finished_summaries/cliffnotes/Far from the Madding Crowd/section_26_part_0.txt
Far from the Madding Crowd.chapter 27
chapter 27
{"name": "Chapter 27", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20201101052914/https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/f/far-from-the-madding-crowd/summary-and-analysis/chapter-27", "summary": "The swarming of the bees was late that June. Bathsheba watched them finally gravitating toward one high branch of an unwieldy tree, forming a huge black mass. Since the farmhands were all haying, she decided to hive the bees alone. Wearing clothes that covered her completely, including gloves, hat, and a veil, she fetched a ladder and mounted it. Troy appeared and offered his help, declaring how fortunate he was to be arriving at just the right moment. Bathsheba insisted that he don the protective hat, veil, and gloves. \"He looked such an extraordinary object in this guise that, flurried as she was, she could not avoid laughing outright. It was the removal of yet another stake from the palisade of cold manners which had kept him off.\" Troy brought the filled hive down, a cloud of bees trailing behind it. He remarked that holding the hive made his arm ache more than a week of sword exercises did. When Bathsheba said that she had never seen an exhibition of swordplay, he volunteered to give one for her, privately, that evening. Reconsidering her plan to bring Liddy with her, after Troy reacted to it coldly, Bathsheba agreed to come unaccompanied, \"for a very short time.\" \"'It will not take five minutes,' said Troy.\"", "analysis": "This chapter contains lighthearted conversation and rare laughter. The ludicrous costuming of Troy adds to the merriment. Also, in this further encounter between Bathsheba and Troy and their plans for still another meeting, the pace of the plot is quickened."}


HIVING THE BEES


The Weatherbury bees were late in their swarming this year. It was in
the latter part of June, and the day after the interview with Troy in
the hayfield, that Bathsheba was standing in her garden, watching a
swarm in the air and guessing their probable settling place.  Not
only were they late this year, but unruly.  Sometimes throughout a
whole season all the swarms would alight on the lowest attainable
bough--such as part of a currant-bush or espalier apple-tree; next
year they would, with just the same unanimity, make straight off to
the uppermost member of some tall, gaunt costard, or quarrenden,
and there defy all invaders who did not come armed with ladders and
staves to take them.

This was the case at present.  Bathsheba's eyes, shaded by one hand,
were following the ascending multitude against the unexplorable
stretch of blue till they ultimately halted by one of the unwieldy
trees spoken of.  A process somewhat analogous to that of alleged
formations of the universe, time and times ago, was observable.  The
bustling swarm had swept the sky in a scattered and uniform haze,
which now thickened to a nebulous centre: this glided on to a bough
and grew still denser, till it formed a solid black spot upon the
light.

The men and women being all busily engaged in saving the hay--even
Liddy had left the house for the purpose of lending a hand--Bathsheba
resolved to hive the bees herself, if possible.  She had dressed the
hive with herbs and honey, fetched a ladder, brush, and crook, made
herself impregnable with armour of leather gloves, straw hat, and
large gauze veil--once green but now faded to snuff colour--and
ascended a dozen rungs of the ladder.  At once she heard, not ten
yards off, a voice that was beginning to have a strange power in
agitating her.

"Miss Everdene, let me assist you; you should not attempt such a
thing alone."

Troy was just opening the garden gate.

Bathsheba flung down the brush, crook, and empty hive, pulled the
skirt of her dress tightly round her ankles in a tremendous flurry,
and as well as she could slid down the ladder.  By the time she
reached the bottom Troy was there also, and he stooped to pick up
the hive.

"How fortunate I am to have dropped in at this moment!" exclaimed the
sergeant.

She found her voice in a minute.  "What! and will you shake them in
for me?" she asked, in what, for a defiant girl, was a faltering way;
though, for a timid girl, it would have seemed a brave way enough.

"Will I!" said Troy.  "Why, of course I will.  How blooming you are
to-day!"  Troy flung down his cane and put his foot on the ladder to
ascend.

"But you must have on the veil and gloves, or you'll be stung
fearfully!"

"Ah, yes.  I must put on the veil and gloves.  Will you kindly show
me how to fix them properly?"

"And you must have the broad-brimmed hat, too, for your cap has no
brim to keep the veil off, and they'd reach your face."

"The broad-brimmed hat, too, by all means."

So a whimsical fate ordered that her hat should be taken off--veil
and all attached--and placed upon his head, Troy tossing his own into
a gooseberry bush.  Then the veil had to be tied at its lower edge
round his collar and the gloves put on him.

He looked such an extraordinary object in this guise that, flurried
as she was, she could not avoid laughing outright. It was the removal
of yet another stake from the palisade of cold manners which had kept
him off.

Bathsheba looked on from the ground whilst he was busy sweeping and
shaking the bees from the tree, holding up the hive with the other
hand for them to fall into.  She made use of an unobserved minute
whilst his attention was absorbed in the operation to arrange her
plumes a little.  He came down holding the hive at arm's length,
behind which trailed a cloud of bees.

"Upon my life," said Troy, through the veil, "holding up this hive
makes one's arm ache worse than a week of sword-exercise." When the
manoeuvre was complete he approached her.  "Would you be good enough
to untie me and let me out? I am nearly stifled inside this silk
cage."

To hide her embarrassment during the unwonted process of untying the
string about his neck, she said:--

"I have never seen that you spoke of."

"What?"

"The sword-exercise."

"Ah! would you like to?" said Troy.

Bathsheba hesitated.  She had heard wondrous reports from time to
time by dwellers in Weatherbury, who had by chance sojourned awhile
in Casterbridge, near the barracks, of this strange and glorious
performance, the sword-exercise.  Men and boys who had peeped through
chinks or over walls into the barrack-yard returned with accounts of
its being the most flashing affair conceivable; accoutrements and
weapons glistening like stars--here, there, around--yet all by rule
and compass.  So she said mildly what she felt strongly.

"Yes; I should like to see it very much."

"And so you shall; you shall see me go through it."

"No!  How?"

"Let me consider."

"Not with a walking-stick--I don't care to see that.  It must be a
real sword."

"Yes, I know; and I have no sword here; but I think I could get one
by the evening.  Now, will you do this?"

Troy bent over her and murmured some suggestion in a low voice.

"Oh no, indeed!" said Bathsheba, blushing. "Thank you very much, but
I couldn't on any account."

"Surely you might?  Nobody would know."

She shook her head, but with a weakened negation.  "If I were to,"
she said, "I must bring Liddy too.  Might I not?"

Troy looked far away.  "I don't see why you want to bring her," he
said coldly.

An unconscious look of assent in Bathsheba's eyes betrayed that
something more than his coldness had made her also feel that Liddy
would be superfluous in the suggested scene.  She had felt it, even
whilst making the proposal.

"Well, I won't bring Liddy--and I'll come.  But only for a very short
time," she added; "a very short time."

"It will not take five minutes," said Troy.




Chapter 27
The swarming of the bees was late that June. Bathsheba watched them finally gravitating toward one high branch of an unwieldy tree, forming a huge black mass. Since the farmhands were all haying, she decided to hive the bees alone. Wearing clothes that covered her completely, including gloves, hat, and a veil, she fetched a ladder and mounted it. Troy appeared and offered his help, declaring how fortunate he was to be arriving at just the right moment. Bathsheba insisted that he don the protective hat, veil, and gloves. "He looked such an extraordinary object in this guise that, flurried as she was, she could not avoid laughing outright. It was the removal of yet another stake from the palisade of cold manners which had kept him off." Troy brought the filled hive down, a cloud of bees trailing behind it. He remarked that holding the hive made his arm ache more than a week of sword exercises did. When Bathsheba said that she had never seen an exhibition of swordplay, he volunteered to give one for her, privately, that evening. Reconsidering her plan to bring Liddy with her, after Troy reacted to it coldly, Bathsheba agreed to come unaccompanied, "for a very short time." "'It will not take five minutes,' said Troy."
This chapter contains lighthearted conversation and rare laughter. The ludicrous costuming of Troy adds to the merriment. Also, in this further encounter between Bathsheba and Troy and their plans for still another meeting, the pace of the plot is quickened.