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The Mayor of Casterbridge Chapter 3 Summary

  • Susan and her daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, are traveling together and talking.
  • They discuss the reasons for their journey: Captain Newson, the sailor, has died, and he didn't leave them very much money.
  • It's clear that Elizabeth-Jane thinks Captain Newson was her father.
  • They're going to find Michael Henchard, whom Susan vaguely describes as "a distant relation by marriage."
  • Their first stop is at the fair where Michael sold Susan eighteen years earlier.
  • Susan doesn't tell Elizabeth-Jane about the auction, of course, but just says that this is the last place she'd seen her "relation."
  • Susan looks around for the furmity lady and finds her still scraping together a living selling watered-down furmity at the edge of the fairground.
  • Susan has a private conversation with her and learns that Henchard has moved to Casterbridge.
  • Susan and Elizabeth-Jane get a room at an inn so they can travel to Casterbridge in the morning.