Far from the Madding Crowd Chapter IV

In which young farmer Gabriel Oak, quietly smitten by the comely and capable Bathsheba Everdene, summons formidable courage to propose marriage amidst the gentle pastoral scenery and cautious social manners of their rural world. Their conversation softly reveals the complexities of love and pride, as Bathsheba asserts her fiercely independent spirit and hesitates to accept a union not founded on mutual affection.