I am currently reading a random collection of early Horror..it includes many of the lesser known (but still worthy) pieces by the usual suspects, the Up-All-Night-Got-Bills-to-Pay Authors such as Balzac, Poe, Bierce and includes Thomas Hardy's "The Three Strangers" ..which is a brilliant story, one that would make an excellent Western, but seems to be the predictable go to choice for people overseeing these collections...
....however ..while musing on the difficult career of Hardy I was reminded of this funny anecdote from the research of Claire Tomalin in her Hardy biography, "A Time Torn Man."
"Hardy was a young man. He was living in Surbiton, one of the London suburbs near Kingston upon Thames at the time. He had just married Emma Gifford and they moved into a house called St Davids Villa in Hook Road. He was working as an architect for a firm in London and hadn't become famous as a writer. Hardy was in the Strand and popped into a coffee shop for a cup of tea and a bite to eat.
Charles Dickens was sitting there.
He was immediately recognisable to Thomas Hardy as he would have been to anybody. Hardy was about to go over and introduce himself and say hello but Dickens called over a waiter and began arguing about his bill. Dickens was ever concerned about the money. Hardy hesitated and the moment passed. The two greatest novelists of the Victorian period nearly met."
