Queen of the Corn-market\" (truth is truth at any\nhour of the day or night, and I heard you so named in\nCasterbridge yesterday), the \"Queen of the Corn-market,''\nI say, could be no other woman. I step across now to\nbeg your forgiveness a thousand times for having been\nled by my feelings to express myself too strongly for a\nstranger. To be sure I am no stranger to the place --\nI am Sergeant Troy, as I told you, and I have assisted\nyour uncle in these fields no end of times when I was a\nlad. I have been doing the same for you today.'\n\"I suppose I must thank you for that, Sergeant\nTroy,' said the Queen of the Corn-market, in an in+\ndifferently grateful tone.\nThe sergeant looked hurt and sad. \"Indeed you\nmust not, Miss Everdene,' he said. \" Why could you\nthink such a thing necessary ? '\n\"I am glad it is not.'\n\" Why ? if I may ask without offence.'\n\" Because I don't much want to thank you for any\"\nthing.'\n\"I am afraid I have made a hole with my tongue\nthat my heart will never mend. O these intolerable\ntimes: that ill-luck should follow a man for honestly\ntelling a woman she is beautiful.! 'Twas the most I\nsaid -- you must own that; and the least I could say --\nthat I own myself.'\n'There is some talk I could do without more easily\nthan money.'\n\"Indeed. That remark is a sort of digression.'\n\" No. It means that I would rather have your room\nthan your company.'\n \n\"And I would rather have curses from you than\nkisses from any other woman ; so I'll stay here.'\nBathsheba was absolutely speechless. And yet she\ncould not help feeling that the assistance he was render+\ning forbade a harsh repulse.\n\" Well,' continued Troy, \"I suppose there is a praise\nwhich is rudeness, and that may be mine. At the\nsame time there is a treatment which is injustice, and\nthat may be yours. Because a plain blunt man, who\nhas never been taught concealment, speaks out his\nmind without exactly intending it, he's to be snapped\noff like the son of a sinner.'\n\"Indeed there's no such case between us,' she said,\nturning away. \"I don't allow strangers to be bold and\nimpudent -- even in praise of me.'\n\" Ah -- it is not the fact but the method which offends\nyou,' he said, carelessly. \"But I have the sad satis+\nfaction of knowing that my words, whether pleasing or\noffensive, are unmistakably true. Would you have had\nme look at you, and tell my acquaintance that you are\nquite a common-place woman, to save you the embar+\nrassment of being stared at if they come near you ?\nNot I. I couldn't tell any such ridiculous lie about\na beauty to encourage a single woman in England in\ntoo excessive a modesty.'\n\"It is all pretence -- what you are saying!' exclaimed\nBathsheba, laughing in spite of herself at the sergeant's\nsly method. \" You have a rare invention, Sergeant\nTroy. Why couldn't you have passed by me that\nnight, and said nothing ? -- that was all I meant to\nreproach you for.'\n\"Because I wasn't going to. Half the pleasure of\na feeling lies in being able to express it on the spur of\nthe moment, and I let out mine. It would have been\njust the same if you had been the reverse person -- ugly\nand old -- I should have exclaimed about it in the same\nway. '\n\" How long is it since you have been so afflicted with\nstrong feeling, then ? '\n\" Oh, ever since I was big enough to know loveliness\nfrom deformity.'\n \n\"'Tis to be hoped your sense of the difference you\nspeak of doesn't stop at faces, but extends to morals as\nwell. '\n'I won't speak of morals or religion -- my own or\nanybody else's. Though perhaps I should have been a\nvery good Christian if you pretty women hadn't made\nme an idolater.'\nBathsheba moved on to hide the irrepressible dimp+\nlings of merriment. Troy followed, whirling his crop.\n'But -- Miss Everdene -- you do forgive me ? '\n\" Hardly. '\n\"Why ?'\n\" You say such things.'\n\"I said you were beautiful, and I'll say so still; for,\nby -- so you are !. The most beautiful ever I saw, or\nmay I fall dead this instant! Why, upon my -- -- '\n\" Don't -- don't! I won't listen to you -- you are so\nprofane!' she said, in a restless state between distress\nat hearing him and a penchant to hear more.\n\"I again say you are a most fascinating woman.\nThere's nothing remarkable in my saying so, is there?\nI'm sure the fact is evident enough. Miss Everdene,\nmy opinion may be too forcibly let out to please you,\nand, for the matter of that, too insignificant to convince\nyou, but surely it is honest, and why can't it be ex+\ncused? '\n\"Because it -- it isn't a correct one,' she femininely\nmurmured.\n\" 0, fie -- fie-! Am I any worse for breaking the\nthird of that Terrible Ten than you for breaking the\nninth ?\"\n\"Well, it doesn't seem quite true to me that I am\nfascinating,' she replied evasively.\n' Not so to you : then I say with all respect that, if\nso, it is owing to your modesty, Miss Everdene. But\nsurely you must have been told by everybody of what\neverybody notices ? and you should take their words\nfor it.'\n\" They don't say so exactly.'\n\" O yes, they must!'\n\"Well, I mean to my face, as you do,' she went on,\nallowing\n \nherself to be further lured into a conversation\nthat intention had rigorously forbidden.\n\"But you know they think so ?'\n\"No -- that is -- I certainly have heard Liddy say\nthey do, but -- -- ' She paused.\nCapitulation -- that was the purport of the simple\nreply, guarded as it was -- capitulation, unknown to her+\nself. Never did a fragile tailless sentence convey a\nmore perfect meaning. The careless sergeant smiled\nwithin himself, and probably too the devil smiled from\na loop-hole in Tophet, for the moment was the turning+\npoint of a career. Her tone and mien signified beyond\nmistake that the seed which was to lift the foundation\nhad taken root in the chink : the remainder was a mere\nquestion of time and natural changes.\n\"There the truth comes out ! ' said the soldier, in\nreply. \"Never tell me that a young lady can live in a\nbuzz of admiration without knowing something about it.\nAh,' well, Miss Everdene, you are -- pardon my blunt\nway -- you are rather an injury to our race than other+\nwise.\n\" How -- indeed ? ' she said, opening her eyes.\n\"O, it is true enough. I may as well be hung for\na sheep as a lamb (an old country saying, not of much\naccount, but it will do for a rough soldier), and so I\nwill speak my mind, regardless of your pleasure, and\nwithout hoping or intending to get your pardon. Why,\nMiss Everdene, it is in this manner that your good\nlooks may do more. harm than good in the world.'\nThe sergeant looked down the mead in critical abstrac+\nion. \" Probably some one man on an average falls in'\nlove, with each ordinary woman. She can marry him :\nhe is content, and leads a useful life. Such women as\nyou a hundred men always covet -- your eyes will be+\nwitch scores on scores into an unavailing fancy for you\nyou can only marry one of that many. Out of these\nsay twenty will endeavour to. drown the bitterness of\nespised love in drink ; twenty more will mope away\ntheir lives without a wish or attempt to make a mark in\nhe world, because they have no ambition apart from\ntheir attachment to you ; twenty more -- the susceptible\nperson\n \nmyself possibly among them -- will be always\ndraggling after you, getting where they may just see\nyou, doing desperate things. Men are such constant\nfools! The rest may try to get over their passion with\nmore or less success. But all these men will be\nsaddened. And not only those ninety-nine men, but\nthe ninety-nine women they might have married are\nsaddened with them. There's my tale. That's why I\nsay that a woman so charming as yourself, Miss Ever+\ndene, is hardly a blessing to her race.'\nThe handsome sergeant's features were during this\nspeech as rigid and stern as John Knox's in addressing\nhis gay young queen.\nSeeing she made no reply, he said, \"Do you read\nFrench ? '\n\"No; I began, but when I got to the verbs, father\ndied,' she said simply.\n'I do -- -when I have an opportunity, which latterly\nhas not been often (my mother was a Parisienne) -- -and\nthere's a proverb they have, Qui aime bien chatie bien\n -- \"He chastens who loves well.\" Do you understand\nme?\n'Ah!' she replied, and there was even a little tremu+\nlousness in the usually cool girl's voice; 'if you can\nonly fight half as winningly as you can talk, you are\nable to make a pleasure of a bayonet wound!' And\nthen poor Bathsheba instanly perceived her slip in\nmaking this admission: in hastily trying to retrieve it,\nshe went from bad to worse. 'Don't, however, suppose\nthat I derive any pleasure from what you tell me.'\n'I know you do not -- -I know it perfectly,' said Troy,\nwith much hearty conviction on the exterior of his face:\nand altering the expression to moodiness; 'when a\ndozen men arfe ready to speak tenderly to you, and\ngive the admiration you deserve without adding the\nwarning you need, it stands to reason that my poor\nrough-and-ready mixture of praise and blame cannot\nconvey much pleasure. Fool as I may be, I am not so\nconceited as to suppose that!'\n'I think you -- -are conceited, nevertheless,' said\nBathsheba, looking askance at a reed she was fitfully\npulling with one hand, having lately grown feverish\nunder the soldier's\n \nsystem of procedure -- not because\nthe nature of his cajolery was entirely unperceived, but\nbecause its vigour was overwelming.\n'I would not own it to anybody esle -- nor do I\nexactly to you. Still, there might have been some self+\nconceit in my foolish supposition the other night. I\nknew that what I said in admiration might be an\nopinion too often forced upon you to give any pleasure\nbut I certainly did think that the kindness of your\nnature might prevent you judging an uncontrolled\ntongue harshly -- which you have done -- and thinking\nbadly of me and wounding me this morning, when I\nam working hard to save your hay.'\n'Well, you need not think more of that: perhaps you\ndid not mean to be rude to me by speaking out your\nmind: indeed, I believe you did not,' said the shrewd\nwoman, in painfully innocent earnest. 'And I thank\nyou for giving help here. But -- -but mind you don't\nspeak to me again in that way, or in any other, unless\nI speak to you.'\n'O, Miss Bathsheba! That is to hard!'\n'No, it isn't. Why is it?'\n'You will never speak to me; for I shall not be\nhere long. I am soon going back again to the miser+\nable monotony of drill -- and perhaps our regiment will\nbe ordered out soon. And yet you take away the one\nlittle ewe-lamb of plaesure that I have in this dull life\nof mine. Well, perhaps generosity is not a woman's\nmost marked characteristic.'\n'When are you going from here?' she asked, with\nsome interest.\n'In a month.'\n'But how can it give you pleasure to speak to me?'\n'Can you ask Miss Everdene -- knowing as you do\n -- what my offence is based on?'\n'I you do care so much for a silly trifle of that\nkind, then, I don't mind doing it,' she uncertainly and\ndoubtingly answered. 'But you can't really care for a\nword from me? you only say so -- I think you only\nsay so.'\n'that's unjust -- but I won't repeat the remark. I\nam too\n \ngratified to get such a mark of your friendship\nat any price to cavil at the tone. I do Miss Everdene,\ncare for it. You may think a man foolish to want a\nmere word -- just a good morning. Perhaps he is -- I\ndon't know. But you have never been a man looking\nupon a woman, and that woman yourself.'\n\" Well.'\n\" Then you know nothing of what such an experience\nis like -- and Heaven forbid that you ever should!'\n\"Nonsense, flatterer! What is it like? I am\ninterested in knowing.\"\n\"Put shortly, it is not being able to think, hear, or\nlook in any direction except one without wretchedness,\nnor there without torture.'\n\" Ah, sergeant, it won't do -- you are pretending ! ' she\nsaid, shaking her head. ' Your words are too dashing\nto be true.'\n\"I am not, upon the honour of a soldier'\n\"But why is it so? -- Of course I ask for mere pas+\ntime.'\n\" Because you are so distracting -- and I am so\ndistracted. '\n\" You look like it.'\n\" I am indeed.'\n\" Why, you only saw me the other night!'\n\" That makes no difference. The lightning works in+\nstantaneously. I loved you then, at once -- as I do now.'\nBathsheba surveyed him curiously, from the feet\nupward, as high as she liked to venture her glance,\nwhich was not quite so high as his eyes.\n\" You cannot and you don\"t,' she said demurely.\n\"There is-no such sudden feeling in people. I won't\nlisten to you any longer. Hear me, I wish I knew what\no'clock it is -- I am going -- I have wasted too much time\nhere already!\"\nThe sergeant looked at his watch and told her.\n\" What, haven't you a watch, miss?' he inquired.\n\"I have not just at present -- I am about to get a\nnew one.'\n\"No. You shall be given one. Yes -- you shall.\nA gift, Miss Everdene -- a gift.\"\nAnd before she knew what the young -- man was\nintending, a heavy gold watch was in her hand.\n \n\"It is an unusually good one for a man like me to\npossess,' he quietly said. \"That watch has a history.\nPress the spring and open the back.'\nShe did so.\n'What do you see?'\n'A crest and a motto.'\n\" A coronet with five points, and beneath, Cedit amor\nrebus -- \"Love yields to circumstance.\" It's the motto\nof the Earls of Severn. That watch belonged to the\nlast lord, and was given to my mother's husband, a\nmedical man, for his use till I came of age, when it was\nto be given to me. It was all the fortune that ever I\ninherited. That watch has regulated imperial interests\nin its time -- the stately ceremonial, the courtly assigna+\ntion, pompous travels, and lordly sleeps. Now it is\nyours.\n\" But, Sergeant Troy, I cannot take this -- I cannot ! '\nshe exclaimed, with round-eyed wonder. \" A gold watch !\nWhat are you doing? Don't be such a dissembler!\"\nThe sergeant retreated to avoid receiving back his\ngift, which she held out persistently towards him.\nBathsheba followed as he retired.\n\"Keep it -- do, Miss Everdene -- keep it !' said the\nerratic child of impulse. \" The fact of your possessing\nit makes it worth ten times as much to me. A more\nplebeian one will answer my purpose just as well, and\nthe pleasure of knowing whose heart my old one beats\nagainst -- well, I won't speak of that. It is in far\nworthier hands than ever it has been in before.'\n\"But indeed I can't have it!' she said, in a perfect\nsimmer of distress. \" O, how can you do such a thing ;\nthat is if you really mean it! Give me your dead\nfather's watch, and such a valuable one! You should\nnot be so reckless, indeed, Sergeant Troy!'\n\"I loved my father: good; but better, I love you\nmore. That's how I can do it,' said the sergeant, with\nan intonation of such exquisite fidelity to nature that it.\nwas evidently not all acted now. Her beauty, which,\nwhilst it had been quiescent, he had praised in jest,\nhad in its animated phases moved him to\n \nearnest; and\nthough his seriousness was less than she imagined, it\nwas probably more than he imagined himself.\nBathsheba was brimming with agitated bewilderment,\nand she said, in half-suspicious accents of feeling, \"Can\nit be! 0, how can it be, that you care for me, and\nso suddenly,! You have seen so little of me: I may\nnot be really so -- so nice-looking as I seem to you.\nPlease, do take it ; O, do! I cannot and will not have\nit. Believe me, your generosity is too great. I have\nnever done you a single kindness, and why should you\nbe so kind to me?'\nA factitious reply had been again upon his lips, but\nit was again suspended, and he looked at her with an\narrested eye. The truth was, that as she now stood --\nexcited, wild, and honest as the day -- her alluring\nbeauty bore out so fully the epithets he had bestowed\nupon it that he was quite startled at his temerity in\nadvancing them as false. He said mechanically, \"Ah,\nwhy ?' and continued to look at her.\n\"And my workfolk see me following you about the\nfield, and are wondering. O, this is dreadful!' she\nwent on, unconscious of the transmutation she was\neffecting.\n\"I did not quite mean you to accept it at first, for it\nas my one poor patent of nobility,' he broke out,\nbluntly; \"but, upon my soul, I wish you would now.\nWithout any shamming, come! Don't deny me the\nhappiness of wearing it for my sake ? But you are too\nlovely even to care to be kind as others are.'\n\" No, no ; don\"t say so !. I have reasons for reserve\nwhich I cannot explain.'\n\" bet it be, then, let it be,' he said, receiving back\nthe watch at last; \"I must be leaving you now. And\nwill you speak to me for these few weeks of my stay ? '\n'Indeed I will. Yet, I don't know if I will! O,\nwhy did you come and disturb me so !'\n\"Perhaps in setting a gin, I have caught myself.\nSuch things have happened. Well, will you let me\nwork in your fields ? ' he coaxed.\n\" Yes, I suppose so ; if it is any pleasure to you.'\n\" Miss Everdene, I thank you.\n\" No, no.'\n \n'Good-bye!'\nThe sergeant brought his hand to the cap on the\nslope of his head, saluted, and returned to the distant\ngroup of haymakers.\nBathsheba could not face the haymakers now. Her\nheart erratically flitting hither and thither from per+\nplexed excitement, hot, and almost tearful, she retreated\nhomeward, murmuring, O, what have I done ! What\ndoes it mean ! I wish I knew how much of it was\ntrue!\n \nHIVING THE BEES\nTHE Weatherbury bees were late in their swarming this\nyear. It was in the latter part of June, and the day after\nthe interview with Troy in the hayfield, that Bathsheba\nwas standing in her garden, watching a swarm in the\nair and guessing their probable settling place. Not only\nwere they late this year, but unruly. Sometimes through+\nout a whole season all the swarms would alight on the\nlowest attainable bough -- such as part of a currant-bush\nor espalier apple-tree ; next year they would, with just\nthe same unanimity, make straight off to the uppermost\nmember of some tall, gaunt costard, or quarrenden,\nand there defy all invaders who did not come armed\nwith ladders and staves to take them.\nThis was the case at present. Bathsheba's eyes,\nshaded by one hand, were following the ascending\nmultitude against the unexplorable stretch of blue till\nthey ultimately halted by one of the unwieldy trees\nspoken of. A process somewhat analogous to that of\nalleged formations of the universe, time and times ago,\nwas observable. The bustling swarm had swept the sky\nin a scattered and uniform haze, which now thickened to\na nebulous centre: this glided on to a bough and grew\nstill denser, till it formed a solid black spot upon the\nlight.\nThe men and women being all busily engaged in\nsaving the hay -- even Liddy had left the house for the\npurpose of lending a hand -- Bathsheba resolved to hive\nthe bees herself, if possible. She had dressed the hive\nwith herbs and honey, fetched a ladder, brush, and\ncrook, made herself impregnable with armour of leather\ngloves, straw hat, and large gauze veil -- once green but\nnow faded to snuff colour -- and ascended a dozen rungs\nof the ladder. At once she heard, not ten yards off,\na voice that was beginning to have a strange power in\nagitating her.\n \n\"Miss Everdene, let me assist you ; you should not\nattempt such a thing alone.'\nTroy was just opening the garden gate.\nBathsheba flung down the brush, crook, and empty\nhive, pulled the skirt of her dress tightly round her\nankles in a tremendous flurry, and as well as she could\nslid down the ladder. By the time she reached the\nbottom Troy was there also, and he stooped to pick\nup the hive.\n\"How fortunate I am to have dropped in at this\nmoment!' exclaimed the sergeant.\nShe found her voice in a minute. \"What! and will\nyou shake them in for me?' she asked, in what, for a\ndefiant girl, was a faltering way; though, for a timid\ngirl, it would have seemed a brave way enough.\n\" Will I ! ' said Troy. \" Why, of course I will. How\nblooming you are to-day ! ' Troy flung down his cane\nand put his foot on the ladder to ascend.\n\"But you must have on the veil and gloves, or you'll\nbe stung fearfully!'\n\"Ah, yes. I must put on the veil and gloves. Will\nyou kindly show me how to fix them properly?'\n'And you must have the broad-brimmed hat, too ;, for\nyour cap has no brim to keep the veil off, and they'd\nreach your face.'\n\" The broad-brimmed hat, too, by all means.'\nSo a whimsical fate ordered that her hat should be\ntaken off -- veil and all attached -- and placed upon his\nhead, Troy tossing his own into a gooseberry bush.\nThen the veil had to be tied at its lower edge round\nhis collar and the gloves put on him.\nHe looked such an extraordinary object in this guise\nthat, flurried as she was, she could not avoid laughing\noutright. It was the removal of yet another stake from\nthe palisade of cold manners which had kept him off\nBathsheba looked on from the g:-ound whilst he was\nbusy sweeping and shaking the bees from the tree,\nholding up the hive with the other hand for them to\nfall into. She made use of an unobserved minute\nwhilst his attention was absorbed in the\n \noperation to\narrange her plumes a little. He came down holding\nthe hive at arm's length, behind which trailed a cloud\nof bees.\n' Upon my life,' said Troy, through the veil, ' holding\nup this hive makes one\"s arm ache worse than a week\nof sword-exercise.' When the manoeuvre was complete\nhe approached her. 'Would you be good enough to\nuntie me and let me out? I am nearly stifled inside\nthis silk cage.'\nTo hide her embarrassment during the unwonted\nprocess of untying the string about his neck, she said : --\n'I have never seen that you spoke of.'\n'What ?'\n'The sword-exercise.'\n'Ah ! would you like to ?' said Troy.\nBathsheba hesitated. She had heard wondrous\nreports from time to time by dwellers in Weatherbury,\nwho had by chance sojourned awhile in Casterbridge,\nnear the barracks, of this strange and glorious perform+\nance, tlie sword-exercise. Men and boys who had\npeeped through chinks or over walls into the barrack+\nyard returned with accounts of its being the most\nflashing affair conceivable ; accoutrements and weapons\nglistening like stars-here,there,around-yet all by rule\nand compass. So she said mildly what she felt strongly.\n'Yes ; I should like to see it very much.'\n'And so you shall; you shall see me go through it.'\n'No! How?'\n'Let me consider.'\n'Not with a walking-stick -- I don't care to see that.\nlt must be a real sword.'\n'Yes, I know; and I have no sword here; but I\nthink I could get one by the evening. Now, will you\ndo this?'\n'O no, indeed !' said Bathsheba, blushing. ' Thank\nyou very much, but I couldn't on any account.\n'Surely you might? Nobody would know.'\nShe shook her head, but with a weakened negation.\n' If I were to,' she said, 'I must bring Liddy too. Might\nI not?'\n \nTroy looked far away. 'I don't see why you want\nto bring her,' he said coldly.\nAn unconscious look of assent in Bathsheba's eyes\nbetrayed that something more than his coldness had\nmade her also feel that Liddy Would be superfluous in\nthe suggested scene. She had felt it, even whilst making\nthe proposal.\n'Well, I won't bring Liddy -- and I'll come. But\nonly for a very short time,' she added; 'a very short\ntime.'\n'It will not take five minutes,' said Troy.\n \n \ncentre, the sky overhead was\nmet by a circular horizon of fern : this grew nearly to\nthe bottom of the slope and then abruptly ceased. The\nmiddle within the belt of verdure was floored with a\nthick flossy carpet of moss and grass intermingled, so\nyielding that the foot was half-buried within it.\n'Now,' said 'Troy, producing the sword, which, as he\nraised it into the sunlight, gleamed a sort of greeting,\nlike a living thing, 'first, we have four right and four\nleft cuts; four right and four left thrusts. Infantry cuts\nand guards are more interesting than ours, to my mind;\nbut they are not so swashing. They have seven cuts\nand three thrusts. So much as a preliminary. Well,\nnext, our cut one is as if you were sowing your corn --\nso.' Bathsheba saw a sort of rainbow, upside down in\nthe air, and Troy's arm was still again. 'Cut two, as if\nyou were hedging -- so. Three, as if you were reaping\n -- so.' Four, as if you were threshing -- in that way.\n'Then the same on the left. The thrusts are these : one,\ntwo, three, four, right ; one, two, three, four, left.' He\nrepeated them. 'Have 'em again ?' he said. 'One,\ntwo -- -- '\nShe hurriedly interrupted : 'I'd rather not; though\nI don't mind your twos and fours; but your ones and\nthrees are terrible !'\n'Very well. I'll let you off the ones and threes.\nNext, cuts, points and guards altogether.' Troy duly\nexhibited them. 'Then there's pursuing practice, in\nthis way.' He gave the movements as before. 'There,\nthose are the stereotyped forms. The infantry have\ntwo most diabolical upward cuts, which we are too\nhumane to use. Like this -- three, four.'\n'How murderous and bloodthirsty !'\n'They are rather deathy. Now I'll be more inter+\nesting, and let you see some loose play -- giving all the\ncuts and points, infantry and cavalry, quicker than\nlightning, and as promiscuously -- with just enough rule\nto regulate instinct and yet not to fetter it. You are\nmy antagonist, with this difference from real warfare,\nthat I shall miss you every time by one hair's breadth,\nor perhaps two. Mind you don't flinch, whatever you\ndo.'\n \n'I'll be sure not to!' she said invincibly.\nHe pointed to about a yard in front of him.\nBathsheba's adventurous spirit was beginning to find\nsome grains of relish in these highly novel proceedings.\nShe took up her position as directed, facing Troy.\n'Now just to learn whether you have pluck enough\nto let me do what I wish, I'll give you a preliminary\ntest.'\nHe flourished the sword by way of introduction\nnumber two, and the next thing of which she was\nconscious was that the point and blade of the sword\nwere darting with a gleam towards her left side, just\nabove her hip; then of their reappearance on her right\nside, emerging as it were from between her ribs, having\napparently passed through her body. The third item\nof consciousness was that of seeing the same sword,\nperfectly clean and free from blood held vertically in\nTroy's hand (in the position technically called 'recover\nswords'). All was as quick as electricity.\n'Oh!' she cried out in affright, pressing her hand to\nher side. ' Have you run me through ? -- no, you have\nnot! Whatever have you done!'\n'I have not touched you,' said Troy, quietly. 'It\nwas mere sleight of hand. The sword passed behind\nyou. Now you are not afraid, are you ? Because if\nyou are l can't perform. I give my word that l will\nnot only not hurt you, but not once touch you.'\n'I don't think I am afraid. You are quite sure you\nwill not hurt me ?'\n'Quite sure.'\n\"Is the sWord very sharp ?'\n'O no -- only stand as still as a statue. Now !'\nIn an instant the atmosphere was transformed to\nBathsheba's eyes. Beams of light caught from the low\nsun's rays, above, around, in front of her, well-nigh shut\nout earth and heaven -- all emitted in the marvellous\nevolutions of Troy's reflecting blade, which seemed\neverywhere at once, and yet nowherre specially. These\ncircling gleams were accompanied by a keen rush that\nwas almost a whistling -- also springing\n \nfrom all sides of\nher at once. In short, she was enclosed in a firmament\nof light, and of sharp hisses, resembling a sky-full of\nmeteors close at hand.\nNever since the broadsword became the national\nweapon had there been more dexterity shown in its\nmanagement than by the hands of Sergeant Troy, and\nnever had he been in such splendid temper for the\nperformance as now in the evening sunshine among the\nferns with Bathsheba. It may safely be asserted with\nrespect to the closeness of his cuts, that had it been\npossible for the edge of the sword to leave in the air a\npermanent substance wherever it flew past, the space\nleft untouched would have been almost a mould of\nBathsheba's figure.\nBehind the luminous streams of this aurora militaris,\nshe could see the hue of Troy's sword arm, spread in a\nscarlet haze over the space covered by its motions, like\na twanged harpstring, and behind all Troy himself,\nmostly facing her; sometimes, to show the rear cuts,\nhalf turned away, his eye nevertheless always keenly\nmeasuring her breadth and outline, and his lips tightly\nclosed in sustained effort. Next, his movements lapsed\nslower, and she could see them individually. The\nhissing of the sword had ceased, and he stopped\nentirely.\n'That outer loose lock of hair wants tidying, he\nsaid, before she had moved or spoken. 'Wait: I'll do\nit for you.'\nAn arc of silver shone on her right side: the sword\nhad descended. The lock droped to the ground.\n'Bravely borne!' said Troy. 'You didn't flinch a\nshade's thickness. Wonderful in a woman!'\n'It was because I didn't expect it. O, you have\nspoilt my hair!'\n'Only once more.'\n'No -- no! I am afraid of you -- indeed I am !' she\ncried.\n'I won't touch you at all -- not even your hair. I\nam only going to kill that caterpillar settling on you.\nNow: still!'\nIt appeared that a caterpillar had come from the\nfern and chosen the front of her bodice as his resting\nplace. She saw the point glisten towards her bosom,\nand seemingly enter it. Bathsheba closed her eyes in\nthe full persuasion that she was\n \nkilled at last. How+\never, feeling just as usual, she opened them again.\n'There it is, look,' said the sargeant, holding his\nsword before her eyes.\nThe caterpillar was spitted upon its point.\n'Why, it is magic!' said Bathsheba, amazed.\n'O no -- dexterity. I merely gave point to your\nbosom where the caterpillar was, and instead of running\nyou through checked the extension a thousandth of an\ninch short of your surface.'\n'But how could you chop off a curl of my hair with\na sword that has no edge?'\nTHE HOLLOW AMID THE FERNS\n\"No edge .! This sword will shave like a razor.\nLook here.'\nHe touched the palm of his hand with the blade,\nand then, lifting it, showed her a thin shaving of scarf+\nskin dangling therefrom.\n\" But you said before beginning that it was blunt and\ncouldn't cut me .!'\n'That was to get you to stand still, and so make sure\nof your safety. The risk of injuring you through your\nmoving was too great not to force me to tell you a\nfib to escape it.'\nShe shuddered. 'I have been within an inch of my\nlife, and didn't know it! '\n'More precisely speaking, you have been within half\nan inch of being pared alive two hundred and ninety-five\ntinies.'\n\" Cruel, cruel, 'tis of you !. '\n\" You have been perfectly safe, nevertheless. My\nsword never errs.' And Troy returned the weapon to\nthe scabbard.\nBathsheba, overcome by a hundred tumultuous feel'\nings resulting from the scene, abstractedly sat down on\na tuft of heather.\n'I must leave you now,' said Troy, softly. \" And I'll\nventure to take and keep this in remembrance of you.'\nShe saw him stoop to the grass, pick up the winding\nlock which he had severcd from her manifold tresses,\ntwist it round his fingers, unfasten a button in the hreast\nof his coat, and carefully put it inside. She felt power+\nless to withstand or deny him. He was altogether too\nmuch for her, and Bathsheba\n \nseemed as one who, facing\na reviving wind, finds it blow so strongly that it stops\nthe breath.\nHe drew near and said, 'I must be leaving you.'\nHe drew nearer still. A minute later and she saw his\nscarlet form disappear amid the ferny thicket, almost in\na flash, like a brand swiftly waved.\nThat minute's interval had brought the blood beating\ninto her face, set her stinging as if aflame to the very\nhollows oi her feet, and enlarged emotion to a compass\nwhich quite swamped thought. It had brought upon\nher a stroke resulting, as did that of Moses in Horeh, in\na liquid stream -- here a stream of tears. She felt like\none who has sinned a great sin.\nThe circumstance had been the gentle dip of Troy's\nmouth downwards upon her own. He had kissed her,\nPARTICULARS OF A TWILIGHT WALK\n \nPARTICULARS OF A TWILIGHT WALK\nWE now see the element of folly distinctly mingling\nwith the many varying particulars which made up the\ncharacter of Bathsheba Everdene. It was almost foreign\nto her intrinsic nature. Introduced as lymph on the\ndart of Eros, it eventually permeated and coloured\nher whole constitution. Bathsheba, though she had too\nmuch understanding to be entirely governed by her\nwomanliness, had too much womanliness to use her\nunderstanding to the best advantage. Perhaps in no\nminor point does woman astonish her helpmate more\nthan in the strange power she possesses of believing\ncajoleries that she knows to be false -- except, indeed, in\nthat of being utterly sceptical on strictures that she\nknows to be true.\nBathsheba loved Troy in the way that only self-reliant\nwomen love when they abandon their self-reliance.\nWhen a strong woman recklessly throws away her\nstrength she is worse than a weak woman who has never\nhad any strength to throw away. One source of her\ninadequacy is the novelty of the occasion. She has\nnever had practice in making the best of such a\ncondition. Weakness is doubly weak by being new.\nBathsheba was not conscious of guile in this matter.\nThough in one sense a woman of the world, it was, after\nall, that world of daylight coteries and green carpets\nwherein cattle form the passing crowd and winds the\nbusy hum ; where a quiet family of rabbits or hares lives\non the other side of your party-wall, where your neigh+\nbour is everybody in the tything, and where calculation\nformulated self-indulgence of bad, nothing at all. Had\nher utmost thoughts in this direction been distinctly\nworded (and by herself they never were), they would\n \nonly have amounted to such a matter as that she felt\nher impulses to be pleasanter guides than her discretion .\nHer love was entire as a child's, and though warm as\nsummer it was fresh as spring. Her culpability lay in\nher making no attempt to control feeling by subtle and\ncareful inquiry into consuences. She could show others\nthe steep and thorny way, but 'reck'd not her own rede,'\nAnd Troy's deformities lay deep down from a\nwoman's vision, whilst his embellishments were upon\nthe verysurface; thus contrasting with homely Oak,\nwhose defects were patent to the blindest, and whose\nvertues were as metals in a mine.\nThe difference between love and respect was mark+\nedly shown in her conduct. Bathsheba had spoken of\nher interest in Boldwood with the greatest freedom to\nLiddy, but she had only communed with her own heart\nconcerning 'Troy'.\nAll this infatuation Gabriel saw, and was troubled\nthereby from the time of his daily journey a-field to the\ntime of his return, and on to the small hours of many a\nnight. That he was not beloved had hitherto been his\ngreat that Bathsheba was getting into the toils\nwas now a sorrow greater than the first, and one which\nnearly olbscured it. It was a result which paralleled\nthe oft-quoted observation of Hippocrates concerning\nphysical pains.\nThat is a noble though perhaps an unpromising love\nPARTICULARS OF A TWILlGHT WALK\nwhich not even the fear of breeding aversion in the\nbosom of the one beloved can deter from combating his\nor her errors. Oak determined to speak to his mistress.\nHe would base his appeal on what he considered her\nunfair treatment of Farmer Boldwood, now absent from\nhome.\nAn opportunity occurred one evening when she had\ngone for a short walk by a path through the neighbour+\ning cornfields. It was dusk when Oak, who had not\nbeen far a-field that day, took the same path and met\nher returning, quite pensively, as he thought.\nThe wheat was now tall, and the path was narrow;\nthus the way was quite a sunken groove between the\nembowing thicket on either side. Two persons could\nnot walk abreast\n \nwithout damaging the crop, and Oak\nstood aside to let her pass.\n'Oh, is it Gabriel?' she said. 'You are taking a\nwalk too. Good-night.'\n\"I thought I would come to meet you, as it is rather\nlate,\" said Oak, turning and following at her heels when\nshe had brushed somewhat quickly by him.\n\"Thank you, indeed, but I am not very fearful.'\n\" O no ; but there are bad characters about.'\n\"I never meet them.'\nNow Oak, with marvellous ingenuity, had been going\nto introduce the gallant sergeant through the channel of\n\"bad characters.' But all at once the scheme broke\ndown, it suddenly occurring to him that this was rather a\nclumsy way, and too barefaced to begin with. He tried\nanother preamble.\n\"And as the man who would naturally come to meet\nyou is away from home, too -- I mean Farmer Boldwood\n -- why, thinks I, I'll go,' he said.\n\"Ah, yes.' She walked on without turning her head,\nand for many steps nothing further was heard from her\nquarter than the rustle of her dress against the heavy\ncorn-ears. Then she resumed rather tartly --\n'I don't quite understand what you meant by saying\nthat Mr. Boldwood would naturally come to meet me.'\nI meant on account of the wedding which they say\nis likely to take place between you and him, miss. For+\ngive my speaking plainly.'\n\"They say what is not true,' she returned quickly.\nNo marriage is likely to take place between us.'\nGabriel now put forth his unobscured opinion, for\nthe moment had come. \" Well, Miss Everdene,' he\nsaid, \"putting aside what people say, I never in my life\nsaw any courting if his is not a courting of you.\"\nBathsheba would probably have terminated the con'\nversation there and then by flatly forbidding the subject,\nhad not her conscious weakness of position allured her\nto palter and argue in endeavours to better it.\n \n\"Since this subject has been mentioned,' she said\nvery emphatically, 'I am glad of the opportunity of\nclearing up a mistake which is very common and very\nprovoking. I didn't definitely promise Mr. Boldwood\nanything. I have never cared for him. I respect him,\nand he has urged me to marry him. But I have given\nhim no distinct answer. As soon as he returns I shall\ndo so; and the answer will be that I cannot think of\nmarrying him.'\n'People are full of mistakes, seemingly.'\n' They are.'\nThe other day they said you were trifling with him,\nand you almost proved that you were not; lately they\nhave said that you be not, and you straightway begin\nto show -- -- '\nThat I am, I suppose you mean.'\n' Well, I hope they speak the truth.'\nThey do, but wrongly applied. I don't trifle with\nhim ; but then, I have nothing to do with him.'\nOak was unfortunately led on to speak of Boldwood's\nrival in a wrong tone to her after all. 'I wish you had\nnever met that young Sergeant Troy, miss,' he sighed.\nPARTlCULARS OF A TWILIGHT WALK\nBathsheba's steps became faintly spasmodic. \" Why?'\nshe asked.\n' He is not good enough for 'ee.'\n\"Did any one tell you to speak to me like this ?'\n\" Nobody at all.'\n\"Then it appears to me that Sergeant Troy does not\nconcern us here,' she said, intractably. ' Yet I must say\nthat Sergeant 'Troy is an educated man, and quite worthy\nof any woman. He is well born.'\n\"His being higher in learning and birth than the\nruck o' soldiers is anything but a proof of his worth. It\nshow's his course to be down'ard.'\n\"I cannot see what this has to do with our conversa+\ntion. Mr. Troy's course is not by any means downward;\nand his superiority <1is>1 a proof of his worth .! '\n\"I believe him to have no conscience at all. And I\ncannot help begging you, miss, to have nothing to do\nwith him. Listen to me this once -- only this once !.\nI don't say he's such\n \na bad man as I have fancied -- I\npray to God he is not. But since we don't exactly\nknow what he is, why not behave as if he <1might>1 be bad,\nsimply for your own safety ? Don't trust him, mistress;\nI ask you not to trust him so.'\n\" Why, pray ? '\n\"I like soldiers, but this one I do not like,' he said,\nsturdily. \" His cleverness in his calling may have\ntempted him astray, and what is mirth to the neighbours\nis ruin to the woman. When he tries to talk to 'ee again,\nwhy not turn away with a short 'Good day' ; and when\nyou see him coming one way, turn the other. When\nhe says anything laughable, fail to see the point\nand don't smile, and speak of him before those who will\nreport your talk as \"that fantastical man,' or \" that\nSergeant What's-his-name.\" \"That man of a family\nthat has come to the dogs.' Don't be unmannerly\ntowards en, but harmless-uncivil, and so get rid of the\nman.'\nNo Christmas robin detained by a window-pane ever\npulsed as did Bathsheba now.\nI say -- I say again -- that it doesn't become you to\ntalk about him. Why he should be mentioned passes\nme quite . she exclaimed desperately. \" I know this,\nth-th-that he is a thoroughly conscientious man -- blunt\nsometimes even to rudeness -- but always speaking his\nmind about you plain to your face .! '\n\"Oh.'\n\"He is as good as anybody in this parish.! He is\nvery particular, too, about going to church -- yes, he\nis.!'\n'I am afraid nobody saw him there. I never\ndid certainly.'\n' The reason of that is,' she said eagerly, \" that he goes\nin privately by the old tower door, just when the service\ncommences, and sits at the back of the gallery. He\ntold me so.'\nThis supreme instance of Troy's goodness fell upon\nGabriel ears like the thirteenth stroke of crazy clock.\nIt was not only received with utter incredulity as re+\ngarded itself, but threw a doubt on all the assurances\nthat had preceded it.\nOak was grieved to find how entirely she trusted him.\nHe brimmed with deep feeling as he replied in a steady\nvoice, the\n \nsteadiness of which was spoilt by the palpable+\nness of his great effort to keep it so : --\n' You know, mistress, that I love you, and shall love\nyou always. I only mention this to bring to your mind\nthat at any rate I would wish to do you no harm :\nbeyond that I put it aside. I have lost in the race for\nmoney and good things, and I am not such a fool as to\npretend to 'ee now I am poor, and you have got alto+\ngether above me. But Bathsheba, dear mistress, this\nI beg you to consider -- that, both to keep yourself well\nhonoured among the workfolk, and in common generosity\nto an honourable man who loves you as well as I, you\nPARTICULARS OF A TWILIGHT WALK\nshould be more discreet in your bearing towards this\nsoldier.'\n\" Don't, don't, don't !. ' she exclaimed, in a choking\nvoice.\n\"Are ye not more to me than my own affairs, and\neven life .! ' he went on. \"Come, listen to me.! I am\nsix years older than you, and Mr. Boldwood is ten years\nolder than I, and consider -- I do beg of 'ee to consider\nbefore it is too late -- how safe you would be in his\nhands .! '\nOak's allusion to his own love for her lessened, to\nsome extent, her anger at his interference ; but she\ncould not really forgive him for letting his wish to marry\nher be eclipsed by his wish to do her good, any more\nthan for his slighting treatment of Troy.\n\"I wish you to go elsewhere,' she commanded, a\npaleness of face invisible to the eye being suggested by\nthe trembling words. \" Do not remain on this farm any\nlonger. I don't want you -- I beg you to go !.'\n\"That's nonsense,' said Oak, calmly. \" This is the\nsecond time you have pretended to dismiss me; and\nwhat's the use o' it?'\n\" Pretended !. You shall go, sir -- your lecturing I\nwill not hear .! I am mistress here.'\n\" Go, indeed -- what folly will you say next ? Treating\nme like Dick, Tom and Harry when you know that a\nshort time ago my position was as good as yours !. Upon\nmy life, Bathsheba, it is too barefaced. You know, too,\nthat I can't go without putting things in such a strait as\nyou wouldn't get out of\n \nI can't tell when. Unless, indeed,\nyou'll promise to have an understanding man as bailiff,\nor manager, or something. I'll go at once if you'll\npromise that.'\n'I shall have no bailiff; I shall continue to be my\nown manager,' she said decisively.\n\"Very well, then ; you should be thankful to me for\nbiding. How would the farm go on with nobody to\nmind it but a woman? But mind this, I don't wish\n'ee to feel you owe me anything. Not I. What I do,\nI do. Sometimes I say I should be as glad as a bird to\nleave the place -- for don't suppose I'm content to be a\nnobody. I was made for better things. However, I\ndon't like to see your concerns going to ruin, as they\nmust if you keep in this mind.... I hate taking my\nown measure so plain, but, upon my life, your provok+\ning ways make a man say what he wouldn't dream of\nat other times ! I own to being rather interfering. But\nyou know well enough how it is, and who she is that I\nlike too well, and feel too much like a fool about to be\ncivil to her ! '\nIt is more than probable that she privately and un+\nconsciously respected him a little for this grim fidelity,\nwhich had been shown in his tone even more than in\nhis words. At any rate she murmured something to the\neffect that he might stay if he wished. She said more\ndistinctly, \" Will you leave me alone now? I don't\norder it as a mistress -- I ask it as a woman, and I\nexpect you not to be so uncourteous as to refuse.'\n\" Certainly I will, Miss Everdene,' said Gabriel, gently.\nHe wondered that the request should have come at this\nmoment, for the strife was over, and they were on a\nmost desolate hill, far from every human habitation, and\nthe hour was getting late. He stood still and allowed\nher to get far ahead of him till he could only see her\nform upon the sky.\nA distressing explanation of this anxiety to be rid of\nhim at that point now ensued. A figure apparently rose\nfrom the earth beside her. The shape beyond all doubt\nwas Troy's. Oak would not be even a possible listener,\nand at once turned back till a good two hundred yards\nwere between the lovers and himself.\n \nGabriel went home by way of the churchyard. In\npassing the tower he thought of what she had said about\nthe sergeant's virtuous habit of entering the church un+\nPARTICULARS OF A TWILIGHT WALK\nperceived at the beginning of service. Believing that\nthe little gallery door alluded to was quite disused, he\nascended the external flight of steps at the top of which\nit stood, and examined it. The pale lustre yet hanging\nin the north-western heaven was sufficient to show that\na sprig of ivy had grown from the wall across the door\nto a length of more than a foot, delicately tying the\npanel to the stone jamb. It was a decisive proof that\nthe door had not been opened at least since Troy came\nback to Weatherbury.\n \nHOT CHEEKS AND TEARFUL EYES\nHALF an hour later Bathsheba entered her own house.\nThere burnt upon her face when she met the light of\nthe candles the flush and excitement which were little\nless than chronic with her now. The farewell words of\nTroy, who had accompanied her to the very door, still\nlingered in her ears. He had bidden her adieu for two\ndays, which were so he stated, to be spent at Bath in\nvisiting some friends. He had also kissed her a second\ntime.\nIt is only fair to Bathsheba to explain here a little\nfact which did not come to light till a long time after+\nwards : that Troy's presentation of himself so aptly at\nthe roadside this evening was not by any distinctly pre+\nconcerted arrangement. He had hinted -- she had\nforbidden; and it was only on the chance of his still\ncoming that she had dismissed Oak, fearing a meeting\nbetween them just then.\nShe now sank down into a chair, wild and perturbed\nby all these new and fevering sequences. Then she\njumped up with a manner of decision, and fetched her\ndesk from a side tahle.\nIn three minutes, without pause or modification, she\nhad written a letter to Boldwood, at his address beyond\nCasterbridge, saying mildly but firmly that she had well\nHOT CHEEKS AND TEARFUL EYES\nconsidered the whole subject he had brought before her\nand kindly given her time to decide upon; that her\nfinal decision was that she could not marry him. She\nhad expressed to Oak an intention to wait till Boldwood\ncame home before communicating to him her conclusive\nreply. But Bathsheba found that she could not wait.\nIt was impossible to send this letter till the next day;\nyet to quell her uneasiness by getting it out of her hands,\nand so, as it were, setting the act in motion at once, she\narose to take it to any one of the women who might be\nin the kitchen.\n \nShe paused in the passage. A dialogue was going\non in the kitchen, and Bathsheba and Troy were the\nsubject of it.\n\"If he marry her, she'll gie up farming.'\n\"Twill be a gallant life, but may bring some trouble\nbetween the mirth -- so say I.'\n\"Well, I wish I had half such a husband.'\nBathsheba had too much sense to mind seriously\nwhat her servitors said about her ; but too much womanly\nredundance of speech to leave alone what was said till\nit died the natural death of unminded things. She\nburst in upon them.\n\"Who are you speaking of? ' she asked.\nThere was a pause before anybody replied. At last\nLiddy said frankly, ' What was passing was a bit of a\nword about yourself, miss.'\n\"I thought so .! Maryann and Liddy and Temper+\nance -- now I forbid you to suppose such things. You\nknow I don't care the least for Mr. Troy -- not I. Every+\nbody knows how much I hate him. -- Yes,' repeated the\nfroward young person, \"<1hate>1 him .! '\n\" We know you do, miss,' said Liddy; \"and so do we\nall.'\n\" I hate him too,' said Maryann.\n\" Maryann -- O you perjured woman !. How can you\nspeak that wicked story ! ' said Bathsheba, excitedly.\n\"You admired him from your heart only this morning\nin the very world, you did. Yes, Maryann, you know it ! '\n'Yes, miss, but so did you. He is a wild scamp\nnow, and you are right to hate him.\"\n\"He's <1not>1 a wild scamp.! How dare you to my face !.\nI have no right to hate him, nor you, nor anybody.\nBut I am a silly woman.! What is it to me what he is ?\nYou know it is nothing. I don't care for him ; I don\"t\nmean to defend his good name, not I. Mind this, if\nany of you say a word against him you'll be dismissed\ninstantly !. '\nShe flung down the letter and surged back into the\nparlour, with a big heart and tearful eyes, Liddy following\nher.\n'O miss.!' said mild Liddy, looking pitifully into\nBathsheba's face. \"I am sorry we mistook you so .!\ndid think you cared for him; but I see you don't now.'\n\" Shut the door, Liddy.'\n \nLiddy closed the door, and went on : ' People always\nsay such foolery, miss. I'll make answer hencefor'ard,\n\"Of course a lady like Miss Everdene can't love him;'\nI'll say it out in plain black and white.'\nBathsheba burst out : 'O Liddy, are you such a\nsimpleton ? Can't you read riddles ? Can't you see?\nAre you a woman yourself ? '\nLiddy's clear eyes rounded with wonderment.\n' Yes; you must be a blind thing, Liddy .! ' she said,\nin reckless abandonment and grief. \"O, I love him\nto very distraction and misery and agony .! Don't be\nfrightened at me, though perhaps I am enough to frighten\nany innocent woman. Come closer -- closer.' She put\nher arms round Liddy's neck. \"I must let it out to\nsomebody; it is wearing me away !. Don't you yet know\nenough of me to see through that miserable denial of\nmine? O God, what a lie it was !. Heaven and my\nLove forgive me. And don't you know that a woman\nwho loves at all thinks nothing of perjury when it is\nHOT CHEEKS AND TEARFUL EYES\nbalanced against her love ? There, go out of the room ;\nI want to be quite alone.'\nLiddy went towards the door.\n' Liddy, come here. Solemnly swear to me that he's\nnot a fast man; that it is all lies they say about him !.'\n'Put, miss, how can I say he is not if -- -- '\n\"You graceless girl.! How can you have the cruel\nheart to repeat what they say? Unfeeling thing that\nyou are.... But <1I'll>1 see if you or anybody else in the\nvillage, or town either, dare do such a thing .! ' She\nstarted off, pacing from fireplace to door, and back\nagain.\n\"No, miss. I don't -- I know it is not true !. ' said\nLiddy, frightened at Bathsheba's unwonted vehemence.\nI suppose you only agree with me like that to please\nme. But, Liddy, he <1cannot be>1 had, as is said. Do you\nhear? \"\n' Yes, miss, yes.'\n\"And you don't believe he is?\"\n'I don't know what to say, miss,' said Liddy, be+\nginning to cry. \"If I say No, you don\"t believe me;\nand if I say Yes, you rage at me ! '\n\" Say you don't believe it -- say you don't ! '\n \n'I don't believe him to be so had as they make out.'\n\"He is not had at all.... My poor life and heart,\nhow weak I am .! ' she moaned, in a relaxed, desultory\nway, heedless of Liddy's presence. \"O, how I wish I\nhad never seen him.! Loving is misery for women\nalways. I shall never forgive God for making me a\nwoman, and dearly am I beginning to pay for the honour\nof owning a pretty face.' She freshened and turned to\nLiddy suddenly. \" Mind this, Lydia Smallbury, if you\nrepeat anywhere a single word of what l have said to\nyou inside this closed door, I'll never trust you, or love\nyou, or have you with me a moment longer -- not a\nmoment ! '\n\" I don't want to repeat anything,' said Liddy, with\nwomanly dignity of a diminutive order; \"but I don't\nwish to stay with you. And, if you please, I'll go at the\nend of the harvest, or this week, or to-day.... I don't\nsee that I deserve to be put upon and stormed at for\nnothing ! ' concluded the small woman, bigly.\n\" No, no, Liddy ; you must stay ! ' said Bathsheba,\ndropping from haughtiness to entreaty with capricious\ninconsequence. \"You must not notice my being in a\ntaking just now. You are not as a servant -- -you are a\ncompanion to me. Dear, dear -- I don't know what I\nam doing since this miserable ache o'! my heart has\nweighted and worn upon me so .! What shall I come\nto ! I suppose I shall get further and further into\ntroubles. I wonder sometimes if I am doomed to die\nin the Union. I am friendless enough, God knows .! '\n'I won't notice anything, nor will I leave you ! \" sobbed\nLiddy, impulsively putting up her lips to Bathsheba's,\nand kissing her.\nThen Bathsheba kissed Liddy, and all was smooth\nagain.\n\"I don't often cry, do I, Lidd ? but you have made\ntears come into my eyes,' she said, a smile shining\nthrough the moisture. \"Try to think him a good man,\nwon't you, dear Liddy ? '\n\"I will, miss, indeed.'\n\"He is a sort of steady man in a wild way, you know.\nway. I am afraid that's how I am. And promise me\nto keep my secret -- do, Liddy.! And do not let them\nknow that I have been crying\n \nabout him, because it will\nbe dreadful for me, and no good to him, poor thing .!'\n\"Death's head himself shan't wring it from me, mistress,\nif I've a mind to keep anything; and I'll always be your\nfriend,' replied Liddy, emphatically, at the same time\nbringing a few more tears into her own eyes, not from\nany particular necessity, but from an artistic sense of\nmaking herself in keeping with the remainder of the\nHOT CHEEKS AND TEARFUL EYES\npicture, which seems to influence women at such times.\n\"I think God likes us to be good friends, don't you ?'\n\"Indeed I do.'\n\"And, dear miss, you won\"t harry me and storm at\nme, will you ? because you seem to swell so tall as a\nlion then, and it frightens me !. Do you know, I fancy\nyou would be a match for any man when you are in one\n0' your takings.'\n\"Never.! do you ? ' said Bathsheba, slightly laughing,\nthough somewhat seriously alarmed by this Amazonian\npicture of herself. \"I hope I am not a bold sort of\nmaid -- mannish ? ' she continued with some anxiety.\n\"O no, not mannish; but so almighty womanish\nthat 'tis getting on that way sometimes. Ah ! miss,' she\nsaid, after having drawn her breath very sadly in and\nsent it very sadly out, \"I wish I had half your failing\nthat way. 'Tis a great protection to a poor maid in\nthese illegit'mate days !. '\n \nBLAME -- FURY\nTHE next evening Bathsheba, with the idea of getting\nout of the way of Mr. Boldwood in the event of his\nreturning to answer her note in person, proceeded to\nfulfil an engagement made with Liddy some few hours\nearlier. Bathsheba's companion, as a gage of their\nreconciliation, had heen granted a week's holiday to\nvisit her sister, who was married to a thriving hurdler\nand cattle-crib-maker living in a delightful labyrinth of\nhazel copse not far beyond Yalbury. The arrangement\nwas that Miss Everdene should honour them by coming\nthere for a day or two to inspect some ingenious con+\ntnvances which this man of the woods had introduced\ninto his wares.\nLeaving her instructions with Gabriel and Maryann,\nthat they were to see everything carefully locked up for\nthe night, she went out of the house just at the close of\na timely thunder-shower, which had refined the air, and\ndaintily bathed the coat of the land, though all beneath\nwas dry as ever. Freshness was exhaled in an essence\nfrom the varied contours of bank and hollow, as if the\nearth breathed maiden breath; and the pleased birds\nwere hymning to the scene. Before her, among the\nclouds, there was a contrast in the shape of lairs of\nfierce light which showed themselves in the neighbour+\nhood of a hidden sun, lingering on to the farthest north+\nwest corner of the heavens that this midsummer season\nallowed.\nShe had walked nearly two miles of her journey,\nwatching how the day was retreating, and thinking how\nthe time of deeds was quietly melting into the time of\nthought, to give place in its turn to the time of prayer\nand sleep, when she beheld advancing over Yalbury hill\nthe very man she sought so anxiously to elude. Boldwood\nwas stepping on, not with that quiet tread of reserved\nstrength which was his customary\n \ngait, in which he\nalways seemed to be balancing two thoughts. His\nmanner was stunned and sluggish now.\nBoldwood had for the first time been awakened to\nwoman's privileges in tergiversation even when it involves\nanother person's possible blight. That Bathsheba was\na firm and positive girl, far less inconsequent than her\nfellows, had been the very lung of his hope ; for he had\nheld that these qualities would lead her to adhere to a\nstraight course for consistency's sake, and accept him,\nthough her fancy might not flood him with the iridescent\nhues of uncritical love. But the argument now came\nback as sorry gleams from a broken mirror. The dis+\ncovery was no less a scourge than a surprise.\nHe came on looking upon the ground, and did not\nsee Bathsheba till they were less than a stone's throw\napart. He looked up at the sound of her pit-pat, and\nhis changed appearance sufficiently denoted to her the\ndepth and strength of the feelings paralyzed by her\nletter.\n\" Oh ; is it you, Mr. Boldwood ? ' she faltered, a guilty\nwarmth pulsing in her face.\nThose who have the power of reproaching in silence\nmay find it a means more effective than words. There\nare accents in the eye which are not on the tongue, and\nmore tales come from pale lips than can enter an ear.\nIt is both the grandeur and the pain of the remoter\nmoods that they avoid the pathway of sound. Bold+\nwood's look was unanswerable.\nSeeing she turned a little aside, he said, 'What, are\nyou afraid of me?'\n\" Why should you say that ? ' said Bathsheba.\n\"I fancied you looked so,' said he. 'And it is most\nstrange, because of its contrast with my feeling for you.\nShe regained self-possession, fixed her eyes calmly,\nand waited.\n\" You know what that feeling is,' continued Boldwood,\ndeliberately. \"A thing strong as death. No dismissal\nby a hasty letter affects that.'\n'I wish you did not feel so strongly about me,' she\nmurmured. \"It is generous of you, and more than I\ndeserve, but I must not hear it now.'\n \n\"Hear it? What do you think I have to say, then ?\nI am not to marry you, and thats enough. Your letter\nwas excellently plain. I want you to hear nothing --\nnot I.'\nBathsheba was unable to direct her will into any\ndefinite groove for freeing herself from this fearfully\nand was moving on. Boldwood walked up to her heavily\nand dully.\n\"Bathsheba -- -darling -- -is it final indeed?'\n\"Indeed it is.'\n\"O, Bathsheba -- -have pity upon me!' Boldwood\nburst out. \"God's sake, yes -- I am come to that low,\nlowest stage -- -to ask a woman for pity! Still, she is\nyou -- -she is you.'\nBathsheba commanded herself well. But she could\nhardly get a clear voice for what came instinctively to\nher lips: \"There is little honour to the woman in that\nspeech.' It was only whispered, for something unutter+\nably mournful no less than distressing in this spectacle\nof a man showing himself to be so entirely the vane of a\npassion enervated the feminine instinct for punctilios.\nBLAME\n\"I am beyond myself about this, and am mad,' he\nsaid. \"I am no stoic at all to he supplicating here ; but\nI do supplicate to you. I wish you knew what is in\nme of devotion to you ; but it is impossible, that. In\nbare human mercy to a lonely man, don't throw me off\nnow !'\n'I don't throw you off -- indeed, how can I ? I never\nhad you.' In her noon-clear sense that she had never\nloved him she forgot for a moment her thoughtless angle\non that day in February.\n'But there was a time when you turned to me,\nbefore I thought of you ! I don't reproach you, for\neven now I feel that the ignorant and cold darkness\nthat I should have lived in if you had not attracted me\nby that letter -- valentine you call it -- would have becn\nworse than my knowledge of you, though it has brought\nthis misery. But, I say, there was a time when I knew\nnothing of you, and cared nothing for you, and yet you\ndrew me on. And if you say you gave me no en+\ncouragement, I cannot but contradict you.'\n \n\"What you call encouragement was the childish\ngame of an idle minute. I have bitterly repented of it\n -- ay, bitterly, and in tears. Can you still go on re+\nminding me ?'\n'I don't accuse you of it -- I deplore it. I took for\nearnest what you insist was jest, and now this that I\npray to be jest you say is awful, wretched earnest. Our\nmoods meet at wrong places. I wish your feeling was\nmore like mine, or my feeling more like yours.! O,\ncould I but have foreseen the torture that trifling trick\nwas going to lead me into, how I should have cursed\nyou ; but only having been able to see it since, I cannot\ndo that, for I love you too well.! But it is weak, idle\ndrivelling to go on like this.... Bathsheba, you are\nthe first woman of any shade or nature that I have ever\nlooked at to love, and it is the having been so near\nclaiming you for my own that makes this denial so hard\nto bear. How nearly you promised me ! But I don't\nspeak now to move your heart, and make you grieve\nbecause of my pain ; it is no use, that. I must bear it;\nmy pain would get no less by paining you.'\n\"But I do pity you -- deeply -- O so deeply .!' she\nearnestly said.\n\"Do no such thing -- do no such thing. Your dear\nlove, Bathsheba, is such a vast thing beside your pity,\nthat the loss of your pity as well as your love is no great\naddition to my sorrow, nor does the gain of your pity\nmake it sensibly less. O sweet -- how dearly you\nspoke to me behind the spear-bed at the washing-pool,\nand in the barn at the shearing, and that dearest last\ntime in the evening at your home.! Where are your\npleasant words all gone -- your earnest hope to be able\nto love me? Where is your firm conviction that you\nwould get to care for me very much ? Really forgotten ?\n -- really ? '\nShe checked emotion, looked him quietly and clearly\nin the face, and said in her low, firm voice, \" Mr. Bold+\nwood, I promised you nothing. Would you have had\nme a woman of clay when you paid me that furthest,\nhighest compliment a man can pay a woman -- telling\nher he loves her? I was bound to show some feeling,\nif l would not be a graceless shrew. Yet each of those\npleasures was just for the day -- the day just for the\n \npleasure. How was I to know that what is a pastime\nto all other men was death to you ? Have reason, do,\nand think more kindly of me !'\n'Well, never mind arguing -- never mind. One\nthing is sure: you were all but mine, and now you are\nnot nearly mine. Everything is changed, and that by\nyou alone, remember. You were nothing to me once,\nand I was contented; you are now nothing to me again,\nand how different the second nothing is from the first .!\nWould to God you had never taken me up, since it was\nonly to throw me down .! '\nFURY\nBathsheba, in spite of her mettle, began to feel un+\nmistakable signs that she was inherently the weaker\nvessel. She strove miserably against this feminity\nwhich would insist upon supplying unbidden emotions\nin stronger and stronger current. She had tried to\nelude agitation by fixing her mind on the trees, sky, any\ntrivial object before her eyes, whilst his reproaches fell,\nbut ingenuity could not save her now.\n\"I did not take you up -- -surely I did not!' she\nanswered as heroically as she could. \" But don't be in\nthis mood with me. I can endure being told I am in\nthe wrong, if you will only tell it me gently! O sir,\nwill you not kindly forgive me, and look at it\ncheerfully ? '\n\"Cheerfully! Can a man fooled to utter heart+\nburning find a reason for being merry> If I have lost,\nhow can I be as if I had won? Heavens you must be\nheartless quite ! Had I known what a fearfully bitter\nsweet this was to be, how would I have avoided you,\nand never seen you, and been deaf of you. I tell you\nall this, but what do you care! You don't care.'\nShe returned silent and weak denials to his charges,\nand swayed her head desperately, as if to thrust away\nthe words as they came showering ahout her ears from\nthe lips of the trembling man in the climax of life, with\nhis bronzed Roman face and fine frame.\n\"Dearest, dearest, I am wavering even now between\nthe two opposites of recklessly renouncing you, and\nlabouring humbly for you again. Forget that you have\nsaid No, and let it be as it was !. Say, Bathsheba, that\nyou only wrote that refusal to me in fun -- -come, say it\nto me!'\n \n\" It would be untrue, and painful to both of us. You\noverrate my capacity for love. I don't possess half\nthe warmth of nature you believe me to have. An un+\nprotected childhood in a cold world has beaten gentle+\nness out of me.'\nHe immediately said with more resentment: \"That\nmay be true, somewhat ; but ah, Miss Everdene, it won't\ndo as a reason! You are not the cold woman you\nwould have me believe. No, no .! It isn't because you\nhave no feeling in you that you don't love me. You\nnaturally would have me think so -- -you would hide from\nthat you have a burning heart like mine. You have\nlove enough, but it is turned into a new channel. I\nknow where.'\nThe swift music of her heart became hubbub now,\nand she throbbed to extremity. He was coming to\nTroy. He did then know what had occurred .! And\nthe name fell from his lips the next moment.\n\"Why did Troy not leave my treasure alone?' he\nasked, fiercely. \"When I had no thought of injuring\nhim, why did he force himself upon your notice.!\nBefore he worried you your inclination was to have me;\nwhen next I should have come to you your answer\nwould have been Yes. Can you deny it -- -I ask, can\nyou deny it?'\nShe delayed the reply, but was to honest to with\nhold it. ' I cannot,' she whispered.\n\"I know you cannot. But he stole in in my absence\nand robbed me. Why did't he win you away before,\nwhen nobody would have been grieved? -- -when nobody\nwould have been set tale-bearing. Now the people\nsneer at me -- -the very hills and sky seem to laugh at\nme till I blush shamefuly for my folly. I have lost my\nrespect, my good name, my standing -- -lost it, never to\nget it again. Go and marry your man -- go on .! '\n\"O sir -- -Mr. Boldwood!'\n\" You may as well. I have no further claim upon you.\nAs for me, I had better go somewhere alone, and hide --\nand pray. I loved a woman once. I am now ashamed.\nWhen I am dead they'll say, Miserable love-sick man\nthat he was. Heaven -- -heaven -- -if I had got jilted\nsecretly, and the dishonour not known, and my position\nFURY\nkept.! But no matter, it is\n \ngone, and the woman not\ngained. Shame upon him -- shame .! '\nHis unreasonable anger terrified her, and she glided\nfrom him, without obviously moving, as she said, \"I am\nonly a girl -- do not speak to me so.!'\n\"All the time you knew -- how very well you knew --\nthat your new freak was my misery. Dazzled by brass\nand scarlet -- O, Bathsheba -- this is woman's folly\nindeed .! '\nShe fired up at once. \"You are taking too much\nupon yourself .! ' she said, veheniently. \" Everybody is\nupon me -- everybody. It is unmanly to attack a\nwoman so ! I have nobody in the world to fight my\nbattles for me; but no mercy is shown. Yet if a\nthousand of you sneer and say things against me, I <1will>1\n<1not>1 be put down !.\"\n\" You'll chatter with him doubtless about me. Say to\nhim, \"Boldwood would have died for me.' Yes, and\nyou have given way to him, knowing him to be not the\nman for you. He has kissed you -- claimed you as his.\nDo you hear -- he has kissed you. Deny it .! '\nThe most tragic woman is cowed by a tragic man,\nand although Boldwood was, in vehemence and glow,\nnearly her own self rendered into another sex,\nBathsheba's cheek quivered. She gasped, ' Leave me,\nsir -- leave me !. I am nothing to you. Let me go on !.'\n\"Deny that he has kissed you.'\n\"I shall not.'\n\" Ha -- then he has ! ' came hoarsely from the farmer.\n\"He has,\" she said, slowly, and, in spite of her fear,\ndefiantly. 'I am not ashamed to speak the truth.'\n\"Then curse him; and curse him !. ' said Boldwood,\nbreaking into a whispered fury. ' Whilst I would have\ngiven worlds to touch your hand, you have let a rake come\nin without right or ceremony and -- kiss you .! Heaven's\nmercy -- kiss you ! ... Ah, a time of his life shall come\nwhen he will have to repent, and think wretchedly of\nthe pain he has caused another man ; and then may he\nache, and wish, and curse, and yearn -- as I do now .! \"\n'Don't, don't, O, don't pray down evil upon him.! '\nshe\n \nimplored in a miserable cry. \"Anything but that --\nanything. O, be kind to him, sir, for I love him true .'\nBoldwood's ideas had reached that point of fusion at\nwhich outline and consistency entirely disappear. The\nimpending night appeared to concentrate in his eye.\nHe did not hear her at all now.\n\"I'll punish him -- -by my soul, that will I.! I'll meet\nhim, soldier or no, and I'll horsewhip the untimely\nstripling for this reckless theft of my one delight. If he\nwere a hundred men I'd horsewhip him -- -- ' He\ndropped his voice suddenly and unnaturally. \"Bath+\nsheba, sweet, lost coquette, pardon me .! I've been\nblaming you, threatening you, behaving like a churl to\nyou, when he's the greatest sinner. He stole your dear\nheart away with his unfathomable lies.! ... lt is a\nfortunate thing for him that he's gone back to his\nregiment -- -that he's away up the country, and not here!\nI hope he may not return here just yet. I pray God\nhe may not come into my sight, for I may be tempted\nbeyond myself. O, Bathsheba, keep him away -- yes,\nkeep him away from me.!\"\nFor a moment Boldwood stood so inertly after this\nthat his soul seemed to have been entirely exhaled with\nthe breath of his passionate words. He turned his face\naway, and withdrew, and his form was soon covered over\nby the twilight as his footsteps mixed in with the low\nhiss of the leafy trees.\nBathsheba, who had been standing motionless as a\nmodel all this latter time, flung her hands to her face,\nand wildly attempted to ponder on the exhibition which\nhad just passed away. Such astounding wells of fevered\nfeeling in a still man like Mr. Boldwood were incompre+\nhensible, dreadful. Instead of being a man trained to\nrepression he was -- what she had seen him.\nThe force of the farmer's threats lay in their relation to a\ncircumstance known at present only to herself: her lover was\ncoming back to Weatherby in the course of the very next\nday or two. Troy had not returned to his distant barracks as\nBoldwood and others supposed, but had merely gone to visit\n \nsome acquaintance in Bath, and had yet a wek or more\nremaining to his furlough.\n She felt wretchedly certain that if he revisited her just at\nthis nick of time, and came into contact with Boldwood,a\nfierce quarrel would be the consequence. She panted with\nsolicitude when she thought of possible injury to Troy. The\nleast spark would kindle the farmer's swift feelings of rage\nand jealousy; he would lose his self-mastery as he had this\nevening; Troy's blitheness might become aggressive; it might\ntake the direction of derision, and Boldwood's anger might\nthen take the direction of revenge.\n With almost a morbid dread of being thought a gushing\ngirl, this guideless woman too well concealed from the world\nunder a manner of carelessness the warm depths of her strong\nemotions. But now there was no reserve. In fer\n \nher distraction,instead of advancing further she\nwalked up and down,beating\nthe air with her fingers,pressing on her brow, and sobbing\nbrokenly to herself. Then she sat down on a heap of stones by\nthe wayside to think. There she remained long. Above the\ndark margin of the earth appeared foreshores and promontor+\nies of coppery cloud,bounding a green and pellucid expanse\nin the western sky. Amaranthine glosses came over them then,\nand the unresting world wheeled her round to a contrasting\nprospect eastward, in the shape of indecisive and palpitating\nstars. She gazed upon their silent throes amid the shades of\nspace, but realised none at all. Her troubled spirit was far\naway with Troy.\n \nNIGHT -- HORSES TRAMPING\nTHE village of Weatherbury was quiet as the graveyard\nin its midst, and the living were lying welinigh as still\nas the dead. The church clock struck eleven. The\nair was so empty of other sounds that the whirr of the\nclock-work immediately before the strokes was distinct,\nand so was also the click of the same at their close.\nThe notes flew forth with the usual blind obtuseness\nof inanimate things -- flapping and rebounding among\nwalls, undulating against the scattered clouds, spreading\nthrough their interstices into unexplored miles of space.\nBathsheba's crannied and mouldy halls were to-night\noccupied only by Maryann, Liddy being, as was stated,\nwith her sister, whom Bathsheba had set out to visit.\nA few minutes after eleven had struck, Maryann turned\nin her bed with a sense of being disturbed. She was\ntotally unconscious of the nature of the interruption to\nher sleep. It led to a dream, and the dream to an\nawakening, with an uneasy sensation that something\nhad happened. She left her bed and looked out of\nthe window. The paddock abutted on this end of the\nbuilding, and in the paddock she could just discern by\nthe uncertain gray a moving figure approaching the\nhorse that was feeding there. The figure seized the\nhorse by the forelock, and led it to the corner of the\nfield. Here she could see some object which circum+\nstances proved to be a vehicle for after a few minutes\nthe horse down the road, mingled with the sound of\nlight wheels.\nTwo varieties only of humanity could have entered\nthe paddock with the ghostiike glide of that mysterious\nfigure. They were a woman and a gipsy man. A woman\nwas out of the question in such an occupation at this\nhour, and the comer could be no less than a thief, who\nmight probably have known the weakness of the house+\nhold on this particular night, and have\n \nchosen it on\nthat account for his daring attempt. Moreover, to\nraise suspicion to conviction itself, there were gipsies in !\nWeatherbury Bottom.\nMaryann, who had been afraid to shout in the robber's\npresence, having seen him depart had no fear. She\nhastily slipped on her clothes, stumped down the dis+\njointed staircase with its hundred creaks, ran to Coggan's,\nthe nearest house, and raised an alarm. Coggan called\nGabriel, who now again lodged in his house as at first,\nand together they went to the paddock. Beyond all\ndoubt the horse was gone.\n\" Hark .! ' said Gabriel.\nThey listened. Distinct upon the stagnant air came\nthe sounds of a trotting horse passing up Longpuddle\nLane -- just beyond the gipsies' encampment in Weather+\nbury Bottom.\n\" That's our Dainty-i'll swear to her step,' said Jan.\n\" Mighty me ! Won't mis'ess storm and call us stupids\nwen she comes back ! ' moaned Maryann. \"How I\nwish it had happened when she was at home, and none\nof us had been answerable .! '\n\" We must ride after,' said Gabriel, decisively.\nbe responsible to Miss Everdene for what we do. Yes,\nwe'll follow. '\n\" Faith, I don't see how,' said Coggan. \" All our\nhorses are too heavy for that trick except little Poppet,\nand what's she between two of us?-if we only had that\n\" pair over the hedge we might do something.'\n'Which pair ? '\n'Mr Boldwood's Tidy and Moll.'\n\" Then wait here till I come hither again,' said Gabriel.\nHe ran down the hill towards Farmer Boldwood's.\n\" Farmer Boldwood is not at home,' said Maryann.\n\",All the better,' said Coggan. \"I know what he's\ngone for.'\nLess than five minutes brought up Oak again, running\nat the same pace, with two halters dangling from his hand,\n\"Where did you find 'em ?\" said Coggan, turning\nround and leaping upon the hedge without waiting for\nan answer.\n\"Under the eaves. I knew where they were kept,'\nsaid Gabriel, following him. \"Coggan, you can ride\nbare-backed ? there's no time to look for saddles.'\n \n\" Like a hero .! ' said Jan.\n'Maryann, you go to hed,' Gabriel shouted to her\nfrom the top of the hedge.\nSpringing down into Boldwood's pastures, each\npocketed his halter to hide it from the horses, who,\nseeing the men empty-handed, docilely allowed them+\nselves to he seized by the mane, when the halters\nwere dexterously slipped on. Having neither bit nor\nbridle, Oak and Coggan extemporized the former by\npassing the rope in each case through the animal's\nmouth and looping it on the other side. Oak vaulted\nastride, and Coggan clambered up by aid of the hank,\nwhen they ascended to the gate and galloped off in the\ndirection taken by Bathsheha's horse and the robber.\nWhose vehicle the horse had been harnessed to was a\nmatter of some uncertainty.\nWeatherbury Bottom was reached in three or four\nminutes. They scanned the shady green patch by the\nroadside. The gipsies were gone.\n\"The villains .! ' said Gabriel. 'Which way have they\ngone, I wonder ? '\n'Straight on, as sure as God made little apples,'\nsaid Jan.\n\" Very well; we are better mounted, and must over+\ndiscovered. The road-metal grew softer and more\nrain had wetted its surface to a somewhat plastic, but\nnot muddy state. They came to cross-roads. Coggan\nsuddenly pulled up Moll and slipped off.\n\" What\"s the matter ? ' said Gabriel.\n\"We must try to track 'em, since we can't hear 'em,'\nsaid Jan, fumbling in his pockets. He struck a light,\nand held the match to the ground. The rain had been\nheavier here, and all foot and horse tracks made previous\nto the storm had been abraded and blurred by the drops,\nand they were now so many little scoops of water, which\nreflected the flame of the match like eyes. One set of\ntracks was fresh and had no water in them; one pair of\nruts was also empty, and not small canals, like the cthers.\nThe footprints forming this recent impression were full\n \nof information as to pace ; they were in equidistant pairs,\nthree or four feet apart, the right and left foot of each\npair being exactly opposite one another.\n\"Straight on !. ' Jan exclaimed. \"Tracks like that\nmean a stiff gallop. No wonder we don't hear him.\nAnd the horse is harnessed-iook at the ruts. Ay,\n'How do you know ?'\n\"Old Jimmy Harris only shoed her last week, and\nI'd swear to his make among ten thousand.'\n\"The rest of the gipsies must ha\" gone on earlier,\nor some other way,' said Oak. \" 'You saw there were\nno other tracks ? '\n\"True.' They rode along silently for a long weary\ntime. Coggan carried an old pinchbeck repeater which\nhe had inherited from some genius in his family; and\nit now struck one. He lighted another match, and ex+\namined the ground again.\n\"'Tis a canter now,' he said, throwing away the light.\n'A twisty', rickety pace for a gig. The fact is, they over+\ndrove her at starting ; we shall catch \"em yet.'\nAgain they hastened on, and entered Blackmore\nVale. Coggan's watch struck one. When they looked\nagain the hoof-marks were so spaced as to form a sort\nof zigzag if united, like the lamps along a street.\n\" That's a trot, I know,' said Gabriel.\n\"Only a trot now,' said Coggan, cheerfully. \"We\nshall overtake him in time.'\nThey pushed rapidly on for yet two or three miles.\n\"Ah .! a moment,' said Jan. 'Let's see how she was\ndriven up this hill. \"Twill help us,' A light was\npromptly struck upon his gaiters as before, and the ex+\namination made,\n\" Hurrah .! ' said Coggan. \"She walked up here --\nand well she might. We shall get them in two miles,\nfor a crown.'\nThey rode three, and listened. No sound was to be\nheard save a milipond trickling hoarsely through a\nhatch, and suggesting gloomy possibilities of drowning\nby juraping in. Gabriel dismounted when they came\nto a turning. The tracks were ahsolutely the only guide\nas to the direction that they now had, and great caution\nwas necessary to avoid confusing them\n \nwith some others\nwhich had made their appearance lately.\n\"What does this mean ? -- though I guess,' said\nGabriel, looking up at Coggan as he moved the match\nover the ground about the turning. Coggan, who, no\nless than the panting horses, had latterly shown signs\nof weariness, again scrutinized the mystic characters.\nThis time only three were of the regular horseshoe\nshape. Every fourth was a dot.\nHORSES TRAMPING\nHe screwed up his face and emitted a long\n\" whew-w-w !. '\n\" Lame,' said Oak.\n\" Yes Dainty is lamed ; the near-foot-afore,' said\nCoggan slowly staring still at the footprints.\n\" We'll push on,' said Gabriel, remounting his humid\nsteed.\nAlthough the road along its greater part had been as\ngood as any turnpike-road in the country, it was nomin+\nally only a byway. The last turning had brought them\ninto the high road leading to Bath. Coggan recollected\nhimself.\n\"We shall have him now ! ' he exclaimed.\n\" Where ? \"\n' Sherton Turnpike. The keeper of that gate is the\nsleepiest man between here and London -- Dan Randall.\nthat's his name -- knowed en for years, when he was at\nCasterbridge gate. Between the lameness and the gate\n'tis a done job.'\nwas said until, against a shady background of foliage,\nfive white bars were visible, crossing their route a little\nway ahead.\n\" Hush -- we are almost close !. ' said Gabriel.\n\"Amble on upon the grass,' said Coggan.\nThe white bars were blotted out in the midst by a\ndark shape in front of them. The silence of this lonely\ntime was pierced by an exclamation from that quarter.\n\" Hoy-a-hoy ! Gate .! '\nIt appeared that there had been a previous call which\nthey had not noticed, for on their close approach the\ndoor of the turnpike-house opened, and the keeper\ncame out half-dressed, with a candle in his hand. The\nrays illumined the whole group.\n\" Keep the gate close .! ' shouted Gabriel. \" He has\nstolen the horse !. '\n \n\" Who ? ' said the turnpike-man.\nGabriel looked at the driver of the gig, and saw a\nwoman -- Bathsheba, his mistress.\nOn hearing his voice she had turned her face away\nfrom the light. Coggan had, however, caught sight of\nher in the meanwhile.\n\"Why, 'tis mistress-i'll take my oath .! ' he said,\namazed.\nBathsheba it certainly was, and she had by this time\ndone the trick she could do so well in crises not of love,\nnamely, mask a surprise by coolness of manner.\n' Well, Gabriel,' she inquired quietly, ' where are you\ngoing ? '\n' We thought -- -- ' began Gabriel.\nBath,' she said, taking for her own\nuse the assurance that Gahriel lacked. 'An important\nmatter made it necessary for me to give up my visit to\nliddy, and go off at once. What, then, were you\nfollowing me ?'\n' We thought the horse was stole.'\n\" Weli-what a thing .! How very foolish of you not\nto know that I had taken the trap and horse. I could\nneither wake Maryann nor get into the house, though\nI hammered for ten minutes against her window-sill.\nFortunately, I could get the key of the coach-house, so\nI troubled no one further. Didn't you think it might\nbe me?\"\n' Why should we, miss ? '\n\" Perhaps not Why, those are never Farmer Bold+\nwood's horses .! Goodness mercy .! what have you been\n\" doing bringing trouble upon me in this way? What.!\nmustn't a lady move an inch from her door without being\ndogged like a thief?'\n'But how was we to know, if you left no account of\nyour doings ? ' expostulated Coggan, \"and ladies don't\n\" drive at these hours, miss, as a jineral rule of society.'\n\"I did leave an account -- and you would have seen\nit in the morning. I wrote in chalk on the coach-house\ndoors that I had come back for the horse and gig, and\ndriven off; that I could arouse nobody, and should\nreturn soon.'\n\" But you'll consider, ma'am, that we couldn't see\nthat till it got daylight.'\n'True,' she said, and though vexed at first she had\ntoo much\n \nsense to blame them long or seriously for a\ndevotion to her that was as valuable as it was rare.\nShe added with a very pretty grace, ' Well, I really thank\nyou heartily for taking all this trouble; but I wish you\nhad borrowed anybody's horses but Mr. Boldwood's.'\n'Dainty is lame, miss,' said Coggan. 'Can ye go\non?'\n'lt was only a stone in her shoe. I got down and\npulled it out a hundred yards back. I can manage\nvery well, thank you. I shall be in Bath by daylight.\nWill you now return, please?'\nShe turned her head -- the gateman's candle\nshimmering upon her quick, clear eyes as she did so --\npassed through the gate, and was soon wrapped in the\nembowering shades of mysterious summer boughs.\nCoggan and Gabriel put about their horses, and, fanned\nby the velvety air of this July night, retraced the road\nby which they had come.\n'A strange vagary, this of hers, isn't it, Oak?' said\nCoggan, curiously.\n'Yes,' said Gabriel, shortly.\n'She won't be in Bath by no daylight!.'\n'Coggan, suppose we keep this night's work as quiet\nas we can?'\n'I am of one and the same mind.'\n'Very well. We shall be home by three o'clock or\nso, and can creep into the parish like lambs.'\nBathsheba's perturbed meditations by the roadside\nhad ultimately evolved a conclusion that there were only\ntwo remedies for the present desperate state of affairs.\nThe first was merely to keep Troy away from Weather+\nbury till Boldwood's indignation had cooled; the second\nto listen to Oak's entreaties, and Boldwood's denuncia+\ntions, and give up Troy altogether.\nAlas! Could she give up this new love -- induce\nhim to renounce her by saying she did not like him --\ncould no more speak to him, and beg him, for her good,\nto end his furlough in Bath, and see her and Weather'\nbury no niore?\nIt was a picture full of misery, but for a while she\ncontemplated it firmly, allowing herself, nevertheless,\nas girls will, to\n \ndwell upon the happy life she would\nhave enjoyed had Troy been Boldwood, and the path\nof love the path of duty -- inflicting upon herself gratuit+\nous tortures by imagining him the lover of another\nwoman after forgetting her; for she had penetrated\nTroy's nature so far as to estimate his tendencies pretty\naccurately, hut unfortunately loved him no less in\nthinking that he might soon cease to love her -- indeed,\nconsiderably more.\nShe jumped to her feet. She would see him at once.\nYes, she would implore him by word of mouth to assist\nher in this dilemma. A letter to keep him away could\nnot reach him in time, even if he should be disposed to\nlisten to it.\nWas Bathsheba altogether blind to the obvious fact\nthat the support of a lover's arms is not of a kind best\ncalculated to assist a resolve to renounce him? Or was\nshe sophistically sensible, with a thrill of pleasure, that\nby adopting this course for getting rid of him she was\nensuring a meeting with him, at any rate, once more?\nIt was now dark, and the hour must have been nearly\nten. The only way to accomplish her purpose was to\ngive up her idea of visiting Liddy at Yalbury, return to\nWeatherbury Farm, put the horse into the gig, and drive\nat once to Bath. The scheme seemed at first impossible :\nthe journey was a fearfully heavy one, even for a strong\nhorse, at her own estimate; and she much underrated\nthe distance. It was most venturesome for a woman,\nat night, and alone.\nBut could she go on to Liddy's and leave things to\ntake their course? No, no; anything but that. Bath+\nsheba was full of a stimulating turbulence, beside which\ncaution vainly' prayed for a hearing. she turned back\ntowards the village.\nHer walk was slow, for she wished not to enter\nWeatherbury till the cottagers were in bed, and, par+\nticularly, till Boldwood was secure. Her plan was now\nto drive to Bath during the night, see Sergeant 'Troy in\nthe morning before he set out to come to her, bid him\nfarewell, and dismiss him: then to rest the horse\nthoroughly (herself to weep the while, she thought),\nstarting early the next morning on her return journey.\nBy this arrangement she could trot Dainty gently all\nthe day, reach\n \nLiddy at Yalbury in the evening, and\ncome home to Weatherbury with her whenever they\nchose -- so nobody would know she had been to Bath\nat all.\nSuch was Bathsheba's scheme. But in her topo+\ngraphical ignorance as a late comer to the place, slie\nmisreckoned the distance of her journey as not much\nmore than half what it really was. Her idea, however,\nshe proceeded to carry out, with what initial success we\nhave already seen.\n \nIN THE SUN -- A HARBINGER\nA WEEK passed, and there were no tidings of Bath+\nsheba; nor was there any explanation of her Gilpin's\nrig.\nThen a note came for Maryann, stating that the\nbusiness which had called her mistress to Bath still\ndetained her there; but that she hoped to return\nin the course of another week.\nAnother week passed. The oat-harvest began, and\nall the men were a-field under a monochromatic Lammas\nsky, amid the trembling air and short shadows of noon.\nIndoors nothing was to be heard save the droning of\nblue-bottle flies; out-of-doors the whetting of scythes\nand the hiss of tressy oat-ears rubbing together as their\nperpendicular stalks of amber-yellow fell heavily to each\nswath. Every drop of moisture not in the men's bottles\nand flagons in the form of cider was raining as perspira+\ntion from their foreheads and cheeks. Drought was\neverywhere else.\nThey were about to withdraw for a while into the\ncharitable shade of a tree in the fence, when Coggan\nsaw a figure in a blue coat and brass buttons running\nto them across the field.\n'I wonder who that is?' he said.\n'I hope nothing is wrong about mistress,' said\nMaryann, who with some other women was tying the\nbundles (oats being always sheafed on this farm), 'but\nan unlucky token came to me indoors this morning.\nl went to unlock the door and dropped the key, and it\nfell upon the stone floor and broke into two pieces.\nBreaking a key is a dreadful bodement. I wish mis'ess\nwas home.'\n''Tis Cain Ball,' said Gabriel, pausing from whetting\nhis reaphook.\nOak was not bound by his agreement to assist in the\ncorn-field; but the harvest month is an anxious time for\n \na farmer, and the corn was Bathsheba's, so he lent a\nhand.\n'He's dressed up in his best clothes,' said Matthew\nMoon. 'He hev been away from home for a few days,\nsince he's had that felon upon his finger; for 'a said,\nsince I can't work I'll have a hollerday.'\n 'A good time for one -- a\" excellent time,' said Joseph\nPoorgrass, straightening his back; for he, like some of\nthe others, had a way of resting a while from his labour\non such hot days for reasons preternaturally small; of\nwhich Cain Pall's advent on a week-day in his Sunday+\nclothes was one of the first magnitude. ''Twas a bad leg\nallowed me to read the Pilgrim's Progress, and Mark\nClark learnt AliFours in a whitlow.'\n'Ay, and my father put his arm out of joint to have\ntime to go courting,' said Jan Coggan, in an eclipsing\ntone, wiping his face with his shirt-sleeve and thrusting\nback his hat upon the nape of his neck.\nBy this time Cainy was nearing the group of harvesters,\nand was perceived to be carrying a large slice of bread\nand ham in one hand, from which he took mouthfuls\nas he ran, the other being wrapped in a bandage.\nWhen he came close, his mouth assumed the bell shape,\nand he began to cough violently.\n 'Now, Cainy!.' said Gabriel, sternly. 'How many\nmore times must I tell you to keep from running so fast\nwhen you be eating? You'll choke yourself some day,\nthat's what you'll do, Cain Ball.'\n 'Hok-hok-hok.! 'replied Cain. 'A crumb of my\nvictuals went the wrong way -- hok-hok!, That's what\n'tis, Mister Oak.! And I've been visiting to Bath\nbecause I had a felon on my thumb; yes, and l've\nseen -- ahok-hok!'\nDirectly Cain mentioned Bath, they all threw down\ntheir hooks and forks and drew round him. Un+\nfortunately the erratic crumb did not improve his\nnarrative powers, and a supplementary hindrance was\nthat of a sneeze, jerking from his pocket his rather large\nwatch, which dangled in front of the young man\npendulum-wise.\n \n 'Yes,' he continued, directing his thoughts to Bath\nand letting his eyes follow, 'l've seed the world at last\n -- yes -- and I've seed our mis'ess -- ahok-hok-hok ! '\n' Bother the boy! ' said Gabriel. ' Something is\nalways going the wrong way down your throat, so that\nyou can't tell what's necessary to be told.'\n\"Ahok !. there ! Please, Mister Oak, a gnat have\njust fleed into my stomach and brought the cough on\nagain !. '\n'Yes, that's just it. Your mouth is always open, you\nyoung rascal .! '\n''Tis terrible bad to have a gnat fly down yer throat,\npore boy !. ' said Matthew Moon.\n' Well, at Bath you saw -- -- ' prompted Gabriel.\n'I saw our mistress,' continued the junior shepherd,\n'and a sojer, walking along. And bymeby they got\ncloser and closer, and then they went arm-in-crook, like\ncourting complete -- hok-hok ! like courting complete --\nhok .! -- courting complete -- -- \" Losing the thread of his\nnarrative at this point simultaneously with his loss of\nbreath, their informant looked up and down the field\napparently for some clue to it. 'Well, I see our mis'ess\nand a soldier -- a-ha-a-wk .! '\nA HARBlNGER\n!Damn the boy !' said Gabriel.\n!'Tis only my manner, Mister Oak, if ye'll excuse it,'\nsaid Cain Ball, looking reproachfully at Oak, with eyes\ndrenched in their own dew.\n!Here's some cider for him -- that'll cure his throat,'\nsaid Jan Coggan, lifting a flagon of cider, pulling out\nthe cork, and applying the hole to Cainy's mouth;\nJoseph Poorgrass in the meantime beginning to think\napprehensively of the serious consequences that would\nfollow Cainy Ball's strangulation in his cough, and the\nhistory of his Bath adventures dying with him.\n\"For my poor self, I always say \"please God ' afore\nI do anything,' said Joseph, in an unboastful voice ; \" and\nso should you, Cain Ball. \"Tis a great safeguard, and\nmight perhaps save you from being choked to death\nsome day.'\nMr. Coggan poured the liquor with unstinted liber+\nality at the suffering Cain's circular mouth; half of it\nrunning down the\n \nside of the flagon, and half of what\nreached his mouth running down outside his throat,\nand half of what ran in going the wrong way, and being\ncoughed and sneezed around the persons of the gathered\nreapers in the form of a cider fog, which for a moment\nhung in the sunny air like a small exhalation.\n\"There's a great clumsy sneeze ! Why can't ye have\nbetter manners, you young dog ! ' said Coggan, with+\ndrawing the flagon.\n\"The cider went up my nose ! ' cried Cainy, as soon\nas he could speak; \"and now 'tis gone down my neck,\nand into my poor dumb felon, and over my shiny\nbuttons and all my best cloze ! '\n\"The poor lad's cough is terrible onfortunate,' said\nMatthew Moon. 'And a great history on hand, too.\nBump his back, shepherd.'\n\"'Tis my nater,' mourned Cain. \"Mother says I\nalways was so excitable when my feelings were worked\nup to a point!'\n\" True, true,' said Joseph Poorgrass. \"The Balls\nwere always a very excitable family. I knowed the\nboy's grandfather -- a truly nervous and modest man,\neven to genteel refinery. 'Twas blush, blush with him,\nalmost as much as 'tis with me -- not but that 'tis a\nfault in me !'\n\"Not at all, Master Poorgrass,' said Coggan. \" 'Tis\na very noble quality in ye.'\n\"Heh-heh ! well, I wish to noise nothing abroad --\nnothing at all,' murmured Poorgrass, diffidently. \" But\nwe be born to things -- that's true. Yet I would rather\nmy trifle were hid ; though, perhaps, a high nater is a\nlittle high, and at my birth all things were possible to\nmy Maker, and he may have begrudged no gifts....\nBut under your bushel, Joseph ! under your bushel with\n'ee ! A strange desire, neighbours, this desire to hide,\nand no praise due. Yet there is a Sermon on the\nMount with a calendar of the blessed at the head, and\ncertain meek men may be named therein.'\n\"Cainy's grandfather was a very clever man,' said\nMatthew Moon. \"Invented a' apple-tree out of his own\nhead, which is called by his name to this day -- the Early\nBall. You know 'em,\n \nJan ? A Quarrenden grafted on\na Tom Putt, and a Rathe-ripe upon top o' that again.\n'Tis trew 'a used to bide about in a public-house wi' a\n'ooman in a way he had no business to by rights, but\nthere -- 'a were a clever man in the sense of the term.'\n\" Now then,' said Gabriel, impatiently, \" what did you\nsee, Cain ? '\n\"I seed our mis'ess go into a sort of a park place,\nwhere there's seats, and shrubs and flowers, arm-in-crook\nwith a sojer,' continued Cainy, firmly, and with a dim\nsense that his words were very effective as regarded\nGabriel's emotions. \"And I think the sojer was\nSergeant Troy. And they sat there together for more\nthan half-an-hour, talking moving things, and she once\nwas crying a'most to death. And when they came out\nher eyes were shining and she was as white as a lily;\nand they looked into one another's faces, as far-gone\nfriendly as a man and woman can be.'\nGabriel's features seemed to get thinner. \" Well,\nwhat did you see besides ? '\n\" Oh, all sorts.\"\n\"White as a lily? You are sure 'twas she?\n\" Yes.\"\n\" Well, what besides ? '\n\"Great glass windows to the shops, and great clouds\nin the sky, full of rain, and old wooden trees in the\ncountry round.'\n\" You stun-poll! What will ye say next?' said\nCoggan.\n\" Let en alone,' interposed Joseph Poorgrass. \"The\nboy's maning is that the sky and the earth in the\nkingdom of Bath is not altogether different from ours\nhere. 'Tis for our good to gain knowledge of strange\ncities, and as such the boy's words should be suffered,\nso to speak it.'\n\" And the people of Bath,' continued Cain, \"never\nneed to light their fires except as a luxury, for the\nwater springs up out of the earth ready boiled for\nuse.'\n\" 'Tis true as the light,' testified Matthew Moon. ' I've\nheard other navigators say the same thing.'\n\" They drink nothing else there,' said Cain, ' and seem\nto enjoy it, to see how they swaller it down.'\n \n\"Well, it seems a barbarian practice enough to us,\nbut I daresay the natives think nothing o' it,' said\nMatthew.\n\"And don't victuals spring up as well as drink?'\nasked Coggan, twirling his eye.\n\"No-i own to a blot there in Bath -- a true blot.\nGod didn't proride 'em with victuals as well as (+\nand 'twas a drawback I couldn't get over at all.'\n\" Well, 'tis a curious place, to say the least,' observed\nMoon; \"and it must be a curious people that live\ntherein. '\n\"Miss Everdene and the soldier were walking about\ntogether, you say ? ' said Gabriel, returning to the\ngroup.\n\"Ay, and she wore a beautiful gold-colour silk\ngown, trimmed with black lace, that would have stood\nalone 'ithout legs inside if required. 'Twas a very\nwinsome sight; and her hair was brushed splendid.\nAnd when the sun shone upon the bright gown and his\nred coat -- my ! how handsome they looked. You\ncould see 'em all the length of the street.'\n\" And what then ? ' murmured Gabriel.\n\"And then I went into Griffin's to hae my boots\nhobbed, and then I went to Riggs's batty-cake shop,\nand asked 'em for a penneth of the cheapest and nicest\nstales, that were all but blue-mouldy, but not quite.\nAnd whilst I was chawing 'em down I walked on and\nseed a clock with a face as big as a baking trendle -- -- '\n\"But that's nothing to do with mistress ! '\n\"I'm coming to that, if you'll leave me alone, Mister\nOak ! ' remonstrated Cainy. \"If you excites me,\nperhaps you'll bring on my cough, and then I shan't be\nable to tell ye nothing.'\n\" Yes-iet him tell it his own way,' said Coggan.\nGabriel settled into a despairing attitude of patience,\nand Cainy went on : --\n\"And there were great large houses, and more\npeople all the week long than at Weatherbury club+\nwalking on White Tuesdays. And I went to grand\nchurches and chapels. And how the parson would pray !\nYes; he would kneel down and put up his hands\ntogether, and make the holy gold rings on his fingers\ngleam and twinkle in yer eyes, that he'd earned\nby praying so excellent well ! -- Ah yes, I wish I lived\nthere.'\n \n\"Our poor Parson Thirdly can't get no money to\nbuy such rings,' said Matthew Moon, thoughtfully.\n\"And as good a man as ever walked. I don't believe\npoor Thirdly have a single one, even of humblest tin or\ncopper. Such a great ornament as they'd be to him on\na dull a'ternoon, when he's up in the pulpit lighted by\nthe wax candles ! But 'tis impossible, poor man. Ah,\nto think how unequal things be.'\n\"Perhaps he's made of different stuff than to wear\n'em,' said Gabriel, grimly. ' Well, that's enough of this.\nGo on, Cainy -- quick.'\n' Oh -- and the new style of pa'sons wear moustaches\nand long beards,' continued the illustrious traveller,\n'and look like Moses and Aaron complete, and make\nwe fokes in the congregation feel all over like the\nchildren of Israel.'\n\"A very right feeling -- very,' said Joseph Poorgrass.\n\"And there's two religions going on in the nation\nnow -- High Church and High Chapel. And, thinks I,\nI'll play fair; so I went to High Church in the morning,\nand High Chapel in the afternoon.'\n' A right and proper boy,' said Joseph Poorgrass.\n\"Well, at High Church they pray singing, and worship\nall the colours of the rainbow; and at High Chapel they\npray preaching, and worship drab and whitewash only.\nAnd then-i didn't see no more of Miss Everdene at\nall.'\n'Why didn't you say so afore, then ? ' exclaimed Oak,\nwith much disappointment.\n' Ah,' said Matthew Moon, 'she'll wish her cake\ndough if so be she's over intimate with that man.'\n'She's not over intimate with him,' said Gabriel,\nindignantly.\n'She would know better,' said Coggan. \"Our\nmis'ess has too much sense under they knots of black\nhair to do such a mad thing.'\n\"You see, he's not a coarse, ignorant man, for he\nwas well brought up,' said Matthew, dubiously. \" 'Twas\nonly wildness that made him a soldier, and maids rather\nlike your man of sin.'\n\"Now, Cain Ball,' said Gabriel restlessly, \"can you\nswear in the most\n \nawful form that the woman you saw\nwas Miss Everdene ? '\n'Cain Ball, you be no longer a babe and suckling,'\nsaid Joseph in the sepulchral tone the circumstances\ndemanded, \"and you know what taking an oath is.\n'Tis a horrible testament mind ye, which you say and\nseal with your blood-stone, and the prophet Matthew\ntells us that on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind\nhim to powder. Now, before all the work-folk here\nassembled, can you swear to your words as the shep+\nherd asks ye ?'\n\" Please no, Mister Oak ! ' said Cainy, looking from\none to the other with great uneasiness at the spiritual\nmagnitude of the position. \"I don't mind saying 'tis\ntrue, but I don't like to say 'tis damn true, if that's\nwhat you mane.'\n'Cain, Cain, how can you ! ' asked Joseph sternly.\n\"You be asked to swear in a holy manner, and you\nswear like wicked Shimei, the son of Gera, who cursed\nas he came. Young man, fie ! '\n\"No, I don't ! 'Tis you want to squander a pore\nboy's soul, Joseph Poorgrass -- that's what 'tis ! ' said\nCain, beginning to cry. \"All I mane is that in common\ntruth 'twas Miss Everdene and Sergeant Troy, but in\nthe horrible so-help-me truth that ye want to make of\nit perhaps 'twas somebody else ! '\n'There's no getting at the rights of it,' said Gabriel,\nturning to his work.\n\"Cain Ball, you'll come to a bit of bread ! ' groaned\nJoseph Poorgrass.\nThen the reapers' hooks were flourished again, and\nthe old sounds went on. Gabriel, without making any\npretence of being lively, did nothing to show that he\nwas particularly dull. However, Coggan knew pretty\nnearly how the land lay, and when they were in a nook\ntogether he said --\n' Don't take on about her, Gabriel. What difference\ndoes it make whose sweetheart she is, since she can't be\nyours ? '\n\"That's the very thing I say to myself,' said Gabriel.\n\u0000 \nHOME AGAIN -- A TRICKSTER\nTHAT same evening at dusk Gabriel was leaning over\nCoggan's garden-gate, taking an up-and-down survey\nbefore retiring to rest.\nA vehicle of some kind was softly creeping along\nthe grassy margin of the lane. From it spread the\ntones of two women talking. The tones were natural\nand not at all suppressed. Oak instantly knew the\nvoices to he those of Bathsheba and Liddy.\nThe carriage came opposite and passed by. It was\nMiss Everdene's gig, and Liddy and her mistress were\nthe only occupants of the seat. Liddy was asking\nquestions about the city of Bath, and her companion\nwas answering them listlessly and unconcernedly. Both\nBathsheba and the horse seemed weary.\nThe exquisite relief of finding that she was here\nagain, safe and sound, overpowered all reflection, and\nOak could only luxuriate in the sense of it. All grave\nreports were forgotten.\nHe lingered and lingered on, till there was no\ndifference between the eastern and western expanses\nof sky, and the timid hares began to limp courageously\nround the dim hillocks. Gabriel might have been\nthere an additional half-hour when a dark form walked\nslowly by. \" Good-night, Gabriel,' the passer said.\nIt was Boldwood. \" Good-night, sir,' said Gabriel.\nBoldwood likewise vanished up the road, and Oak\nshortly afterwards turned indoors to bed.\nFarmer Boldwood went on towards Miss Everdene's\nhouse. He reached the front, and approaching the\nentrance, saw a light in the parlour. The blind was\nnot drawn down, and inside the room was Bathsheba,\nlooking over some papers or letters. Her back was\ntowards Boldwood. He went to the door,\n \nknocked,\nand waited with tense muscles and an aching brow.\nBoldwood had not been outside his garden since\nhis meeting with Bathsheba in the road to Yalbury.\nSilent and alone, he had remained in moody medita+\ntion on woman's ways, deeming as essentials of the\nwhole sex the accidents of the single one of their\nnumber he had ever closely beheld. By degrees a\nmore charitable temper had pervaded him, and this\nwas the reason of his sally to-night. He had come to\napologize and beg forgiveness of Bathsheba with some+\nthing like a sense of shame at his violence, having but\njust now learnt that she had returned -- only from a\nvisit to Liddy, as he supposed, the Bath escapade\nbeing quite unknown to him.\nHe inquired for Miss Everdene. Liddy's manner\nwas odd, but he did not notice it. She went in, leaving\nhim standing there, and in her absence the blind of the\nroom containing Bathsheba was pulled down. Bold+\nwood augured ill from that sign. Liddy came out.\n\"My mistress cannot see you, sir,' she said.\nThe farmer instantly went out by the gate. He\nas unforgiven -- that was the issue of it all. He had\nseen her who was to him simultaneously a delight and\na torture, sitting in the room he had shared with her\nas a peculiarly privileged guest only a little earlier in\nhe summer, and she had denied him an entrance\nthere now.\nBoldwood did not hurry homeward. It was ten\no'clock at least, when, walking deliberately through the\nlower part of Weatherbury, he heard the carrier's spring\nvan entering the village. The van ran to and from a\ntown in a northern direction, and it was owned and\ndriven by a Weatherbury man, at the door of whose\nhouse it now pulled up. The lamp fixed to the head\nof the hood illuminated a scarlet and gilded form, who\nwas the first to alight.\n'Ah ! ' said Boldwood to himself, \"come to see her\nagain.'\nTroy entered the carrier's house, which had been\nthe place of his lodging on his last visit to his native\nplace. Boldwood was moved by a sudden determina+\ntion. He hastened home. In ten minutes he was\nback again, and made as if he were going to call upon\nTroy at the carrier's. But as he approached, some\n \none opened the door and came out. He heard this\nperson say \" Good-night ' to the inmates, and the voice\nwas Troy's. 'This was strange, coming so immediately\nafter his arrival. Boldwood, however, hastened up\nto him. Troy had what appeared to be a carpet-bag\nin his hand -- the same that he had brought with him.\nIt seemed as if he were going to leave again this very\nnight.\nTroy turned up the hill and quickened his pace.\nBoldwood stepped forward.\n\" Sergeant Troy ? '\n\" Yes-i'm Sergeant Troy.'\n\" Just arrived from up the country, I think ?'\n\" Just arrived from Bath.'\n\" I am William Boldwood.'\n\" Indeed.'\nThe tone in which this word was uttered was all\nthat had been wanted to bring Boldwood to the\npoint.\n\" I wish to speak a word with you,' he said.\n\" What about ? '\n\" About her who lives just ahead there -- and about\na woman you have wronged.'\n\" I wonder at your impertinence,' said Troy, moving\non.\n\" Now look here,' said Boldwood, standing in front\nof him, \" wonder or not, you are going to hold a conver+\nsation with me.'\nTroy heard the dull determination in Boldwood's\nvoice, looked at his stalwart frame, then at the thick\ncudgel he carried in his hand. He remembered it was\npast ten o'clock. It seemed worth while to be civil to\nBoldwood.\n\" Very well, I'll listen with pleasure,' said Troy,\nplacing his bag on the ground, \"only speak low, for\nsomebody or other may overhear us in the farmhouse\nthere.'\n\" Well then -- I know a good deal concerning your\nFanny Robin's attachment to you. I may say, too, that\nI believe I am the only person in the village, excepting\nGabriel Oak, who does know it. You ought to marry\nher.'\n\" I suppose I ought. Indeed, l wish to, but I\ncannot.'\n\" Why ? '\nTroy was about to utter something hastily; he then\nchecked\n \nhimself and said, \"I am too poor.' His voice\nwas changed. Previously it had had a deviimay-care\ntone. It was the voice of a trickster now.\nBoldwood's present mood was not critical enough to\nnotice tones. He continued, \"I may as well speak\nplainly; and understand, I don't wish to enter into the\nquestions of right or wrong, woman's honour and shame,\nor to express any opinion on your conduct. I intend a\nbusiness transaction with you.'\n\" I see,' said Troy. \" Suppose we sit down here.'\nAn old tree trunk lay under the hedge immediately\nopposite, and they sat down.\nThe tone in which this word was uttered was all\nTroy heard the dull determination in Boldwood's\nvoice, looked at his stalwart frame, then at the thick\nplainly ; and understand, I don't wish to enter into the\n\" I was engaged to be married to Miss Everdene,'\nsaid Boldwood, \"but you came and -- -- '\n\" Not engaged,' said Troy.\n\" As good as engaged.'\n\" If I had not turned up she might have become en+\ngaged to you.'\n\" Hang might ! '\n\" Would, then.'\n\" If you had not come I should certainly -- yes,\ncertainly -- have been accepted by this time. If you had\nnot seen her you might have been married to Fanny.\nWell, there's too much difference between Miss Ever+\ndene's station and your own for this flirtation with her\never to benefit you by ending in marriage. So all I ask\nis, don't molest her any more. Marry Fanny.\nmake it worth your while.'\n\" How will you ?'\n\" I'll pay you well now, I'll settle a sum of money\nupon her, and I'll see that you don't suffer from poverty\nin the future. I'll put it clearly. Bathsheba is only\nplaying with you: you are too poor for her as I said;\nso give up wasting your time about a great match you'll\nnever make for a moderate and rightful match you may\nmake to-morrow; take up your carpet-bag, turn about,\nleave Weatherbury now, this night, and you shall take\nfifty pounds with you. Fanny shall have fifty to enable\nher to prepare for the wedding, when you have told me\nwhere she is living, and she shall have five hundred\npaid down on her wedding-day.'\n \nIn making this statement Boldwood's voice revealed\nonly too clearly a consciousness of the weakness of his\nposition, his aims, and his method. His manner had\nlapsed quite from that of the firm and dignified Bold+\nwood of former times; and such a scheme as he had\nnow engaged in he would have condemned as childishly\nimbecile only a few months ago. We discern a grand\nforce in the lover which helacks whilst a free man; but\nthere is a breadth of vision in the free man which in\nthe lover we vainly seek. Where there is much bias\nthere must be some narrowness, and love, though added\nemotion, is subtracted capacity. Boldwood exemplified\nthis to an abnormal degree: he knew nothing of Fanny\nRobin's circumstances or whereabouts, he knew nothing\nof Troy's possibilities, yet that was what he said.\n\" I like Fanny best,' said Troy; \"and if, as you say,\nMiss Everdene is out of my reach, why I have all to\ngain by accepting your money, and marrying Fan. But\nshe's only a servant.'\n\" Never mind -- do you agree to my arrangement ?'\n\" I do.'\n\" Ah ! ' said Boldwood, in a more elastic voice. \"O,\nTroy, if you like her best, why then did you step in here\nand injure my happiness ? '\n\" I love Fanny best now,' said Troy. \"But\nBathsh -- -- Miss Everdene inflamed me, and displaced\nFanny for a time. It is over now.'\n\" Why should it be over so soon? And why then\ndid you come here again ? '\n\" There are weighty reasons. Fifty pounds at once,\nyou said !'\n\" I did,' said Boldwood, \" and here they are -- fifty\nsovereigns.' He handed Troy a small packet.\n\" You have everything ready -- it seems that you\ncalculated on my accepting them,' said the sergeant,\ntaking the packet.\n\" I thought you might accept them,' said Boldwood.\n\" You've only my word that the programme shall be\nadhered to, whilst I at any rate have fifty pounds.'\n\" l had thought of that, and l have considered that\nif I can't appeal to your honour I can trust to your --\nwell, shrewdness we'll call it -- not to lose five hundred\npounds in prospect, and\n \nalso make a bitter enemy of a\nman who is willing to be an extremely useful friend.'\n\" Stop, listen ! ' said Troy in a whisper.\nA light pit-pat was audible upon the road just above\nthem.\n'By George -- 'tis she,' he continued. 'I must go\non and meet her.'\n'She -- who ? '\n'Bathsheba.'\n'Bathsheba -- out alone at this time o' night .! ' said\nBoldwood in amazement, and starting up. ' Why must\nyou meet her ?'\n'She was expecting me to-night -- and I must now\nspeak to her, and wish her good-bye, according to your\nwish. '\n'I don't see the necessity of speaking.'\n'It can do no harm -- and she'll be wandering about\nlooking for me if I don't. You shall hear all I say to her.\nIt will help you in your love-making when I am gone.'\n'Your tone is mocking.'\n'O no. And renaember this, if she does not know\nwhat has become of me, she will think more about me\nthan if I tell her flatly I have come to give her up.'\n'Will you confine your words to that one point ? -- +\nShall I hear every word you say ? '\n'Every word. Now sit still there, and hold my'\ncarpet bag for me, and mark what you hear.'\nThe light footstep came closer, halting occasionally,\nas if the walker listened for a sound. Troy whistled a\ndouble note in a soft, fluty tone.\n'Come to that, is it ! ' murmured Boldwood, uneasily.\n'You promised silence,' said Troy.\n'I promise again.'\nTroy stepped forward.\n'Frank, dearest, is that you ? ' The tones were\nBathsheba's.\n'O God .! ' said Boldwood.\n'Yes,' said Troy to her.\n'How late you are,' she continued, tenderly. 'Did\nyou come by the carrier ? I listened and heard his\nwheels entering the village, but it was some time ago,\nand I had almost given you up, Frank.'\n \n'I was sure to come,' said Frank. 'You knew I\nshould, did you not ? '\n'Well, I thought you would,' she said, playfully ;\n'and, Frank, it is so lucky .! There's not a soul in my\nhouse but me to-night. I've packed them all off so\nnobody on earth will know of your visit to your lady's\nbower. Liddy wanted to go to her grandfather's to\ntell him about her holiday, and I said she might stay\nwith them till to-morrow -- when you'll be gone again.'\n'Capital,' said Troy. ' But, dear me, I. had better\ngo back for my bag, because my slippers and brush and\ncomb are in it; you run home whilst I fetch it, and I'll\npromise to be in your parlour in ten minutes.'\n'Yes.' She turned and tripped up the hill again.\nDuring the progress of this dialogue there was a\nnervous twitching of Boldwood's tightly closed lips, and\nhis face became bathed in a clammy dew. He now\nstarted forward towards Troy. Troy turned to him and\ntook up the bag.\n'Shall I tell her I have come to give her up and\ncannot marry her ? ' said the soldier, mockingly.\n'No, no; wait a minute. I want to say more to\nyou -- more to you !. ' said Boldwood, in a hoarse whisper.\n'Now,' said Troy, ' you see my dilemma. Perhaps\nI am a bad man -- the victim of my impulses -- led away\nto do what I ought to leave undone. I can't, however,\nmarry them both. And I have two reasons for- choosing\nFanny. First, I like her best upon the whole, and\nsecond, you make it worth my while.'\nAt the same instant Boldwood sprang upon him, and\nheld him by the neck. Troy felt Boldwood's grasp slowly\ntightening. The move was absolutely unexpected.\n'A moment,' he gasped. 'You are injuring her you\nlove .! '\n'Well, what do you mean ? ' said the farmer.\nGive me breath,' said Troy.\nBoldwood loosened his hand, saying, 'By Heaven,\nI've a mind to kill you .!'\n'And ruin her.'\n'Save her.'\n'Oh, how can she be saved now, unless I marry her ? '\n \nBoldwood groaned. He reluctantly released the\nsoldier, and flung him back against the hedge. 'Devil,\nyou torture me .! ' said he.\nTroy rebounded like a ball, and was about to make\na dash at the farmer; but he checked himself, saying\nlightly --\n'It is not worth while to measure my strength with\nyou. Indeed it is a barbarous way of settling a quarrel.\nI shall shortly leave the army because of the same\nconviction. Now after that revelation of how the land\nlies with Bathsheba, 'twould be a mistake to kill me,\nwould it not?'\n''Twould be a mistake to kill you,' repeated Boldwood,\nmechanically, with a bowed head.\n'Better kill yourself.'\n' Far better.'\n'I'm glad you see it.'\n'Troy, make her your wife, and don't act upon what\nI arranged just now. The alternative is dreadful, but\ntake Bathsheba; I give her up .! She must love you\nindeed to sell soul and body to you so utterly as she\nhas done. Wretched woman -- deluded woman -- you\nare, Bathsheba .! '\n'But about Fanny ? '\n'Bathsheba is a woman well to do,' continued Bold+\nwood, in nervous anxiety, 'and, Troy, she will make a\ngood wife ; and, indeed, she is worth your hastening\non your marriage with her .! '\n'But she has a wili-not to say a temper, and I shall\nbe a mere slave to her. I could do anything with poor\nFanny Robin.'\n'Troy,' said Boldwood, imploringly, ' I'll do anything\nfor you, only don't desert her; pray don't desert her,\nTroy.'\n'Which, poor Fanny ? '\n'No ; Bathsheba Everdene. Love her best .! Love\nher tenderly !. How shall I get you to see how advan+\ntageous it will be to you to secure her at once ?'\n'I don't wish to secure her in any new way.'\nBoldwood's arm moved spasmodically towards Troy's\nperson again. He repressed the instinct, and his form\ndrooped as with pain.\nTroy went on --\n \n\"I shall soon purchase my discharge, and then -- -- '\n'But I wish you to hasten on this marriage !. It will\nbe better for you both. You love each other, and you\nmust let me help you to do it.'\n'How ? '\n'Why, by settling the five hundred on Bathsheba\ninstead of Fanny, to enable you to marry at once.\nNo ; she wouldn't have it of me. I'll pay it down to\nyou on the wedding-day.'\nTroy paused in secret amazement at Boldwood's\nwild infatuation. He carelessly said, 'And am I to\nhave anything now ? '\n'Yes, if you wish to. But I have not much additional\nmoney with me. I did not expect this; but all I have\nis yours.'\nBoldwood, more like a somnambulist than a wakeful\nman, pulled out the large canvas bag he carried by way\nof a purse, and searched it.\n'I have twenty-one pounds more with me,' he said.\n'Two notes and a sovereign. But before I leave you\nI must have a paper signed -- -- '\n'Pay me the money, and we'll go straight to her\nparlour, and make any arrangement you please to secure\nmy compliance with your wishes. But she must know\nnothing of this cash business.'\n' Nothing, nothing,' said Boldwood, hastily. 'Here\nis the sum, and if you'll come to my house we'll write\nout the agreement for the remainder, and the terms\nalso.'\n' First we'll call upon her.'\n'But why? Come with me to-night, and go with\nme to-morrow to the surrogate's.'\n'But she must be consulted; at any rate informed.'\n'Very well; go on.'\nThey went up the hill to Bathsheba's house. When\nthey stood at the entrance, Troy said, 'Wait here a\nmoment.' Opening the door, he glided inside, leaving\nthe door ajar.\nBoldwood waited. In two minutes a light appeared\nin the passage. Boldwood then saw that the chain\nhad been fastened across the door. Troy appeared\ninside, carrying a bedroom candlestick.\n \n'What, did you think I should break in ?' said\nBoldwood, contemptuously.\n'Oh, no; it is merely my humour to secure things.\nWill you read this a moment ? I'll hold the light.'\nTroy handed a folded newspaper through the slit\nbetween door and doorpost, and put the candle close.\n'That's the paragraph,' he said, placing his finger on\na line.\nBoldwood looked and read --\n'MARRIAGES.\n'On the 17th inst., at St. Ambrose's Church, Bath,\nby the Rev. G. Mincing, B.A., Francis Troy, only son\nof the late Edward Troy, Esq., H.D., of Weatherbury,\nand sergeant iith Dragoon Guards, to Bathsheba, only\nsurviving daughter of the late Mr, John Everdene, of\nCasterbridge.'\n'This may be called Fort meeting Feeble, hey,\nBoldwood ?' said Troy. A low gurgle of derisive\nlaughter followed the words.\nThe paper fell from Boldwood's hands. Troy\ncontinued --\n'Fifty pounds to marry Fanny, Good. Twenty-+\none pounds not to marry Fanny, but Bathsheba. Good.\nFinale : already Bathsheba's husband. Now, Boldwood,\nyours is the ridiculous fate which always attends inter+\nference between a man and his wife. And another\nword. Bad as I am, I am not such a villain as to\nmake the marriage or misery of any woman a matter\nof huckster and sale. Fanny has long ago left me.\ndon't know where she is. I have searched everywhere.\nAnother word yet. You say you love Bathsheba ; yet\non the merest apparent evidence you instantly believe\nin her dishonour. A fig for such love !. Now that I've\ntaught you a lesson, take your money back again.'\n'I will not ; I will not !. ' said Boldwood, in a hiss.\n'Anyhow I won't have it,' said Troy, contemptuously.\nHe wrapped the packet of gold in the notes, and threw\nthe whole into the road.\nBoldwood shook his clenched fist at him. 'You\njuggler of Satan .! You black hound .! But I'll punish\nyou yet ; mark me, I'll punish you yet !. '\n \nAnother peal of laughter. Troy then closed the\ndoor, and locked himself in.\nThroughout the whole of that night Boldwood's dark\ndowns of Weatherbury like an unhappy Shade in the\nMournful Fields by Acheron.\n \nCHAPTER XXXV\nAT AN UPPER WINDOW\nIT was very early the next morning -- a time of sun and\ndew. The confused beginnings of many birds' songs\nspread into the healthy air, and the wan blue of the\nheaven was here and there coated with thin webs of\nincorporeal cloud which were of no efect in obscuring\nday. All the lights in the scene were yellow as to\ncolour, and all the shadows were attenuated as to form.\nThe creeping plants about the old manor-house were\nbowed with rows of heavy water drops, which had upon\nobjects behind them the effect of minute lenses of high\nmagnifying power.\nJust before the clock struck five Gabriel Oak and\nCoggan passed the village cross, and went on together\nto the fields. They were yet barely in view of their\nmistress\"s house, when Oak fancied he saw the opening\nof a casement in one of the upper windows. The two\nmen were at this moment partially screened by an elder\nbush, now beginning to be enriched with black bunches\nof fruit, and they paused before emerging from its\nshade.\nA handsome man leaned idly from the lattice. He\nlooked east and then west, in the manner of one who\nmakes a first morning survey. The man was Sergeant\nTroy. His red jacket was loosely thrown on, but not\nbuttoned, and he had altogether the relaxed bearing of\na soldier taking his ease.\nCoggan spoke first, looking quietly at the window.\n'She has married him ! ' he said.\nGabriel had previously beheld the sight, and he now\nstood with his back turned, making no reply.\n'I fancied we should know something to-day,' con+\ntinued Coggan. 'I heard wheels pass my door just\nafter dark -- you were out somewhere.'He glanced\nround upon Gabriel. 'Good\n \nheavens above us, Oak,\nhow white your face is; you look like a corpse !.'\n'Do I?' said Oak, with a faint smile.\n'Lean on the gate: I'll wait a bit.'\n',All right, all right. '\nThey stood by the gate awhile, Gabriel listlessly\nstaring at the ground. His mind sped into the future,\nand saw there enacted in years of leisure the scenes o\nrepentance that would ensue from this work of haste\nThat they were married he had instantly decided. Why\nhad it been so mysteriously managed ? It had become\nknown that she had had a fearful journey to Bath, owing\nto her miscalculating the distance : that the horse had\nbroken down, and that she had been more than two\ndays getting there. It was not Bathsheba's way to do\nthings furtively. With all her faults, she was candour\nitself. Could she have been entrapped ? The union\nwas not only an unutterable grief to him: it amazed\nhim, notwithstanding that he had passed the preceding\nweek in a suspicion that such might be the issue of\nTroy's meeting her away from home. Her quiet return\nwith liddy had to some extent dispersed the dread.\nJust as that imperceptible motion which appears like\nstillness is infinitely divided in its properties from stili\nness itself, so had his hope undistinguishable from\ndespair differed from despair indeed.\nIn a few minutes they moved on again towards the\nhouse. The sergeant still looked from the window.\n'Morning, comrades .! ' he shouted, in a cheery voice,\nwhen they came up.\nCoggan replied to the greeting. ' Bain't ye going to\nanswer the man ?' he then said to Gabriel. 'I'd say\ngood morning -- you needn't spend a hapeth of meaning\nupon it, and yet keep the man civil.'\nGabriel soon decided too that, since the deed was\ndone, to put the best face upon the matter would be the\ngreatest kindness to her he loved.\n'Good morning, Sergeant Troy,' he returned, in a\nghastly voice.\n'A rambling, gloomy house this,' said Troy, smiling.\n \n' Why -- they may not be married .! ' suggested Coggan.\n' Perhaps she's not there.'\nGabriel shook his head. The soldier turned a little\ntowards the east, and the sun kindled his scarlet coat\nto an orange glow.\n'But it is a nice old house,' responded Gabriel.\n'Yes-i suppose so; but I feel like new wine in an\nold bottle here. My notion is that sash-windows should\nbe put throughout, and these old wainscoted walls\nbrightened up a bit ; or the oak cleared quite away, and\nthe walls papered.'\n'It would be a pity, I think.'\n'Well, no. A philosopher once said in my hearing\nthat the old builders, who worked when art was a living\nthing, had no respect for the work of builders who went\nbefore them, but pulled down and altered as they\nthought fit; and why shouldn't we ? ''Creation and\npreservation don't do well together,'' says he, ''and a\nmillion of antiquarians can't invent a style.'' My mind\nexactly. I am for niaking this place more modern, that\nwe may be cheerful whilst we can.'\nThe military man turned and surveyed the interior\nof the room, to assist his ideas of improvement in this\ndirection. Gabriel and Coggan began to move on.\n' Oh, Coggan,' said Troy, as if inspired by a recollec+\ntion ' do you know if insanity has ever appeared in Mr.\nBoldwood's family ? '\nJan reflected for a moment.\n'I once heard that an uncle of his was queer in his\nhead, but I don't know the rights o't,' he said.\n'It is of no importance,' said Troy, lightly. 'Well,\nI shall be down in the fields with you some time this\nweek ; but I have a few matters to attend to first. So\ngood-day to you. We shall, of course, keep on just as\nfriendly terms as usual. I'm not a proud man : nobody\nis ever able to say that of Sergeant Troy. However,\nwhat is must be, and here's half-a-crown to drink my\nhealth, men.'\nTroy threw the coin dexterously across the front plot\nand over the fence towards Gabriel, who shunned it in\nits fall, his face turning to an angry red. Coggan\ntwirled his eye, edged\n \nforward, and caught the money\nin its ricochet upon the road.\n' very weli-you keep it, Coggan,' said Gabriel with\ndisdain and almost fiercely. 'As for me, I'll do with+\nout gifts from him !'\n'Don't show it too much,' said Coggan, musingly.\n'For if he's married to her, mark my words, he'll buy\nhis discharge and be our master here. Therefore 'tis\nwell to say '' Friend '' outwardly, though you say\n''Troublehouse '' within. '\n' Weli-perhaps it is best to be silent; but I can't\ngo further than that. I can't flatter, and if my place\nhere is only to be kept by smoothing him down, my\nplace must be lost.'\nA horseman, whom they had for some time seen in\nthe distance, now appeared close beside them.\n' There's Mr. Boldwood,' said Oak. ' I wonder what\nTroy meant by his question.'\nCoggan and Oak nodded respectfully to the farmer,\njust checked their paces to discover if they were wanted,\nand finding they were not stood back to let him pass on.\nThe only signs of the terrible sorrow Boldwood had\nbeen combating through the night, and was combating\nnow, were the want of colour in his welidefined face,\nthe enlarged appearance of the veins in his forehead\nand temples, and the sharper lines about his mouth.\nThe horse bore him away, and the very step of the\nanimal seemed significant of dogged despair. Gabriel, for\na minute, rose above his own grief in noticing Boldwood's.\nHe saw the square figure sitting erect upon the horse,\nthe head turned to neither side, the elbows steady by\nthe hips, the brim of the hat level and undisturbed in\nits onward glide, until the keen edges of Boldwood's\nshape sank by degrees over the hill. To one who knew\nthe man and his story there was something more striking\nin this immobility than in a collapse. The clash of\ndiscord between mood and matter here was forced\npainfully home to the heart ; and, as in laughter there are\nmore dreadful phases than in tears, so was there in the\nsteadiness of this agonized man an expression deeper\nthan a cry.\n \nWEALTH IN JEOPARDY -- THE RVEEL\nONE night, at the end of August, when Bathsheba's\nexperiences as a married woman were still new, and\nwhen the weather was yet dry and sultry, a man stood\nmotionless in the stackyard of Weatherbury Upper\nFarm, looking at the moon and sky.\nThe night had a sinister aspect. A heated breeze\nfrom the south slowly fanned the summits of lofty\nobjects, and in the sky dashes of buoyant cloud were\nsailing in a course at right angles to that of another\nstratum, neither of them in the direction of the breeze\nbelow. The moon, as seen through these films, had\na lurid metallic look. The fields were sallow with the\nimpure light, and all were tinged in monochrome, as\nif beheld through stained glass. The same evening\nthe sheep had trailed homeward head to tail, the\nbehaviour of the rooks had heen confused, and the\nhorses had moved with timidity and caution.\nThunder was imminent, and, taking some secondary\nappearances into consideration, it was likely to be\nfollowed by one of the lengthened rains which mark\nthe close of dry weather for the season. Before twelve\nhours had passed a harvest atmosphere would be a\nbygone thing.\nOak gazed with misgiving at eight naked and un'\nprotected ricks, massive and heavy with the rich\nproduce of one-half the farm for that year. He went\non to the barn.\nThis was the night which had been selected by\nSergeant Troy -- ruling now in the room of his wife --\nfor giving the harvest supper and dance. As Oak\napproached the building the sound of violins and a\ntambourine, and the regular jigging of many feet, grew\nmore distinct. He came close to the large doors, one\nof which stood slightly ajar, and looked in.\nThe central space, together with the recess at one\nend, was\n \nemptied of all incumbrances, and this area,\ncovering about two-thirds of the whole, was appropriated\nfor the gathering, the remaining end, which was piled\nto the ceiling with oats, being screened off with sail'\ncloth. Tufts and garlands of green foliage decomted\nthe walls, beams, and extemporized chandeliers, and\nimmediately opposite to Oak a rostrum had been\nerected, bearing a table and chairs. Here sat three\nfiddlers, and beside them stood a frantic man with his\nhair on end, perspiration streaming down his cheeks,\nand a tanabourine quivering in his hand.\nThe dance ended, and on the black oak floor in the\nmidst a new row of couples formed for another.\n'Now, ma'am, and no offence I hope, I ask what\ndance you would like next ?' said the first violin.\n'Really, it makes no difference,' said the clear voice\nof Bathsheba, who stood at the inner end of the build+\ning, observing the scene from behind a table covered\nwith cups and viands. Troy was lolling beside her.\n'Then,' said the fiddler, 'I'll venture to name that\nthe right and proper thing is ''The Soldier's Joy'' --\nthere being a gallant soldier married into the farm --\nhey, my sonnies, and gentlemen all ? '\n'It shall be ''The Soldier's Joy,''' exclaimed a\nchorus.\n'Thanks for the compliment,' said the sergeant\nTHE REVEL\ngaily, taking Bathsheba by the hand and leading her\nto the top of the dance. 'For though I have pur+\nchased my discharge from Her Most Gracious Majesty's\nregiment of cavalry the 11th Dragoon Guards, to attend\nto the new duties awaiting me here, I shall continue a\nsoldier in spirit and feeling as long as I live.'\nSo the dance began. As to the merits of 'The\nSoldier's Joy,' there cannot be, and never were, two\nopinions. It has been observed in the musical circles\nof Weatherbury and its vicinity that this melody, at\nthe end of three-quarters of an hour of thunderous\nfooting, still possesses more stimulative properties for\nthe heel and toe than the majority of other dances at\ntheir first opening. 'The Soldier's Joy' has, too, an\nadditional charm, in being so admirably adapted to\nthe tambourine aforesaid -- no mean instrument in the\nhands of a performer\n \nwho understands the proper\nconvulsions, spasms, St. vitus's dances, and fearful\nfrenzies necessary when exhibiting its tones in their\nhighest perfection.\nThe immortal tune ended, a fine DD rolling forth\nfrom the bass-viol with the sonorousness of a cannonade,\nand Gabriel delayed his entry no longer. He avoided\nBathsheba, and got as near as possible to the platform,\nwhere Sergeant Troy was now seated, drinking brandy+\nand-water, though the others drank without exception\ncider and ale. Gabriel could not easily thrust himself\nwithin speaking distance of the sergeant, and he sent\na message, asking him to come down for a moment.\n'The sergeant said he could not attend.\n'Will you tell him, then,' said Gabriel, 'that I only\nstepped ath'art to say that a heavy rain is sure to fall\nsoon, and that something should be done to protect\nthe ricks ?'\n'M. Troy says it will not rain,' returned the\nmessenger, 'and he cannot stop to talk to you about\nsuch fidgets.'\nIn Juxtaposition with Troy, Oak had a melancholy\ntendency to look like a candle beside gas, and ill at\nease, he went out again, thinking he would go home ;\nfor, under the circumstances, he had no heart for the\nscene in the barn. At the door he paused for a\nmoment : Troy was speaking.\n'Friends, it is not only the harvest home that we\nare celebrating to-night; but this is also a Wedding\nFeast. A short time ago I had the happiness to lead\nto the altar this lady, your mistress, and not until now\nhave we been able to give any public flourish to the\nevent in Weatherbury. That it may be thoroughly\nwell done, and that every man may go happy to bed,\nI have ordered to be brought here some bottles of\nbrandy and kettles of hot water. A treble-strong\ngoblet will he handed round to each guest.'\nBathsheba put her hand upon his arm, and, with\nupturned pale face, said imploringly, ' No -- don't give\nit to them -- pray don't, Frank .! It will only do them\nharm : they have had enough of everything.'\n'True -- we don't wish for no more, thank ye,' said\none or two.\n'Pooh .! ' said the sergeant contemptuously, and\nraised his\n \nvoice as if lighted up by a new idea.\n' Friends,' he said, ' we'll send the women-folk home .!\n'Tis time they were in bed. Then we cockbirds will\nhave a jolly carouse to ourselves .! If any of the men\nshow the white feather, let them look elsewhere for a\nwinter's work.'\nBathsheba indignantly left the barn, followed by\nall the women and children. The musicians, not\nlooking upon themselves as ' company,' slipped quietly\naway to their spring waggon and put in the horse.\nThus Troy and the men on the farm were left sole\noccupants of the place. Oak, not to appear unneces+\nsarily disagreeable, stayed a little while ; then he, too,\narose and quietly took his departure, followed by a\nfriendly oath from the sergeant for not staying to a\nsecond round of grog.\nGabriel proceeded towards his home. In approach+\ning the door, his toe kicked something which felt and\nsounded soft, leathery, and distended, like a boxing+\nglove. It was a large toad humbly travelling across\nthe path. Oak took it up, thinking it might be better\nto kill the creature to save it from pain; but finding\nit uninjured, he placed it again among the grass. He\nknew what this direct message from the Great Mother\nmeant. And soon came another.\nWhen he struck a light indoors there appeared upon\nthe table a thin glistening streak, as if a brush of varnish\nhad been lightly dragged across it. Oak's eyes followed\nthe serpentine sheen to the other side, where it led up\nto a huge brown garden-slug, which had come indoors\nto-night for reasons of its own. It was Nature's second\nway of hinting to him that he was to prepare for foul\nweather.\nOak sat down meditating for nearly an hour.\nDuring this time two black spiders, of the kind common\nin thatched houses, promenaded the ceiling, ultimately\ndropping to the floor. This reminded him that if there\nwas one class of manifestation on this matter that he\nthoroughly understood, it was the instincts of sheep.\nHe left the room, ran across two or three fields towards\nthe flock, got upon a hedge, and looked over among\nthem.\nThey were crowded close together on the other side\naround some\n \nfurze bushes, and the first peculiarity ob+\nservable was that, on the sudden appearance of Oak's\nhead over the fence, they did not stir or run away.\nThey had now a terror of something greater than their\nterror of man. But this was not the most noteworthy\nfeature : they were all grouped in such a way that their\ntails, without a single exception, were towards that half\nof the horizon from which the storm threatened. There\nwas an inner circle closely huddled, and outside these\nthey radiated wider apart, the pattern formed by the\nflock as a whole not being unlike a vandyked lace\ncollar, to which the clump of furze-bushes stood in the\nposition of a wearer's neck.\nopinion. He knew now that he was right, and that\nTroy was wrong. Every voice in nature was unanimous\nin bespeaking change. But two distinct translations\nattached to these dumb expressions. Apparently there\nwas to be a thunder-storm, and afterwards a cold con+\ntinuous rain. The creeping things seemed to know all\nabout the later rain, hut little of the interpolated\nthunder-storm ; whilst the sheep knew all about the\nthunder-storm and nothing of the later rain.\nThis complication of weathers being uncommon,\nwas all the more to be feared. Oak returned to the\nstack-yard. All was silent here, and the conical tips of\nthe ricks jutted darkly into the sky. There were five\nwheat-ricks in this yard, and three stacks of barley.\nThe wheat when threshed would average about thirty\nquarters to each stack ; the barley, at least forty. Their\nvalue to Bathsheba, and indeed to anybody, Oak\nmentally estimated by the following simple calcula+\ntion : --\n5 x 30 = 150 quarters= 500fl.\n3 x 40=120 quarters= 250l.\nTotal . . 750l.\nSeven hundred and fifty pounds in the divinest form\nthat money can wear -- that of necessary food for man\nand beast : should the risk be run cf deteriorating this\nbulk of corn to less than half its value, because of the\ninstability of a woman ? 'Never, if I can prevent it.! '\nsaid Gabriel.\n \nSuch was the argument that Oak set outwardly before\nhim. But man, even to himself, is a palimpsest, having\nan ostensible writing, and another beneath the lines.\nIt is possible that there was this golden legend under\nthe utilitarian one: 'I will help to my last effort the\nwoman I have loved so dearly.'\nHe went back to the barn to endeavour to obtain\nassistance for covering the ricks that very\n \nnight. All\nwas silent within, and he would have passed on in the\nbelief that the party had broken up, had not a dim\nlight, yellow as saffron by contrast with the greenish\nwhiteness outside, streamed through a knot-hole in the\nfolding doors.\nGabriel looked in. An unusual picture met his\neye.\nThe candles suspended among the evergreens had\nburnt down to their sockets, and in some cases the\nleaves tied about them were scorched. Many of the\nlights had quite gone out, others smoked and stank,\ngrease dropping from them upon the floor. Here,\nunder the table, and leaning against forms and chairs\nin every conceivable attitude except the perpendicular, !'\nwere the wretched persons of all the work-folk, the hair\nof their heads at such low levels being suggestive of\nmops and brooms. In the midst of these shone red\nand distinct the figure of Sergeant Troy, leaning back\nin a chair. Coggan was on his back, with his mouth\nopen, huzzing forth snores, as were several others ; the\nunited breathings of the horizonal assemblage forming\na subdued roar like London from a distance. Joseph\nPoorgrass was curled round in the fashion of a hedge+\nhog, apparently in attempts to present the least possible\nportion of his surface to the air; and behind him was\ndimly visible an unimportant remnant of William Smali\nbury. The glasses and cups still stood upon the table,\na water-jug being overturned, from which a small rill,\nafter tracing its course with marvellous precision down\nthe centre of the long table, fell into the neck of the\nunconscious Mark Clark, in a steady, monotonous drip,\nlike the dripping of a stalactite in a cave.\nGabriel glanced hopelessly at the group, which, with\none or two exceptions, composed all the able-bodied\nmen upon the farm. He saw at once that if the ricks\nwere to be saved that night, or even the next morning,\nhe must save them with his own hands.\nA faint ' ting-ting ' resounded from under Coggan's\nwaistcoat. It was Coggan's watch striking the hour of\ntwo.\nOak went to the recumbent form of Matthew Moon,\nwho usually undertook the rough thatching of the home+\nstead, and shook him. The shaking was without effect.\nGabriel shouted in his ear, ' where's your thatching+\nbeetle and rick-stick and spars ? '\n' Under the staddles,' said Moon, mechanically, with\nthe unconscious promptness of a medium.\nGabriel let go his head, and it dropped upon the\nfloor like a bowl. He then went to Susan Tall's\nhusband.\n' where's the key of the granary ? '\nNo answer. The question was repeated, with the\nsame result. To be shouted to at night was evidently\nless of a novelty to Susan Tall's husband than to\nMatthew Moon. Oak flung down Tall's head into the\ncorner again and turned away.\nTo be just, the men were not greatly to blame for\nthis painful and demoralizing termination to the\nevening's entertainment. Sergeant Troy had so strenu+\nously insisted, glass in hand, that drinking should be\nthe bond of their union, that those who wished to refuse\nhardly liked to be so unmannerly under the circum+\nstances. Having from their youth up been entirely un+\naccustomed to any liquor stronger than cider or mild\nale, it was no wonder that they had succumbed, one\nand all, with extraordinary uniformity, after the lapse of\nabout an hour.\nGabriel was greatly depressed. This debauch boded\nill for that wilful and fascinating mistress whom the\nfaithful man even now felt within him as the embodi+\nment of all that was sweet and bright and hopeless.\nHe put out the expiring lights, that the barn might\nnot be endangered, closed the door upon the men in\ntheir deep and oblivious sleep, and went again into the\nlone night. A hot breeze, as if breathed from the\nparted lips of some dragon about to swallow the globe,\nfanned him from the south, while directly opposite in\nthe north rose a grim misshapen body of\n \ncloud, in the\nvery teeth of the wind. So unnaturally did it rise that\none could fancy it to be lifted by machinery from below.\nMeanwhile the faint cloudlets had flown back into the\nsouth-east corner of the sky, as if in terror of the large\ncloud, like a young brood gazed in upon by some\nmonster.\nGoing on to the village, Oak flung a small stone\nagainst the window of Laban Tall's bedroom, expecting\nSusan to open it ; but nobody stirred. He went round\nto the back door, which had been left unfastened for\nLaban's entry, and passed in to the foot of the stair+\ncase.\n'Mrs. Tall, I've come for the key of the granary,\nto get at the rick-cloths,' said Oak, in a stentorian\nvoice.\n'Is that you ? ' said Mrs. Susan Tall, half awake.\n' Yes,' said Gabriel.\n'Come along to bed, do, you drawlatching rogue --\nkeeping a body awake like this .'\n'It isn't Laban -- 'tis Gabriel Oak. I want the key\nof the granary.'\n'Gabriel. what in the name of fortune did you\npretend to be Laban for ?'\n' I didn't. I thought you meant -- -- '\n'yes you did !. what do you want here ?'\n'The key of the granary.'\n\"Take it then. 'Tis on the nail. People coming\ndisturbing women at this time of night ought -- -- '\nGabriel took the key, without waiting to hear the\nconclusion of the tirade. Ten minutes later his lonely\nfigure might have been seen dragging four large water+\nproof coverings across the yard, and soon two of these\nheaps of treasure in grain were covered snug -- two cloths\nto each. Two hundred pounds were secured. Three\nwheat-stacks remained open, and there were no more\ncloths. Oak looked under the staddles and found a\nfork. He mounted the third pile of wealth and began\noperating, adopting the plan of sloping the upper\nsheaves one over the other; and, in addition, filling\nthe interstices with the material of some untied sheaves.\nSo far all was well. By this hurried contrivance\nBathsheba's\n \nproperty in wheat was safe for at any rate\na week or two, provided always that there was not\nmuch wind.\nNext came the barley. This it was only possible to\nprotect by systematic thatching. Time went on, and\nthe moon vanished not to reappear. It was the\nfarewell of the ambassador previous to war. The\nnight had a haggard look, like a sick thing; and there\ncame finally an utter expiration of air from the whole\nheaven in the form of a slow breeze, which might have\nbeen likened to a death. And now nothing was heard\nin the yard but the dull thuds of the beetle which drove\nin the spars, and the rustle of thatch in the intervals.\nTHE STORM\n \nTHE STORM -- THE TWO TOGETHER\nA LIGHT flapped over the scene, as if reflected from\nphosphorescent wings crossing the sky, and a rumble\nfilled the air. It was the first move of the approaching\nstorm.\nThe second peal was noisy, with comparatively little\nvisible lightning. Gabriel saw a candle shining in Bath+\nsheba's bedroom, and soon a shadow swept to and fro\nupon the blind.\nThen there came a third flash. Manoeuvres of a\nmost extraordinary kind were going on in the vast\nfirmamental hollows overhead. The lightning now was\nthe colour of silver, and gleamed in the heavens like a\nmailed army. Rumbles became rattles. Gabriel from\nhis elevated position could see over the landscape at\nleast half-a-dozen miles in front. Every hedge, bush,\nand tree was distinct as in a line engraving. In a\npaddock in the same direction was a herd of heifers,\nand the forms of these were visible at this moment in\nthe act of galloping about in the wildest and maddest\nconfusion, flinging their heels and tails high into the air,\ntheir heads to earth. A poplar in the immediate fore+\nground was like an ink stroke on burnished tin. Then\nthe picture vanished, leaving the darkness so intense\nthat Gabriel worked entirely by feeling with his hands.\nHe had stuck his ricking-rod, or poniard, as it was\nindifferently called -- a long iron lance, polished by\nhandling -- into the stack, used to support the sheaves\ninstead of the support called a groom used on houses,\nA blue light appeared in the zenith, and in some in+\ndescribable manner flickered down near the top of the\nrod. It was the fourth of the larger flashes. A moment\nlater and there was a smack -- smart, clear, and short,\nGabriel felt his position to be anything but a safe one,\nand he resolved to descend.\nNot a drop of rain had fallen as yet. He wiped his\nweary brow, and looked again at the black forms of\nthe unprotected\n \nstacks. Was his life so valuable to\nhim after all? What were his prospects that he\nshould be so chary of running risk, when important\nand urgent labour could not be carried on without\nsuch risk ? He resolved to stick to the stack. How+\never, he took a precaution. Under the staddles was\na long tethering chain, used to prevent the escape of\nerrant horses. This he carried up the ladder, and\nsticking his rod through the clog at one end, allowed\nthe other end of the chain to trail upon the ground\nThe spike attached to it he drove in. Under the\nshadow of this extemporized lightning-conductor he\nfelt himself comparatively safe.\nBefore Oak had laid his hands upon his tools again\nout leapt the fifth flash, with the spring of a serpent\nand the shout of a fiend. It was green as an\nemerald, and the reverberation was stunning. What\nwas this the light revealed to him? In the open\nground before him, as he looked over the ridge of\nthe rick, was a dark and apparently female form.\nCould it be that of the only venturesome woman in\nthe parish -- Bathsheba ? The form moved on a step :\nthen he could see no more.\n\"Is that you, ma'am ? ' said Gabriel to the darkness.\n\"Who is there ?' said the voice of Bathsheba,\nTHE TWO TOGETHER\n\"Gabriel. I am on the rick, thatching.'\n\"O, Gabriel ! -- and are you ? I have come about\nthem. The weather awoke me, and I thought of the\ncorn. I am so distressed about it -- can we save it any+\nhow ? I cannot find my husband. Is he with you ?'\n\"He is not here.'\n\"Do you know where he is ?'\n\"Asleep in the barn.'\n\"He promised that the stacks should be seen to,\nand now they are all neglected ! Can I do anything\nto help ? Liddy is afraid to come out. Fancy finding\nyou here at such an hour ! Surely I can do something ? '\n\"You can bring up some reed-sheaves to me, one by\none, ma'am; if you are not afraid to come up the ladder\nin the dark,' said Gabriel. \"Every moment is precious\nnow, and that would save a good deal of time. It is\nnot very dark when the lightning has been gone a bit.'\n \n\"I'll do anything ! ' she said, resolutely. She instantly\ntook a sheaf upon her shoulder, clambered up close to\nhis heels, placed it behind the rod, and descended for\nanother. At her third ascent the rick suddenly brightened\nwith the brazen glare of shining majolica -- every knot\nin every straw was visible. On the slope in front of him\nappeared two human shapes, black as jet. The rick\nlost its sheen -- -the shapes vanished. Gabriel turned his\nhead. It had been the sixth flash which had come from\nthe east behind him, and the two dark forms on the\nslope had been the shadows of himself and Bathsheba.\nThen came the peal. It hardly was credible that\nsuch a heavenly light could be the parent of such a\ndiabolical sound.\n\"How terrible ! ' she exclaimed, and clutched him by\nthe sleeve. Gabriel turned, and steadied her on her\naerial perch by holding her arm. At the same moment,\nwhile he was still reversed in his attitude, there was\nmore light, and he saw, as it were, a copy of the tall\npoplar tree on the hill drawn in black on the wall of\nthe barn. It was the shadow of that tree, thrown across\nby a secondary flash in the west.\nThe next flare came. Bathsheba was on the ground\nnow, shouldering another sheaf, and she bore its dazzle\nwithout flinching -- thunder and ali-and again ascended\nwith the load. There was then a silence everywhere\nfor four or five minutes, and the crunch of the spars,\nas Gabriel hastily drove them in, could again be distinctly\nheard. He thought the crisis of the storm had passed.\nBut there came a burst of light.\n\"Hold on ! ' said Gabriel, taking the sheaf from her\nshoulder, and grasping her arm again.\nHeaven opened then, indeed. The flash was almost\ntoo novel for its inexpressibly dangerous nature to be\nat once realized, and they could only comprehend the\nmagnificence of its beauty. It sprang from east, west,\nnorth, south, and was a perfect dance of death. The\nforms of skeletons appeared in the air, shaped with\nblue fire for bones -- dancing, leaping, striding, racing\naround, and mingling altogether in unparalleled con+\nfusion. With these were intertwined undulating snakes of\ngreen, and behind these was a broad mass of lesser light.\nSimultaneously came from every part of the tumbling\n \nsky what may be called a shout ; since, though no shout\never came near it, it was more of the nature of a shout\nthan of anything eise earthly. In the meantime one of\nthe grisly forms had alighted upon the point of Gabriel's\nrod, to run invisibly down it, down the chain, and into\nthe earth. Gabriel was almost blinded, and he could\nfeel Bathsheba's warm arm tremble in his hand -- a\nsensation novel and thrilling enough ; but love, life,\neverything human, seemed small and trifling in such\nclose juxtaposition with an infuriated universe.\nOak had hardly time to gather up these impressions\ninto a thought, and to see how strangely the red feather\nof her hat shone in this light, when the tall tree on the\nhill before mentioned seemed on fire to a white heat,\nand a new one among these terrible voices mingled with\nthe last crash of those preceding. It was a stupefying\nblast, harsh and pitiless, and it fell upon their ears in a\ndead, flat blow, without that reverberation which lends\nthe tones of a drum to more distant thunder. By the\nlustre reflected from every part of the earth and from the\nwide domical scoop above it, he saw that the tree was\nsliced down the whole length of its tall, straight stem, a\nhuge riband of bark being apparently flung off. The\nother portion remained erect, and revealed the bared\nsurface as a strip of white down the front. The\nlightning had struck the tree. A sulphurous smell\nfilled the air; then all was silent, and black as a cave\nin Hinnom.\n\" We had a narrow escape ! ' said Gabriel, hurriedly.\n\" You had better go down.'\nBathsheba said nothing ; but he could distinctly hear\nher rhythmical pants, and the recurrent rustle of the\nsheaf beside her in response to her frightened pulsations.\nShe descended the ladder, and, on second thoughts, he\nfollowed her. The darkness was now impenetrable by\nthe sharpest vision. They both stood still at the\nbottom, side by side. Bathsheba appeared to think\nonly of the weather -- Oak thought only of her just then.\nAt last he said --\n\"The storm seems to have passed now, at any\nrate.'\n\" I think so too,' said Bathsheba. \" Though there\nare multitudes of gleams, look ! '\n \nThe sky was now filled with an incessant light,\nfrequent repetition melting into complete continuity, as\nan unbroken sound results from the successive strokes\non a gong.\n\" Nothing serious,' said he. \" I cannot understand\nno rain falling. But Heaven be praised, it is all the\nbetter for us. I am now going up again.'\n\" Gabriel, you are kinder than I deserve ! I will stay\nand help you yet. O, why are not some of the others\nhere ! '\n\" They would have been here if they could,' said Oak,\nin a hesitating way.\n'O, I know it ali-all,' she said, adding slowly :\n\" They are all asleep in the barn, in a drunken sleep, and\nmy husband among them. That's it, is it not ? Don't\nthink I am a timid woman and can't endure things.'\n\"I am not certain,' said Gabriel. 'I will go and see,'\nHe crossed to the barn, leaving her there alone. He\nlooked through the chinks of the door. All was in\ntotal darkness, as he had left it, and there still arose, as\nat the former time, the steady buzz of many snores.\nHe felt a zephyr curling about his cheek, and turned.\nIt was Bathsheba's breath -- she had followed him, and\nwas looking into the same chink.\nHe endeavoured to put off the immediate and pain+\nful subject of their thoughts by remarking gently, \"lf\nyou'll come back again, miss -- ma'am, and hand up a\nfew more; it would save much time.'\nThen Oak went back again, ascended to the top,\nstepped off the ladder for greater expedition, and went\non thatching. She followed, but without a sheaf\n\" Gabriel,' she said, in a strange and impressive voice.\nOak looked up at her. She had not spoken since\nhe left the barn. The soft and continual shimmer of\nthe dying lightning showed a marble face high against\nthe black sky of the opposite quarter. Bathsheba was\nsitting almost on the apex of the stack, her feet gathered\nup beneath her, and resting on the top round of the\nladder.\n\" Yes, mistress,' he said.\n \n\"I suppose you thought that when I galloped away\nto Bath that night it was on purpose to be married ?\"\n'I did at last -- not at first,' he answered, somewhat\nsurprised at the abruptness with which this new subject\nwas broached.\n\" And others thought so, too ? '\n\" Yes.'\n\"And you blamed me for it ?'\n\" Weli-a little.'\n\"I thought so. Now, I care a little for your good\nopinion, and I want to explain something-i have\nlonged to do it ever since I returned, and you looked so\ngravely at me. For if I were to die -- and I may die\nsoon -- it would be dreadful that you should always think\nmistakenly of me. Now, listen.'\nGabriel ceased his rustling.\n'I went to Bath that night in the full intention of\nbreaking off my engagement to Mr. Troy. It was owing\nto circumstances which occurred after I got there that\n -- that we were married. Now, do you see the matter\nin a new light?'\n\" I do -- somewhat.'\n\" I must, I suppose, say more, now that I have\nbegun. And perhaps it's no harm, for you are certainly\nunder no delusion that I ever loved you, or that I can\nhave any object in speaking, more than that object I\nhave mentioned. Well, I was alone in a strange city,\nand the horse was lame. And at last I didn't know\nwhat to do. I saw, when it was too late, that scandal\nmight seize hold of me for meeting him alone in that\nway. But I was coming away, when he suddenly said\nhe had that day seen a woman more beautiful than I,\nand that his constancy could not be counted on unless\nI at once became his.... And I was grieved and\ntroubled -- -- ' She cleared her voice, and waited a\nmoment, as if to gather breath. \" And then, between\njealousy and distraction, I married him ! ' she whispered\nwith desperate impetuosity.\nGabriel made no reply.\n\"He was not to blame, for it was perfectly true about\n -- about his seeing somebody else,' she quickly added.\n\"And now I don't wish for a single remark from you\nupon the subject --\n \nindeed, I forbid it. I only wanted\nyou to know that misunderstood bit of my history before\na time comes when you could never know it. -- You want\nsome more sheaves ? '\nShe went down the ladder, and the work proceeded.\nGabriel soon perceived a languor in the movements of\nhis mistress up and down, and he said to her, gently as\na mother --\n\"I think you had better go indoors now, you are\ntired. I can finish the rest alone. If the wind does\nnot change the rain is likely to keep off.'\n\"If I am useless I will go,' said Bathsheba, in a\nflagging cadence. 'But O, if your life should be lost !'\n\" You are not useless; but I would rather not tire\nyou longer. You have done well.'\n\"And you better ! ' she said, gratefully. ! Thank you\nfor your devotion, a thousand times, Gabriel ! Good+\nnight-i know you are doing your very best for me.'\nShe diminished in the gloom, and vanished, and he\nheard the latch of the gate fall as she passed through.\nHe worked in a reverie now, musing upon her story, and\nupon the contradictoriness of that feminine heart which\nhad caused her to speak more warmly to him to-night\nthan she ever had done whilst unmarried and free to\nspeak as warmly as she chose.\nHe was disturbed in his meditation by a grating\nnoise from the coach-house. It was the vane on the\nroof turning round, and this change in the wind was the\nsignal for a disastrous rain.\nRAIN\n \nRAIN -- ONE SOLITARY MEETS ANOTHER\nIT was now five o'clock, and the dawn was promising\nto break in hues of drab and ash.\nThe air changed its temperature and stirred itself\nmore vigorously. Cool breezes coursed in transparent\neddies round Oak's face. The wind shifted yet a point\nor two and blew stronger. In ten minutes every wind\nof heaven seemed to be roaming at large. Some of the\nthatching on the wheat-stacks was now whirled fantas+\ntically aloft, and had to be replaced and weighted with\nsome rails that lay near at hand. This done, Oak slaved\naway again at the barley. A huge drop of rain smote\nhis face, the wind snarled round every corner, the trees\nrocked to the bases of their trunks, and the twigs clashed\nin strife. Driving in spars at any point and on any\nsystem, inch by inch he covered more and more safely\nfrom ruin this distracting impersonation of seven hundred\npounds. 'The rain came on in earnest, and Oak soon felt\nthe water to be tracking cold and clammy routes down\nhis back. Ultimately he was reduced welinigh to a\nhomogeneous sop, and the dyes of his clothes trickled\ndown and stood in a pool at the foot of the ladder.\nThe rain stretched obliquely through the dull atmo+\nsphere in liquid spines, unbroken in continuity between\ntheir beginnings in the clouds and their points in him.\nOak suddenly remembered that eight months before\nthis time he had been fighting against fire in the same\nspot as desperately as he was fighting against water\nnow -- and for a futile love of the same woman. As for\nher -- -- But Oak was generous and true, and dis+\nmissed his reflections.\nIt was about seven o'clock in the dark leaden\nmorning when Gabriel came down from the last stack,\nand thankfully exclaimed, \"It is done .! ' He was\n \ndrenched, weary, and sad, and yet not so sad as drenched\nand weary, for he was cheered by a sense of success in\na good cause.\nFaint sounds came from the barn, and he looked\nthat way. Figures stepped singly and in pairs through\nthe doors -- all walking awkwardly, and abashed, save\nthe foremost, who wore a red jacket, and advanced\nwith his hands in his pockets, whistling. The others\nshambled after with a conscience-stricken air : the whole\nprocession was not unlike Flaxman's group of the suitors\ntottering on towards the infernal regions under the\nconduct of Mercury. The gnarled shapes passed into\nthe village, Troy, their leader, entering the farmhouse.\nNot a single one of them had turned his face to the\nricks, or apparently bestowed one thought upon their\ncondition.\nSoon Oak too went homeward, by a different route\nfrom theirs. In front of him against the wet glazed\nsurface of the lane he saw a person walking yet more\nslowly than himself under an umbrella. The man\nturned and plainly started; he was Boldwood.\n\" How are you this morning, sir ?' said Oak.\n\"Yes, it is a wet day. -- Oh, I am well, very well, I\nthank you ; quite well.'\n\"I am glad to hear it, sir.'\nBoldwood seemed to awake to the present by degrees.\n\" You look tired and ill, Oak,' he said then, desultorily\nregarding his companion.\n\" I am tired. You look strangely altered, sir.'\n\"I? Not a bit of it : I am well enough. What put\nthat into your head ?'\n\"I thought you didn't look quite so topping as you\nused to, that was all.'\n\" Indeed, then you are mistaken,' said Boldwood,\nshortly. \"Nothing hurts me. My constitution is an\niron one.'\n\"I've been working hard to get our ricks covered,\nand was barely in time. Never had such a struggle in\nmy life.... Yours of course are safe, sir.'\n\" O yes.' Boldwood added, after an interval of\nsilence : \" What did you ask, Oak ? '\n\" Your ricks are all covered before this time ? '\n \n\"No.'\n\" At any rate, the large ones upon the stone staddles ?'\n\" They are not.'\n\"Them under the hedge ?'\n\" No. I forgot to tell the thatcher to set about it.'\n\" Nor the little one by the stile ?'\n\"Nor the little one by the stile. I overlooked the\nricks this year.'\n'Then not a tenth of your corn will come to measure,\nsir.'\n\" Possibly not.\n\" Overlooked them,' repeated Gabriel slowly to him+\nself. It is difficult to describe the intensely dramatic\neffect that announcement had upon Oak at such a\nmoment. All the night he had been feeling that the\nneglect he was labouring to repair was abnormal and\nisolated -- the only instance of the kind within the circuit\nof the county. Yet at this very time, within the same\nparish, a greater waste had been going on, uncomplained\nof and disregarded. A few months earlier Boldwood's\nforgetting his husbandry would have been as preposter+\nous an idea as a sailor forgetting he was in a ship. Oak\nwas just thinking that whatever he himself might have\nsuffered from Bathsheba's marriage, here was a man\nwho had suffered more, when Boldwood spoke in a\nchanged voice -- that of one who yearned to make a\nconfidence and relieve his heart by an outpouring.\n\"Oak, you know as well as I that things have gone\nwrong with me lately. I may as well own it. I was\ngoing to get a little settled in life; but in some way my\nplan has come to nothing.'\n\"I thought my mistress would have married you,'\nsaid Gabriel, not knowing enough of the full depths of\nBoldwood's love to keep silence on the farmer's account,\nand determined not to evade discipline by doing so on\nhis own. 'However, it is so sometimes, and nothing\nhappens that we expect,' he added, with the repose of\na man whom misfortune had inured rather than sub+\ndued.\n'I daresay I am a joke about the parish,' said Bold+\nwood, as if the subject came irresistibly to his tongue,\nand with a miserable lightness meant to express his\nindifference.\n \n\" O no -- I don't think that.'\n -- But the real truth of the matter is that there was\nnot, as some fancy, any jilting on -- her part. No\nengagement ever existed between me and Miss Ever+\ndene. People say so, but it is untrue: she never\npromised me .! ' Boldwood stood still now and turned\nhis wild face to Oak. 'O, Gabriel,' he continued, \"I\nam weak and foolish, and I don't know what, and I\ncan't fend off my miserable grief ! ... I had some faint\nbelief in the mercy of God till I lost that woman. Yes,\nHe prepared a gourd to shade me, and like the prophet\nI thanked Him and was glad. But the next day He\nprepared a worm to smite the gourd and wither it; and\nI feel it is better to die than to live.!\"\nA silence followed. Boldwood aroused himself from\nthe momentary mood of confidence into which he had\ndrifted, and walked on again, resuming his usual reserve,\n\" No, Gabriel,' he resumed, with a carelessness which\nwas like the smile on the countenance of a skull: \"it\nwas made more of by other people than ever it was by\nus. I do feel a little regret occasionally, but no woman\never had power over me for any length of time. Well,\ngood morning ; I can trust you not to mention to others\nwhat has passed between us two here.'\n \nCOMING HOME -- A CRY\nON the turnpke road, between Casterbridge and\nWeatherbury, and about three miles from the former\nwhich pervade the highways of this undulating part of\nSouth Wessex. I returning from market it is usual\nfor the farmers and other gig-gentry to alight at the\nbottom and walk up.\nOne Saturday evening in the month of October\nBathsheba's vehicle was duly creeping up this incline.\nShe was sitting listlessly in the second seat of the gig,\nwhilst walking beside her in farmer's marketing suit\nof unusually fashionable cut was an erect, welimade\nyoung man. Though on foot, he held the reins and\nwhip, and occasionally aimed light cuts at the horse's\near with the end of the lash, as a recreation. This\nman was her husband, formerly Sergeant Troy, who,\nhaving bought his discharge with Bathsheba's money,\nwas gradually transforming himself into a farmer of a\nspirited and very modern school. People of unalter+\nable ideas still insisted upon calling him 'Sergeant'\nwhen they met him, which was in some degree owing\nto his having still retained the welishaped moustache\nof his military days, and the soldierly bearing insepar+\nable from his form and training.\n\"Yes, if it hadn't been for that wretched rain I\nshould have cleared two hundred as easy as looking,\nmy love,' he was saying. \"Don't you see, it altered\nall the chances? To speak like a book I once read,\nwet weather is the narrative, and fine days are the\nepisodes, of our country's history; now, isn't that\ntrue?'\n' But the time of year is come for changeable weather.'\n\"Well, yes. The fact is, these autumn races are the\nruin of everybody. Never did I see such a day as 'twas .!\n'Tis a wild open place, just out of Budmouth, and a\ndrab sea rolled in\n \ntowards us like liquid misery. Wind\nand rain -- good Lord !. Dark ? Why, 'twas as black\nas my hat before the last race was run. 'Twas five\no'clock, and you couldn't see the horses till they were\nalmost in, leave alone colours. The ground was as\nheavy as lead, and all judgment from a fellow's experi+\nence went for nothing. Horses, riders, people, were\nall blown about like ships at sea. Three booths were\nblown over, and the wretched folk inside crawled out\nupon their hands and knees; and in the next field\nwere as many as a dozen hats at one time. Aye,\nPimpernel regularly stuck fast, when about sixty yards\noff, and when I saw Policy stepping on, it did knock\nmy heart against the lining of my ribs, I assure you,\nmy love.!'\n\" And you mean, Frank,' said Bathsheba, sadly --\nher voice was painfully lowered from the fulness and\nvivacity of the previous summer -- \"that you have lost\nmore than a hundred pounds in a month by this\ndreadful horse-racing ? O, Frank, it is cruel; it is\nfoolish of you to take away my money so. We shall\nhave to leave the farm; that will be the end of it !.'\n' Humbug about cruel. Now, there 'tis again --\nturn on the waterworks ; that's just like you.'\n\"But you'll promise me not to go to Budmouth\nsecond meeting, won't you ? ' she implored. Bathsheba\nwas at the full depth for tears, but she maintained a\ndry eye.\n\"I don't see why I should; in fact, if it turns out to\nbe a fine day, I was thinking of taking you.'\n\"Never, never.! I'll go a hundred miles the other\nway first. I hate the sound of the very word.!'\n\"But the question of going to see the race or staying\nat home has very little to do with the matter. Bets are\nall booked safely enough before the race begins, you\nmay depend. Whether it is a bad race for me or a\ngood one, will have very little to do with our going\nthere next Monday.'\n\"But you don't mean to say that you have risked\nanything on this one too .! ' she exclaimed, with an\nagonized look.\n\"There now, don't you be a little fool. Wait till you\nare told. Why, Bathsheba, you have lost all the pluck\nand sauciness you formerly had, and upon my life if I\nhad known what a\n \nchicken-hearted creature you were\nunder all your boldness, I'd never have-i know what.'\nA flash of indignation might have been seen in\nBathsheba's dark eyes as she looked resolutely ahead\nafter this reply. They moved on without further\nspeech, some early-withered leaves from the trees which\nhooded the road at this spot occasionally spinning\ndownward across their path to the earth.\nA woman appeared on the brow of the hill. The\nridge was in a cutting, so that she was very near the\nhusband and wife before she became visible. Troy had\nturned towards the gig to remount, and whilst putting\nhis foot on the step-the woman passed behind him.\nThough the overshadowing trees and the approach\nof eventide enveloped them in gloom, Bathsheba could\nsee plainly enough to discern the extreme poverty of\nthe woman's garb, and the sadness of her face.\n\"Please, sir, do you know at what time Casterbridge\nUnion-house closes at night ? '\nA CRY\nThe woman said these words to Troy over his\nshoulder.\nTroy started visibly at the sound of the voice; yet\nhe seemed to recover presence of mind sufficient to\nprevent himself from giving way to his impulse to\nsuddenly turn and face her. He said, slowly --\n\" I don't know.\"\nThe woman, on hearing him speak, quickly looked\nup, examined the side of his face, and recognized the\nsoldier under the yeoman's garb. Her face was drawn\ninto an expression which had gladness and agony both\namong its elements. She uttered an hysterical cry,\nand fell down.\n\" O, poor thing.!' exclaimed Bathsheba, instantly\npreparing to alight.\n\"Stay where you are, and attend to the horse!'\nsaid Troy, peremptorily throwing her the reins and\nthe whip. \"Walk the horse to the top: I'll see to\nthe woman.'\n\" But i -- -'\n\" Do you hear? Clk -- Poppet.!'\n \nThe horse, gig, and Bathsheba moved on.\n\"How on earth did you come here? I thought\nyou were miles away, or dead.! Why didn't you\nwrite to me?' said Troy to the woman, in a strangely\ngentle, yet hurried voice, as he lifted her up.\n\" I feared to.\"\n'Have you any money?'\n\"None.\"\n\"Good Heaven -- I wish I had more to give you!.\nHere's -- wretched -- the merest trifle. It is every\nfarthing I have left. I have none but what my wife\ngives me, you know, and I can't ask her now.'\nThe woman made no answer.\n\"I have only another moment,' continued Troy;\n'and now listen. Where are you going to-night?\nCasterbridge Union?'\n\"Yes; I thought to go there.'\n\" You shan't go there; yet, wait. Yes, perhaps for\nto-night ; I can do nothing better -- worse luck.! Sleep\nthere to-night, and stay there to-morrow. Monday is\nthe first free day I have; and on Monday morning,\nat ten exactly, meet me on Grey's Bridge just out of the\ntown. I'll bring all the money I can muster. You\nshan't want-i'll see that, Fanny; then I'll get you a\nlodging somewhere. Good-bye till then. I am a brute\n -- but good-bye.!'\nAfter advancing the distance which completed the\nascent of the hill, Bathsheba turned her head. The\nwoman was upon her feet, and Bathsheba saw her\nwithdrawing from Troy, and going feebly down the\nhill by the third milestone from Casterbridge. Troy\nthen came on towards his wife, stepped into the gig,\ntook the reins from her hand, and without making any\nobservation whipped the horse into a trot. He was\nrather agitated.\n\"Do you know who that woman was?' said Bath+\nsheba, looking searchingly into his face.\n\"I do,' he said, looking boldly back into hers.\n\"I thought you did,' said she, with angry hauteur,\nand still regarding him. \" Who is she?'\n \nHe suddenly seemed to think that frankness would\nbenefit neither of the women.\n'Nothing to either of us,' he said. \"I know her\nby sight.\"\n'What is her name?'\n\"How should I know her name ?'\n\"I think you do.'\n\"Think if you will, and be -- -- \" The sentence was\ncompleted by a smart cut of the whip round Poppet's\nflank, which caused the animal to start forward at a\nwild pace. No more was said.\nON CASTERBRIDGE HIGHWAY\n \nFOR a considerable time the woman walked on. Her\nsteps became feebler, and she strained her eyes to look\nafar upon the naked road, now indistinct amid the\npenumbrae of night. At length her onward walk\ndwindled to the merest totter, and she opened a gate\nwithin which was a haystack. Underneath this she sat\ndown and presently slept.\nWhen the woman awoke it was to find herself in the\ndepths of a moonless and starless night. A heavy un+\nbroken crust of cloud stretched across the sky, shutting\nout every speck of heaven ; and a distant halo which\nhung over the town of Casterbridge was visible against\nthe black concave, the luminosity appearing the\nbrighter by its great contrast with the circumscribing\ndarkness. Towards this weak, soft glow the woman\nturned her eyes.\n\"If I could only get there.!' she said. \"Meet him\nthe day after to-morrow: God help me! Perhaps I\nshall be in my grave before then.'\nA manor-house clock from the far depths of shadow\nstruck the hour, one, in a small, attenuated tone. After\nmidnight the voice of a clock seems to lose in breadth\nas much as in length, and to diminish its sonorousness\nto a thin falsetto.\nAfterwards a light -- two lights -- arose frona the re+\nmote shade, and grew larger. A carriage rolled along\nthe toad, and passed the gate. It probably contained\nsome late diners-out. The beams from one lamp shone\nfor a moment upon the crouching woman, and threw\nher face into vivid relieff. The face was young in the\ngroundwork, old in the finish ; the general contours\nwere flexuous and childlike, but the finer lineaments\nhad begun to be sharp and thin.\nThe pedestrian stood up, apparently with revived\ndetermination, and looked around. The road appeared\nto be\n \nfamiliar to her, and she carefully scanned the fence\nas she slowly walked along. Presently there became\nvisible a dim white shape; it was another milestone.\nShe drew her fingers across its face to feel the marks.\n\"Two more!' she said.\nShe leant against the stone as a means of rest for a\n short interval, then bestirred herself, and again pursued\nher way. For a slight distance she bore up bravely,\nafterwards flagging as before. This was beside a lone\ncopsewood, wherein heaps of white chips strewn upon\nthe leafy ground showed that woodmen had been\nfaggoting and making hurdles during the day. Now\nthere was not a rustle, not a breeze, not the faintest\nclash of twigs to keep her company. The woman\nlooked over the gat, opened it, and went in. Close\nto the entrance stood a row of faggots, bound and un+\nbound, together with stakes of all sizes.\nFor a few seconds the wayfarer stood with that tense\nstillness which signifies itself to be not the end but\nmerely the suspension, of a previous motion. Her\nattitude was that of a person who listens, either to the\nexternal world of sound, or to the imagined discourse of\nthought. A close criticism might have detected signs\nproving that she was intent on the latter alternative.\nMoreover, as was shown by what followed, she was\noddly exercising the faculty of invention upon the spe+\nciality of the clever Jacquet Droz, the designer of auto+\nmatic substitutes for human limbs.\nBy the aid of the Casterbridge aurora, and by feeling\nwith her hands, the woman selected two sticks from the\nheaps. These sticks were nearly straight to the height\nof three or four feet, where each branched into a fork\nlike the letter Y. She sat down, snapped off the small\nupper twigs, and carried the remainder with her into\nthe road. She placed one of these forks under each\narm as a crutch, tested them, timidly threw her whole\nweight upon them -- so little that it was -- and swung\nherself forward. The girl had made for herself a\nmaterial aid.\nThe crutches answered well. The pat of her feet,\nand the tap of her sticks upon the highway, were all the\nsounds that\n \ncame from the traveller now. She had\npassed the last milestone by a good long distance, and\nbegan to look wistfully towards the bank as if calculating\nupon another milestone soon. The crutches, though\nso very useful, had their limits of power. Mechanism\nonly transfers labour, being powerless to supersede it,\nand the original amount of exertion was not cleared\naway; it was thrown into the body and arms. She was\nexhausted, and each swing forward became fainter. At\nlast she swayed sideways, and fell.\nHere she lay, a shapeless heap, for ten minutes and\nmore. The morning wind began to boom dully over\nthe flats, and to move afresh dead leaves which had\nlain still since yesterday. The woman desperately\nturned round upon her knees, and next rose to her\nfeet. Steadying herself by the help of one crutch, she\nessayed a step, then another, then a third, using the\ncrutches now as walking-sticks only. Thus she pro+\ngressed till descending Mellstock Hill another milestone\nappeared, and soon the beginning of an iron-railed fence\ncame into view. She staggered across to the first post,\nclung to it, and looked around.\nThe Casterbridge lights were now individually visible,\nIt was getting towards morning, and vehicles might be\nhoped for, if not expected soon. She listened. There\nwas not a sound of life save that acme and sublimation\nof all dismal sounds, the hark of a fox, its three hollow\nnotes being rendered at intervals of a minute with the\nprecision of a funeral bell.\nLess than a mile.!' the woman murmured. \"No;\nmore,' she added, after a pause. 'The mile is to the\ncounty hall, and my resting-place is on the other side\nCasterbridge. A little over a mile, and there I am! '\nAfter an interval she again spoke. \"Five or six steps to\na yard -- six perhaps. I have to go seventeen hundred\nyards. A hundred times six, six hundred. Seventeen\ntimes that. O pity me, Lord.!'\nHolding to the rails, she advanced, thrusting one\nhand forward upon the rail, then the other, then leaning\nover it whilst she dragged her feet on beneath.\nThis woman was not given to soliloquy; but ex,\ntremity of feeling lessens the individuality of the weak,\nas it increases\n \nthat of the strong. She said again in the\nsame tone, \"I'll believe that the end lies five posts for+\nward, and no further, and so get strength to pass them.'\nThis was a practical application of the principle that\na half-feigned and fictitious faith is better than no faith\nat all.\nShe passed five posts and held on to the fifth.\n\"I'll pass five more by believing my longed-for spot\nis at the next fifth. I can do it.'\nshe passed five more.\n\"It lies only five further.'\nshe passed five more.\n\"But it is five further.'\nShe passed them.\n'That stone bridge is the end of my journey,' she\nsaid, when the bridge over the Froom was in view.\nShe crawled to the bridge. During the effort each\nbreath of the woman went into the air as if never to\nreturn again.\n\"Now for the truth of the matter,' she said, sitting\ndown. \"The truth is, that I have less than half a mile.'\nSelf-beguilement with what she had known all the time\nto be false had given her strength to come over half\na mile that she would have been powerless to face in\nthe lump. The artifice showed that the woman, by\nsome mysterious intuition, had grasped the paradoxical\ntruth that blindness may operate more vigorously than\nprescience, and the short-sighted effect more than the\nfar-seeing ; that limitation, and not comprehensiveness,\nis needed for striking a blow.\nThe half-mile stood now before the sick and weary\nwoman like a stolid Juggernaut. It was an impassive\nKing of her world. The road here ran across Durnover\nMoor, open to the road on either side. She surveyed\nthe wide space, the lights, herself, sighed, and lay down\nagainst a guard-stone of the bridge.\nNever was ingenuity exercised so sorely as the\ntraveller here exercised hers. Every conceivable aid,\nm&thod, stratagem, mechanism, by which these last\ndesperate eight hundred yards could be overpasscd by a\nhuman being unperceived, was revolved in her busy\nbrain, and dismissed as impracticable. She thought of\n \nsticks, wheels, crawling -- she even thought of rolling.\nBut the exertion demanded by either of these latter two\nwas greater than to walk erect. The faculty of con+\ntrivance was worn out, Hopelessness had come at\nlast.\n\" No further.!' she whispered, and closed her eyes.\nFrom the stripe of shadow on the opposite side of\nthe bridge a portion of shade seemed to detach itself\nand move into isolation upon the pale white of the road.\nIt glided noiselessly towards the recumbent woman.\nShe became conscious of something touching her\nhand; it was softness and it was warmth. She\nopened her eye's, and the substance touched her face.\nA dog was licking her cheek.\nHe was huge, heavy, and quiet creature, standing\ndarkly against the low horizon, and at least two feet\nhigher than the present position of her eyes. Whether\nNewfoundland, mastiff, bloodhound, or what not, it was\nimpossible to say. He seemed to be of too strange and\nmysterious a nature to belong to any variety among those\nof popular nomenclature. Being thus assignable to no\nbreed, he was the ideal embodiment of canine greatness\n -- a generalization from what was common to all. Night,\nin its sad, solemn, and benevolent aspect, apart from its\nstealthy and cruel side, was personified in this form\nDarkness endows the small and ordinary ones among\nmankind with poetical power, and even the suffering\nwoman threw her idea nto figure.\nIn her reclining position she looked up to him just\nas in earlier times she had, when standing, looked up\nto a man. The animal, who was as homeless as she,\nrespectfully withdrew a step or two when the woman\nmoved, and, seeing that she did not repulse him, he\nlicked her hand again.\nA thought moved within her like lightning. \"Perhaps\nI can make use of him-i might do it then!'\nShe pointed in the direction of Casterbridge, and\nthe dog seemed to misunderstand : he trotted on. Then,\nfinding she could not follow, he came back and whined.\nThe ultimate and saddest singularity of woman's effort\nand invention was reached when, with a quickened breath+\ning, she rose to a stooping posture, and, resting her two\nlittle arms\n \nupon the shoulders of the dog, leant firmly\nthereon, and murmured stimulating words. Whilst she\nsorrowed in her heart she cheered with her voice, and\nwhat was stranger than that the strong should need\nencouragement from the weak was that cheerfulness\nshould be so well stimulated by such utter dejection.\nHer friend moved forward slowly, and she with small\nmincing steps moved forward beside him, half her\nweight being thrown upon the animal. Sometimes\nshe sank as she had sunk from walking erect, from\nthe crutches, from the rails. The dog, who now\nthoroughly understood her desire and her incapacity,\nwas frantic in his distress on these occasions ; he would\ntug at her dress and run forward. She always called\nhim back, and it was now to be observed that the\nwoman listened for human sounds only to avoid them.\nIt was evident that she had an object in keeping her\npresence on the road and her forlorn state unknown.\nTheir progress was necessarily very slow. They\nreached the bottom of the town, and the Casterbridge\nlamps lay before them like fallen Pleiads as they turned\nto the left into the dense shade of a deserted avenue of\nchestnuts, and so skirted the borough. Thus the town\nwas passed, and the goal was reached.\nOn this much-desired spot outside the town rose a\npicturesque building. Originally it had been a mere\ncase to hold people. The shell had been so thin, so\ndevoid of excrescence, and so closely drawn over the\naccommodation granted, that the grim character of\nwhat was beneath showed through it, as the shape of\na body is visible under a winding-sheet.\nThen Nature, as if offended, lent a hand. Masses\nof ivy grew up, completely covering the walls, till the\nplace looked like an abbey; and it was discovered that\nthe view from the front, over the Casterbridge chimneys,\nwas one of the most magnificent in the county. A\nneighbouring earl once said that he would give up a\nyear's rental to have at his own door the view enjoyed\nby the inmates from theirs -- and very probably the\ninmates would have given up the view for his year's\nrental.\nThis stone edifice consisted of a central mass and\n \ntwo wings, whereon stood as sentinels a few slim\nchimneys, now gurgling sorrowfully to the slow wind.\nIn the wall was a gate, and by the gate a belipull\nformed of a hanging wire. The woman raised herself\nas high as possible upon her knees, and could just\nreach the handle. She moved it and fell forwards in\na bowed attitude, her face upon her bosom.\nIt was getting on towards six o'clock, and sounds of\nmovement were to be heard inside the building which\nwas the haven of rest to this wearied soul. A little door\nby the large one was opened, and a man appeared inside.\nHe discerned the panting heap of clothes, went back\nfor a light, and came again. He entered a second\ntime, and returned with two women.\nThese lifted the prostrate figure and assisted her in\nthrough the doorway. The man then closed the door.\nHow did she get here ?\" said one of the women.\n\"The Lord knows,' said the other.\nThere is a dog outside,\" murmured the overcome\ntraveller. \" Where is he gone ? He helped me.'\nI stoned him away,' said the man.\nThe little procession then moved forward -- the man\nin front bearing the light, the two bony women next,\nsupporting between them the small and supple one.\nThus they entered the house and disappeared.\nSUSPICION\n \nSUSPICION -- FANNY IS SENT FOR\nBATHSHEBA said very little to her husband all that\nevening of their return from market, and he was not\ndisposed to say much to her. He exhibited the un+\npleasant combination of a restless condition with a\nsilent tongue. The next day, which was Sunday, passed\nnearly in the same manner as regarded their taciturnity,\nBathsheba going to church both morning and afternoon.\nThis was the day before the Budmouth races. In the\nevening Troy said, suddenly --\n\" Bathsheba, could you let me have twenty pounds ?\"\nHer countenance instantly sank. ' Twenty pounds ?\nshe said.\n'The fact is, I want it badly.' The anxiety upon\nTroy's face was unusual and very marked. lt was a\nculmination of the mood he had been in all the day.\n\"Ah !. for those races to-morrow.'\nTroy for the moment made no reply. Her mistake\nhad its advantages to a man who shrank from having\nhis mind inspected as he did now. \"Well, suppose I\ndo want it for races ?' he said, at last.\n\"O, Frank.!' Bathsheba replied, and there was such\na volume of entreaty in the words. \"Only such a few\nweeks ago you said that I was far sweeter than all your\nother pleasures put together, and that you would give\nthem all up for me; and now, won't you give up this\none, which is more a worry than a pleasure? Do,\nFrank. Come, let me fascinate you by all I can do\n -- by pretty words and pretty looks, and everything I\ncan think of -- to stay at home. Say yes to your wife --\nsay yes.!'\nThe tenderest and softest phases of Bathsheba's\nnature were prominent now -- advanced impulsively for\nhis acceptance, without any of the disguises and defences\nwhich the wariness of her character when she was cool\ntoo frequently threw\n \nover them. Few men could have\nresisted the arch yet dignified entreaty of the beautiful\nface, thrown a little back and sideways in the weli\nknown attitude that expresses more than the words it\naccompanies, and which seems to have heen designed\nfor these special occasions. Had the woman not been\nhis wife, Troy would have succumbed instantly ; as it\nwas, he thought he would not deceive her longer.\n\"The money is not wanted for racing debts at all,'\nhe said.\n\" What is it for ?' she asked. \" You worry me a great\ndeal by these mysterious responsibilities, Frank.\"\nTroy hesitated. He did not now love her enough\nto allow himself to be carried too far by her ways. Yet\nit was necessary to be civil. \"You wrong me by such\na suspicious manner, he said. \" Such strait-waistcoating\nas you treat me to is not becoming in you at so early a\ndate.'\n\"I think that I have a right to grumble a little if I\npay,' she said, with features between a smile and a\npout.\nExactly; and, the former being done, suppose we\nproceed to the latter. Bathsheba, fun is all very well,\nbut don't go too far, or you may have cause to regret\nsomething.'\nShe reddened. \" I do that already,' she said, quickly\n\" What do you regret ? '\nSUSPICION\n\"That my romance has come to an end.'\n\" All romances end at marriage.'\n'I wish you wouldn't talk like that. You grieve me\nto my soul by being smart at my expense.'\n\" You are dull enough at mine. I believe you hate\nme.'\n\" Not you -- only your faults. I do hate them.'\n\"'Twould be much more becoming if you set your+\nself to cure them. Come, let's strike a balance with\nthe twenty pounds, and be friends.'\nShe gave a sigh of resignation. 'I have about that\nsum here for household expenses. If you must have it,\ntake it.'\n\"Very good. Thank you. I expect I shall have\ngone away before you are in to breakfast to-morrow.'\n\"And must you go ? Ah !. there was a time, Frank,\nwhen it would have taken a good many promises to\nother people to drag you away from me. You used to\ncall me darling, then.\n \nBut it doesn't matter to you how\nmy days are passed now.'\n\"I must go, in spite of sentiment.' Troy, as he\nspoke, looked at his watch, and, apparently actuated by\n<1non lucendo>1 principles, opened the case at the back,\nrevealing, snugly stowed within it, a small coil of hair.\nBathsheba's eyes had been accidentally lifted at that\nmoment, and she saw the action and saw the hair. She\nflushed in pain and surprise, and some words escaped\nher before she had thought whether or not it was wise\nto utter them. \"A woman's curl of hair !' she said.\n\"O, Frank, whose is that ?'\nTroy had instantly closed his watch. He carelessly\nreplied, as one who cloaked some feelings that the sight\nhad stirred. ' Why, yours, of course. Whose should it\nbe ? I had quite forgotten that I had it.'\n' What a dreadful fib, Frank.!'\n\" I tell you I had forgotten it.!' he said, loudly.\n'I don't mean that -- it was yellow hair.'\n\"Nonsense.'\n\"That's insulting me. I know it was yellow. Now\nwhose was it ? I want to know.'\n\"Very welii'll tell you, so make no more ado. It\nis the hair of a young woman I was going to marry\nbefore I knew you.'\n\" You ought to tell me her name, then.'\n\"I cannot do that.'\n\"Is she married yet?'\n\"No.'\n\"Is she alive?'\n\" Yes.'\n\"Is she pretty ?'\n\" Yes.'\n'It is wonderful how she can be, poor thing, under\nsuch an awful affliction!'\n\" Affliction -- what affliction ? ' he inquired, quickly.\n\" Having hair of that dreadful colour.'\n\" Oh -- ho-i like that.!' said Troy, recovering him+\nself. \"Why, her hair has been admired by everybody\nwho has seen her since she has worn it loose, which has\nnot been long. It is\n \nbeautiful hair. People used to\nturn their heads to look at it, poor girl.!'\n\"Pooh! that's nothing -- that's nothing!' she ex+\nclaimed, in incipient accents of pique. 'If I cared for\nyour love as much as I used to I could say people had\nturned to look at mine.'\n\"Bathsheba, don't be so fitful and jealous. You\nknew what married life would be like, and shouldn't\nhave entered it if you feared these contingencies.'\nTroy had by this time driven her to bitterness: her\nheart was big in her throat, and the ducts to her eyes\nwere painfully full. Ashamed as she was to show\nemotion, at last she burst out: --\n\"This is all I get for loving you so well! Ah! when\nI married you your life was dearer to me than my own.\nI would have died for you -- how truly I can say that I\nwould have died for you.! And now you sneer at my\nfoolishness in marrying you. O! is it kind to me to\nthrow my mistake in my face ? Whatever opinion you\nmay have of my wisdom, you should not tell me of it so\nmercilessly, now that I am in your power.'\n\" I can't help how things fall out,' said Troy; \"upon\nmy heart, women will be the death of me.!'\n\"Well you shouldn't keep people's hair. You'll\nburn it, won't you, Frank?'\nFrank went on as if he had not heard her. \"There\nare considerations even before my consideration for you;\nreparations to be made -- ties you know nothing of If\nyou repent of marrying, so do I.'\nTrembling now, she put her hand upon his arm,\nsaying, in mingled tones of wretchedness and coaxing,\n\"I only repent it if you don't love me better than any\nwoman in the world.! I don't otherwise, Frank. You\ndon't repent because you already love somebody better\nthan you love me, do you ?'\n\"I don't know. Why do you say that?'\n\"You won't burn that curl. You like the woman\nwho owns that pretty hair -- yes; it is pretty -- more\nbeautiful than my miserable black mane! Well, it is\nno use; I can't help being ugly. You must like her\nbest, if you will!'\n\"Until to-day, when I took it from a drawer, I have\n \nnever looked upon that bit of hair for several months --\nthat I am ready to swear.'\n\"But just now you said \"ties;\" and then -- that\nwoman we met?'\n\"'Twas the meeting with her that reminded me of\nthe hair.'\n\"Is it hers, then ?'\n\"Yes. There, now that you have wormed it out of\nme, I hope you are content.'\n\"And what are the ties ?'\n\"Oh! that meant nothing -- a mere jest.'\n\"A mere jest ! ' she said, in mournful astonishment.\n\"Can you jest when I am so wretchedly in earnest ?\nTell me the truth, Frank. I am not a fool, you know,\nalthough I am a woman, and have my woman's moments.\nCome! treat me fairly,' she said, looking honestly and\nfearlessly into his face. \"I don't want much; bare\njustice -- that's all! Ah! once I felt I could be content\nwith nothing less than the highest homage from the\nhusband I should choose. Now, anything short of\ncruelty will content me. Yes! the independent and\nspirited Bathsheba is come to this.!'\n\"For Heaven's sake don't be so desperate! \"Troy\nsaid, snappishly, rising as he did so, and leaving the\nroom.\nDirectly he had gone, Bathsheba burst into great\nsobs -- dry-eyed sobs, which cut as they came, without\nany softening by tears. But she determined to repress\nall evidences of feeling. She was conquered; but she\nwould never own it as long as she lived. Her pride\nwas indeed brought low by despairing discoveries of her\nspoliation by marriage with a less pure nature than her\nown. She chafed to and fro in rebelliousness, like a\ncaged leopard; her whole soul was in arms, and the\nblood fired her face. Until she had met Troy, Bath+\nsheba had heen proud of her position as a woman; it\nhad been a glory to her to know that her lips had been\ntouched hy no man's on earth -- that her waist had\nnever been encircled by a lover's arm. She hated\nherself now. In those earlier days she had always\nnourished a secret contempt for girls who were the\nslaves of the first goodiooking young fellow who should\nchoose to salute them. She had never taken kindly to\nthe idea of\n \nmarriage in the abstract as did the majority\nof women she saw about her. In the turmoil of her\nanxiety for her lover she had agreed to marry him; but\nthe perception that had accompanied her happiest hours\non this account was rather that of self-sacrifice than of\npromotion and honour. Although she scarcely knew\nthe divinity's name, Diana was the goddess whom\nBathsheba instinctively adored. That she had never,\nby look, word, or sign, encouraged a man to approach\nher -- that she had felt herself sufficient to herself, and\nhad in the independence of her girlish heart fancied\nthere was a certain degradation in renouncing the\nsimplicity of a maiden existence to become the humbler\nhalf of an indifferent matrimonial whole -- were facts\nnow bitterly remembered. O, if she had never\nstooped to folly of this kind, respectable as it was, and\ncould only stand again, as she had stood on the hill at\nNorcombe, and dare Troy or any other man to pollute\na hair of her head by his interference!.\nThe next morning she rose earlier than usual, and\nhad the horse saddled for her ride round the farm in\nthe customary way. When she came in at half-past\neight -- their usual hour for breakfasting -- she was in+\nformed that her husband had risen, taken his breakfast,\nand driven off to Casterbridge with the gig and Poppet.\nAfter breakfast she was cool and collected -- quite\nherself in fact -- and she rambled to the gate, intending\nto walk to another quarter of the farm, which she still\npersonally superintended as well as her duties in the\nhouse would permit, continually, however, finding her+\nself preceded in forethought by Gabriel Oak, for whom\nshe began to entertain the genuine friendship of a sister.\nOf course, she sometimes thought of him in the light of\nan old lover, and had momentary imaginings of what\nlife with him as a husband would have been like; also\nof life with Boldwood under the same conditions. But\nBathsheba, though she could feel, was not much given\nto futile dreaming, and her musings under this head\nwere short and entirely confined to the times when\nTroy's neglect was more than ordinarily evident.\nShe saw coming up the road a man like Mr. Boldwood.\n \nIt was Mr. Boldwood. Bathsheba blushed painfully,\nand watched. The farmer stopped when still a long\nway off, and held up his hand to Gabriel Oak, who was\nin a footpath across the field. The two men then\napproached each other and seemed to engage in\nearnest conversation.\nThus they continued for a long time. Joseph Poor+\ngrass now passed near them, wheeling a barrow of apples\nup the hill to Bathsheba's residence. Boldwood and\nGabriel called to him, spoke to him for a few minutes,\nand then all three parted, Joseph immediately coming\nup the hill with his barrow.\nBathsheba, who had seen this pantomime with some\nsurprise, experienced great relief when Boldwood turned\nback again. 'Well, what's the message, Joseph ? ' she\nsaid.\nHe set down his barrow, and, putting upon himself\nthe refined aspect that a conversation with a lady re+\nquired, spoke to Bathsheba over the gate.\n\"You'll never see Fanny Robin no more -- use nor\nprincipai-ma'am.'\n\" Why ?'\n\"Because she's dead in the Union.'\n\" Fanny dead -- never.!'\n\" Yes, ma'am.'\n\" What did she die from ?\"\n\"I don't know for certain; but I should be inclined\nto think it was from general neshness of constitution.\nShe was such a limber maid that 'a could stand no\nhardship, even when I knowed her, and 'a went like a\ncandle-snoff, so 'tis said. She was took bad in the\nmorning, and, being quite feeble and worn out, she\ndied in the evening. She belongs by law to our parish;\nand Mr. Boldwood is going to send a waggon at three\nthis afternoon to fetch her home here and bury her.'\n\"Indeed I shall not let Mr. Boldwood do any such\nthing-i shall do it! Fanny was my uncle's servant,\nand, although I only knew her for a couple of days,\nFANNY IS SENT FOR\nshe belongs to me. How very, very sad this is.! --\nthe idea of Fanny being in a workhouse.' Bathsheba\nhad begun to know what suffering was, and she spoke\nwith real feeling.... \"Send across to Mr. Boldwood's,\nand say that Mrs. Troy will take upon herself the duty\n \nof fetching an old servant of the family.... We\nought not to put her in a waggon; we'll get a hearse.'\n\" There will hardly be time, ma'am, will there?'\n\" Perhaps not,' she said, musingly. \" When did you\nsay we must be at the door -- three o'clock?'\n\" Three o'clock this afternoon, ma'am, so to speak it.'\n\"Very weli-you go with it. A pretty waggon is\nbetter than an ugly hearse, after all. Joseph, have the\nnew spring waggon with the blue body and red wheels,\nand wash it very clean. And, Joseph -- -- '\n\" Yes, ma'am.'\n' Carry with you some evergreens and flowers to put\nupon her coffin -- indeed, gather a great many, and\ncompletely bury her in them. Get some boughs of\nlaurustinus, and variegated box, and yew, and boy'siove;\nay, and some hunches of chrysanthemum. And let old\nPleasant draw her, because she knew him so well.'\n'I will, ma'am. I ought to have said that the\nUnion, in the form of four labouring men, will meet me\nwhen I gets to our churchyard gate, and take her and\nbury her according to the rites of the Board of Guardians,\nas by law ordained.'\n\" Dear me -- Casterbridge Union -- and is Fanny come\nto this?' said Bathsheba, musing. \"I wish I had known\nof it sooner. I thought she was far away. How long\nhas she lived there?'\n\"On'y been there a day or two.'\n\"Oh.! -- then she has not been staying there as a\nregular inmate?'\n\" No. She first went to live in a garrison-town t'other\nside o' Wessex, and since then she's been picking up a\nliving at seampstering in Melchester for several months,\nat the house of a very respectable widow-woman who\ntakes in work of that sort. She only got handy the\nUnion-house on Sunday morning 'a b'lieve, and 'tis sup+\nposed here and there that she had traipsed every step\nof the way from Melchester. Why she left her place,\nI can't say, for I don't know; and as to a lie, why, I\nwouldn't tell it. That's the short of the story, ma'am.'\n\"Ah-h .! '\n \nNo gem ever flashed from a rosy ray to a white one\nmore rapidly than changed the young wife's counten+\nance whilst this word came from her in a long-drawn\nbreath. \"Did she walk along our turnpike-road?' she\nsaid, in a suddenly restless and eager voice.\n\"I believe she did.... Ma'am, shall I call Liddy?\nYou bain't well, ma'am, surely ? You look like a lily --\nso pale and fainty.!'\n\"No; don't call her; it is nothing. When did she\npass Weatherbury?'\n\"Last Saturday night.'\n\"That will do, Joseph; now you may go.'\n\" Certainly, ma'am.'\n\" Joseph, come hither a moment. What was the\ncolour of Fanny Robin's hair?'\n\"Really, mistress, now that 'tis put to me so judge+\nand-jury like, I can't call to mind, if ye'll believe me.!'\n\"Never mind; go on and do what I told you. Stop\n -- well no, go on.'\nShe turned herself away from him, that he might no\nlonger notice the mood which had set its sign so visibly\nupon her, and went indoors with a distress:ng sense of\nfaintness and a beating brow. About an hour after, she\nheard the noise of the waggon and went out, still with a\npainful consciousness of her bewildered and troubled\nlook. Joseph, dressed in his best suit of clothes, was\nputting in the horse to start. The shrubs and flowers\nwere all piled in the waggon, as she had directed\nBathsheba hardly saw them now.\n\" Whose sweetheart did you say, Joseph?'\n'I don't know, ma'am.'\n\"Are you quite sure?'\n\" Yes, ma'am, quite sure.'\n\"Sure of what?'\n\"I'm sure that all I know is that she arrived in the\nmorning and died in the evening without further parley.\nWhat Oak and Mr. Boldwood told me was only these\nfew words. \"Little Fanny Robin is dead, Joseph,'\nGabriel said, looking in my face in his steady old way.\nI was very sorry, and I said, \"Ah!. -- and how did she\n \ncome to die?' \"Well, she's dead in Casterhridge\nUnion,\" he said; \"and perhaps 'tisn't much matter\nabout how she came to die. She reached the Union\nearly Sunday morning, and died in the afternoon -- that's\nclear enough.\" Then I asked what she'd been doing\nlately, and Mr. Boldwood turned round to me then, and\nleft off spitting a thistle with the end of his stick. He\ntold me about her having lived by seampstering in\nMelchester, as I mentioned to you, and that she walked\ntherefrom at the end of last week, passing near here\nSaturday night in the dusk. They then said I had\nbetter just name a hent of her death to you, and away\nthey went. Her death might have been brought on by\nbiding in the night wind, you know, ma'am; for people\nused to say she'd go off in a decline: she used to cough\na good deal in winter time. However, 'tisn't much\nodds to us about that now, for 'tis all over.'\n\"Have you heard a different story at all?' She\nlooked at him so intently that Joseph's eyes quailed.\n\"Not a word, mistress, I assure 'ee.!\" he said.\n\"Hardly anybody in the parish knows the news yet.'\n\"I wonder why Gabriel didn't bring the message to\nme himself. He mostly makes a point of seeing me\nupon the most trifling errand.' These words were\nmerely murmured, and she was looking upon the ground.\n\"Perhaps he was busy, ma'am,' Joseph suggested.\n\"And sometimes he seems to suffer from things upon\nhis mind, connected with the time when he was better\noff than 'a is now. 'A's rather a curious item, but a\nvery understanding shepherd, and learned in books.'\n'Did anything seem upon his mind whilst he was\nspeaking to you about this?'\n'I cannot but say that there did, ma'am. He was\nterrible down, and so was Farmer Boldwood.'\n'Thank you, Joseph. That will do. Go on now,\nor you'll be late.'\nBathsheba, still unhappy, went indoors again. In\nthe course of the afternoon she said to Liddy, Who had\nbeen informed of the occurrence, \" What was the colour\n \nof poor Fanny Robin's hair? Do you know? I cannot\nrecollect-i only saw her for a day or two.'\n\"It was light, ma'am; but she wore it rather short,\nand packed away under her cap, so that you would\nhardly notice it. But I have seen her let it down when\nshe was going to bed, and it looked beautiful then.\nReal golden hair.'\n\" Her young man was a soldier, was he not?'\n\"Yes. In the same regiment as Mr. Troy. He says\nhe knew him very well.'\n\" What, Mr. Troy says so? How came he to say\nthat?'\n\"One day I just named it to him, and asked him if\nhe knew Fanny's young man. He said, \"O yes, he\nknew the young man as well as he knew himself, and\nthat there wasn't a man in the regiment he liked\nbetter.\"'\n\"Ah! Said that, did he ?'\n\"Yes; and he said there was a strong likeness be+\ntween himself and the other young man, so that some+\ntimes people mistook them -- -- '\n' Liddy, for Heaven's sake stop your talking.!' said\nBathsheba, with the nervous petulance that comes from\nworrying perceptions.\nJOSEPH AND HIS BURDEN\n \n \nplate.) He covered the\nwhole with a black cloth, threadbare, but decent, the\ntaiiboard of the waggon was returned to its place, one\nof the men handed a certificate of registry to Poorgrass,\nand both entered the door, closing it hehind them.\nTheir connection with her, short as it had been, was\nover for ever.\nJoseph then placed the flowers as enjoined, and the\nevergreens around the flowers, till it was difficult to\ndivine what the waggon contained; he smacked his\nwhip, and the rather pleasing funeral car crept down\nthe hill, and along the road to Weatherbury.\nThe afternoon drew on apace, and, looking to the\nright towards the sea as he walked beside the horse, Poor+\ngrass saw strange clouds and scrolls of mist rolling over\nthe long ridges which girt the landscape in that quarter.\nThey came in yet greater volumes, and indolently crept\nacross the intervening valleys, and around the withered\npapery flags of the moor and river brinks. Then their\ndank spongy forms closed in upon the sky. It was\na sudden overgrowth of atmospheric fungi which had\ntheir roots in the neighbouring sea, and by the time\nthat horse, man, and corpse entered Yalbury Great\nWood, these silent workings of an invisible hand had\nreached them, and they were completely enveloped,\nthis being the first arrival of the autumn fogs, and the\nfirst fog of the series.\nThe air was as an eye suddenly struck blind. The\nwaggon and its load rolled no longer on the horizontal\ndivision between clearness and opacity, but were\nimbedded in an elastic body of a monotonous pallor\nthroughout. There was no perceptible motion in the\nair, not a visible drop of water fell upon a leaf of the\nbeeches, birches, and firs composing the wood on either\nside. The trees stood in an attitude of intentness, as if\nthey waited longingly for a wind to come and rock\nthem. A startling quiet overhung all surrounding things\n -- so completely, that the crunching of the waggon+\nwheels was as a great noise, and small rustles, which\nhad never ohtained a hearing except by night, were dis+\ntinctly individualized.\nJoseph Poorgrass looked round upon his sad burden\nas it loomed faintly through the flowering laurustinus,\nthen at the\n \nunfathomable gloom amid the high trees on\neach hand, indistinct, shadowless, and spectreiike in\ntheir monochrome of grey. He felt anything but cheer+\nful, and wished he had the company even of a child or\ndog. Stopping the home, he listened. Not a footstep\nor wheel was audible anywhere around, and the dead\nsilence was broken only by a heavy particle falling from\na tree through the evergreens and alighting with a smart\nrap upon the coffin of poor Fanny. The fog had by\nthis time saturated the trees, and this was the first\ndropping of water from the overbrimming leaves. The\nhollow echo of its fall reminded the waggoner painfully\nof the grim Leveller. Then hard by came down another\ndrop, then two or three. Presently there was a continual\ntapping of these heavy drops upon the dead leaves, the\nroad, and the travellers. The nearer boughs were beadcd\nwith the mist to the greyness of aged men, and the rusty+\nred leaves of the beeches were hung with similar drops,\nlike diamonds on auburn hair.\nAt the roadside hamlet called Roy-Town, just beyond\nthis wood, was the old inn Buck's Head. It was about\na mile and a half from Weatherbury, and in the meridian\ntimes of stage-coach travelling had been the place\nwhere many coaches changed and kept their relays\nof horses. All the old stabling was now pulled down,\nand little remained besides the habitable inn itself,\nwhich, standing a little way back from the road, sig+\nnified its existence to people far up and down the\nhighway by a sign hanging from the horizontal bough\nof an elm on the opposite side of the way.\nTravellers -- for the variety <1tourist>1 had hardly\ndeveloped into a distinct species at this date -- some+\ntimes said in passing, when they cast their eyes up to\nthe sign-bearing tree, that artists were fond of repre+\nsenting the signboard hanging thus, but that they\nthemselves had never before noticed so perfect an\ninstance in actual working order. It was near this tree\nthat the waggon was standing into which Gabriel Oak\ncrept on his first journey to Weatherbury; but, owing\nto the darkness, the sign and the inn had been un+\nobserved.\nThe manners of the inn were of the old-established\n \ntype. Indeed, in the minds of its frequenters they\nexisted as unalterable formule : <1e.g.>1 --\nRap with the bottom of your pint for more liquor.\nFor tobacco, shout.\nIn calling for the girl in waiting, say, \"Maid.!'\nDitto for the landlady, 'Old Soul.!' etc., etc.\nIt was a relief to Joseph's heart when the friendly\nsignboard came in view, and, stopping his horse\nimmediately beneath it, he proceeded to fulfil an\nintention made a long time before. His spirits were\noozing out of him quite. He turned the horse's head\nto the green bank, and entered the hostel for a mug\nof ale.\nGoing down into the kitchen of the inn, the floor\nof which was a step below the passage, which in its\nBUCK'S HEAD\nturn was a step below the road outside, what should\nJoseph see to gladden his eyes but two copper-coloured\ndiscs, in the form of the countenances of Mr. Jan\nCoggan and Mr. Mark Clark. These owners of the\ntwo most appreciative throats in the neighbourhood,\nwithin the pale of respectability, were now sitting face\nto face over a threeiegged circular table, having an\niron rim to keep cups and pots from being accidentally\nelbowed off; they might have been said to resemble\nthe setting sun and the full moon shining <1vis-a*-vis>1\nacross the globe.\n\" Why, 'tis neighbour Poorgrass.!' said Mark Clark.\n\"I'm sure your face don't praise your mistress's table,\nJoseph.'\n\"I've had a very pale companion for the last four\nmiles,' said Joseph, indulging in a shudder toned\ndown by resignation. 'And to speak the truth, 'twas\nbeginning to tell upon me. I assure ye, I ha'n't seed\nthe colour of victuals or drink since breakfast time\nthis morning, and that was no more than a dew-bit\nafield.'\n\"Then drink, Joseph, and don't restrain yourself!.'\nsaid Coggan, handing him a hooped mug three+\nquarters full.\nJoseph drank for a moderately long time, then for\na longer time, saying, as he lowered the jug, \"'Tis\npretty drinking -- very\n \npretty drinking, and is more\nthan cheerful on my melancholy errand, so to speak it.'\n\"True, drink is a pleasant delight,' said Jan, as one\nwho repeated a truism so familiar to his brain that he\nhardly noticed its passage over his tongue ; and,\nlifting the cup, Coggan tilted his head gradually\nbackwards, with closed eyes, that his expectant soul\nmight not be diverted for one instant from its bliss\nby irrelevant surroundings.\n\"Well, I must be on again,' said Poorgmss. \"Not\nbut that I should like another nip with ye; but the\nparish might lose confidence in me if I was seed\nhere.'\n\" Where be ye trading o't to to-day, then, Joseph ?'\n\"Back to Weatherbury. I've got poor little Fanny\nRobin in my waggon outside, and I must be at the\nchurchyard gates at a quarter to five with her.'\n'Ay-i've heard of it. And so she's nailed up in\nparish boards after all, and nobody to pay the bell\nshilling and the grave half-crown.'\n\"The parish pays the grave half-crown, but not the\nbell shilling, because the bell's a luxery: but 'a can\nhardly do without the grave, poor body. However, I\nexpect our mistress will pay all.'\n\"A pretty maid as ever I see.! But what's yer hurry,\nJoseph ? The pore woman's dead, and you can't bring\nher to life, and you may as well sit down comfortable,\nand finish another with us.'\n\"I don't mind taking just the least thimbleful ye\ncan dream of more with ye, sonnies. But only a few\nminutes, because 'tis as 'tis.'\n\"Of course, you'll have another drop. A man's\ntwice the man afterwards. You feel so warm and\nglorious, and you whop and slap at your work without\nany trouble, and everything goes on like sticks a+\nbreaking. Too much liquor is bad, and leads us to\nthat horned man in the smoky house ; but after all,\nmany people haven't the gift of enjoying a wet, and\nsince we be highly favoured with a power that way,\nwe should make the most o't.'\n\"True,' said Mark Clark. \"'Tis a talent the Lord\n \nhas mercifully bestowed upon us, and we ought not\nto neglect it. But, what with the parsons and clerks\nand schooipeople and serious tea-parties, the merry\nold ways of good life have gone to the dogs -- upon\nmy carcase, they have.!'\n\" Well, really, I must be onward again now,' said\nJoseph.\n'Now, now, Joseph; nonsense.! The poor woman\nis dead, isn't she, and what's your hurry?'\n\"Well, I hope Providence won't be in a way with\nme for my doings,' said Joseph, again sitting down.\n'I've been troubled with weak moments lately, 'tis\ntrue. I've been drinky once this month already, and\nI did not go to church a-Sunday, and I dropped a\ncurse or two yesterday; so I don't want to go too far\nfor my safety. Your next world is your next world,\nand not to be squandered offhand.'\n'I believe ye to be a chapeimember, Joseph. That\nI do.'\n'Oh, no, no.! I don't go so far as that.'\n\" For my part,' said Coggan, \"I'm staunch Church\nof England.'\n\" Ay, and faith, so be I,' said Mark Clark.\n\"I won't say much for myself; I don't wish to,'\nCoggan continued, with that tendency to talk on\nprinciples which is characteristic of the barley-corn.\n\"But I've never changed a single doctrine : I've stuck\nlike a plaster to the old faith I was born in. Yes;\nthere's this to be said for the Church, a man can\nbelong to the Church and bide in his cheerful old\ninn, and never trouble or worry his mind about\ndoctrines at all. But to be a meetinger, you must\ngo to chapel in all winds and weathers, and make\nyerself as frantic as a skit. Not but that chapei\nmembers be clever chaps enough in their way. They\ncan lift up beautiful prayers out of their own heads, all\nabout their families and shipwmcks in the newspaper.'\n\"They can -- they can,' said Mark Clark, with cor+\nroborative feeling ; \"but we Churchmen, you see, must\nhave it all printed aforehand, or, dang it all, we should\nno more know what to say to a great gaffer like the\nLord than babes unborn,'\n\" Chapeifolk be more hand-in-glove with them above\nthan we,' said Joseph, thoughtfully.\n\" Yes,' said Coggan. \" We know very well that if\nanybody do go to heaven, they will. They've worked\nhard for it, and they\n \ndeserve to have it, such as 'tis.\nI bain't such a fool as to pretend that we who stick\nto the Church have the same chance as they, because\nwe know we have not. But I hate a feller who'll\nchange his old ancient doctrines for the sake of getting\nto heaven. I'd as soon turn king's-evidence for the\nfew pounds you get. Why, neighbours, when every\none of my taties were frosted, our Parson Thirdly\nwere the man who gave me a sack for seed, though\nhe hardly had one for his own use, and no money to\nbuy 'em. If it hadn't been for him, I shouldn't hae\nhad a tatie to put in my garden. D'ye think I'd\nturn after that? No, I'll stick to my side; and if we\nbe in the wrong, so be it : I'll fall with the fallen .! '\n\" Well said -- very well said,' observed Joseph. --\n\" However, folks, I must be moving now: upon my life\nI must. Pa'son Thirdly will be waiting at the church\ngates, and there's the woman a-biding outside in the\nwaggon.'\n\" Joseph Poorgmss, don't be so miserable.! Pa'son\nThirdly won't mind. He's a generous man ; he's found\nme in tracts for years, and I've consumed a good many\nin the course of a long and shady life; but he's never\nbeen the man to cry out at the expense. Sit down.'\nThe longer Joseph Poorgrass remained, the less his\nspirit was troubled by the duties which devolved upon\nhim this afternoon. The minutes glided by uncounted,\nuntil the evening shades began perceptibly to deepen,\nand the eyes of the three were but sparkling points\non the surface of darkness. Coggan's repeater struck\nsix from his pocket in the usual still small tones.\nAt that moment hasty steps were heard in the entry,\nand the door opened to admit the figure of Gabriel Oak,\nfollowed by the maid of the inn bearing a candle. He\nstared sternly at the one lengthy and two round faces\nof the sitters, which confronted him with the expressions\nof a fiddle and a couple of warming-pans. Joseph Poor+\ngrass blinked, and shrank several inches into the back+\nground.\n' Upon my soul, I'm ashamed of you ; 'tis disgraceful,\nJoseph, disgraceful!. \" said Gabriel, indignantly. \" Coggan,\nyou call yourself a man, and don't know better than this.'\n \nCoggan looked up indefinitely at Oak, one or other\nof his eyes occasionally opening and closing of its own\naccord, as if it were not a member, but a dozy individual\nwith a distinct personality.\n\" Don't take on so, shepherd!' said Mark Clark,\nlooking reproachfully at the candle, which appeared\nto possess special features of interest for his eyes.\n'Nobody can hurt a dead woman,' at length said\nCoggan, with the precision of a machine. \"All that\ncould be done for her is done -- she's beyond us : and\nwhy should a man put himself in a tearing hurry for\nlifeless clay that can neither feel nor see, and don't\nknow what you do with her at all? If she'd been\nalive, I would have been the first to help her. If she\nnow wanted victuals and drink, I'd pay for it, money\ndown. But she's dead, and no speed of ours will\nbring her to life. The woman's past us -- time spent\nupon her is throwed away: why should we hurry to\ndo what's not required ? Drink, shepherd, and be\nfriends, for to-morrow we may be like her.'\n\" We may,' added Mark Clark, emphatically, at once\ndrinking himself, to run no further risk of losing his\nchance by the event alluded to, Jan meanwhile merging\nhis additional thoughts of to-morrow in a song : --\nTo-mor-row, to-mor-row !\nAnd while peace and plen-ty I find at my board,\nWith a heart free from sick-ness and sor-row,\nWith my friends will I share what to-day may af-ford,\nAnd let them spread the ta-ble to-mor-row.\nTo-mor -- row', to-mor -- +\n\"Do hold thy horning, Jan.!' said Oak; and turning\nupon Poorgrass, \" as for you, Joseph, who do your wicked\ndeeds in such confoundedly holy ways, you are as drunk\nas you can stand.'\n\"No, Shepherd Oak, no! Listen to reason, shepherd.\nAll that's the matter with me is the affliction called a\nmultiplying eye, and that's how it is I look double to\nyou-i mean, you look double to me.'\nA multiplying eye is a very bad thing,' said Mark\nClark.\n \nIt always comes on when I have been in a public --\nhouse a little time,' said Joseph Poorgrass, meekly.\n\"Yes; I see two of every sort, as if I were some holy\nman living in the times of King Noah and entering\ninto the ark.... Y-y-y-yes,' he added, becoming much\naffected by the picture of himself as a person thrown\naway, and shedding tears; \"I feel too good for England :\nI ought to have lived in Genesis by rights, like the other\nmen of sacrifice, and then I shouldn't have b-b-been\ncalled a d-d-drunkard in such a way.!'\n\"I wish you'd show yourself a man of spirit, and not\nsit whining there.!'\n\"Show myself a man of spirit ? ... Ah, well! let\nme take the name of drunkard humbly-iet me be a\nman of contrite knees-iet it be .! l know that I always\ndo say \"Please God' afore I do anything, from my\ngetting up to my going down of the same, and I be\nwilling to take as much disgrace as there is in that\nholy act. Hah, yes.! ... But not a man of spirit ?\nHave I ever allowed the toe of pride to be lifted\nagainst my hinder parts without groaning manfully that\nI question the right to do so? I inquire that query\nboldly?'\n\" We can't say that you have, Hero Poorgrass,'\nadmitted Jan.\n\"Never have I allowed such treatment to pass un+\nquestioned!. Yet the shepherd says in the face of that\nrich testimony that I be not a man of spirit! Well,\nlet it pass by, and death is a kind friend !.'\nGabriel, seeing that neither of the three was in a fit\nstate to Cake charge of the waggon for the remainder of\nthe journey, made no reply, but, closing the door again\nupon them, went across to where the vehicle stood, now\ngetting indistinct in the fog and gloom of this mildewy\ntime. He pulled the horse's head from the large patch\nof turf it had eaten bare, readjusted the boughs over\nthe coffin, and drove along through the unwholesome\nnight.\nIt had gradually become rumoured in the village\nthat the body to be brought and buried that day was\nall that was left of the unfortunate Fanny Robin who\nhad followed the Eleventh from Casterbridge through\nMelchester and onwards. But,\n \nthanks to Boldwood's\nreticence and Oak's generosity, the lover she had followed\nhad never been individualized as Troy. Gabriel hoped\nthat the whole truth of the matter might not be published\ntill at any rate the girl had been in her grave for a few\ndays, when the interposing barriers of earth and time,\nand a sense that the events had been somewhat shut\ninto oblivion, would deaden the sting that revelation and\ninvidious remark would have for Bathsheba just now.\nBy the time that Gabriel reached the old manor+\nhouse, her residence, which lay in his way to the church,\nit was quite dark. A man came from the gate and said\nthrough the fog, which hung between them like blown\nflour --\n\"Is that Poorgrass with the corpse?'\nGabriel recognized the voice as that of the parson.\n\" The corpse is here, sir,' said Gabriel.\n\"I have just been to inquire of Mrs. Troy if she could\ntell me the reason of the delay. I am afraid it is too\nlate now for the funeral to be performed with proper\ndecency. Have you the registrar's certificate ? '\n\" No,' said Gabriel. \"I expect Poorgrass has that ;\nand he's at the Buck's Head. I forgot to ask him\nfor it.'\n\"Then that settles the matter. We'll put off the\nfuneral till to-morrow morning. The body may be\nbrought on to the church, or it may be left here at\nthe farm and fetched by the bearers in the morning.\nThey waited more than an hour, and have now gone\nhome.'\nGabriel had his reasons for thinking the latter a\nmost objectionable plan, notwithstanding that Fanny\nhad been an inmate of the farm-house for several years\nin the lifetime of Bathsheba's uncle. Visions of several\nunhappy contingencies which might arise from this delay\nflitted before him. But his will was not law, and he\nwent indoors to inquire of his mistress what were her\nwishes on the subject. He found her in an unusual\nmood : her eyes as she looked up to him were suspicious\nand perplexed as with some antecedent thought. Troy\nhad not yet returned. At first Bathsheba assented with\na mien of indifference to his proposition that they should\ngo on to the church at once with their burden; but\nimmediately\n \nafterwards, following Gabriel to the gate,\nshe swerved to the extreme of solicitousness on Fanny's\naccount, and desired that the girl might be brought into\nthe house. Oak argued upon the convenience of leaving\nher in the waggon, just as she lay now, with her flowers\nand green leaves about her, merely wheeling the vehicle\ninto the coach-house till the morning, but to no purpose,\n\"It is unkind and unchristian,' she said, 'to leave the\npoor thing in a coach-house all night.'\nVery well, then,' said the parson. \"And I will\narrange that the funeral shall take place early to+\nmorrow. Perhaps Mrs. Troy is right in feeling that we\ncannot treat a dead fellow-creature too thoughtfully\nWe must remember that though she may have erred\ngrievously in leaving her home, she is still our sister :\nand it is to be believed that God's uncovenanted\nmercies are extended towards her, and that she is a\nmember of the flock of Christ.'\nThe parson's words spread into the heavy air with a\nsad yet unperturbed cadence, and Gabriel shed an\nhonest tear. Bathsheba seemed unmoved. Mr.\nThirdly then left them, and Gabriel lighted a lantern.\nFetching three other men to assist him, they bore the\nunconscious truant indoors, placing the coffin on two\nbenches in the middle of a little sitting-room next the\nhall, as Bathsheba directed.\nEvery one except Gabriel Oak then left the room.\nHe still indecisively lingered beside the body. He was\ndeeply troubled at the wretchedly ironical aspect that\ncircumstances were putting on with regard to Troy's\nwife, and at his own powerlessness to counteract them,\n(n spite of his careful manoeuvring all this day, the very\nworst event that could in any way have happened in\nconnection with the burial had happened now. Oak\nimagined a terrible discovery resulting from this after+\nnoon's work that might cast over Bathsheba's life a shade\nwhich the interposition of many lapsing years might but\nindifferently lighten, and which nothing at all might\naltogether remove.\nSuddenly, as in a last attempt to save Bathsheba\nfrom, at any rate, immediate anguish, he looked again,\nas he had looked before, at the chalk writing upon the\n \ncoffinlid. The scrawl was this simple one, \" Fanny\nRobin and child.' Gabriel took his handkerchief and\ncarefully rubbed out the two latter words, leaving visible\nthe inscription \" Fanny' Robin ' only. He then left the\nroom, and went out quietly by the front door.\n \nFANNY'S REVENGE\n! DO you want me any longer ma'am ? \" inquired Liddy,\nat a later hour the same evening, standing by the door\nwith a chamber candlestick in her hand and addressing\nBathsheba, who sat cheerless and alone in the large\nparlour beside the first fire of the season.\n\" No more to-night, Liddy.'\n\"l'll sit up for master if you like, ma'am. I am not\nat all afraid of Fanny, if I may sit in my own room and '\nhave a candle. She was such a childlike, nesh young\nthing that her spirit couldn't appear to anybody if it\ntried, I'm quite sure.'\n\"O no, no! You go to bed. I'll sit up for him\nmyself till twelve o'clock, and if he has not arrived by\nthat time, I shall give him up and go to bed too.'\nIt is half-past ten now.'\n'Oh! is it?'\nWhy don't you sit upstairs, ma'am ? '\n\" Why don't I ? ' said Bathsheba, desultorily. 'It\nisn t worth while -- there's a fire here, Liddy.' She\nsuddenly exclaimed in an impulsive and excited whisper,\nHave you heard anything strange said of Fanny?'\nThe words had no sooner escaped her than an expres+\nsion of unutterable regret crossed her face, and she\nburst into tears.\n\"No -- not a word !' said Liddy, looking at the\nweeping woman with astonishment. 'What is it makes\nyou cry so, ma'am; has anything hurt you ? ' She came\nto Bathsheba's side with a face full of sympathy.\n\" No, Liddy-i don't want you any more. I can\nhardly say why I have taken to crying lately: I never\nused to cry. Good-night.'\nLiddy then left the parlour and closed the door.\n \nBathsheba was lonely and miserable now ; not lone+\nlier actually than she had heen before her marriage;\nbut her loneliness then was to that of the present time\nas the solitude of a mountain is to the solitude of a\ncave. And within the last day or two had come these\ndisquieting thoughts about her husband's past. Her\nwayward sentiment that evening concerning Fanny's\ntemporary resting-place had been the result of a strange\ncomplication of impulses in Bathsheba's bosom. Per+\nhaps it would be more accurately described as a\ndetermined rebellion against her prejudices, a revulsion\nfrom a lower instinct of uncharitableness, which would\nhave withheld all sympathy from the dead woman, be+\ncause in life she had preceded Bathsheba in the atten+\ntions of a man whom Bathsheba had by no means\nceased from loving, though her love was sick to death\njust now with the gravity of a further misgiving.\nIn five or ten minutes there was another tap at the\ndoor. Liddy reappeared, and coming in a little way\nstood hesitating, until at length she said, !Maryann has\njust heard something very strange, but I know it isn't\ntrue. And we shall be sure to know the rights of it in\na day or two.'\n\"What is it ?'\n\" Oh, nothing connected with you or us, ma'am. It\nis about Fanny. That same thing you have heard.'\n\"I have heard nothing.'\n\"I mean that a wicked story is got to Weatherbury\nwithin this last hour -- that -- -- ' Liddy came close to\nher mistress and whispered the remainder of the sentence\nslowly into her ear, inclining her head as she spoke in\nthe direction of the room where Fanny lay.\nBathsheba trembled from head to foot.\n\"I don't believe it ! ' she said, excitedly. 'And\nthere's only one name written on the coffin-cover.'\n\"Nor I, ma'am. And a good many others don't;\nfor we should surely have been told more about it if it\nhad been true -- don't you think so, ma'am ? '\n\"We might or we might not.'\nBathsheba turned and looked into the fire, that\nLiddy might not see her\n \nface. Finding that her mistress\nwas going to say no more, Liddy glided out, closed the\ndoor softly, and went to bed.\nBathsheba's face, as she continued looking into the\nfire that evening, might have excited solicitousness on\nher account even among those who loved her least.\nThe sadness of Fanny Robin's fate did not make Bath+\nsheba's glorious, although she was the Esther to this\npoor Vashti, and their fates might be supposed to stand\nin some respects as contrasts to each other. When\nLiddy came into the room a second time the beautiful\neyes which met hers had worn a listless, weary look+\nWhen she went out after telling the story they had ex+\npressed wretchedness in full activity. Her simple\ncountry nature, fed on old-fashioned principles, was\ntroubled by that which would have troubled a woman\nof the world very little, both Fanny and her child, if she\nhad one, being dead.\nBathsheba had grounds for conjecturing a connection\nbetween her own history and the dimly suspected\ntragedy of Fanny's end which Oak and Boldwood never\nfor a moment credited her with possessing. The\nmeeting with the lonely woman on the previous Saturday\nnight had been unwitnessed and unspoken of. Oak\nmay have had the best of intentions in withholding for\nas many days as possible the details of what had\nhappened to Fanny ; but had he known that Bathsheba's\nperceptions had already been exercised in the matter,\nhe would have done nothing to lengthen the minutes of\nsuspense she was now undergoing, when the certainty\nwhich must terminate it would be the worst fact suspected\nafter all.\nShe suddenly felt a longing desire to speak to some\none stronger than herself, and so get strength to sustain\nher surmised position with dignity and her carking\ndoubts with stoicism. Where could she find such a\nfriend? nowhere in the house. She was by far the\ncoolest of the women under her roof. Patience and\nsuspension of judgement for a few hours were what she\nwanted to learn, and there was nobody to teach her.\nMight she but go to Gabriel Oak ! -- but that could not\nbe. What a way Oak had, she thought, of enduring\nthings. Boldwood, who seemed so much deeper and\nhigher and stronger in\n \nfeeling than Gabriel, had not\nyet learnt, any more than she herself, the simple\nlesson which Oak showed a mastery of by every turn\nand look he gave -- that among the multitude of interests\nby which he was surrounded, those which affected his\npersonal welibeing were not the most absorbing and\nimportant in his eyes. Oak meditatively looked upon\nthe horizon of circumstances without any special regard\nto his own standpoint in the midst. That was how\nshe would wish to be. But then Oak was not racked\nby incertitude upon the inmost matter of his bosom, as\nshe was at this moment. Oak knew all about Fanny\nthat he wished to know -- she felt convinced of that.\nIf she were to go to him now at once and say no more\nthan these few words, !What is the truth of the story?'\nhe would feel bound in honour to tell her. It would\nbe an inexpressible relief. No further speech would\nneed to be uttered. He knew her so well that no\neccentricity of behaviour in her would alarm him.\nShe flung a cloak roundher, went to the door and\nopened it. Every blade, every twig was still. The air\nwas yet thick with moisture, though somewhat less dense\nthan during the afternoon, and a steady smack of drops\nupon the fallen leaves under the boughs was almost\nmusical in its soothing regularity. lt seemed better to\nbe out of the house than within it, and Bathsheba closed\nthe door, and walked slowly down the lane till she came\nopposite to Gabriel's cottage, where he now lived alone,\nhaving left Coggan's house through being pinched for\nroom. There was a light in one window only', and that\nwas downstairs. The shutters were not closed, nor was\nany blind or curtain drawn over the window, neither\nrobbery nor observation being a contingency which could\ndo much injury to the occupant of the domicile. Yes,\nit was Gabriel himself who was sitting up : he was reading,\nFrom her standing-place in the road she could see him\nplainly, sitting quite still, his light curly head upon his\nhand, and only occasionally looking up to snuff the\ncandle which stood beside him. At length he looked\nat the clock, seemed surprised at the lateness of the\nhour, closed his book, and arose. He was going to bed,\nshe knew, and if she tapped it must be done at once.\n \nAlas for her resolve ! She felt she could not do it,\nNot for worlds now could she give a hint about her\nmisery to him, much less ask him plainly for information\non the cause of Fanny's death. She must suspect, and\nguess, and chafe, and bear it all alone.\nLike a homeless wanderer she lingered by the bank,\nas if lulled and fascinated by the atmosphere of content\nwhich seemed to spread from that little dwelling, and\nwas so sadly lacking in her own. Gabriel appeared in\nan upper room, placed his light in the window-bench,\nand then -- knelt down to pray. The contrast of the\npicture with her rebellious and agitated existence at this\nsame time was too much for her to bear to look upon\nlonger. It was not for her to make a truce with\ntrouble by any such means. She must tread her giddy\ndistracting measure to its last note, as she had begun it.\nWith a swollen heart she went again up the lane, and\nentered her own door.\nMore fevered now by a reaction from the first feelings\nwhich Oak's example had raised in her, she paused in\nthe hall, looking at the door of the room wherein Fanny\nlay. She locked her fingers, threw back her head, and\nstrained her hot hands rigidly across her forehead, saying,\nwith a hysterical sob, 'Would to God you would speak\nand tell me your secret, Fanny .! . , . O, I hope, hope\nit is not true that there are two of you ! ... If I could\nonly look in upon you for one little minute, I should\nknow all !. '\nA few moments passed, and she added, slowly, 'And\nI will'\nBathsheba in after times could never gauge the mood\nwhich carried her through the actions following this\nmurmured resolution on this memorable evening of her\nlife. She went to the lumber-closet for a screw-driver.\nAt the end of a short though undefined time she found\nherself in the small room, quivering with emotion, a mist\nbefore her eyes, and an excruciating pulsation in her\nbrain, standing beside the uncovered coffin of the girl\nwhose conjectured end had so entirely engrossed her, and\nsaying to herself in a husky voice as she gazed within --\n'It was best to know the worst, and I know it now.!'\n \nShe was conscious of having brought about this\nsituation by a series of actions done as by one in an\nextravagant dream ; of following that idea as to method,\nwhich had burst upon her in the hall with glaring\nobviousness, by gliding to the top of the stairs, assuring\nherself by listening to the heavy breathing of her maids\nthat they were asleep, gliding down again, turning the\nhandle of the door within which the young girl lay, and\ndeliberately setting herself to do what, if she had antici+\npated any such undertaking at night and alone, would\nhave horrified her, but which, when done, was not so\ndreadful as was the conclusive proof of her husband's\nconduct which came with knowing beyond doubt the\nlast chapter of Fanny's story.\nBathsheba's head sank upon her bosom, and the\nbreath which had been bated in suspense, curiosity, and\ninterest, was exhaled now in the form of a whispered\nwail: 'Oh-h-h!' she said, and the silent room added\nlength to her moan.\nHer tears fell fast beside the unconscious pair in the\ncoffin: tears of a complicated origin, of a nature inde+\nscribable, almost indefinable except as other than those\nof simple sorrow. Assuredly their wonted fires must\nhave lived in Fanny's ashes when events were so shaped\nas to chariot her hither in this natural, unobtrusive, yet\neffectual manner. The one feat alone -- that of dying --\nby which a mean condition couId be resolved into a\ngrand one, Fanny had achieved. And to that had\ndestiny subjoined this rencounter to-night, which had,\nin Bathsheba's wild imagining, turned her companion's\nfailure to success, her humiliation to triumph, her luck\nlessness to ascendency; et had thrown over herself a\ngarish light of mockery, and set upon all things about\nher an ironical smile.\nFanny's face was framed in by that yeIIow hair of\nhers; and there was no longer much room for doubt as\nto the origin of the curl owned by Troy. In Bath+\nsheba's heated fancy the innocent white countenance\nexpressed a dim triumphant consciousness of the pain\nshe was retaliating for her pain with all the merciless\nrigour of the Mosaic law: 'Burning for burning; wound\nfor wound: strife for strife.\nBathsheba indulged in contempIations of escape from\nher position by immediate death, which thought she,\n \nthough it was an inconvenient and awful way, had limits\nto its inconvenience and awfulness that could not be\noverpassed ; whilst the shames of life were measureless.\nYet even this scheme of extinction by death was out\nFANNY'S REVENGE\ntamely copying her rival's method without the reasons\nwhich had glorified it in her rival's case. She glided\nrapidly up and down the room, as was mostly her habit\nhen excited, her hands hanging clasped in front of her,\nas she thought and in part expressed in brocken words :\nO, I hate her, yet I don't mean that I hate her, for\nit is grievous and wicked; and yet I hate her a little !\nyes, my flesh insists upon hating her, whether my spirit\nis willing or no !.... If she had only lived, I could\nave been angry and cruel towards her with some justifi+\ncation ; but to be vindictive towards a poor dead woman\nrecoils upon myself. O God, have mercy,! I am\nmiserable at all this !. '\nBathsheba became at this moment so terrified at her\nown state of mind that she looked around for some sort\nof refuge from herself. The vision of Oak kneeling\ndown that night recurred to her, and with the imitative\ninstinct which animates women she seized upon the idea,\nresolved to kneel, and, if possible, pray. Gabriel had\nprayed ; so would she.\nShe knelt beside the coffin, covered her face with her\nhands, and for a time the room was silent as a tomb.\nwhether from a purely mechanical, or from any other\ncause, when Bathsheba arose it was with a quieted spirit,\nand a regret for the antagonistic instincts which had\nseized upon her just before.\nIn her desire to make atonement she took flowers\nfrom a vase by the window, and began laying them\naround the dead girl's head. Bathsheba knew no other\nway of showing kindness to persons departed than by\ngiving them flowers. She knew not how long she\nremained engaged thus. She forgot time, life, where\nshe was, what she was doing. A slamming together of\nthe coach-house doors in the yard brought her to her+\nself again. An instant after, the front door opened and\nclosed, steps crossed the hall, and her husband appeared\nat the entrance to the room, looking in upon her.\nHe beheld it all by degrees, stared in stupefaction at\nthe scene, as if he thought it an illusion raised by some\nfiendish\n \nincantation. Bathsheba, pallid as a corpse on\nend, gazed back at him in the same wild way.\nSo little are instinctive guesses the fruit of a legitimate\ninduction, that at this moment, as he stood with the\ndoor in his hand, Troy never once thought of Fanny in\nconnection with what he saw. His first confused idea\nwas that somebody in the house had died.\n'Weli-what ? ' said Troy, blankly.\n'I must go ! I must go ! ' said Bathsheba, to herself\nmore than to him. She came with a dilated eye towards\nthe door, to push past him.\n' What's the matter, in God's name ? who's dead ?'\nsaid Troy.\n'I cannot say; let me go out. I want air.! ' she\ncontinued.\n'But no; stay, I insist ! ' He seized her hand, and\nthen volition seemed to leave her, and she went off into\na state of passivity. He, still holding her, came up the\nroom, and thus, hand in hand, Troy and Bathsheba\napproached the coffin's side.\nThe candle was standing on a bureau close by them,\nand the light slanted down, distinctly enkindling the\ncold features of both mother and babe. Troy looked\nin, dropped his wife's hand, knowledge of it all came\nover him in a lurid sheen, and he stood still.\nSo still he remained that he could be imagined to\nhave left in him no motive power whatever. The\nclashes of feeling in all directions confounded one\nanother, produced a neutrality, and there was motion in\nnone.\n'Do you know her?' said Bathsheba, in a small\nenclosed echo, as from the interior of a cell.\n'I do,' said Troy.\n'Is it she?'\n'It is.'\nHe had originally stood perfectly erect. And now,\nin the welinigh congealed immobility of his frame\ncould be discerned an incipient movement, as in the\ndarkest night may be discerned light after a while.\nHe was gradually sinking forwards. The lines of his\nfeatures softened, and dismay modulated to illiimitable\nsadness. Bathsheba was regarding him from the other\nside, still with parted lips and distracted eyes.\n \nCapacity\nfor intense feeling is proportionate to the general\nintensity of the nature ,and perhaps in all Fanny's\nsufferings, much greater relatively to her strength, there\nnever was a time she suffered in an absolute sense\nwhat Bathsheba suffered now.\nWhat Troy did was to sink upon his knees with\nan indefinable union of remorse and reverence upon\nhis face, and, bending over Fanny Robin, gently kissed\nher, as one would kiss an infant asleep to avoid\nawakening it.\nAt the sight and sound of that, to her, unendurable\nact, Bathsheba sprang towards him. All the strong\nfeelings which had been scattered over her existence\nsince she knew what feeling was, seemed gathered\ntogether into one pulsation now. The revulsion from\nher indignant mood a little earlier, when she had\nmeditated upon compromised honour, forestalment,\neclipse in maternity by another, was violent and entire.\nAll that was forgotten in the simple and still strong\nattachment of wife to husband. She had sighed for\nher self-completeness then, and now she cried aloud\nagainst the severance of the union she had deplored.\nShe flung her arms round Troy's neck, exclaiming wildly\nfrom the deepest deep of her heart --\n' Don't -- don't kiss them !. O, Frank, I can\"t bear\nit-i can't ! I love you better than she did: kiss me\ntoo, Frank -- kiss me ! You will, Frank, kiss me too !'\nThere was something so abnormal and startling in\nthe childlike pain and simplicity of this appeal from a\nwoman of Bathsheba's calibre and independence, that\nTroy, loosening her tightly clasped arms from his neck,\nlooked at her in bewilderment. It was such and unex+\npected revelation of all women being alike at heart, even\nthose so different in their accessories as Fanny and this\none beside him, that Troy could hardly seem to believe\nher to be his proud wife Bathsheba. Fanny's own\nspirit seemed to be animating her frame. But this was\nthe mood of a few instants only. When the momentary\n'I will not kiss you!' he said pushing her away.\nHad the wife now but gone no further. Yet,\nperhaps. under the harrowing circumstances, to speak\nout was the one wrong\n \nact which can be better under+\nstood, if not forgiven in her, than the right and politic\none, her rival being now but a corpse. All the feeling\nshe had been betrayed into showing she drew back to\nherself again by a strenuous effort of self-command.\n'What have you to say as your reason ?' she asked\nher bitter voice being strangely low -- quite that of\nanother woman now.\n'I have to say that I have been a bad, black-hearted\nman,' he answered.\nless than she.'\n'Ah! don't taunt me, madam. This woman is more\nto me, dead as she is, than ever you were, or are, or can\nbe. If Satan had not tempted me with that face of\nyours, and those cursed coquetries, I should have\nHe turned to Fanny then. 'But never mind, darling,'\nwife.!'\nAt these words there arose from Bathsheba's lips a\nlong, low cry of measureless despair and indignation,\nsuch a wail of anguish as had never before been heard\nwithin those old-inhabited walls. It was the ??????????\nof her union with Troy.\n\"If she's -- that, -- what -- am I ? ' she added, as a\ncontinuation of the same cry, and sobbing pitifully:\nand the rarity with her of such abandonment only made\nthe condition more dire.\n\" You are nothing to me -- nothing,' said Troy,\nheartlessly. 'A ceremony before a priest doesn't make\na marriage. I am not morally yours.'\nA vehement impulse to flee from him, to run from\nthis place, hide, and escape his words at any price, not\nstopping short of death itself, mastered Bathsheba now.\nShe waited not an instant, but turned to the door and\nran out.\n \nUNDER A TREE -- REACTION\nBATHSHEBA went along the dark road, neither know'\ning nor caring about the direction or issue of her flight.\nThe first time that she definitely noticed her position\nwas when she reached a gate leading into a thicket over+\nhung by some large oak and beech trees. On looking\ninto the place, it occurred to her that she had seen it\nby daylight on some previous occasion, and that what\nappeared like an impassable thicket was in reality a\nbrake of fern now withering fast. She could think of\nnothing better to do with her palpitating self than to go\nin here and hide; and entering, she lighted on a spot\nsheltered from the damp fog hy a reclining trunk, where\nshe sank down upon a tangled couch of fronds and\nstems. She mechanically pulled some armfuls round\nher to keep off the breezes, and closed her eyes.\nWhether she slept or not that night Bathsheba was\nnot clearly aware. But it was with a freshened exist+\nence and a cooler brain that, a long time afterwards, she\nbecame conscious of some interesting proceedings which\nwere going on in the trees above her head and around.\nA coarse-throated chatter was the first sound.\nIt was a sparrow just waking.\nNext : ' Chee-weeze-weeze-weeze .! ' from another\nretreat.\nIt was a finch.\nThird : ' Tink-tink-tink-tink-a-chink ! ' from the hedge,\nIt was a robin.\n' Chuck-chuck-chuck !. ' overhead.\nA squirrel.\nThen, from the road, 'With my ra-ta-ta, and my\nrum-tum-tum ! '\nIt was a ploughboy. Presently he came opposite,\nand she believed from his voice that he was one of\nthe boys on her own farm. He was followed by a\nshambling tramp of heavy feet, and\n \nlooking through\nthe ferns Bathsheba could just discern in the wan light\nof daybreak a team of her own horses. They stopped\nto drink at a pond on the other side of the way'. She\nwatched them flouncing into the pool, drinking, tossing\nup their heads, drinking again, the water dribbling\nfrom their lips in silver threads. There was another\nflounce, and they came out of the pond, and turned\nback again towards the farm.\nShe looked further around. Day was just dawning,\nand beside its cool air and colours her heated actions\nand resolves of the night stood out in lurid contrast.\nShe perceived that in her lap, and clinging to her\nhair, were red and yellow leaves which had come\ndown from the tree and settled silently upon her\nduring her partial sleep. Bathsheba shook her dress to\nget rid of them, when multitudes of the same family lying\nround about her rose and fiuttered away in the breeze\nthus created, 'like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing.'\nThere was an opening towards the east, and the\nglow from the as yet unrisen sun attracted her eyes\nthither. From her feet, and between the beautiful\nyellowing ferns with their feathery arms, the ground\nsloped downwards to a hollow, in which was a species\nof swamp, dotted with fungi. A morning mist hung\nover it now -- a fulsome yet magnificent silvery veil,\nfull of light from the sun, yet semi-opaque -- the hedge\nbehind it being in some measure hidden by its hazy\nluminousness. Up the sides of this depression grew\nsheaves of the common rush, and here and there a\npeculiar species of flag, the blades of which glistened\nin the enaerging sun, like scythes. But the general\naspect of the swamp was malignant. From its moist\nand poisonous coat seemed to be exhaled the essences\nof evil things in the earth, and in the waters under\nthe earth. The fungi grew in all manner of positions\nfrom rotting leaves and tree stumps, some exhibiting\nto her listless gaze their clammy tops, others their\noozing gills. Some were marked with great splotches,\nred as arterial blood, others were saffron yellow, and\nothers tall and attenuated, with stems like macaroni.\nSome were leathery and of richest browns. The\nhollow seemed a nursery of pestilences small and\ngreat, in the immediate neighbourhood of comfort\nand health, and Bathsheba arose with a tremor at the\nthought of having\n \npassed the night on the brink of\nso dismal a place.\n'l'here were now other footsteps to be heard along\nthe road. Bathsheba's nerves were still unstrung :\nshe crouchcd down out of sight again, and the pedes+\ntrian came into view. He was a schoolboy, with a\nbag slung over his shoulder containing his dinner,\nand a hook in his hand. He paused by the gate,\nand, without looking up, continued murmuring words\nin tones quite loud enough to reach her ears.\n'''O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord'': --\nthat I know out o' book. ''Give us, give us, give us,\ngive us, give us '' : -- that I know. ''Grace that, grace that,\ngrace that, grace that '' : -- that I know.' Other words\nfollowed to the same effect. The boy was of the\ndunce class apparently; the book was a psalter, and\nthis was his way of learning the collect. In the worst\nattacks of trouble there appears to be always a super+\nficial film of consciousness which is left disengaged\nand open to the notice of trifles, and Bathsheba was\nfaintly amused at the boy's method, till he too passed on.\nBy this time stupor had given place to anxiety, and\nanxiety began to make room for hunger and thirst.\nA form now appeared upon the rise on the other side\nof the swamp, half-hidden by the mist, and came\ntowards Bathsheba. The woman -- for it was a woman\n -- approached with her face askance, as if looking\nearnestly on all sides of her. When she got a little\nfurther round to the left, and drew nearer, Bathsheba\ncould see the newcomer's profile ngainst the sunny\nsky', and knew the wavy sweep from forehead to chin,\nwith neither angle nor decisive line anywhere about\nit, to be the familiar contour of Liddy Smallbury.\nBathsheba's heart bounded with gratitude in the\nthought that she was not altogether deserted, and she\njumped up. ' O, Liddy .! ' she said, or attempted to say;\nbut the words had only been framed hy her lips; there\ncame no sound. She had lost her voice by exposure\nto the clogged atmosphere all these hours of night.\n'O, ma'am.! I am so glad I have found you,' said\nthe girl, as soon as she saw Bathsheba.\n' You can't come across,' Bathsheba said in a whisper,\nwihich she\n \nvainly endeavoured to make loud enough to\nreach Liddy's ears. Liddy, not knowing this, stepped\ndown upon the swamp, saying, as she did so, 'It will\nbear me up, I think.'\nBathsheba never forgot that transient little picture\nof Liddy crossing the swamp to her there in the\nmorning light. Iridescent bubbles of dank subter+\nranean breath rose from the sweating sod beside the\nwaiting maid's feet as she trod, hissing as they burst\nand expanded away to join the vapoury firmament above.\nLiddy did not sink, as Bathsheba had anticipated.\nShe landed safely on the other side, and looked up\nat the beautiful though pale and weary face of her\nyoung mistress.\n'Poor thing ! ' said Liddy, with tears in her eyes,\nDo hearten yourself up a little, ma'am. However\ndid -- -- '\n'I can't speak above a whisper -- my voice is gone\nfor the present,' said Bathsheba, hurriedly. ' I suppose\nthe damp air from that hollow has taken it away\nLiddy, don't question me, mind. Who sent you --\nanybody ? '\n' Nobody. I thought, when I found you were not\nat home, that something cruel had happened. I fancy\nI heard his voice late last night; and so, knowing\nsomething was wrong -- -- '\n'Is he at home?'\n'No ; he left just before I came out.'\n'Is Fanny taken away ? '\n' Not yet. She will soon be -- at nine o'clock.'\n'we won't go home at present, then. Suppose we\nwalk about in this wood ?'\nLiddy, without exactly understanding everything, or\nanything, in this episode, assented, and they walked\ntogether further among the trees.\n'But you had better come in, ma'am, and have\nsomething to eat. You will die of a chill! '\n'I shall not come indoors yet -- perhaps never.'\n'Shall I get you something to eat, and something\nelse to put over your head besides that little shawl?'\n'If you will, Liddy.'\nLiddy vanished, and at the end of twenty minutes\nreturned with a cloak, hat, some slices of bread and\nbutter, a tea-cup, and some hot tea in a little china jug\n \n\"Is Fanny gone ? ' said Bathsheba.\n' No,' said her companion, pouring out the tea.\nBathsheba wrapped herself up and ate and drank\nsparingly. Her voice was then a little clearer, and\ntrifling colour returned to her face. 'Now we'll walk\nabout again,' she said.\nThey wandered about the wood for nearly two\nREACTION\nhours, Bathsheba replying in monosyllables to Liddy's\nprattle, for her mind ran on one subject, and one only.\nShe interrupted with --\n'l wonder if Fanny is gone by this time ? '\n'I will go and see.'\nShe came back with the information that the\nmen were just taking away the corpse; that Bathsheba\nhad been inquired for; that she had replied to the\neffect that her mistress was unwell and could not be\nseen.\n'Then they think I am in my bedroom ?'\n' Yes.' Liddy then ventured to add: ' You said\nwhen I first found you that you might never go home\nagain -- you didn't mean it, ma'am ? '\n'No; I've altered my mind. It is only women with\nno pride in them who run away from their husbands.\nThere is one position worse than that of being found\ndead in your husband's house from his iliusage, and\nthat is, to be found alive through having gone away to\nThe house of somebody else. l've thought of it all this\nmorning, and I've chosen my course. A runaway wife\nis an encumbrance to everybody, a burden to herself and\na byword -- all of which make up a heap of misery\ngreater than any that comes by staying at home --\nthough this may include the trifling items of insult,\nbeating, and starvation. Liddy, if ever you marry --\nGod forbid that you ever should ! -- you'll find yourself\nin a fearful situation ; but mind this, don't you flinch.\nStand your ground, and be cut to pieces. That's\nwhat I'm going to do.'\n' O, mistress, don't talk so .! ' said Liddy,-taking her\nhand; 'but I knew you had too much sense to bide\naway. May I ask what dreadful thing it is that has\nhappened between you and him ?'\n' You may ask; but I may not tell.'\nIn about ten minutes they returned to the house by\na cimuitous route, entering at the rear. Bathsheba\nglided up the\n \nback stairs to a disused attic, and her\ncompanion followed.\n'Liddy,' she said, with a lighter heart, for youth an\nhope had begun to reassert themselves; ' you are to b\nmy confidante for the present -- somebody must be -- and\nI choose you. Well, I shall take up my abode here fo\na while. Will you get a fire lighted, put down a piece\nof carpet, and help me to make the place comfortable.\nAfterwards, I want you and Maryann to bring up that\nlittle stump bedstead in the small room, and the be\nbelonging to it, and a table, and some other things.\nWhat shall I do to pass the heavy time away ?'\n'Hemming handkerchiefs is a very good thing,' said\nLiddy.\n'O no, no .! I hate needlework-i always did.'\n'knitting ? '\n' And that, too.'\n'You might finish your sampler. Only the carn\ntions and peacocks want filling in; and then it could\nbe framed and glazed, and hung beside your aunt'\nma'am.'\n' Samplers are out of date -- horribly countrified. No\nLiddy, I'll read. Bring up some books -- not new ones.\nI haven't heart to read anything new.'\n'Some of your uncle's old ones, ma'am ? '\n' Yes. Some of those we stowed away in boxes.' ,\nfaint gleam of humour passed over her face as she said:\n'Bring Beaumont and Fletcher's Mai'd's Tragedy,- an\nthe Mourning Bride ,- and-iet me see -- Niht Thoghts,\nand the Vanity of Human Wishes.'\n'And that story of the black man, who murdered his\nwife Desdemona? It is a nice dismal one that would\nsuit you excellent just now.'\n' Now, Liddy, you've been looking into my book\nwithout telling me; and I said you were not to ! How\ndo you know it would suit me? It wouldn't suit me a\nall.'\n'But if the others do -- -- '\n' No, they don't ; and I won't read dismal books.\nWhy should I read dismal books, indeed ? Bring me\nLove in a Village, and Maid of the Mill, and Doctor\nSyntax, and some volumes of the Spectator.'\nAll that day Bathsheba and Liddy lived in the attic\nin a state of\n \nbarricade ; a precaution which proved to be\nneedless as against Troy, for he did not appear in the\nneighbourhood or trouble them at all. Bathsheba sat\nat the window till sunset, sometimes attempting to read,\nat other times watching every movement outside without\nmuch purpose, and listening without much interest to\nevery sound.\nThe sun went down almost blood-red that night, and\na livid cloud received its rays in the east. Up against\nthis dark background the west front of the church\ntower -- the only part of the edifice visible from the\nfarm-house windows -- rose distinct and lustrous, the\nvane upon the summit bristling with rays. Hereabouts,\nat six o'clock, the young men of the village gathered,\nas was their custom, for a game of Prisoners' base. The\nspot had been consecrated to this ancient diversion from\ntime immemorial, the old stocks conveniently forming\na base facing the boundary of the churchyard, in front\nof which the ground was trodden hard and bare as a\npavement by the players. She could see the brown\nand black heads of the young lads darting about right\nand left, their white shirt-sleeves gleaming in the sun;\nwhilst occasionally a shout and a peal of hearty laughter\nvaried the stillness of the evening air. They continued\nplaying for a quarter of an hour or so, when the game\nconcluded abruptly, and the players leapt over the wall\nand vanished round to the other side behind a yew-tree,\nwhich was also half behind a beech, now spreading in\none mass of golden foliage, on which the branches\ntraced black lines.\n'Why did the base-players finish their game so\nsuddenly?' Bathsheba inquired, the next time that\nLiddy entered the room.\n' I think 'twas because two men came just then from\nCasterbridge and began putting up grand carved\ntombstone,' said Liddy. 'The lads went to see whose\nit was.'\n' Do you know ? ' Bathsheba asked.\n' I don't,' said Liddy.\n \nTROY'S ROMANTICISM\nWHEN Troy's wife had left the house at the previous\nmidnight his first act was to cover the dead from sight.\nThis done he ascended the stairs, and throwing himself\ndown upon the bed dressed as he was, he waited miser+\nably for the morning.\nFate had dealt grimly with him through the last four+\nand-twenty hours. His day had been spent in a way\nwhich varied very materially from his intentions regard+\ning it. There is always an inertia to be overcome in\nstriking out a new line of conduct -- not more in our+\nselves, it seems, than in circumscribing events, which\nappear as if leagued together to allow no novelties in\nthe way of amelioration.\nTwenty pounds having been secured from Bathsheba,\nhe had managed to add to the sum every farthing he\ncould muster on his own account, which had been seven\npounds ten. With this money, twenty-seven pounds ten\nin all, he had hastily driven from the gate that morning\nto keep his appointment with Fanny Robin.\nOn reaching Casterbridge he left the horse and trap\nat an inn, and at five minutes before ten came back to\nthe bridge at the lower end of the town, and sat himself\nupon the parapet. The clocks struck the hour, and no\nFanny appeared. In fact, at that moment she was being\nrobed in her grave-clothes by two attendants at the\nUnion poorhouse -- the first and last tiring-women the\ngentle creature had ever been honoured with. The\nquarter went, the half hour. A rush of recollection\ncame upon Troy as he waited: this was the second\ntime she had broken a serious engagement with him\nIn anger he vowed it should be the last, and at eleven\no'clock, when he had lingered and watched the stone\nof the bridge till he knew every lichen upon their face\nand heard the chink of the ripples underneath till they\noppressed him, he jumped from his seat, went to the inn\n \nfor his gig, and in a bitter mood of indifference con+\ncerning the past, and recklessness about the future,\ndrove on to Budmouth races.\nHe reached the race-course at two o'clock, and re+\nmained either there or in the town till nine, But\nFanny's image, as it had appeared to him in the sombre\nshadows of that Saturday evening, returned to his mind,\nbacked up by Bathsheba's reproaches. He vowed he\nwould not bet, and he kept his vow, for on leaving the\ntown at nine o'clock in the evening he had diminish\nhis cash only to the extent of a few shillings.\nHe trotted slowly homeward, and it was now that\nwas struck for the first time with a thought that Fanny\nhad been really prevented by illness from keeping her\npromise. 'This time she could have made no mistake\nHe regretted that he had not remained in Casterbridge\nand made inquiries. Reaching home he quietly un+\nharnessed the horse and came indoors, as we have seen,\nto the fearful shock that awaited him.\nAs soon as it grew light enough to distinguish objects,\nTroy arose from the coverlet of the bed, and in a mood\nof absolute indifference to Bathsheba's whereabouts, a\nalmost oblivious of her existence, he stalked downstairs\nand left the house by the back door. His walk was\ntowards the churchyard, entering which he searched\naround till he found a newly dug unoccupied grave --\nthe grave dug the day before for Fanny. The position\nof this having been marked, he hastened on to Caster+\nbridge, only pausing\nwhereon he had last seen Fanny alive.\nReaching the town, Troy descended into a side\nstreet and entered a pair of gates surmounted by a board\nbearing the words, 'Lester, stone and marble mason.'\nWithin were lying about stones of all sizes and designs,\ninscribed as being sacred to the memory of unnamed\npersons who had not yet died.\nTroy was so unlike himself now in look, word, and\ndeed, that the want of likeness was perceptible even to\nhis own consciousness. His method of engaging himself\nin this business of purchasing a tomb was that of an\nabsolutely unpractised man. He could not bring him+\nself to consider, calculate, or\n \neconomize. He waywardly\nwished for something, and he set about obtaining it like\na child in a nursery. 'I want a good tomb,' he said to\nthe man who stood in a little office within the yard.\n'I want as good a one as you can give me for twenty+\nseven pounds,'\nIt was all the money he possessed.\n'That sum to include everything?'\n' Everything. Cutting the name, carriage to Weather+\nbury, and erection. And I want it now at once .'\n' We could not get anything special worked this\nweek.\n'If you would like one of these in stock it could be\ngot ready immediately.'\n'Very well,' said Troy, impatiently. 'Let's see what\nyou have.'\n'The best I have in stock is this one, 'said the stone+\ncutter, going into a shed. ' Here's a marble headstone\nbeautifully crocketed, with medallions beneath of typical\nsubjects ; here's the footstone after the same pattern,\nand here's the coping to enclose the- grave. The\nslabs are the best of their kind, and I can warrant them\n'Well, I couId add the name, and put it up at\nvisitor who wore not a shred of mourning. Troy then\nsettled the account and went away. In the afternoon\nalmost done. He waited in the yard till the tomb was\nway to Weatherbury, giving directions to the two men\nthe grave of the person named in the inscription.\nbridge. He carried rather a heavy basket upon his\noccasionally at bridges and\n \ngates, whereon he deposited\nreturning in the darkness, the men and the waggon\nthe work was done, and, on being assured that it was,\nTroy entered Weatherbury churchyard about ten\nhad marked the vacant grave early in the morning. It\nextent from the view of passers along the road -- a spot\nand bushes of alder, but now it was cleared and made\nthe ground elsewhere.\nHere now stood the tomb as the men had stated, snow+\nwhite and shapely in the gloom, consisting of head and\nfoot-stone, and enclosing border of marble-work uniting\nthem. In the midst was mould, suitable for plants.\nTroy deposited his basket beside the tomb, and\nvanished for a few minutes. When he returned he\ncarried a spade and a lantern, the light of which he\ndirected for a few moments upon the marble, whilst he\nread the inscription. He hung his lantern on the lowest\nbough of the yew-tree, and took from his basket flower+\nroots of several varieties. There were bundles of snow+\ndrop, hyacinth and crocus bulbs, violets and double\ndaisies, which were to bloom in early spring, and of\ncarnations, pinks, picotees, lilies of the valley, forget-me+\nnot, summer's-farewell, meadow-saffron and others, for\nthe later seasons of the year.\nTroy laid these out upon the grass, and with an im+\npassive face set to work to plant them. The snowdrops\nwere arranged in a line on the outside of the coping,\nthe remainder within the enclosure of the grave. The\ncrocuses and hyacinths were to grow in rows; some of\nthe summer flowers he placed over her head and feet,\nthe lilies and forget-me-nots over her heart. The\nremainder were dispersed in the spaces between these.\nTroy, in his prostration at this time, had no percep+\ntion that in the futility of these romantic doings, dictated\nby a remorseful reaction from previous indifference, there\nwas any element\n \nof absurdity. Deriving his idiosyn+\ncrasies from both sides of the Channel, he showed at\nsuch junctures as the present the inelasticity of the\nEnglishman, together with that blindness to the line\nwhere sentiment verges on mawkishness, characteristic\nof the French.\nlt was a cloudy, muggy, and very dark night, and\nthe rays from Troy's lantern spread into the two old\nyews with a strange illuminating power, flickering, as it\nseemed, up to the black ceiling of cloud above. He\nfelt a large drop of rain upon the back of his hand, and\npresently one came and entered one of the holes of the\nlantern, whereupon the candle sputtered and went out+\nTroy was weary and it being now not far from midnight,\nand the rain threatening to increase, he resolved to leave\nthe finishing touches of his labour until the day should\nbreak. He groped along the wall and over the graves\nin the dark till he found himself round at the north side.\nHere he entered the porch, and, reclining upon the\nbench within, fell asleep.\n \nTHE GURGOYLE : ITS DOINGS\nTHE tower of Weatherbury Church was a square\nerection of fourteenth-century date, having two stone\ngurgoyles on each of the four faces of its parapet. Of\nthese eight carved protuberances only two at this time\ncontinued to serve the purpose of their erection -- that\nof spouting the water from the lead roof within. One\nmouth in each front had been closed hy bygone church+\nwardens as superfluous, and two others were broken\naway and choked -- a matter not of much consequence\nto the welibeing of the tower, for the two mouths which\nstill remained open and active were gaping enough to do\nall the work.\nIt has been sometimes argued that there is no truer\ncriterion of the vitality of any given art-period than the\npower of the master-spirits of that time in grotesque ;\nand certainly in the instance of Gothic art there is no\ndisputing the proposition. Weatherbury tower was a\nsomewhat early instance of the use of an ornamental\nparapet in parish as distinct from cathedral churches,\nand the gurgoyles, which are the necessary correlatives\nof a parapet, were exccptionally prominent -- of the\nboldest cut that the hand could shape, and of the most\noriginal design that a human brain could conceive.\nThere was, so to speak, that symmetry in their distortion\nwhich is less the characteristic of British than of\nContinental grotesques of the period. All the eight\nwere different from each other. A beholder was con+\nvinced that nothing on earth could be more hideous\nthan those he saw on the north side until he went\nround to the south. Of the two on this latter face, only\nthat at the south-eastern corner concerns the story. It\nwas too human to be called like a dragon, too impish\nto be like a man, too animal to be like a fiend, and not\nenough like a bird to be called a griffin. This horrible\nstone entity was fashioned as if covered with a\n \nwrinkled\nhide; it had short, erect ears, eyes starting from their\nsockets, and its fingers and hands were seizing the\ncorners of its mouth, which they thus seemed to pull\nopen to give free passage to the water it vomited. The\nlower row of teeth was quite washed away, though the\nupper still remained. Here and thus, jutting a couple\nof feet from the wall against which its feet rested as a\nsupport, the creature had for four hundred years\nlaughed at the surrounding landscape, voicelessly in\ndry weather, and in wet with a gurgling and snorting\nsound.\nTroy slept on in the porch, and the rain increased\noutside. Presently the gurgoyle spat. In due time a\nsmall stream began to trickle through the seventy feet\nof aerial space between its mouth and the ground, which\nthe water-drops smote like duckshot in their accelerated\nvelocity. The stream thickened in substance, and in+\ncreased in power, gradually spouting further and yet\nfurther from the side of the tower. When the rain fell\nin a steady and ceaseless torrent the stream dashed\ndownward in volumes.\nWe follow its course to the ground at this point of\ntime. The end of the liquid parabola has come forward\nfrom the wall, has advanced over the plinth mouldings,\nover a heap of stones, over the marble border, into the\nmidst of Fanny Robin's grave.\nThe force of the stream had, until very lately, been\nreceived upon some loose stones spread thereabout,\nwhich had acted as a shield to the soil under the onset.\nThese during the summer had been cleared from the\nground, and there was now nothing to resist the down+\nfall but the bare earth. For several years the stream\nhad not spouted so far from the tower as it was doing\non this night, and such a contingency had been over+\nlooked. Sometimes this obscure corner received no\ninhabitant for the space of two or three years, and\nthen it was usually but a pauper, a poacher, or other\nsinner of undignified sins.\nThe persistent torrent from the gurgoyle's jaws\ndirected all its vengeance into the grave. The rich\ntawny mould was stirred into motion, and boiled like\nchocolate. The water accumulated and washed deeper\ndown, and the roar of the pool thus formed spread into\nthe night as the head and chief among other noises of\n \nthe kind created by the deluging rain. The flowers so\ncarefully planted by Fanny's repentant lover began to\nmove and writhe in their bed. The winter-violets\nturned slowly upside down, and became a mere mat of\nmud. Soon the snowdrop and other bulbs danced in\nthe boiling mass like ingredients in a cauldron. Plants\nof the tufted species were loosened, rose to the surface,\nand floated of.\nTroy did not awake from his comfortless sleep till it\nwas broad day. Not having been in bed for two nights\nhis shouldrrs felt stiff his feet tender, and his head\nheavy. He remembered his position, arose, shivered,\ntook the spade, and again went out.\nThe rain had quite ceased, and the sun was shining\nthrough the green, brown, and yellow leaves, now\nsparkling and varnished by the raindrops to the bright+\nness of similar effects in the landscapes of Ruysdael and\nHobbema, and full of all those infinite beauties that\narise from the union of water and colour with high\nlights. The air was rendered so transparent by the\nheavy fall of rain that the autumn hues of the middle\ndistance were as rich as those near at hand, and the\nremote fields intercepted by the angle of the tower ap+\npeared in the same plane as the tower itself.\nHe entered the gravel path which would take him\nbehind the tower. The path, instead of being stony as\nit had been the night before, was browned over with a\nthin coating of mud. At one place in the path he saw\na tuft of stringy roots washed white and clean as a\nbundle of tendons. He picked it up -- surely it could\nnot be one of the primroses he had planted? He saw\na bulb, another, and another as he advanced. Beyond\ndoubt they were the crocuses. With a face of perplexed\ndismay Troy turned the corner and then beheld the\nwreck the stream had made.\nThe pool upon the grave had soaked away into the\nground, and in its place was a hollow. The disturbed\nearth was washed over the grass and pathway in the\nguise of the brown mud he had already seen, and it\nspotted the marble tombstone with the same stains.\nNearly all the flowers were washed clean out of the\nground, and they lay, roots upwards, on the spots whither\nthey had been splashed by the stream.\n \nTroy's brow became heavily contracted. He set his\nteeth closely, and his compressed lips moved as those of\none in great pain. This singular accident, by a strange\nconfluence of emotions in him, was felt as the sharpest\nsting of all. Troy's face was very expressive, and any\nobserver who had seen him now would hardly have\nbelieved him to be a man who had laughed, and sung,\nand poured love-trifles into a woman's ear. To curse\nhis miserable lot was at first his impulse, but even that\nlowest stage of rebellion needed an activity whose\nabsence was necessarily antecedent to the existence of the\nmorbid misery which wrung him. The sight, coming\nas it did, superimposed upon the other dark scenery of\nthe previous days, formed a sort of climax to the whole\npanorama, and it was more than he could endure.\nSanguine by nature, Troy had a power of eluding\ngrief by simply adjourning it. He could put off the\nconsideration of any particular spectre till the matter\nhad become old and softened by time. The planting\nof flowers on Fanny's grave had been perhaps but a\nspecies of elusion of the primary grief, and now it was\nas if his intention had been known and circumvented.\nAlmost for the first time in his life, Troy, as he stood\nby this dismantled grave, wished himself another man.\nlt is seldom that a person with much animal spirit does\nnot feel that the fact of his life being his own is the one\nqualification which singles it out as a more hopeful life\nthan that of others who may actually resemble him in\nevery particular. Troy had felt, in his transient way,\nhundreds of times, that he could not envy other people\ntheir condition, because the possession of that condition\nwould have necessitated a different personality, when he\ndesired no other than his own. He had not minded\nthe peculiarities of his birth, the vicissitudes of his life,\nthe meteoriike uncertainty of all that related to him,\nbecause these appertained to the hero of his story,\nwithout whom there would have been no story at all for\nhim; and it seemed to be only in the nature of things\nthat matters would right themselves at some proper date\nand wind up well. This very morning the illusion\ncompleted its disappearance, and, as it were, all of a\nsudden, Troy hated himself. The suddenness was\nprobably more\n \napparent than real. A coral reef which\njust comes short of the ocean surface is no more to the\nhorizon than if it had never been begun, and the mere\nfinishing stroke is what often appears to create an event\nwhich has long been potentially an accomplished thing.\nHe stood and mediated -- a miserable man. Whither\nshould he go ? \" He that is accursed, let him be accursed\nstill,' was the pitiless anathema written in this spoliated\neffort of his new-born solicitousness. A man who has\nspent his primal strength in journeying in one direction\nhas not much spirit left for reversing his course. Troy\nhad, since yesterday, faintly reversed his ; but the merest\nopposition had disheartened him. To turn about would\nhave been hard enough under the greatest providential\nencouragement; but to find that Providence, far from\nhelping him into a new course, or showing any wish\nthat he might adopt one, actuallyjeered his first trembling\nand critical attempt in that kind, was more than nature\ncould bear.\nHe slowly withdrew from the grave. He did not\nattempt to fill up the hole, replace the flowers, or do\nanything at all. He simply threw up his cards and\nforswore his game for that time and always. Going out\nof the churchyard silently and unobserved -- none of the\nvillagers having yet risen -- he passed down some fields\nat the back, and emerged just as secretly upon the high\nroad. Shortly afterwards he had gone from the village.\nMeanwhile, Bathsheba remained a voluntary prisoner\nin the attic. The door was kept locked, except during\nthe entries and exits of Liddy, for whom a bed had\nbeen arranged in a small adjoining room. The light\nof Troy's lantern in the churchyard was noticed about\nten o'clock by the maid-servant, who casually glanced\nfrom the window in that direction whilst taking her\nsupper, and she called Bathsheba's attention to it.\nThey looked curiously at the phenomenon for a time,\nuntil Liddy was sent to bed.\nbathsheba did not sleep very heavily that night.\nWhen her attendant was unconscious and softly breath+\ning in the next room, the mistress of the house was\nstill looking out of the window at the faint gleam\nspreading from among the trees --\n \nnot in a steady shine,\nbut blinking like a revolving coastiight, though this\nappearance failed to suggest to her that a person was\npassing and repassing in front of it. Bathsheba sat\nhere till it began to rain, and the light vanished, when\nshe withdrew to lie restlessly in her bed and re-enact\nin a worn mind the lurid scene of yesternight.\nAlmost before the first faint sign of dawn appeared\nshe arose again, and opened the window to obtain a full\nbreathing of the new morning air, the panes being now\nwet with trembling tears left by the night rain, each\none rounded with a pale lustre caught from primrose+\nhued slashes through a cloud low down in the awaken+\ning sky. From the trees came the sound of steady\ndripping upon the drifted leaves under them, and from\nthe direction of the church she could hear another noise\n -- peculiar, and not intermittent like the rest, the purl\nof water falling into a pool.\nLiddy knocked at eight o'clock, and Bathsheba un+\nlocked the door.\n\" What a heavy rain we've had in the night, ma'am!.'\nsaid Liddy, when her inquiries about breakfast had been\nmade.\n\" Yes ; very heavy.'\n\"Did you hear the strange noise from the church\nyard?'\n\"I heard one strange noise. I've been thinking it\nmust have been the water from the tower spouts.'\n\"Well, that's what the shepherd was saying, ma'am.\nHe's now gone on to see.\n\"Oh!. Gabriel has been here this morning!.'\n\"Only just looked in in passing -- quite in his old way,\nwhich I thought he had left off lately. But the tower\nspouts used to spatter on the stones, and we are puzzled,\nfor this was like the boiling of a pot.'\nNot being able to read, think, or work, Bathsheba asked\nLiddy to stay and breakfast with her. The tongue of the\nmore childish womian still ran upon recent events. \"Are\nyou going across to the church, ma'am?' she asked.\n\"Not that I know of,' said Bathsheba.\n\"I thought you might like to go and see where they\nhave put Fanny. The trees hide the place from your\nwindow.'\n \nBathsheba had all sorts of dreads about meeting her\nhusband. \"Has Mr. Troy been in to-night?' she said\n\" No, ma'am ; I think he's gone to Budmouth.\nBudmouth! The sound of the word carried with\nit a much diminished perspective of him and his deeds;\nthere were thirteen miles interval betwixt them now.\nShe hated questioning Liddy about her husband's\nmovements, and indeed had hitherto sedulously avoided\ndoing so; but now all the house knew that there had\nbeen some dreadful disagreement between them, and\nit was futile to attempt disguise. Bathsheba had\nreached a stage at which people cease to have any\nappreciative regard for public opinion.\n\"What makes you think he has gone there?' she said.\n\"Laban Tall saw him on the Budmouth road this\nmorning before breakfast.'\nBathsheba was momentarily relieved of that wayward\nheaviness of the past twenty-four hours which had\nquenched the vitality of youth in her without sub+\nstituting the philosophy of maturer years, and the\nresolved to go out and walk a little way. So when\nbreakfast was over, she put on her bonnet, and took\na direction towards the church. It was nine o'clock,\nand the men having returned to work again from their\nfirst meal, she was not likely to meet many of them in\nthe road. Knowing that Fanny had been laid in the\nreprobates' quarter of the graveyard, called in the parish\n'behind church,' which was invisible from the road, it\nwas impossible to resist the impulse to enter and look\nupon a spot which, from nameless feelings, she at the\nsame time dreaded to see. She had been unable to\novercome an impression that some connection existed\nbetween her rival and the light through the trees.\nBathsheba skirted the buttress, and beheld the hole\nand the tomb, its delicately veined surface splashed and\nstained just as Troy had seen it and left it two hours\nearlier. On the other side of the scene stood Gabriel.\nHis eyes, too, were fixed on the tomb, and her arrival\nhaving been noiseless, she had not as yet attracted his\nattention. Bathsheba did not at once perceive that the\ngrand tomb and the disturbed grave were Fanny's, and\nshe looked on both sides and around for some humbler\nmound,\n \nearthed up and clodded in the usual way. Then\nher eye followed Oak's, and she read the words with\nwhich the inscription opened : --\n\"Erected by Francis Troy in Beloved Memory of\nFanny Robin.'\nOak saw her, and his first act was to gaze inquiringly\nand learn how she received this knowledge of the\nauthorship of the work, which to himself had caused\nconsiderable astonishment. But such discoveries did\nnot much affect her now. Emotional convulsions seemed\nto have become the commonplaces of her history, and\nshe bade him good morning, and asked him to fill in\nthe hole with the spade which was standing by. Whilst\nOak was doing as she desired, Bathsheba collected the\nflowers, and began planting them with that sympathetic\nmanipulation of roots and leaves which is so conspicuous\nin a woman's gardening, and which flowers seem to\nunderstand and thrive upon. She requested Oak to\nget the churchwardens to turn the leadwork at the\nmouth of the gurgoyle that hung gaping down upon\nthem, that by this means the stream might be directed\nsideways, and a repetition of the accident prevented.\nFinally, with the superfluous magnanimity of a woman\nwhose narrower instincts have brought down bitterness\nupon her instead of love, she wiped the mud spots from\nthe tomb as if she rather liked its words than otherwise,\n \nADVENTURES BY THE SHORE\nTROY wandered along towards the south. A composite\nfeeling, made up of disgust with the, to him, humdrum\ntediousness of a farmer's life, gloomly images of her who\nlay in the churchyard, remorse, and a general averseness\nto his wife's society, impelled him to seek a home in any\nplace on earth save Weatherbury. The sad accessories\nof Fanny's end confronted him as vivid pictures which\nthreatened to be indelible, and made life in Bathsheba's\nhouse intolerable. At three in the afternoon he found\nhimself at the foot of a slope more than a mile in length,\nwhich ran to the ridge of a range of hills lying parallel\nwith the shore, and forming a monotonous barrier between\nthe basin of cultivated country inland and the wilder\nscenery of the coast. Up the hill stretched a road\nnearly straight and perfectly white, the two sides\napproaching each other in a gradual taper till they\nmet the sky at the top about two miles off. Through+\nout the length of this narrow and irksome inclined plane\nnot a sign of life was visible on this garish afternoon\nTroy toiled up the road with a languor and depression\ngreater than any he had experienced for many a day\nand year before. The air was warm and muggy, and\nthe top seemed to recede as he approached.\nAt last he reached the summit, and a wide and\nnovel prospect burst upon him with an effect almost like\nthat of the Pacific upon Balboa's gaze. The broad\nsteely sea, marked only by faint lines, which had a\nsemblance of being etched thereon to a degree not deep\nenough to disturb its general evenness, stretched the\nwhole width of his front and round to the right, where,\nnear the town and port of Budmouth, the sun bristled\ndown upon it, and banished all colour, to substitute in\nits place a clear oily polish. Nothing moved in sky,\nland, or sea, except a frill of milkwhite foam along the\nnearer angles of the\n \nshore, shreds of which licked the\ncontiguous stones like tongues.\nHe descended and came to a small basin of sea\nenclosed by the cliffs. Troy's nature freshened within\nhim ; he thought he would rest and bathe here before\ngoing farther. He undressed and plunged in. Inside\nthe cove the water was uninteresting to a swimmer,\nbeing smooth as a pond, and to get a little of the ocean\nswell, Troy presently swam between the two projecting\nspurs of rock which formed the pillars of Hercules to\nthis miniature Mediterranean. Unfortunately for Troy\na current unknown to him existed outside, which, un+\nimportant to craft of any burden, was awkward for a\nswimmer who might be taken in it unawares. Troy\nfound himself carried to the left and then round in a\nswoop out to sea.\nHe now recollected the place and its sinister\ncharacter. Many bathers had there prayed for a dry\ndeath from time to time, and, like Gonzalo also, had\nbeen unanswered ; and Troy began to deem it possible\nthat he might be added to their number. Not a boat\nof any kind was at present within sight, but far in the\ndistance Budmouth lay upon the sea, as it were quietly\nregarding his efforts, and beside the town the harbour\nshowed its position by a dim meshwork of ropes and\nspars. After welinigh exhausting himself in attempts\nto get back to the mouth of the cove, in his weakness\nswimming several inches deeper than was his wont,\nkeeping up his breathing entirely by his nostrils, turning\nupon his back a dozen times over, swimming <1en papillon>1\nand so on, Troy resolved as a last resource to tread\nwater at a slight incline, and so endeavour to reach the\nshore at any point, merely giving himself a gentle\nimpetus inwards whilst carried on in the general direc+\ntion of the tide. This, necessarily a slow process, he\nfound to be not altogether so difficult, and though there\nwas no choice of a landing-place -- the objects on shore\npassing by him in a sad and slow procession -- he per+\nceptibly approached the extremity of a spit of land yet\nfurther to the right, now well defined against the sunny\nportion of the horizon- While the swimmer s eye's were\nfixed upon the spit as his only means of salvation on\nthis side of the\n \nUnknown, a moving object broke the\noutline of the extremity, and immediately a ship's boat\nappeared manned with several sailor lads, her bows\ntowards the sea.\nAll Troy's vigour spasmodically revived to prolong\nthe struggle yet a little further. Swimming with his\nright arm, he held up his left to hail them, splashing\nupon the waves, and shouting with all his might. From\nthe position of the setting sun his white form was\ndistinctly visible upon the now deep-hued bosom of the\nsea to the east of the boat, and the men saw him at\nonce. Backing their oars and putting the boat about,\nthey pulled towards him with a will, and in five or six\nminutes from the time of his first halloo, two of the\nsailors hauled him in over the stern.\nThey formed part of a brig's crew, and had come\nashore for sand. Lending him what little clothing they\ncould spare among them as a slight protection against\nlate they made again towards the roadstead where their\nAnd now night drooped slowly upon the wide watery\nlevels in front; and at no great distance from them,\nwhere the shoreiine curved round, and formed a long\nriband of shade upon the horizon, a series of points of\nyellow light began to start into existence, denoting the\nspot to be the site of Budmouth, where the lamps were\nbeing lighted along the parade. The cluck of their\noars was the only sound of any distinctness upon the\nsea, and as they laboured amid the thickening shades\nthe lampiights grew larger, each appearing to send a\nflaming sword deep down into the waves before it, until\nthere arose, among other dim shapes of the kind, the\nform of the vessel for which they were bound.\n \nDOUBTS ARISE -- DOUBTS LINGER\nBATHSHEBA underwent the enlargement of her\nHusband's absence from hours to days with a slight\nfeeling of suprise, and a slight feeling of relief; yet\nneither sensation rose at any time far above the level\ncommonly designated as indifference. She belonged to\nhim : the certiinties of that position were so well defined,\nand the reasonable probabilies of its issue so bounded\nthat she could not speculate on contingenciezs. Taking\nno further interest in herself as a splendid woman, she\nacquired the indifferent feelings of an outsider in contem+\nplating her probable fate as a singular wretch ; for Bath+\nsheba drew herself and her future in colours that no\nreality could exceed for darkness. Her original vigorous\npride of youth had sickened, and with it had declined\nall her anzieties about coming years, since anxiety\nrecognizes a better and a worse alternative, and Bath+\nsheba had made up her mind that alternatives on any\nnoteworthy scale had ceased for her. Soon, or later --\nand that not very late -- her husband would be home\nagain. And then the days of their tenancy of the\nUpper Farm would be numbered. There had origin+\nally been shown by the agent to the estate some distrust\nof Bathsheba's tenure as James Everdene's successor,\non the score of her sex, and her youth, and her beauty ;\nbut the peculiar nature of her uncle's will, his own\nfrequent testimony before his death to her cleverness\nin such a pursuit, and her vigorous marshalling of the\nnumerous flocks and herds which came suddenly into\nher hands before negotiations were concluded, had won\nconfidence in her powers, and no further objections had\nbeen raised. She had latterly been in great doubt as\nto what the legal effects of her marriage would be upon\nher position; but no notice had been taken as yet of\nher change of name, and only one point was clear -- that\nin the event of her own or her husband's inability to\nmeet the agent at the\n \nforthcoming January rent-day,\nvery little consideration would be shown, and, for that\nmatter, very little would be deserved. Once out of the\nfarm, the approach of poverty would be sure.\nHence Bathsheba lived in a perception that her\npurposes were broken of. She was not a woman who\ncould hope on without good materials for the process,\ndiffering thus from the less far-Sighted and energetic,\nthough more petted ones of the sex, with whom hope\ngoes on as a sort of clockwork which the merest food\nand shelter are sufficient to wind up; and perceiving\nclearly that her mistake had been a fatal one, she\naccepted her position, and waited coldly for the end.\nThe first Saturday after Troy's departure she went\nto Casterbridge alone, a journey she had not before\ntaken since her marriage. On this Saturday Bathsheba\nwas passing slowly on foot through the crowd of rural\nbusiness-men gathered as usual in front ot the market+\nhouse, who were as usual gazed upon by the burghers\nwith feelings that those healthy lives were dearly paid\nfor by exclusion from possible aldermanship, when a\nman, who had apparently been following her, said some\nwords to another on her left hand. Bathsheba's ears\nwere keen as those of any wild animal, and she dis+\ntinctly heard what the speaker said, though her back\nwas towards him\n\"I am looking for Mrs. Troy. Is that she there?'\n\" Yes ; that's the young lady, I believe,' said the\nthe person addressed.\n\"I have some awkward news to break to her. Her\nhusband is drowned.'\nAs if endowed with the spirit of prophecy, Bathsheba\ngasped out, \"No, it is not true; it cannot be true!'\nThen she said and heard no more. The ice of self+\ncommand which had latterly gathered over her was\nbroken, and the currents burst forth again, and over\nwhelmed her. A darkness came into her eyes, and she\nfell.\nBut not to the ground. A gloomy man, who had\nbeen observing her from under the portico of the old\ncorn-exchange when she passed through the group\nwithout, stepped quickly to her side at the moment of\nher exclamation, and caught her in his arms as she sank\ndown.\n \n\"What is it?' said Boldwood, looking up at the\nbringer of the big news, as he supported her.\n\"Her husband was drowned this week while bathing\nin Lulwind Cove. A coastguardsman found his clothes,\nand brought them into Budmouth yestersay.'\nThereupon a strange fire lighted up Boldwood's eye,\nand his face flushed with the suppressed excitement of\nan unutterable thought. Everybody's glance was now\ncentred upon him and the unconsious Bathsheba. He\nlifted her bodily off the ground, and smoothed down\nthe folds of her dress as a child might have taken a\nstorm-beaten bird and arranged its ruffled plumes, and\nbore her along the pavement to the King's Arms Inn.\nHere he passed with her under the archway into a\nprivate room; and by the time he had deposited -- so\nlothly -- the precious burden upon a sofa, Bathsheba had\nopened her eyes. Remembering all that had occurred,\nshe murmured, 'I want to go home .! '\nBoldwood left the room. He stood for a moment in\nthe passage to recover his senses. The experience had\nbeen too much for his consciousness to keep up with,\nand now that he had grasped it it had gone again. For\nthose few heavenly, golden moments she had been in his\narms. What did it matter about her not knowing it? She\nhad been close to his breast ; he had been close to hers.\nHe started onward again, and sending a woman to\nher, went out to ascertain all the facts of the case.\nThese appeared to be limited to what he had already\nheard. He then ordered her horse to be put into the\ngig, and when all was ready returned to inform her.\nHe found that, though still pale and unwell, she had in\nthe meantime sent for the Budmouth man who brought\nthe tidings, and learnt from him all there was to know.\nBeing hardly in a condition to drive home as she\nhad driven to town, Boldwood, with every delicacy of\nmanner and feeling, offered to get her a driver, or to\ngive her a seat in his phaeton, which was more com+\nfortable than her own conveyance. These proposals\nBathsheba gently declined, and the farmer at once de+\nparted.\nAbout half-an-hour later she invigorated herself by\nan effort, and took her seat and the reins as usuai-in\nexternal\n \nappearance much as if nothing had happened.\nShe went out of the town by a tortuous back street, and\ndrove slowly along, unconscious of the road and the\nscene. The first shades of evening were showing them+\nselves when Bathsheba reached home, where, silently\nalighting and leaving the horse in the hands of the boy,\nshe proceeded at once upstairs. Liddy met her on the\nlanding. The news had preceded Bathsheba to Weather+\nbury by half-an-hour, and Liddy looked inquiringly into\nher mistress's face. Bathsheba had nothing to say.\nShe entered her bedroom and sat by the window, and\nthought and thought till night enveloped her, and the\nextreme lines only of her shape were visible. Somebody\ncame to the door, knocked, and opened it.\n' Well, what is it, Liddy ? ' she said.\n'I was thinking there must be something got for you\nto wear,' said Liddy, with hesitation.\n'What do you mean ?'\n' Mourning.'\n' No, no, no,' said Bathsheba, hurriedly.\n'But I suppose there must be something done for\npoor -- -- '\n' Not at present, I think. It is not necessary.'\n' Why not, ma'am ? '\n' Because he's still alive.'\n' How do you know that ? ' said Liddy, amazed.\n' I don't know it. But wouldn't it have heen different,\nor shouldn't I have heard more, or wouldn't they have\nfound him, Liddy ? -- or-i don't know how it is, but\ndeath would have been different from how this is. I am\nperfectly convinced that he is still alive .! '\nBathsheba remained firm in this opinion till Monday,\nwhen two circumstances conjoined to shake it. The\nfirst was a short paragraph in the local newspaper, which,\nbeyond making by a methodizing pen formidable pre+\nsumptive evidence of Troy's death by drowning, con+\ntained the important testimony of a young Mr. Barker,\nM.D., of Budmouth, who spoke to being an eyewitness\nof the accident, in a letter to the editor. In this he\nstated that he was passing over the cliff on the remoter\nside of the\n \ncove just as the sun was setting. At that\ntime he saw a bather carried along in the current outside\nthe mouth of the cove, and guessed in an instant that\nthere was but a poor chance for him unless he should\nbe possessed of unusual muscular powers. He drifted\nbehind a projection of the coast, and Mr. Barker followed\nalong the shore in the same direction. But by the time\nthat he could reach an elevation sufficiently great to\ncommand a view of the sea beyond, dusk had set in, and\nnothing further was to be seen.\nThe other circumstance was the arrival of his clothes,\nwhen it became necessary for her to examine and identify\nthem -- though this had virtually been done long before\nby those who inspected the letters in his pockets. It\nwas so evident to her in the midst of her agitation that\nTroy had undressed in the full conviction of dressing\nagain almost immediately, that the notion that anything\nbut death could have prevented him was a perverse one\nto entertain.\nThen Bathsheba said to herself that others were\nassured in their opinion; strange that she should not\nbe. A stmnge reflection occured to her, causing her\nface to flush. Suppose that Troy had followed Fanny\ninto another world. Had he done this intentionally, yet\ncontrived to make his death appear like an accident ?\nNevertheless, this thought of how the apparent might\ndiffer from the reai-made vivid by her bygone jealousy\nof Fanny, and the remorse he had shown that night\n -- did not blind her to the perception of a likelier\ndifference, less tragic, but to herself far more disastrous.\nWhen alone late that evening beside a small fire, and\nmuch calmed down, Bathsheba took Troy's watch into\nher hand, which had been restored to her with the rest\nof the articles belonging to him. She opened the case\nas he had opened it before her a week ago. There was\nthe little coil of pale hair which had been as the fuze to\nthis great explosion.\n'He was hers and she was his; they should be gone\ntogether,' she said. 'I am nothing to either of them,\nand why should I keep her hair?' She took it in her\nhand, and held it over the fire. ' No-i'll not burn it\n-i'll keep it in memory of her, poor thing !. ' she added,\nsnatching back her hand.\n \nOAK'S ADVANCEMENY -- A GREAT HOPE\nTHE later autumn and the winter drew on apace,\nand the leaves lay thick upon the turf of the glades\nand the mosses of the woods. Bathsheba, having\npreviously been living in a state of suspended feeling\nwhich was not suspense, now lived in a mood of\nquietude which was not precisely peacefulness. While\nshe had known him to be alive she could have thought\nof his death with equanimity; but now that it might be\nshe had lost him, she regretted that he was not hers\nstill. She kept the farm going, raked in her profits\nwithout caring keenly about them, and expended\nmoney on ventures because she had done so in bygone\ndays, which, though not long gone by, seemed infinitely\nremoved from her present. She looked back upon that\npast over a great gulf, as if she were now a dead person,\nhaving the faculty of meditation still left in her, by\nmeans of which, like the mouldering gentlefolk of the\npoet's story, she could sit and ponder what a gift life\nused to be.\nHowever, one excellent result of her general apathy\nwas the long-delayed installation of Oak as bailiff; but\nhe having virtually exercised that function for a long\ntime already, the change, beyond the substantial in+\ncrease of wages it brought, was little more than a\nnominal one addressed to the outside world.\nBoldwood lived secluded and inactive. Much of\nhis wheat and all his barley of that season had been\nspoilt by the rain. It sprouted, grew into intricate\nmats, and was ultimately thrown to the pigs in armfuls.\nThe strange neglect which had produced this ruin\nand waste became the subject of whispered talk among\nall the people round; and it was elicited from one of\nBoldwood's men that forgetfulness had nothing to do\nwith it, for he had been reminded of the danger to\nhis corn as many times and as persistently as inferiors\ndared to do. The sight of the\n \npigs turning in disgust\nfrom the rotten ears seemed to arouse Boldwood, and\nhe one evening sent for Oak. Whether it was sug+\ngested by Bathsheba's recent act of promotion or not,\nthe farmer proposed at the interview that Gabriel\nshould undertake the superintendence of the Lower\nFarm as well as of Bathsheba's, because of the necessity\nBoldwood felt for such aid, and the impossibility of\ndiscovering a more trustworthy man. Gabriel's malig+\nnant star was assuredly setting fast.\nBathsheba, when she learnt of this proposai-for\nOak was obliged to consult her -- at first languidly\nobjected. She considered that the two farms together\nwere too extensive for the observation of one man.\nBoldwood, who was apparently determined by personal\nrather than commercial reasons, suggested that Oak\nshould be furnished with a horse for his sole use,\nwhen the plan would present no difficulty, the two\nfarms lying side by side. Boldwood did not directly\ncommunicate with her during these negotiations, only\nspeaking to Oak, who was the go-between throughout.\nAll was harmoniously arranged at last, and we now\nsee Oak mounted on a strong cob, and daily trotting\nthe length breadth of about two thousand acres\nin a cheerful spirit of surveillance, as if the crops\nbelonged to him -- the actual mistress of the one-half\nand the master of the other, sitting in their respective\nhomes in gloomy and sad seclusion.\nOut of this there arose, during the spring succeeding,\na talk in the parish that Gabriel Oak was feathering his\nnest fast.\n' Whatever d'ye think,' said Susan Tall, ' Gable Oak\nis coming it quite the dand. He now wears shining\nboots with hardly a hob in 'em, two or three times\na-week, and a tall hat a-Sundays, and 'a hardly knows\nthe name of smockfrock. When I see people strut\nenough to he cut up into bantam cocks, I stand\ndormant with wonder, and says no more .! '\nIt was eventually known that Gabriel, though paid\na fixed wage by Bathslieba independent of the fluctua+\ntions of agricultural profits, had made an engagement\nwith Boldwood by which Oak was to receive a share\nof the receipts -- a small share certainly, yet it was\nmoney of a higher quality than mere wages, and\ncapable of expansion in a way that wages were not.\n \nSome were beginning to consider Oak a 'near' man,\nfor though his condition had thus far improved, he\nlived in no better style than hefore, occupying the\nsame cottage, paring his own potatoes, mending his\nstockings, and sometimes even making his bed with\nhis own hands. But as Oak was not only provokingly\nindifferent to public opinion, but a man who clung\npersistently to old habits and usages, simply because\nthey were old, there was room for doubt as to his\nmotives.\nA great hope had latterly germinated in Boldwood,\nwhose unreasoning devotion to Bathsheba could only\nbe characterized as a fond madness which neither\ntime nor circumstance, evil nor good report, could\nweaken or destroy. This fevered hope had grown up\nagain like a grain of mustard-seed during the quiet\nwhich followed the hasty conjecture that Troy was\ndrowned. He nourished it fearfully, and almost\nshunned the contemplation of it in earnest, lest facts\nshould reveal the wildness of the dream. Bathsheba\nhaving at last been persuaded to wear mourning, her\nappearance as she entered the church in that guise\nwas in itself a weekly addition to his faith that a\ntime was coming -- very far off perhaps, yet surely\nnearing -- when his waiting on events should have\nits reward. How long he might have to wait he had\nnot yet closely considered. what he would try to\nrecognize was that the severe schooling she had been\nsubjected to had made Bathsheba much more con+\nsiderate than she had formerly been of the feelings of\nothers, and he trusted that, should she be willing at\nany time in the future to marry any man at all, that\nman would be himself. There was a substratum of\ngood feeling in her: her self-reproach for the injury\nshe had thoughtlessly done him might be depended\nupon now to a much greater extent than before her\ninfatuation and disappointment. It would be possible\nto approach her by the channel of her good nature,\nand to suggest a friendly businessiike compact between\nthem for fulfilment at some future day, keeping the\npassionate side of his desire entirely out of her sight.\nSuch was Boldwood's hope.\nTo the eyes of the middle-aged, Bathsheba was\nperhaps additionally charming just now. Her exuber+\nance cf spirit was pruned down ; the original phantom\nof delight had shown\n \nherself to be not too bright for\nhuman nature's daily food, and she had been able to\nenter this second poetical phase without losing much\nof the first in the process.\nBathsheba's return from a two months' visit to her\nold aunt at Norcombe afforded the impassioned and\nyearning farmer a pretext for inquiring directly after\nher -- now possibly in the ninth month of her\nwidowhood -- and endeavouring to get a notion of her\nmiddle of the haymaking, and Boldwood contrived to\n'I am glad to see you out of doors, Lydia,' he said\nShe simpered, and wondered in her heart why he\n'I hope Mrs. Troy is quite well after her long\nthe coldest-hearted neighbour could scarcely say less\n'She is quite well, sir.\n'Yes, cheerful.\n'Fearful, did you say?'\n'O no. I merely said she was cheerful.'\n'Tells you all her affairs?'\n'No, sir.\n'Some of them?'\n'Yes, sir.\n'Mrs Troy puts much confidence in you, Lydia;\nand very wisely, perhaps.'\n'She do, sir. I've been with her all through her\ntroubles, and was with her at the time of Mr.Troy's\ngoing and all. And if she were to marry again I\nexpect I should bide with her.'\n'She promises that you shali -- quite natural,' said\nthe strategic lover, throbbing throughout him at the\npresumption which Liddy's words appeared to warrant\n -- that his darling had thought of re-marriage.\n'No -- -she doesn't promise it exactly. I merely\njudge on my own account.\n'Yes yes, I understand. When she alludes to the\npossibility of marrying again, you conclude -- -- '\n \n'She never do allude to it, sir,' said Liddy, thinking\nhow very stupid Mr. Boldwood was getting.\n'Of course not,' he returned hastily, his hope falling\nagain. ' You needn't take quite such long reaches with\nyour rake, Lydia -- short and quick ones are best. Well,\nperhaps, as she is absolute mistress again now, it is wise\nof her to resolve never to give up her freedom.'\n' My mistress did certainly once say, though not\nseriously, that she supposed she might marry again at\nthe end of seven years from last year, if she cared to\nrisk Mr. Troy's coming back and claiming her.'\n' Ah, six years from the present time. Said that she\nmight. She might marry at once in every reasonable\nperson's opinion, whatever the lawyers may say to the\ncontrary.'\n'Have you been to ask them?' said Liddy, innocently.\n' Not I,' said Boldwood, growing red. ' Liddy, you\nneedn't stay here a minute later than you wish, so Mr,\nOak says. I am now going on a little farther. Good'\nafternoon.'\nHe went away vexed with himself, and ashamed of\nhaving for this one time in his life done anything which\ncould be called underhand. Poor Boldwood had no\nmore skill in finesse than a battering-ram, and he was\nuneasy with a sense of having made himself to appear\nstupid and, what was worse, mean. But he had, after\nall, lighted upon one fact by way of repayment. It was\na singularly fresh and fascinating fact, and though not\nwithout its sadness it was pertinent and real. In little\nmore than six years from this time Bathsheba might\ncertainly marry him. There was something definite in\nthat hope, for admitting that there might have been no\ndeep thought in her words to Liddy about marriage,\nthey showed at least her creed on the matter.\nThis pleasant notion was now continually in his mind.\nSix years were a long time, but how much shorter than\nnever, the idea he had for so long been obliged to\nendure .! Jacob had served twice seven years for\nRachel: what were six for such a woman as this ? He\ntried to like the notion of waiting for her better than\nthat of winning her at once. Boldwood felt his love\nto be so deep and strong and eternal, that it was pos+\nsible she\n \nhad never yet known its full volume, and this\npatience in delay would afford him an opportunity of\ngiving sweet proof on the point. He would annihilate\nthe six years of his life as if they were minutes -- so little\ndid he value his time on earth beside her love. He\nwould let her see, all those six years of intangible ether+\neal courtship, how little care he had for anything but as\nit bore upon the consummation.\nMeanwhile the early and the late summer brought\nround the week in which Greenhill Fair was held.\nThis fair was frequently attended by the folk of Weather+\nbury.\n \nTHE SHEEP FAIR -- TROY TOUCHES HIS WIFE'S HAND\nGREENHILL was the Nijni Novgorod of South\nWessex; and the busiest, merriest, noisiest day of the\nwhole statute number was the day of the sheep fair.\nThis yearly gathering was upon the summit of a hill\nwhich retained in good preservation the remains of an\nancient earthwork, consisting of a huge rampart and\nentrenchnaent of an oval form encircling the top of\nthe hill, though somewhat broken down here and there.\nTo each of the two chief openings on opposite sides a\nwinding road ascended, and the level green space of\nten or fifteen acres enclosed by the bank was the\nsite of the fair. A few permanent erections dotted the\nspot, but the majority of visitors patronized canvas alone\nfor resting and feeding under during the time of their\nsojourn here.\nShepherds who attended with their flocks from long\ndistances started from home two or three days, or even\na week, before the fair, driving their charges a few miles\neach day -- not more than ten or twelve -- and resting\nthem at night in hired fields by the wayside at pre+\nviously chosen points, where they fed, having fasted since\nmorning. The shepherd of each flock marched behind,\na bundle containing his kit for the week strapped upon\nhis shoulders, and in his hand his crook, which he used\nas the staff of his pilgrimage. Several of the sheep\nwould get worn and lame, and occasionally a lambing\noccurred on the road. To meet these contingencies,\nthere was frequently provided, to accompany the flocks\nfrom the remoter points, a pony and waggon into which\nthe weakly ones were taken for the remainder of the\njourney.\nThe Weatherbury Farms, however, were no such\nlong distance from the hill, and those arrangements\nwere not necessary in their case. But the large united\nflocks of Bathsheba and Farmer Boldwood formed a\nvaluable and imposing multitude which\n \ndemanded much\nattention, and on this account Gabriel, in addition to\nBoldwood's shepherd and Cain Ball, accompanied them\nalong the way, through the decayed old town of Kings'\nbere, and upward to the plateau, -- old George the dog\nof course behind them.\nWhen the autumn sun slanted over Greenhill this\nmorning and lighted the dewy flat upon its crest, nebu+\nlous clouds of dust were to be seen floating between\nthe pairs of hedges which streaked the wide prospect\naround in all directions. These gradually converged\nupon the base of the hill, and the flocks became\nindividually visible, climbing the serpentine ways which\nled to the top. Thus, in a slow procession, they entered\nthe opening to which the roads tended, multitude after\nmultitude, horned and hornless -- blue flocks and red\nflocks, buff flocks and brown flocks, even green and\nsalmon-tinted flocks, according to the fancy of the\ncolourist and custom of the farm. Men were shouting,\ndogs were barking, with greatest animation, but the\nthronging travellers in so long a journey had grown\nnearly indifferent to such terrors, though they still\nbleated piteously at the unwontedness of their experi+\nences, a tall shepherd rising here and there in the midst\nof them, like a gigantic idol amid a crowd of prostrate\ndevotees.\nThe great mass of sheep in the fair consisted of\nSouth Downs and the old Wessex horned breeds, to\nthe latter class Bathsheba's and Farmer Boldwood's\nmainly belonged. These filed in about nine o'clock,\ntheir vermiculated horns lopping gracefully on each side\nof their cheeks in geometrically perfect spirals, a small\npink and white ear nestling under each horn. Before\nand behind came other varieties, perfect leopards as to\nthe full rich substance of their coats, and only lacking the\nspots. There were also a few of the Oxfordshire breeed,\nwhose wool was beginning to curl like a child's flaxen\nhair, though surpassed in this respect by the effeminate\nLeicesters, which were in turn less curly than the Cots+\nwolds. But the most picturesque by far was a small\nflock of Exmoors, which chanced to be there this year.\nTheir pied faces and legs, dark and heavy horns, tresses\nof wool hanging round their swarthy\n \nforeheads, quite\nrelieved the monotony of the flocks in that quarter.\nAll these bleating, panting, and weary thousands had\nentered and were penned before the morning had far\nadvanced, the dog belonging to each flock being tied to\nthe corner of the pen containing it. Alleys for pedes+\ntrians intersected the pens, which soon became crowded\nwith buyers and sellers from far and near.\nIn another part of the hill an altogether different\nscene began to force itself upon the eye towards mid+\nday. A circular tent, of exceptional newness and size,\nwas in course of erection here. As the day drew on,\nthe flocks began to change hands, lightening the shep+\nherd's responsibilities ; and they turned their attention\nto this tent and inquired of a man at work there, whose\nsoul seemed concentrated on tying a bothering knot in\nno time, what was going on.\n' The Royal Hippodrome Performance of Turpin's\nRide to York and the Death of Black Bess,' replied the\nman promptly, without turning his eyes or leaving off\ntying.\nAs soon as the tent was completed the band struck\nup highly stimulating harmonies, and the announce+\nment was publicly made, Black Bess standing in a con+\nspicuous position on the outside, as a living proof, If\nproof were wanted, of the truth of the oracular utterances\nfrom the stage over which the people were to enter.\nThese were so convinced by such genuine appeals to\nheart and understanding both that they soon began to\ncrowd in abundantly, among the foremost being visible\nJan Coggan and Joseph Poorgrass, who were holiday\nkeeping here to-day,\n''That's the great ruffen pushing me .! ' screamed a\nwoman in front of Jan over her shoulder at him when\nthe rush was at its fiercest.\n'How can I help pushing ye when the folk behind\npush me ?' said Coggan, in a deprecating tone, turning\nwithout turning his body, which was jammed as in a vice.\nTjere was a silence ; then the drums and trumpets\nagain sent forth their echoing notes. The crowd was\nagain ectasied,\n \nand gave another lurch in which Coggan\nand Poorgrass were again thrust by those behind upon\nthe women in front.\n'O that helpless feymels should be at the mercy of\nshe swayed like a reed shaken by the wind.\nNow,' said Coggan, appealing in an earnest voice\nto the public at large as it stood clustered about his\nshoulder-blades,'ded ye ever hear such onreasonable\nwoman as that ? Upon my carcase, neighbours, if I\ncould onlyu get out of this cheesewring, the damn women\nmight eat the show for me.! '\n'Don't ye lose yer temper, Jan!' implored Joseph\nPoorgrass, in a whisper. ' They might get their men to\nmurder us, for I think by the shine of their eyes that\nthey be a sinful form of womankind.'\nJan held his tongue, as if he had no objection to be\npacified to please a friend, and they gradually reached\nthe foot of the ladder, Poorgrass being flattened like a\njumping-jack, and the sixpence, for admission, which he\nhad got ready half-an-hour earlier, having become so\nreeking hot in the tight squeeze of his excited hand that\nthe woman in spangles, brazen rings set with glass\ndiamonds, and with chalked face and shoulders, who\ntook the money of him, hastily dropped it again from\na fear that some trick had been played to burn her\nfingers. So they all entered, and the cloth of the\ntent, to the eyes of an observer on the outside, became\nbulged into innumerable pimples such as we observe on\na sack of potatoes, caused by the various human heads,\nbacks, and elbows at high pressure within.\nAt the rear of the large tent there were two small\ndressing-tents. One of these, alloted to the male per+\nformers, was partitioned into halves by a cloth ; and in\none of the divisions there was sitting on the grass, puli\ning on a pair of jack-boots, a young man whom we\ninstantly recognise as Sergeant Troy.\nTroy's appearance in this position may be briefly\naccounted for. The brig aboard which he was taken in\nBudmouth Roads was about to start on a voyage, though\nsomewhat short of hands. Troy read the articles and\njoined, but before they sailed a boat was despatched\nacross the bay to Lulwind cove; as he\n \nhad half expected,\nhis clothes were gone. He ultimately worked his passage\nto the United States, where he made a precarious living\nin various towns as Professor of Gymnastics, Sword\nExercise, Fencing, and Pugilism. A few months were\nsufficient to give him a distaste for this kind of life.\nThere was a certain animal form of refinement in his\nnature; and however pleasant a strange condition might\nbe whilst privations were easily warded off, it was dis+\nadvantageously coarse when money was short. There\nwas ever present, too, the idea that he could claim a\nhome and its comforts did he but chose to return to\nEngland and Weatherbury Farm. Whether Bathsheba\nthought him dead was a frequent subject of curious\nconjecture. To England he did return at last ; but the\nbut the fact of drawing nearer to Weatherbury abstracted its\nfascinations, and his intention to enter his old groove at\nthe place became modified. It was with gloom he con+\nsidered on landing at Liverpool that if he were to go home\nhis reception would be of a kind very unpleasant to con+\ntemplate ; for what Troy had in the way of emotion was\nan occasional fitful sentiment which sometimes caused\nhim as much inconvenience as emotion of a strong and\nhealthy kind. Bathsheba was not a women to be made\na fool of, or a woman to suffer in silence; and how\ncould he endure existence with a spirited wife to whom\nat first entering he would be beholden for food and\nlodging ? Moreover, it was not at all unlikely that his\nwife would fail at her farming, if she had not already\ndone so; and he would then become liable for her\nmaintenance : and what a life such a future of poverty\nwith her would be, the spectre of Fanny constantly be+\ntween them, harrowing his temper and embittering her\nwords! Thus, for reasons touching on distaste, regret,\nand shame commingled, he put off his return from day\nto day, and would have decided to put it off altogether\nif he could have found anywhere else the ready-made\nestablishment which existed for him there.\nAt this time -- the July preceding the September in\nwhich we find at Greenhill Fair -- he fell in with a\ntravelling circus which was performing in the outskirts of\na northern town. Troy introduced himself to the\nmanager by taming a restive horse of the troupe, hitting\na suspended apple with pistol-+\n \nbullet fired from the\nanimal's back when in full gallop, and other feats. For\nhis merits in these -- all more or less based upon his ex+\nperiences as a dragoon-guardsman -- Troy was taken into\nthe company, and the play of Turpin was prepared with\na view to his personation of the chief character. Troy\nwas not greatly elated by the appreciative spirit in which\nhe was undoubtedly treated, but he thought the engage+\nment might afford him a few weeks for consideration.\nIt was thus carelessly, and without having formed any\ndefinite plan for the future, that Troy found himself\nat Greenhill Fair with the rest of the company on this\nday.\nAnd now the mild autumn sun got lower, and in\nfront of the pavilion the following incident had taken\nplace. Bathsheba -- who was driven to the fair that day\nby her odd man Poorgrass -- had, like every one else,\nread or heard the announcement that Mr. Francis, the\nGreat Cosmopolitan Equestrian and Roughrider, would\nenact the part of Turpin, and she was not yet too old\nand careworn to be without a little curiosity to see him.\nThis particular show was by far the largest and grandest\nin the fair, a horde of little shows grouping themselves\nunder its shade like chickens around a hen. The crowd\nhad passed in, and Boldwood, who had been watching\nall the day for an opportunity of speaking to her, seeing\nher comparatively isolated, came up to her side.\n\"I hope the sheep have done well to-day, Mrs. Troy?'\nhe said, nervously.\n\"O yes, thank you,' said Bathsheba, colour springing\nup in the centre of her cheeks. \"I was fortunate\nenough to sell them all just as we got upon the hill, so\nwe hadn't to pen at all.'\n\"And now you are entirely at leisure ?'\n\"Yes, except that I have to see one more dealer in\ntwo hours' time : otherwise I should be going home.\nwas looking at this large tent and the announcement.\nHave you ever seen the play of \"Turpin's Ride to\nYork?\" Turpin was a real man, was he not ?'\n\"O yes, perfectly true -- all of it. Indeed, I think\nI've heard Jan Coggan say that a relation of his knew\nTom King, Turpin's friend, quite well.'\n \n\"Coggan is rather given to strange stories connected\nwith his relations, we must remember. I hope they\ncan all be believed.'\n\"Yes, yes; we know Coggan. But Turpin is true\nenough. You have never seen it played, I suppose?'\n\"Never. I was not allowed to go into these places\nwhen I was young. Hark.! What's that prancing?\nHow they shout!'\n\"Black Bess just started off, I suppose. Am I right\nin supposing you would like to see the performance,\nMrs. Troy ? Please excuse my mistake, if it is one;\nbut if you would like to, I'll get a seat for you with\npleasure.' Perceiving that she hesitated, he added, 'I\nmyself shall not stay to see it: I've seen it before.'\nNow Bathsheba did care a little to see the show, and\nhad only withheld her feet from the ladder because she\nfeared to go in alone. She had been hoping that Oak\nmight appear, whose assistance in such cases was always\naccepted as an inalienable right, but Oak was nowhere\nto be seen; and hence it was that she said, \"Then if\nyou will just look in first, to see if there's room, I think\nI will go in for a minute or two.'\nAnd so a short time after this Bathsheba appeared\nin the tent with Boldwood at her elbow, who, taking\nher to a \" reserved ' seat, again withdrew.\nThis feature consisted of one raised bench in very\nconspicuous part of the circle, covered with red cloth,\nand floored with a piece of carpet, and Bathsheba\nimmediately found, to her confusion, that she was the\nsingle reserved individual in the tent, the rest of the\ncrowded spectators, one and all, standing on their legs\non the borders of the arena, where they got twice as\ngood a view of the performance for half the money.\nHence as many eyes were turned upon her, enthroned\nalone in this place of honour, against a scarlet back+\nground, as upon the ponies and clown who were\nengaged in preliminary exploits in the centre, Turpin\nnot having yet appeared. Once there, Bathsheba was\nforced to make the best of it and remain: she sat\ndown, spreading her skirts with some dignity over the\nunoccupied space on each side of her, and giving a\nnew and feminine aspect to the pavilion. In a few\nminutes she noticed the fat red nape of Coggan's neck\namong those standing just\n \nbelow her, and Joseph Poor+\ngrass's saintly profile a little further on.\nThe interior was shadowy with a peculiar shade.\nThe strange luminous semi-opacities of fine autumn\nafternoons and eves intensified into Rembrandt effects\nthe few yellow sunbeams which came through holes\nand divisions in the canvas, and spirted like jets of\ngold-dust across the dusky blue atmosphere of haze\npervading the tent, until they alighted on inner surfaces\nof cloth opposite, and shone like little lamps suspended\nthere.\nTroy, on peeping from his dressing-tent through a\nslit for a reconnoitre before entering, saw his unconscious\nwife on high before him as described, sitting as queen\nof the tournament. He started back in utter confusion,\nfor although his disguise efectually concealed his person+\nality, he instantly felt that she would be sure to recognize\nhis voice. He had several times during the day thought\nof the possibility of some Weatherbury person or other\nappearing and recognizing him; but he had taken the\nrisk carelessly. If they see me, let them, he had said.\nBut here was Bathsheba in her own person; and the\nreality of the scene was so much intenser than any of\nhis prefigurings that he felt he had not half enough\nconsidered the point.\nShe looked so charming and fair that his cool mood\nabout Weatherbury people was changed. He had not\nexpected her to exercise this power over him in the\ntwinkling of an eye. Should he go on, and care nothing ?\nHe could not bring himself to do that. Beyond a politic\nwish to remain unknown, there suddenly arose in him\nnow a sense of shame at the possibility that his\nattractive young wife, who already despised him, should\ndespise him more by discovering him in so mean a\ncondition after so long a time. He actually blushed\nat the thought, and was vexed beyond measure that\nhis sentiments of dislike towards Weatherbury should\nhave led him to dally about the country in this way.\nBut Troy was never more clever than when absolutely\nat his wit's end. He hastily thrust aside the curtain\ndividing his own little dressing space from that of the\nmanager and proprietor, who now appeared as the\nindividual called Tom King as far\n \ndown as his waist, and\nas the aforesaid respectable manager thence to his toes.\n\"Here's the devil to pay!' said Troy.\n\"How's that ?'\n\"Why, there's a blackguard creditor in the tent I don't\nwant to see, who'll discover me and nab me as sure as\nSatan if I open my mouth. What's to be done?'\nYou must appear now, I think.'\n\"I can't.'\nBut the play must proceed.'\n\"Do you give out that Turpin has got a bad cold,\nand can't speak his part, but that he'll perform it just\nthe same without speaking.'\nThe proprietor shook his head.\n\"Anyhow, play or no play, I won't open my mouth,\nsaid Troy, firmly.\n\"Very well, then let me see. I tell you how we'll\nmanage,' said the other, who perhaps felt it would be\nextremely awkward to offend his leading man just at\nthis time. \"I won't tell 'em anything about your\nkeeping silence; go on with the piece and say nothing,\ndoing what you can by a judicious wink now and then,\nand a few indomitable nods in the heroic places, you\nknow. They'll never find out that the speeches are\nomitted.'\nThis seemed feasible enough, for Turpin's speeches\nwere not many or long, the fascination of the piece\nlying entirely in the action ; and accordingly the play\nbegan, and at the appointed time Black Bess leapt\ninto the grassy circle amid the plaudits of the spectators.\nAt the turnpike scene, where Bess and Turpin are hotly\npursued at midnight by the officers, and half-awake\ngatekeeper in his tasselled nightcap denies that any\nhorseman has passed, Coggan uttered a broad-chested\n\"Well done!' which could be heard all over the fair\nabove the bleating, and Poorgrass smiled delightedly\nwith a nice sense of dramatic contrast between our\nhero, who coolly leaps the gate, and halting justice in\nthe form of his enemies, who must needs pull up\ncumbersomely and wait to be let through. At the\ndeath of Tom King, he could not refrain from seizing\nCoggan by the hand, and whispering, with tears in his\neyes, \"Of\n \ncourse he's not really shot, Jan -- only\nseemingly!' And when the last sad scene came on,\nand the body of the gallant and faithful Bess had to\nbe carried out on a shutter by twelve volunteers from\namong the spectators, nothing could restrain Poorgrass\nfrom lending a hand, exclaiming, as he asked Jan to\njoin him, \"Twill be something to tell of at Warren's in\nfuture years, Jan, and hand down to our children.' For\nmany a year in Weatherbury, Joseph told, with the air\nof a man who had had experiences in his time, that he\ntouched with his own hand the hoof of Bess as she lay\nupon the board upon his shoulder. If, as some thinkers\nhold, immortality consists in being enshrined in others'\nmemories, then did Black Bess become immortal that\nday if she never had done so before.\nMeanwhile Troy had added a few touches to his\nordinary make-up for the character, the more effectually\nto disguise himself, and though he had felt faint qualms\non first entering, the metamorphosis effected by judici+\nously \"lining' his face with a wire rendered him safe from\nthe eyes of Bathsheba and her men. Nevertheless, he\nwas relieved when it was got through.\nThere a second performance in the evening, and\nthe tent was lighted up. Troy had taken his part very\nquietly this time, venturing to indroduce a few speeches\non occasion ; and was just concluding it when, whilst\nstanding at the edge of the circle contiguous to the first\nrow of spectators, he observed within a yard of him the\neye of a man darted keenly into his side features. Troy\nhastily shifted his position, after having recognized in\nsworn enemy, who still hung about the outskirts of\nAt first Troy resolved to take no notice and abide\nby circumstances. That he had been recongnized by\nthis man was highly probable; yet there was room for\na doubt. Then the great objection he had felt to\nallowing news of his proximity to precede him to\nWeatherbury in the event of his return, based on a\nfeeling that knowledge of his present occupation would\ndiscredit him still further in his wife's eyes, returned\nin full force. Moreover, should he resolve not to\nreturn at all, a tale of his being alive and being in\nthe neighbourhood would be\n \nawkward ; and he was\nanxious to acquire a knowledge of his wife's temporal\naffairs before deciding which to do.\nIn this dilemma Troy at once went out to recon+\nnoitre. It occurred to him that to find Pennyways, and\nmake a friend of him if possible, would be a very wise\nact. He had put on a thick beard borrowed from the\nestablishment, and this he wandered about the fair+\nfield. It was now almost dark, and respectable people\nwere getting their carts and gigs ready to go home\nThe largest refreshment booth in the fair was provided\nby an innkeeper from a neighbouring town. This was\nconsidered an unexceptionable place for obtaining the\nnecessary food and rest: Host Trencher (as he was\njauntily called by the local newspaper) being a sub+\nstantial man of high repute for catering through all the\ncounty round. The tent was divided into first and\nsecond-class compartments, and at the end of the first+\nclass division was a yet further enclosure for the most\nexclusive, fenced of from the body of the tent by a\nluncheon-bar, behind which the host himself stood\nbustling about in white apron and shirt-sleeves, and look+\ning as if he had never lived anywhere but under canvas\nall his life. In these penetralia were chairs and a table,\nwhich, on candles being lighted, made quite a cozy and\nluxurious show, with an urn, plated tea and coffee pots,\nchina teacups, and plum cakes.\nTroy stood at the entrance to the booth, where a\ngipsy-woman was frying pancakes over a little fire of\nsticks and selling them at a penny a-piece, and looked\nover the heads of the people within. He could see\nnothing of Pennyways, but he soon discerned Bathsheba\nthrough an opening into the reserved space at the\nfurther end. Troy thereupon retreated, went round the\ntent into the darkness, and listened. He could hear\nBathsheba's voice immediately inside the canvas ; she\nwas conversing with a man. A warmth overspread his\nface: surely she was not so unprincipled as to flirt in\na fair! He wondered if, then, she reckoned upon his\ndeath as an absolute certainty. To get at the root of\nthe matter, Troy took a penknife from his pocket and\nsoftly made two little cuts crosswise in the cloth, which,\nby folding back the corners left a hole the size of a\n \nwafer. Close to this he placed his face, withdrawing\nit again in a movement of surprise; for his eye had\nbeen within twelve inches of the top of Bathsheba's\nhead. lt was too near to be convenient. He made\nanother hole a little to one side and lower down, in a\nshaded place beside her chair, from which it was easy\nand safe to survey her by looking horizontally'.\nTroy took in the scene completely now. She was\nleaning back, sipping a cup of tea that she held in her\nhand, and the owner of the male voice was Boldwood,\nwho had apparently just brought the cup to her,\nBathsheba, being in a negligent mood, leant so idly\nagainst the canvas that it was pressed to the shape of\nher shoulder, and she was, in fact, as good as in 'rioy's\narms; and he was obliged to keep his breast carefully\nbackward that she might not feel its warmth through the\ncloth as he gazed in.\nTroy found unexpected chords of feeling to be stirred\nagain within him as they had been stirred earlier in the\nday. She was handsome as ever, and she was his. It\nwas some minutes before he could counteract his sudden\nwish to go in, and claim her. Then he thought how\nthe proud girl who had always looked down upon him\neven whilst it was to love him, would hate him on dis+\ncovering him to be a strolling player. Were he to make\nhimself known, that chapter of his life must at all risks\nbe kept for ever from her and from the Weatherbury\npeople, or his name would be a byword throughout the\nparish. He would be nicknamed 'Turpin' as long as\nhe lived. Assuredly before he could claim her these few\npast months of his existence must be entirely blotted out.\n\"Shall I get you another cup before you start,\nma'am?' said Farmer Boldwood.\nI thank you,\" said Bathsheba. \" But I must be going\nat once. It was great neglect in that man to keep me\nwaiting here till so late. I should have gone two hours\nago, if it had not been for him. I had no idea of\ncoming in here; but there's nothing so refreshing as a\ncup of tea, though I should never have got one if you\nhadn't helped me.'\nTroy scrutinized her cheek as lit by the candles,\nand watched each varying shade thereon, and the\nwhite shell-like sinuosities\n \nof her little ear. She took\nout her purse and was insisting to Boldwood on paying\nfor her tea for herself, when at this moment Pennyways\nentered the tent. Troy trembled : here was his scheme\nfor respectability endangered at once. He was about\nto leave his hole of espial, attempt to follow Pennyways,\nand find out if the ex-bailiff had recognized him, when\nhe was arrested by the conversation, and found he was\ntoo late.\n\"Excuse me, ma'am,' said Pennyways ; \"I've some\nprivate information for your ear alone.'\n\"I cannot hear it now,' she said, coldly. That\nBathsheba could not endure this man was evident; in\nfact, he was continually coming to her with some tale\nor other, by which he might creep into favour at the\nexpense of persons maligned.\n\"I'll write it down,' said Pennyways, confidently. He\nstooped over the table, pulled a leaf from a warped\npocket-book, and wrote upon the paper, in a round\nhand --\n\" <1Your husband is here. I've seen him. Who's the fool\nnow?'\nThis he folded small, and handed towards her.\nBathsheba would not read it ; she would not even put\nout her hand to take it. Pennyways, then, with a laugh\nof derision, tossed it into her lap, and, turning away,\nleft her.\nFrom the words and action of Pennyways, Troy,\nthough he had not been able to see what the ex-bailiff\nwrote, had not a moment's doubt that the note referred\nto him. Nothing that he could think of could be done\nto check the exposure. \" Curse my luck.!' he whispered,\nand added imprecations which rustled in the gloom like\na pestilent wind. Meanwhile Boldwood said, taking up\nthe note from her lap --\n\"Don't you wish to read it, Mrs. Troy? If not,\nI'll destroy it.\"\n\" Oh, well,' said Bathsheba, carelessly, \"perhaps it is\nunjust not to read it; but I can guess what it is about.\nHe wants me to recommend him, or it is to tell me of\nsome little scandal or another connected with my work+\npeople. He's always doing that.'\nBathsheba held the note in her right hand. Bold+\nwood handed towards her a plate of cut bread-and+\nbutter; when, in order to take a slice, she put the note\ninto her left hand, where she was still holding the purse,\nand then allowed her hand to drop\n \nbeside her close to\nthe canvas. The moment had come for saving his game,\nand Troy impulsively felt that he would play the card,\nFor yet another time he looked at the fair hand, and\nsaw the pink finger-tips, and the blue veins of the\nwrrist, encircled by a bracelet of coral chippings which\nshe wore: how familiar it all was to him.! Then, with\nthe lightning action in which he was such an adept, he\nnoiselessly slipped his hand under the bottom of the\ntent-cloth, which was far from being pinned tightly down,\nlifted it a little way, keeping his eye to the hole,\nsnatched the note from her fingers, dropped the canvas,\nand ran away in the gloom towards the bank and ditch,\nsmiling at the scream of astonishment which burst from\nher. Troy then slid down on the outside of the rampart,\nhastened round in the bottom of the entrenchment to\na distance of a hundred yards, ascended again, and\ncrossed boldly in a slow walk towards the front entrance\nof the tent. His object was now to get to Pennyways,\nand prevent a repetition of the announcement until\nsuch time as he should choose.\nTroy reached the tent door, and standing among the\ngroups there gathered, looked anxiously for Pennyways,\nevidently not wishing to make himself prominent by\ninquiring for him. One or two men were speaking of\na daring attempt that had just been made to rob a\nyoung lady by lifting the canvas of the tent beside her.\nIt was supposed that the rogue had imagined a slip of\npaper which she held in her hand to he a bank note,\nfor he had seized it, and made off with it, leaving her\npurse behind. His chagrin and disappointment at dis+\ncovering its worthlessness would be a good joke, it was\nsaid. However, the occurrence seemed to have become\nknown to few, for it had not interrupted a fiddler, who\nhad lately begun playing by the door of the tent, nor\nthe four bowed old men with grim countenances and\nwalking-sticks in hand, who were dancing \"Major\nMalley's Reel' to the tune. Behind these stood\nPennyways. Troy glided up to him, beckoned, and\nwhispered a few words ; and with a mutual glance of\nconcurrence the two men went into the night together.\n \nBATHSHEBA TALKS WITH HER OUTRIDER\nTHE arrangement for getting back again to Weather+\nbury had been that Oak should take the place of Poor+\ngrass in Bathsheba's conveyance and drive her home,\nit being discovered late in the afternoon that Joseph\nwas suffering from his old complaint, a multiplying eye,\nand was, therefore, hardly trustworthy as coachman and\nprotector to a woman. But Oak had found himself so\noccupied, and was full of so many cares relative to\nthose portions of Boldwood's flocks that were not\ndisposed of, that Bathsheba, without telling Oak or\nanybody, resolved to drive home herself, as she had\nmany times done from Casterbridge Market, and trust\nto her good angel for performing the journey un+\nmolested. But having fallen in with Farmer Boldwood\naccidentally (on her part at least) at the refreshment+\ntent, she found it impossible to refuse his offer to ride\non horseback beside her as escort. It had grown\ntwilight before she was aware, but Boldwood assured\nher that there was no cause for uneasiness, as the\nmoon would be up in half-an-hour.\nImmediately after the incident in the tent, she had\nrisen to go -- now absolutely alarmed and really grateful\nfor her old lover's protection -- though regretting Gabriel's\nabsence, whose company she would have much preferred,\nas being more proper as well as more pleasant, since he\nwas her own managing-man and servant. This, how+\never, could not be helped; she would not, on any\nconsideration, treat Boldwood harshly, having once\nalready iliused him, and the moon having risen, and\nthe gig being ready, she drove across the hilitop in\nthe wending way's which led downwards -- to oblivious\nobscurity, as it seemed, for the moon and the hill it\nflooded with light were in appearance on a level, the\nrest of the world lying as a vast shady concave between\nthem. Boldwood mounted his horse, and\n \nfollowed in\nclose attendance behind. Thus they descended into\nthe lowlands, and the sounds of those left on the\nhill came like voices from the sky, and the lights were\nas those of a camp in heaven. They soon passed the\nmerry stragglers in the immediate vicinity of the hill,\ntraversed Kingsbere, and got upon the high road.\nThe keen instincts of Bathsheba had perceived that\nthe farmer's staunch devotion to herself was still un+\ndiminished, and she sympathized deeply. The sight\nhad quite depressed her this evening; had reminded\nher of her folly; she wished anew, as she had wished\nmany months ago, for some means of making repara+\ntion for her fault. Hence her pity for the man who\nso persistently loved on to his own injury and per+\nmanent gloom had betrayed Bathsheba into an injudi+\ncious considerateness of manner, which appeared\nalmost like tenderness, and gave new vigour to the\nexquisite dream of a Jacob's seven years service in\npoor Boldwood's mind.\nHe soon found an excuse for advancing from his\nposition in the rear, and rode close by her side. They\nhad gone two or three miles in the moonlight, speaking\ndesultorily across the wheel of her gig concerning the\nfair, farming, Oak's usefulness to them both, and other\nindifferent subjects, when Boldwood said suddenly\nand simply --\n\"Mrs. Troy, you will marry again some day?'\nThis point-blank query unmistakably confused her,\nit was not till a minute or more had elapsed that\nshe said, \"I have not seriously thought of any such\nsubject.'\n\"I quite understand that. Yet your late husband\nhas been dead nearly one year, and -- '\n\" You forget that his death was never absolutely\nproved, and may not have taken place; so that I may\nnot be really a widow,' she said, catching at the straw of\nescape that the fact afforded\n\"Not absolutely proved, perhaps, but it was proved\ncircumstantially. A man saw him drowning, too. No\nreasonable person has any doubt of his death; nor\nhave you, ma'am, I should imagine.\n\"O yes I have, or I should have acted differently,'\nshe said, gently. \"From the first, I have had a strange\nuaccountable\n \nfeeling that he could not have perished,\nbut I have been able to explain that in several ways\nsince. Even were I half persuaded that I shall see\nhim no more, I am far from thinking of marriage with\nanother. I should be very contemptible to indulge in\nsuch a thought.'\nThey were silent now awhile, and having struck into\nan unfrequented track across a common, the creaks of\nBoldwood's saddle and gig springs were all the\nsounds to be heard. Boldwood ended the pause.\n\"Do you remember when I carried you fainting in\nmy arms into the King's Arms, in Casterbridge? Every\ndog has his day: that was mine.'\n\"I know-i know it all,' she said, hurriedly.\n\"I, for one, shall never cease regretting that events\nso fell out as to deny you to me.'\n\"I, too, am very sorry,' she said, and then checked\nherself. \"I mean, you know, I am sorry you thought\ni -- '\n\"I have always this dreary pleasure in thinking over\nthose past times with you -- that I was something to\nyou before <1he>1 was anything, and that you belonged\n<1almost>1 to me. But, of course, that's nothing. You\nnever liked me.'\n\" I did ; and respected you, too.'\n\"Do you now?'\n\"Yes.'\n\"Which?'\n\"How do you mean which?'\n\"Do you like me, or do you respect me?'\n\"I don't know -- at least, I cannot tell you. It is\ndifficult for a woman to define her feelings in language\nwhich is chiefly made by men to express theirs. My\ntreatment of you was thoughtless, inexcusable, wicked.!\nI shall eternally regret it. If there had been anything\nI could have done to make amends I would most\ngladly have done it -- there was nothing on earth I so\nlonged to do as to repair the error. But that was not\npossible.'\n\"Don't blame yourself -- you were not so far in the\nwrong as you suppose. Bathsheba, suppose you had\nreal complete proof\n \nthat you are what, in fact, you are\n -- a widow -- would you repair the old wrong to me by\nmarrying me?'\n\"I cannot say. I shouldn't yet, at any rate.'\n\"But you might at some future time of your life?'\n\"O yes, I might at some time.'\n\"Well, then, do you know that without further proof\nof any kind you may marry again in about six years\nfrom the present -- subject to nobody's objection or\nblame?'\n\"O yes,' she said, quickly. \" I know all that. But\ndon't talk of it -- seven or six years -- where may we all\nbe by that time?'\n\"They will soon glide by, and it will seem an\nastonishingly short time to look back upon when they\nare past -- much less than to look forward to now.'\n\"Yes, yes; I have found that in my own experience.'\n\" Now listen once more,' Boldwood pleaded. \"If I\nwait that time, will you marry me? You own that you\nowe me amends-iet that be your way of making them.'\n\"But, Mr. Boldwood -- six years -- '\n\"Do you want to be the wife of any other man?'\n\"No indeed! I mean, that I don't like to talk\nabout this matter now. Perhaps it is not proper, and\nI ought not to allow it. Let us drop it. My husband\nmay be living, as I said.'\n\"Of course, I'll drop the subject if you wish. But\npropriety has nothing to do with reasons. I am a\nmiddle-aged man, willing to protect you for the\nremainder of our lives. On your side, at least, there\nis no passion or blamable haste -- on mine, perhaps,\nthere is. But I can't help seeing that if you choose\nfrom a feeling of pity, and, as you say, a wish to make\namends, to make a bargain with me for a far-ahead\ntime -- an agreement which will set all things right\nand make me happy, late though it may be -- there is\nno fault to be found with you as a woman. Had'nt\nI the first place beside you? Haven't you been\nalmost mine once already? Surely you can say to\nme as much as this, you will have me back again\nshould circumstances permit ? Now, pray speak ! O\nBathsheba, promise -- it is only a little promise -- that\nif you marry again, you will marry me.!'\nHis tone was so excited that she almost feared him\nat this\n \nmoment, even whilst she sympathized. It was\na simple physical fear -- the weak of the strong; there\nno emotional aversion or inner repugnance. She\nsaid, with some distress in her voice, for she remembered\nvividly his outburst on the Yalbury Road, and shrank\nfrom a repetition of his anger: --\n\"I will never marry another man whilst you wish me\nto be your wife, whatever comes -- but to say more -- you\nhave taken me so by surprise -- -'\n\"But let it stand in these simple words -- that in six\nyears' time you will be my wife ? Unexpected accidents\nwe'll not mention, because those, of course, must be\ngiven way to. Now, this time I know you will keep\nyour word.'\n\"That's why I hesitate to give it.'\n\"But do give it ! Remember the past, and be kind.'\nShe breathed; and then said mournfully : \"O what\nshall I do ? I don't love you, and I much fear that I\nnever shall love you as much as a woman ought to love\na husband. If you, sir, know that, and I can yet give\nyou happiness by a mere promise to marry at the end of\nsix years, if my husband should not come back, it is a\ngreat honour to me. And if you value such an act of\nfriendship from a woman who doesn't esteem her+\nself as she did, and has little love left, why it\nwili -- '\n\"Promise!.'\n\" -- Consider, if I cannot promise soon.'\n\"But soon is perhaps never?'\n\"O no, it is not.! I mean soon. Christmas, we'll\nsay.'\n\"Christmas.!' He said nothing further till he\nadded : \"Well, I'll say no more to you about it till that\ntime.'\nBathsheba was in a very peculiar state of mind,\nwhich showed how entirely the soul is the slave of the\nbody, the ethereal spirit dependent for its quality upon\nthe tangible flesh and blood. It is hardly too much to\nsay that she felt coerced by a force stronger than her\nown will, not only into the act of promising upon this\nsingularly remote and vague matter, but into the emo+\ntion of fancying that she ought to promise. When the\nweeks intervening between the night of this conversa+\n \ntion and Christmas day began perceptibly to diminish,\nher anxiety and perplexity increased.\nOne day she was led by an accident into an oddly\nconfidential dialogue with Gabriel about her difficulty\nIt afforded her a little relief -- of a dull and cheerless\nkind. They were auditing accounts, and something\noccurred in the course of their labours which led Oak\nto say, speaking of Boldwood, \" He'll never forget you,\nma'am, never.'\nThen out came her trouble before she was aware ;\nand she told him how she had again got into the toils;\nwhat Boldwood had asked her, and how he was ex+\npecting her assent. \"The most mournful reason of all\nfor my agreeing to it,' she said sadly, 'and the true\nreason why I think to do so for good or for evil, is this\n -- it is a thing I have not breathed to a living soul as\nyet-i believe that if I don't give my word, he'll go out\nof his mind.'\n\"Really, do ye?' said Gabriel, gravely.\n'I believe this,' she continued, with reckless frank+\nness; \"and Heaven knows I say it in a spirit the very\nreverse of vain, for I am grieved and troubled to my\nsoul about it-i believe I hold that man's future in my\nhand. His career depends entirely upon my treatment\nof him. O Gabriel, I tremble at my responsibility, for\nit is terrible.!'\n\"Well, I think this much, ma'am, as I told you years\nago,' said Oak, 'that his life is a total blank whenever\nhe isn't hoping for 'ee; but I can't suppose-i hope\nthat nothing so dreadful hangs on to it as you fancy.\nHis natural manner has always been dark and strange,\nyou know. But since the case is so sad and oddiike,\nwhy don't ye give the conditional promise? I think I\nwould.'\n\"But is it right? Some rash acts of my past life\nhave taught me that a watched woman must have very\nmuch circumspection to retain only a very little credit,\nand I do want and long to be discreet in this! And\nsix years -- why we may all be in our graves by that\nBATHSHEBA TALKS WITH OAK\ntime, even if Mr. Troy does not come back again, which\nhe may not impossibly do.! Such thoughts give a sort\nof absurdity to the scheme. Now, isn't it preposterous,\n \nGabriel? However he came to dream of it, I cannot think.\nBut is it wrong? You know -- you are older than I.'\n\"Eight years older, ma'am.'\n\"Yes, eight years -- and is it wrong?'\n\"Perhaps it would be an uncommon agreement for a\nman and woman to make : I don't see anything really\nwrong about it,' said Oak, slowly. \"In fact the very\nthing that makes it doubtful if you ought to marry en\nunder any condition, that is, your not caring about him\n -- for I may suppose -- -- '\n\"Yes, you may suppose that love is wanting,' she\nsaid shortly. \"Love is an utterly bygone, sorry, worn+\nout, miserable thing with me -- for him or any one else.'\n\"Well, your want of love seems to me the one thing\nthat takes away harm from such an agreement with him.\nIf wild heat had to do wi' it, making ye long to over+\ncome the awkwardness about your husband's vanishing,\nit mid be wrong ; but a cold-hearted agreement to oblige\na man seems different, somehow. The real sin, ma'am\nin my mind, lies in thinking of ever wedding wi' a man\nyou don't love honest and true.'\n\"That I'm willing to pay the penalty of,' said Bath+\nsheba, firmly. \" You know, Gabriel, this is what I can+\nnot get off my conscience -- that I once seriously injured\nhim in sheer idleness. If I had never played a trick\nupon him, he would never have wanted to marry me.\nO if I could only pay some heavy damages in money\nto him for the harm I did, and so get the sin off my\nsoul that way!... Well, there's the debt, which can\nonly be discharged in one way, and I believe I am\nbound to do it if it honestly lies in my power, without\nany consideration of my own future at all. When a\nrake gambles away his expectations, the fact that it is\nan inconvenient debt doesn't make him the less liable.\nI've been a rake, and the single point I ask you is, con+\nsidering that my own scruples, and the fact that in the\neye of the law my husband is only missing, will keep\nany man from marrying me until seven years have\npassed -- am I free to entertain such an idea, even\nthough 'tis a sort of penance -- for it will be that? I\nhate the act of marriage under such circumstances, and\nthe class of women I should seem to belong to by doing\nit!'\n \n\"It seems to me that all depends upon whe'r you\nthink, as everybody else do, that your husband is\ndead.'\n\"I shall get to, I suppose, because I cannot help\nfeeling what would have brought him back long before\nthis time if he had lived.'\n\"Well, then, in religious sense you will be as free\nto <1think>1 o' marrying again as any real widow of one\nyear's standing. But why don't ye ask Mr. Thirdly's\nadvice on how to treat Mr. Boldwood?'\n\"No. When I want a broad-minded opinion for\ngeneral enlightenment, distinct from special advice, I\nnever go to a man who deals in the subject pro+\nfessionally. So I like the parson's opinion on law, the\nlawyer's on doctoring, the doctor's on business, and my\nbusiness-man's -- that is, yours -- on morals.'\n'And on love -- -- '\n\"My own.'\n\"I'm afraid there's a hitch in that argument,' said\nOak, with a grave smile.\nShe did not reply at once, and then saying, 'Good\nevening Mr. Oak,' went away.\nShe had spoken frankly, and neither asked nor ex+\npected any reply from Gabriel more satisfactory than\nthat she had obtained. Yet in the centremost parts of\nher complicated heart there existed at this minute a\nlittle pang of disappointment, for a reason she would\nnot allow herself to recognize. Oak had not once\nwished her free that he might marry her himself -- had\nnot once said, \"I could wait for you as well as he.'\nThat was the insect sting. Not that she would have\nlistened to any such hypothesis. O no -- for wasn't\nshe saying all the time that such thoughts of the future\nwere improper, and wasn't Gabriel far too poor a man\nto speak sentiment to her? Yet he might have just\nhinted about that old love of his, and asked, in a playful\noff-hand way, if he might speak of it. It would have\nseemed pretty and sweet, if no more; and then she\nwould have shown how kind and inoffensive a woman's\n\"No' can sometimes be. But to give such cool advice\n -- the very advice she had asked for -- it ruffled our\nheroine all the afternoon.\n \nCONVERGING COURSES\n I\nCHRISTMAS-EVE came, and a party that Boldwood\nwas to give in the evening was the great subject of talk\nin Weatherbury. It was not that the rarity of Christmas\nparties in the parish made this one a wonder, but that\nBoldwood should be the giver. The announcement\nhad had an abnormal and incongruous sound, as if one\nshould hear of croquet-playing in a cathedral aisle, or\nthat some much-respected judge was going upon the\nstage. That the party was intended to be a truly jovial\none there was no room for doubt. A large bough of\nmistletoe had been brought from the woods that day, and\nsuspended in the hall of the bachelor's home. Holly\nand ivy had followed in armfuls. From six that morning\ntill past noon the huge wood fire in the kitchen roared\nand sparkled at its highest, the kettle, the saucepan, and\nthe threeiegged pot appearing in the midst of the flames\nlike Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego ; moreover,\nroasting and basting operations were continually\ncarried on in front of the genial blaze.\nAs it grew later the fire was made up in the large\nlong hall into which the staircase descended, and all\nencumbrances were cleared out for dancing. The log\nwhich was to form the back-brand of the evening fire\nwas the uncleft trunk of a tree, so unwieldy that it could\nbe neither brought nor rolled to its place ; and accord+\ningly two men were to be observed dragging and heaving\nit in by chains and levers as the hour of assembly drew\nnear.\nIn spite of all this, the spirit of revelry was wanting\nIn the atmosphere of the house. Such a thing had\nnever been attempted before by its owner, and it was\nnow done as by a wrench. Intended gaieties would\ninsist upon appearing like solemn grandeurs, the organ+\nization of the whole effort was\n \ncarried out coldly,by\nhirelings, and a shadow seemed to move about the\nrooms, saying that the proceedings were unnatural to\nthe place and the lone man who lived therein, and hence\nnot good.\nBathsheba was at this time in her room, dressing for\nthe event. She had called for candles, and Liddy\nentered and placed one on each side of her mistress's\nglass.\n\"Don't go away, Liddy,' said Bathsheba, almost\ntimidly.' I am foolishly agitated-i cannot tell why.\nI wish I had not been obliged to go to this dance; but\nthere's no escaping now. I have not spoken to Mr.\nBoldwood since the autumn, when I promised to see\nhim at Christmas on business, but I had no idea there\nwas to be anything of this kind.'\n\"But I would go now,' said Liddy, who was going\nwith her; for Boldwood had been indiscriminate in his\ninvitations.\n\"Yes, I shall make my appearance, of course,' said\nBathsheba. ' But I am <1the cause>1 of the party, and that\nupsets me! -- Don't tell, Liddy.'\n\"O no, ma'am, You the cause of it, ma'am ?'\n\"Yes. I am the reason of the party-i. If it had\nnot been for me, there would never have been one. I\ncan't explain any more -- there's no more to be explained.\nI wish I had never seen Weatherbury.'\n\"That's wicked of you -- to wish to be worse off than\nyou are.'\n\"No, Liddy. I have never been free from trouble\nsince I have lived here, and this party is likely to bring\nme more. Now, fetch my black silk dress, and see how\nit sits upon me.'\n\"But you will leave off that, surely, ma'am? You\nhave been a widowiady fourteen months, and ought to\nbrighten up a little on such a night as this.'\n\"Is it necessary? No; I will appear as usual, for if\nI were to wear any light dress people would say things\nabout me, and I should seem to he rejoicing when I am\nsolemn all the time. The party doesn't suit me a bit;\nbut never mind, stay and help to finish me off.'\n III\n \nBoldwood was dressing also at this hour. A tailor\nfrom Casterbridge was with him, assisting him in the\noperation of trying on a new coat that had just beem\nbrought home.\nNever had Boldwood been so fastidious, unreasonable\nabout the fit, and generally difficult to please. The\ntailor walked round and round him, tugged at the waist,\npulled the sleeve, pressed out the collar, and for the\nfirst time in his experience Boldwood was not bored+\nTimes had been when the farmer had exclaimed against\nall such niceties as childish, but now no philosophic or\nhasty rebuke whatever was provoked by this man for\nattaching as much importance to a crease in the coat\nas to an earthquake in South America. Boldwood at\nlast expressed himself nearly satisfied, and paid the bill,\nthe tailor passing out of the door just as Oak came in\nto report progress for the day.\n\"Oh, Oak,' said Boldwood. \"I shall of course see\nyou here to-night. Make yourself merry. I am deter+\nmined that neither expense nor trouble shall be spared.'\n\"I'll try to be here, sir, though perhaps it may not\nbe very early,' said Gabriel, quietly. \"I am glad indeed\nto see such a change in 'ee from what it used to be.'\n\" Yes-i must own it-i am bright to-night : cheerful\nand more than cheerfui-so much so that I am almost\nsad again with the sense that all of it is passing away.\nAnd sometimes, when I am excessively hopeful and\nblithe, a trouble is looming in the distance : so that I\noften get to look upon gloom in me with content, and\nto fear a happy mood. Still this may be absurd-i feel\nthat it is absurd. Perhaps my day is dawning at last.'\n\"I hope it 'ill be a long and a fair one.'\n\"Thank you -- thank you. Yet perhaps my cheerfui\nmess rests on a slender hope. And yet I trust my hope.\nIt is faith, not hope. I think this time I reckon with\nmy host. -- Oak, my hands are a little shaky, or some+\nthing; I can't tie this neckerchief properly. Perhaps\nyou will tie it for me. The fact is, I have not been well\nlately, you know.'\n\"I am sorry to hear that, sir.'\n \n\"Oh, it's nothing. I want it done as well as you can,\nplease. Is there any late knot in fashion, Oak?'\n\"I don't know, sir,' said Oak. His tone had sunk to\nsadness.\nBoldwood approached Gabriel, and as Oak tied the\nneckerchief the farmer went on feverishly --\n\"Does a woman keep her promise, Gabriel?'\n\"If it is not inconvenient to her she may.'\n\" -- Or rather an implied promise.'\n\"I won't answer for her implying,' said Oak, with\nfaint bitterness. \"That's a word as full o' holes as a\nsieve with them.'\n\"Oak, don't talk like that. You have got quite\ncynical lately -- how is it? We seem to have shifted our\npositions: I have become the young and hopeful man,\nand you the old and unbelieving one. However, does\na woman keep a promise, not to marry, but to enter on\nan engagement to marry at some time? Now you\nknow women better than i-tell me.'\n\"I am afeard you honour my understanding too much.\nHowever, she may keep such a promise, if it is made\nwith an honest meaning to repair a wrong.'\n\"It has not gone far yet, but I think it will soon --\nyes, I know it will,' he said, in an impulsive whisper.\n\"I have pressed her upon the subject, and she inclines\nto be kind to me, and to think of me as a husband at\na long future time, and that's enough for me. How\ncan I expect more? She has a notion that a woman\nshould not marry within seven years of her husband's\ndisappearance -- that her own self shouldn't, I mean --\nbecause his body was not found. It may be merely\nthis legal reason which influences her, or it may be a\nreligious one, but she is reluctant to talk on the point+\nYet she has promised -- implied -- that she will ratify an\nengagement to-night.'\n\"Seven years,' murmured Oak.\n\"No, no -- it's no such thing!' he said, with im+\npatience. Five years, nine months, and a few days.\nFifteen months nearly have passed since he vanished,\nand is there anything so wonderful in an engagement of\nlittle more than five years?'\n\"It seems long in a forward view. Don't build too\nmuch upon such promises, sir. Remember, you have\nonce be'n deceived. Her meaning may be good; but\nthere -- she's young yet.'\n \n\"Deceived? Never! ' said Boldwood, vehemently.\n\"She never promised me at that first time, and hence\nshe did not break her promise! If she promises me,\nshe'll marry me, Bathsheba is a woman to her word.'\n IV\nTroy was sitting in a corner of The White Hart\ntavern at Casterbridge, smoking and drinking a steaming\nmixture from a glass. A knock was given at the door,\nand Pennyways entered.\n\"Well, have you seen him?' Troy inquired, pointing\nto a chair.\n\"Boldwood?'\n\"No -- Lawyer Long.'\n\"He wadn' at home. I went there first, too.'\n\"That's a nuisance.'\n\"'Tis rather, I suppose.'\n\"Yet I don't see that, because a man appears to be\ndrowned and was not, he should be liable for anything.\nI shan't ask any lawyer -- not I.'\n\"But that's not it, exactly. If a man changes his\nname and so forth, and takes steps to deceive the world\nand his own wife, he's a cheat, and that in the eye of\nthe law is ayless a rogue, and that is ayless a lammocken\nvagabond; and that's a punishable situation.'\n\"Ha-ha! Well done, Pennyways.' Troy had laughed,\nbut it was with some anxiety that he said, \"Now, what\nI want to know is this, do you think there's really\nanything going on between her and Boldwood? Upon\nmy soul, I should never have believed it! How she.\nmust detest me! Have you found out whether she\nhas encouraged him?'\n\"I haen't been able to learn. There's a deal of\nfeeling on his side seemingly, but I don't answer for\nher. I didn't know a word about any such thing till\nyesterday, and all I heard then was that she was gwine\nto the party at his house to-night. This is the first\ntime she has ever gone there, they say. And they say\nthat she've not so much as spoke to him since they were\nat Greenhill Fair: but what can folk believe o't ? How+\never, she's not fond of him -- quite offish and quite care\nless, I know.'\n \n\"I'm not so sure of that.... She's a handsome\nwoman, Pennyways, is she not? Own that you never\nsaw a finer or more splendid creature in your life.\nUpon my honour, when I set eyes upon her that day\nI wondered what I could have been made of to be able\nto leave her by herself so long. And then I was\nhampered with that bothering show, which I'm free of\nat last, thank the stars.' He smoked on awhile, and\nthen added, \"How did she look when you passed by\nyesterday?'\n\"Oh, she took no great heed of me, ye may well\nfancy; but she looked well enough, far's I know. Just\nflashed her haughty eyes upon my poor scram body, and\nthen let them go past me to what was yond, much as if\nI'd been no more than a leafless tree. She had just got\noff her mare to look at the last wring-down of cider for\nthe year; she had been riding, and so her colours were\nup and her breath rather quick, so that her bosom\nplimmed and feli-plimmed and feli-every time plain\nto my eye. Ay, and there were the fellers round her\nwringing down the cheese and bustling about and\nsaying, Ware o' the pommy, ma'am : 'twill spoil yer\ngown. \"Never mind me,\" says she. Then Gabe\nbrought her some of the new cider, and she must\nneeds go drinking it through a strawmote, and not in\na nateral way at all. \"Liddy,\" says she, \"bring indoors\na few gallons, and I'll make some cider-wine.\" Sergeant,\nI was no more to her than a morsel of scroffin the fuei\nhouse!'\n\"I must go and find her out at once -- O yes, I see\nthat-i must go. Oak is head man still, isn't he?'\n\"Yes, 'a b'lieve. And at Little Weatherbury Farm\ntoo. He manages everything.'\n\"Twill puzzle him to manage her, or any other man\nof his compass!'\n\"I don't know about that. She can't do without\nhim, and knowing it well he's pretty independent.\nAnd she've a few soft corners to her mind, though\nI've never been able to get into one, the devil's in't!'\n\"Ah baily she's a notch above you, and you must\nown it: a higher class of animai-a finer tissue. How+\never, stick to me, and neither this haughty goddess,\ndashing piece of womanhood, Juno-wife of mine (Juno\nwas a goddess, you know), nor\n \nanybody else shall hurt\nyou. But all this wants looking into, I perceive.\nWhat with one thing and another, I see that my work\nis well cut out for me.'\n v\n\"How do I look to-night, Liddy?' said Bathsheba,\ngiving a final adjustment to her dress before leaving the\nglass.\n\"I never saw you look so well before. Yes-i'll tell\nyou when you looked like it -- that night, a year and a\nhalf ago, when you came in so wildiike, and scolded us\nfor making remarks about you and Mr. Troy.'\n\"Everybody will think that I am setting myself to\ncaptivate Mr. Boldwood, I suppose,' she murmured.\n\"At least they'll say so. Can't my hair be brushed\ndown a little flatter? I dread going -- yet I dread the\nrisk of wounding him by staying away.'\n\"Anyhow, ma'am, you can't well be dressed plainer\nthan you are, unless you go in sackcloth at once. 'Tis\nyour excitement is what makes you look so noticeable\nto-night.'\n\"I don't know what's the matter, I feel wretched at\none time, and buoyant at another. I wish I could have\ncontinued quite alone as I have been for the last year\nor so, with no hopes and no fears, and no pleasure and\nno grief.\n\"Now just suppose Mr. Boldwood should ask you\n -- only just suppose it -- to run away with him, what\nwould you do, ma'am?'\n\"Liddy -- none of that,' said Bathsheba, gravely.\n\"Mind, I won't hear joking on any such matter. Do\nyou hear?'\n\"I beg pardon, ma'am. But knowing what rum\nthings we women be, I just said -- however, I won't\nspeak of it again.'\n\"No marrying for me yet for many a year; if ever,\n'twill be for reasons very, very different from those you\nthink, or others will believe! Now get my cloak, for it\nis time to go.'\n VI\n\"Oak, said Boldwood, \"before you go I want to\nmention what has been passing in my mind lately --\nthat little arrangement we made about your share in the\nfarm I mean. That share is small, too small, consider+\ning how little I attend to business now, and how much\ntime and thought you give to it. Well,\n \nsince the world\nis brightening for me, I want to show my sense of it\nby increasing yopur proportion in the partnership. I'll\nmake a memorandum of the arrangement which struck\nme as likely to be convenient, for I haven't time to talk\nabout it now; and then we'll discuss it at our leisure.\nMy intention is ultimately to retire from the manage+\nment altogether, and until you can take all the expendi+\nture upon your shoulders, I'll be a sleeping partner in\nthe stock. Then, if I marry her -- and I hope-i feel I\nshall, why -- -- '\n\"Pray don't speak of it, sir,' said Oak, hastily. \"We\ndon't know what may happen. So many upsets may\nbefall 'ee. There's many a slip, as they say -- and I\nwould advise you-i know you'll pardon me this once --\nnot to be <1too sure>1.'\n\"I know, I know. But the feeling I have about in+\ncreasing your share is on account of what I know of you\nOak, I have learnt a little about your secret: your\ninterest in her is more than that of bailiff for an em+\nployer. But you have behaved like a man, and I, as a\nsort of successful rivai-successful partly through your\ngoodness of heart -- should like definitely to show my\nsense of your friendship under what must have been a\ngreat pain to you.'\n\"O that's not necessary, thank 'ee,' said Oak,\nhurriedly. \"I must get used to such as that; other\nmen have, and so shall I.'\nOak then left him. He was uneasy on Boldwood's\naccount, for he saw anew that this constant passion\nof the farmer made him not the man he once had\nbeen.\nAs Boldwood continued awhile in his room alone --\nready and dressed to receive his company -- the mood of\nanxiety about his appearance seemed to pass away, and\nto be succeeded by a deep solemnity. He looked out\nof the window, and regarded the dim outline of the trees\nupon the sky, and the twilight deepening to darkness.\nThen he went to a locked closet, and took from\na locked drawer therein a small circular case the size of\na pilibox, and was about to put it into his pocket. But\nhe lingered to open the cover and take a momentary\nglance inside. It contained a woman's finger-ring, set\nall the way round with small\n \ndiamonds, and from its\nappearance had evidently been recently purchased.\nBoldwood's eyes dwelt upon its many sparkles a long\ntime, though that its material aspect concerned him\nlittle was plain from his manner and mien, which were\nthose of a mind following out the presumed thread of\nthat jewel's future history.\nThe noise of wheels at the front of the house became\naudible. Boldwood closed the box, stowed it away\ncarefully in his pocket, and went out upon the landing.\nThe old man who was his indoor factotum came at the\nsame moment to the foot of the stairs.\n\"They be coming, sir-iots of 'em -- a-foot and a+\ndriving!'\n\"I was coming down this moment. Those wheels I\nheard -- is it Mrs. Troy?'\n\"No, sir -- 'tis not she yet.'\nA reserved and sombre expression had returned to\nBoldwood's face again, but it poorly cloaked his feei\nings when he pronounced Bathsheba's name; and his\nfeverish anxiety continued to show its existence by a\ngalloping motion of his fingers upon the side of his thigh\nas he went down the stairs.\n VII\n\"How does this cover me?' said Troy to Pennyways,\n\"Nobody would recognize me now, I'm sure.'\nHe was buttoning on a heavy grey overcoat of\nNoachian cut, with cape and high collar, the latter being\nerect and rigid, like a girdling wall, and nearly reaching\nto the verge of travelling cap which was pulled down\nover his ears.\nPennyways snuffed the candle, and then looked up\nand deliberately inspected Troy\n\"You've made up your mind to go then?' he\nsaid.\n\"Made up my mind? Yes; of course I have.'\n\"Why not write to her? 'Tis a very queer corner\nthat you have got into, sergeant. You see all these things\nwill come to light if you go back, and they won't sound\nwell at all. Faith, if I was you I'd even bide as you be\n -- a single man of the name of Francis. A good wife is\ngood, but the best wife is not so good\n \nas no wife at all.\nNow that's my outspoke mind, and I've been called a\nlong-headed feller here and there.'\n\"All nonsense!' said Troy, angrily. \"There she is\nwith plenty of money, and a house and farm, and\nhorses, and comfort, and here am I living from hand to\nmouth -- a needy adventurer. Besides, it is no use\ntalking now; it is too late, and I am glad of it ; I've been\nseen and recognized here this very afternoon. I should\nhave gone back to her the day after the fair, if it hadn't\nbeen for you talking about the law, and rubbish about\ngetting a separation; and I don't put it off any longer.\nWhat the deuce put it into my head to run away at all,\nI can't think! Humbugging sentiment -- that's what it\nwas. But what man on earth was to know that his wife\nwould be in such a hurry to get rid of his name!'\n\"I should have known it. She's bad enough for\nanything.'\n\"Pennyways, mind who you are talking to.'\n\"Well, sergeant, all I say is this, that if I were you I'd\ngo abroad again where I came from -- 'tisn't too late to do\nit now. I wouldn't stir up the business and get a bad\nname for the sake of living with her -- for all that about\nyour play-acting is sure to come out, you know, although\nyou think otherwise. My eyes and limbs, there'll be a\nracket if you go back just now -- in the middle of Bold+\nwood's Christmasing!'\n\"H'm, yes. I expect I shall not be a very welcome\nguest if he has her there,' said the sergeant, with a slight\nlaugh. \"A sort of Alonzo the Brave; and when I go in\nthe guests will sit in silence and fear, and all laughter\nand pleasure will be hushed, and the lights in the\nchamber burn blue, and the worms -- Ugh, horrible! --\nRing for some more brandy, Pennyways, I felt an\nawful shudder just then! Well, what is there besides?\nA stick-i must have a walking-stick.'\nPennyways now felt himself to be in something of a\ndifficulty, for should Bathsheba and Troy become recon+\nciled it would be necessary to regain her good opinion\nif he would secure the patronage of her husband. I\nsometimes think she likes you yet, and is a good woman\nat bottom,' he said, as a saving sentence. \"But there's\nno telling to a certainty from a body's outside. Well,\n \nyou'll do as you like about going, of course, sergeant,\nand as for me, I'll do as you tell me.'\n\"Now, let me see what the time is,' said Troy, after\nemptying his glass in one draught as he stood. 'Half+\npast six o'clock. I shall not hurry along the road, and\nshall be there then before nine.'\nCONCURRITUR\n \nCONCURRITUR -- HORAE MOMENTO\nOUTSIDE the front of Boldwood's house a group of\nmen stood in the dark, with their faces towards the door,\nwhich occasionally opened and closed for the passage of\nsome guest or servant, when a golden rod of light would\nstripe the ground for the moment and vanish again,\nleaving nothing outside but the glowworm shine of the\npale lamp amid the evergreens over the door.\n\"He was seen in Casterbridge this afternoon -- so the\nboy said,' one of them remarked in a whisper. \"And l\nfor one believe it. His body was never found, you know.'\n\"'Tis a strange story,' said the next. \"You may\ndepend upon't that she knows nothing about it.'\n\"Not a word.'\n\"Perhaps he don't mean that she shall,' said another\nman.\n\"If he's alive and here in the neighbourhood, he\nmeans mischief,' said the first. \"Poor young thing:\nI do pity her, if 'tis true. He'll drag her to the dogs.'\n\"O no; he'll settle down quiet enough,' said one\ndisposed to take a more hopeful view of the case.\n\"What a fool she must have been ever to have had\nanything to do with the man! She is so self-willed and\nindependent too, that one is more minded to say it\nserves her right than pity her.'\n\"No, no. I don't hold with 'ee there. She was no\notherwise than a girl mind, and how couid she tell what\nthe man was made of? If 'tis really true, 'tis too hard\na punishment, and more than she ought to hae. -- Hullo,\nwho's that?' This was to some footsteps that were\nheard approaching.\n\"William Smallbury,' said a dim figure in the shades,\ncoming up and joining them. 'Dark as a hedge, to+\nnight, isn't it? I all but missed the plank over the river\nath'art there in the bottom --\n \nnever did such a thing\nbefore in my life. Be ye any of Boldwood's workfolk?'\nHe peered into their faces.\n\"Yes -- all o' us. We met here a few minutes ago.'\n\"Oh, I hear now -- that's Sam Samway : thought I\nknowed the voice, too. Going in?'\n\"Presently. But I say, William,' Samway whispered,\n\"have ye heard this strange tale?'\n\"What -- that about Sergeant Troy being seen, d'ye\nmean, souls?' said Smallbury, also lowering his voice.\n\"Ay: in Casterbridge.'\n\"Yes, I have. Laban Tall named a hint of it to me\nbut now -- but I don't think it. Hark, here Laban\ncomes himself, 'a b'lieve.' A footstep drew near.\n\"Laban?'\n\"Yes, 'tis I,' said Tall.\n\"Have ye heard any more about that?'\n\"No,' said Tall, joining the group. \"And I'm in+\nclined to think we'd better keep quiet. If so be 'tis not\ntrue, 'twill flurry her, and do her much harm to repeat\nit; and if so be 'tis true, 'twill do no good to forestall\nher time o' trouble. God send that it mid be a lie, for\nthough Henery Fray and some of 'em do speak against\nher, she's never been anything but fair to me. She's\nhot and hasty, but she's a brave girl who'll never tell a\nlie however much the truth may harm her, and I've no\ncause to wish her evil.'\n\"She never do tell women's little lies, that's true ; and\n'tis a thing that can be said of very few. Ay, all the\nharm she thinks she says to yer face: there's nothing\nunderhand wi' her.'\nThey stood silent then, every man busied with his\nown thoughts, during which interval sounds of merri+\nment could be heard within. Then the front door again\nopened, the rays streamed out, the weliknown form of\nBoldwood was seen in the rectangular area of light, the\ndoor closed, and Boldwood walked slowly down the path.\n\"'Tis master,' one of the men whispered, as he neared\nthem. \"We'd better stand quiet -- he'll go in again\ndirectly. He would think it unseemly o' us to be\nloitering here.\nBoldwood came on, and passed by the men without\n \nseeing them, they being under the bushes on the grass.\nHe paused, leant over the gate, and breathed a long\nbreath. They heard low words come from him.\n\"I hope to God she'll come, or this night will be\nnothing but misery to me! O my darling, my darling,\nwhy do you keep me in suspense like this?'\nHe said this to himself, and they all distinctly heard\nit. Boldwood remained silent after that, and the noise\nfrom indoors was again just audible, until, a few minutes\nlater, light wheels could be distinguished coming down\nthe hill. They drew nearer, and ceased at the gate.\nBoldwood hastened back to the door, and opened it;\nand the light shone upon Bathsheba coming up the\npath.\nBoldwood compressed his emotion to mere welcome:\nthe men marked her light laugh and apology as she met\nhim: he took her into the house; and the door closed\nagain.\n\"Gracious heaven, I didn't know it was like that with\nhim!' said one of the men. \"I thought that fancy of\nhis was over long ago.\n\"You don't know much of master, if you thought\nthat,' said Samway.\n\"I wouldn't he should know we heard what 'a said\nfor the world,' remarked a third.\n\"I wish we had told of the report at once,' the first\nuneasily continued. \"More harm may come of this than\nwe know of. Poor Mr. Boldwood, it will, be hard upon\nen. I wish Troy was in -- -- Well, God forgive me\nfor such a wish! A scoundrel to play a poor wife such\ntricks. Nothing has prospered in Weatherbury since he\ncame here. And now I've no heart to go in. Let's\nlook into Warren's for a few minutes first, shall us,\nneighbours?'\nSamway, Tall, and Smallbury agreed to go to Warren's,\nand went out at the gate, the remaining ones entering\nthe house. The three soon drew near the malt-house,\napproaching it from the adjoining orchard, and not by\nway of the street. The pane of glass was illuminated\nas usual. Smallbury was a little in advance of the rest\nwhen, pausing, he turned suddenly to his companions\nand said, \"Hist! See there.'\n \nThe light from the pane was now perceived to be\nshining not upon the ivied wall as usual, but upon some\nobject close to the glass. It was a human face.\n\"Let's come closer,' whispered Samway; and they\napproached on tiptoe. There was no disbelieving the\nreport any longer. Troy's face was almost close to the\npane, and he was looking in. Not only was he looking in,\nbut he appeared to have been arrested by a conversation\nwhich was in progress in the malt-house, the voices of\nthe interlocutors being those of Oak and the maltster.\n\"The spree is all in her honour, isn't it -- hey?' said\nthe old man. \"Although he made believe 'tis only\nkeeping up o' Christmas?'\n\"I cannot say,' replied Oak.\n\"O 'tis true enough, faith. I cannot understand\nFarmer Boldwood being such a fool at his time of life\nas to ho and hanker after thik woman in the way 'a do,\nand she not care a bit about en.'\nThe men, after recognizing Troy's features, withdrew\nacross the orchard as quietly as they had come. The\nair was big with Bathsheba's fortunes to-night : every\nword everywhere concerned her. When they were quite\nout of earshot all by one instinct paused.\n\"It gave me quite a turn -- his face,' said Tall,\nbreathing.\n\"And so it did me,' said Samway. \"What's to be\ndone?'\n\"I don't see that 'tis any busincss of ours,' Smallbury\nmurmured dubiously.\n\"But it is! 'Tis a thing which is everybody's business,\nsaid Samway. \"We know very well that master's on a\nwrong tack, and that she's quite in the dark, and we\nshould let 'em know at once. Laban, you know her\nbest -- you'd better go and ask to speak to her.'\n\"I bain't fit for any such thing,' said Laban, nervously.\n\"I should think William ought to do it if anybody. He's\noldest.'\n\"I shall have nothing to do with it,' said Smallbury.\n\"'Tis a ticklish business altogether. Why, he'll go on\nto her himself in a few minutes, ye'll see.'\n\"We don't know that he will. Come, Laban.'\n \n\"Very well, if I must I must, I suppose,' Tall reluct+\nantly answered. \"What must I say?'\n\"Just ask to see master.'\n\"O no; I shan't speak to Mr. Boldwood. If I tell\nanybody, 'twill be mistress.'\n\"Very well,' said Samway.\nLaban then went to the door. When he opened it\nthe hum of bustle rolled out as a wave upon a still\nstrand -- the assemblage being immediately inside the\nhali-and was deadened to a murmur as he closed it\nagain. Each man waited intently, and looked around at\nthe dark tree tops gently rocking against the sky and\noccasionally shivering in a slight wind, as if he took\ninterest in the scene, which neither did. One of them\nbegan walking up and down, and then came to where\nhe started from and stopped again, with a sense that\nwalking was thing not worth doing now.\n\"I should think Laban must have seen mistress by\nthis time,' said Smallbury, breaking the silence. \"Per+\nhaps she won't come and speak to him.'\nThe door opened. Tall appeared, and joined them\n\"Well?' said both.\n\"I didn't like to ask for her after all,' Laban faltered\nout. \"They were all in such a stir, trying to put a little\nspirit into the party. Somehow the fun seems to hang\nfire, though everything's there that a heart can desire,\nand I couldn't for my soul interfere and throw damp\nupon it -- if 'twas to save my life, I couldn't!'\n\"I suppose we had better all go in together,' said\nSamway, gloomily. \"Perhaps I may have a chance of\nsaying a word to master.'\nSo the men entered the hall, which was the room\nsellected and arranged for the gathering because of its\nsize. The younger men and maids were at last just\nbeginning to dance. Bathshesba had been perplexed\nhow to act, for she was not much more than a slim\nyoung maid herself, and the weight of stateliness sat\nheavy upon her. Sometimes she thought she ought\nnot to have come under any circumstances; then she\nconsidered what cold unkindness that would have been,\nand finally resolved\n \nupon the middle course of staying\nfor about an hour only, and gliding off unobserved,\nhaving from the first made up her mind that she could\non no account dance, sing, or take any active part in\nthe proceedings.\nHer allotted hour having been passed in chatting\nand looking on, Bathsheba told Liddy not to hurry her+\nself, and went to the small parlour to prepare for\ndeparture, which, like the hall, was decorated with holly\nand ivy, and well lighted up.\nNobody was in the room, but she had hardly\nHORAE MOMENTO\nbeen there a moment when the master of the house\nentered.\n\"Mrs. Troy -- you are not going?' he said. \"We've\nhardly begun!'\n\"If you'll excuse me, I should like to go now.' Her\nmanner was restive, for she remembered her promise,\nand imagined what he was about to say. \"But as it is\nnot late,' she added, \"I can walk home, and leave my\nman and Liddy to come when they choose.'\n\"I've been trying to get an opportunity of speaking\nto you,' said Boldwood. \"You know perhaps what I\nlong to say?'\nBathsheba silently looked on the floor.\n\"You do give it?' he said, eagerly.\n\"What?' she whispered.\n\"Now, that's evasion! Why, the promise. I don't\nwant to intrude upon you at all, or to let it become\nknown to anybody. But do give your word! A\nmere business compact, you know, between two people\nwho are beyond the influence of passicn.' Boldwood\nknew how false this picture was as regarded himself;\nbut he had proved that it was the only tone in which\nshe would allow him to approach her. \"A promise to\nmarry me at the end of five years and three-quarters.\nYou owe it to me!'\n\"I feel that I do,' said Bathsheba ; \"that is, if you\ndemand it. But I am a changed woman -- an unhappy\nwoman -- and not -- not -- -- \"\n\" You are still a very beautiful woman, said Boldwood.\nHonesty and pure conviction suggested the remark,\nunaccompanied by any perception that it might have\nbeen adopted by blunt flattery to soothe and win her.\nHowever, it had not much effect now, for for she said,\nin a\n \npassionless murmur which was in itself a proof of\nher words: \"I have no feeling in the matter at all.\nAnd I don't at all know what is right to do in my\ndiddicult Position, and I have nobody to advise me. But\nI give my promise, if I must. I give it as the rendering of\na debt, conditionally, of course, on my being a widow.'\n\"You'll marry me between five and six years hence ? '\n\"Don't press me too hard. I'll marry nobody\nelse.'\n\" But surely you will name the time, or there's nothing\nin the promise at all?'\n\"O, I don't know, pray let me go!' she said, her\nbosom beginning to rise. \"I am afraid what to do.!\nwant to be just to you, and to be that seems to be wrong+\ning myself, and perhaps it is breaking the commandments.\nThere is considerable doubt of his death, and then it\nis dreadful; let me ask a solicitor, Mr. Boldwood, if I\nought or no!'\n\"Say the words, dear one, and the subject shall be\ndismissed ; a blissrul loving intimacy of six years, and\nthen marriage -- O Bathsheba, say them!' he begged in\na husky voice, unable to sustain the forms of mere\nfriendship any longer. \"Promise yourself to me; I\ndeserve it, indeed I do, for I have loved you more than\nanybody in the world! And if I said hasty words and\nshowed uncalled-for heat of manner towards you, believe\nme, dear, I did not mean to distress you ; I was in\nagony, Bathsheba, and I did not know what I said.\nYou wouldn't let a dog suffer what I have suffered,\ncould you but know it! Sometimes I shrink from your\nknowing what I have felt for you, and sometimes I am\ndistressed that all of it you never will know. Be\ngracious, and give up a little to me, when I would give\nup mylife for you!'\nThe trimmings of her dress, as they quivered against\nthe light, showed how agitated she was, and at last she\nburst out crying. 'And you'll not -- press me -- about\nanything more -- if I say in five or six years?' she\nsobbed, when she had power to frame the words.\n\"Yes, then I'll leave it to time.'\n\"Very well. If he does not return, I'll marry you\nin six years from this day, if we both live,' she said\nsolemnly.\n \n\"And you'll take this as a token from me.'\nBoldwood had come close to her side, and now he\nclasped one of her hands in both his own, and lifted it\nto his breast.\n\"What is it? Oh I cannot wear a ring!' she ex+\nclaimed, on seeing what he held; \"besides, I wouldn't\nhave a soul know that it's an engagement! Perhaps it\nis improper? Besides, we are not engaged in the usual\nsense, are we ? Don't insist, Mr. Boldwood -- don't!'\nIn her trouble at not being able to get her hand away\nfrom him at once, she stamped passionately on the floor\nwith one foot, and tears crowded to her eyes again.\n\"It means simply a pledge -- no sentiment -- the seal\nof a practical compact,' he said more quictly, but still\nretaining her hand in his firm grasp. \"Come, now!'\nAnd Boldwood slipped the ring on her finger.\n\"I cannot wear it,' she said, weeping as if her heart\nwould break. \" You frighten me, almost. So wild a\nscheme! Please let me go home!'\n\" Only to-night : wear it just to-night, to please me!.'\nBathsheba sat down in a chair, and buried her face\nin her handkerchief, though Boldwood kept her hand\nyet. At length she said, in a sort of hopeless whisper --\n\"Very well, then, I will to-night, if you wish it so\nearnestly. Now loosen my hand; I will, indeed I will\nwear it to-night.'\n\"And it shall be the beginning of a pleasant secret\ncourtship of six years, with a wedding at the end?'\n\"It must be, I suppose, since you will have it so!'\nshe said, fairly beaten into non-resistance.\nBoldwood pressed her hand, and allowed it to drop\nin her lap. \"I am happy now,' he said. \"God bless\nyou!'\nHe left the room, and when he thought she might\nbe sufficiently composed sent one of the maids to her\nBathsheba cloaked the effects of the late scene as she\nbest could, followed the girl, and in a few moments\ncame downstairs with her hat and cloak on, ready to go.\nTo get to the door it was necessary to pass through the\nhall, and before doing so she paused on the bottom of\nthe staircase which descended into one corner, to take\na last look at the gathering.\nThere was no music or dancing in progress just now.\nAt the\n \nlower end, which had been arranged for the work+\nfolk specially, a group conversed in whispers, and with\nclouded looks. Boldwood was standing by the fireplace,\nand he, too, though so absorbed in visions arising from\nher promise that he scarcely saw anything, seemed at\nthat moment to have observed their peculiar manner,\nand their looks askance.\n\"What is it you are in doubt about, men?' he said.\nOne of them turned and replied uneasily: 'It was\nsomething Laban heard of, that's all, sir.'\n\"News? Anybody married or engaged, born or\ndead?' inquired the farmer, gaily. \"Tell it to us, Tall.\nOne would think from your looks and mysterious ways\nthat it was something very dreadful indeed.'\n\"O no, sir, nobody is dead,' said Tall.\n\"I wish somebody was,' said Samway, in a whisper.\n\"What do you say, Samway?' asked Boldwood, some+\nwhat sharply. \"If you have anything to say, speak out;\nif not, get up another dance.'\n\"Mrs. Troy has come downstairs,' said Samway to\nTall. \"If you want to tell her, you had better do it now.'\n\"Do you know what they mean?' the farmer asked\nBathsheba, across the room.\n\"I don't in the least,\" said Bathsheba.\nThere was a smart rapping at the door. One of\nthe men opened it instantly, and went outside.\n\"Mrs. Troy is wanted,' he said, on returning.\n\"Quite ready,' said Bathsheba. \"Though I didn't\ntell them to send.'\n\"It is a stranger, ma'am,' said the man by the door.\n\"A stranger?' she said.\n\"Ask him to come in,' said Boldwood.\nThe message was given, and Troy, wrapped up to\nhis eyes as we have seen him, stood in the doorway.\nThere was an unearthly silence, all looking towards\nthe newcomer. Those who had just learnt that he\nwas in the neighbourhood recognized him instantly;\nthose who did not were perplexed. Nobody noted\nBathsheba. She was leaning on the stairs. Her brow\nhad heavily contracted; her whole face was\n \npallid, her\nlips apart, her eyes rigidly staring at their visitor.\nBoldwood was among those who did not notice that\nhe was Troy. \"Come in, come in!' he repeated,\ncheerfully, \"and drain a Christmas beaker with us,\nstranger!'\nTroy next advanced into the middle of the room,\ntook off his cap, turned down his coat-collar, and looked\nBoldwood in the face. Even then Boldwood did not\nrecognize that the impersonator of Heaven's persistent\nirony towards him, who had once before broken in\nupon his bliss, scourged him, and snatched his delight\naway, had come to do these things a second time.\nTroy began to laugh a mechanical laugh: Boldwood\nrecognized him now.\nTroy turned to Bathsheba. The poor girl's wretched+\nness at this time was beyond all fancy or narration.\nShe had sunk down on the lowest stair; and there\nshe sat, her mouth blue and dry, and her dark eyes\nfixed vacantly upon him, as if she wondered whether it\nwere not all a terrible illusion.\nThen Troy spoke. \"Bathsheba, I come here for\nyou!'\nShe made no reply.\n\" Come home with me: come!\nBathsheba moved her feet a little, but did not rise.\nTroy went across to her.\n\"come, madam, do you hear what I say?' he said,\nperemptorily.\nA strange voice came from the fireplace -- a voice\nsounding far off and confined, as if from a dungeon.\nHardly a soul in the assembly recognized the thin tones\nto be those of Boldwood. Sudden dispaire had trans+\nformed him.\n\"Bathsheba, go with your husband!'\nNevertheless, she did not move. The truth was\nthat Bathsheba was beyond the pale of activity -- and\nyet not in a swoon. She was in a state of mental <1gutta>1\n<1serena>1; her mind was for the minute totally deprived of\nlight at the same time no obscuration was apparent\nfrom without.\nTroy stretched out his hand to pull her her towards him,\nwhen she quickly shrank back. This visible dread of\nhim seemed to irritate Troy, and he seized her arm and\npulled it sharply.\n \nWhether his grasp pinched her, or\nwhether his mere touch was the ccause, was never known,\nbut at the moment of his seizure she writhed, and gave\na quick, low scream.\nThe scream had been heard but a few seconds When\nit was followed by sudden deafening report that\nechoed through the room and stupefied them all. The\noak partition shook with the concussion, and the place\nwas filled with grey smoke.\nIn bewilderment they turned their eyes to Boldwood.\nat his back, as stood before the fireplace, was a gun+\nrack, as is usual in farmhouses, constructed to hold two\nguns. When Bathsheba had cried out in her husband's\ngrasp, Boldwood's face of gnashing despair had changed.\nThe veins had swollen, and a frenzied look had gleamed\nin his eye. He had turned quickly, taken one of the\nguns, cocked it, and at once discharged it at Troy.\nTroy fell. The distance apart of the two men was\nso small that the charge of shot did not spread in the\nleast, but passed like a bullet into his body. He uttered\na long guttural sigh -- there was a contraction -- an exten+\nsion -- then his muscles relaxed, and he lay still.\nBoldwood was seen through the smoke to be now\nagain engaged with the gun. It was double-barrelled,\nand he had, meanwhile, in some way fastened his hand+\nkerchief to the trigger, and with his foot on the other\nend was in the act of turning the second barrel upon\nhimself. Samway his man was the first to see this, and\nin the midst of the general horror darted up to him.\nBoldwood had already twitched the handkerchief, and\nthe gun exploded a second time, sending its contents,\nby a timely blow from Samway, into the beam which\ncrossed the ceiling.\n\"Well, it makes no difference!' Boldwood gasped.\n\"There is another way for me to die.'\nThen he broke from Samway, crossed the room to\nBathsheba, and kissed her hand. He put on his hat,\nopened the door, and went into the darkness, nobody\nthinking of preventing him.\n \nAFTER THE SHOCK\nBOLDWOOD passed into the high road and turned\nin the direction of Casterbridge. Here he walked at\nan even, steady pace over Yalbury Hill, along the dead\nlevel beyond, mounted Mellstock Hill, and between\neleven and twelve o'clock crossed the Moor into the town.\nThe streets were nearly deserted now, and the waving\nlamp-flames only lighted up rows of grey shop-shutters,\nand strips of white paving upon which his step echoed\nas his passed along. He turned to the right, and halted\nbefore an archway of heavy stonework, which was closed\nby an iron studded pair of doors. This was the entrance\nto the gaol, and over it a lamp was fixed, the light en+\nabling the wretched traveller to find a belipull.\nThe small wicket at last opened, and a porter\nappeared. Boldwood stepped forward, and said some+\nthing in a low tone, when, after a delay, another man\ncame. Boldwood entered, and the door was closed\nbehind him, and he walked the world no more.\nLong before this time Weatherbury had been\nthoroughly aroused, and the wild deed which had ter+\nminated Boldwood's merrymaking became known to\nall. Of those out of the house Oak was one of the\nfirst to hear of the catastophe, and when he entered\nthe room, which was about five minutes after Boldwood's\nexit, the scene was terrible. All the female guests were\nhuddled aghast against the walls like sheep in a storm,\nand the men were bewildered as to what to do. As for\nBathsheba, she had changed. She was sitting on the\nfloor beside the body of Troy, his head pillowed in her\nlap, where she had herself lifted it. With one hand she\nheld her handkerchief to his breast and covered the\nwound, though scarcely a single drop of blood had\nflowed, and with the other she tightly clasped one of\nhis. The household convulsion had made her herself\nagain. The\n \ntemporary coma had ceased, and activity\nhad come with the necessity for it. Deeds of endur+\nance, which seem ordinary in philosophy, are rare in\nconduct, and Bathsheba was astonishing all around her\nnow, for her philosophy was her conduct, and she\nseldom thought practicable what she did not practise.\nShe was of the stuff of which great men's mothers\nare made. She was indispensable to high generation,\nhated at tea parties, feared in shops, and loved at crises.\nTroy recumbent in his wife's lap formed now the sole\nspectacle in the middle of the spacious room.\n\"Gabriel,' she said, automatically, when he entered,\nturning up a face of which only the weliknown lines\nremained to tell him it was hers, all else in the picture\nhaving faded quite. \"Ride to Casterbridge instantly\nfor a surgeon. It is, I believe, useless, but go. Mr.\nBoldwood has shot my husband.'\nHer statement of the fact in such quiet and simple\nwords came with more force than a tragic declamation,\nand had somewhat the effect of setting the distorted\nimages in each mind present into proper focus. Oak,\nalmost before he had comprehended anything beyond\nthe briefest abstract of the event, hurried out of the\nroom, saddled a horse and rode away. Not till he had\nridden more than a mile did it occur to him that he\nwould have done better by sending some other man\non this errand, remaining himself in the house. What\nhad become of Boldwood? He should have been\nlooked after. Was he mad -- had there been a quarrel?\nThen how had Troy got there? Where had he come\nfrom? How did this remarkable reappearance effect\nitself when he was supposed by many to be at the\nbottom of the sea? Oak had in some slight measure\nbeen prepared for the presence of Troy by hearing a\nrumour of his return just before entering Boldwood's\nhouse ; but before he had weighed that information, this\nfatal event had been superimposed. However, it was too\nlate now to think of sending another messenger, and\nhe rode on, in the excitement of these self-inquiries\nnot discerning, when about three miles from Caster+\nbridge, a square-figured pedestrian passing along\nunder the dark hedge in the same direction as his\nown.\nThe miles necessary to be traversed, and other\nhindrances\n \nincidental to the lateness of the hour and\nthe darkness of the night, delayed the arrival of Mr,\nAldritch, the surgeon ; and more than three hours\npassed between the time at which the shot was fired\nand that of his entering the house. Oak was addition+\nally detained in Casterbridge through having to give\nnotice to the authorities of what had happened; and\nhe then found that Boldwood had also entered the\ntown, and delivercd himself up.\nIn the meantime the surgeon, having hastened into\nthe hall at Boldwood's, found it in darkness and quite\ndeserted. He went on to the back of the house,\nwhere he discovered in the kitchen an old man, of\nwhom he made inquiries.\n\"She's had him took away to her own house, sir,'\nsaid his informant.\n\"Who has?' said the doctor.\n\"Mrs. Troy. 'A was quite dead, sir.'\nThis was astonishing information. \"She had no\nright to do that,' said the doctor. \"There will have\nto be an inquest, and she should have waited to know\nwhat to do.'\n\"Yes, sir; it was hinted to her that she had better\nwait till the law was known. But she said law was\nnothing to her, and she wouldn't let her dear husband's\ncorpse bide neglected for folks to stare at for all the\ncrowners in England.'\nMr. Aldritch drove at once back again up the\nhill to Bathsheba's. The first person he met was\npoor Liddy, who seemed literally to have dwindled\nsmaller in these few latter hours. \"What has been\ndone?' he said.\n\"I don't know, sir,' said Liddy, with suspended\nbreath. \"My mistress has done it all.'\n\"Where is she?'\n\" Upstairs with him, sir. When he was brought\nhome and taken upstairs, she said she wanted no\nfurther help from the men. And then she called me,\nand made me fill the bath, and after that told me I\nhad better go and lie down because I looked so ill.\nThen she locked herself into the room alone with him,\nand would not let a nurse come in, or anybody at all.\nBut I thought l'd wait in the next room in case she\nshould want me. I heard her moving about inside\nfor more than an \n \nhour, but she only came out once,\nand that was for more candles, because hers had burnt\ndown into the socket. She said we were to let her\nknow when you or Mr. Thirdly came, sir.'\nOak entered with the parson at this moment, and\nthey all went upstairs together, preceded by Liddy\nSmallbury. Everything was silent as the grave when\nthey paused on the landing. Liddy knocked, and\nBathsheba's dress was heard rustling across the room:\nthe key turned in the lock, and she opened the door.\nHer looks were calm and nearly rigid, like a slightly\nanimated bust of Melpomene.\n\"Oh, Mr. Aldritch, you have come at last,' she\nmurmured from her lips merely, and threw back the\ndoor. \"Ah, and Mr. Thirdly. Well, all is done, and\nanybody in the world may see him now.' She then\npassed by him, crossed the landing, and entered\nanother room.\nLooking into the chamber of death she had vacated\nthey saw by the light of the candles which were on the\ndrawers a tall straight shape lying at the further end\nof the bedroom, wrapped in white. Everything around\nwas quite orderly. The doctor went in, and after a\nfew minutes returned to the landing again, where\nOak and the parson still waited.\n\"It is all done, indeed, as she says,' remarked Mr.\nAldritch, in a subdued voice. \"The body has been\nundressed and properly laid out in grave clothes.\nGracious Heaven -- this mere girl! She must have the\nnerve of a stoic!'\n\"The heart of a wife merely,' floated in a whisper\nabout the ears of the three, and turning they saw\nBathsheba in the midst of them. Then, as if at that\ninstant to prove that her fortitude had been more of\nwill than of spontaneity, she silently sank down between\nthem and was a shapeless heap of drapery on the floor.\nThe simple consciousness that superhuman strain was\nno longer required had at once put a period to her\npower to continue it.\nThey took her away into a further room, and the\nmedical attendance which had been useless in Troy's\ncase was invaluable in Bathsheba's, who fell into a\nseries of fainting-fits that had a serious aspect for a\ntime. The sufferer was got to bed, \n \nand Oak, finding\nfrom the bulletins that nothing really dreadful was to\nbe apprehended on her score, left the house. Liddy\nkept watch in Bathsheba's chamber, where she heard\nher mistress, moaning in whispers through the dull\nslow hours of that wretched night: \"O it is my fault\n -- how can I live! O Heaven, how can I live!'\n \nTHE MARCH FOLLOWING -- \"BATHSHEBA BOLDWOOD'\nWE pass rapidly on into the month of March, to a\nbreezy day without sunshine, frost, or dew. On Yai\nbury Hill, about midway between Weatherbury and\nCasterbridge, where the turnpike road passes over\nthe crest, a numerous concourse of people had\ngathered, the eyes of the greater number being fre+\nquently stretched afar in a northerly direction. The\ngroups consisted of a throng of idlers, a party of\njavelin-men, and two trumpeters, and in the midst\nwere carriages, one of which contained the high\nsheriff. With the idlers, many of whom had mounted\nto the top of a cutting formed for the road, were several\nWeatherbury men and boys -- among others Poorgrass,\nCoggan, and Cain Ball.\nAt the end of half-an-hour a faint dust was seen in\nthe expected quarter, and shortly after a travelling+\ncarriage, bringing one of the two judges on the Western\nCircuit, came up the hill and halted on the top. The\njudge changed carriages whilst a flourish was blown\nby the big-cheeked trumpeters, and a procession being\nformed of the vehicles and javelin-men, they all pro+\nceeded towards the town, excepting the Weatherbury\nmen, who as soon as they had seen the judge move\noff returned home again to their work.\n\" Joseph, I zeed you squeezing close to the carriage,\"\nsaid Coggan, as they walked. \"Did ye notice my lord\njudge's face ?'\n\"I did,' said Poorgrass. \"I looked hard at en, as\nif I would read his very soul; and there was mercy\nin his eyes -- or to speak with the exact truth required\nof us at this solemn time, in the eye that was towards\nme.'\n\"Well, I hope for the best,' said Coggan, though\nbad that must be. However, I shan't go to the trial,\nand I'd advise the rest of ye that bain't wanted to bide\naway. 'Twill disturb his \n \nmind more than anything to\nsee us there staring at him as if he were a show.'\n\" The very thing I said this morning,' observed Joseph,\n\"Justice is come to weigh him in the balances,\" I said\nin my reflectious way, \"and if he's found wanting, so\nbe it unto him,\" and a bystander said \"Hear, hear,\nA man who can talk like that ought to be heard.'\nBut I don't like dwelling upon it, for my few words\nare my few words, and not much; though the speech\nof some men is rumoured abroad as though by nature\nformed for such.'\n\"So 'tis, Joseph. And now, neighbours, as I said,\nevery man bide at home.'\nThe resolution was adhered to ; and all waited\nanxiously for the news next day. Their suspense\nwas diverted, however, by a discovery which was made\nin the afternoon, throwing more light on Boldwood's\nconduct and condition than any details which had\npreceded it.\nThat he had been from the time of Greenhill Fair\nuntil the fatal Christmas Eve in excited and unusual\nmoods was known to those who had been intimate\nwith him; but nobody imagined that there had shown\nin him unequivocal symptoms of the mental derange+\nment which Bathsheha and Oak, alone of all others\nand at different times, had momentarily suspected.\nIn a locked closet was now discovered an extraordinary\ncollection of articles. There were several sets of ladies'\ndresses in the piece, of sundry expensive materials;\nsilks and satins, poplins and velvets, all of colours\nwhich from Bathsheba's style of dress might have been\njudged to be her favourites. There were two muffs,\nsable and ermine. Above all there was a case of\njewellery, containing four heavy gold bracelets and\nseveral lockets and rings, all of fine quality and manu+\nfacture. These things had been bought in Bath and\nother towns from time to time, and brought home by\nstealth. They were all carefully packed in paper, and\neach package was labelled \" Bathsheba Boldwood,' a\ndate being subjoined six years in advance in every\ninstance.\nThese somewhat pathetic evidences of a mind crazed\nwith care and love were the subject of discourse in\n \nWarren's malt-house when Oak entered from Caster+\nbridge with tidings of the kiln glow shone upon\nit, told the tale sufficiently well. Boldwood, as every\none supposed he would do, had pleaded guilty, and\nhad been sentenced to death.\nThe conviction that Boldwood had not been morally\nresponsible for his later acts now becam general. Facts\nelicited previous to the trial had pointed strongly in the\nsame direction, but they had not been of sufficient weight\nto lead to an order for an examination into the state\nof Boldwood's mind. It was astonishing, now that a\npresumption of insanity was raised, how many collateral\ncircumstances were remembered to which a condition\nof mental disease seemed to afford the only explanation\n -- among others, the unprecedented neglect of his corn\nstacks in the previous summer.\nA petition was addressed to the Home Secretary,\nadvancing the circumstances which appeared to justify\na request for a reconsideration of the sentence. It was\nnot \"numerously signed ' by the inhabitants of Caster+\nbridge, as is usual in such cases, for Boldwood had\nnever made many friends over the counter. The shops\nthought it very natural that a man who, by importing\ndirect from the producer, had daringly set aside the\nfirst great principle of provincial existence, namely\nthat God made country villages to supply customers\nto county towns, should have confused ideas about\nthe Decalogue. The prompters were a few merciful\nmen who had perhaps too feelingly considered the\nfacts latterly unearthed, and the result was that evidence\nwas taken which it was hoped might remove the crime\nin a moral point of view, out of the category of wilful\nmurder, and lead it to be regarded as a sheer outcome\nof madness.\nThe upshot of the petition was waited for in Weather+\nbury with solicitous interest. The execution had been\nfixed for eight o'clock on a Saturday morning about a\nfortnight after the sentence was passed, and up to\nFriday afternoon no answer had been recieved. At\nthat time Gabriel came from Casterbridge Gaol, whither\nhe had been to wish Boldwood good-bye, and turned\ndown a by-street to avoid the town. When past the last\n \nhouse he heard a hammering, and lifting his bowed\nhead he looked back for a moment. Over the chimneys\nhe could see the upper part of the gaol entrance, rich\nand glowing in the afternoon sun, and some moving\nfigures were there. They were carpenters lifting a post\ninto a vertical position within the parapet. He with+\ndrew his eyes quickly, and hastened on.\nIt was dark when he reached home, and half the\nvillage was out to meet him.\n\"No tidings,' Gabriel said, wearily. \"And I'm afraid\nthere's no hope. I've been with him more than two\nhours.'\n\"Do ye think he <1really>1 was out of his mind when he\ndid it?' said Smallbury.\n\" I can't honestly say that I do,' Oak replied. \" How+\never, that we can talk of another time. Has there been\nany change in mistress this afternoon?'\n\"None at all.'\n\"Is she downstairs?'\n\"No. And getting on so nicely as she was too.\nShe's but very little better now again than she was at\nChristmas. She keeps on asking if you be come, and\nif there's news, till one's wearied out wi' answering her.\nShall I go and say you've come?'\n\"No,' said Oak. \"There's a chance yet; but I\ncouldn't stay in town any longer -- after seeing him too,\nSo Laban -- Laban is here, isn't he ? '\n\" Yes,' said Tall.\n\"What I've arranged is, that you shall ride to town\nthe last thing to-night ; leave here about nine, and wait\na while there, getting home about twelve. If nothing\nhas been received by eleven to-night, they say there's\nno chance at all.'\n\"I do so hope his life will be spared,' said Liddy.\n\"If it is not, she'll go out of her mind too. Poor thing;\nher sufferings have been dreadful; she deserves any+\nbody's pity.'\n\"Is she altered much ? ' said Coggan.\n\"If you haven't seen poor mistress since Christmas,\nyou wouldn't know her,' said Liddy. \" Her eyes are so\nmiserable that she's not the same woman. Only two\nyears ago she was a romping girl, and now she's this!'\nLaban departed as directed, and at eleven o'clock\nthat night \n \nseveral of the villagers strolled along the\nroad to Casterbridge and awaited his arrivai-among\nthem Oak, and nearly all the rest of Bathsheba's men.\nGabriel's anxiety was great that Boldwood might be\nsaved, even though in his conscience he felt that he\nought to die; for there had been qualities in the farmer\nwhich Oak loved. At last, when they all were weary\nthe tramp of a horse was heard in the distance --\nFirst dead, as if on turf it trode,\nThen, clattering on the village road\nIn other pace than forth he yode.\n'We shall soon know now, one way or other,' said\nCoggan, and they all stepped down from the bank on\nwhich they had been standing into the road, and the\nrider pranced into the midst of them.\n\"Is that you, Laban ? ' said Gabriel.\n\"Yes -- 'tis come. He's not to die. 'Tis confine+\nment during her Majesty's pleasure.'\n\"Hurrah!' said Coggan, with a swelling heart. \"God's\nabove the devil yet!'\n \nBEAUTY IN LONELINESS -- AFTER ALL\nBATHSHEBA revived with the spring. The utter\nprostration that had followed the low fever from which\nshe had sufered diminished perceptibly when all un+\ncertainty upon every subject had come to an end.\nBut she remained alone now for the greater part of\nher time, and stayed in the house, or at furthest went\ninto the garden. She shunned every one, even Liddy,\nand could be brought to make no confidences, and to\nask for no sympathy.\nAs the summer drew on she passed more of her time\nin the open air, and began to examine into farming\nmatters from sheer necessity, though she never rode\nout or personally superintended as at former times.\nOne Friday evening in August she walked a little way\nalong the road and entered the village for the first time\nsince the sombre event of the preceding Christmas.\nNone of the old colour had as yet come to her cheek,\nand its absolute paleness was heightened by the jet black\nof her gown, till it appeared preternatural. When she\nreached a little shop at the other end of the place,\nwhich stood nearly opposite to the churchyard, Bath+\nsheba heard singing inside the church, and she knew\nthat the singers were practising. She crossed the road,\nopened the gate, and entered the graveyard, the high\nsills of the church windows effectually screening her\nfrom the eyes of those gathered within. Her stealthy\nwalk was to the nook wherein Troy had worked at\nplanting flowers upon Fanny Robin's grave, and she\ncame to the marble tombstone.\nA motion of satisfaction enlivened her face as she\nread the complete inscription. First came the words of\nTroy himself: --\n \nERECTED BY FRANCIS TROY\nIN BELOVEO MEMORY OF\nFANNY ROBIN,\nWHO DIED OCTOBER 9, 18 -- ,\nAGED 20 YEARS.\nUnerneath this was now inscribed in new letters: --\nIN THE SAME GRAVE LIE\nTHE REMAINS OF THE AFORESAID\nFRANCIS TROY,\nWHO DIED DECEMBER 24TH, 18 -- ,\nWhilst she stood and read and meditated the tones of\nthe organ began again in the church, and she went\nwith the same light step round to the porch and listened.\nThe door was closed, and the coir was learning a new\nhymn. Bathsheba was stirred by emotions which\nlatterly she had assumed to be altogether dead within\nher. The little attenuated voices of the children\nbrought to her ear in destinct utterance the words they\nsang without thought or comprehension --\nLead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,\nLead Thou me on.\nBathsheba's feeling was always to some extent de+\npendent upon her whim, as is the case with many other\nwomen. Something big came into her throat and an\nuprising to her eyes -- and she thought that she would\nallow the imminent tears to flow if they wished. They\ndid flow and plenteously, and one fell upon the stone\nbench beside her. Once that she had begun to cry for\nshe hardly knew what, she could not leave off for crowd+\ning thoughts she knew too well. She would have given\nanything in the world to be, as those children were, un+\nconcerned at the meaning of their words, because too\ninnocent to feel the necessity for any such expression.\nAll the impassioned scenes of her brief expenence\nseemed to revive with added emotion at that moment,\nand those scenes which had been without emotion\n \nduring enactment had emotion then. Yet grief came\nto her rather as a luxury than as the scourge of former\ntimes.\nOwing to Bathsheba's face being buried in her hands\nshe did not notice a form which came quietly into the\nporch, and on seeing her, first moved as if to retreat,\nthen paused and regarded her. Bathsheba did not raise\nher head for some time, and when she looked round\nher face was wet, and her eyes drowned and dim. \"Mr.\nOak,' exclaimed she, disconcerted, \" how long have you\nbeen here ?'\n\"A few minutes, ma'am,' said Oak, respectfully.\n\"Are you going in?' said Bathsheba; and there came\nfrom within the church as from a prompter --\nl loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,\npride ruled my will: remember not past years.\n\"I was,' said Gabriel. \" I am one of the bass singers,\nyou know. I have sung bass for several months.\n\"Indeed: I wasn't aware of that. I'll leave you, then.'\nWhich I have loved long since, and lost awhile,\nsang the children.\n\"Don't let me drive you away, mistress. I think I\nwon't go in to-night.'\n\"O no -- you don't drive me away.\nThen they stood in a state of some embarrassment\nBathsheba trying to wipe her dreadfully drenched and\ninflamed face without his noticing her. At length Oak\nsaid, I've not seen you-i mean spoken to you -- since\never so long, have I?' But he feared to bring distress+\ning memories back, and interrupted himself with: \"Were\nyou going into church ?'\n\"No,' she said. I came to see the tombstone\nprivately -- to see if they had cut the inscription as I\nwished Mr. Oak, you needn't mind speaking to me, if\nyou wish to, on the matter which is in both our minds\nat this moment.'\n\"And have they done it as you wished ?' said Oak.\n\"Yes. Come and see it, if you have not already.'\nSo together they went and read the tomb. \"Eight\nmonths \n \nago!' Gabriel murmured when he saw the date.\n'It seems like yesterday to me.'\nAnd to me as if it were years ago-iong years, and\nI had been dead between. And now I am going home,\nMr. Oak.'\nOak walked after her. 'I wanted to name a small\nmatter to you as soon as I could,' he said, with hesitation.\n\"Merrly about business, and I think I may just mention it\nnow, if you'll allow me.'\n\" O yes, certainly.'\nIt is that I may soon have to give up the manage+\nment of your farm, Mrs. Troy. The fact is, I am think+\ning of leaving England -- not yet, you know -- next\nspring. '\n\"Leaving England!' she said, in surprise and\ngenuine disappointment.' Why, Gabriel, what are you\ngoing to do that for?'\n\"Well, I've thought it best,' Oak stammered out.\n\"California is the spot I've had in my mind to try.'\n\"But it is understood everywhere that you are going\nto take poor Mr. Boldwood's farm on your own account.'\n\"I've had the refusal o' it 'tis true; but nothing is\nsettled yet, and I have reasons for gieing up. I shall\nfinish out my year there as manager for the trustees,\nbut no more.'\n\"And what shall I do without you? Oh, Gabriel, I\ndon't think you ought to go away. You've been with\nme so long -- through bright times and dark times -- such\nold friends that as we are -- that it seems unkind almost. I\nhad fancied that if you leased the other farm as master,\nyou might still give a helping look across at mine. And\nnow going away!'\n\"I would have willingly.'\n\" Yet now that I am more helpless than ever you go\naway!'\n\"Yes, that's the ill fortune o' it,' said Gabriel, in a\ndistressed tone. \"And it is because of that very help+\nlessness that I feel bound to go. Good afternoon,\nma'am ' he concluded, in evident anxiety to get\naway, and at once went out of the churchyard by a\npath she could follow on no pretence whatever.\nBathsheba went home, her mind occupied with a\nnew trouble, which being rather harassing than deadly\nwas calculated to do good by diverting her from the\nchronic gloom of \n \nher life. She was set thinking a great\ndeal about Oak and of his wich to shun her; and there\noccurred to Bathsheba several incidents of latter in+\ntercourse with him, which, trivial when singly viewed\namounted together to a perceptible disinclination for\nher society. It broke upon her at length as a great\npain that her last old disciple was about to forsake her\nand flee. He who had believed in her and argued on\nher side when all the rest of the world was against her,\nhad at last like the others become weary and neglectful\nof the old cause, and was leaving her to fight her battles\nalone.\nThree weeks went on, and more evidence of his\nwant of interest in her was forthcoming. She noticed\nthat instead of entering the small parlour or office\nwhere the farm accounts were kept, and waiting, or\nleaving a memorandum as he had hitherto done during\nher seclusion, Oak never came at all when she was likely\nto be there, only entering at unseasonable hours when\nher presence in that part of the house was least to be\nexpected. Whenever he wanted directions he sent a\nmessage, or note with neither heading nor signature, to\nwhich she was obliged to reply in the same off-hand\nstyle. Poor Bathsheba began to suffer now from the\nmost torturing sting of ali-a sensation that she was\ndespised.\nThe autumn wore away gloomily enough amid these\nmelancholy conjectures, and Christmas-day came, com+\npleting a year of her legal widowhood, and two years\nand a quarter of her life alone. On examining her\nheart it appeared beyond measure strange that the sub+\nject of which the season might have been supposed\nsuggestive -- the event in the hall at Boldwood's -- was\nnot agitating her at all; but instead, an agonizing con+\nviction that everybody abjured her -- for what she could\nnot teli-and that Oak was the ringleader of the\nrecusants. Coming out of church that day she looked\nround in hope that Oak, whose bass voice she had\nheard rolling out from the gallery overhead in a most\nunconcerned manner, might chance to linger in her path\nin the old way. There he was, as usual, coming down\nthe path behind her. But on seeing Bathsheba turn, he\nlooked aside, and as soon as he got beyond the gate,\n \nand there was the barest excuse for a divergence, he\nmade one, and vanished.\nThe next morning brought the culminating stroke;\nshe had been expecting it long. It was a formal notice\nby letter from him that he should not renew his engage+\nment with her for the following Lady-day.\nBathsheba actually sat and cried over this letter most\nbitterly. She was aggrieved and wounded that the\npossession of hopeless love from Gabriel, which she had\nAFTER ALL\ngrown to regard as her inalienable right for life, should\nhave been withdrawn just at his own pleasure in this\nway. She was bewildered too by the prospect of having\nto rely on her own resources again: it seemed to herself\nthat she never could again acquire energy sufficient to\ngo to market, barter, and sell. Since Troy's death Oak\nhad attended all sales and fairs for her, transacting her\nbusiness at the same time with his own. What should\nshe do now? Her life was becoming a desolation.\nSo desolate was Bathsheba this evening, that in an\nabsolute hunger for pity and sympathy, and miserable in\nthat she appeared to have outlived the only true friend+\nship she had ever owned, she put on her bonnet and\ncloak and went down to Oak's house just after sunset,\nguided on her way by the pale primrose rays of a\ncrescent moon a few days old.\nA lively firelight shone from the window, but nobody\nwas visible in the room. She tapped nervously, and\nthen thought it doubtful if it were right for a single\nwoman to call upon a bachelor who lived alone, although\nhe was her manager, and she might be supposed to call\non business without any real impropriety. Gabriel\nopened the door, and the moon shone upon his fore+\nhaad.\n\"Mr. Oak,' said Bathsheba, faintly.\n\"Yes; I am Mr. Oak,' said Gabriel. \"Who have I\nthe honour -- O how stupid of me, not to know you,\nmistress!'\n\"I shall not be your mistress much longer, shall I\nGabriel?' she said, in pathetic tones.\n\"Well, no. I suppose -- But come in, ma'am. Oh --\nand I'll get a light,' Oak replied, with some awkwardness.\n \n\"No; not on my account.'\n\"It is so seldom that I get a lady visitor that I'm\nafraid I haven't proper accommodation. Will you sit\ndown, please ? Here's a chair, and there's one, too.\nI am sorry that my chairs all have wood scats, and are\nrather hard, but i-was thinging of getting some new\nones.' Oak placed two or three for her.\n\"They are quite easy enough for me.'\nSo down she sat, and down sat he, the fire dancing\nin their faces, and upon the old furniture\nall a-sheenen\nWi' long years o' handlen,\nthat formed Oak's array of household possessions, which\nsent back a dancing reflection in reply. It was very\nodd to these two persons, who knew each other passing\nwell, that the mere circumstance of their meeting in a\nnew place and in a new way should make them so\nawkward and constrained. In the fields, or at her house,\nthere had never been any embarrassment; but now that\nOak had become the entertainer their lives seemed to be\nmoved back again to the days when they were strangers.\n\"You'll think it strange that I have come, but -- -'\n\"O no; not at all.'\n\"But I thought -- Gabriel, I have been uneasy in the\nbelief that I have offended you, and that you are going\naway on that account. It grieved me very much and\nI couldn't help coming.'\n\"Offended me! As if you could do that, Bathsheba!'\n\"Haven't I?' she asked, gladly. \" But, what are you\ngoing away for else?'\n\"I am not going to emigrate, you know; I wasn't\naware that you would wish me not to when I told 'ee or I\nshouldn't ha' thought of doing it,' he said, simply. \"I\nhave arranged for Little Weatherbury Farm and shall\nhave it in my own hands at Lady-day. You know I've\nhad a share in it for some time. Still, that wouldn't\nprevent my attending to your business as before, hadn't\nit been that things have been said about us.'\n \n\"What?' said Bathsheba, in surprise. \"Things said\nabout you and me! What are they?'\n\"I cannot tell you.'\n\"It would be wiser if you were to, I think. You have\nplayed the part of mentor to me many times, and I don't\nsee why you should fear to do it now.'\n\"It is nothing that you have done, this time. The\ntop and tail o't is this -- that I am sniffing about here,\nand waiting for poor Boldwood's farm, with a thought\nof getting you some day.'\n\"Getting me! What does that mean?'\n\"Marrying o' 'ee, in plain British. You asked me to\ntell, so you mustn't blame me.'\nBathsheba did not look quite so alarmed as if a\ncannon had been discharged by her ear, which was what\nOak had expected. \"Marrying me! I didn't know it\nwas that you meant,' she said, quietly. \"Such a thing\nas that is too absurd -- too soon -- to think of, by far!'\n\"Yes; of course, it is too absurd. I don't desire any\nsuch thing; I should think that was plain enough by\nthis time. Surely, surely you be the last person in the\nworld I think of marrying. It is too absurd, as you say\n\"\"Too -- s-s-soon\" were the words I used.'\n\"I must beg your pardon for correcting you, but you\nsaid, \"\"too absurd,\"' and so do I.'\n\"I beg your pardon too! she returned, with tears\nin her eyes. \"\"\"Too soon\"' was what I said. But it\ndoesn't matter a bit -- not at ali-but I only meant,\n\"\"too soon\"' Indeed, I didn't, Mr. Oak, and you must\nbelieve me!'\nGabriel looked her long in the face, but the firelight\nbeing faint there was not much to be seen. \" Bathsheba,'\nhe said, tenderly and in surprise, and coming closer:\n\"if I only knew one thing -- whether you would allow me\nto love you and win you, and marry you after ali-if I\nonly knew that!'\n\"But you never will know,' she murmured.\n\"Why?'\n\"Because you never ask.\n\"Oh -- Oh!' said Gabriel, with a low laugh of joyous+\nness. \"My own dear -- -'\n \n\"You ought not to have sent me that harsh letter\nthis morning,' she interrupted. \"It shows you didn't\ncare a bit about me, and were ready to desert me like\nall the rest of them! It was very cruel of you, consider+\ning I was the first sweetheart that you ever had, and\nyou were the first I ever had; and I shall not forget it!'\n\"Now, Bathsheba, was ever anybody so provoking\nhe said, laughing. \" You know it was purely that I, as\nan unmarried man, carrying on a business for you as a\nvery taking young woman, had a proper hard part to\nplay -- more particular that people knew I had a sort\nof feeling for'ee; and I fancied, from the way we were\nmentioned together, that it might injure your good name.\nNobody knows the heat and fret I have been caused\nby it.'\n\"And was that all?'\n\"All.'\n\"Oh, how glad I am I came!' she exclaimed, thank+\nfully, as she rose from her seat. \"I have thought so\nmuch more of you since I fancied you did not want\neven to see me again. But I must be going now, or I\nshall be missed. Why Gabriel,' she said, with a slight\nlaugh, as they went to the door, \"it seems exactly as if\nI had come courting you -- how dreadful!'\n\"And quite right too,' said Oak. \"I've danced at\nyour skittish heels, my beautiful Bathsheba, for many a\nlong mile, and many a long day; and it is hard to be+\ngrudge me this one visit.'\nHe accompanied her up the hill, explaining to her\nthe details of his forthcoming tenure of the other farm.\nThey spoke very little of their mutual feeling; pretty\nphrases and warm expressions being probably un+\nnecessary between such tried friends. Theirs was that\nsubstantial affection which arises (if any arises at all)\nwhen the two who are thrown together begin first by\nknowing the rougher sides of each other's character,\nand not the best till further on, the romance growing\nup in the interstices of a mass of hard prosaic reality.\nThis good-fellowship -- <1camaraderie>1 -- usually occurring\nthrough similarity of pursuits, is unfortunately seldom\nsuperadded to love between the sexes, because men and\nwomen associate, not in their lahours, but in their\npleasures merely. Where, however, happy circumstance\n \npermits its development, the compounded feeling proves\nitself to be the only love which is strong as death -- that\nlove which many waters cannot quench, nor the floods\ndrown, beside which the passion usually called by the\nname is evanescent as steam.\n \nA FOGGY NIGHT AND MORNING -- CONCLUSION\n\"THE most private, secret, plaines wedding that it is\npossible to have.'\nThose had been Bathsheba's words to Oak one\nevening, some time after the event of the preceding\nchapter, and he meditated a full hour by the clock upon\nhow to carry out her wishes to the letter.\n\"A licence -- O yes, it must be a licence,' he said\nto himself at last. \"Very well, then; first, a license.'\nOn a dark night, a few days later, Oak came with\nmysterious steps from the surrogate's door, in Caster+\nbridge. On the way home he heard a heavy tread in\nfront of him, and, overtaking the man, found him to be\nCoggan. They walked together into the village until\nthey came to a little lane behind the church, leading\ndown to the cottage of Laban Tall, who had lately been\ninstalled as clerk of the parish, and was yet in mortal\nterror at church on Sundays when he heard his lone\nvoice among certain hard words of the Psalms, whither\nno man ventured to follow him.\n\"Well, good-night, Coggan,' said Oak, \"I'm going\ndown this way.'\n\"Oh!' said Coggan, surprised; \"what's going on to+\nnight then, make so bold Mr. Oak?'\nIt seemed rather ungenerous not to tell Coggan,\nunder the circumstances, for Coggan had been true as\nsteel all through the time of Gabriel's unhappiness about\nBathsheba, and Gabriel said, \" You can keep a secret,\nCoggan?'\n\"You've proved me, and you know.'\n\"Yes, I have, and I do know. Well, then, mistress\nand I mean to get married to-morrow morning.'\n\"Heaven's high tower! And yet I've thought of\nsuch a thing \n \nfrom time to time; true, I have. But\nkeeping it so close! Well, there, 'tis no consarn of\namine, and I wish 'ee joy o' her.'\n\"Thank you, Coggan. But I assure 'ee that this\ngreat hush is not what I wished for at all, or what\neither of us would have wished if it hadn't been for\ncertain things that would make a gay wedding seem\nhardly the thing. Bathsheba has a great wish that all\nthe parish shall not be in church, looking at her -- she's\nshyiike and nervous about it, in fact -- so I be doing\nthis to humour her.'\n\"Ay, I see: quite right, too, I suppose I must say.\nAnd you be now going down to the clerk.'\n\"Yes; you may as well come with me.'\n\"I am afeard your labour in keeping it close will be\nthrowed away,' said Coggan, as they walked along.\n\"Labe Tall's old woman will horn it all over parish in\nhalf-an-hour. '\n\"So she will, upon my life; I never thought of\nthat,' said Oak, pausing. \"Yet I must tell him to+\nnight, I suppose, for he's working so far off, and leaves\nearly.'\n\"I'll tell 'ee how we could tackle her,' said Coggan.\n\"I'll knock and ask to speak to Laban outside the door,\nyou standing in the background. Then he'll come out,\nand you can tell yer tale. She'll never guess what I\nwant en for; and I'll make up a few words about the\nfarm-work, as a blind.'\nThis scheme was considered feasible; and Coggan\nadvanced boldly, and rapped at Mrs. Tall's door. Mrs.\nTall herself opened it.\n\"I wanted to have a word with Laban.'\n\"He's not at home, and won't be this side of eleven\no'clock. He've been forced to go over to Yalbury since\nshutting out work. I shall do quite as well.'\n\"I hardly think you will. Stop a moment;' and\nCoggan stepped round the corner of the porch to consult\nOak.\n\"Who's t'other man, then?' said Mrs. Tall.\n\"Only a friend,' said Coggan.\n\"Say he's wanted to meet mistress near church-hatch\nto-morrow morning at ten,' said Oak, in a whisper.\n\"That he must come without fail, and wear his best\nclothes.'\n \n\"The clothes will floor us as safe as houses!' said\nCoggan.\n\"It can't be helped said Oak. \"Tell her.'\nSo Coggan delivered the message. \"Mind, het or\nwet, blow or snow, he must come, added Jan. \"'Tis\nvery particular, indeed. The fact is, 'tis to witness her\nsign some law-work about taking shares wi' another\nfarmer for a long span o' years. There, that's what 'tis,\nand now I've told 'ee, Mother Tall, in a way I shouldn't\nha' done if I hadn't loved 'ee so hopeless well.'\nCoggan retired before she could ask any further;\nand next they called at the vicar's in a manner which\nexcited no curiosity at all. Then Gabriel went home,\nand prepared for the morrow.\n\"Liddy,' said Bathsheba, on going to bed that night,\n\"I want you to call me at seven o'clock to-morrow, In\ncase I shouldn't wake.'\n\"But you always do wake afore then, ma'am.'\n\"Yes, but I have something important to do, which\nI'll tell you of when the time comes, and it's best to\nmake sure.'\nCONCLUSION\nBathsheba, however, awoke voluntarily at four, nor\ncould she by any contrivance get to sleep again. About\nsix, being quite positive that her watch had stopped\nduring the night, she could wait no longer. She went\nand tapped at Liddy's door, and after some labour awoke\nher.\n\"But I thought it was I who had to call you?' said\nthe bewildered Liddy. \"And it isn't six yet.'\n\"Indeed it is; how can you tell such a story, Liddy?\nI know it must be ever so much past seven. Come to\nmy room as soon as you can; I want you to give my\nhair a good brushing.'\nWhen Liddy came to Bathsheba's room her mistress\nwas already waiting. Liddy could not understand\nthis extraordinary promptness. \" Whatever <1is>1 going on,\nma'am?' she said.\n\"Well, I'll tell you,' said Bathsheba, with a mischiev+\nous smile in her bright eyes. \"Farmer Oak is coming\nhere to dine with me to-day!'\n\"Farmer Oak -- and nobody else ? -- you two alone?'\n\"Yes.'\n \n\"But is it safe, ma'am, after what's been said?' asked\nher companion, dubiously. \"A woman's good name is\nsuch a perishable article that -- -- '\nBathsheba laughed with a flushed cheek, and\nwhispered in Liddy's ear, although there was nobody\npresent. Then Liddy stared and exclaimcd, \" Souls\nalive, what news! It makes my heart go quite\nbumpity-bump\"\n\"It makes mine rather furious, too,' said Bathsheba.\n\"However, there's no getting out of it now!'\nIt was a damp disagreeable morning. Nevertheless,\nat twenty minutes to ten o'clock, Oak came out of his\nhouse, and\nWent up the hill side\nWith that sort of stride\nA man puts out when walking in search of a bride,\nand knocked Bathsheba's door. Ten minutes later\na large and a smaller umbrella might have been seen\nmoving from the same door, and through the mist along\nthe road to the church. The distance was not more\nthan a quarter of a mile, and these two sensible persons\ndeemed it unnecessary to drive. An observer must have\nbeen very close indeed to discover that the forms under\nthe umbrellas were those of Oak and Bathsheba, arm-in+\narm for the first time in their lives, Oak in a greatcoat\nextending to his knees, and Bathsheba in a cloak that\nreached her clogs. Yet, though so plainly dressed\nthere was a certain rejuvenated appearance about her : --\n As though a rose should shut and be a bud again.\nRepose had again incarnadined her cheeks; and having,\nat Gabriel's request, arranged her hair this morning as\nshe had worn it years ago on Norcombe Hill, she seemed\nin his eyes remarkably like a girl of that fascinating\ndream, which, considering that she was now only three\nor four-and-twenty, was perhaps not very wonderful. In\nthe church were Tall, Liddy, and the parson, and in a\nremarkably short space of time the deed was done.\nThe two sat down very quietly to tea in Bathsheba's\nparlour in the evening of the same day, for it had been\narranged that \n \nFarmer Oak should go there to live, since\nhe had as yet neither money, house, nor furniture worthy\nof the name, though he was on a sure way towards them,\nwhilst Bathsheba was, comparatively, in a plethora of all\nthree.\nJust as Bathsheba was pouring out a cup of tea,\ntheir ears were greeted by the firing of a cannon,\nfollowed by what seemed like a tremendous blowing of\ntrumpets, in the front of the house.\n\"There!' said Oak, laughing, \"I knew those fellows\nwere up to something, by the look on their face; '\nOak took up the light and went into the porch,\nfollowed by Bathsheba with a shawl over her head. The\nrays fell upon a group of male figures gathered upon the\ngravel in front, who, when they saw the newly-married\ncouple in the porch, set up a loud \"Hurrah!' and at\nthe same moment bang again went the cannon in the\nbackground, followed by a hideous clang of music from\na drum, tambourine, clarionet, serpent, hautboy, tenor+\nviol, and double-bass -- the only remaining relics of the\ntrue and original Weatherbury band -- venerable worm+\neaten instruments, which had celebrated in their own\npersons the victories of Marlhorough, under the fingers\nof the forefathers of those who played them now. The\nperformers came forward, and marched up to the\nfront.\n\"Those bright boys, Mark Clark and Jan, are at the\nbottom of all this,' said Oak. \" Come in, souls, and\nhave something to eat and drink wi' me and my wife.'\n\"Not to-night,' said Mr. Clark, with evident self+\ndenial. \"Thank ye all the same; but we'll call at a\nmore seemly time. However, we couldn't think of\nletting the day pass without a note of admiration of\nsome sort. If ye could send a drop of som'at down to\nWarren's, why so it is. Here's long life and happiness\nto neighbour Oak and his comely bride!'\n\"Thank ye; thank ye all,' said Gabriel. \"A bit and\na drop shall be sent to Warren's for ye at once. I had\na thought that we might very likely get a salute of some\nsort from our old friends, and I was saying so to my\nwife but now.'\n\"Faith,' said Coggan, in a critical tone, turning to his\ncompanions, \"the man hev learnt to say \"\"my wife\"'\nin a wonderful \n \nnaterel way, considering how very youth+\nful he is in wedlock as yet -- hey, neighbours all?'\n\"I never heerd a skilful old married feller of twenty\nyears' standing pipe \"\"my wife\"' in a more used note\nthan 'a did,' said Jacob Smallbury. \"It might have been\na little more true to nater if't had been spoke a little\nchillier, but that wasn't to be expected just now.\n\"That improvement will come wi' time,' said Jan,\ntwirling his eye.\nThen Oak laughed, and Bathsheba smiled (for she\nnever laughed readily now), and their friends turned to\ngo.\n\"Yes; I suppose that's the size o't,' said Joseph\nPoorgrass with a cheerful sigh as they moved away;\n\"and I wish him joy o' her; though I were once or\ntwice upon saying to-day with holy Hosea, in my\nscripture manner, which is my second nature. \"\"Ephraim\nis joined to idols: let him alone.\"' But since 'tis as 'tis\nwhy, it might have been worse, and I feel my thanks\naccordingly.'\nTHE END\n"
},
{
"path": "testdata/calgary/book2",
"content": ".EQ\ndelim $$\n.EN\n.CH \"1 WHY SPEECH OUTPUT?\"\n.ds RT \"Why speech output?\n.ds CX \"Principles of computer speech\n.pp\nSpeech is our everyday, informal, communication medium. But although we use\nit a lot, we probably don't assimilate as much information through our\nears as we do through our eyes, by reading or looking at pictures and diagrams.\nYou go to a technical lecture to get the feel of a subject \\(em the overall\narrangement of ideas and the motivation behind them \\(em and fill in the details,\nif you still want to know them, from a book. You probably find out more about\nthe news from ten minutes with a newspaper than from a ten-minute news broadcast.\nSo it should be emphasized from the start that speech output from computers is\nnot a panacea. It doesn't solve the problems of communicating with computers;\nit simply enriches the possibilities for communication.\n.pp\nWhat, then, are the advantages of speech output? One good reason for listening\nto a radio news broadcast instead of spending the time with a newspaper\nis that you can listen while shaving, doing the housework, or driving the car.\nSpeech leaves hands and eyes free for other tasks.\nMoreover, it is omnidirectional, and does not require a free line of sight.\nRelated to this is the\nuse of speech as a secondary medium for status reports and warning messages.\nOccasional interruptions by voice do not interfere with other activities,\nunless they demand unusual concentration, and people can assimilate spoken messages\nand queue them for later action quite easily and naturally.\n.pp\nThe second key feature of speech communication stems from the telephone.\nIt is the universality of the telephone receiver itself that is important\nhere, rather than the existence of a world-wide distribution network;\nfor with special equipment (a modem and a VDU) one does not need speech to take advantage of\nthe telephone network for information transfer.\nBut speech needs no tools other than the telephone, and this gives\nit a substantial advantage. You can go into a phone booth anywhere in the world,\ncarrying no special equipment, and have access to your computer within seconds.\nThe problem of data input is still there: perhaps your computer\nsystem has a limited word recognizer, or you use the touchtone telephone\nkeypad (or a portable calculator-sized tone generator). Easy remote access\nwithout special equipment is a great, and unique, asset to speech communication.\n.pp\nThe third big advantage of speech output is that it is potentially very cheap.\nBeing all-electronic, except for the loudspeaker, speech systems are well\nsuited to high-volume, low-cost, LSI manufacture. Other computer output\ndevices are at present tied either to mechanical moving parts or to the CRT.\nThis was realized quickly by the computer hobbies market, where speech output\nperipherals have been selling like hot cakes since the mid 1970's.\n.pp\nA further point in favour of speech is that it is natural-seeming and\nsomehow cuddly when compared with printers or VDU's. It would have been much\nmore difficult to make this point before the advent of talking toys like\nTexas Instruments' \"Speak 'n Spell\" in 1978, but now it is an accepted fact that friendly\ncomputer-based gadgets can speak \\(em there are talking pocket-watches\nthat really do \"tell\" the time, talking microwave ovens, talking pinball machines, and,\nof course, talking calculators.\nIt is, however, difficult to assess whether the appeal stems from\nmechanical speech's novelty \\(em it\nis still a gimmick \\(em and also to what extent it is tied up with\neconomic factors.\nAfter all, most of the population don't use high-quality VDU's, and their major\nexperience of real-time interactive computing is through the very limited displays\nand keypads provided on video games and teletext systems.\n.pp\nArticles on speech communication with computers often list many more advantages of voice output\n(see Hill 1971, Turn 1974, Lea 1980).\n.[\nHill 1971 Man-machine interaction using speech\n.]\n.[\nLea 1980\n.]\n.[\nTurn 1974 Speech as a man-computer communication channel\n.]\nFor example, speech\n.LB\n.NP\ncan be used in the dark\n.NP\ncan be varied from a (confidential) whisper to a (loud) shout\n.NP\nrequires very little energy\n.NP\nis not appreciably affected by weightlessness or vibration.\n.LE\nHowever, these either derive from the three advantages we have discussed above,\nor relate\nmainly to exotic applications in space modules and divers' helmets.\n.pp\nUseful as it is at present, speech output would be even more attractive if it could\nbe coupled with speech input. In many ways, speech input is its \"big brother\".\nMany of the benefits of speech output are even more striking for speech input.\nAlthough people can assimilate information faster through the eyes than the\nears, the majority of us can generate information faster with the mouth than\nwith the hands. Rapid typing is a relatively uncommon skill, and even high\ntyping rates are much slower than speaking rates (although whether we can\noriginate ideas quickly enough to keep up with fast speech is another matter!) To\ntake full advantage of the telephone for interaction with machines, machine\nrecognition of speech is obviously necessary. A microwave oven, calculator,\npinball machine, or alarm clock that responds to spoken commands is certainly\nmore attractive than one that just generates spoken status messages. A book\nthat told you how to recognize speech by machine would undoubtedly be more\nuseful than one like this that just discusses how to synthesize it! But the\ntechnology of speech recognition is nowhere near as advanced as that of\nsynthesis \\(em it's a much more difficult problem. However, because speech input\nis obviously complementary to speech output, and even very limited input\ncapabilities will greatly enhance many speech output systems, it is worth\nsummarizing the present state of the art of speech recognition.\n.pp\nCommercial speech recognizers do exist. Almost invariably, they accept\nwords spoken in isolation, with gaps of silence between them, rather than\nconnected utterances.\nIt is not difficult to discriminate with high accuracy up to a hundred\ndifferent words spoken by the same speaker, especially if the vocabulary\nis carefully selected to avoid words which sound similar. If several\ndifferent speakers are to be comprehended, performance can be greatly improved\nif the machine is given an opportunity to calibrate their voices in a training\nsession, and is informed at recognition time which one is to speak.\nWith a large population of unknown speakers, accurate recognition is difficult\nfor vocabularies of more than a few carefully-chosen words.\n.pp\nA half-way house between isolated word discrimination and recognition of connected\nspeech is the problem of spotting known words in continuous speech. This\nallows much more natural input, if the dialogue is structured as keywords\nwhich may be\ninterspersed by unimportant \"noise words\". To speak in truly isolated\nwords requires a great deal of self-discipline and concentration \\(em it is\nsurprising how much of ordinary speech is accounted for by vague sounds\nlike um's and aah's, and false starts. Word spotting disregards these and so\npermits a more relaxed style of speech. Some progress has been made on it in\nresearch laboratories, but the vocabularies that can be accomodated are still\nvery small.\n.pp\nThe difficulty of recognizing connected speech depends crucially on what is\nknown in advance about the dialogue: its pragmatic, semantic, and syntactic\nconstraints. Highly structured dialogues constrain very heavily the choice of\nthe next word. Recognizers which can deal with vocabularies of over 1000 words\nhave been built in research laboratories, but the structure of the input has\nbeen such that the average \"branching factor\" \\(em the size of the set out of\nwhich the next word must be selected \\(em is only around 10 (Lea, 1980).\n.[\nLea 1980\n.]\nWhether such\nhighly constrained languages would be acceptable in many practical applications\nis a moot point. One commercial recognizer, developed in 1978, can cope with\nup to five words spoken continuously from a basic 120-word vocabulary.\n.pp\nThere has been much debate about whether it will ever be possible for a speech\nrecognizer to step outside rigid constraints imposed on the utterances it can\nunderstand, and act, say, as an automatic dictation machine. Certainly the most\nadvanced recognizers to date depend very strongly on a tight context being\navailable. Informed opinion seems to accept that in ten years' time,\nvoice data entry in the office will be an important and economically feasible\nprospect, but that it would be rash to predict the appearance of unconstrained\nautomatic dictation by then.\n.pp\nLet's return now to speech output and take a look at some systems which use it,\nto illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of speech in practical\napplications.\n.sh \"1.1 Talking calculator\"\n.pp\nFigure 1.1 shows a calculator that speaks.\n.FC \"Figure 1.1\"\nWhenever a key is pressed,\nthe device confirms the action by saying the key's name.\nThe result of any computation is also spoken aloud.\nFor most people, the addition of speech output to a calculator is simply a\ngimmick.\n(Note incidentally that speech\n.ul\ninput\nis a different matter altogether. The ability to dictate lists of numbers and\ncommands to a calculator, without lifting one's eyes from the page, would have\nvery great advantages over keypad input.) Used-car\nsalesmen find that speech output sometimes helps to clinch a deal: they key in\nthe basic car price and their bargain-basement deductions, and the customer is so\nbemused by the resulting price being spoken aloud to him by a machine that he\nsigns the cheque without thinking! More seriously, there may be some small\nadvantage to be gained when keying a list of figures by touch from having their\nvalues read back for confirmation. For blind people, however, such devices\nare a boon \\(em and there are many other applications, like talking elevators\nand talking clocks, which benefit from even very restricted voice output.\nMuch more sophisticated is a typewriter with audio feedback, designed by\nIBM for the blind. Although blind typists can remember where the keys on a\ntypewriter are without difficulty, they rely on sighted proof-readers to help\ncheck\ntheir work. This device could make them more useful as office typists and\nsecretaries. As well as verbalizing the material (including punctuation)\nthat has been typed, either by attempting to pronounce the words or by spelling\nthem out as individual letters, it prompts the user through the more complex action sequences\nthat are possible on the typewriter.\n.pp\nThe vocabulary of the talking calculator comprises the 24 words of Table 1.1.\n.RF\n.nr x1 2.0i+\\w'percent'u\n.nr x1 (\\n(.l-\\n(x1)/2\n.in \\n(x1u\n.ta 2.0i\nzero\tpercent\none\tlow\ntwo\tover\nthree\troot\nfour\tem (m)\nfive\ttimes\nsix\tpoint\nseven\toverflow\neight\tminus\nnine\tplus\ntimes-minus\tclear\nequals\tswap\n.ta 0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i\n.in 0\n.FG \"Table 1.1 Vocabulary of a talking calculator\"\nThis represents a total of about 13 seconds of speech. It is stored\nelectronically in read-only memory (ROM), and Figure 1.2 shows the circuitry\nof the speech module inside the calculator.\n.FC \"Figure 1.2\"\nThere are three large integrated circuits.\nTwo of them are ROMs, and the other is a special synthesis chip which decodes the\nhighly compressed stored data into an audio waveform.\nAlthough the mechanisms used for storing speech by commercial devices are\nnot widely advertised by the manufacturers, the talking calculator almost\ncertainly uses linear predictive coding \\(em a technique that we will examine\nin Chapter 6.\nThe speech quality is very poor because of the highly compressed storage, and\nwords are spoken in a grating monotone.\nHowever, because of the very small vocabulary, the quality is certainly good\nenough for reliable identification.\n.sh \"1.2 Computer-generated wiring instructions\"\n.pp\nI mentioned earlier that one big advantage of speech over visual output is that\nit leaves the eyes free for other tasks.\nWhen wiring telephone equipment during manufacture, the operator needs to use\nhis hands as well as eyes to keep his place in the task.\nFor some time tape-recorded instructions have been used for this in certain\nmanufacturing plants. For example, the instruction\n.LB\n.NI\nRed 2.5 11A terminal strip 7A tube socket\n.LE\ndirects the operator to cut 2.5\" of red wire, attach one end to a specified point\non the terminal strip, and attach the other to a pin of the tube socket. The\ntape recorder is fitted with a pedal switch to allow a sequence of such instructions\nto be executed by the operator at his own pace.\n.pp\nThe usual way of recording the instruction tape is to have a human reader\ndictate them from a printed list.\nThe tape is then checked against the list by another listener to ensure that\nthe instructions are correct. Since wiring lists are usually stored and\nmaintained in machine-readable form, it is natural to consider whether speech\nsynthesis techniques could be used to generate the acoustic tape directly by\na computer (Flanagan\n.ul\net al,\n1972).\n.[\nFlanagan Rabiner Schafer Denman 1972\n.]\n.pp\nTable 1.2 shows the vocabulary needed for this application.\n.RF\n.nr x1 2.0i+2.0i+\\w'tube socket'u\n.nr x1 (\\n(.l-\\n(x1)/2\n.in \\n(x1u\n.ta 2.0i +2.0i\nA\tgreen\tseventeen\nblack\tleft\tsix\nbottom\tlower\tsixteen\nbreak\tmake\tstrip\nC\tnine\tten\ncapacitor\tnineteen\tterminal\neight\tone\tthirteen\neighteen\tP\tthirty\neleven\tpoint\tthree\nfifteen\tR\ttop\nfifty\tred\ttube socket\nfive\trepeat coil\ttwelve\nforty\tresistor\ttwenty\nfour\tright\ttwo\nfourteen\tseven\tupper\n.ta 0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i\n.in 0\n.FG \"Table 1.2 Vocabulary needed for computer-generated wiring instructions\"\nIt is rather larger\nthan that of the talking calculator \\(em about 25 seconds of speech \\(em but well\nwithin the limits of single-chip storage in ROM, compressed by the linear\npredictive technique. However, at the time that the scheme was investigated\n(1970\\-71) the method of linear predictive coding had not been fully developed,\nand the technology for low-cost microcircuit implementation was not available.\nBut this is not important for this particular application, for there is\nno need to perform the synthesis on a miniature low-cost computer system,\nnor need it\nbe accomplished in real time. In fact a technique of concatenating\nspectrally-encoded words was used (described in Chapter 7), and it was\nimplemented on a minicomputer. Operating much slower than real-time, the system\ncalculated the speech waveform and wrote it to disk storage. A subsequent phase\nread the pre-computed messages and recorded them on a computer-controlled analogue\ntape recorder.\n.pp\nInformal evaluation showed the scheme to be quite successful. Indeed, the\nsynthetic speech, whose quality was not high, was actually preferred to\nnatural speech in the noisy environment of the production line, for each\ninstruction was spoken in the same format, with the same programmed pause\nbetween the items.\nA list of 58 instructions of the form shown above was recorded and used\nto wire several pieces of apparatus without errors.\n.sh \"1.3 Telephone enquiry service\"\n.pp\nThe computer-generated wiring scheme illustrates how speech can be used to give\ninstructions without diverting visual attention from the task at hand.\nThe next system we examine shows how speech output can make the telephone\nreceiver into a remote computer terminal for a variety of purposes\n(Witten and Madams, 1977).\n.[\nWitten Madams 1977 Telephone Enquiry Service\n.]\nThe caller employs the touch-tone keypad shown in Figure 1.3 for input, and the\ncomputer generates\na synthetic voice response.\n.FC \"Figure 1.3\"\nTable 1.3 shows the process of making\ncontact with the system.\n.RF\n.fi\n.nh\n.na\n.in 0.3i\n.nr x0 \\w'COMPUTER: '\n.nr x1 \\w'CALLER: '\n.in+\\n(x0u\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' Dials the service.\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: Answers telephone.\n\"Hello, Telephone Enquiry Service. Please\nenter your user number\".\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' Enters user number.\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: \"Please enter your password\".\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' Enters password.\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: Checks validity of password.\nIf invalid, the user is asked to re-enter\nhis user number.\nOtherwise,\n\"Which service do you require?\"\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' Enters service number.\n.in 0\n.nf\n.FG \"Table 1.3 Making contact with the telephone enquiry system\"\n.pp\nAdvantage is taken of the disparate speeds of input (keyboard) and\noutput (speech) to hasten the dialogue by imposing a question-answer structure\non it, with the computer taking the initiative. The machine can\nafford to be slightly verbose if by so doing it makes the caller's\nresponse easier, and therefore more rapid. Moreover, operators who\nare experienced enough with the system to anticipate questions can\neasily forestall them just by typing ahead, for the computer is programmed\nto examine its input buffer before issuing prompts and to suppress them if\ninput has already been provided.\n.pp\nAn important aim of the system is to allow application programmers with no\nspecial knowledge of speech to write independent services for it.\nTable 1.4 shows an example of the use of one such application program,\n.RF\n.fi\n.nh\n.na\n.in 0.3i\n.nr x0 \\w'COMPUTER: '\n.nr x1 \\w'CALLER: '\n.in+\\n(x0u\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: \"Stores Information Service. Please enter\ncomponent name\".\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' Enters \"SN7406#\".\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: \"The component name is SN7406. Is this correct?\"\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' Enters \"*1#\" (system convention for \"yes\").\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: \"This component is in stores\".\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' Enters \"*7#\" (command for \"price\").\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: \"The component price is 35 pence\".\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' Enters \"*8#\" (command for \"minimum number\").\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: \"The minimum number of this component kept\nin stores is 10\".\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' Enters \"SN7417#\".\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: \"The component name is SN7417. Is this correct?\"\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' Enters \"*1#\".\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: \"This component is not in stores\".\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' Enters \"*9#\" (command for \"delivery time\").\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: \"The expected delivery time is 14 days\".\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' Enters \"*0#\".\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: \"Which service do you require?\"\n.in 0\n.nf\n.FG \"Table 1.4 The Stores Information Service\"\nthe\nStores Information Service, which permits enquiries to be made of a database\nholding information on electronic components kept in stock.\nThis subsystem is driven by\n.ul\nalphanumeric\ndata entered on the touch-tone keypad. Two or three letters are associated\nwith each digit, in a manner which is fairly standard in touch-tone telephone\napplications. These are printed on a card overlay\nthat fits the keypad (see Figure 1.3). Although true alphanumeric data entry\nwould require a multiple key press for each character,\nthe ambiguity inherent in\na single-key-per-character convention can usually be resolved by the computer,\nif it has a list of permissible entries. For example, the component names\nSN7406 and ZTX300 are read by the machine as \"767406\" and \"189300\", respectively.\nConfusion rarely occurs if the machine is expecting a valid component code.\nThe same holds true of people's names, and file names \\(em although with these\none must take care not to identify a series of files by similar names, like\nTX38A, TX38B, TX38C. It is easy for the machine to detect the rare cases\nwhere ambiguity occurs, and respond by requesting further information: \"The\ncomponent name is SN7406. Is this correct?\" (In fact, the Stores Information\nService illustrated in Table 1.4 is defective in that it\n.ul\nalways\nrequests confirmation of an entry, even when no ambiguity exists.) The\nuse of a telephone keypad for data entry will be taken up again in Chapter 10.\n.pp\nA distinction is drawn throughout the system between data entries and\ncommands, the latter being prefixed by a \"*\". In this example, the\nprogrammer chose to define a command for each possible question about a\ncomponent, so that a new component name can be entered at any time\nwithout ambiguity. The price paid for the resulting brevity of dialogue\nis the burden of memorizing the meaning of the commands. This is an\ninherent disadvantage of a one-dimensional auditory display over the\nmore conventional graphical output: presenting menus by speech is tedious and\nlong-winded. In practice, however, for a simple task such as the\nStores Information Service it is quite convenient for the caller to\nsearch for the appropriate command by trying out all possibilities \\(em there\nare only a few.\n.pp\nThe problem of memorizing commands is alleviated by establishing some\nsystem-wide conventions. Each input is terminated by a \"#\", and\nthe meaning of standard commands is given in Table 1.5.\n.RF\n.fi\n.nh\n.na\n.in 0.3i\n.nr x0 \\w'# alone '\n.nr x1 \\w'\\(em '\n.ta \\n(x0u +\\n(x1u\n.nr x2 \\n(x0+\\n(x1\n.in+\\n(x2u\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n*#\t\\(em\tErase this input line, regardless of what has\nbeen typed before the \"*\".\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n*0#\t\\(em\tStop. Used to exit from any service.\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n*1#\t\\(em\tYes.\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n*2#\t\\(em\tNo.\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n*3#\t\\(em\tRepeat question or summarize state of current\ntransaction.\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n# alone\t\\(em\tShort form of repeat. Repeats or summarizes\nin an abbreviated fashion.\n.ta 0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i\n.in 0\n.nf\n.FG \"Table 1.5 System-wide conventions for the service\"\n.pp\nA summary of services available on the system is given in\nTable 1.6.\n.RF\n.fi\n.na\n.in 0.3i\n.nr x0 \\w'000 '\n.nr x1 \\w'\\(em '\n.nr x2 \\n(x0+\\n(x1\n.in+\\n(x2u\n.ta \\n(x0u +\\n(x1u\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n\\0\\01\t\\(em\ttells the time\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n\\0\\02\t\\(em\tBiffo (a game of NIM)\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n\\0\\03\t\\(em\tMOO (a game similar to that marketed under the name \"Mastermind\")\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n\\0\\04\t\\(em\terror demonstration\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n\\0\\05\t\\(em\tspeak a file in phonetic format\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n\\0\\06\t\\(em\tlistening test\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n\\0\\07\t\\(em\tmusic (allows you to enter a tune and play it)\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n\\0\\08\t\\(em\tgives the date\n.sp\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n100\t\\(em\tsquash ladder\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n101\t\\(em\tstores information service\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n102\t\\(em\tcomputes means and standard deviations\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n103\t\\(em\ttelephone directory\n.sp\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n411\t\\(em\tuser information\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n412\t\\(em\tchange password\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n413\t\\(em\tgripe (permits feedback on services from caller)\n.sp\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n600\t\\(em\tfirst year laboratory marks entering service\n.sp\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n910\t\\(em\trepeat utterance (allows testing of system)\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n911\t\\(em\tspeak utterance (allows testing of system)\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n912\t\\(em\tenable/disable user 100 (a no-password guest user number)\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n913\t\\(em\tmount a magnetic tape on the computer\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n914\t\\(em\tset/reset demonstration mode (prohibits access by low-priority users)\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n915\t\\(em\tinhibit games\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n916\t\\(em\tinhibit the MOO game\n.ti-\\n(x2u\n917\t\\(em\tdisable password checking when users log in\n.ta 0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i\n.in 0\n.nf\n.FG \"Table 1.6 Summary of services on a telephone enquiry system\"\nThey range from simple games and demonstrations, through serious database\nservices, to system maintenance facilities.\nA priority structure is imposed upon them, with higher\nservice numbers being available only to higher priority users.\nServices in the lowest range (1\\-99) can be obtained by all, while\nthose in the highest range (900\\-999) are maintenance services,\navailable only to the system designers. Access to the lower-numbered\n\"games\" services can be inhibited by a priority user \\(em this was\nfound necessary to prevent over-use of the system! Another advantage\nof telephone access to an information retrieval system is that some\nday-to-day maintenance can be done remotely, from the office telephone.\n.pp\nThis telephone enquiry service, which was built in 1974, demonstrated that\nspeech synthesis had moved from a specialist phonetic discipline into the\nprovince of engineering practicability. The speech was generated \"by rule\"\nfrom a phonetic input (the method is covered in Chapters 7 and 8), which\nhas very low data storage requirements of around 75\\ bit/s of speech.\nThus an enormous vocabulary and range of services could be accomodated on a\nsmall computer system.\nDespite the fairly low quality of the speech, the response from callers was\nmost encouraging. Admittedly the user population was a self-selected body of\nUniversity staff, which one might suppose to have high tolerance to new ideas,\nand a system designed for the general public would require more effort to be\nspent on developing speech of greater intelligibility. Although it was\nobserved that some callers failed to understand parts of the responses, even\nafter repetition, communication was largely unhindered in most cases; users\nbeing driven by a high motivation to help the system help them.\n.pp\nThe use of speech output in conjunction with a simple input device requires\ncareful thought for interaction to be successful and comfortable. It is\nnecessary that the computer direct the conversation as much as possible,\nwithout seeming to be taking charge. Provision for eliminating prompts\nwhich are unwanted by sophisticated users is essential to avoid frustration.\nWe will return to the topic of programming techniques for speech interaction\nin Chapter 10.\n.pp\nMaking a computer system available over the telephone results in a sudden\nvast increase in the user population. Although people's reaction to a new\ncomputer terminal in every office was overwhelmingly favourable, careful\nresource allocation was essential to prevent the service being hogged by a\npersistent few. As with all multi-access computer systems, it is particularly\nimportant that error recovery is effected automatically and gracefully.\n.sh \"1.4 Speech output in the telephone exchange\"\n.pp\nThe telephone enquiry service was an experimental vehicle for research on speech\ninteraction, and was developed in 1974.\nSince then, speech has begun to be used in real commercial applications.\nOne example is System\\ X, the British Post Office's computer-controlled\ntelephone exchange. This incorporates many features\nnot found in conventional telephone exchanges.\nFor example, if a number is found to be busy, the call can be attempted\nagain by a \"repeat last call\" command, without having to re-dial the full number.\nAlternatively, the last number can be stored for future re-dialling, freeing\nthe phone for other calls.\n\"Short code\ndialling\" allows a customer to associate short codes with commonly-dialled\nnumbers.\nAlarm calls can be booked at specified times, and are made automatically\nwithout human intervention.\nIncoming calls can be barred, as can outgoing ones. A diversion service\nallows all incoming calls to be diverted to another telephone, either\nimmediately, or if a call to the original number remains unanswered for\na specified period of time, or if the original number is busy.\nThree-party calls can be set up automatically, without involving the\noperator.\n.pp\nMaking use of these facilities presents the caller with something of a problem.\nWith conventional telephone exchanges, feedback is provided on what is happening\nto a call by the use of four tones \\(em the dial tone, the busy tone,\nthe ringing tone, and the number unavailable tone.\nFor the more sophisticated interaction which is expected on the advanced\nexchange, a much greater variety of status signals is required.\nThe obvious solution is to use\ncomputer-generated spoken\nmessages to inform the caller when these services are invoked, and to guide him\nthrough the sequences of actions needed to set up facilities like call\nre-direction. For example, the messages used by the exchange when a user\naccesses the alarm call\nservice are\n.LB\n.NI\nAlarm call service.\nDial the time of your alarm call followed by square\\u\\(dg\\d.\n.FN 1\n\\(dg\\d\"Square\" is the term used for the \"#\" key on the touch-tone telephone.\\u\n.EF\n.NI\nYou have booked an alarm call for seven thirty hours.\n.NI\nAlarm call operator. At the third stroke it will be seven thirty.\n.LE\n.pp\nBecause of the rather small vocabulary, the number of messages that can be\nstored in their entirety rather than being formed by concatenation of\nsmaller units, and the short time which was available for development,\nSystem\\ X stores speech as a time waveform, slightly compressed by a time-domain\nencoding operation (such techniques are described in Chapter 3).\nUtterances which contain variable parts, like the time of alarm in the messages\nabove, are formed by inserting separately-recorded digits in a fixed \n\"carrier\" message. No attempt is made to apply uniform intonation\ncontours to the synthetic utterances. The resulting speech is of excellent\nquality (being a slightly compressed recording of a human voice), but sometimes\nexhibits somewhat anomalous pitch contours.\nFor example, the digits comprising numbers often sound rather jerky and\nout-of-context \\(em which indeed they are.\n.pp\nEven more advanced facilities can be expected on telephone exchanges in\nthe future. A message storage capability is one example. Although\nautomatic call recording machines have been available for years, a centralized\nfacility could time and date a message, collect the caller's identity\n(using the telephone keypad), and allow the recipient to select messages left\nfor him through an interactive dialogue so that he could control the order\nin which he listens to them. He could choose to leave certain messages to be\ndealt with later, or re-route them to a colleague. He may even wish to leave\nreminders for himself, to be dialled automatically at specified times (like\nalarm calls with user-defined information attached). The sender of a message\ncould be informed automatically by the system when it is delivered. None of\nthis requires speech recognition, but it does need economical speech\n.ul\nstorage,\nand also speech\n.ul\nsynthesis\n(for time and date tags).\n.sh \"1.5 Travel consultant\"\n.pp\nSome current research in speech communication with computers is aimed at\nembedding the dialogue in a task environment which provides it with an overall\ncontextual framework.\nThis in fact was the motivation for the experimental telephone enquiry service\ndescribed above, and it was observed that people are able to tolerate rather\nlow quality speech if they feel that the interaction is worthwhile. One step\nfurther is the use of speech\n.ul\ninput\nas well as output, and here the context of the conversation which is provided\nby the task environment can be used to improve recognition accuracy\nsignificantly.\nA system set up at Bell Telephone Laboratories indicates what we can expect\nto find operating commercially in the future (Levinson and Shipley, 1980).\n.[\nLevinson Shipley 1980\n.]\nIt provides timetable information about airline flights, and allows the user\nto make reservations.\n.pp\nAn example dialogue is given in Table 1.7.\n.RF\n.fi\n.nh\n.na\n.in 0.3i\n.nr x0 \\w'COMPUTER: '\n.nr x1 \\w'CALLER: '\n.in+\\n(x0u\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: This is the Bell Laboratories flight information system. May I help you?\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' I would like to go to Chicago.\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: Please specify the day of your departure.\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' I want to leave at four p.m..\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: Please specify the day of your departure.\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' I want to depart on the two five May.\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: Flight number nine two leaves New York at four p.m. arrives in Chicago at five twenty five p.m..\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' What plane is on the flight?\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: The aircraft is a Boeing seven twenty seven.\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' How much is the fare?\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: The round trip coach fare is one hundred forty two dollars.\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' I want a first class seat.\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: One seat thank you.\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' What is the fare?\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: The round trip first class fare is one hundred eighty four dollars.\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' Please repeat the arrival time.\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: The arrival time is five twenty five p.m..\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCALLER:\\h'\\n(x0u-\\n(x1u' I will take the flight.\n.ti-\\n(x0u\nCOMPUTER: Your reservation on flight number nine two to Chicago on Friday is confirmed. Thank you.\n.in 0\n.nf\n.MT 2\nTable 1.7 A conversation with an airline flight information service\n(from Levinson and Shipley, 1980)\n.TE\n.[\nLevinson Shipley 1980\n.]\nThe user dials the system from an\nordinary telephone. The recognition side must be trained by each user, and\naccepts isolated words spoken with brief pauses between them.\nThe voice response unit has a vocabulary of around 200 words, and\nsynthesizes its answers by slotting words into \"templates\" evoked by the speech\nunderstanding part in response to a query. For example,\n.LB\n.NI\nThis flight makes \\(em stops\n.NI\nFlight number \\(em leaves \\(em at \\(em , arrives in \\(em at \\(em\n.LE\nare templates which when called with specific slot fillers could produce the\nutterances\n.LB\n.NI\nThis flight makes three stops\n.NI\nFlight number nine two leaves New York at four p.m.,\narrives in Chicago at five twenty-five p.m.\n.LE\nThe chief research interest of the system is in its speech understanding\ncapabilities, and the method used for speech output is relatively\nstraightforward. The templates and words are recorded, digitized, compressed\nslightly, and stored on disk files (totalling a few hundred thousand bytes of\nstorage), using techniques similar to those of System\\ X.\nAgain, no independent manipulation of pitch is possible, and so the utterances\nsound intelligible but the transition between templates and slot fillers is not\ncompletely fluent. However, the overall context of the interaction means that\nthe communication is not seriously disrupted even if the machine occasionally\nmisunderstands the man or vice versa. The user's attention is drawn away from\nrecognition accuracy and focussed on the exchange of information with the machine.\nThe authors conclude that progress in speech recognition can best be made by\nstudying it in the context of communication rather than in a vacuum or as part\nof a one-way channel, and the same is undoubtedly true of speech synthesis as\nwell.\n.sh \"1.6 Reading machine for the blind\"\n.pp\nPerhaps the most advanced attempt to provide speech output from a computer\nis the Kurzweil reading machine for the blind, first marketed in the late\n1970's (Figure 1.4).\n.FC \"Figure 1.4\"\nThis device reads an ordinary book aloud. Users adjust the reading\nspeed according to the content of the material and their familiarity with\nit, and the maximum rate has recently been improved to around 225 words per\nminute \\(em perhaps half as fast again as normal human speech rates.\n.pp\nAs well as generating speech from text, the machine has to scan the document\nbeing read and identify the characters presented to it. A scanning camera\nis used, controlled by a program which searches for and tracks the lines of\ntext. The output of the camera is digitized, and the image is enhanced\nusing signal-processing techniques. Next each individual letter must be\nisolated, and its geometric features identified and compared with a pre-stored\ntable of letter shapes. Isolation of letters is not at all trivial, for\nmany type fonts have \"ligatures\" which are combinations of characters joined\ntogether (for example, the letters \"fi\" are often run together.) The\nmachine must cope with many printed type fonts, as well as typewritten ones.\nThe text-recognition side of the Kurzweil reading machine is in fact one of\nits most advanced features.\n.pp\nWe will discuss the problem of speech generation from text in Chapter 9.\nIt has many facets. First there is pronunciation, the\ntranslation of letters to sounds. It is important to take into account\nthe morphological structure of words, dividing them into \"root\" and \"endings\".\nMany words have concatenated suffixes (like \"like-li-ness\"). These are\nimportant to detect, because a final \"e\" which appears on a root word\nis not pronounced itself but affects the pronunciation of the previous\nvowel. Then there is the difficulty that some words look the same\nbut are pronounced differently, depending on their meaning or on the syntactic\npart that they play in the sentence.\nAppropriate intonation is extremely difficult to generate from a plain textual\nrepresentation, for it depends on the meaning of the text and the way in which\nemphasis is given to it by the reader. Similarly the rhythmic structure is\nimportant, partly for correct pronunciation and partly for purposes of\nemphasis.\nFinally the sounds that have been deduced from the text need to be synthesized\ninto acoustic form, taking due account of the many and varied contextual effects\nthat occur in natural speech. This by itself is a challenging problem.\n.pp\nThe performance of the Kurzweil reading machine is not good. While it seems\nto be true that some blind people can make use of it, it is far from\ncomprehensible to an untrained listener. For example,\nit will miss out words and even whole phrases, hesitate in a\nstuttering manner, blatantly mis-pronounce many words, fail to detect\n\"e\"s which should be silent, and give completely wrong rhythms\nto words, making them impossible to understand.\nIts intonation is decidedly unnatural, monotonous, and often downright\nmisleading. When it reads completely new text to people unfamiliar with its\nquirks,\nthey invariably fail to understand more than an odd word here and there,\nand do not improve significantly when the text is repeated more than once.\nNaturally performance improves if the material is familiar or expected\nin some way.\nOne useful feature is the machine's ability to spell out difficult words\non command from the user.\n.pp\nWhile not wishing to denigrate the Kurzweil machine, which is a remarkable\nachievement in that it integrates together many different advanced\ntechnologies, there is no doubt that the state of the art in speech synthesis\ndirectly from unadorned text is extremely primitive, at present.\nIt is vital not to overemphasize the potential usefulness of abysmal speech,\nwhich takes a great deal of training on the part of the user before\nit becomes at all intelligible. To make a rather extreme analogy,\nMorse code could be used as\naudio output, requiring a great deal of training, but capable of being understood\nat quite high rates by an expert.\nIt could be generated very cheaply.\nBut clearly the man in the street would find it quite unacceptable as\nan audio output medium, because of the excessive effort required to learn to use\nit. In many applications, very bad synthetic speech is just as useless.\nHowever, the issue is complicated by the fact that for people who use\nsynthesizers regularly, synthetic speech becomes quite easily comprehensible.\nWe will return to the problem of evaluating the quality of artificial speech\nlater in the book (Chapter 8).\n.sh \"1.7 System considerations for speech output\"\n.pp\nFortunately, very many of the applications of speech output from computers\ndo not need to read unadorned text.\nIn all the example systems described above (except the reading machine),\nit is enough to be able to store utterances in some representation which can\ninclude pre-programmed cues for pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation in\na much more explicit way than ordinary text does.\n.pp\nOf course, techniques\nfor storing audio information have been in use for decades.\nFor example, a domestic cassette tape recorder stores speech at much better\nthan telephone quality at very low cost. The method of direct\nrecording of an analogue waveform is currently used for announcements in\nthe telephone network to provide information such as the time, weather\nforecasts, and even bedtime stories.\nHowever, it is difficult to provide rapid access to messages stored in\nanalogue form, and although some computer peripherals which use analogue\nrecordings for voice-response applications have been marketed \\(em they are\ndiscussed briefly at the beginning of Chapter 3 \\(em they have been\nsuperseded by digital storage techniques.\n.pp\nAlthough direct storage of a digitized audio waveform is used in some\nvoice-response systems, the approach has certain limitations. The most\nobvious one is the large storage requirement: suitable coding can reduce\nthe data-rate of speech to as little as one hundredth of that needed by\ndirect digitization, and textual representations reduce it by another factor\nof ten or twenty. (Of course, the speech quality is inevitably compromised\nsomewhat by data-compression techniques.) However, the cost of storage is\ndropping so fast that this is not necessarily an overriding factor.\nA more fundamental limitation is that utterances stored directly cannot sensibly\nbe modified in any way to take account of differing contexts.\n.pp\nIf the results of certain kinds of analyses\nof utterances are stored, instead of simply the digitized waveform,\na great deal more flexibility can be gained.\nIt is possible to separate out the features of intonation and amplitude from\nthe articulation of the speech, and this raises the attractive possibility\nof regenerating utterances with pitch contours different from those with which they were\nrecorded.\nThe primary analysis technique used for this purpose is\n.ul\nlinear prediction\nof speech, and this is treated in some detail in Chapter 6. It also reduces drastically the\ndata-rate of speech, by a factor of around 50.\nIt is likely that many voice-response systems in the short- and medium-term\nfuture will use linear predictive representations for utterance storage.\n.pp\nFor maximum flexibility, however, it is preferable to store a textual\nrepresentation of the utterance.\nThere is an important distinction between speech\n.ul\nstorage,\nwhere an actual human utterance is recorded, perhaps processed to lower\nthe data-rate, and stored for subsequent regeneration when required,\nand speech\n.ul\nsynthesis,\nwhere the machine produces its own individual utterances which are not based\non recordings of a person saying the same thing. The difference is summarized\nin Figure 1.5.\n.FC \"Figure 1.5\"\nIn both cases something is stored: for the first it is\na direct representation of an actual human utterance, while for the second\nit is a typed\n.ul\ndescription\nof the utterance in terms of the sounds, or phonemes, which constitute it.\nThe accent and tone of voice of the human speaker will be apparent in\nthe stored speech output, while for synthetic speech the accent is the\nmachine's and the tone of voice is determined by the synthesis program.\n.pp\nProbably the most attractive representation of utterances in man-machine\nsystems is ordinary English text, as used by the Kurzweil reading machine.\nBut, as noted above, this poses extraordinarily difficult problems for the\nsynthesis procedure, and these inevitably result in severely degraded speech.\nAlthough in the very long term these problems may indeed be solved,\nmost speech output systems can adopt as their representation of an utterance\na description of it which explicitly conveys the difficult features of\nintonation, rhythm, and even pronunciation.\nIn the kind of applications described above (barring the reading machine),\ninput will be prepared by a\nprogrammer as he builds the software system which supports the interactive\ndialogue.\nAlthough it is important that the method of specifying utterances be easily\nlearned, it is not necessary that plain English\nis used. It should be simple for the programmer to enter new\nutterances and modify them on-line in cut-and-try attempts to render the\nman-machine dialogue as natural as possible. A phonetic input\ncan be quite adequate for this, especially if the system allows the\nprogrammer to hear immediately the synthesized version of the message\nhe types. Furthermore, markers which indicate rhythm and intonation can\nbe added to the message so that the system does not have to deduce these features\nby attempting to \"understand\" the plain text.\n.pp\nThis brings us to another disadvantage of speech storage as compared with\nspeech synthesis. To provide utterances for a voice response system using\nstored human speech, one must assemble together special input hardware,\na quiet room, and (probably) a dedicated computer. If the speech is to be\nheavily encoded, either expensive special hardware is required or the encoding\nprocess, if performed by software on a general-purpose computer, will take\na considerable length of time (perhaps hundreds of times real-time). In\neither case, time-consuming editing of the speech will be necessary, with\nfollow-up recordings to clarify sections of speech which turn out to be\nunsuitable or badly recorded. If at a later date the voice response\nsystem needs modification, it will be necessary to recall the same speaker,\nor re-record the entire utterance set. This discourages the application\nprogrammer from adjusting his dialogue in the light of experience.\nSynthesizing from a textual representation, on the other hand, allows him\nto change a speech prompt as simply as he could a VDU one, and evaluate\nits effect immediately.\n.pp\nWe will return to methods of digitizing and compacting speech in Chapters 3\nand 4, and carry on to consider speech synthesis in subsequent chapters.\nFirstly, however, it is necessary to take a look at what speech is and how\npeople produce it.\n.sh \"1.8 References\"\n.LB \"nnnn\"\n.[\n$LIST$\n.]\n.LE \"nnnn\"\n.sh \"1.9 Further reading\"\n.pp\nThere are remarkably few general books on speech output, although a\nsubstantial specialist literature exists for the subject.\nIn addition to the references listed above, I suggest that you look\nat the following.\n.LB \"nn\"\n.\\\"Ainsworth-1976-1\n.]-\n.ds [A Ainsworth, W.A.\n.ds [D 1976\n.ds [T Mechanisms of speech recognition\n.ds [I Pergamon\n.nr [T 0\n.nr [A 1\n.nr [O 0\n.][ 2 book\n.in+2n\nA nice, easy-going introduction to speech recognition, this book covers\nthe acoustic structure of the speech signal in a way which makes\nit useful as background reading for speech synthesis as well.\nIt complements Lea, 1980, cited above; which presents more recent results\nin greater depth.\n.in-2n\n.\\\"Flanagan-1973-2\n.]-\n.ds [A Flanagan, J.L.\n.as [A \" and Rabiner, L.R. (Editors)\n.ds [D 1973\n.ds [T Speech synthesis\n.ds [I Wiley\n.nr [T 0\n.nr [A 0\n.nr [O 0\n.][ 2 book\n.in+2n\nThis is a collection of previously-published research papers on speech\nsynthesis, rather than a unified book.\nIt contains many of the classic papers on the subject from 1940\\ -\\ 1972,\nand is a very useful reference work.\n.in-2n\n.\\\"LeBoss-1980-3\n.]-\n.ds [A LeBoss, B.\n.ds [D 1980\n.ds [K *\n.ds [T Speech I/O is making itself heard\n.ds [J Electronics\n.ds [O May\\ 22\n.ds [P 95-105\n.nr [P 1\n.nr [T 0\n.nr [A 1\n.nr [O 0\n.][ 1 journal-article\n.in+2n\nThe magazine\n.ul\nElectronics\nis an excellent source of up-to-the-minute news, product announcements,\ntitbits, and rumours in the commercial speech technology world.\nThis particular article discusses the projected size of the voice\noutput market and gives a brief synopsis of the activities of several\ninterested companies.\n.in-2n\n.\\\"Witten-1980-5\n.]-\n.ds [A Witten, I.H.\n.ds [D 1980\n.ds [T Communicating with microcomputers\n.ds [I Academic Press\n.ds [C London\n.nr [T 0\n.nr [A 1\n.nr [O 0\n.][ 2 book\n.in+2n\nA recent book on microcomputer technology, this is unusual in that\nit contains a major section on speech communication\nwith computers (as well as ones\non computer buses, interfaces, and graphics).\n.in-2n\n.LE \"nn\"\n.EQ\ndelim $$\n.EN\n.CH \"2 WHAT IS SPEECH?\"\n.ds RT \"What is speech?\n.ds CX \"Principles of computer speech\n.pp\nPeople speak by using their vocal cords as a sound source, and making rapid\ngestures of the articulatory organs (tongue, lips, jaw, and so on).\nThe resulting changes in shape of the vocal tract allow production\nof the different sounds that we know as the vowels and consonants of\nordinary language.\n.pp\nWhat is it necessary to learn about this process for the purposes of\nspeech output from computers?\nThat depends crucially upon how speech is represented in the system.\nIf utterances are stored as time waveforms \\(em and this is what we will be\ndiscussing in the next chapter \\(em the structure of speech is not important.\nIf frequency-related parameters of particular natural utterances are\nstored, then it is advantageous to take into account some of the\nacoustic properties of the speech waveform.\n.pp\nThis point can be brought into focus by contrasting the transmission\n(or storage) of speech with that of real-life television pictures,\nas has been proposed for a videophone service.\nMassive data reductions, of the order of 50:1, can be achieved for speech,\nusing techniques that are described in later chapters. For pictures,\ndata reduction is still an important issue \\(em even more so for the\nvideophone than for the telephone, because of the vastly higher\ninformation rates involved.\nUnfortunately, the potential for data reduction is much\nsmaller \\(em nothing like the 50:1 figure quoted above.\nThis is because speech sounds have definite characteristics, imparted\nby the fact that they are produced by a human vocal tract, which\ncan be exploited for data reduction.\nTelevision pictures have no equivalent generative structure, for\nthey show just those things that the camera points at.\n.pp\nMoving up from frequency-related parameters of\n.ul\nparticular\nutterances, it\nis possible to store such parameters in a\n.ul\ngeneral\nform which characterizes the sound segments that appear in spoken language.\nThis immediately raises the issue of\n.ul\nclassification\nof sound segments, to form a basis for storing generalized acoustic\ninformation and for retrieval of the information needed to synthesize\nany particular utterance.\nSpeech is by nature continuous, and any synthesis system based upon\ndiscrete classification must come to terms with this by tackling\nthe problems of transition from one segment to another,\nand local modification of sound segments as a function of their context.\n.pp\nThis brings us to another level of representation.\nSo far we have talked of the\n.ul\nacoustic\nnature of speech, but when we have to cope with transitions between\ndiscrete sound segments it may be fruitful to consider\n.ul\narticulatory\nproperties as well.\nAny model of the speech production process\nis in effect a model of the articulatory process that generates the speech.\nSome speech research is concerned with\nmodelling\nthe vocal tract directly, rather than modelling the acoustic output from it.\nOne might specify, for example, position of tongue and posture of jaw and lips\nfor a vowel, instead of giving frequency-related\ncharacteristics of it. This is a potent\ntool in linguistic research, for it brings one closer to human production of\nspeech \\(em in particular to the connection between brain and articulators.\n.pp\nArticulatory\nsynthesis holds a promise of high-quality speech, for the transitional\neffects caused by tongue and jaw inertia can be modelled directly.\nHowever, this potential has\nnot yet been realized.\nSpeech from current articulatory models is of much poorer quality than\nthat from acoustically-based synthesis methods.\nThe major problem is in gaining data about articulatory\nbehaviour during running speech \\(em it is much easier to perform acoustic\nanalysis on the resulting sound than it is to examine the vocal organs in\naction. Because of this, the subject is not treated in this book.\nWe will only look at articulatory properties insofar as they help us\nto understand, in a qualitative way, the acoustic nature of speech.\n.pp\nSpeech, however, is much more than mere articulation.\nConsider \\(em admittedly a rather extreme and chauvinistic example \\(em the\nnumber of ways a girl can say \"yes\".\nBreathy voice, slow tempo, low pitch \\(em these are all characteristics which\naffect the utterance as a whole, rather than being classifiable into\nindividual sound segments. Linguists call them \"prosodic\" or\n\"suprasegmental\" features, for they relate to overall aspects of the\nutterance, and distinguish them from \"segmental\" ones which concern\nthe articulation of individual segments of syllables.\nThe most important prosodic features are pitch, or fundamental frequency\nof the voice, and rhythm.\n.pp\nThis chapter provides a brief introduction to the nature of the speech\nsignal. Depending upon what speech output techniques we use, it may be\nnecessary to understand something of the acoustic nature of the speech\nsignal; the system that generates it (the vocal tract); commonly-used\nclassifications of sound segments; and the prosodic aspects of speech.\nThis material is little used in the early chapters of the book, but\nbecomes increasingly important as the story unfolds.\nHence you may skip the remainder of this chapter if you wish, but\nshould return to it later to pick up more background whenever it\nbecomes necessary.\n.sh \"2.1 The anatomy of speech\"\n.pp\nThe so-called \"voiced\" sounds of speech \\(em like the sound you make when\nyou say \"aaah\" \\(em are produced by passing air up from the lungs through\nthe larynx or voicebox, which is situated just behind the Adam's apple.\nThe vocal tract from the larynx to the lips acts as a resonant cavity,\namplifying certain frequencies and attenuating others.\n.pp\nThe waveform generated by the larynx, however, is not simply sinusoidal.\n(If it were, the vocal tract resonances would merely\ngive a sine wave of the same frequency but amplified or\nattenuated according to how close it was to the nearest resonance.) The\nlarynx contains two folds of skin \\(em the vocal cords \\(em which blow apart and flap\ntogether again in each cycle of the pitch period.\nThe pitch of a male voice in speech varies from as low as 50\\ Hz\n(cycles per second) to perhaps\n250\\ Hz, with a typical median value of 100\\ Hz.\nFor a female voice the range is higher, up to about 500\\ Hz in speech.\nSinging can go much higher: a top C sung by a soprano has a frequency\nof just over 1000\\ Hz, and some opera singers can reach\nsubstantially higher than this.\n.pp\nThe flapping action of the vocal cords\ngives a waveform which can be approximated by a\ntriangular pulse (this and other approximations will be discussed in\nChapter 5).\nIt has a rich spectrum of harmonics,\ndecaying at around 12\\ dB/octave, and each harmonic is affected\nby the vocal tract resonances.\n.rh \"Vocal tract resonances.\"\nA simple model of the vocal tract is an organ-pipe-like cylindrical tube\n(Figure 2.1),\nwith a sound source at one end (the larynx) and open at the other (the lips).\n.FC \"Figure 2.1\"\nThis has resonances at wavelengths $4L$, $4L/3$, $4L/5$, ..., where $L$\nis the length of the tube;\nand these correspond to frequencies $c/4L$, $3c/4L$, $5c/4L$, ...\\ Hz, $c$\nbeing the speed of\nsound in air.\nCalculating these frequencies, using a typical figure for the\ndistance between larynx and lips of 17\\ cm,\nand $c = 340$\\ m/s for the speed of sound, leads to resonances at\napproximately 500\\ Hz, 1500\\ Hz, 2500\\ Hz, ... .\n.pp\nWhen excited by the harmonic-rich waveform of the larynx,\nthe vocal tract resonances produce\npeaks known as\n.ul\nformants\nin the energy spectrum of the speech wave (Figure 2.2).\n.FC \"Figure 2.2\"\nThe lowest formant, called formant one, varies from around 200\\ Hz\nto 1000\\ Hz during speech, the exact range depending on the size\nof the vocal tract.\nFormant two varies from around 500 to 2500\\ Hz, and formant three\nfrom around 1500 to 3500\\ Hz.\n.pp\nYou can easily hear the lowest formant by whispering the vowels in\nthe words \"heed\", \"hid\", \"head\", \"had\", \"hod\", \"hawed\", and \"who'd\".\nThey appear to have a steadily descending pitch, yet since you are\nwhispering there is no fundamental frequency.\nWhat you hear is the lowest resonance of the vocal tract \\(em formant one.\nSome masochistic people can play simple tunes with this formant by putting\ntheir mouth in successive vowel shapes and knocking the top of their head\nwith their knuckles \\(em hard!\n.pp\nA difficulty occurs when trying to identify the lower formants for speakers\nwith high-pitched voices.\nWhen a formant frequency falls below the fundamental excitation frequency\nof the voice, its effect is diminished \\(em although it is still present.\nThe vibrato used by opera singers provides a very low-frequency excitation\n(at the vibrato rate) which helps to illuminate the lower formants even\nwhen the pitch of the voice is very high.\n.pp\nOf course, speech is not a static phenomenon.\nThe organ-pipe model describes the speech spectrum during a continuously\nheld vowel with the mouth in a neutral position such as for \"aaah\".\nBut in real speech the tongue and lips are in continuous motion,\naltering the shape of the vocal tract and hence the positions of the resonances.\nIt is as if the organ-pipe were being squeezed and expanded in\ndifferent places all the time.\nSay\n.ul\nee\nas in \"heed\" and feel how close your tongue is to the roof of your mouth,\ncausing a constriction near the front of the vocal cavity.\n.pp\nLinguists and speech engineers use a special frequency analyser called a\n\"sound spectrograph\" to make a three-dimensional plot of the variation\nof the speech energy spectrum with time.\nFigure 2.3 shows a spectrogram of the\nutterance \"go away\".\n.FC \"Figure 2.3\"\nFrequency is given on the vertical axis,\nand bands are shown at the beginning to indicate the scale.\nTime is plotted horizontally,\nand energy is given by the darkness of any particular area.\nThe lower few formants can be seen as dark bands extending horizontally,\nand they are in continuous motion.\nIn the neutral first vowel of \"away\", the formant frequencies\npass through\napproximately the 500\\ Hz, 1500\\ Hz, and 2500\\ Hz that we calculated earlier.\n(In fact, formants two and three are somewhat lower than these values.)\n.pp\nThe\nfine vertical striations in the spectrogram correspond to single openings of the vocal cords.\nPitch changes continuously throughout an utterance,\nand this can be seen on the spectrogram by the differences in spacing\nof the striations.\nPitch change, or\n.ul\nintonation,\nis singularly important in\nlending naturalness to speech.\n.pp\nOn a spectrogram, a continuously held vowel shows up as a static energy spectrum.\nBut beware \\(em what we call a vowel in everyday language is not the same thing as a\n\"vowel\" in phonetic terms.\nSay \"I\" and feel how the tongue moves continuously while you're speaking.\nTechnically, this is a\n.ul\ndiphthong\nor slide between two vowel positions,\nand not a single vowel.\nIf you say\n.ul\nar\nas in \"hard\",\nand change slowly to\n.ul\nee\nas in \"heed\", you will obtain a diphthong not unlike that in \"I\".\nAnd there are many more phonetically different vowel sounds\nthan the a, e, i, o, and u that we normally think of.\nThe words \"hood\" and \"mood\" have different vowels, for example, as do \"head\" and \"mead\".\nThe principal acoustic difference between the various vowel sounds\nis in the frequencies of the first two formants.\n.pp\nA further complication is introduced by the nasal tract. This is\na large cavity which is coupled to the oral tract by a passage at the\nback of the mouth.\nThe passage is guarded by a flap of skin called the \"velum\".\nYou know about this because inadvertent opening of the velum while\nswallowing causes food or drink to go up your nose.\nThe nasal cavity is switched in and out of the vocal tract\nby the velum during speech.\nIt is used for consonants\n.ul\nm,\n.ul\nn,\nand the\n.ul\nng\nsound in the word\n\"singing\".\nVowels are frequently nasalized too.\nA very effective demonstration of the amount of nasalization in ordinary\nspeech can be obtained by cutting a nose-shaped hole in a large\nbaffle which divides a room, speaking normally with one's nose in the hole,\nand having someone listen on the other side.\nThe frequency of occurrence of\nnasal sounds, and the volume of sound that is emitted\nthrough the nose, are both surprisingly large.\nInterestingly enough, when we say in conversation that someone sounds\n\"nasal\", we usually mean \"non-nasal\". When the nasal passages are\nblocked by a cold, nasal sounds are missing \\(em\n.ul\nn\\c\n\\&'s turn into\n.ul\nd\\c\n\\&'s,\nand\n.ul\nm\\c\n\\&'s to\n.ul\nb\\c\n\\&'s.\n.pp\nWhen the nasal cavity is switched in to the vocal tract, it introduces\nformant resonances, just as the oral cavity does.\nAlthough we cannot\nalter the shape of the nasal tract significantly, the nasal formant\npattern is not fixed, because the oral tract does play a part in nasal\nresonances.\nIf you say\n.ul\nm,\n.ul\nn,\nand\n.ul\nng\ncontinuously, you can hear the difference and feel how it is produced by\naltering the combined nasal/oral tract resonances with your tongue position.\nThe nasal cavity operates in parallel with\nthe oral one: this causes the two resonance patterns to be summed\ntogether, with resulting complications which will be discussed in Chapter 5.\n.rh \"Sound sources.\"\nSpeech involves sounds other than those caused by regular vibration of\nthe larynx.\nWhen you whisper, the folds of the larynx are held slightly\napart so that the air passing between them becomes turbulent, causing a noisy excitation\nof the resonant cavity.\nThe formant peaks are still present, superimposed on the noise. Such\n\"aspirated\" sounds occur in the\n.ul\nh\nof \"hello\", and for a very short time\nafter the lips are opened at the beginning of \"pit\".\n.pp\nConstrictions made in the mouth produce hissy noises such as\n.ul\nss,\n.ul\nsh,\nand\n.ul\nf.\nFor example, in\n.ul\nss\nthe tip of the tongue is high up,\nvery close to the roof of the mouth.\nTurbulent air passing through this constriction causes a\nrandom noise excitation, known as \"frication\".\nActually, the roof of the mouth is quite a complicated object.\nYou can feel with your tongue a bony hump or ridge just behind the front\nteeth, and it is this that forms a constriction with the tongue for\n.ul\ns.\nIn\n.ul\nsh,\nthe tongue is flattened close to the roof of the mouth slightly farther back,\nin a position rather similar to that for\n.ul\nee\nbut with a narrower\nconstriction,\nwhile\n.ul\nf\nis produced with the upper teeth and lower lip.\nBecause they are made near the front of the mouth,\nthe resonances of the vocal tract have little effect on these fricative\nsounds.\n.pp\nTo distinguish them from aspiration and frication, the ordinary speech\nsounds (like \"aaah\") which have their source in larynx vibration are\nknown technically as \"voiced\". Aspirated and fricative sounds are called\n\"unvoiced\". Thus the three different sound types can be classified as\n.LB\n.NP\nvoiced\n.NP\nunvoiced (fricative)\n.NP\nunvoiced (aspirated).\n.LE\nCan any of these three types occur together?\nIt would seem that voicing and aspiration can not, for the former requires\nthe larynx to be vibrating regularly, but for the latter it must be\ngenerating turbulent noise.\nHowever, there is a condition known technically as \"breathy voice\"\nwhich occurs when the vocal cords are slightly apart, still vibrating,\nbut with a large volume of air passing between to create turbulence.\nVoicing can easily occur in conjunction with frication.\nCorresponding to\n.ul\ns,\n.ul\nsh,\nand\n.ul\nf\nwe get the\n.ul\nvoiced\nfricatives\n.ul\nz,\nthe sound in the middle of words like \"vision\" which I will call\n.ul\nzh,\nand\n.ul\nv.\nA simple illustration of voicing is to say \"ffffvvvvffff\\ ...\".\nDuring the voiced part you can feel the larynx vibrations with a finger\non your Adam's apple, and it can be heard quite clearly if you stop up\nyour ears.\nTechnically, there is nothing to prevent frication and aspiration\nfrom occurring together \\(em they do, for example, when a voiced fricative\nis whispered \\(em but the combination is not an important one.\n.pp\nThe complicated acoustic effects of noisy excitations in speech can be\nseen in the spectrogram in Figure 2.4 of\n\"high altitude jets whizz past screaming\".\n.FC \"Figure 2.4\"\n.rh \"The source-filter model of speech production.\"\nWe have been talking in terms of a sound source (be it voiced or unvoiced)\nexciting the resonances of the oral (and possible the nasal) tract.\nThis model, which is used extensively in speech analysis and synthesis,\nis known as\nthe source-filter model of speech production. The reason for its success\nis that the effect of the resonances can be modelled as a frequency-selective\nfilter, operating on an input which is the source excitation.\nThus the frequency spectrum of the source is modified by multiplying it\nby the frequency characteristic of the filter (or adding it, if amplitudes\nare expressed logarithmically).\nThis can be seen in Figure 2.5, which shows a source\nspectrum and filter characteristic which combine to give the overall\nspectrum of Figure 2.2.\n.FC \"Figure 2.5\"\n.pp\nAlthough, as mentioned above, the various fricatives are not subjected\nto the resonances of the vocal tract to the same extent\nthat voiced and aspirated\nsounds are, they can still be modelled as a noise source followed by\na filter to give them their different sound qualities.\n.pp\nThe source-filter model is an oversimplification of the actual speech\nproduction system. There is inevitably some coupling between the vocal\ntract and the lungs, through the glottis, during the period when\nit is open. This effectively makes the filter characteristics\nchange during each individual cycle of the excitation.\nHowever, although the effect is of interest to speech researchers,\nit is probably not of great significance for practical speech output.\n.pp\nOne very interesting implication of the\nsource-filter model is that the prosodic features of\npitch and amplitude are largely properties of the source; while\nsegmental ones are introduced by the filter. This makes it possible to\nseparate some aspects of\noverall prosody from the actual segmental content of an\nutterance, so that, for example, a human utterance can be stored initially\nand then spoken by a machine with a variety of different intonations.\n.sh \"2.2 Classification of speech sounds\"\n.pp\nThe need to classify sound segments as a basis for storing generalized acoustic\ninformation and retrieving it was mentioned earlier. There is a real\ndifficulty here because speech is by nature continuous and classifications are\ndiscrete.\nIt is important to remember this difficulty because it is all too easy\nto criticize the complex and often confusing attempts of linguists to\ntackle the classification task.\n.pp\nLinguists call a written representation of the\n.ul\nsounds\nof an utterance a \"phonetic\ntranscription\" of it. The same utterance can be transcribed at\ndifferent levels of detail: simple transcriptions are called \"broad\"\nand more specific ones are called \"narrow\".\nPerhaps the most logically satisfying kind of transcription employs units\ntermed \"phonemes\". This is the broadest transcription,\nand is sometimes called a\n.ul\nphonemic\ntranscription to emphasize that that it is in terms of phonemes.\nUnfortunately, the word \"phoneme\" is often used somewhat loosely.\nIn its true sense, a phoneme is a\n.ul\nlogical\nunit, rather than a physical, acoustic, one,\nand is defined in relation to a particular language by reference\nto its use in discriminating different words.\nClassifications of sounds which are based on their\nsemantic\nrole as word-discriminators are called\n.ul\nphonological\nclassifications: we could ensure that there is no ambiguity in the sense\nwith which we use the term \"phoneme\" by calling it a phonological unit, and\nthe phonemic transcription could be called a phonological one.\n.rh \"Broad phonetic transcription.\"\nA phoneme is an abstract unit representing a set of different sounds.\nThe issue is confused by the fact that the members of the set actually\nsound very similar, if not identical, to the untrained ear \\(em precisely because\nthe difference between them plays no part in distinguishing words from\neach other in the particular language concerned.\n.pp\nTake the words \"key\" and \"caw\", for example. Despite the difference in\nspelling, both of them begin with a\n.ul\nk\nsound that belongs (in English)\nto the same phoneme set, called\n.ul\nk.\nHowever, say them two or three times each, concentrating on the position of\nthe tongue during the\n.ul\nk.\nIt is quite different in each case. For \"key\", it\nis raised, close to the roof of the mouth, in preparation for the\n.ul\nee,\nwhereas in \"caw\" it is much lower down.\nThe sound of the\n.ul\nk\nis actually quite different in the two cases.\nYet they belong to the same phoneme, for there is no pair of words which\nrelies on this difference to distinguish them \\(em \"key\" and \"caw\" are\nobviously distinguished by their vowels, not by the initial\nconsonant.\nYou probably cannot hear clearly the difference between the two\n.ul\nk\\c\n\\&'s,\nprecisely because they belong to the same phoneme and so the difference\nis not important (for English).\n.pp\nThe point is sharpened by considering another language where we make a\ndistinction \\(em and hence can hear the difference \\(em between two sounds\nthat belong, in the language, to the same phoneme.\nJapanese does not distinguish\n.ul\nr\nfrom\n.ul\nl.\nJapanese people\n.ul\ndo not hear\nthe difference between \"lice\" and \"rice\", in the same way that you do\nnot hear the difference between the two\n.ul\nk\\c\n\\&'s above.\nCockneys do not hear, except with a special effort, the difference\nbetween \"has\" and \"as\", or \"haitch\" and \"aitch\", for the Cockney dialect\ndoes not recognize initial\n.ul\nh\\c\n\\&'s.\n.pp\nSo what is a phoneme? It is a set of sounds whose members do not\ndiscriminate between any words in the language under consideration.\nIf you are mathematically minded you could think of it as an equivalence\nclass of sounds, determined by the relationship\n.LB\n$sound sub 1$ is related to $sound sub 2$ if $sound sub 1$ and $sound sub 2$\ndo not discriminate any pair of words in the language.\n.LE\nThe\n.ul\np\nand\n.ul\nd\nin\n\"pig\" and \"dig\" belong to different phonemes (in English),\nbecause they discriminate\nthe two words.\n.ul\nb,\n.ul\nf,\nand\n.ul\nj\nbelong to different phonemes again.\n.ul\ni\nand\n.ul\na\nin \"hid\" and \"had\" belong to different phonemes too.\nProceeding like this, a list of phonemes can be drawn up.\n.pp\nSuch a list is shown in Table 2.1, for British English.\n(The layout of the list does have some significance in terms of different\ncategories of phonemes, which will be explained later.) In fact,\nlinguists use an\nassortment of English letters, foreign letters, and special\nsymbols to represent phonemes. In this book we use one- or two-letter\ncodes, partly because they are more mnemonic, and partly because\nthey are more suitable for communication to computers using standard\nperipheral devices.\nThey are\na direct transliteration of linguists' standard International Phonetic\nAssociation symbols.\n.RF\n.nr x1 3m+1.0i+0.5i+0.5i+0.5i+\\w'y'u\n.nr x1 (\\n(.l-\\n(x1)/2\n.in \\n(x1u\n.ta 3m +1.0i +0.5i +0.5i +0.5i +0.5i +0.5i\n\\fIuh\\fR\t(the)\t\\fIp\\fR\t\\fIt\\fR\t\\fIk\\fR\n\\fIa\\fR\t(bud)\t\\fIb\\fR\t\\fId\\fR\t\\fIg\\fR\n\\fIe\\fR\t(head)\t\\fIm\\fR\t\\fIn\\fR\t\\fIng\\fR\n\\fIi\\fR\t(hid)\n\\fIo\\fR\t(hod)\t\\fIr\\fR\t\\fIw\\fR\t\\fIl\\fR\t\\fIy\\fR\n\\fIu\\fR\t(hood)\n\\fIaa\\fR\t(had)\t\\fIs\\fR\t\\fIz\\fR\n\\fIee\\fR\t(heed)\t\\fIsh\\fR\t\\fIzh\\fR\n\\fIer\\fR\t(heard)\t\\fIf\\fR\t\\fIv\\fR\n\\fIuu\\fR\t(food)\t\\fIth\\fR\t\\fIdh\\fR\n\\fIar\\fR\t(hard)\t\\fIch\\fR\t\\fIj\\fR\n\\fIaw\\fR\t(hoard)\t\\fIh\\fR\n.ta 0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i\n.in 0\n.FG \"Table 2.1 The phonemes of British English\"\n.pp\nWe will discuss the sounds which make up each of these phoneme classes\nshortly. First, however, it is worthwhile pointing out some rather\ntricky points in the definition of these phonemes.\n.rh \"Phonological difficulties.\"\nThere are snags with phonological classification, as there are\nin any area where attempts are made to make completely logical\nstatements about human activity.\nConsider\n.ul\nh\nand the\n.ul\nng\nin \"singing\".\n(\\c\n.ul\nng\nis certainly not an\n.ul\nn\nsound followed by a\n.ul\ng\nsound, although\nit is true that in some English accents \"singing\" is rendered with\nthe\n.ul\nng\nfollowed by a\n.ul\ng\nat each of its two occurrences.) No words\nend with\n.ul\nh,\nand none begin with\n.ul\nng.\n(Notice that we are still talking about British English.\nIn Chinese, the sound\n.ul\nng\nis a word in its own right, and is a common\nfamily name.\nBut we must stick with one language for phonological classification.) Hence\nit follows that there is no pair of words which is distinguished\nby the difference between\n.ul\nh\nand\n.ul\nng.\nTechnically,\nthey belong to the same phoneme. However, technical considerations\nin this case must take second place to common sense!\n.pp\nThe\n.ul\nj\nin \"jig\" is another interesting case. It can be considered\nto belong to a\n.ul\nj\nphoneme, or to be a sequence of two\nphonemes,\n.ul\nd\nfollowed by\n.ul\nzh\n(the sound in \"vision\"). There is\ndisagreement on this point in phonetics textbooks, and we do not\nhave the time (nor, probably, the inclination!) to consider the\npros and cons of this moot point.\nI have resolved the matter arbitrarily by writing it as a separate\nphoneme. The\n.ul\nch\nin \"choose\" is a similar case\n(\\c\n.ul\nt\nfollowed by the\n.ul\nsh\nin \"shoes\").\n.pp\nAnother difficulty, this time where Table 2.1 does not show how to\ndistinguish between two sounds which\n.ul\ndo\ndiscriminate words in many people's English, is the\n.ul\nw\nin \"witch\"\nand that in \"which\". The latter is conventionally transcribed\nas a sequence of two phonemes,\n.ul\nh w.\n.pp\nThe last few difficulties are all to do with deciding whether a\nsound belongs to a single phoneme class, or comprises a sequence\nof sounds each of which belongs to a phoneme.\nAre the\n.ul\nj\nin \"jug\", the\n.ul\nch\nin \"chug\", and the\n.ul\nw\nin \"which\",\nsingle phonemes or not? The definition above of a phoneme\nas a \"set of sounds whose members do not discriminate any words\nin the language\" does not help us to answer this question.\nAs far as this definition is concerned, we could go so far as\nto call each and every word of the language an individual phoneme!\nIt is clear that some acoustic evidence, and quite a lot of judgement,\nis being used when phonemes such as those of Table 2.1 are defined.\n.pp\nSo much for the consonants. This same problem occurs in vowel sounds,\nparticularly in diphthongs, which are sequences of two vowel-like sounds.\nDo the vowels of \"main\" and \"man\" belong to different phonemes?\nClearly so, if they are both transcribed as single units, for they\ndistinguish the two words.\nNotwithstanding the fact that they are sequences of separate sounds,\na logically consistent system could be constructed which gave separate,\nunitary, symbols to each diphthong.\nHowever, it is usual to employ a compound symbol which indicates explicitly\nthe character of the two vowel-like sounds involved.\nWe will transcribe the diphthong of \"main\" as a sequence of two\nvowels,\n.ul\ne\n(as in \"head\") and\n.ul\ni\n(as in \"hid\", not \"I\").\nThis is done primarily for economy of symbols, choosing the constituent\nsounds on the basis of the closest match to existing vowel sounds.\n(Note that this again violates purely\n.ul\nlogical\ncriteria for identifying phonemes.)\n.rh \"Categories of speech sounds.\"\nA phoneme is defined as a set of sounds whose members to not discriminate\nbetween any words in the language under consideration.\nThe phonemes themselves can be classified into groups which reflect\nsimilarities between them.\nThis can be done in many different ways, using various criteria\nfor classification. In fact, one branch of linguistic research\nis concerned with defining a set of \"distinctive\nfeatures\" such that a phoneme class is uniquely identified by\nthe values of the features. Distinctive features are binary,\nand include such things as voiced\\(emunvoiced, fricative\\(emnot\\ fricative,\naspirated\\(emunaspirated. We will not be concerned here with such\ndetailed classifications, but it is as well to know that they exist.\n.pp\nThere is an everyday distinction between vowels and consonants.\nA vowel forms the nucleus of every syllable, and one or more consonants\nmay optionally surround the vowel.\nBut the distinction sometimes becomes a little ambiguous.\nSyllables like\n.ul\nsh\nare commonly uttered and certainly do not\ncontain a vowel. Furthermore, when we say \"vowel\" in everyday\nlanguage we usually refer to the\n.ul\nwritten\nvowels a, e, i, o, and u; there are many more vowel sounds.\nA vowel in orthography is different to a vowel as a phoneme.\nIs a diphthong a phonetic vowel? \\(em certainly, by the syllable-nucleus\ncriterion; but it is a little different from ordinary vowels because\nit is a changing sound rather than a constant one.\n.pp\nTable 2.2 shows one classification of the phonemes of Table 2.1, which\nwill be useful in our later studies of speech synthesis from phonetics.\nIt shows twelve vowels, including the rather peculiar one\n.ul\nuh\n(which corresponds to the first vowel in the word \"above\").\nThis is the sound produced by the vocal tract when it is in a relaxed,\nneutral position; and it never occurs in prominent, stressed,\nsyllables. The vowels later in the list are almost always longer\nthan the earlier ones. In fact, the first six\n(\\c\n.ul\nuh, a, e, i, o, u\\c\n)\nare often called \"short\" vowels, and the last five\n(\\c\n.ul\nee, er, uu, ar, aw\\c\n)\n\"long\" ones. The shortness or longness of the one in the middle\n(\\c\n.ul\naa\\c\n)\nis rather ambiguous.\n.RF\n.nr x0 \\w'000unvoiced fricative 'u\n.nr x1 \\n(x0+\\w'[not classified as individual phonemes]'u\n.nr x1 (\\n(.l-\\n(x1)/2\n.in \\n(x1u\n.ta \\n(x0u\n.fi\nvowel\t\\c\n.ul\nuh a e i o u aa ee er uu ar aw\n.br\ndiphthong\t[not classified as individual phonemes]\n.br\nglide (or liquid)\t\\c\n.ul\nr w l y\n.br\nstop\n.br\n\\0\\0\\0unvoiced stop\t\\c\n.ul\np t k\n.br\n\\0\\0\\0voiced stop\t\\c\n.ul\nb d g\n.br\nnasal\t\\c\n.ul\nm n ng\n.br\nfricative\n.br\n\\0\\0\\0unvoiced fricative\t\\c\n.ul\ns sh f th\n.br\n\\0\\0\\0voiced fricative\t\\c\n.ul\nz zh v dh\n.br\naffricate\n.br\n\\0\\0\\0unvoiced affricate\t\\c\n.ul\nch\n.br\n\\0\\0\\0voiced affricate\t\\c\n.ul\nj\n.br\naspirate\t\\c\n.ul\nh\n.nf\n.in 0\n.ta 0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i\n.FG \"Table 2.2 Phoneme categories\"\n.pp\nDiphthongs pose no problem here because we have not classified them\nas single phonemes.\n.pp\nThe remaining categories are consonants. The glides are quite\nsimilar to vowels and diphthongs, though; for they are voiced,\ncontinuous sounds. You can say them and prolong them.\n(This is also true of the fricatives.) \n.ul\nr\nis interesting\nbecause it can be realized acoustically in very different ways.\nSome people curl the tip of the tongue\nback \\(em a so-called retroflex action of the tongue. Many people\ncannot do this, and their\n.ul\nr\\c\n\\&'s sound like\n.ul\nw\\c\n\\&'s.\nThe stage Scotsman's\n.ul\nr\nis a trill where the tip of the tongue vibrates against the roof of the mouth.\n.ul\nl\nis also\nslightly unusual, for it is the only English phoneme which is \"lateral\" \\(em\nair passes either side of it, in two separate passages. Welsh\nhas another lateral sound, a fricative, which is written \"ll\" as\nin \"Llandudno\".\n.pp\nThe next category is the stops. These are formed by stopping up\nthe mouth, so that air pressure builds up behind the lips, and\nreleasing this pressure suddenly. The result is a little\nexplosion (and the stops are often called \"plosives\"), which\nusually creates a very short burst of fricative noise (and, in some cases,\naspiration as well). They are further subdivided into voiced and\nunvoiced stops, depending upon whether voicing starts as soon as\nthe plosion occurs (sometimes even before) or well after it.\nIf you put your hand in front of your mouth when saying \"pit\" you\ncan easily feel the puff of air that signals the plosion on the\n.ul\np,\nand probably on the\n.ul\nt\nas well.\n.pp\nIn a sense, nasals are really stops as well (and they are often\ncalled stops), for the oral tract is blocked although the nasal\none is not. The peculiar fact that the nasal\n.ul\nng\nnever occurs at the beginning of a word (in English) was mentioned\nearlier. Notice that for stops and nasals there is a similarity in the\n.ul\nvertical\ndirection of Table 2.2, between\n.ul\np,\n.ul\nb,\nand\n.ul\nm;\n.ul\nt,\n.ul\nd,\nand\n.ul\nn;\nand\n.ul\nk,\n.ul\ng,\nand\n.ul\nng.\n.ul\np\nis an unvoiced version of\n.ul\nb\n(try saying them),\nand\n.ul\nm\nis a nasalized version (for\n.ul\nb\nis what you get when you\nhave a cold and try to say\n.ul\nm\\c\n).\nThese three sounds are all made\nat the front of the mouth, while\n.ul\nt,\n.ul\nd,\nand\n.ul\nn,\nwhich bear the\nsame resemblance to each other, are made in the middle; and\n.ul\nk,\n.ul\ng,\nand\n.ul\nng\nare made at the back. This introduces another\npossible classification, according to\n.ul\nplace of articulation.\n.pp\nThe unvoiced fricatives are quite straightforward, except perhaps\nfor\n.ul\nth,\nwhich is the sound at the beginning of \"thigh\".\nThey are paired with the voiced fricatives on the basis of place\nof articulation. The voiced version of\n.ul\nth\nis the\n.ul\ndh\nat\nthe beginning of \"thy\".\n.ul\nzh\nis a fairly rare phoneme, which\nis heard in the middle of \"vision\". Affricates are similar to\nfricatives but begin with a stopped posture, and we mentioned earlier\nthe controversy as to whether they should be considered to be\nsingle phonemes, or\nsequences of stop phonemes and fricatives.\nFinally comes the lonely aspirate,\n.ul\nh.\nAspiration does occur\nelsewhere in speech, during the plosive burst of unvoiced stops.\n.rh \"Narrow phonetic transcription.\"\nThe phonological classification outlined above is based upon a clear\nrationale for distinguishing between sounds according to how\nthey affect meaning \\(em although the rationale does become\nsomewhat muddied in difficult cases.\nNarrower transcriptions are not so systematic.\nThey use units called\n.ul\nallophones,\nwhich are defined by reference to physical, acoustic, criteria rather\nthan purely logical ones.\n(\"Phone\" is a more old-fashioned term for the same thing,\nand the misused word \"phoneme\" is often employed where allophone is\nmeant, that is, as a physical rather than a logical\nunit.) Each phoneme has several allophones,\nmore or less depending on how narrow or broad the transcription is,\nand the allophones are different acoustic realizations of the same\nlogical unit.\nFor example, the\n.ul\nk\\c\n\\&'s in \"key\" and \"caw\" may be considered as different\nallophones (in a slightly narrow transcription).\nAlthough we will not use symbols for allophones here,\nthey are often indicated by diacritical marks in a text\nwhich modify the basic phoneme classes.\nFor example, a tilde (~) over a vowel means that it is nasalized, while a small\ncircle underneath a consonant means that it is devoiced.\n.pp\nAllophonic variation in speech is governed by a mechanism called\n.ul\ncoarticulation,\nwhere a sound is affected by those that come either side of it.\n\"Key\"\\-\"caw\" is a clear example of this, where the tongue\nposition in the\n.ul\nk\nanticipates that of the following vowel \\(em high\nin the first case, low in the second.\nMost allophonic variation in English is anticipatory, in that the sound\nis influenced by the following articulation rather than by\npreceding ones.\n.pp\nNasalization is a feature which applies to vowels in English through\nanticipatory coarticulation.\nIn many languages (for example, French) it is a\n.ul\ndistinctive\nfeature for vowels in that it serves to distinguish one vowel phoneme class\nfrom another.\nThat this is not so in English sometimes tempts us to assume,\nincorrectly, that nasalization does not occur in vowels.\nIt does, typically when the vowel is followed by a nasal consonant, and it is\nimportant for synthesis that nasalized vowel allophones are recognized and\ntreated accordingly.\n.pp\nCoarticulation can be predicted by phonological rules, which show\nhow a phonemic sequence will be realized by allophones.\nSuch rules have been studied extensively by linguists.\n.pp\nThe reason for coarticulation, and for the existence of allophones,\nlies in the physical constraints imposed by the motion\nof the articulatory organs \\(em particularly their acceleration and deceleration.\nAn immensely crude model is that the brain decides what phonemes to\nsay (for it is concerned with semantic things, and the definition\nof a phoneme is a semantic one).\nIt then takes this sequence and translates it into neural commands\nwhich actually move the articulators into target positions.\nHowever, other commands may be issued, and executed, before these targets\nare reached, and this accounts for coarticulation effects.\nPhonological rules for converting a phonemic sequence to an\nallophonic one are a sort of discrete model of the process.\nParticularly for work involving computers, it is possible that this\nrule-based approach will be overtaken by potentially more accurate\nmethods which attempt to model the continuous articulatory phenomena\ndirectly.\n.sh \"2.3 Prosody\"\n.pp\nThe phonetic classification introduced above divides speech into\nsegments and classifies these into phonemes or allophones.\nRiding on top of this stream of segments are other, more global,\nattributes that dictate the overall prosody of the utterance.\nProsody is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as the\n\"science of versification, laws of metre,\"\nwhich emphasizes the aspects of stress and rhythm that are central\nto classical verse.\nThere are, however, many other features which are more or less\nglobal.\nThese are collectively called prosodic or, equivalently, suprasegmental,\nfeatures, for they lie above the level of phoneme or syllable segments.\n.pp\nProsodic features can be split into two basic categories: features\nof voice quality and features of voice dynamics.\nVariations in voice quality, which are sometimes called\n\"paralinguistic\" phenomena, are accounted for by anatomical\ndifferences and long-term muscular idiosyncrasies (like a sore\nthroat), and have little part to play in the kind of applications\nfor speech output that have been sketched in Chapter 1.\nVariations in voice dynamics occur in three dimensions: pitch\nor fundamental frequency of the voice, time, and amplitude.\nWithin the first, the pattern of pitch variation, or\n.ul\nintonation,\ncan be distinguished from the overall range within which that variation\noccurs.\nThe time dimension encompasses the rhythm of the speech, pauses, and the\noverall tempo \\(em whether it is uttered quickly or slowly.\nThe third dimension, amplitude, is of relatively minor importance.\nIntonation and rhythm work together to produce an effect commonly called\n\"stress\", and we will elaborate further on the nature of stress and discuss\nalgorithms for synthesizing intonation and rhythm in Chapter 8.\n.pp\nThese features have a very important role to play in communicating meaning.\nThey are not fancy, optional components.\nIt is their neglect which is largely responsible for the layman's\nstereotype of computer speech,\na caricature of living speech \\(em abrupt, arhythmic, and in a grating\nmonotone \\(em\nwhich was well characterized by Isaac Asimov when he wrote of speaking\n\"all in capital letters\".\n.pp\nTiming has a syntactic function in that it sometimes helps to\ndistinguish nouns from\nverbs\n(\\c\n.ul\nex\\c\ntract versus ex\\c\n.ul\ntract\\c\n).\nand adjectives from verbs (app\\c\n.ul\nrox\\c\nimate versus approxi\\c\n.ul\nmate\\c\n) \\(em although segmental aspects play a part here too, for the vowel\nqualities differ in each pair of words.\nNevertheless, if you make a mistake when assigning stress to words\nlike these in conversation you are very likely to be queried as\nto what you actually said.\n.pp\nIntonation has a big effect on meaning too.\nPitch often \\(em but by no means always \\(em rises on a question,\nthe extent and abruptness of the rise depending on features like whether\na genuine information-bearing reply or merely confirmation is expected.\nA distinctive pitch pattern accompanies the introduction of a new topic.\nIn conjunction with rhythm, intonation can be used to bring out contrasts\nas in\n.LB\n.NI\n\"He didn't have a\n.ul\nred\ncar, he had a\n.ul\nblack\none.\"\n.LE\nIn general, the intonation patterns used by a reader depend not only on\nthe text itself, but on his interpretation of it, and also on his\nexpectation of the listener's interpretation of it.\nFor example:\n.LB\n.NI\n\"He had a\n.ul\nred\ncar\" (I think you thought it was black),\n.NI\n\"He had a red\n.ul\nbi\\c\ncycle\" (I think you thought it was a car).\n.LE\n.pp\nIn natural speech, prosodic features are significantly influenced by\nwhether the utterance is generated spontaneously or read aloud.\nThe variations in spontaneous speech are enormous.\nThere are all sorts of emotions which are plainly audible in\neveryday speech: sarcasm, excitement, rudeness, disagreement,\nsadness, fright, love.\nVariations in voice quality certainly play a part here.\nEven with \"ordinary\" cooperative friendly conversation, the need to find\nwords and somehow fit them into an overall utterance produces great\ndiversity of prosodic structures.\nApplications for speech output from computers do not, however, call for\nspontaneous conversation, but for a controlled delivery which is\nlike that when reading aloud.\nHere, the speaker is articulating utterances which have been set out for\nhim, reducing his cognitive load to one of understanding and interpreting\nthe text rather than generating it.\nUnfortunately for us, linguists are (quite rightly)\nprimarily interested in living,\nspontaneous speech rather than pre-prepared readings.\n.pp\nNevertheless, the richness of prosody in speech even when reading from\na book should not be underestimated.\nRead aloud to an audience and listen to the contrasts in voice dynamics\ndeliberately introduced for variety's sake.\nIf stories are to be read there is even a case for controlling voice\n.ul\nquality\nto cope with quotations and affective imitations.\n.pp\nWe saw earlier that the source-filter model is particularly\nhelpful in distinguishing prosodic features, which are largely\nproperties of the source, from segmental ones, which belong to\nthe filter.\nPitch and amplitude are primarily source properties.\nRhythm and speed of speaking are not, but neither are they filter\nproperties, for they belong to the source-filter system as a whole\nand not specifically to either part of it.\nThe difficult notion of stress is, from an acoustic point of view,\na combination of pitch, rhythm, and amplitude.\nEven some features of voice quality can be attributed to the source\n(like laryngitis), although others \\(em cleft palate, badly-fitting\ndentures \\(em affect segmental features as well.\n.sh \"2.4 Further reading\"\n.pp\nThis chapter has been no more than a cursory introduction to some\nof the difficult problems of linguistics and phonetics.\nHere are some readable books which discuss these problems further.\n.LB \"nn\"\n.\\\"Abercrombie-1967-1\n.ds [F 1\n.]-\n.ds [A Abercrombie, D.\n.ds [D 1967\n.ds [T Elements of general phonetics\n.ds [I Edinburgh Univ Press\n.nr [T 0\n.nr [A 1\n.nr [O 0\n.][ 2 book\n.in+2n\nThis is an excellent book which covers all of the areas of this\nchapter, in much more detail than has been possible here.\n.in-2n\n.\\\"Brown-1980-2\n.ds [F 2\n.]-\n.ds [A Brown, Gill\n.as [A \", Currie, K.L.\n.as [A \", and Kenworthy, J.\n.ds [D 1980\n.ds [T Questions of intonation\n.ds [I Croom Helm\n.ds [C London\n.nr [T 0\n.nr [A 1\n.nr [O 0\n.][ 2 book\n.in+2n\nAn intensive study of the prosodics of colloquial, living speech\nis presented, with particular reference to intonation. Although\nnot particularly relevant to speech output from computers,\nthis book gives great insight into how conversational speech\ndiffers from reading aloud.\n.in-2n\n.\\\"Fry-1979-1\n.ds [F 1\n.]-\n.ds [A Fry, D.B.\n.ds [D 1979\n.ds [T The physics of speech\n.ds [I Cambridge University Press\n.ds [C Cambridge, England\n.nr [T 0\n.nr [A 1\n.nr [O 0\n.][ 2 book\n.in+2n\nThis is a simple and readable account of speech science, with a good\nand completely non-mathematical introduction to frequency analysis.\n.in-2n\n.\\\"Ladefoged-1975-4\n.ds [F 4\n.]-\n.ds [A Ladefoged, P.\n.ds [D 1975\n.ds [T A course in phonetics\n.ds [I Harcourt Brace and Johanovich\n.ds [C New York\n.nr [T 0\n.nr [A 1\n.nr [O 0\n.][ 2 book\n.in+2n\nUsually books entitled \"A course on ...\" are dreadfully dull, but\nthis is a wonderful exception. An exciting, readable, almost racy\nintroduction to phonetics, full of little experiments you can try\nyourself.\n.in-2n\n.\\\"Lehiste-1970-5\n.ds [F 5\n.]-\n.ds [A Lehiste, I.\n.ds [D 1970\n.ds [T Suprasegmentals\n.ds [I MIT Press\n.ds [C Cambridge, Massachusetts\n.nr [T 0\n.nr [A 1\n.nr [O 0\n.][ 2 book\n.in+2n\nThis fairly comprehensive study of the prosodics of speech\ncomplements Ladefoged's book, which is mainly concerned with segmental\nphonetics.\n.in-2n\n.\\\"O'Connor-1973-1\n.ds [F 1\n.]-\n.ds [A O'Connor, J.D.\n.ds [D 1973\n.ds [T Phonetics\n.ds [I Penguin\n.ds [C London\n.nr [T 0\n.nr [A 1\n.nr [O 0\n.][ 2 book\n.in+2n\nThis is another introductory book on phonetics.\nIt is packed with information on all aspects of the subject.\n.in-2n\n.LE \"nn\"\n.EQ\ndelim $$\n.EN\n.CH \"3 SPEECH STORAGE\"\n.ds RT \"Speech storage\n.ds CX \"Principles of computer speech\n.pp\nThe most familiar device that produces speech output is the ordinary tape\nrecorder, which stores information in analogue form on magnetic tape.\nHowever, this is unsuitable for speech output from computers.\nOne reason is that it is difficult to access different utterances quickly.\nAlthough random-access tape recorders do exist, they are expensive and\nsubject to mechanical breakdown because of the stresses associated with\nfrequent starting and stopping.\n.pp\nStoring speech on a rotating drum instead of\ntape offers the possibility of access to any track within one revolution time.\nFor example, the IBM 7770 Audio Response Unit employs drums rotating twice\na second which are able to store up to 32 500-msec words. These can be accessed\nrandomly, within half a second at most.\nAlthough one can\narrange to store longer words by allowing overflow on to an adjacent track at\nthe end of the rotation period, the discrete time-slots provided by this\nsystem make it virtually impossible for it to generate connected utterances\nby assembling appropriate words from the store.\n.pp\nThe Cognitronics Speechmaker has a similar structure, but with\nthe analogue speech waveform recorded on photographic film.\nStoring audio waveforms optically is not an unusual technique, for this is how\nsoundtracks are recorded on ordinary movie films. The original version of\nthe \"speaking clock\" of the British Post Office used optical storage in\nconcentric tracks on flat glass discs.\nIt is described by Speight and Gill (1937),\nwho include a fascinating account of how the utterances are synchronized.\n.[\nSpeight Gill 1937\n.]\nA 4\\ Hz signal from a pendulum clock was used to supply current to an electric\nmotor, which drove a shaft equipped with cams and gears that rotated\nthe glass discs containing utterances for seconds, minutes, and hours\nat appropriate speeds!\n.pp\nA second reason for avoiding analogue storage is price. It is difficult to see how a random-access\ntape recorder could be incorporated into a talking pocket calculator or\nchild's toy without considerably inflating the cost.\nSolid-state electronics is much cheaper than mechanics.\n.pp\nBut the best reason is that, in many of the applications we have discussed,\nit is necessary to form utterances by concatenating separately-recorded\nparts. It is totally infeasible, for example, to store each and every\npossible telephone number as an individual recording! And\nutterances that are formed by concatenating individual words which were\nrecorded in isolation, or in a different context, do not sound completely\nnatural. For example, in an early experiment, Stowe and Hampton (1961) recorded\nindividual words on acoustic tape, spliced the tape with the words in a different\norder to make sentences, and played the result to subjects who were scored on\nthe number of key words which they identified correctly.\n.[\nStowe Hampton 1961\n.]\nThe overall conclusion was that while embedding a word in normally-spoken sentences\n.ul\nincreases\nthe probability of recognition (because the extra context gives clues about the\nword), embedding a word in a constructed sentence, where intonation and rhythm\nare not properly rendered,\n.ul\ndecreases\nthe probability of recognition. When the speech was uttered slowly,\nhowever, a considerable improvement was noticed, indicating that if the\nlistener has more processing time he can overcome the lack of proper intonation\nand rhythm.\n.pp\nNevertheless, many present-day voice response systems\n.ul\ndo\nstore what amounts to a direct recording of the acoustic wave.\nHowever, the storage medium is digital rather than analogue.\nThis means that standard computer storage devices can be used, providing\nrapid access to any segment of the speech at relatively low cost \\(em for\nthe economics of mass-production ensures a low price for random-access\ndigital devices compared with random-access analogue ones.\nFurthermore, it reduces the amount of special equipment needed for speech\noutput. One can buy very cheap speech input/output interfaces for home computers\nwhich connect to standard hobby buses.\nAnother advantage of digital over analogue recording is that\nintegrated circuit read-only memories (ROMs)\ncan be used for hand-held devices which need small quantities of speech.\nHence this chapter begins by showing how waveforms are stored digitally,\nand then describes some techniques for reducing the data needed for a given\nutterance.\n.sh \"3.1 Storing waveforms digitally\"\n.pp\nWhen an analogue signal is converted to digital form, it is made discrete\nboth in time and in amplitude. Discretization in time is the operation of\n.ul\nsampling,\nwhilst in amplitude it is\n.ul\nquantizing.\nIt is worth pointing out that the transmission of analogue information by\ndigital means is called \"PCM\" (standing for \"pulse code modulation\") in\ntelecommunications jargon.\nMuch of the theory of digital signal processing investigates signals which\nare sampled but not quantized (or quantized into sufficiently many levels to\navoid inaccuracies). The operation of quantization, being non-linear,\nis not very amenable to theoretical analysis. Quantization introduces issues\nsuch as accumulation of round-off noise in arithmetic operations,\nwhich, although they are very important in practical implementations, can only\nbe treated theoretically under certain somewhat unrealistic assumptions\n(in particular, independence of the quantization error from sample to sample).\n.rh \"Sampling.\"\nA fundamental theorem of telecommunications states that a signal can only be\nreconstructed accurately from a sampled version if it does not contain\ncomponents whose frequency is greater than half the frequency at which the\nsampling takes place. Figure 3.1(a) shows how a component of slightly greater\nthan half the sampling frequency can masquerade, as far as an observer with\naccess only to the sampled data can tell, as a component at slightly less\nthan half the sampling frequency.\n.FC \"Figure 3.1\"\nCall the sampling interval $T$ seconds, so that the\nsampling frequency is $1/T$\\ Hz.\nThen components at $1/2T+f$, $3/2T-f$, $3/2T+f$ and so on all masquerade\nas a component at $1/2T-f$. Similarly, components at frequencies just under\nthe sampling frequency masquerade as very low-frequency components, as shown\nin Figure 3.1(b). This phenomenon is often called \"aliasing\".\n.pp\nThus the continuous, infinite, frequency axis for the unsampled signal, where\ntwo components at different frequencies can always be distinguished, maps\ninto a repetitive frequency axis when the signal is sampled. As depicted\nin Figure 3.2, the frequency\ninterval $[1/T,~ 2/T)$ \\u\\(dg\\d\n.FN 3\n.sp\n\\u\\(dg\\dIntervals are specified in brackets, with a square bracket representing\na closed end of the interval and a round one representing an open one.\nThus the interval $[1/T,~ 2/T)$ specifies the range $1/T ~ <= ~ frequency\n~ < ~ 2/T$.\n.EF\nis mapped back into the band $[0,~ 1/T)$, as are the\nintervals $[2/T,~ 3/T)$, $[3/T,~ 4/T)$, and so on.\n.FC \"Figure 3.2\"\nFurthermore, the interval $[1/2T,~ 1/T)$ between half the sampling frequency and the sampling\nfrequency, is mapped back into the interval\nbelow half the sampling frequency; but this time the mapping is backwards,\nwith frequencies at just under $1/T$ being mapped to frequencies slightly greater\nthan zero, and frequencies just over $1/2T$ being mapped to ones\njust under $1/2T$.\nThe best way to represent a repeating frequency axis like this is as a circle.\nFigure 3.3 shows how the linear frequency axis for continuous systems maps\non to a circular axis for sampled systems.\n.FC \"Figure 3.3\"\nFor present purposes it is\neasiest to imagine the bottom half of the circle as being reflected into\nthe top half, so that traversing the upper semicircle in the anticlockwise direction\ncorresponds to frequencies increasing from 0 to $1/2T$ (half the sample frequency),\nand returning along the lower semicircle is actually the same as coming\nback round the upper one, and corresponds to frequencies from $1/2T$ to $1/T$\nbeing mapped into the range $1/2T$ to 0.\n.pp\nAs far as speech is concerned, then, we must ensure that before sampling a\nsignal no significant components at greater than half the sample frequency\nare present. Furthermore, the sampled signal will only contain information\nabout frequency components less than this, so the sample frequency must be\nchosen as twice the highest frequency of interest.\nFor example, consider telephone-quality speech.\nTelephones provide a familiar standard of speech quality which,\nalthough it can only be an approximate \"standard\",\nwill be much used throughout this book.\nThe telephone network\naims to transmit only frequencies lower than 3.4\\ kHz. We saw in the\nprevious chapter that this region will contain the information-bearing formants,\nand some \\(em but not all \\(em of the fricative and aspiration energy.\nActually, transmitting speech through the telephone system degrades its\nquality very significantly, probably more than you realize since everyone is\nso accustomed to telephone speech. Try the dial-a-disc service and compare\nit with high-fidelity music for a striking example of the kind of degradation\nsuffered.\n.pp\nFor telephone speech, the sampling frequency must be chosen to be\nat least 6.8\\ kHz.\nSince speech contains significant amounts of energy above 3.4\\ kHz, it should be\nfiltered before sampling to remove this; otherwise the higher components\nwould be mapped back into the baseband and distort the low-frequency information.\nBecause it is difficult to make filters that cut off very sharply, the\nsampling frequency is chosen rather greater than twice the highest frequency of\ninterest. For example, the digital telephone network samples at 8\\ kHz.\nThe pre-sampling filter should have a cutoff frequency of 4\\ kHz; aim for\nnegligible distortion below 3.4\\ kHz; and transmit negligible components\nabove 4.6\\ kHz \\(em for these are reflected back into the band of interest,\nnamely 0 to 3.4\\ kHz. Figure 3.4 shows a block diagram for the input hardware.\n.FC \"Figure 3.4\"\n.rh \"Quantization.\"\nBefore considering specifications for the pre-sampling filter, let us turn\nfrom discretization in time to discretization in amplitude, that is,\nquantization.\nThis is performed by an A/D converter (analogue-to-digital), which takes as input\na constant analogue voltage (produced by the sampler) and generates a\ncorresponding binary value as output. The simplest correspondence is\n.ul\nuniform\nquantization, where the amplitude range is split into equal regions by points\ntermed \"quantization levels\", and the output is a binary representation of\nthe nearest quantization level to the input voltage.\nTypically, 11-bit conversion is used for speech, giving 2048 quantization\nlevels, and the signal is adjusted to have zero mean so that half the\nlevels correspond to negative input voltages and the other half to positive\nones.\n.pp\nIt is, at first sight, surprising that as many as 11 bits are needed for\nadequate representation of speech signals. Research on the digital telephone\nnetwork, for example, has concluded that a signal-to-noise ratio of\nsome 26\\-27\\ dB is enough to avoid undue harshness of quality, loss\nof intelligibility, and listener fatigue for speech at a comfortable\nlevel in an otherwise reasonably good channel.\nRabiner and Schafer (1978) suggest that about 36\\ dB signal-to-noise ratio\nwould \"most likely provide adequate quality in a communications system\".\n.[\nRabiner Schafer 1978 Digital processing of speech signals\n.]\nBut 11-bit quantization seems to give a very much better signal-to-noise\nratio than these figures. To estimate its magnitude, note that for N-bit quantization\nthe error for each sample will lie between\n.LB\n$\n- ~ 1 over 2 ~. 2 sup -N$ and $+ ~ 1 over 2 ~. 2 sup -N .\n$\n.LE\nAssuming that it is uniformly distributed in this range \\(em an assumption\nwhich is likely to be justified if the number of levels is sufficiently\nlarge \\(em leads to a mean-squared error of\n.LB\n.EQ\nintegral from {-2 sup -N-1} to {2 sup -N-1} ~e sup 2 p(e) de,\n.EN\n.LE\nwhere $p(e)$, the probability density function of the error $e$, is a constant\nwhich satisfies the usual probability normalization constraint, namely\n.LB\n.EQ\nintegral from {-2 sup -N-1} to {2 sup -N-1} ~ p(e) de ~~=~ 1.\n.EN\n.LE\nHence $p(e)=2 sup N $, and so the mean-squared error is $2 sup -2N /12$.\nThis is $10 ~ log sub 10 (2 sup -2N /12)$\\ dB, or around \\-77\\ dB for 11-bit\nquantization.\n.pp\nThis noise level is relative to the maximum amplitude range of the conversion.\nA maximum-amplitude sine wave has a power of \\-9\\ dB relative to the same\nreference, giving a signal-to-noise ratio of some 68\\ dB. This is far in excess\nof that needed for telephone-quality speech. However, look at the very peaky\nnature of the typical speech waveform given in Figure 3.5.\n.FC \"Figure 3.5\"\nIf clipping is to be avoided, the maximum amplitude level of the A/D converter\nmust be set at a value which makes the power of the speech signal very much\nless than a maximum-amplitude sine wave. Furthermore, different people\nspeak at very different volumes, and the overall level fluctuates constantly\nwith just one speaker. Experience shows that while 8- or 9-bit quantization\nmay provide sufficient signal-to-noise ratio to preserve telephone-quality\nspeech if the overall speaker levels are carefully controlled, about 11 bits\nare generally required to provide high-quality representation of speech with\na uniform quantization. With 11 bits, a sine wave whose amplitude is only 1/32\nof the full-scale value would be digitized with a signal-to-noise ratio\nof around 36\\ dB, the most pessimistic figure quoted above for adequate quality.\nEven then it is useful if the speaker is provided\nwith an indication of the amplitude of his speech: a traffic-light\nindicator with red signifying clipping overload, orange a suitable level,\nand green too low a value, is often convenient for this.\n.rh \"Logarithmic quantization.\"\nFor the purposes of speech\n.ul\nprocessing,\nit is essential to have the signal quantized uniformly. This is because\nall of the theory applies to linear systems, and nonlinearities introduce\ncomplexities which are not amenable to analysis.\nUniform quantization, although a nonlinear operation, is linear in the\nlimiting case as the number of levels becomes large, and for most purposes\nits effect can be modelled by assuming that the quantized signal is obtained\nfrom the original analogue one by the addition of a small amount of\nuniformly-distributed quantizing noise, as in fact was done above.\nUsually the quantization noise is disregarded in subsequent analysis.\n.pp\nHowever, the peakiness of the speech signal illustrated in Figure 3.5 leads\none to suspect that a non-linear representation, for example a logarithmic one,\ncould provide a better signal-to-noise ratio over a wider range of input\namplitudes, and hence be more useful than linear quantization \\(em at least\nfor speech storage (and transmission).\nAnd indeed this is the case. Linear quantization has the unfortunate effect\nthat the absolute noise level is independent of the signal level, so that an excessive\nnumber of bits must be used if a reasonable ratio is to be achieved for peaky\nsignals. It can be shown that a logarithmic representation like\n.LB\n.EQ\ny ~ = ~ 1 ~ + ~ k ~ log ~ x,\n.EN\n.LE\nwhere $x$ is the original signal and $y$ is the value which is to be quantized,\ngives a\nsignal-to-noise\n.ul\nratio\nwhich is independent of the input signal level.\nThis relationship cannot be realized physically, for it is undefined when the signal\nis negative and diverges when it is zero.\nHowever, realizable approximations to it can be made which retain the advantages\nof constant signal-to-noise ratio within a useful range of signal amplitudes.\nFigure 3.6 shows the logarithmic relation with one widely-used approximation to it,\ncalled the A-law.\n.FC \"Figure 3.6\"\nThe idea of non-linearly quantizing a signal to achieve adequate signal-to-noise\nratios for a wide variety of amplitudes is called \"companding\", a contraction\nof \"compressing-expanding\". The original signal can be retrieved from\nits A-law compression by antilogarithmic expansion.\n.pp\nFigure 3.6 also\nshows one common coding scheme which is a piecewise linear approximation\nto the A-law. This provides an 8-bit code, and gives the equivalent\nof 12-bit linear quantization for small signal levels. It approximates\nthe A-law in 16 linear segments, 8 for positive and 8 for negative\ninputs.\nConsider the positive part of the curve. The first two segments, which\nare actually collinear, correspond exactly to 12-bit linear conversion.\nThus the output codes 0 to 31 correspond to inputs from 0 to 31/2048,\nin equal steps. (Remember that both positive and negative signals\nmust be converted, so a 12-bit linear converter will allocate 2048 levels\nfor positive signals and 2048 for negative ones.) The next\nsegment provides 11-bit linear quantization,\noutput codes 32 to 47 corresponding to inputs from 16/1024 to 31/1024.\nSimilarly, the next segment corresponds to 10-bit quantization, covering\ninputs from 16/512 to 31/512. And so on, the last section giving 6-bit\nquantization of inputs from 16/32 to 31/32, the full-scale positive value.\nNegative inputs are converted similarly.\nFor signal levels of less than 32/2048, that is, $2 sup -8$, this implementation\nof the A-law provides full 12-bit precision.\nAs the signal level increases, the precision decreases gradually to 6 bits\nat maximum amplitudes.\n.pp\nLogarithmic encoding provides what is in effect a floating-point representation\nof the input. The conventional floating-point format, however, is not used\nbecause many different codes can represent the same value. For example, with\na 4-bit exponent preceding a 4-bit mantissa, the words 0000:1000,\n0001:0100, 0010:0010, and 0011:0001 represent the numbers\n$0.1 ~ times ~ 2 sup 0$, $0.01 ~ times ~ 2 sup 1\n$, $0.001 ~ times ~ 2 sup 2$, \\c\nand $0.0001 ~ times ~ 2 sup 3$ respectively,\nwhich are the same. (Some floating-point conventions assume that an unwritten\n\"1\" bit precedes the mantissa, except when the whole word is zero; but this\ngives decreased resolution around zero \\(em which is exactly where we want the\nresolution to be greatest.) Table 3.1 shows the 8-bit A-law codes,\n.RF\n.in+0.7i\n.ta 1.6i +\\w'bits 1-3 'u\n8-bit codeword:\tbit 0\tsign bit\n\tbits 1-3\t3-bit exponent\n\tbits 4-7\t4-bit mantissa\n.sp2\n.ta 1.6i 3.5i\n.ul\n codeword\t interpretation\n.sp\n0000 0000\t\\h'\\w'\\0-\\0 + 'u'$.0000 ~ times ~ 2 sup -7$\n\\0\\0\\0...\t\\0\\0\\0\\0...\n0000 1111\t\\h'\\w'\\0-\\0 + 'u'$.1111 ~ times ~ 2 sup -7$\n0001 0000\t$2 sup -7 ~~ + ~~ .0000 ~ times ~ 2 sup -7$\n\\0\\0\\0...\t\\0\\0\\0\\0...\n0001 1111\t$2 sup -7 ~~ + ~~ .1111 ~ times ~ 2 sup -7$\n0010 0000\t$2 sup -6 ~~ + ~~ .0000 ~ times ~ 2 sup -6$\n\\0\\0\\0...\t\\0\\0\\0\\0...\n0010 1111\t$2 sup -6 ~~ + ~~ .1111 ~ times ~ 2 sup -6$\n0011 0000\t$2 sup -5 ~~ + ~~ .0000 ~ times ~ 2 sup -5$\n\\0\\0\\0...\t\\0\\0\\0\\0...\n0011 1111\t$2 sup -5 ~~ + ~~ .1111 ~ times ~ 2 sup -5$\n0100 0000\t$2 sup -4 ~~ + ~~ .0000 ~ times ~ 2 sup -4$\n\\0\\0\\0...\t\\0\\0\\0\\0...\n0100 1111\t$2 sup -4 ~~ + ~~ .1111 ~ times ~ 2 sup -4$\n0101 0000\t$2 sup -3 ~~ + ~~ .0000 ~ times ~ 2 sup -3$\n\\0\\0\\0...\t\\0\\0\\0\\0...\n0101 1111\t$2 sup -3 ~~ + ~~ .1111 ~ times ~ 2 sup -3$\n0110 0000\t$2 sup -2 ~~ + ~~ .0000 ~ times ~ 2 sup -2$\n\\0\\0\\0...\t\\0\\0\\0\\0...\n0110 1111\t$2 sup -2 ~~ + ~~ .1111 ~ times ~ 2 sup -2$\n0111 0000\t$2 sup -1 ~~ + ~~ .0000 ~ times ~ 2 sup -1$\n\\0\\0\\0...\t\\0\\0\\0\\0...\n0111 1111\t$2 sup -1 ~~ + ~~ .1111 ~ times ~ 2 sup -1$\n\n1000 0000\t\\h'\\w'\\0-\\0 'u'$- ~~ .0000 ~ times ~ 2 sup -7$\tnegative numbers treated as\n\\0\\0\\0...\t\\0\\0\\0\\0...\tabove, with a sign bit of 1\n1111 1111\t\\h'-\\w'\\- 'u'\\- $2 sup -1 ~~ - ~~ .1111 ~ times ~ 2 sup -1$\n.ta 0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i\n.in 0\n.FG \"Table 3.1 8-bit A-law codes, with their floating-point equivalents\"\naccording\nto the piecewise linear approximation of Figure 3.6, written in a notation which\nsuggests floating point. Each linear segment has a different exponent except\nthe first two segments, which as explained above are collinear.\n.pp\nLogarithmic encoders and decoders are available from many semiconductor\nmanufacturers as single-chip devices\ncalled \"codecs\" (for \"coder/decoder\"). Intended for use on digital communication\nlinks, these generally provide a serial output bit-stream, which\nshould be converted to parallel by a shift register if the data is intended\nfor a computer.\nBecause of the potentially vast market for codecs in telecommunications,\nthey are made in great quantities and are consequently very cheap.\nEstimates of the speech quality necessary for telephone applications indicate\nthat somewhat less than this accuracy is needed \\(em 7-bit logarithmic encoding\nwas used in early digital communications links, and it may be that even 6 bits\nare adequate. However, during the transition period when digital\nnetworks must coexist with the present analogue one, it is anticipated that\na particular telephone call may have to pass through several links, some\nusing analogue technology and some being digital. The possibility of\nseveral successive encodings and decodings has led telecommunications\nengineers to standardize on 8-bit representations, leaving some margin\nbefore additional degradation of signal quality becomes unduly distracting.\n.pp\nUnfortunately, world telecommunications authorities cannot agree on a single\nstandard for logarithmic encoding. The A-law, which we have described,\nis the European standard, but there is another system, called\nthe $mu$-law, which is used universally in North America. It also is available\nin single-chip form with an 8-bit code. It has very similar\nquantization error characteristics to the A-law, and would be indistinguishable\nfrom it on the scale of Figure 3.6.\n.rh \"The pre-sampling filter.\"\nNow that we have some idea of the accuracy requirements for quantization,\nlet us discuss quantitative specifications for the pre-sampling filter.\nFigure 3.7 sketches the characteristics of this filter.\n.FC \"Figure 3.7\"\nAssume a\nsampling frequency of 8\\ kHz and a range of interest from 0 to 3.4\\ kHz.\nAlthough all components at frequencies above 4\\ kHz will fold back into\nthe 0\\ \\-\\ 4\\ kHz baseband, those below 4.6\\ kHz fold back above 3.4\\ kHz and are\ntherefore outside the range of interest. This gives a \"guard band\" between\n3.4 and 4.6\\ kHz which separates the passband from the stopband. The filter\nshould transmit negligible components in the stopband above 4.6\\ kHz.\nTo reduce the harmonic distortion caused by aliasing to the same level\nas the quantization noise in 11-bit linear conversion, the stopband\nattenuation should be around \\-68\\ dB (the signal-to-noise ratio for a full-scale\nsine wave). Passband ripple is not so critical,\nfor two reasons. Whilst the presence of aliased components means that\ninformation has been lost about the frequency components within the range of\ninterest, passband ripple does not actually cause a loss of information but\nonly a distortion, and could, if necessary, be compensated by a suitable\nfilter acting on the digitized waveform. Secondly, distortion of the\npassband spectrum is not nearly so audible as the frequency images caused\nby aliasing. Hence one usually aims for a passband ripple of around 0.5\\ dB.\n.pp\nThe pass and stopband targets we have mentioned above can be achieved with\na 9'th order elliptic filter. While such a filter is often used in\nhigh-quality signal-processing systems, for telephone-quality speech\nmuch less stringent specifications seem to be sufficient. Figure 3.8, for\nexample, shows a template which has been recommended by telecommunications\nauthorities.\n.FC \"Figure 3.8\"\nA 5'th order elliptic filter can easily meet this specification.\nSuch filters, implemented by switched-capacitor means, are available in\nsingle-chip form. Integrated CCD (charge-coupled device)\nfilters which meet the same specification\nare also marketed. Indeed, some codecs provide input filtering on the same\nchip as the A/D converter.\n.pp\nInstead of implementing a filter by analogue means to meet the aliasing\nspecifications, digital filtering can be used. A high sample-rate A/D\nconverter, operating at, say, 32\\ kHz, and preceded by a very simple low-pass\npre-sampling filter, is followed by a digital filter which meets the\ndesired specification, and its output is subsampled to provide an 8\\ kHz sample\nrate. While such implementations may be economic where a multichannel digitizing\ncapability is required, as in local telephone exchanges where the subscriber\nconnection is an analogue one, they are unlikely to prove cost-effective for\na single channel.\n.rh \"Reconstructing the analogue waveform.\"\nHaving digitized and stored a signal, it needs to be passed though a D/A\nconverter (digital-to-analogue) and low-pass filter when replayed.\nD/A converters are cheaper than A/D converters, and the characteristics of the\nlow-pass filter for output can be the same as those for input.\nHowever, the desampling operation introduces an additional distortion, which\nhas an effect on the component at frequency $f$ of\n.LB\n.EQ\n{ sin ( pi f/f sub s )} over { pi f/f sub s } ~ ,\n.EN\n.LE\nwhere $f sub s$ is the sampling frequency. An \"aperture correction\" filter is\nneeded to compensate for this, although many systems simply do without it.\nSuch a filter is sometimes incorporated into the codec chip.\n.rh \"Summary.\"\nFor telephone-quality speech, existing codec chips,\ncoupled if necessary with integrated pre-sampling filters, can\nbe used, at a remarkably low cost.\nFor higher-quality speech storage the analogue interface can become quite complex.\nA comprehensive study of the problems as they relate to digitization of audio,\nwhich demands much greater fidelity than speech, has been made by Blesser (1978).\n.[\nBlesser 1978\n.]\nHe notes the following sources of error (amongst others):\n.LB\n.NP\nslew-rate distortion in the pre-sampling filter for signals at the upper end\nof the audio band;\n.NP\ninsufficient filtering of high-frequency input signals;\n.NP\nnoise generated by the sample-and-hold amplifier or pre-sampling filter;\n.NP\nacquisition errors because of the finite settling time of the sample-and-hold\ncircuit;\n.NP\ninsufficient settling time in the A/D conversion;\n.NP\nerrors in the quantization levels of the A/D and D/A converters;\n.NP\nnoise in the converters;\n.NP\njitter on the clock used for timing input or output samples;\n.NP\naperture distortion in the output sampler;\n.NP\nnoise in the output filter as a result of limited dynamic range of the\nintegrated circuits;\n.NP\npower-supply noise injection or ground coupling;\n.NP\nchanges in characteristics as a result of temperature or ageing.\n.LE\nCare must be taken with the analogue interface to ensure that the precision\nimplied by the resolution of the A/D and D/A converters is not compromised\nby inadequate analogue circuitry. It is especially important to eliminate\nhigh-frequency noise caused by fast edges on nearby computer buses.\n.sh \"3.2 Coding in the time domain\"\n.pp\nThere are several methods of coding the time waveform of a speech signal to\nreduce the data rate for a given signal-to-noise ratio, or alternatively to\nreduce the signal-to-noise ratio for a given data rate. They almost all require\nmore processing, both at the encoding (for storage) and decoding (for\nregeneration) ends of the digitization process. They are sometimes used to\neconomize on memory in systems using stored speech,\nfor example the System\\ X telephone exchange and the travel consultant described\nin Chapter 1, and so will be described here. However, it is to be expected\nthat simple time-domain coding techniques will be superseded by the more complex\nlinear predictive method, which is covered in Chapter 6, because this\ncan give a much more substantial reduction in the data rate for only a small\ndegradation in speech quality. Hence the aim of this section is to introduce\nthe ideas in a qualitative way: theoretical development and summaries of\nresults of listening tests can be found elsewhere (eg Rabiner and Schafer, 1978).\n.[\nRabiner Schafer 1978 Digital processing of speech signals\n.]\nThe methods we will examine are summarized in Table 3.2.\n.RF\n.nr x0 \\w'linear PCM 'u\n.nr x1 \\n(x0+\\w' adaptive quantization, or adaptive prediction,'u\n.nr x2 (\\n(.l-\\n(x1)/2\n.in \\n(x2u\n.ta \\n(x0u\n\\l'\\n(x1u\\(ul'\n.sp\nlinear PCM\tlinearly-quantized pulse code modulation\n.sp\nlog PCM\tlogarithmically-quantized pulse code modulation\n\t (instantaneous companding)\n.sp\nAPCM\tadaptively quantized pulse code modulation\n\t (usually syllabic companding)\n.sp\nDPCM\tdifferential pulse code modulation\n.sp\nADPCM\tdifferential pulse code modulation with either\n\t adaptive quantization, or adaptive prediction,\n\t or both\n.sp\nDM\tdelta modulation (1-bit DPCM)\n.sp\nADM\tdelta modulation with adaptive quantization\n\\l'\\n(x1u\\(ul'\n.ta 0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i +0.8i\n.in 0\n.FG \"Table 3.2 Time-domain encoding techniques\"\n.rh \"Syllabic companding.\"\nWe have already studied one time-domain encoding technique, namely logarithmic\nquantization, or log PCM (sometimes called \"instantaneous companding\"). A more\nsophisticated encoder could track slowly varying trends in the overall amplitude\nof the speech signal and use this information to adjust the quantization\nlevels dynamically. Speech coding methods based on this principle are called\nadaptive pulse code modulation systems (APCM). Because the overall amplitude\nchanges slowly, it is sufficient to adjust the quantization relatively infrequently\n(compared with the sampling rate), and this is often done at rates approximating\nthe syllable rate of running speech, leading to the term \"syllabic companding\".\nA block floating-point format can be used, with a common exponent being\nstored every M samples (with M, say, 125 for a 100\\ msec block rate at 8\\ kHz\nsampling), but the mantissa being stored at the regular sample rate. The overall\nenergy in the block,\n.LB\n$sum from n=h to h+M-1 ~x(n) sup 2$ ($M = 125$, say),\n.LE\nis used to determine a suitable exponent, and every sample\nin the block \\(em namely\n$x(h)$, $x(h+1)$, ..., $x(h+M-1)$ \\(em is scaled according to that exponent.\nNote that for speech transmission systems this method necessitates a delay of\n$M$ samples at the encoder, and indeed some methods base the exponent on the\nenergy in the last block to avoid this. For speech storage, however, the delay\nis irrelevant. A rather different, nonsyllabic, method of adaptive PCM is\ncontinually to change the step size of a uniform quantizer, by multiplying it by\na constant at each sample which is based on the magnitude of the previous code\nword.\n.pp\nAdaptive quantization exploits information about the amplitude of the signal,\nand, as a rough generalization, yields a reduction of one bit per sample\nin the data rate for telephone-quality speech over ordinary logarithmic\nquantization, for a given signal-to-noise ratio. Alternatively, for the\nsame data rate an improvement of 6\\ dB in signal-to-noise ratio can be obtained.\nSome results for actual schemes are given by Rabiner and Schafer (1978).\n.[\nRabiner Schafer 1978 Digital processing of speech signals\n.]\nHowever, there is other information in the time waveform of speech, namely, the\nsample-to-sample correlation, which can be exploited to give further reductions.\n.rh \"Differential coding.\"\nDifferential pulse code modulation (DPCM), in its simplest form, uses the\npresent speech sample as a prediction of the next one,\nand stores the prediction error \\(em that is, the sample-to-sample difference.\nThis is a simple case of predictive encoding.\nReferring back to the speech waveform displayed in Figure 3.5,\nit seems plausible that the data rate can be reduced by transmitting the difference\nbetween successive samples instead of their absolute values: less bits are\nrequired for the difference signal for a given overall accuracy because it\ndoes not assume such extreme values as the absolute signal level.\nActually, the improvement is not all that great \\(em about 4\\ \\-\\ 5\\ dB in\nsignal-to-noise ratio, or just under one bit per sample for a given\nsignal-to-noise ratio \\(em for the difference signal can be nearly as large as\nthe absolute signal level.\n.pp\nIf DPCM is used in conjunction with adaptive quantization, giving one form of\nadaptive differential pulse code modulation (ADPCM), both the overall amplitude\nvariation and the sample-to-sample correlation are exploited, leading to a\ncombined gain of 10\\ \\-\\ 11\\ dB in signal-to-noise ratio (or just under two bits\nreduction per sample for telephone-quality speech). Another form of adaptation\nis to alter the predictor by multiplying the previous sample value by a\nparameter which is adjusted for best performance.\nThen the transmitted signal at time $n$ is\n.LB\n.EQ\ne(n) ~~ = ~~ x(n)~ - ~ax(n-1),\n.EN\n.LE\nwhere the parameter $a$ is adapted (and stored) on a syllabic time-scale. This\nleads to a slight improvement in signal-to-noise ratio, which can be combined\nwith that achieved by adaptive quantization. Much more substantial benefits\ncan be realized by using a weighted sum of the past several (up to 15) speech\nsamples, and adapting all the weights. This is the basic idea of linear\nprediction, which is developed in Chapter 6.\n.rh \"Delta modulation.\"\nThe coding methods presented so far all increase the complexity of the\nanalogue-to-digital interface (or, if the sampled waveform is coded\ndigitally, they increase the processing required before and after storage).\nOne method which considerably\n.ul\nsimplifies\nthe interface is the limiting case\nof DPCM with just 1-bit quantization. Only the sign of the difference between\nthe current and last values is transmitted. Figure 3.9 shows the conversion\nhardware.\n.FC \"Figure 3.9\"\nThe encoding part is essentially the same as a tracking D/A,\nwhere the value in a counter is forced to track the analogue input by\nincrementing or decrementing the counter according as the input exceeds or\nfalls short of the analogue equivalent of the counter's contents. However,\nfor this encoding scheme, called \"delta modulation\", the increment-decrement\nsignal itself forms the discrete representation of the waveform, instead of the counter's\ncontents. The analogue waveform can be reconstituted from the bit stream with\nanother counter and D/A converter. Alternatively, an all-analogue implementation\ncan be used, both for the encoder and decoder, with a capacitor as integrator\nwhose charging current is controlled digitally. This is a much cheaper realization.\n.pp\nIt is fairly obvious that the sampling frequency for delta modulation will need\nto be considerably higher than for straightforward PCM. Figure 3.10 shows\nan effect called \"slope overload\" which occurs when the sampling rate is too low.\n.FC \"Figure 3.10\"\nEither a higher sample rate or a larger step size will reduce the overload;\nhowever, larger steps increase the noise level of the alternate 1's and \\-1's\nthat occur when no input is present \\(em called \"granular noise\". A compromise\nis necessary between slope overload and granular noise for a given bit rate.\nDelta modulation results in lower data rates than logarithmic quantization\nfor a given signal-to-noise ratio if that ratio is low (poor-quality speech).\nAs the desired speech quality is increased its data rate grows faster than\nthat of logarithmic PCM. The crossover point occurs at much lower than\ntelephone quality speech, and so although delta modulation is used for some\napplications where the permissible data rate is severely constrained,\nit is not really suitable for speech output from computers.\n.pp\nIt is profitable to adjust the step size, leading to\n.ul\nadaptive\ndelta modulation.\nA common strategy is to increase or decrease the step size by a multiplicative\nconstant, which depends on whether the new transmitted bit will be equal to\nor different from the last one. That is,\n.LB \"nnnn\"\n.NI \"nn\"\n$stepsize(n+1) = stepsize(n) times 2$ if $x(n+1)\n * long hash = XxHash64Hasher.hash(data);\n * long hash = XxHash64Hasher.hash(data, seed);\n *
\n * \n * try (XxHash64Hasher hasher = XxHash64Hasher.create()) {\n * hasher.update(chunk1);\n * hasher.update(chunk2);\n * long hash = hasher.digest();\n * }\n * \n */\npublic sealed interface XxHash64Hasher\n extends AutoCloseable\n permits XxHash64JavaHasher, XxHash64NativeHasher\n{\n long DEFAULT_SEED = 0;\n\n // ========== Static one-shot methods ==========\n\n static long hash(long value)\n {\n return hash(value, DEFAULT_SEED);\n }\n\n static long hash(long value, long seed)\n {\n // always call the Java version, for this simple case\n return XxHash64JavaHasher.hash(value, seed);\n }\n\n static long hash(byte[] input)\n {\n return hash(input, 0, input.length, DEFAULT_SEED);\n }\n\n static long hash(byte[] input, int offset, int length)\n {\n return hash(input, offset, length, DEFAULT_SEED);\n }\n\n static long hash(byte[] input, long seed)\n {\n return hash(input, 0, input.length, seed);\n }\n\n static long hash(byte[] input, int offset, int length, long seed)\n {\n if (XxHash64NativeHasher.isEnabled()) {\n return XxHash64NativeHasher.hash(input, offset, length, seed);\n }\n return XxHash64JavaHasher.hash(input, offset, length, seed);\n }\n\n static long hash(MemorySegment input)\n {\n return hash(input, DEFAULT_SEED);\n }\n\n static long hash(MemorySegment input, long seed)\n {\n if (XxHash64NativeHasher.isEnabled()) {\n return XxHash64NativeHasher.hash(input, seed);\n }\n return XxHash64JavaHasher.hash(input, seed);\n }\n\n // ========== Factory methods for streaming ==========\n\n static XxHash64Hasher create()\n {\n return create(DEFAULT_SEED);\n }\n\n static XxHash64Hasher create(long seed)\n {\n if (XxHash64NativeHasher.isEnabled()) {\n return new XxHash64NativeHasher(seed);\n }\n return new XxHash64JavaHasher(seed);\n }\n\n // ========== Instance methods for streaming ==========\n\n /**\n * Updates the hash state with the given input data.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash64Hasher update(byte[] input);\n\n /**\n * Updates the hash state with the given input data.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash64Hasher update(byte[] input, int offset, int length);\n\n /**\n * Updates the hash state with the given input data.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash64Hasher update(MemorySegment input);\n\n /**\n * Updates the hash state with the given long value in little-endian byte order.\n * This is useful for hashing length-prefixed data without manual byte conversion.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash64Hasher updateLE(long value);\n\n /**\n * Updates the hash state with the given int value in little-endian byte order.\n * This is useful for hashing length-prefixed data without manual byte conversion.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash64Hasher updateLE(int value);\n\n /**\n * Computes and returns the 64-bit hash of all data passed to update().\n * The state is not modified, so you can continue to call update() and digest().\n */\n long digest();\n\n /**\n * Resets the hasher to its initial state with the default seed.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash64Hasher reset();\n\n /**\n * Resets the hasher with the given seed.\n *\n * @return this hasher for fluent chaining\n */\n XxHash64Hasher reset(long seed);\n\n /**\n * Closes this hasher and releases any resources.\n */\n @Override\n void close();\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/xxhash/XxHash64JavaHasher.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.xxhash;\n\nimport java.lang.foreign.MemorySegment;\nimport java.lang.foreign.ValueLayout;\nimport java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles;\nimport java.lang.invoke.VarHandle;\nimport java.nio.ByteOrder;\n\nimport static java.lang.Long.rotateLeft;\nimport static java.lang.Math.min;\nimport static java.util.Objects.checkFromIndexSize;\n\npublic final class XxHash64JavaHasher\n implements XxHash64Hasher\n{\n private static final long PRIME64_1 = 0x9E3779B185EBCA87L;\n private static final long PRIME64_2 = 0xC2B2AE3D27D4EB4FL;\n private static final long PRIME64_3 = 0x165667B19E3779F9L;\n private static final long PRIME64_4 = 0x85EBCA77C2b2AE63L;\n private static final long PRIME64_5 = 0x27D4EB2F165667C5L;\n\n private static final VarHandle LONG_HANDLE = MethodHandles.byteArrayViewVarHandle(long[].class, ByteOrder.LITTLE_ENDIAN);\n private static final VarHandle INT_HANDLE = MethodHandles.byteArrayViewVarHandle(int[].class, ByteOrder.LITTLE_ENDIAN);\n\n private final byte[] buffer = new byte[32];\n private int bufferSize;\n\n private long bodyLength;\n\n private long v1;\n private long v2;\n private long v3;\n private long v4;\n\n private long seed;\n\n public XxHash64JavaHasher(long seed)\n {\n this.seed = seed;\n resetState(seed);\n }\n\n private void resetState(long seed)\n {\n this.v1 = seed + PRIME64_1 + PRIME64_2;\n this.v2 = seed + PRIME64_2;\n this.v3 = seed;\n this.v4 = seed - PRIME64_1;\n this.bufferSize = 0;\n this.bodyLength = 0;\n }\n\n public static long hash(long value, long seed)\n {\n long hash = seed + PRIME64_5 + Long.BYTES;\n hash = updateTail(hash, value);\n return finalShuffle(hash);\n }\n\n public static long hash(byte[] input, int offset, int length, long seed)\n {\n checkFromIndexSize(offset, length, input.length);\n\n long hash;\n int index = offset;\n int end = offset + length;\n\n if (length >= 32) {\n long v1 = seed + PRIME64_1 + PRIME64_2;\n long v2 = seed + PRIME64_2;\n long v3 = seed;\n long v4 = seed - PRIME64_1;\n\n while (index <= end - 32) {\n v1 = mix(v1, (long) LONG_HANDLE.get(input, index));\n v2 = mix(v2, (long) LONG_HANDLE.get(input, index + 8));\n v3 = mix(v3, (long) LONG_HANDLE.get(input, index + 16));\n v4 = mix(v4, (long) LONG_HANDLE.get(input, index + 24));\n index += 32;\n }\n\n hash = rotateLeft(v1, 1) + rotateLeft(v2, 7) + rotateLeft(v3, 12) + rotateLeft(v4, 18);\n hash = update(hash, v1);\n hash = update(hash, v2);\n hash = update(hash, v3);\n hash = update(hash, v4);\n }\n else {\n hash = seed + PRIME64_5;\n }\n\n hash += length;\n\n // Process remaining bytes\n while (index <= end - 8) {\n hash = updateTail(hash, (long) LONG_HANDLE.get(input, index));\n index += 8;\n }\n\n if (index <= end - 4) {\n hash = updateTail(hash, (int) INT_HANDLE.get(input, index));\n index += 4;\n }\n\n while (index < end) {\n hash = updateTail(hash, input[index]);\n index++;\n }\n\n return finalShuffle(hash);\n }\n\n public static long hash(MemorySegment input, long seed)\n {\n // For heap segments backed by byte arrays, extract and use direct array access\n if (input.isNative()) {\n return hashSegment(input, seed);\n }\n\n // Try to get the backing array for better performance\n byte[] array = input.heapBase()\n .filter(base -> base instanceof byte[])\n .map(base -> (byte[]) base)\n .orElse(null);\n\n if (array != null) {\n // Calculate offset into the array\n // heapBase gives us the array, address gives us offset from array start\n long arrayOffset = input.address();\n return hash(array, (int) arrayOffset, (int) input.byteSize(), seed);\n }\n\n return hashSegment(input, seed);\n }\n\n private static long hashSegment(MemorySegment input, long seed)\n {\n long length = input.byteSize();\n long hash;\n long index = 0;\n\n if (length >= 32) {\n long v1 = seed + PRIME64_1 + PRIME64_2;\n long v2 = seed + PRIME64_2;\n long v3 = seed;\n long v4 = seed - PRIME64_1;\n\n while (index <= length - 32) {\n v1 = mix(v1, input.get(ValueLayout.JAVA_LONG_UNALIGNED, index));\n v2 = mix(v2, input.get(ValueLayout.JAVA_LONG_UNALIGNED, index + 8));\n v3 = mix(v3, input.get(ValueLayout.JAVA_LONG_UNALIGNED, index + 16));\n v4 = mix(v4, input.get(ValueLayout.JAVA_LONG_UNALIGNED, index + 24));\n index += 32;\n }\n\n hash = rotateLeft(v1, 1) + rotateLeft(v2, 7) + rotateLeft(v3, 12) + rotateLeft(v4, 18);\n hash = update(hash, v1);\n hash = update(hash, v2);\n hash = update(hash, v3);\n hash = update(hash, v4);\n }\n else {\n hash = seed + PRIME64_5;\n }\n\n hash += length;\n\n while (index <= length - 8) {\n hash = updateTail(hash, input.get(ValueLayout.JAVA_LONG_UNALIGNED, index));\n index += 8;\n }\n\n if (index <= length - 4) {\n hash = updateTail(hash, input.get(ValueLayout.JAVA_INT_UNALIGNED, index));\n index += 4;\n }\n\n while (index < length) {\n hash = updateTail(hash, input.get(ValueLayout.JAVA_BYTE, index));\n index++;\n }\n\n return finalShuffle(hash);\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash64Hasher update(byte[] input)\n {\n return update(input, 0, input.length);\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash64Hasher update(byte[] input, int offset, int length)\n {\n checkFromIndexSize(offset, length, input.length);\n\n int index = offset;\n int remaining = length;\n\n // Fill buffer if partially filled\n if (bufferSize > 0) {\n int available = min(32 - bufferSize, remaining);\n System.arraycopy(input, index, buffer, bufferSize, available);\n\n bufferSize += available;\n index += available;\n remaining -= available;\n\n if (bufferSize == 32) {\n updateBodyFromBuffer();\n bufferSize = 0;\n }\n }\n\n // Process full 32-byte blocks directly from input\n while (remaining >= 32) {\n v1 = mix(v1, (long) LONG_HANDLE.get(input, index));\n v2 = mix(v2, (long) LONG_HANDLE.get(input, index + 8));\n v3 = mix(v3, (long) LONG_HANDLE.get(input, index + 16));\n v4 = mix(v4, (long) LONG_HANDLE.get(input, index + 24));\n\n index += 32;\n remaining -= 32;\n bodyLength += 32;\n }\n\n // Buffer remaining bytes\n if (remaining > 0) {\n System.arraycopy(input, index, buffer, bufferSize, remaining);\n bufferSize += remaining;\n }\n\n return this;\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash64Hasher update(MemorySegment input)\n {\n // For heap segments backed by byte arrays, use direct array access\n byte[] array = input.heapBase()\n .filter(base -> base instanceof byte[])\n .map(base -> (byte[]) base)\n .orElse(null);\n\n if (array != null) {\n long arrayOffset = input.address();\n return update(array, (int) arrayOffset, (int) input.byteSize());\n }\n\n // Fall back to MemorySegment access for native memory\n return updateSegment(input);\n }\n\n private XxHash64Hasher updateSegment(MemorySegment input)\n {\n long length = input.byteSize();\n long inputOffset = 0;\n\n if (bufferSize > 0) {\n int available = (int) min(32 - bufferSize, length);\n for (int i = 0; i < available; i++) {\n buffer[bufferSize + i] = input.get(ValueLayout.JAVA_BYTE, inputOffset + i);\n }\n\n bufferSize += available;\n inputOffset += available;\n length -= available;\n\n if (bufferSize == 32) {\n updateBodyFromBuffer();\n bufferSize = 0;\n }\n }\n\n while (length >= 32) {\n v1 = mix(v1, input.get(ValueLayout.JAVA_LONG_UNALIGNED, inputOffset));\n v2 = mix(v2, input.get(ValueLayout.JAVA_LONG_UNALIGNED, inputOffset + 8));\n v3 = mix(v3, input.get(ValueLayout.JAVA_LONG_UNALIGNED, inputOffset + 16));\n v4 = mix(v4, input.get(ValueLayout.JAVA_LONG_UNALIGNED, inputOffset + 24));\n\n inputOffset += 32;\n length -= 32;\n bodyLength += 32;\n }\n\n if (length > 0) {\n for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {\n buffer[bufferSize + i] = input.get(ValueLayout.JAVA_BYTE, inputOffset + i);\n }\n bufferSize += (int) length;\n }\n\n return this;\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash64Hasher updateLE(long value)\n {\n byte[] bytes = new byte[8];\n LONG_HANDLE.set(bytes, 0, value);\n return update(bytes);\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash64Hasher updateLE(int value)\n {\n byte[] bytes = new byte[4];\n INT_HANDLE.set(bytes, 0, value);\n return update(bytes);\n }\n\n private void updateBodyFromBuffer()\n {\n v1 = mix(v1, (long) LONG_HANDLE.get(buffer, 0));\n v2 = mix(v2, (long) LONG_HANDLE.get(buffer, 8));\n v3 = mix(v3, (long) LONG_HANDLE.get(buffer, 16));\n v4 = mix(v4, (long) LONG_HANDLE.get(buffer, 24));\n bodyLength += 32;\n }\n\n @Override\n public long digest()\n {\n long hash;\n if (bodyLength > 0) {\n hash = computeBody();\n }\n else {\n hash = seed + PRIME64_5;\n }\n\n hash += bodyLength + bufferSize;\n\n // Process remaining bytes in buffer\n int index = 0;\n while (index <= bufferSize - 8) {\n hash = updateTail(hash, (long) LONG_HANDLE.get(buffer, index));\n index += 8;\n }\n\n if (index <= bufferSize - 4) {\n hash = updateTail(hash, (int) INT_HANDLE.get(buffer, index));\n index += 4;\n }\n\n while (index < bufferSize) {\n hash = updateTail(hash, buffer[index]);\n index++;\n }\n\n return finalShuffle(hash);\n }\n\n private long computeBody()\n {\n long hash = rotateLeft(v1, 1) + rotateLeft(v2, 7) + rotateLeft(v3, 12) + rotateLeft(v4, 18);\n\n hash = update(hash, v1);\n hash = update(hash, v2);\n hash = update(hash, v3);\n hash = update(hash, v4);\n\n return hash;\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash64Hasher reset()\n {\n return reset(DEFAULT_SEED);\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash64Hasher reset(long seed)\n {\n this.seed = seed;\n resetState(seed);\n return this;\n }\n\n @Override\n public void close() {}\n\n private static long mix(long current, long value)\n {\n return rotateLeft(current + value * PRIME64_2, 31) * PRIME64_1;\n }\n\n private static long update(long hash, long value)\n {\n long temp = hash ^ mix(0, value);\n return temp * PRIME64_1 + PRIME64_4;\n }\n\n private static long updateTail(long hash, long value)\n {\n long temp = hash ^ mix(0, value);\n return rotateLeft(temp, 27) * PRIME64_1 + PRIME64_4;\n }\n\n private static long updateTail(long hash, int value)\n {\n long unsigned = value & 0xFFFF_FFFFL;\n long temp = hash ^ (unsigned * PRIME64_1);\n return rotateLeft(temp, 23) * PRIME64_2 + PRIME64_3;\n }\n\n private static long updateTail(long hash, byte value)\n {\n int unsigned = value & 0xFF;\n long temp = hash ^ (unsigned * PRIME64_5);\n return rotateLeft(temp, 11) * PRIME64_1;\n }\n\n private static long finalShuffle(long hash)\n {\n hash ^= hash >>> 33;\n hash *= PRIME64_2;\n hash ^= hash >>> 29;\n hash *= PRIME64_3;\n hash ^= hash >>> 32;\n return hash;\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/xxhash/XxHash64NativeHasher.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.xxhash;\n\nimport java.lang.foreign.Arena;\nimport java.lang.foreign.MemorySegment;\nimport java.lang.foreign.ValueLayout;\nimport java.lang.ref.Cleaner;\nimport java.nio.ByteOrder;\n\nimport static java.util.Objects.checkFromIndexSize;\n\npublic final class XxHash64NativeHasher\n implements XxHash64Hasher\n{\n private static final Cleaner CLEANER = Cleaner.create();\n private static final ValueLayout.OfLong JAVA_LONG_LE_UNALIGNED = ValueLayout.JAVA_LONG_UNALIGNED.withOrder(ByteOrder.LITTLE_ENDIAN);\n private static final ValueLayout.OfInt JAVA_INT_LE_UNALIGNED = ValueLayout.JAVA_INT_UNALIGNED.withOrder(ByteOrder.LITTLE_ENDIAN);\n\n private final MemorySegment state;\n private final Cleaner.Cleanable cleanable;\n private final byte[] scratch = new byte[8];\n private boolean closed;\n\n public XxHash64NativeHasher(long seed)\n {\n XxHash64Bindings.verifyEnabled();\n\n NativeResources resources = new NativeResources();\n this.cleanable = CLEANER.register(this, resources);\n Arena arena = resources.arena();\n\n MemorySegment rawState = XxHash64Bindings.createState();\n if (rawState.equals(MemorySegment.NULL)) {\n cleanable.clean();\n throw new IllegalStateException(\"Failed to create XXH64 state\");\n }\n this.state = rawState.reinterpret(arena, XxHash64Bindings::freeState);\n XxHash64Bindings.reset(state, seed);\n }\n\n // ========== Static methods ==========\n\n public static boolean isEnabled()\n {\n return XxHash64Bindings.isEnabled();\n }\n\n public static long hash(byte[] input, int offset, int length, long seed)\n {\n checkFromIndexSize(offset, length, input.length);\n XxHash64Bindings.verifyEnabled();\n MemorySegment segment = MemorySegment.ofArray(input).asSlice(offset, length);\n return XxHash64Bindings.hash(segment, length, seed);\n }\n\n public static long hash(MemorySegment input, long seed)\n {\n XxHash64Bindings.verifyEnabled();\n return XxHash64Bindings.hash(input, input.byteSize(), seed);\n }\n\n // ========== Instance streaming methods ==========\n\n @Override\n public XxHash64Hasher update(byte[] input)\n {\n return update(input, 0, input.length);\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash64Hasher update(byte[] input, int offset, int length)\n {\n checkFromIndexSize(offset, length, input.length);\n checkNotClosed();\n MemorySegment segment = MemorySegment.ofArray(input).asSlice(offset, length);\n XxHash64Bindings.update(state, segment, length);\n return this;\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash64Hasher update(MemorySegment input)\n {\n checkNotClosed();\n XxHash64Bindings.update(state, input, input.byteSize());\n return this;\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash64Hasher updateLE(long value)\n {\n checkNotClosed();\n MemorySegment segment = MemorySegment.ofArray(scratch);\n segment.set(JAVA_LONG_LE_UNALIGNED, 0, value);\n XxHash64Bindings.update(state, segment, 8);\n return this;\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash64Hasher updateLE(int value)\n {\n checkNotClosed();\n MemorySegment segment = MemorySegment.ofArray(scratch);\n segment.set(JAVA_INT_LE_UNALIGNED, 0, value);\n XxHash64Bindings.update(state, segment, 4);\n return this;\n }\n\n @Override\n public long digest()\n {\n checkNotClosed();\n return XxHash64Bindings.digest(state);\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash64Hasher reset()\n {\n return reset(DEFAULT_SEED);\n }\n\n @Override\n public XxHash64Hasher reset(long seed)\n {\n checkNotClosed();\n XxHash64Bindings.reset(state, seed);\n return this;\n }\n\n private void checkNotClosed()\n {\n if (closed) {\n throw new IllegalStateException(\"Hasher has been closed\");\n }\n }\n\n @Override\n public void close()\n {\n if (!closed) {\n closed = true;\n cleanable.clean();\n }\n }\n\n /**\n * Holds native resources that must be freed.\n * Implements Runnable so it can be used with Cleaner.\n */\n private record NativeResources(Arena arena)\n implements Runnable\n {\n NativeResources()\n {\n this(Arena.ofShared());\n }\n\n @Override\n public void run()\n {\n arena.close();\n }\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/main/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/zstd/BitInputStream.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd;\n\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Constants.SIZE_OF_LONG;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.UnsafeUtil.UNSAFE;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.highestBit;\nimport static io.airlift.compress.v3.zstd.Util.verify;\n\n/**\n * Bit streams are encoded as a byte-aligned little-endian stream. Thus, bits are laid out\n * in the following manner, and the stream is read from right to left.\n * \n * mvn exec:java -Dexec.mainClass=\"io.airlift.compress.v3.benchmark.HashBenchmark\" -Dexec.classpathScope=\"test\"\n *
\n *\n * \n * mvn exec:java -Dexec.mainClass=\"io.airlift.compress.v3.benchmark.HashBenchmark\" -Dexec.classpathScope=\"test\" -Dexec.args=\"-p size=64,1024,65536\"\n *
\n */\n@State(Scope.Thread)\n@OutputTimeUnit(TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)\n@Warmup(iterations = 5, time = 500, timeUnit = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)\n@Measurement(iterations = 10, time = 500, timeUnit = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)\n@Fork(1)\npublic class HashBenchmark\n{\n @Param({\"8\", \"64\", \"1024\", \"65536\"})\n private int size;\n\n private byte[] data;\n private MemorySegment segment;\n\n @Setup\n public void setup()\n {\n data = new byte[size];\n ThreadLocalRandom.current().nextBytes(data);\n segment = MemorySegment.ofArray(data);\n }\n\n // ========== XxHash64 Java (VarHandle-based) ==========\n\n @Benchmark\n public long xxhash64_java()\n {\n return XxHash64JavaHasher.hash(data, 0, data.length, 0);\n }\n\n @Benchmark\n public long xxhash64_java_segment()\n {\n return XxHash64JavaHasher.hash(segment, 0);\n }\n\n // ========== XxHash64 Native ==========\n\n @Benchmark\n public long xxhash64_native()\n {\n return XxHash64NativeHasher.hash(data, 0, data.length, 0);\n }\n\n @Benchmark\n public long xxhash64_native_segment()\n {\n return XxHash64NativeHasher.hash(segment, 0);\n }\n\n // ========== XxHash3 64-bit Native ==========\n\n @Benchmark\n public long xxhash3_64_native()\n {\n return XxHash3Native.hash(data);\n }\n\n @Benchmark\n public long xxhash3_64_native_segment()\n {\n return XxHash3Native.hash(segment);\n }\n\n // ========== XxHash3 128-bit Native ==========\n\n @Benchmark\n public XxHash128 xxhash3_128_native()\n {\n return XxHash3Native.hash128(data);\n }\n\n @Benchmark\n public XxHash128 xxhash3_128_native_segment()\n {\n return XxHash3Native.hash128(segment);\n }\n\n public static void main(String[] args)\n throws RunnerException, CommandLineOptionException\n {\n CommandLineOptions parsedOptions = new CommandLineOptions(args);\n new Runner(new OptionsBuilder()\n .parent(parsedOptions)\n .include(\".*\\\\.\" + HashBenchmark.class.getSimpleName() + \".*\")\n .build())\n .run();\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/test/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/bzip2/TestBZip2Codec.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.bzip2;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.AbstractTestCompression;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Compressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Decompressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopCodecCompressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopCodecDecompressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopNative;\nimport org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;\nimport org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.CompressionCodec;\n\nclass TestBZip2Codec\n extends AbstractTestCompression\n{\n static {\n HadoopNative.requireHadoopNative();\n }\n\n private final CompressionCodec verifyCodec;\n\n TestBZip2Codec()\n {\n org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.BZip2Codec codec = new org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.BZip2Codec();\n codec.setConf(new Configuration());\n this.verifyCodec = codec;\n }\n\n @Override\n protected boolean isMemorySegmentSupported()\n {\n return false;\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Compressor getCompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecCompressor(new BZip2Codec(), TestBZip2Codec::guessMaxCompressedSize);\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Decompressor getDecompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecDecompressor(new BZip2Codec());\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Compressor getVerifyCompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecCompressor(verifyCodec, TestBZip2Codec::guessMaxCompressedSize);\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Decompressor getVerifyDecompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecDecompressor(verifyCodec);\n }\n\n private static int guessMaxCompressedSize(int size)\n {\n return (int) (size * 1.2) + 256;\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/test/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/bzip2/TestBZip2CodecByteAtATime.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.bzip2;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.AbstractTestCompression;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Compressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Decompressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopCodecCompressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopCodecDecompressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopCodecDecompressorByteAtATime;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopNative;\nimport org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;\nimport org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.CompressionCodec;\n\nclass TestBZip2CodecByteAtATime\n extends AbstractTestCompression\n{\n static {\n HadoopNative.requireHadoopNative();\n }\n\n private final CompressionCodec verifyCodec;\n\n TestBZip2CodecByteAtATime()\n {\n org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.BZip2Codec codec = new org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.BZip2Codec();\n codec.setConf(new Configuration());\n this.verifyCodec = codec;\n }\n\n @Override\n protected boolean isMemorySegmentSupported()\n {\n return false;\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Compressor getCompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecCompressor(new BZip2Codec(), TestBZip2CodecByteAtATime::guessMaxCompressedSize);\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Decompressor getDecompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecDecompressorByteAtATime(new BZip2Codec());\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Compressor getVerifyCompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecCompressor(verifyCodec, TestBZip2CodecByteAtATime::guessMaxCompressedSize);\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Decompressor getVerifyDecompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecDecompressor(verifyCodec);\n }\n\n private static int guessMaxCompressedSize(int size)\n {\n return (int) (size * 1.2) + 256;\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/test/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/deflate/MockJdkDeflateCompressor.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.deflate;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Compressor;\n\nimport java.lang.foreign.MemorySegment;\n\npublic class MockJdkDeflateCompressor\n implements Compressor\n{\n private static final int OVERHEAD = 128;\n\n @Override\n public int maxCompressedLength(int uncompressedSize)\n {\n return uncompressedSize + OVERHEAD;\n }\n\n @Override\n public int compress(byte[] input, int inputOffset, int inputLength, byte[] output, int outputOffset, int maxOutputLength)\n {\n throw new UnsupportedOperationException(\"method is not supported\");\n }\n\n @Override\n public int compress(MemorySegment input, MemorySegment output)\n {\n throw new UnsupportedOperationException();\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/test/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/deflate/TestDeflate.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.deflate;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.AbstractTestCompression;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Compressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Decompressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopNative;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.MalformedInputException;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.lzo.LzoDecompressor;\nimport org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;\n\nimport java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;\nimport java.io.IOException;\n\nimport static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatThrownBy;\n\npublic class TestDeflate\n extends AbstractTestCompression\n{\n static {\n HadoopNative.requireHadoopNative();\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Compressor getCompressor()\n {\n return new DeflateJavaCompressor();\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Decompressor getDecompressor()\n {\n return new DeflateJavaDecompressor();\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Compressor getVerifyCompressor()\n {\n return new DeflateJavaCompressor();\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Decompressor getVerifyDecompressor()\n {\n return new DeflateJavaDecompressor();\n }\n\n @Test\n void testLiteralLengthOverflow()\n throws IOException\n {\n ByteArrayOutputStream buffer = new ByteArrayOutputStream();\n // Command\n buffer.write(0);\n // Causes overflow for `literalLength`\n buffer.write(new byte[Integer.MAX_VALUE / 255 + 1]); // ~9MB\n buffer.write(1);\n\n byte[] data = buffer.toByteArray();\n\n assertThatThrownBy(() -> new LzoDecompressor().decompress(data, 0, data.length, new byte[20000], 0, 20000))\n .isInstanceOf(MalformedInputException.class);\n }\n\n @Test\n void testMatchLengthOverflow1()\n throws IOException\n {\n ByteArrayOutputStream buffer = new ByteArrayOutputStream();\n // Write some data so that `matchOffset` validation later passes\n // Command\n buffer.write(0);\n buffer.write(new byte[66]);\n buffer.write(8);\n buffer.write(new byte[2107 * 8]);\n\n // Command\n buffer.write(0b001_0000);\n // Causes overflow for `matchLength`\n buffer.write(new byte[Integer.MAX_VALUE / 255 + 1]); // ~9MB\n buffer.write(1);\n // Trailer\n buffer.write(0b0000_0000);\n buffer.write(0b0000_0100);\n\n buffer.write(new byte[10]);\n\n byte[] data = buffer.toByteArray();\n\n assertThatThrownBy(() -> new LzoDecompressor().decompress(data, 0, data.length, new byte[20000], 0, 20000))\n .isInstanceOf(MalformedInputException.class);\n }\n\n @Test\n void testMatchLengthOverflow2()\n throws IOException\n {\n ByteArrayOutputStream buffer = new ByteArrayOutputStream();\n // Write some data so that `matchOffset` validation later passes\n // Command\n buffer.write(0);\n buffer.write(246);\n buffer.write(new byte[264]);\n\n // Command\n buffer.write(0b0010_0000);\n // Causes overflow for `matchLength`\n buffer.write(new byte[Integer.MAX_VALUE / 255 + 1]); // ~9MB\n buffer.write(1);\n // Trailer\n buffer.write(0b0000_0000);\n buffer.write(0b0000_0100);\n\n buffer.write(new byte[10]);\n\n byte[] data = buffer.toByteArray();\n\n assertThatThrownBy(() -> new LzoDecompressor().decompress(data, 0, data.length, new byte[20000], 0, 20000))\n .isInstanceOf(MalformedInputException.class);\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/test/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/deflate/TestDeflateNative.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.deflate;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.AbstractTestCompression;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Compressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Decompressor;\n\npublic class TestDeflateNative\n extends AbstractTestCompression\n{\n @Override\n protected Compressor getCompressor()\n {\n return new DeflateNativeCompressor();\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Decompressor getDecompressor()\n {\n return new DeflateNativeDecompressor();\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Compressor getVerifyCompressor()\n {\n return new DeflateJavaCompressor();\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Decompressor getVerifyDecompressor()\n {\n return new DeflateJavaDecompressor();\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/test/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/deflate/TestJdkDeflateCodec.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.deflate;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.AbstractTestCompression;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Compressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Decompressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopCodecCompressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopCodecDecompressor;\nimport org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;\nimport org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.CompressionCodec;\nimport org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.DefaultCodec;\n\nclass TestJdkDeflateCodec\n extends AbstractTestCompression\n{\n private final CompressionCodec verifyCodec;\n\n TestJdkDeflateCodec()\n {\n DefaultCodec codec = new DefaultCodec();\n codec.setConf(new Configuration());\n this.verifyCodec = codec;\n }\n\n @Override\n protected boolean isMemorySegmentSupported()\n {\n return false;\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Compressor getCompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecCompressor(new JdkDeflateCodec(), new MockJdkDeflateCompressor());\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Decompressor getDecompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecDecompressor(new JdkDeflateCodec());\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Compressor getVerifyCompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecCompressor(verifyCodec, new MockJdkDeflateCompressor());\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Decompressor getVerifyDecompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecDecompressor(verifyCodec);\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/test/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/deflate/TestJdkDeflateCodecByteAtATime.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.deflate;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.AbstractTestCompression;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Compressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Decompressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopCodecCompressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopCodecDecompressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopCodecDecompressorByteAtATime;\nimport org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;\nimport org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.CompressionCodec;\nimport org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.DefaultCodec;\n\nclass TestJdkDeflateCodecByteAtATime\n extends AbstractTestCompression\n{\n private final CompressionCodec verifyCodec;\n\n TestJdkDeflateCodecByteAtATime()\n {\n DefaultCodec codec = new DefaultCodec();\n codec.setConf(new Configuration());\n this.verifyCodec = codec;\n }\n\n @Override\n protected boolean isMemorySegmentSupported()\n {\n return false;\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Compressor getCompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecCompressor(new JdkDeflateCodec(), new MockJdkDeflateCompressor());\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Decompressor getDecompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecDecompressorByteAtATime(new JdkDeflateCodec());\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Compressor getVerifyCompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecCompressor(verifyCodec, new MockJdkDeflateCompressor());\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Decompressor getVerifyDecompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecDecompressor(verifyCodec);\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/test/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/gzip/MockJdkGzipCompressor.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.gzip;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Compressor;\n\nimport java.lang.foreign.MemorySegment;\n\npublic class MockJdkGzipCompressor\n implements Compressor\n{\n private static final int OVERHEAD = 128;\n\n @Override\n public int maxCompressedLength(int uncompressedSize)\n {\n return uncompressedSize + OVERHEAD;\n }\n\n @Override\n public int compress(byte[] input, int inputOffset, int inputLength, byte[] output, int outputOffset, int maxOutputLength)\n {\n throw new UnsupportedOperationException(\"method is not supported\");\n }\n\n @Override\n public int compress(MemorySegment input, MemorySegment output)\n {\n throw new UnsupportedOperationException(\"method is not supported\");\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/test/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/gzip/TestJdkGzipCodec.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.gzip;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.AbstractTestCompression;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Compressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Decompressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopCodecCompressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopCodecDecompressor;\nimport org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;\nimport org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.CompressionCodec;\n\nclass TestJdkGzipCodec\n extends AbstractTestCompression\n{\n private final CompressionCodec verifyCodec;\n\n TestJdkGzipCodec()\n {\n org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.GzipCodec codec = new org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.GzipCodec();\n codec.setConf(new Configuration());\n this.verifyCodec = codec;\n }\n\n @Override\n protected boolean isMemorySegmentSupported()\n {\n return false;\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Compressor getCompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecCompressor(new JdkGzipCodec(), new MockJdkGzipCompressor());\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Decompressor getDecompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecDecompressor(new JdkGzipCodec());\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Compressor getVerifyCompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecCompressor(verifyCodec, new MockJdkGzipCompressor());\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Decompressor getVerifyDecompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecDecompressor(verifyCodec);\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/test/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/gzip/TestJdkGzipCodecByteAtATime.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.gzip;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.AbstractTestCompression;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Compressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.Decompressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopCodecCompressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopCodecDecompressor;\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.HadoopCodecDecompressorByteAtATime;\nimport org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;\nimport org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.CompressionCodec;\n\nclass TestJdkGzipCodecByteAtATime\n extends AbstractTestCompression\n{\n private final CompressionCodec verifyCodec;\n\n TestJdkGzipCodecByteAtATime()\n {\n org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.GzipCodec codec = new org.apache.hadoop.io.compress.GzipCodec();\n codec.setConf(new Configuration());\n this.verifyCodec = codec;\n }\n\n @Override\n protected boolean isMemorySegmentSupported()\n {\n return false;\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Compressor getCompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecCompressor(new JdkGzipCodec(), new MockJdkGzipCompressor());\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Decompressor getDecompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecDecompressorByteAtATime(new JdkGzipCodec());\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Compressor getVerifyCompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecCompressor(verifyCodec, new MockJdkGzipCompressor());\n }\n\n @Override\n protected Decompressor getVerifyDecompressor()\n {\n return new HadoopCodecDecompressor(verifyCodec);\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/test/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/gzip/TestJdkGzipHadoopInputStream.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.gzip;\n\nimport com.google.common.io.ByteStreams;\nimport org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;\n\nimport java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;\nimport java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;\nimport java.io.IOException;\nimport java.io.InputStream;\nimport java.io.OutputStream;\nimport java.io.SequenceInputStream;\nimport java.util.zip.GZIPOutputStream;\n\nimport static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;\n\nclass TestJdkGzipHadoopInputStream\n{\n @Test\n void testGzipInputStreamBug()\n throws IOException\n {\n byte[] part1 = zip(\"hello \".getBytes());\n byte[] part2 = zip(\"world\".getBytes());\n\n InputStream compressed = new SequenceInputStream(new ByteArrayInputStream(part1), new ByteArrayInputStream(part2));\n byte[] data = ByteStreams.toByteArray(new JdkGzipHadoopStreams().createInputStream(compressed));\n\n assertThat(data).isEqualTo(\"hello world\".getBytes());\n }\n\n private static byte[] zip(byte[] data)\n throws IOException\n {\n ByteArrayOutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();\n try (OutputStream gzipOut = new GZIPOutputStream(out)) {\n gzipOut.write(data);\n }\n return out.toByteArray();\n }\n}\n"
},
{
"path": "src/test/java/io/airlift/compress/v3/internal/TestNativeLoader.java",
"content": "/*\n * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the \"License\");\n * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.\n * You may obtain a copy of the License at\n *\n * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0\n *\n * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software\n * distributed under the License is distributed on an \"AS IS\" BASIS,\n * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.\n * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and\n * limitations under the License.\n */\npackage io.airlift.compress.v3.internal;\n\nimport io.airlift.compress.v3.internal.NativeLoader.Symbols;\nimport org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;\n\nimport java.lang.invoke.MethodHandle;\nimport java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles;\n\nimport static java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles.lookup;\nimport static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;\nimport static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatThrownBy;\n\nclass TestNativeLoader\n{\n @Test\n void testUnknownLibrary()\n {\n assertThatThrownBy(() -> NativeLoader.loadLibrary(\"unknown\"))\n .isInstanceOf(LinkageError.class)\n .hasMessageMatching(\"Library not found: /aircompressor/.*/.*unknown.*\");\n }\n\n @Test\n void testLoadSymbols()\n throws Throwable\n {\n Symbols