The Gurgoyle: Its Doings
- Note: we're not sure why Hardy decided to spell "gargoyle" in a weird way in this title.
- Hardy spends this entire chapter talking about a stone gargoyle that's sitting on one of the ledges of the cemetery building that Sergeant Troy has just fallen asleep in.
- As Troy sleeps and the rain increases, water starts to shoot out of the gargoyle's mouth, since the statue is used as a rainspout. Usually, there are some stones at the bottom of the building to direct the water away from the graves. But since these stones were displaced the previous summer, there's nothing to keep the water from flowing directly over the graves.
- Sadly, the water totally fills up Fanny's open grave and ruins all of the flowers that Sergeant Troy has painstakingly planted over the past few hours.
- When Troy wakes up, he takes the ruined flowers as a sign that he should stop trying to be a nice person. As you can imagine, it doesn't take much to discourage this guy from trying to be a nice person.
- He decides to leave Weathbury without telling anyone.
- Now we look in on Bathsheba, who hasn't slept well throughout the night. Huh. We wonder why.
- Liddy informs Bathsheba that Troy was seen walking the road toward Budmouth (a nearby town) early in the morning.
- Bathsheba gets up to go look at Fanny's grave. Sure enough, the new tombstone that's been brought to town has been for her. On the stone, Bathsheba reads, "Erected by Francis Troy in Beloved Memory of Fanny Robin."
- At the grave, she meets up with Gabriel Oak, who now realizes that Bathsheba knows everything about Sergeant Troy and Fanny. With his help, Bathsheba starts replanting all of the nice flowers that Troy gave up on.