Thomas Hardy

The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid Thomas Hardy

The eponymous milkmaid, Margery, encounters a mysterious foreigner and perhaps prevents him from committing suicide. In gratitude, the man offers her any reward she can name. She tells him she wants to go to a ball. Reluctantly, he agrees and secretly whisks her off to a yeoman's ball in the neighboring county. From that night, the strange baron has an inexplicable hold over Margery, which adversely affects her previous engagement to one of the village lads.