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What the Shepherd Saw
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What the Shepherd Saw (from A Changed Man and Other Stories) hosted by Janelle
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Sara
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Jun 20, 2024 05:20AM
I was hit by the fact that the boy believed if the Duke did it, he had a right to. Brought home the fact that no one ever questioned those in authority. I was not really surprised that the Duchess did not show. She did not seem to return Frederick's feelings at the first meeting. She is unjustly accused, but like Desdemona, that might not matter.
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Sara wrote: "I was hit by the fact that the boy believed if the Duke did it, he had a right to. Brought home the fact that no one ever questioned those in authority. I was not really surprised that the Duchess ..."I agree with your comment completely, Sara. I also was surprised that the boy followed the duke but perhaps he was curious of what will happen when he enters his house.
Second Night part3 summaryAs the duke rode up to the house a door opened and the Duchess came out to meet him. Suspicious, he asks why was she up waiting and she says that’s a strange story. He asks what the strange story is and she tells him about her cousin Fred Ogbourne who had admired her in the past even though she’s six years older. The Duke says that she’d never told him that before. The Duchess says she must’ve told his sister, and how to her surprise she had received a message from him a couple of days ago which she then repeats from memory.
The note begs for a meeting with the Duchess by the Druid stones that night and she must come alone, that he is too agitated to say more and that his happiness depends on it.
She tells the Duke that she went to meet Fred last night, even though she knows she shouldn’t have and asks the Duke if he thinks she’s brave.
She then describes the meeting and how she said she’d meet Fred again tonight so she could get away.
His manner was so strange and passionate that I was afraid of him in such a lonely place, and I promised to come. Then I escaped—then I ran home—and that's all. When the time drew on this evening for the appointment— which, of course, I never intended to keep—I felt uneasy, lest when he found I meant to disappoint him he would come on to the house; and that's why I could not sleep.
The Duke hears this in silence, and says he’s tired from his journey. His wife then suggests that they both go to the meeting place the next night so the Duke can tell Fred to stop his foolishness.
Why should we? The duke asks moodily and his wife says
Poor Fred! He would listen to you if you reasoned with him, and set our positions in their true light before him. It would be no more than Christian kindness to a man who unquestionably is very miserable from some cause or other.
They then go to their house, ring the bell and enter when the servants appear.
The end of the second night and the Duke must surely be feeling guilty. Any thoughts on this section?
Not only must the Duke feel guilty in his hasty manner, but his wife has proven to be an honest and compassionate woman in both coming to him and her concerns for Fred. Will the Duke pretend to go "meet" with Fred? Imagine what she will feel when she finds out Fred is dead at her husband's hand. And, I am curious to know what spurred Fred to declare himself in this way after all this time.
I agree, Sara. I think the Duchess is far too good for him!
Not only is Fred a childhood friend, but he's also a member of the extended family of the Duchess. Fred calls her "My Dear Cousin Harriet" in the letter. The Duke is going to have to hide the fact that he murdered Fred.
I agree, Connie. He is going to have to pretend not to know what happened...but there is this child who knows the truth. Scary position for the child.
Mod
I'm wondering if it's possible the Duke doesn't believe his wife's explanation. He's such a suspicious, entitled man, maybe he thinks she's covering up? He might still be holding onto what he witnessed between Harriet and Fred. Only the poor boy can back up the Duchess's story, and given the boy's standing in the world, will anyone believe him?
That’s an interesting idea about the Duke holding back, Bridget. I think he’s so used to following his immediate impulses that his silence proves that he believes his wife. If he still doubted her answers I’m sure he wouldn’t have been able to stop himself from exploding.
Third Night Part 1 summaryBill Mills was once again on duty and he tried to keep his mind off what was beyond the Devil’s Den with difficulty. So he was relieved when he saw the Duke and Duchess approaching.
Their conversation was about whether Fred would appear. The Duke kept saying he wouldn’t, the Duchess convinced that he’d wait all night.
'Yes, he may have thought better of it; if, indeed, he is not here all the time—somewhere in the hollow behind the Devil's Door. Let us go and see; it will serve him right to surprise him.' 'O, he's not there.'
'He may be lying very quiet because of you,' she said archly.
'O, no—not because of me!'
Wondering what they would do the boy left the hut intending not to be seen but the Duchess sees him and points him out to the Duke. ‘It can’t be he!’ The shocked duke says . The duchess then realises the figure is too small and the Duke, relieved calls the shepherd boy over. They question him, asking if he’s seen anyone tonight or last night. The boy is silent. 'He has seen nothing,' interrupted her husband, his eyes so forbiddingly fixed on the boy that they seemed to shine like points of fire.
He then leaves with his wife saying it’s too cold to stay any longer.
I really enjoyed the writing in this section as everything the Duchess says seems to hit the Duke in his guilty spot!'He may be lying very quiet because of you,' she said archly.
'O, no—not because of me!'
Your thoughts on this part?
Janelle wrote: "I really enjoyed the writing in this section as everything the Duchess says seems to hit the Duke in his guilty spot!'He may be lying very quiet because of you,' she said archly.
'O, no—not becau..."
You picked out a quote with some morbid humor, Janelle!
I felt sorry for the young shepherd. He's trying his best to make sure that the Duke does not get upset. But the Duke can tell that the boy probably witnessed the murder. I wonder what the Duke's next move will be.
The small unintentional barbs from the wife land solid. The Duke is not worthy of respect, since he has done this horrible deed and now engages in covering it up. I fear for the Shepherd boy if he is not very careful, because he is expendable to a man like the Duke.Perfect quotes, Janelle.
This story is certainly taking a strange spin. I too think the duke is feeling guilty for acting on his impulses. Indeed the boy is caught between a rock and a hard place.
Mod
Staying hidden may have been the wiser choice but maybe not. See what you think after todays summary.
Third Night part 2 summaryWhen the Duke and Duchess had left, the boy returned to the hut and managed to sleep a little. But he was not left alone long as the Duke returned and found the boy amongst the ewes. After checking he was the same boy he had spoken to just before, the Duke began questioning him about what he had seen on the previous nights. The boy protested saying he saw nothing and he doesn’t matter anyway but the Duke grabbed the boy and insisted on an answer. The boy then replies
O, my Lord Duke, have mercy, and don't stab me!' cried the shepherd, falling on his knees. 'I have never seen you walking here, or riding here, or lying-in-wait for a man, or dragging a heavy load!'
The Duke then asks the boy if he can keep a secret for the rest of his life and the boy says he can.
The Duke offers to take the boy away from shepherding and send him to school and also look after his widowed mother as long as he stays quiet about what he has seen.
The Duke drags the boy across to the trilithon and makes him kneel in front of it telling him that this was once a holy place that honoured old gods. He makes him promise never to repeat that he was a shepherd or what he has seen on the downs over the previous nights and then tells him to kiss the stone.
He then takes the trembling boy back to the manor house and the next day he is sent off for tuition in another village and in due course on to public school.
This story has been quite unpredictable for me. I did not expect the Duke to buy the boy's silence. In many ways, this is a boon for the child. He will now have opportunities he never imagined. On the other hand, it saddles the boy with a secret, and secrets are dangerous stuff.My biggest question now is how will the Duchess deal with the disappearance of her cousin?
Local folklore about the Devils DenFrom Haunted Wiltshire
http://hauntedwiltshire.blogspot.com/...
Like most ancient tombs, folklore abounds. Tales of a ghostly guardian dog with burning piercing eyes, is said to lie in wait beneath the mound, protecting its long dead master. The Sound of an eerie baying hound has been heard echoing across the valley in the dead of night. Spectral dogs are not uncommon at burial mounds, their roots can be traced back to Celtic mythology.
Another tale involves the Devil himself, who is said to yoke up 4 white oxen in an attempt to dislodge the capstone. Just why the Devil should want to do this is unknown.
On top of the capstone are several dimples or ‘cups’. The tale goes, should you fill these dimples with water, then overnight the water will mysteriously vanish, apparently consumed by the fiend that haunts the dolmen.
In the course of three nights, young Bill Mills’ life has completely changed. What are your thoughts on todays summary?
The boy will be educated, but he probably will never be able to totally relax. The Duke could decide at any time that he no longer trusts the boy, and kill him.
Really enjoyed knowing more about the Devil's Den. I have found these structures fascinating since my first, long ago, reading of Mary Stewart's Merlin series. I agree that Bill Mills' life has just made an irreversible turn and he will need to carry the weight of this for a lifetime.
Janelle, that was a interesting blog about Haunted Wiltshire and the Devil's Den. (The guardian ghost dog, a baying hound, brings Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles to mind, although it was a different location.) Hardy loved learning about the folk legends, and used them so well in his stories.
I thought the folklore was interesting too and I love the fact that such an old monument sits in the middle of farming land.The poor shepherd boy being forced to kiss the stone must’ve felt a bit like sealing a deal with the devil.
A bribe and an unspoken threat. The Duke will ask for his pound of flesh in servitude from the boy is my guess. And of course, he'll always be around to make sure that he sticks to his promise.
Mod
Fourth Night Part 1 summaryOn a winter evening many years later, the former shepherd, is now educated and works as a steward in an office in Shakeforest Towers.
He looks older than his actual age and he’s also quite pale for a countryman. On this night he seems quite distracted and unable to concentrate on the papers in front of him.
Soon he rose and knocked on the library door. A faint deep voice tells him to enter. It is his patron, the Duke. He asks what he wants.
Mills replies 'Old times have come to life, owing to something waking them.’
The Duke reminds him of the shepherd boys oath 22years ago.
Mills says he has kept his oath, yet the events of that night may come to light anyway and nothing to do with him.
The duke doesn’t want to hear it.
The steward says he need not fear treachery from him and he appreciates the kindness that has been shown to him by the Duke. He kept quiet when there was a fuss about the disappearance and the body of Captain Ogbourne has never been found.
For 22years Mills has wondered what the duke did with the body. Something happened earlier in the afternoon that recalled that time to him and to prove to himself it wasn’t a dream, he went up there with a spade and searched. He found decaying remains in an old badgers hole.
The Duke asks if the Duchess guessed and Mills replies he’s sure she never did until she died.
Why did you go up there? asks the Duke. Then they hear a bell tolling.
Mills says that the bell tolling is why he came to see the Duke. It tolls for the death of the oldest man in the village, the old shepherd. At 94 he was 24yrs older than the Duke.
Mills tells him that he served under the old shepherd and that made him think of that night. On his return he heard that the old shepherd wanted to confess something to the vicar, something he had kept secret for over twenty years out of respect for the Duke. Mills guesses that the old shepherd had returned that second night and had witnessed the murder but had remained in hiding.
The duke states that he will see the vicar at daybreak and make him keep quiet. Mills protests but the Duke responds 'I'll stop his tongue, I say!' cried the Duke with some of his old rugged force. 'Now, you go home to bed, Mills, and leave me to manage him.'
This is the second last summary. Any thoughts before we conclude tomorrow? What did you think of the time jump?
The time jump seems too abrupt for me. I wanted to know more about the Duchess' reaction. What sometimes happens in short stories for me is that I feel they ought to be novellas instead. This one has a lot of story contained within it that we are not allowed to see unfold.Did the Duchess continue to look for Fred, how did she explain his disappearance, did the Duke suffer from lying to her for years on end? She was a well-developed character that is simply dropped.
But, that aside, I like to think that the things you do in life will catch up to you eventually, and this one is catching up to the Duke--indeed too late. It also struck me that this event seems to have haunted Mills more than the Duke, but he considers keeping his promise as an act of honor.
I think, knowing what we know of the Duke, the Duchess probably eventually realized what indeed happened. And I have to think that as a result, it placed a heavy burden on her, so no surprise she died earlier.But the actions of that one night have definitely imprinted on both the Duke and the young shepherd/now clerk. I doubt that the Duke will last for "four-and-twenty-years" more. His end is likely near.
But there is hope that there will be a release soon for Mills where he might have cloud removed from his soul.
Mod
I loved how this chapter opens up with a private moment for grown-up Bill Mills. I almost feel like I'm right in the room with him with this line : "laying down his pen and pushing back his chair, he rested a hand uneasily on each of the chair-arms and looked on the floor".
Two things the Duke said are staying with me. First, he says that Bill "torments him, it is his way". That's curious. Second, why should he care that he outlives the old shepherd? I suppose it's consistent with his personality, but it seems petty.
Bill Mills does not seem happy working for the Duke. The story said that he looked several years older than his actual age. He's a steward working for the Duke so he has a daily reminder of the Duke's violence, and his obligations to keep the secret.
I think there’s lots of questions about the intervening years. I was wondering what other villagers thought of Bill Mills, shepherd boy suddenly becoming the Dukes favourite and getting an education and a job. Wouldn’t that be weird, considering the Dukes personality?
Fourth night Part 2 summaryThe night is much like that night of 22 years earlier, but William Mills is not feeling the Christmas spirit. He returns to his house where he lives a lonely life with few friends. He sat and reflected and at midnight rather than go to bed he went for a walk on Marlbury downs up to where the shepherd hut had stood and then over to the trilithon. He thinks of the vow he made and how it made him more comfortable but not happy so the news of the evening had given him feelings of relief.
While leaning against the stone he saw a figure in white approaching. It was the Duke in his nightclothes and he went straight to the hollow and started scratching at the earth. Then he sighed and returned the way he had come.
Worried about him, the steward follows and watches the Duke climb in a window at the house, and Bill closes it behind him. He returns home with an uneasy feeling about what may happen the next day. Early the next morning he goes to the house and asks for the Duke. The porter responds that the Duke has died. He went wandering during the night and on his return to the upper floor he fell down the stairs.
The steward told the tale of the Downs before the vicar had spoken. He took the consequences and died at age 49, a farmer at the Cape.
The Marlbury flock is still well known, but Lambing corner is no longer used for a couple of reasons including ‘For it is said by present shepherds in that district that during the nights of Christmas week flitting shapes are seen in the open space around the trilithon, together with the gleam of a weapon, and the shadow of a man dragging a burden into the hollow. But of these things there is no certain testimony.
LocationThe Cape = The Cape Colony also known as The Cape of Good Hope. A former British colony in what is now South Africa from 1806-1910.
So we have come to the end of the story. What did you think of the conclusion? Do you think it really is a ghost story or a supernatural tale?
The ending has a spooky feeling to it with the figure of the Duke in the white robe sleepwalking, lit by the moonlight.There are now superstitions associated with Lambing Corner about "flitting shapes" and a "gleam of a weapon" seen the area around the trilithon during the nights of Christmas week.
I would call it a supernatural tale since Hardy does not mention a ghost, although he writes there was a "shadow of a man." Ghost stories are supernatural tales, but not all supernatural tales are ghost stories.
While Hardy wrote this story as a suspenseful, supernatural story, it does have a more serious theme concerning the power of the nobility or upper class over the lower class.
Connie wrote: "While Hardy wrote this story as a suspenseful, supernatural story, it does have a more serious theme concerning the power of the nobility or upper class over the lower class."I agree, Connie. I'm not sure about calling it a ghost story because its only at the very end that there is what I would call a passing reference, but it was indeed a suspenseful tale.
Janelle wrote: "I think there’s lots of questions about the intervening years. I was wondering what other villagers thought of Bill Mills, shepherd boy suddenly becoming the Dukes favourite and getting an educatio..."Great point, Janelle. I also wonder how it was explained to the village that he was singled out for this kind of treatment. The old shepherd knew why.
The story did not have the feeling of a ghost story at all until the very end and that just seemed like a way to wrap it up. I would not classify it as a ghost story at all.
Janelle, I enjoyed your short story choice and like how Hardy divided up the story into four nights of moonlight. Thanks for leading the discussion.
Mod
Sara wrote: ". The story did not have the feeling of a ghost story at all until the very end and that just seemed like a way to wrap it up. I would not classify it as a ghost story at all…"I agree, it wasn’t a ghost story for me at all apart from that final paragraph. It was absolutely a great setting and atmosphere for a supernatural tale but it was more about, as Connie points out, the power and impunity of the upper class, in this case the Duke. I think he ended up suffering for his actions, his guilt and obviously in the end some sort of anxiety about being found out. (Bill also. He had material gains but didn’t really live a happy life).
Connie wrote: "Janelle, I enjoyed your short story choice and like how Hardy divided up the story into four nights of moonlight. Thanks for leading the discussion."Connie, thank you so much for your contributions :)
Thank you to everyone who joined in the discussion. I really enjoyed presenting this strange little story :)
Bridget wrote: "I don’t think of it as a ghost story either, so we are all in agreement. I really enjoyed reading it, and it was very suspenseful with many unexpected turns. Janelle, you did an excellent job of pi..."Thanks so much, Bridget :)
Mod
This one was new to me, so thank you Janelle for choosing it, and all your expertise in organising the sections, providing summaries and coordinating it all so well. As Bridget pointed out, you chose the perfect place for breaks. It's been a great read!
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Works of Thomas Hardy
Books mentioned in this topic
A Changed Man and Other Stories (other topics)The Hound of the Baskervilles (other topics)
A Hardy Companion (other topics)
What the Shepherd Saw (other topics)
Two on a Tower (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Thomas Hardy (other topics)Thomas Hardy (other topics)
F.B. Pinion (other topics)
