Thomas Hardy: 'The Three Strangers'

Just read the 20 pages or so of Hardy's 'The Three Strangers'.  What a surprise!  For once, there's a happy ending in Hardy!

First, 'The Three Strangers' may be viewed as an anthithesis to another of Hardy's short stories from 'The Wessex Tales', 'The Withered Arm', as, through a cool head and some luck, one of the central protagonists is spared (rather than a recipient of) the hangman's noose. 

On a dark evening full of heavy rain, a 1st stranger approaches Higher Crowstairs and calls in on Shepherd Fennel's child's Christening party to get dry and seek rest.  He seems to be from a good background, but looks somewhat bedraggled:

The good shephered allows the 1st Stranger to sit comfortably, drink mead and smoke from an old clay pipe in a chimney-corner seat.

This is followed by the arrival of a 2nd Stranger, a more official and grey-looking man who is also invited to sit down, rest from the rain, and sup the strong mead. This stranger drinks liberally of the mead and then sings a macabre song to reveal his occupation as the hangman, with the 1st Stranger enigmatically helping out with the chorus.

When Shepherd Fennel's household is rendered silent with the macabre revelation, a 3rd Stranger knocks at the door, looks inside the house, shows a look of fright, and quickly takes flight.

Shortly afterwards, intermitent gunshot can be heard from Casterbridge three miles away, indicating that the prisoner due to be hung the next day has escaped from the prison there.  Hence, everybody automatically presumes that the 3rd Stranger is the man and the hangman organises a search party.

But while the search party seeks the 3rd Stranger, the hangman heads for Casterbridge assuming the escaped prisoner will be found, while the 1st Stranger slips off in another direction bidding farewell to his singing companion.

And the ending, something I'd more or less worked out:  the search party eventually find the 3rd Stranger who turns out to be the brother of the escaped (sheep-stealer) prisoner, none other than the 1st Stranger.   Moreover, the 1st Stranger is never caught, either getting lost in a big city or finding sanctuary overseas, so there you have it, a happy ending in Hardy, something to treasure.