Far from the Madding Crowd the baby. Mother and child are then placed in a coffin and sent home to Weatherbury for interment. Gabriel, who has long known of Troy's relationship with Fanny, tries to conceal the child's existence – but Bathsheba agrees that the coffin can be left in her house overnight, from her sense of duty towards a former servant of the household. Her new servant, Liddy, repeats the rumour that Fanny had a child; when all the servants are in bed, Bathsheba unscrews the lid and sees the two bodies inside. Troy then comes home from Casterbridge, where he had gone to
Far from the Madding Crowd (1915 film) of the type that appeared a decade to two ago in "The Fireside Companion", intended primarily for consumption in the scullery and pantry by the maids and the cook and the picture carries the same atmosphere." Hardy does not appear to have seen the film, although he wrote program notes for its premiere. The film's success in Britain prompted him to write his publisher that he was "glad to hear that "Far from the Madding Crowd" comes out so well." By 1920 Hardy had changed his opinion, saying that it "seems to have been a failure". No boxoffice records are