Gabriel's Resolve: The Visit: The Mistake
- So it's settled, then. Gabriel Oak is in love with the young woman who saved his life. He uses any opportunity he can to see the woman in the fields, but only ever from afar. He's kind of a stalker.
- After making some enquiries, he finds out that the girl's name is Bathsheba Everdene (not related to Katniss), and that she's probably leaving the area in eight days' time. Bummer.
- One day, he gets an opportunity to visit Bathsheba's house when one of his sheep dies. He packs up the sheep's lamb in a basket, gets all spruced up, and goes to the house.
- When he gets to the door, he asks Bathsheba's aunt if he could speak to the young woman. Bathsheba is out, but her aunt invites him inside. He announces that he has brought a lamb for her, in case she'd like to raise it.
- But instead of beating around the bush any longer, Oak tells the aunt that he has come to ask for Bathsheba's hand in marriage. He asks if Bathsheba has any other young men courting her. The aunt tells him that there are all kinds of men that want Bathsheba. She's a hottie. Farmer Oak gets discouraged and leaves.
- While he's walking down the lane, Bathsheba comes running after him. She wants to tell him that her aunt was lying and that there aren't any other young men in her life. This is great news for Oak, so he proposes to her right on the spot. Unfortunately, she rejects him. Okay, we're tempted at this point to abbreviate Bathsheba's name to B.S. because she is the head game queen.
- As you can imagine, he's pretty annoyed that she ran all the way down the road just to tell him that she's not interested.
- He asks her again if she'll marry him, telling her that he's very much in love with her. Ugh. At this point we want to take Oak aside and say, "Be cool, man. Be cool."
- She says she needs a moment to think, since she's out of breath. Eventually, she tells him no again because she doesn't love him.
- He says he's totally fine with marrying without love, though, as long as she likes him a little. But no, it's no use.
- He promises he'll love her forever. But when she refuses him again, he goes all stone-faced and says he'll never ask again. Pardon us while we cringe.