A Laodicean

"And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."   (Rev 3:14-16, KJV)

 The basic premise of a Laodicean is that they cannot make up their mind; they're neither one thing, nor the other.  So it is with Paula Power.  She can't make her mind up in religion, nor in love. 

Once again, the rich woman is being attracted to a relatively poor man, and needless to say an architect, who has come down from the smoke to restore - not a church - a castle for her.  As in Two on a Tower, there is an interest in scientific progress; Paula's father made his money as an engineer, but also the use of the telegraph drives the plot along.  In some ways, reading the novel, you get the impression that Hardy's writing a novel about email.  

Wessex locations:

Although there are hints that the story was orginially envisaged as laying closer to the Wessex literary heartland, it is actually set on the Somerset coast.  Stancy Castle is based on Dunster.