Wondering to whom she will be betrothed, Bathsheba Everdene randomly opens the scriptures in the hope that the verse she falls upon will elucidate her future. She finds herself in the Book of Ruth and, misapplying the passage in question, thereby sets in motion her own series of uninterrupted troubles. In the notes to the edition John was reading, he found the following words of Ruth, words that he hoped would presage his own future, words that he longed to utter to Sir Christopher: Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. He had no idea how long he had been swooning over this passage when Sir Christopher surprised him.
‘Oh, there you are,’ Sir Christopher said, with more than a trace of disapproval on finding
