Explore "The Mayor of Casterbridge" by Thomas Hardy on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Henchard and Elizabeth sat conversing by the fire. It was three weeks after Mrs. Henchard's funeral; the candles were not lighted, and a restless, acrobatic flame, poised on a coal, called from the shady walls the smiles of all shapes that could respond -- the old pier-glass, with gilt columns and huge entablature, the picture-frames, sundry knobs and handles, and the brass rosette at the bottom of each riband bell-pull on either side of the chimneypiece.
"Elizabeth, do you think much of old times? " said Henchard.