When Bathsheba ran out of the house the previous night，Troy first replaced the coffin lid，then went upstairs to lie on his bed and wait miserably for the morning.

The day before，on Monday，he had waited for Fanny，as arranged，on the bridge just outside Casterbridge，for over an hour. He had Bathsheba's twenty pounds and seven pounds of his own to give Fanny. When she did not come，he became angry，remembering the last time she had failed to arrive，on her wedding day. In fact she was at that moment being put in her coffin at the workhouse，but he did not know that. He rode straight to the races at Budmouth and stayed there all afternoon. But he was still thinking of Fanny，and he did not risk any money on the horses. Only on his way home did he suddenly realize that illness could have prevented her from meeting him，and only when he entered the farmhouse that evening did he discover that she was dead.

On Tuesday morning Troy got up and，without even thinking about Bathsheba，went straight to the churchyard to find the position of Fanny's grave. He continued on foot to Casterbridge to order the best gravestone available for twenty-seven pounds，which was all the money he had. Having ar-ranged for it to be put on the grave that afternoon，he returned to Weatherbury in the evening，with a basket of flowering plants. The new gravestone was already in place，and he worked solidly for several hours in the churchyard，putting the plants carefully into the soft earth of her grave. When it start- ed raining，however，he decided to spend the rest of the night in the shelter of the church，and finish his planting in the morning.

The rain that night was unusually heavy，and water began to pour from a broken pipe on the church roof straight on to Fanny's grave. As the earth there had only recently been dug，the grave became a kind of muddy pool. Soon the plants were floating on top of the grave，and then were washed away in the stream of water flowing through the churchyard.

When Troy woke up，stiff and still tired，he went out of the church to finish work on the grave. The rain had stopped，and the sun was shining through the red and gold autumn leaves. The air was warm and clear. As Troy walked along the path，he noticed it was very muddy，and covered with plants. Surely these could not be the ones he had planted？He turned the corner and saw the damage the heavy rain had done.

The new gravestone was stained with mud，and there was a shallow hole in the grave，where the water had poured in. Nearly all the plants had been washed out of the grave.

This strange accident had a worse effect on Troy than any of his troubles，worse even than Fanny's death. He had tried to show his love for her，knowing that he had failed to do so when she was alive. Planting the flowers was also a way of softening his feelings of sadness and guilt at her death. And now his work had been destroyed！He was too depressed to start work on the grave again. He left it as it was，and went silently out of the chu............