What Is Hardy's Novel "A Pair Of Blue Eyes"� About?

This 1873 novel is set in Cornwall, unusually for Thomas Hardy who set most of his novels in or near his native Dorset. In fact the Cornish coastline, in particular its cliffs, is central to the novel. Elfride Swancourt is the daughter of a vicar and falls in love with Stephen Smith, a young architect who comes to restore the church tower. Her father forbids the marriage on class grounds. The pair run away together, but Elfride can't quite go through with it. She returns home and Stephen goes to India. Later Elfride meets a friend of Stephen's, Henry Knight; she saves his life in an accident on a cliff, and they plan to marry. However, when Henry learns of her elopement with Stephen, he believes the worst and breaks off the engagement. Much later, he meets Stephen again and learns the truth, but by that time Elfride has married someone else and is now dead.