Thomas Hardy
Tess of the DUrbervilles
A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented
Explanatory Note to the First Edition
The main portion of the following story appeared with slight modifications
in the Graphic newspaper other chapters more especially addressed to adult
readers in the Fortnightly Review and the National Observer as episodic
sketches My thanks are tendered to the editors and proprietors of those
periodicals for enabling me now to piece the trunk and limbs of the novel
together and print it complete as originally written two years ago
I will just add that the story is sent out in all sincerity of purpose as
an attempt to give artistic form to a true sequence of things and in respect of
the books opinions and sentiments I would ask any too genteel reader who
cannot endure to have said what everybody nowadays thinks and feels to remember
a wellworn sentence of St Jeromes If an offence come out of the truth
better is it that the offence come than that the truth be concealed
TH
November 1891
Preface to the Fifth and Later Editions
This novel being one wherein the great campaign of the heroine begins after an
event in her experience which has usually been treated as fatal to her part of
protagonist or at least as the virtual ending of her enterprises and hopes it
was quite contrary to avowed conventions that the public should welcome the
book and agree with me in holding that there was something more to be said in
fiction than had been said about the shaded side of a wellknown catastrophe
But the responsive spirit in which Tess of the dUrbervilles has been received
by the readers of England and America would seem to prove that the plan of
laying down a story on the lines of tacit opinion instead of making it to
square with the merely vocal formulæ of society is not altogether a wrong one
even when exemplified in so unequal and partial an achievement as the present
For this responsiveness I cannot refrain from expressing my thanks and my
regret is that in a world where one so often hungers in vain for friendship
where even not to be wilfully misunderstood is felt as a kindness I shall never
meet in person these appreciative readers male and female and shake them by
the hand
I include amongst them the reviewers by far the majority who have so
generously welcomed the tale Their words show that they like the others have
only too largely repaired my defects of narration by their own imaginative
intuition
Nevertheless though the novel was intended to be neither didactic nor
aggressive but in the scenic parts to be representative simply and in the
contemplative to be oftener charged with impressions than with convictions
there have been objectors both to the matter and to the rendering
The more austere of these maintain a conscientious difference of opinion
concerning among other things subjects fit for art and reveal an inability to
associate the idea of the subtitle adjective with any but the artificial and
derivative meaning which has resulted to it from the ordinances of civilization
They ignore the meaning of the word in Nature together with all aesthetic
claims upon it not to mention the spiritual interpretation afforded by the
finest side of their own Christianity Others dissent on grounds which are
intrinsically no more than an assertion that the novel embodies the views of
life prevalent at the end of the nineteenth century and not those of an earlier
and simpler generation an assertion which I can only hope may be well founded
Let me repeat that a novel is an impression not an argument and there the
matter must rest as one is reminded by a passage which occurs in the letters of
Schiller to Goethe on judges of this class »They are those who seek only their
own ideas in a representation and prize that which should be as higher than
what is The cause of the dispute therefore lies in the very first principles
and it would be utterly impossible to come to an understanding with them« And
again »As soon as I observe that any one when judging of poetical
representations considers anything more important than the inner Necessity and
Truth I have done with him«
In the introductory words to the first edition I suggested the possible
advent of the genteel person who would not be able to endure something or other
in these pages That person duly appeared among the aforesaid objectors In one
case he felt upset that it was not possible for him to read the book through
three times owing to my not having made that critical effort which »alone can
prove the salvation of such an one« In another he objected to such vulgar
articles as the Devils pitchfork a lodginghouse carvingknife and a
shamebought parasol appearing in a respectable story In another place he was
a gentleman who turned Christian for halfanhour the better to express his
grief that a disrespectful phrase about the Immortals should have been used
though the same innate gentility compelled him to excuse the author in words of
pity that one cannot be too thankful for »He does but give us of his best« I
can assure this great critic that to exclaim illogically against the gods
singular or plural is not such an original sin of mine as he seems to imagine
True it may have some local originality though if Shakespeare were an
authority on history which perhaps he is not I could show that the sin was
introduced into Wessex as early as the Heptarchy itself Says Gloster in Lear
otherwise Ina king of that country
As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods
They kill us for their sport
The remaining two or three manipulators of Tess were of the predetermined sort
whom most writers and readers would gladly forget professed literary boxers
who put on their convictions for the occasion modern »Hammers of Heretics«
sworn Discouragers ever on the watch to prevent the tentative halfsuccess from
becoming the whole success later on who pervert plain meanings and grow
personal under the name of practising the great historical method However they
may have causes to advance privileges to guard traditions to keep going some
of which a mere taleteller who writes down how the things of the world strike
him without any ulterior intentions whatever has overlooked and may by pure
inadvertence have run foul of when in the least aggressive mood Perhaps some
passing perception the outcome of a dream hour would if generally acted on
cause such an assailant considerable inconvenience with respect to position
interests family servant ox ass neighbour or neighbours wife He
therefore valiantly hides his personality behind a publishers shutters and
cries »Shame« So densely is the world thronged that any shifting of positions
even the best warranted advance galls somebodys kibe Such shiftings often
begin in sentiment and such sentiment sometimes begins in a novel
July 1892
The foregoing remarks were written during the early career of this story when a
spirited public and private criticism of its points was still fresh to the
feelings The pages are allowed to stand for what they are worth as something
once said but probably they would not have been written now Even in the short
time which has elapsed since the book was first published some of the critics
who provoked the reply have »gone down into silence« as if to remind one of the
infinite unimportance of both their say and mine
January 1895
The present edition of this novel contains a few pages that have never appeared
in any previous edition When the detached episodes were collected as stated in
the preface of 1891 these pages were overlooked though they were in the
original manuscript They occur in Chapter X
Respecting the subtitle to which allusion was made above I may add that
it was appended at the last moment after reading the final proofs as being the
estimate left in a candid mind of the heroines character an estimate that
nobody would be likely to dispute It was disputed more than anything else in
the book Melius fuerat non scribere But there it stands
The novel was first published complete in three volumes in November 1891
TH
March 1912
Phase the First
The Maiden
I
On an evening in the latter part of May a middleaged man was walking homeward
from Shaston to the village of Marlott in the adjoining Vale of Blakemore or
Blackmoor The pair of legs that carried him were rickety and there was a bias
in his gait which inclined him somewhat to the left of a straight line He
occasionally gave a smart nod as if in confirmation of some opinion though he
was not thinking of anything in particular An empty eggbasket was slung upon
his arm the nap of his hat was ruffled a patch being quite worn away at its
brim where his thumb came in taking it off Presently he was met by an elderly
parson astride on a gray mare who as he rode hummed a wandering tune
»Good night tee« said the man with the basket
»Good night Sir John« said the parson
The pedestrian after another pace or two halted and turned round
»Now sir begging your pardon we met last marketday on this road about
this time and I zaid Good night and you made reply Good night Sir John as
now«
»I did« said the parson
»And once before that near a month ago«
»I may have«
»Then what might your meaning be in calling me Sir John these different
times when I be plain Jack Durbeyfield the haggler«
The parson rode a step or two nearer
»It was only my whim« he said and after a moments hesitation »It was on
account of a discovery I made some little time ago whilst I was hunting up
pedigrees for the new county history I am Parson Tringham the antiquary of
Stagfoot Lane Dont you really know Durbeyfield that you are the lineal
representative of the ancient and knightly family of the dUrbervilles who
derive their descent from Sir Pagan dUrberville that renowned knight who came
from Normandy with William the Conqueror as appears by Battle Abbey Roll«
»Never heard it before sir«
»Well its true Throw up your chin a moment so that I may catch the
profile of your face better Yes thats the dUrberville nose and chin a
little debased Your ancestor was one of the twelve knights who assisted the
Lord of Estremavilla in Normandy in his conquest of Glamorganshire Branches of
your family held manors over all this part of England their names appear in the
Pipe Rolls in the time of King Stephen In the reign of King John one of them
was rich enough to give a manor to the Knights Hospitallers and in Edward the
Seconds time your forefather Brian was summoned to Westminster to attend the
great Council there You declined a little in Oliver Cromwells time but to no
serious extent and in Charles the Seconds reign you were made Knights of the
Royal Oak for your loyalty Aye there have been generations of Sir Johns among
you and if knighthood were hereditary like a baronetcy as it practically was
in old times when men were knighted from father to son you would be Sir John
now«
»Ye dont say so«
»In short« concluded the parson decisively smacking his leg with his
switch »theres hardly such another family in England«
»Daze my eyes and isnt there« said Durbeyfield »And here have I been
knocking about year after year from pillar to post as if I was no more than
the commonest feller in the parish And how long hev this news about me been
knowed Pason Tringham«
The clergyman explained that as far as he was aware it had quite died out
of knowledge and could hardly be said to be known at all His own
investigations had begun on a day in the preceding spring when having been
engaged in tracing the vicissitudes of the dUrberville family he had observed
Durbeyfields name on his waggon and had thereupon been led to make inquiries
about his father and grandfather till he had no doubt on the subject
»At first I resolved not to disturb you with such a useless piece of
information« said he »However our impulses are too strong for our judgment
sometimes I thought you might perhaps know something of it all the while«
»Well I have heard once or twice tis true that my family had seen better
days afore they came to Blackmoor But I took no notice ot thinking it to mean
that we had once kept two horses where we now keep only one Ive got a wold
silver spoon and a wold graven seal at home too but Lord whats a spoon and
seal And to think that I and these noble dUrbervilles were one flesh all
the time Twas said that my grtgrandfer had secrets and didnt care to talk
of where he came from And where do we raise our smoke now parson if I may
make so bold I mean where do we dUrbervilles live«
»You dont live anywhere You are extinct as a county family«
»Thats bad«
»Yes what the mendacious family chronicles call extinct in the male line
that is gone down gone under«
»Then where do we lie«
»At KingsberesubGreenhill rows and rows of you in your vaults with your
effigies under Purbeckmarble canopies«
»And where be our family mansions and estates«
»You havent any«
Oh No lands neither
»None though you once had em in abundance as I said for your family
consisted of numerous branches In this county there was a seat of yours at
Kingsbere and another at Sherton and another at Millpond and another at
Lullstead and another at Wellbridge«
»And shall we ever come into our own again«
»Ah that I cant tell«
»And what had I better do about it sir« asked Durbeyfield after a pause
»Oh nothing nothing except chasten yourself with the thought of how are
the mighty fallen It is a fact of some interest to the local historian and
genealogist nothing more There are several families among the cottagers of
this county of almost equal lustre Good night«
»But youll turn back and have a quart of beer wi me on the strength ot
Pason Tringham Theres a very pretty brew in tap at The Pure Drop though to
be sure not so good as at Rollivers«
»No thank you not this evening Durbeyfield Youve had enough already«
Concluding thus the parson rode on his way with doubts as to his discretion in
retailing this curious bit of lore
When he was gone Durbeyfield walked a few steps in a profound reverie and
then sat down upon the grassy bank by the roadside depositing his basket before
him In a few minutes a youth appeared in the distance walking in the same
direction as that which had been pursued by Durbeyfield The latter on seeing
him held up his hand and the lad quickened his pace and came near
»Boy take up that basket I want ee to go on an errand for me«
The lathlike stripling frowned Who be you then John Durbeyfield to
order me about and call me »boy« You know my name as well as I know yours
»Do you do you Thats the secret thats the secret Now obey my orders
and take the message Im going to charge »ee wi« Well Fred I dont mind
telling you that the secret is that Im one of a noble race it has been just
found out by me this present afternoon PM« And as he made the announcement
Durbeyfield declining from his sitting position luxuriously stretched himself
out upon the bank among the daisies
The lad stood before Durbeyfield and contemplated his length from crown to
toe
»Sir John dUrberville thats who I am« continued the prostrate man
»That is if knights were baronets which they be Tis recorded in history all
about me Dost know of such a place lad as KingsberesubGreenhill«
»Ees Ive been there to Greenhill Fair«
»Well under the church of that city there lie «
Tisnt a city the place I mean leastwise »twaddn« when I was there twas
a little oneeyed blinking sort o place
»Never you mind the place boy thats not the question before us Under the
church of that there parish lie my ancestors hundreds of em in coats of
mail and jewels in grt lead coffins weighing tons and tons Theres not a man
in the county o SouthWessex thats got grander and nobler skillentons in his
family than I«
»Oh«
»Now take up that basket and goo on to Marlott and when youve come to The
Pure Drop Inn tell em to send a horse and carriage to me immedately to carry
me hwome And in the bottom o the carriage they be to put a noggin o rum in a
small bottle and chalk it up to my account And when youve done that goo on to
my house with the basket and tell my wife to put away that washing because she
neednt finish it and wait till I come hwome as Ive news to tell her«
As the lad stood in a dubious attitude Durbeyfield put his hand in his
pocket and produced a shilling one of the chronically few that he possessed
»Heres for your labour lad«
This made a difference in the young mans estimate of the position
»Yes Sir John Thank ee Anything else I can do for ee Sir John«
»Tell em at hwome that I should like for supper well lambs fry if they
can get it and if they cant blackpot and if they cant get that well
chitterlings will do«
»Yes Sir John«
The boy took up the basket and as he set out the notes of a brass band were
heard from the direction of the village
»Whats that« said Durbeyfield »Not on account o I«
»Tis the womens clubwalking Sir John Why your dater is one o the
members«
»To be sure Id quite forgot it in my thoughts of greater things Well
vamp on to Marlott will ye and order that carriage and maybe Ill drive round
and inspect the club«
The lad departed and Durbeyfield lay waiting on the grass and daisies in
the evening sun Not a soul passed that way for a long while and the faint
notes of the band were the only human sounds audible within the rim of blue
hills
II
The village of Marlott lay amid the northeastern undulations of the beautiful
Vale of Blakemore or Blackmoor aforesaid an engirdled and secluded region for
the most part untrodden as yet by tourist or landscapepainter though within a
four hours journey from London
It is a vale whose acquaintance is best made by viewing it from the summits
of the hills that surround it except perhaps during the droughts of summer An
unguided ramble into its recesses in bad weather is apt to engender
dissatisfaction with its narrow tortuous and miry ways
This fertile and sheltered tract of country in which the fields are never
brown and the springs never dry is bounded on the south by the bold chalk ridge
that embraces the prominences of Hambledon Hill Bulbarrow NettlecombeTout
Dogbury High Stoy and Bubb Down The traveller from the coast who after
plodding northward for a score of miles over calcareous downs and cornlands
suddenly reaches the verge of one of these escarpments is surprised and
delighted to behold extended like a map beneath him a country differing
absolutely from that which he has passed through Behind him the hills are open
the sun blazes down upon fields so large as to give an unenclosed character to
the landscape the lanes are white the hedges low and plashed the atmosphere
colourless Here in the valley the world seems to be constructed upon a
smaller and more delicate scale the fields are mere paddocks so reduced that
from this height their hedgerows appear a network of dark green threads
overspreading the paler green of the grass The atmosphere beneath is
languorous and is so tinged with azure that what artists call the middle
distance partakes also of that hue while the horizon beyond is of the deepest
ultramarine Arable lands are few and limited with but slight exceptions the
prospect is a broad rich mass of grass and trees mantling minor hills and dales
within the major Such is the Vale of Blackmoor
The district is of historic no less than of topographical interest The
Vale was known in former times as the Forest of White Hart from a curious
legend of King Henry IIIs reign in which the killing by a certain Thomas de
la Lynd of a beautiful white hart which the king had run down and spared was
made the occasion of a heavy fine In those days and till comparatively recent
times the country was densely wooded Even now traces of its earlier condition
are to be found in the old oak copses and irregular belts of timber that yet
survive upon its slopes and the hollowtrunked trees that shade so many of its
pastures
The forests have departed but some old customs of their shades remain
Many however linger only in a metamorphosed or disguised form The MayDay
dance for instance was to be discerned on the afternoon under notice in the
guise of the club revel or »clubwalking« as it was there called
It was an interesting event to the younger inhabitants of Marlott though
its real interest was not observed by the participators in the ceremony Its
singularity lay less in the retention of a custom of walking in procession and
dancing on each anniversary than in the members being solely women In mens
clubs such celebrations were though expiring less uncommon but either the
natural shyness of the softer sex or a sarcastic attitude on the part of male
relatives had denuded such womens clubs as remained if any other did of this
their glory and consummation
The club of Marlott alone lived to uphold the local Cerealia It had walked
for hundreds of years if not as benefitclub as votive sisterhood of some
sort and it walked still
The banded ones were all dressed in white gowns a gay survival from Old
Style days when cheerfulness and Maytime were synonyms days before the habit
of taking long views had reduced emotions to a monotonous average Their first
exhibition of themselves was in a processional march of two and two round the
parish Ideal and real clashed slightly as the sun lit up their figures against
the green hedges and creeperlaced housefronts for though the whole troop
wore white garments no two whites were alike among them Some approached pure
blanching some had a bluish pallor some worn by the older characters which
had possibly lain by folded for many a year inclined to a cadaverous tint and
to a Georgian style
In addition to the distinction of a white frock every woman and girl
carried in her right hand a peeled willow wand and in her left a bunch of white
flowers The peeling of the former and the selection of the latter had been an
operation of personal care
There were a few middleaged and even elderly women in the train their
silverwiry hair and wrinkled faces scourged by time and trouble having almost
a grotesque certainly a pathetic appearance in such a jaunty situation In a
true view perhaps there was more to be gathered and told of each anxious and
experienced one to whom the years were drawing nigh when she should say »I
have no pleasure in them« than of her juvenile comrades But let the elder be
passed over here for those under whose bodices the life throbbed quick and warm
The young girls formed indeed the majority of the band and their heads of
luxuriant hair reflected in the sunshine every tone of gold and black and
brown Some had beautiful eyes others a beautiful nose others a beautiful
mouth and figure few if any had all A difficulty of arranging their lips in
this crude exposure to public scrutiny an inability to balance their heads and
to dissociate selfconsciousness from their features was apparent in them and
showed that they were genuine country girls unaccustomed to many eyes
And as each and all of them were warmed without by the sun so each had a
private little sun for her soul to bask in some dream some affection some
hobby at least some remote and distant hope which though perhaps starving to
nothing still lived on as hopes will Thus they were all cheerful and many of
them merry
They came round by The Pure Drop Inn and were turning out of the high road
to pass through a wicketgate into the meadows when one of the women said
»The LordaLord Why Tess Durbeyfield if there isnt thy father riding
hwome in a carriage«
A young member of the band turned her head at the exclamation She was a
fine and handsome girl not handsomer than some others possibly but her
mobile peony mouth and large innocent eyes added eloquence to colour and shape
She wore a red ribbon in her hair and was the only one of the white company who
could boast of such a pronounced adornment As she looked round Durbeyfield was
seen moving along the road in a chaise belonging to The Pure Drop driven by a
frizzleheaded brawny damsel with her gownsleeves rolled above her elbows This
was the cheerful servant of that establishment who in her part of factotum
turned groom and ostler at times Durbeyfield leaning back and with his eyes
closed luxuriously was waving his hand above his head and singing in a slow
recitative
»IvegotagrtfamilyvaultatKingsbere and
knightedforefathersinleadcoffinsthere«
The clubbists tittered except the girl called Tess in whom a slow heat
seemed to rise at the sense that her father was making himself foolish in their
eyes
»Hes tired thats all« she said hastily »and he has got a lift home
because our own horse has to rest today«
»Bless thy simplicity Tess« said her companions
»Hes got his marketnitch Hawhaw«
»Look here I wont walk another inch with you if you say any jokes about
him« Tess cried and the colour upon her cheeks spread over her face and neck
In a moment her eyes grew moist and her glance drooped to the ground
Perceiving that they had really pained her they said no more and order again
prevailed Tesss pride would not allow her to turn her head again to learn
what her fathers meaning was if he had any and thus she moved on with the
whole body to the enclosure where there was to be dancing on the green By the
time the spot was reached she had recovered her equanimity and tapped her
neighbour with her wand and talked as usual
Tess Durbeyfield at this time of her life was a mere vessel of emotion
untinctured by experience The dialect was on her tongue to some extent despite
the village school the characteristic intonation of that dialect for this
district being the voicing approximately rendered by the syllable UR probably
as rich an utterance as any to be found in human speech The poutedup deep red
mouth to which this syllable was native had hardly as yet settled into its
definite shape and her lower lip had a way of thrusting the middle of her top
one upward when they closed together after a word
Phases of her childhood lurked in her aspect still As she walked along
today for all her bouncing handsome womanliness you could sometimes see her
twelfth year in her cheeks or her ninth sparkling from her eyes and even her
fifth would flit over the curves of her mouth now and then
Yet few knew and still fewer considered this A small minority mainly
strangers would look long at her in casually passing by and grow momentarily
fascinated by her freshness and wonder if they would ever see her again but to
almost everybody she was a fine and picturesque country girl and no more
Nothing was seen or heard further of Durbeyfield in his triumphal chariot
under the conduct of the ostleress and the club having entered the allotted
space dancing began As there were no men in the company the girls danced at
first with each other but when the hour for the close of labour drew on the
masculine inhabitants of the village together with other idlers and
pedestrians gathered round the spot and appeared inclined to negotiate for a
partner
Among these onlookers were three young men of a superior class carrying
small knapsacks strapped to their shoulders and stout sticks in their hands
Their general likeness to each other and their consecutive ages would almost
have suggested that they might be what in fact they were brothers The eldest
wore the white tie high waistcoat and thinbrimmed hat of the regulation
curate the second was the normal undergraduate the appearance of the third and
youngest would hardly have been sufficient to characterize him there was an
uncribbed uncabined aspect in his eyes and attire implying that he had hardly
as yet found the entrance to his professional groove That he was a desultory
tentative student of something and everything might only have been predicted of
him
These three brethren told casual acquaintance that they were spending their
Whitsun holidays in a walking tour through the Vale of Blackmoor their course
being southwesterly from the town of Shaston on the northeast
They leant over the gate by the highway and inquired as to the meaning of
the dance and the whitefrocked maids The two elder of the brothers were
plainly not intending to linger more than a moment but the spectacle of a bevy
of girls dancing without male partners seemed to amuse the third and make him
in no hurry to move on He unstrapped his knapsack put it with his stick on
the hedgebank and opened the gate
»What are you going to do Angel« asked the eldest
»I am inclined to go and have a fling with them
Why not all of us just for a minute or two it will not detain us long«
»No no nonsense« said the first »Dancing in public with a troop of
country hoydens suppose we should be seen Come along or it will be dark
before we get to Stourcastle and theres no place we can sleep at nearer than
that besides we must get through another chapter of A Counterblast to
Agnosticism before we turn in now I have taken the trouble to bring the book«
»All right Ill overtake you and Cuthbert in five minutes dont stop I
give my word that I will Felix«
The two elder reluctantly left him and walked on taking their brothers
knapsack to relieve him in following and the youngest entered the field
»This is a thousand pities« he said gallantly to two or three of the girls
nearest him as soon as there was a pause in the dance »Where are your
partners my dears«
»Theyve not left off work yet« answered one of the boldest »Theyll be
here by and by Till then will you be one sir«
»Certainly But whats one among so many«
»Better than none Tis melancholy work facing and footing it to one of your
own sort and no clipsing and colling at all Now pick and choose«
»Ssh dont be so forard« said a shyer girl
The young man thus invited glanced them over and attempted some
discrimination but as the group were all so new to him he could not very well
exercise it He took almost the first that came to hand which was not the
speaker as she had expected nor did it happen to be Tess Durbeyfield
Pedigree ancestral skeletons monumental record the dUrberville lineaments
did not help Tess in her lifes battle as yet even to the extent of attracting
to her a dancingpartner over the heads of the commonest peasantry So much for
Norman blood unaided by Victorian lucre
The of the eclipsing girl whatever it was has not been handed down but
she was envied by all as the first who enjoyed the luxury of a masculine partner
that evening Yet such was the force of example that the village young men who
had not hastened to enter the gate while no intruder was in the way now dropped
in quickly and soon the couples became leavened with rustic youth to a marked
extent till at length the plainest woman in the club was no longer compelled to
foot it on the masculine side of the figure
The church clock struck when suddenly the student said that he must leave
he had been forgetting himself he had to join his companions As he fell out
of the dance his eyes lighted on Tess Durbeyfield whose own large orbs wore to
tell the truth the faintest aspect of reproach that he had not chosen her He
too was sorry then that owing to her backwardness he had not observed her
and with that in his mind he left the pasture
On account of his long delay he started in a flying down the lane westward
and had soon passed the hollow and mounted the next rise He had not yet
overtaken his brothers but he paused to get breath and looked back He could
see the white figures of the girls in the green enclosure whirling about as they
had whirled when he was among them They seemed to have quite forgotten him
already
All of them except perhaps one This white shape stood apart by the hedge
alone From her position he knew it to be the pretty maiden with whom he had not
danced Trifling as the matter was he yet instinctively felt that she was hurt
by his oversight He wished that he had asked her he wished that he had
inquired her name She was so modest so expressive she had looked so soft in
her thin white gown that he felt he had acted stupidly
However it could not be helped and turning and bending himself to a rapid
walk he dismissed the subject from his mind
III
As for Tess Durbeyfield she did not so easily dislodge the incident from her
consideration She had no spirit to dance again for a long time though she
might have had plenty of partners but ah they did not speak so nicely as the
strange young man had done It was not till the rays of the sun had absorbed the
young strangers retreating figure on the hill that she shook off her temporary
sadness and answered her wouldbe partner in the affirmative
She remained with her comrades till dusk and participated with a certain
zest in the dancing though being heartwhole as yet she enjoyed treading a
measure purely for its own sake little divining when she saw »the soft
torments the bitter sweets the pleasing pains and the agreeable distresses«
of those girls who had been wooed and won what she herself was capable of in
that kind The struggles and wrangles of the lads for her hand in a jig were an
amusement to her no more and when they became fierce she rebuked them
She might have stayed even later but the incident of her fathers odd
appearance and manner returned upon the girls mind to make her anxious and
wondering what had become of him she dropped away from the dancers and bent her
steps towards the end of the village at which the parental cottage lay
While yet many score yards off other rhythmic sounds than those she had
quitted became audible to her sounds that she knew well so well They were a
regular series of thumpings from the interior of the house occasioned by the
violent rocking of a cradle upon a stone floor to which movement a feminine
voice kept time by singing in a vigorous gallopade the favourite ditty of »The
Spotted Cow«
I saw her lie doown in yonder green groove
Come love and Ill tell you where
The cradlerocking and the song would cease simultaneously for a moment and an
exclamation at highest vocal pitch would take the place of the melody
»God bless thy diment eyes And thy waxen cheeks And thy cherry mouth And
thy Cubits thighs And every bit o thy blessed body«
After this invocation the rocking and the singing would recommence and the
»Spotted Cow« proceed as before So matters stood when Tess opened the door and
paused upon the mat within it surveying the scene
The interior in spite of the melody struck upon the girls senses with an
unspeakable dreariness From the holiday gaieties of the field the white
gowns the nosegays the willowwands the whirling movements on the green the
flash of gentle sentiment towards the stranger to the yellow melancholy of
this one candled spectacle what a step Besides the jar of contrast there
came to her a chill selfreproach that she had not returned sooner to help her
mother in these domesticities instead of indulging herself outofdoors
There stood her mother amid the group of children as Tess had left her
hanging over the Monday washingtub which had now as always lingered on to
the end of the week Out of that tub had come the day before Tess felt it with
a dreadful sting of remorse the very white frock upon her back which she had
so carelessly greened about the skirt on the damping grass which had been
wrung up and ironed by her mothers own hands
As usual Mrs Durbeyfield was balanced on one foot beside the tub the
other being engaged in the aforesaid business of rocking her youngest child The
cradlerockers had done hard duty for so many years under the weight of so many
children on that flagstone floor that they were worn nearly flat in
consequence of which a huge jerk accompanied each swing of the cot flinging the
baby from side to side like a weavers shuttle as Mrs Durbeyfield excited by
her song trod the rocker with all the spring that was left in her after a long
days seething in the suds
Nickknock nickknock went the cradle the candleflame stretched itself
tall and began jigging up and down the water dribbled from the matrons
elbows and the song galloped on to the end of the verse Mrs Durbeyfield
regarding her daughter the while Even now when burdened with a young family
Joan Durbeyfield was a passionate lover of tune No ditty floated into Blackmoor
Vale from the outer world but Tesss mother caught up its notation in a week
There still faintly beamed from the womans features something of the
freshness and even the prettiness of her youth rendering it probable that the
personal charms which Tess could boast of were in main part her mothers gift
and therefore unknightly unhistorical
»Ill rock the cradle for ee mother« said the daughter gently »Or Ill
take off my best frock and help you wring up I thought you had finished long
ago«
Her mother bore Tess no illwill for leaving the housework to her
singlehanded efforts for so long indeed Joan seldom upbraided her thereon at
any time feeling but slightly the lack of Tesss assistance whilst her
instinctive plan for relieving herself of her labours lay in postponing them
Tonight however she was even in a blither mood than usual There was a
dreaminess a preoccupation an exaltation in the maternal look which the girl
could not understand
»Well Im glad youve come« her mother said as soon as the last note had
passed out of her »I want to go and fetch your father but whats moren that
I want to tell ee what have happened Yll be fess enough my poppet when
thst know« Mrs Durbeyfield habitually spoke the dialect her daughter who
had passed the Sixth Standard in the National School under a Londontrained
mistress spoke two languages the dialect at home more or less ordinary
English abroad and to persons of quality
»Since Ive been away« Tess asked
»Ay«
»Had it anything to do with fathers making such a mommet of himself in thik
carriage this afternoon Why did er I felt inclined to sink into the ground
with shame«
»That wer all a part of the larry Weve been found to be the greatest
gentlefolk in the whole county reaching all back long before Oliver Grumbles
time to the days of the Pagan Turks with monuments and vaults and crests
and scutcheons and the Lord knows what all In Saint Charless days we was
made Knights o the Royal Oak our real name being dUrberville Dont that
make your bosom plim Twas on this account that your father rode home in the
vlee not because hed been drinking as people supposed«
»Im glad of that Will it do us any good mother«
»O yes Tis thoughted that great things may come ot No doubt a mampus of
volk of our own rank will be down here in their carriages as soon as tis known
Your father learnt it on his way hwome from Shaston and he has been telling me
the whole pedigree of the matter«
»Where is father now« asked Tess suddenly
Her mother gave irrelevant information by way of answer »He called to see
the doctor to day in Shaston It is not consumption at all it seems It is
fat round his heart a says There it is like this« Joan Durbeyfield as she
spoke curved a sodden thumb and forefinger to the shape of the letter C and
used the other forefinger as a pointer »At the present moment« he says to your
father »your heart is enclosed all round there and all round there this space
is still open« a says »As soon as it do meet so« Mrs Durbeyfield closed
her fingers into a circle complete off you will go like a shadder Mr
Durbeyfield »a says You mid last ten years you mid go off in ten months or
ten days«
Tess looked alarmed Her father possibly to go behind the eternal cloud so
soon notwithstanding this sudden greatness
»But where is father« she asked again
Her mother put on a deprecating look »Now dont you be bursting out angry
The poor man he felt so rafted after his uplifting by the pasons news that
he went up to Rollivers half an hour ago He do want to get up his strength for
his journey tomorrow with that load of beehives which must be delivered family
or no Hell have to start shortly after twelve tonight as the distance is so
long«
»Get up his strength« said Tess impetuously the tears welling to her eyes
»O my God Go to a publichouse to get up his strength And you as well agreed
as he mother«
Her rebuke and her mood seemed to fill the whole room and to impart a cowed
look to the furniture and candle and children playing about and to her
mothers face
»No« said the latter touchily »I be not agreed I have been waiting for
ee to bide and keep house while I go to fetch him«
»Ill go«
»O no Tess You see it would be no use«
Tess did not expostulate She knew what her mothers objection meant Mrs
Durbeyfields jacket and bonnet were already hanging slily upon a chair by her
side in readiness for this contemplated jaunt the reason for which the matron
deplored more than its necessity
»And take the Compleat FortuneTeller to the outhouse« Joan continued
rapidly wiping her hands and donning the garments
The Compleat FortuneTeller was an old thick volume which lay on a table at
her elbow so worn by pocketing that the margins had reached the edge of the
type Tess took it up and her mother started
This going to hunt up her shiftless husband at the inn was one of Mrs
Durbeyfields still extant enjoyments in the muck and muddle of rearing
children To discover him at Rollivers to sit there for an hour or two by his
side and dismiss all thought and care of the children during the interval made
her happy A sort of halo an occidental glow came over life then Troubles and
other realities took on themselves a metaphysical impalpability sinking to mere
mental phenomena for serene contemplation and no longer stood as pressing
concretions which chafed body and soul The youngsters not immediately within
sight seemed rather bright and desirable appurtenances than otherwise the
incidents of daily life were not without humorousness and jollity in their
aspect there She felt a little as she had used to feel when she sat by her now
wedded husband in the same spot during his wooing shutting her eyes to his
defects of character and regarding him only in his ideal presentation as lover
Tess being left alone with the younger children went first to the outhouse
with the fortunetelling book and stuffed it into the thatch A curious
fetichistic fear of this grimy volume on the part of her mother prevented her
ever allowing it to stay in the house all night and hither it was brought back
whenever it had been consulted Between the mother with her fastperishing
lumber of superstitions folklore dialect and orally transmitted ballads and
the daughter with her trained National teachings and Standard knowledge under
an infinitely Revised Code there was a gap of two hundred years as ordinarily
understood When they were together the Jacobean and the Victorian ages were
juxtaposed
Returning along the garden path Tess mused on what the mother could have
wished to ascertain from the book on this particular day She guessed the recent
ancestral discovery to bear upon it but did not divine that it solely concerned
herself Dismissing this however she busied herself with sprinkling the linen
dried during the daytime in company with her nineyearold brother Abraham and
her sister ElizaLouisa of twelve and a half called LizaLu the youngest ones
being put to bed There was an interval of four years and more between Tess and
the next of the family the two who had filled the gap having died in their
infancy and this lent her a deputymaternal attitude when she was alone with
her juniors Next in juvenility to Abraham came two more girls Hope and
Modesty then a boy of three and then the baby who had just completed his
first year
All these young souls were passengers in the Durbeyfield ship entirely
dependent on the judgment of the two Durbeyfield adults for their pleasures
their necessities their health even their existence If the heads of the
Durbeyfield household chose to sail into difficulty disaster starvation
disease degradation death thither were these halfdozen little captives under
hatches compelled to sail with them six helpless creatures who had never been
asked if they wished for life on any terms much less if they wished for it on
such hard conditions as were involved in being of the shiftless house of
Durbeyfield Some people would like to know whence the poet whose philosophy is
in these days deemed as profound and trustworthy as his song is breezy and pure
gets his authority for speaking of »Natures holy plan«
It grew later and neither father nor mother reappeared Tess looked out of
the door and took a mental journey through Marlott The village was shutting
its eyes Candles and lamps were being put out everywhere she could inwardly
behold the extinguisher and the extended hand
Her mothers fetching simply meant one more to fetch Tess began to perceive
that a man in indifferent health who proposed to start on a journey before one
in the morning ought not to be at an inn at this late hour celebrating his
ancient blood
»Abraham« she said to her little brother »do you put on your hat you
baint afraid and go up to Rollivers and see what has gone wi father and
mother«
The boy jumped promptly from his seat and opened the door and the night
swallowed him up Half an hour passed yet again neither man woman nor child
returned Abraham like his parents seemed to have been limed and caught by the
ensnaring inn
»I must go myself« she said
LizaLu then went to bed and Tess locking them all in started on her way
up the dark and crooked lane or street not made for hasty progress a street
laid out before inches of land had value and when onehanded clocks
sufficiently subdivided the day
IV
Rollivers inn the single alehouse at this end of the long and broken village
could only boast of an offlicense hence as nobody could legally drink on the
premises the amount of overt accommodation for consumers was strictly limited
to a little board about six inches wide and two yards long fixed to the garden
palings by pieces of wire so as to form a ledge On this board thirsty
strangers deposited their cups as they stood in the road and drank and threw
the dregs on the dusty ground to the pattern of Polynesia and wished they could
have a restful seat inside
Thus the strangers But there were also local customers who felt the same
wish and where theres a will theres a way
In a large bedroom upstairs the window of which was thickly curtained with
a great woollen shawl lately discarded by the landlady Mrs Rolliver were
gathered on this evening nearly a dozen persons all seeking beatitude all old
inhabitants of the nearer end of Marlott and frequenters of this retreat Not
only did the distance to The Pure Drop the fullylicensed tavern at the further
part of the dispersed village render its accommodation practically unavailable
for dwellers at this end but the far more serious question the quality of the
liquor confirmed the prevalent opinion that it was better to drink with
Rolliver in a corner of the housetop than with the other landlord in a wide
house
A gaunt fourpost bedstead which stood in the room afforded sittingspace
for several persons gathered round three of its sides a couple more men had
elevated themselves on a chest of drawers another rested on the oakcarved
»cwoffer« two on the washstand another on the stool and thus all were
somehow seated at their ease The stage of mental comfort to which they had
arrived at this hour was one wherein their souls expanded beyond their skins
and spread their personalties warmly through the room In this process the
chamber and its furniture grew more and more dignified and luxurious the shawl
hanging at the window took upon itself the richness of tapestry the brass
handles of the chest of drawers were as golden knockers and the carved
bedposts seemed to have some kinship with the magnificent pillars of Solomons
temple
Mrs Durbeyfield having quickly walked hitherward after parting from Tess
opened the front door crossed the downstairs room which was in deep gloom and
then unfastened the stairdoor like one whose fingers knew the tricks of the
latches well Her ascent of the crooked staircase was a slower process and her
face as it rose into the light above the last stair encountered the gaze of
all the party assembled in the bedroom
» Being a few private friends Ive asked in to keep up clubwalking at my
own expense« the landlady exclaimed at the sound of footsteps as glibly as a
child repeating the Catechism while she peered over the stairs »Oh tis you
Mrs Durbeyfield Lard how you frightened me I thought it might be some
gaffer sent by Goverment«
Mrs Durbeyfield was welcomed with glances and nods by the remainder of the
conclave and turned to where her husband sat He was humming absently to
himself in a low tone »I be as good as some folks here and there Ive got a
great family vault at KingsberesubGreenhill and finer skillentons than any
man in Wessex«
»Ive something to tell ee thats come into my head about that a grand
projick« whispered his cheerful wife »Here John dont ee see me« She
nudged him while he looking through her as through a windowpane went on with
his recitative
»Hush Dont ee sing so loud my good man« said the landlady »in case any
member of the Goverment should be passing and take away my licends«
»Hes told ee whats happened to us I suppose« asked Mrs Durbeyfield
»Yes in a way Dye think theres any money hanging by it«
»Ah thats the secret« said Joan Durbeyfield sagely »However tis well
to be kin to a coach even if you dont ride in en« She dropped her public
voice and continued in a low tone to her husband »Ive been thinking since you
brought the news that theres a great rich lady out by Trantridge on the edge
o The Chase of the name of dUrberville«
»Hey whats that« said Sir John
She repeated the information »That lady must be our relation« she said
»And my projick is to send Tess to claim kin«
»There is a lady of the name now you mention it« said Durbeyfield »Pason
Tringham didnt think of that But shes nothing beside we a junior branch of
us no doubt hailing long since King Normans day«
While this question was being discussed neither of the pair noticed in
their preoccupation that little Abraham had crept into the room and was
awaiting an opportunity of asking them to return
»She is rich and shed be sure to take notice o the maid« continued Mrs
Durbeyfield »and twill be a very good thing I dont see why two branches or
one family should not be on visiting terms«
»Yes and well all claim kin« said Abraham brightly from under the
bedstead »And well all go and see her when Tess has gone to live with her and
well ride in her coach and wear black clothes«
»How do you come here child What nonsense be ye talking Go away and play
on the stairs till father and mother be ready Well Tess ought to go to
this other member of our family Shed be sure to win the lady Tess would and
likely enough twould lead to some noble gentleman marrying her In short I
know it«
»How«
»I tried her fate in the FortuneTeller and it brought out that very thing
You should ha seen how pretty she looked today her skin is as sumple as a
duchesss«
»What says the maid herself to going«
»Ive not asked her She dont know there is any such ladyrelation yet But
it would certainly put her in the way of a grand marriage and she wont say nay
to going«
»Tess is queer«
»But shes tractable at bottom Leave her to me« Though this conversation
had been private sufficient of its import reached the understandings of those
around to suggest to them that the Durbeyfields had weightier concerns to talk
of now than common folks had and that Tess their pretty eldest daughter had
fine prospects in store
»Tess is a fine figure o fun as I said to myself today when I zeed her
vamping round parish with the rest« observed one of the elderly boozers in an
undertone »But Joan Durbeyfield must mind that she dont get green malt in
floor« It was a local phrase which had a peculiar meaning and there was no
reply
The conversation became inclusive and presently other footsteps were heard
crossing the room below
» Being a few private friends asked in tonight to keep up clubwalking at
my own expense« The landlady had rapidly reused the formula she kept on hand
for intruders before she recognized that the newcomer was Tess
Even to her mothers gaze the girls young features looked sadly out of
place amid the alcoholic vapours which floated here as no unsuitable medium for
wrinkled middleage and hardly was a reproachful flash from Tesss dark eyes
needed to make her father and mother rise from their seats hastily finish their
ale and descend the stairs behind her Mrs Rollivers caution following their
footsteps
»No noise please if yell be so good my dears or I mid lose my licends
and be summonsd and I dont know what all Night tye«
They went home together Tess holding one arm of her father and Mrs
Durbeyfield the other He had in truth drunk very little not a fourth of the
quantity which a systematic tippler could carry to church on a Sunday afternoon
without a hitch in his eastings or genuflections but the weakness of Sir Johns
constitution made mountains of his petty sins in this kind On reaching the
fresh air he was sufficiently unsteady to incline the row of three at one moment
as if they were marching to London and at another as if they were marching to
Bath which produced a comical effect frequent enough in families on nocturnal
homegoings and like most comical effects not quite so comic after all The
two women valiantly disguised these forced excursions and countermarches as well
as they could from Durbeyfield their cause and from Abraham and from
themselves and so they approached by degrees their own door the head of the
family bursting suddenly into his former refrain as he drew near as if to
fortify his soul at sight of the smallness of his present residence
»Ive got a family vault at Kingsbere«
»Hush dont be so silly Jacky« said his wife »Yours is not the only
family that was of count in wold days Look at the Anktells and Horseys and
the Tringhams themselves gone to seed amost as much as you though you was
bigger folks than they thats true Thank God I was never of no family and
have nothing to be ashamed of in that way«
»Dont you be so sure o that From your nater tis my belief youve
disgraced yourselves more than any o us and was kings and queens outright at
one time«
Tess turned the subject by saying what was far more prominent in her own
mind at the moment than thoughts of her ancestry
»I am afraid father wont be able to take the journey with the beehives
tomorrow so early«
»I I shall be all right in an hour or two« said Durbeyfield
It was eleven oclock before the family were all in bed and two oclock next
morning was the latest hour for starting with the beehives if they were to be
delivered to the retailers in Casterbridge before the Saturday market began the
way thither lying by bad roads over a distance of between twenty and thirty
miles and the horse and waggon being of the slowest At halfpast one Mrs
Durbeyfield came into the large bedroom where Tess and all her little brothers
and sisters slept
»The poor man cant go« she said to her eldest daughter whose great eyes
had opened the moment her mothers hand touched the door
Tess sat up in bed lost in a vague interspace between a dream and this
information
»But somebody must go« she replied »It is late for the hives already
Swarming will soon be over for the year and if we put off taking em till next
weeks market the call for em will be past and theyll be thrown on our
hands«
Mrs Durbeyfield looked unequal to the emergency »Some young feller
perhaps would go One of them who were so much after dancing with ee
yesterday« she presently suggested
»O no I wouldnt have it for the world« declared Tess proudly »And
letting everybody know the reason such a thing to be ashamed of I think I
could go if Abraham could go with me to kip me company«
Her mother at length agreed to this arrangement Little Abraham was aroused
from his deep sleep in a corner of the same apartment and made to put on his
clothes while still mentally in the other world Meanwhile Tess had hastily
dressed herself and the twain lighting a lantern went out to the stable The
rickety little waggon was already laden and the girl led out the horse Prince
only a degree less rickety than the vehicle
The poor creature looked wonderingly round at the night at the lantern at
their two figures as if he could not believe that at that hour when every
living thing was intended to be in shelter and at rest he was called upon to go
out and labour They put a stock of candle ends into the lantern hung the
latter to the offside of the load and directed the horse onward walking at
his shoulder at first during the uphill parts of the way in order not to
overload an animal of so little vigour To cheer themselves as well as they
could they made an artificial morning with the lantern some bread and butter
and their own conversation the real morning being far from come Abraham as he
more fully awoke for he had moved in a sort of trance so far began to talk of
the strange shapes assumed by the various dark objects against the sky of this
tree that looked like a raging tiger springing from a lair of that which
resembled a giants head
When they had passed the little town of Stourcastle dumbly somnolent under
its thick brown thatch they reached higher ground Still higher on their left
the elevation called Bulbarrow or Bealbarrow wellnigh the highest in South
Wessex swelled into the sky engirdled by its earthen trenches From hereabout
the long road was fairly level for some distance onward They mounted in front
of the waggon and Abraham grew reflective
»Tess« he said in a preparatory tone after a silence
»Yes Abraham«
»Baint you glad that weve become gentlefolk«
»Not particular glad«
»But you be glad that you m going to marry a gentleman«
»What« said Tess lifting her face
»That our great relation will help ee to marry a gentleman«
»I Our great relation We have no such relation What has put that into
your head«
»I heard em talking about it up at Rollivers when I went to find father
Theres a rich lady of our family out at Trantridge and mother said that if you
claimed kin with the lady shed put ee in the way of marrying a gentleman«
His sister became abruptly still and lapsed into a pondering silence
Abraham talked on rather for the pleasure of utterance than for audition so
that his sisters abstraction was of no account He leant back against the
hives and with upturned face made observations on the stars whose cold pulses
were beating amid the black hollows above in serene dissociation from these two
wisps of human life He asked how far away those twinklers were and whether God
was on the other side of them But ever and anon his childish prattle recurred
to what impressed his imagination even more deeply than the wonders of creation
If Tess were made rich by marrying a gentleman would she have money enough to
buy a spyglass so large that it would draw the stars as near to her as
NettlecombeTout
The renewed subject which seemed to have impregnated the whole family
filled Tess with impatience
»Never mind that now« she exclaimed
»Did you say the stars were worlds Tess«
»Yes«
»All like ours«
»I dont know but I think so They sometimes seem to be like the apples on
our stubbardtree Most of them splendid and sound a few blighted«
»Which do we live on a splendid one or a blighted one«
»A blighted one«
Tis very unlucky that we didnt pitch on a sound one when there were so
many more of »em«
»Yes«
»Is it like that really Tess« said Abraham turning to her much impressed
on reconsideration of this rare information »How would it have been if we had
pitched on a sound one«
»Well father wouldnt have coughed and creeped about as he does and
wouldnt have got too tipsy to go this journey and mother wouldnt have been
always washing and never getting finished«
»And you would have been a rich lady readymade and not have had to be made
rich by marrying a gentleman«
»O Aby dont dont talk of that any more«
Left to his reflections Abraham soon grew drowsy Tess was not skilful in
the management of a horse but she thought that she could take upon herself the
entire conduct of the load for the present and allow Abraham to go to sleep if
he wished to do so She made him a sort of nest in front of the hives in such a
manner that he could not fall and taking the reins into her own hands jogged
on as before
Prince required but slight attention lacking energy for superfluous
movements of any sort With no longer a companion to distract her Tess fell
more deeply into reverie than ever her back leaning against the hives The mute
procession past her shoulders of trees and hedges became attached to fantastic
scenes outside reality and the occasional heave of the wind became the sigh of
some immense sad soul conterminous with the universe in space, and with history
in time
Then examining the mesh of events in her own life she seemed to see the
vanity of her fathers pride the gentlemanly suitor awaiting herself in her
mothers fancy to see him as a grimacing personage laughing at her poverty
and her shrouded knightly ancestry Everything grew more and more extravagant
and she no longer knew how time passed A sudden jerk shook her in her seat and
Tess awoke from the sleep into which she too had fallen
They were a long way further on than when she had lost consciousness and
the waggon had stopped A hollow groan unlike anything she had ever heard in
her life came from the front followed by a shout of »Hoi there«
The lantern hanging at her waggon had gone out but another was shining in
her face much brighter than her own had been Something terrible had happened
The harness was entangled with an object which blocked the way
In consternation Tess jumped down and discovered the dreadful truth The
groan had proceeded from her fathers poor horse Prince The morning mailcart
with its two noiseless wheels speeding along these lanes like an arrow as it
always did had driven into her slow and unlighted equipage The pointed shaft
of the cart had entered the breast of the unhappy Prince like a sword and from
the wound his lifes blood was spouting in a stream and falling with a hiss
into the road
In her despair Tess sprang forward and put her hand upon the hole with the
only result that she became splashed from face to skirt with the crimson drops
Then she stood helplessly looking on Prince also stood firm and motionless as
long as he could till he suddenly sank down in a heap
By this time the mailcart man had joined her and began dragging and
unharnessing the hot form of Prince But he was already dead and seeing that
nothing more could be done immediately the mailcart man returned to his own
animal which was uninjured
»You was on the wrong side« he said »I am bound to go on with the
mailbags so that the best thing for you to do is to bide here with your load
Ill send somebody to help you as soon as I can It is getting daylight and you
have nothing to fear«
He mounted and sped on his way while Tess stood and waited The atmosphere
turned pale the birds shook themselves in the hedges arose and twittered the
lane showed all its white features and Tess showed hers still whiter The huge
pool of blood in front of her was already assuming the iridescence of
coagulation and when the sun rose a hundred prismatic hues were reflected from
it Prince lay alongside still and stark his eyes half open the hole in his
chest looking scarcely large enough to have let out all that had animated him
Tis all my doing all mine the girl cried gazing at the spectacle »No
excuse for me none What will mother and father live on now Aby Aby« She
shook the child who had slept soundly through the whole disaster »We cant go
on with our load Prince is killed«
When Abraham realized all the furrows of fifty years were extemporized on
his young face
»Why I danced and laughed only yesterday« she went on to herself »To
think that I was such a fool«
»Tis because we be on a blighted star and not a sound one isnt it Tess«
murmured Abraham through his tears
In silence they waited through an interval which seemed endless At length a
sound and an approaching object proved to them that the driver of the
mailcart had been as good as his word A farmers man from near Stourcastle
came up leading a strong cob He was harnessed to the waggon of beehives in the
place of Prince and the load taken on towards Casterbridge
The evening of the same day saw the empty waggon reach again the spot of the
accident Prince had lain there in the ditch since the morning but the place of
the bloodpool was still visible in the middle of the road though scratched and
scraped over by passing vehicles All that was left of Prince was now hoisted
into the waggon he had formerly hauled and with his hoofs in the air and his
shoes shining in the setting sunlight he retraced the eight or nine miles to
Marlott
Tess had gone back earlier How to break the news was more than she could
think It was a relief to her tongue to find from the faces of her parents that
they already knew of their loss though this did not lessen the selfreproach
which she continued to heap upon herself for her negligence
But the very shiftlessness of the household rendered the misfortune a less
terrifying one to them than it would have been to a striving family though in
the present case it meant ruin and in the other it would only have meant
inconvenience In the Durbeyfield countenances there was nothing of the red
wrath that would have burnt upon the girl from parents more ambitious for her
welfare Nobody blamed Tess as she blamed herself
When it was discovered that the knacker and tanner would give only a very
few shillings for Princes carcase because of his decrepitude Durbeyfield rose
to the occasion
»No« said he stoically »I wont sell his old body When we dUrbervilles
was knights in the land we didnt sell our chargers for cats meat Let em
keep their shillings He ve served me well in his lifetime and I wont part
from him now«
He worked harder the next day in digging a grave for Prince in the garden
than he had worked for months to grow a crop for his family When the hole was
ready Durbeyfield and his wife tied a rope round the horse and dragged him up
the path towards it the children following in funeral train Abraham and
LizaLu sobbed Hope and Modesty discharged their griefs in loud blares which
echoed from the walls and when Prince was tumbled in they gathered round the
grave The breadwinner had been taken away from them what would they do
»Is he gone to heaven« asked Abraham between the sobs
Then Durbeyfield began to shovel in the earth and the children cried anew
All except Tess Her face was dry and pale as though she regarded herself in
the light of a murderess
V
The haggling business which had mainly depended on the horse became
disorganized forthwith Distress if not penury loomed in the distance
Durbeyfield was what was locally called a slacktwisted fellow he had good
strength to work at times but the times could not be relied on to coincide with
the hours of requirement and having been unaccustomed to the regular toil of
the daylabourer he was not particularly persistent when they did so coincide
Tess meanwhile as the one who had dragged her parents into this quagmire
was silently wondering what she could do to help them out of it and then her
mother broached her scheme
»We must take the ups wi« the downs Tess said she »and never could your
high blood have been found out at a more calledfor moment You must try your
friends Do ye know that there is a very rich Mrs dUrberville living on the
outskirts o The Chase who must be our relation You must go to her and claim
kin and ask for some help in our trouble«
»I shouldnt care to do that« says Tess »If there is such a lady twould
be enough for us if she were friendly not to expect her to give us help«
»You could win her round to do anything my dear Besides perhaps theres
more in it than you know of Ive heard what Ive heard goodnow«
The oppressive sense of the harm she had done led Tess to be more
deferential than she might otherwise have been to the maternal wish but she
could not understand why her mother should find such satisfaction in
contemplating an enterprise of to her such doubtful profit Her mother might
have made inquiries and have discovered that this Mrs dUrberville was a lady
of unequalled virtues and charity But Tesss pride made the part of poor
relation one of particular distaste to her
»Id rather try to get work« she murmured
»Durbeyfield you can settle it« said his wife turning to where he sat in
the background »If you say she ought to go she will go«
»I dont like my children going and making themselves beholden to strange
kin« murmured he »Im the head of the noblest branch o the family and I
ought to live up to it«
His reasons for staying away were worse to Tess than her own objection to
going »Well as I killed the horse mother« she said mournfully »I suppose I
ought to do something I dont mind going and seeing her but you must leave it
to me about asking for help And dont go thinking about her making a match for
me it is silly«
»Very well said Tess« observed her father sententiously
»Who said I had such a thought« asked Joan
»I fancy it is in your mind mother But Ill go«
Rising early next day she walked to the hilltown called Shaston and there
took advantage of a van which twice in the week ran from Shaston eastward to
Chaseborough passing near Trantridge the parish in which the vague and
mysterious Mrs dUrberville had her residence
Tess Durbeyfields route on this memorable morning lay amid the
northeastern undulations of the Vale in which she had been born and in which
her life had unfolded The Vale of Blackmoor was to her the world and its
inhabitants the races thereof From the gates and stiles of Marlott she had
looked down its length in the wondering days of infancy and what had been
mystery to her then was not much less than mystery to her now She had seen
daily from her chamberwindow towers villages faint white mansions above all
the town of Shaston standing majestically on its height its windows shining
like lamps in the evening sun She had hardly ever visited the place only a
small tract even of the Vale and its environs being known to her by close
inspection Much less had she been far outside the valley Every contour of the
surrounding hills was as personal to her as that of her relatives faces but
for what lay beyond her judgment was dependent on the teaching of the village
school where she had held a leading place at the time of her leaving a year or
two before this date
In those early days she had been much loved by others of her own sex and
age and had used to be seen about the village as one of three all nearly of
the same year walking home from school side by side Tess the middle one in
a pink print pinafore of a finely reticulated pattern worn over a stuff frock
that had lost its original colour for a nondescript tertiary marching on upon
long stalky legs in tight stockings which had little ladderlike holes at the
knees torn by kneeling in the roads and banks in search of vegetable and
mineral treasures her then earthcoloured hair hanging like pothooks the arms
of the two outside girls resting round the waist of Tess her arms on the
shoulders of the two supporters
As Tess grew older and began to see how matters stood she felt quite a
Malthusian towards her mother for thoughtlessly giving her so many little
sisters and brothers when it was such a trouble to nurse and provide for them
Her mothers intelligence was that of a happy child Joan Durbeyfield was simply
an additional one and that not the eldest to her own long family of waiters on
Providence
However Tess became humanely beneficent towards the small ones and to help
them as much as possible she used as soon as she left school to lend a hand at
haymaking or harvesting on neighbouring farms or by preference at milking or
buttermaking processes which she had learnt when her father had owned cows
and being deftfingered it was a kind of work in which she excelled
Every day seemed to throw upon her young shoulders more of the family
burdens and that Tess should be the representative of the Durbeyfields at the
dUrberville mansion came as a thing of course In this instance it must be
admitted that the Durbeyfields were putting their fairest side outward
She alighted from the van at Trantridge Cross and ascended on foot a hill
in the direction of the district known as The Chase on the borders of which as
she had been informed Mrs dUrbervilles seat The Slopes would be found It
was not a manorial home in the ordinary sense with fields and pastures and a
grumbling farmer out of whom the owner had to squeeze an income for himself and
his family by hook or by crook It was more far more a countryhouse built for
enjoyment pure and simple with not an acre of troublesome land attached to it
beyond what was required for residential purposes and for a little fancy farm
kept in hand by the owner and tended by a bailiff
The crimson brick lodge came first in sight up to its eaves in dense
evergreens Tess thought this was the mansion itself till passing through the
side wicket with some trepidation and onward to a point at which the drive took
a turn the house proper stood in full view It was of recent erection indeed
almost new and of the same rich red colour that formed such a contrast with
the evergreens of the lodge Far behind the corner of the house which rose
like a geranium bloom against the subdued colours around stretched the soft
azure landscape of The Chase a truly venerable tract of forest land one of
the few remaining woodlands in England of undoubted primæval date wherein
Druidical mistletoe was still found on aged oaks and where enormous yewtrees
not planted by the hand of man grew as they had grown when they were pollarded
for bows All this sylvan antiquity however though visible from The Slopes
was outside the immediate boundaries of the estate
Everything on this snug property was bright thriving and well kept acres
of glasshouses stretched down the inclines to the copses at their feet
Everything looked like money like the last coin issued from the Mint The
stables partly screened by Austrian pines and evergreen oaks and fitted with
every late appliance were as dignified as ChapelsofEase On the extensive
lawn stood an ornamental tent its door being towards her
Simple Tess Durbeyfield stood at gaze in a halfalarmed attitude on the
edge of the gravel sweep Her feet had brought her onward to this point before
she had quite realized where she was and now all was contrary to her
expectation
»I thought we were an old family but this is all new« she said in her
artlessness She wished that she had not fallen in so readily with her mothers
plans for »claiming kin« and had endeavoured to gain assistance nearer home
The dUrbervilles or StokedUrbervilles as they at first called themselves
who owned all this were a somewhat unusual family to find in such an
oldfashioned part of the country Parson Tringham had spoken truly when he said
that our shambling John Durbeyfield was the only really lineal representative of
the old dUrberville family existing in the county or near it he might have
added what he knew very well that the StokedUrbervilles were no more
dUrbervilles of the true tree than he was himself Yet it must be admitted that
this family formed a very good stock whereon to regraft a name which sadly
wanted such renovation
When old Mr Simon Stoke latterly deceased had made his fortune as an
honest merchant some said moneylender in the North he decided to settle as a
county man in the South of England out of hail of his business district and in
doing this he felt the necessity of recommencing with a name that would not too
readily identify him with the smart tradesman of the past and that would be
less commonplace than the original bald stark words Conning for an hour in the
British Museum the pages of works devoted to extinct halfextinct obscured
and ruined families appertaining to the quarter of England in which he proposed
to settle he considered that dUrberville looked and sounded as well as any of
them and dUrberville accordingly was annexed to his own name for himself and
his heirs eternally Yet he was not an extravagantminded man in this and in
constructing his family tree on the new basis was duly reasonable in framing his
intermarriages and aristocratic links never inserting a single title above a
rank of strict moderation
Of this work of imagination poor Tess and her parents were naturally in
ignorance much to their discomfiture indeed the very possibility of such
annexations was unknown to them who supposed that though to be wellfavoured
might be the gift of fortune a family name came by nature
Tess still stood hesitating like a bather about to make his plunge hardly
knowing whether to retreat or to persevere when a figure came forth from the
dark triangular door of the tent It was that of a tall young man smoking
He had an almost swarthy complexion with full lips badly moulded though
red and smooth above which was a wellgroomed black moustache with curled
points though his age could not be more than three or fourandtwenty Despite
the touches of barbarism in his contours there was a singular force in the
gentlemans face and in his bold rolling eye
»Well my Beauty what can I do for you« said he coming forward And
perceiving that she stood quite confounded »Never mind me I am Mr
dUrberville Have you come to see me or my mother«
This embodiment of a dUrberville and a namesake differed even more from
what Tess had expected than the house and grounds had differed She had dreamed
of an aged and dignified face the sublimation of all the dUrberville
lineaments furrowed with incarnate memories representing in hieroglyphic the
centuries of her familys and Englands history But she screwed herself up to
the work in hand since she could not get out of it and answered
»I came to see your mother sir«
»I am afraid you cannot see her she is an invalid« replied the present
representative of the spurious house for this was Mr Alec the only son of the
lately deceased gentleman »Cannot I answer your purpose What is the business
you wish to see her about«
»It isnt business it is I can hardly say what«
»Pleasure«
»Oh no Why sir if I tell you it will seem «
Tesss sense of a certain ludicrousness in her errand was now so strong
that notwithstanding her awe of him and her general discomfort at being here
her rosy lips curved towards a smile much to the attraction of the swarthy
Alexander
»It is so very foolish« she stammered »I fear I cant tell you«
»Never mind I like foolish things Try again my dear« said he kindly
»Mother asked me to come« Tess continued »and indeed I was in the mind
to do so myself likewise But I did not think it would be like this I came sir
to tell you that we are of the same family as you«
»Ho Poor relations«
»Yes«
»Stokes«
»No dUrbervilles«
»Ay ay I mean dUrbervilles«
»Our names are worn away to Durbeyfield but we have several proofs that we
are dUrbervilles Antiquarians hold we are and and we have an old seal
marked with a ramping lion on a shield and a castle over him And we have a
very old silver spoon round in the bowl like a little ladle and marked with
the same castle But it is so worn that mother uses it to stir the peasoup«
»A castle argent is certainly my crest« said he blandly »And my arms a
lion rampant«
»And so mother said we ought to make ourselves beknown to you as weve
lost our horse by a bad accident and are the oldest branch o the family«
»Very kind of your mother Im sure And I for one dont regret her step«
Alec looked at Tess as he spoke in a way that made her blush a little »And so
my pretty girl youve come on a friendly visit to us as relations«
»I suppose I have« faltered Tess looking uncomfortable again
»Well theres no harm in it Where do you live What are you«
She gave him brief particulars and responding to further inquiries told him
that she was intending to go back by the same carrier who had brought her
»It is a long while before he returns past Trantridge Cross Supposing we
walk round the grounds to pass the time my pretty Coz«
Tess wished to abridge her visit as much as possible but the young man was
pressing and she consented to accompany him He conducted her about the lawns
and flowerbeds and conservatories and thence to the fruitgarden and
greenhouses where he asked her if she liked strawberries
»Yes« said Tess »when they come«
»They are already here« DUrberville began gathering specimens of the fruit
for her handing them back to her as he stooped and presently selecting a
specially fine product of the »British Queen« variety he stood up and held it
by the stem to her mouth
»No no« she said quickly putting her fingers between his hand and her
lips »I would rather take it in my own hand«
»Nonsense« he insisted and in a slight distress she parted her lips and
took it in
They had spent some time wandering desultorily thus Tess eating in a
halfpleased halfreluctant state whatever dUrberville offered her When she
could consume no more of the strawberries he filled her little basket with them
and then the two passed round to the rose trees whence he gathered blossoms and
gave her to put in her bosom She obeyed like one in a dream and when she could
affix no more he himself tucked a bud or two into her hat and heaped her basket
with others in the prodigality of his bounty At last looking at his watch he
said »Now by the time you have had something to eat it will be time for you
to leave if you want to catch the carrier to Shaston Come here and Ill see
what grub I can find«
StokedUrberville took her back to the lawn and into the tent where he
left her soon reappearing with a basket of light luncheon which he put before
her himself It was evidently the gentlemans wish not to be disturbed in this
pleasant têteàtête by the servantry
»Do you mind my smoking« he asked
»Oh not at all sir«
He watched her pretty and unconscious munching through the skeins of smoke
that pervaded the tent and Tess Durbeyfield did not divine as she innocently
looked down at the roses in her bosom that there behind the blue narcotic haze
was potentially the »tragic mischief« of her drama one who stood fair to be
the bloodred ray in the spectrum of her young life She had an attribute which
amounted to a disadvantage just now and it was this that caused Alec
dUrbervilles eyes to rivet themselves upon her It was a luxuriance of aspect
a fulness of growth which made her appear more of a woman than she really was
She had inherited the feature from her mother without the quality it denoted It
had troubled her mind occasionally till her companions had said that it was a
fault which time would cure
She soon had finished her lunch »Now I am going home sir« she said
rising
»And what do they call you« he asked as he accompanied her along the drive
till they were out of sight of the house
»Tess Durbeyfield down at Marlott«
»And you say your people have lost their horse«
»I killed him« she answered her eyes filling with tears as she gave
particulars of Princes death »And I dont know what to do for father on
account of it«
I must think if I cannot do something My mother must find a berth for you
But Tess no nonsense about »dUrberville« »Durbeyfield« only you know
quite another name
»I wish for no better sir« said she with something of dignity
For a moment only for a moment when they were in the turning of the
drive between the tall rhododendrons and conifers before the lodge became
visible he inclined his face towards her as if but no he thought better of
it and let her go
Thus the thing began Had she perceived this meetings import she might have
asked why she was doomed to be seen and coveted that day by the wrong man and
not by some other man the right and desired one in all respects as nearly as
humanity can supply the right and desired yet to him who amongst her
acquaintance might have approximated to this kind she was but a transient
impression half forgotten
In the illjudged execution of the welljudged plan of things the call
seldom produces the comer the man to love rarely coincides with the hour for
loving Nature does not often say »See« to her poor creature at a time when
seeing can lead to happy doing or reply »Here« to a bodys cry of »Where«
till the hideandseek has become an irksome outworn game We may wonder
whether at the acme and summit of the human progress these anachronisms will be
corrected by a finer intuition a closer interaction of the social machinery
than that which now jolts us round and along but such completeness is not to be
prophesied or even conceived as possible Enough that in the present case as
in millions it was not the two halves of a perfect whole that confronted each
other at the perfect moment a missing counterpart wandered independently about
the earth waiting in crass obtuseness till the late time came Out of which
maladroit delay sprang anxieties disappointments shocks catastrophes and
passingstrange destinies
When dUrberville got back to the tent he sat down astride on a chair
reflecting with a pleased gleam in his face Then he broke into a loud laugh
»Well Im damned What a funny thing Hahaha And what a crumby girl«
VI
Tess went down the hill to Trantridge Cross and inattentively waited to take
her seat in the van returning from Chaseborough to Shaston She did not know
what the other occupants said to her as she entered though she answered them
and when they had started anew she rode along with an inward and not an outward
eye
One among her fellowtravellers addressed her more pointedly than any had
spoken before »Why you be quite a posy And such roses in early June«
Then she became aware of the spectacle she presented to their surprised
vision roses at her breast roses in her hat roses and strawberries in her
basket to the brim She blushed and said confusedly that the flowers had been
given to her When the passengers were not looking she stealthily removed the
more prominent blooms from her hat and placed them in the basket where she
covered them with her handkerchief Then she fell to reflecting again and in
looking downwards a thorn of the rose remaining in her breast accidentally
pricked her chin Like all the cottagers in Blackmoor Vale Tess was steeped in
fancies and prefigurative superstitions she thought this an ill omen the
first she had noticed that day
The van travelled only so far as Shaston and there were several miles of
pedestrian descent from that mountaintown into the vale to Marlott Her mother
had advised her to stay here for the night at the house of a cottagewoman they
knew if she should feel too tired to come on and this Tess did not descending
to her home till the following afternoon
When she entered the house she perceived in a moment from her mothers
triumphant manner that something had occurred in the interim
»Oh yes I know all about it I told ee it would be all right and now tis
proved«
»Since Ive been away What has« said Tess rather wearily
Her mother surveyed the girl up and down with arch approval and went on
banteringly »So youve brought em round«
»How do you know mother«
»Ive had a letter«
Tess then remembered that there would have been time for this
»They say Mrs dUrberville says that she wants you to look after a
little fowlfarm which is her hobby But this is only her artful way of getting
ee there without raising your hopes Shes going to own ee as kin thats the
meaning ot«
»But I didnt see her«
»You zid somebody I suppose«
»I saw her son«
»And did he own ee«
»Well he called me Coz«
»An I knew it Jacky he called her Coz« cried Joan to her husband
»Well he spoke to his mother of course and she do want ee there«
»But I dont know that I am apt at tending fowls« said the dubious Tess
»Then I dont know who is apt Youve ben born in the business and brought
up in it They that be born in a business always know more about it than any
prentice Besides thats only just a show of something for you to do that you
midnt feel beholden«
»I dont altogether think I ought to go« said Tess thoughtfully »Who wrote
the letter Will you let me look at it«
»Mrs dUrberville wrote it Here it is«
The letter was in the third person and briefly informed Mrs Durbeyfield
that her daughters services would be useful to that lady in the management of
her poultryfarm that a comfortable room would be provided for her if she could
come and that the wages would be on a liberal scale if they liked her
»Oh thats all« said Tess
»You couldnt expect her to throw her arms round ee an to kiss and to
coll ee all at once«
Tess looked out of the window
»I would rather stay here with father and you« she said
»But why«
»Id rather not tell you why mother indeed I dont quite know why«
A week afterwards she came in one evening from an unavailing search for some
light occupation in the immediate neighbourhood Her idea had been to get
together sufficient money during the summer to purchase another horse Hardly
had she crossed the threshold before one of the children danced across the room
saying »The gentleman s been here«
Her mother hastened to explain smiles breaking from every inch of her
person Mrs dUrbervilles son had called on horseback having been riding by
chance in the direction of Marlott He had wished to know finally in the name
of his mother if Tess could really come to manage the old ladys fowlfarm or
not the lad who had hitherto superintended the birds having proved
untrustworthy »Mr dUrberville says you must be a good girl if you are at all
as you appear he knows you must be worth your weight in gold He is very much
interested in ee truth to tell«
Tess seemed for the moment really pleased to hear that she had won such high
opinion from a stranger when in her own esteem she had sunk so low
»It is very good of him to think that« she murmured »and if I was quite
sure how it would be living there I would go anywhen«
»He is a mighty handsome man«
»I dont think so« said Tess coldly
»Well theres your chance whether or no and Im sure he wears a beautiful
diamond ring«
»Yes« said little Abraham brightly from the windowbench »and I seed it
and it did twinkle when he put his hand up to his mistarshers Mother why did
our grand relation keep on putting his hand up to his mistarshers«
»Hark at that child« cried Mrs Durbeyfield with parenthetic admiration
»Perhaps to show his diamond ring« murmured Sir John dreamily from his
chair
»Ill think it over« said Tess leaving the room
»Well shes made a conquest o the younger branch of us straight off«
continued the matron to her husband »and shes a fool if she dont follow it
up«
»I dont quite like my children going away from home« said the haggler »As
the head of the family the rest ought to come to me«
»But do let her go Jacky« coaxed his poor witless wife »Hes struck wi
her you can see that He called her Coz Hell marry her most likely and
make a lady of her and then shell be what her forefathers was«
John Durbeyfield had more conceit than energy or health and this
supposition was pleasant to him
»Well perhaps thats what young Mr dUrberville means« he admitted »and
sure enough he mid have serious thoughts about improving his blood by linking on
to the old line Tess the little rogue And have she really paid em a visit to
such an end as this«
Meanwhile Tess was walking thoughtfully among the gooseberrybushes in the
garden and over Princes grave When she came in her mother pursued her
advantage
»Well what be you going to do« she asked
»I wish I had seen Mrs dUrberville« said Tess
»I think you mid as well settle it Then youll see her soon enough«
Her father coughed in his chair
»I dont know what to say« answered the girl restlessly »It is for you to
decide I killed the old horse and I suppose I ought to do something to get ye
a new one But but I dont quite like Mr dUrberville being there«
The children who had made use of this idea of Tess being taken up by their
wealthy kinsfolk which they imagined the other family to be as a species of
dolorifuge after the death of the horse began to cry at Tesss reluctance and
teased and reproached her for hesitating
»Tess wont gooo and be made a laady of no she says she wooont«
they wailed with square mouths »And we shant have a nice new horse and lots
o golden money to buy fairlings And Tess wont look pretty in her best cloze
no mooore«
Her mother chimed in to the same tune a certain way she had of making her
labours in the house seem heavier than they were by prolonging them
indefinitely also weighed in the argument Her father alone preserved an
attitude of neutrality
»I will go« said Tess at last
Her mother could not repress her consciousness of the nuptial Vision
conjured up by the girls consent
»Thats right For such a pretty maid as tis this is a fine chance«
Tess smiled crossly
»I hope it is a chance for earning money It is no other kind of chance You
had better say nothing of that silly sort about parish«
Mrs Durbeyfield did not promise She was not quite sure that she did not
feel proud enough after the visitors remarks to say a good deal
Thus it was arranged and the young girl wrote agreeing to be ready to set
out on any day on which she might be required She was duly informed that Mrs
dUrberville was glad of her decision and that a springcart should be sent to
meet her and her luggage at the top of the Vale on the day after the morrow
when she must hold herself prepared to start Mrs dUrbervilles handwriting
seemed rather masculine
»A cart« murmured Joan Durbeyfield doubtingly »It might have been a
carriage for her own kin«
Having at last taken her course Tess was less restless and abstracted going
about her business with some selfassurance in the thought of acquiring another
horse for her father by an occupation which would not be onerous She had hoped
to be a teacher at the school but the fates seemed to decide otherwise Being
mentally older than her mother she did not regard Mrs Durbeyfields matrimonial
hopes for her in a serious aspect for a moment The lightminded woman had been
discovering good matches for her daughter almost from the year of her birth
VII
On the morning appointed for her departure Tess was awake before dawn at the
marginal minute of the dark when the grove is still mute save for one prophetic
bird who sings with a clearvoiced conviction that he at least knows the correct
time of day the rest preserving silence as if equally convinced that he is
mistaken She remained upstairs packing till breakfasttime and then came down
in her ordinary weekday clothes her Sunday apparel being carefully folded in
her box
Her mother expostulated »You will never set out to see your folks without
dressing up more the dand than that«
»But I am going to work« said Tess
»Well yes« said Mrs Durbeyfield and in a private tone »at first there
mid be a little pretence ot But I think it will be wiser of ee to put
your best side outward« she added
»Very well I suppose you know best« replied Tess with calm abandonment
And to please her parent the girl put herself quite in Joans hands saying
serenely »Do what you like with me mother«
Mrs Durbeyfield was only too delighted at this tractability First she
fetched a great basin and washed Tesss hair with such thoroughness that when
dried and brushed it looked twice as much as at other times She tied it with a
broader pink ribbon than usual Then she put upon her the white frock that Tess
had worn at the clubwalking the airy fulness of which supplementing her
enlarged coiffure imparted to her developing figure an amplitude which belied
her age and might cause her to be estimated as a woman when she was not much
more than a child
»I declare theres a hole in my stocking heel« said Tess
»Never mind holes in your stockings they dont speak When I was a maid
so long as I had a pretty bonnet the devil might ha found me in heels«
Her mothers pride in the girls appearance led her to step back like a
painter from his easel and survey her work as a whole
»You must zee yourself« she cried »It is much better than you was tother
day«
As the lookingglass was only large enough to reflect a very small portion
of Tesss person at one time Mrs Durbeyfield hung a black cloak outside the
casement and so made a large reflector of the panes as it is the wont of
bedecking cottagers to do After this she went downstairs to her husband who
was sitting in the lower room
»Ill tell ee what tis Durbeyfield« said she exultingly »hell never
have the heart not to love her But whatever you do dont zay too much to Tess
of his fancy for her and this chance she has got She is such an odd maid that
it mid zet her against him or against going there even now If all goes well
I shall certainly be for making some return to that pason at Stagfoot Lane for
telling us dear good man«
However as the moment for the girls setting out drew nigh when the first
excitement of the dressing had passed off a slight misgiving found place in
Joan Durbeyfields mind It prompted the matron to say that she would walk a
little way as far as to the point where the acclivity from the valley began
its first steep ascent to the outer world At the top Tess was going to be met
with the springcart sent by the StokedUrbervilles and her box had already
been wheeled ahead towards this summit by a lad with trucks to be in readiness
Seeing their mother put on her bonnet the younger children clamoured to go
with her
»I do want to walk a littleways wi Sissy now shes going to marry our
gentlemancousin and wear fine cloze«
»Now« said Tess flushing and turning quickly »Ill hear no more o that
Mother how could you ever put such stuff into their heads«
»Going to work my dears for our rich relation and help get enough money
for a new horse« said Mrs Durbeyfield pacifically
»Goodbye father« said Tess with a lumpy throat
»Goodbye my maid« said Sir John raising his head from his breast as he
suspended his nap induced by a slight excess this morning in honour of the
occasion »Well I hope my young friend will like such a comely sample of his
own blood And telln Tess that being sunk quite from our former grandeur
Ill sell him the title yes sell it and at no onreasonable figure«
»Not for less than a thousand pound« cried Lady Durbeyfield
»Telln Ill take a thousand pound Well Ill take less when I come to
think ot Hell adorn it better than a poor lammicken feller like myself can
Telln he shall hae it for a hundred But I wont stand upon trifles telln he
shall hae it for fifty for twenty pound Yes twenty pound thats the
lowest Dammy family honour is family honour and I wont take a penny less«
Tesss eyes were too full and her voice too choked to utter the sentiments
that were in her She turned quickly and went out
So the girls and their mother all walked together a child on each side of
Tess holding her hand and looking at her meditatively from time to time as at
one who was about to do great things her mother just behind with the smallest
the group forming a picture of honest beauty flanked by innocence and backed by
simplesouled vanity They followed the way till they reached the beginning of
the ascent on the crest of which the vehicle from Trantridge was to receive
her this limit having been fixed to save the horse the labour of the last
slope Far away behind the first hills the clifflike dwellings of Shaston broke
the line of the ridge Nobody was visible in the elevated road which skirted the
ascent save the lad whom they had sent on before them sitting on the handle of
the barrow that contained all Tesss worldly possessions
»Bide here a bit and the cart will soon come no doubt« said Mrs
Durbeyfield »Yes I see it yonder«
It had come appearing suddenly from behind the forehead of the nearest
upland and stopping beside the boy with the barrow Her mother and the children
thereupon decided to go no farther and bidding them a hasty goodbye Tess bent
her steps up the hill
They saw her white shape draw near to the springcart on which her box was
already placed But before she had quite reached it another vehicle shot out
from a clump of trees on the summit came round the bend of the road there
passed the luggagecart and halted beside Tess who looked up as if in great
surprise
Her mother perceived for the first time that the second vehicle was not a
humble conveyance like the first but a spickandspan gig of dogcart highly
varnished and equipped The driver was a young man of three or fourandtwenty
with a cigar between his teeth wearing a dandy cap drab jacket breeches of
the same hue white neckcloth stickup collar and brown drivinggloves in
short he was the handsome horsey young buck who had visited Joan a week or two
before to get her answer about Tess
Mrs Durbeyfield clapped her hands like a child Then she looked down then
stared again Could she be deceived as to the meaning of this
»Is dat the gentlemankinsman wholl make Sissy a lady« asked the youngest
child
Meanwhile the muslined form of Tess could be seen standing still undecided
beside this turnout whose owner was talking to her Her seeming indecision
was in fact more than indecision it was misgiving She would have preferred
the humble cart The young man dismounted and appeared to urge her to ascend
She turned her face down the hill to her relatives and regarded the little
group Something seemed to quicken her to a determination possibly the thought
that she had killed Prince She suddenly stepped up he mounted beside her and
immediately whipped on the horse In a moment they had passed the slow cart with
the box and disappeared behind the shoulder of the hill
Directly Tess was out of sight and the interest of the matter as a drama
was at an end the little ones eyes filled with tears The youngest child said
»I wish poor poor Tess wasnt gone away to be a lady« and lowering the
corners of his lips burst out crying The new point of view was infectious and
the next child did likewise and then the next till the whole three of them
wailed loud
There were tears also in Joan Durbeyfields eyes as she turned to go home
But by the time she had got back to the village she was passively trusting to
the favour of accident However in bed that night she sighed and her husband
asked her what was the matter
»Oh I dont know exactly« she said »I was thinking that perhaps it would
ha been better if Tess had not gone«
»Oughtnt ye to have thought of that before«
»Well tis a chance for the maid Still if twere the doing again I
wouldnt let her go till I had found out whether the gentleman is really a
goodhearted young man and choice over her as his kinswoman«
»Yes you ought perhaps to ha done that« snored Sir John
Joan Durbeyfield always managed to find consolation somewhere »Well as one
of the genuine stock she ought to make her way with en if she plays her trump
card aright And if he dont marry her afore he will after For that hes all
afire wi love for her any eye can see«
»Whats her trump card Her dUrberville blood you mean«
»No stupid her face as twas mine«
VIII
Having mounted beside her Alec dUrberville drove rapidly along the crest of
the first hill chatting compliments to Tess as they went the cart with her box
being left far behind Rising still an immense landscape stretched around them
on every side behind the green valley of her birth before a gray country of
which she knew nothing except from her first brief visit to Trantridge Thus
they reached the verge of an incline down which the road stretched in a long
straight descent of nearly a mile
Ever since the accident with her fathers horse Tess Durbeyfield courageous
as she naturally was had been exceedingly timid on wheels the least
irregularity of motion startled her She began to get uneasy at a certain
recklessness in her conductors driving
»You will go down slow sir I suppose« she said with attempted unconcern
DUrberville looked round upon her nipped his cigar with the tips of his
large white centreteeth and allowed his lips to smile slowly of themselves
»Why Tess« he answered after another whiff or two »it isnt a brave
bouncing girl like you who asks that Why I always go down at full gallop
Theres nothing like it for raising your spirits«
»But perhaps you need not now«
»Ah« he said shaking his head »there are two to be reckoned with It is
not me alone Tib has to be considered and she has a very queer temper«
»Who«
»Why this mare I fancy she looked round at me in a very grim way just
then Didnt you notice it«
»Dont try to frighten me sir« said Tess stiffly
»Well I dont If any living man can manage this horse I can I wont say
any living man can do it but if such has the power I am he«
»Why do you have such a horse«
»Ah well may you ask it It was my fate I suppose Tib has killed one
chap and just after I bought her she nearly killed me And then take my word
for it I nearly killed her But shes touchy still very touchy and ones life
is hardly safe behind her sometimes«
They were just beginning to descend and it was evident that the horse
whether of her own will or of his the latter being the more likely knew so
well the reckless performance expected of her that she hardly required a hint
from behind
Down down they sped the wheels humming like a top the dogcart rocking
right and left its axis acquiring a slightly oblique set in relation to the
line of progress the figure of the horse rising and falling in undulations
before them Sometimes a wheel was off the ground it seemed for many yards
sometimes a stone was sent spinning over the hedge and flinty sparks from the
horses hoofs outshone the daylight The aspect of the straight road enlarged
with their advance the two banks dividing like a splitting stick one rushing
past at each shoulder
The wind blew through Tesss white muslin to her very skin and her washed
hair flew out behind She was determined to show no open fear but she clutched
dUrbervilles reinarm
»Dont touch my arm We shall be thrown out if you do Hold on round my
waist«
She grasped his waist and so they reached the bottom
»Safe thank God in spite of your fooling« said she her face on fire
»Tess fie thats temper« said dUrberville
»Tis truth«
»Well you need not let go your hold of me so thanklessly the moment you
feel yourself out of danger«
She had not considered what she had been doing whether he were man or
woman stick or stone in her involuntary hold on him Recovering her reserve
she sat without replying and thus they reached the summit of another declivity
»Now then again« said dUrberville
»No no« said Tess »Show more sense do please«
»But when people find themselves on one of the highest points in the county
they must get down again« he retorted
He loosened rein and away they went a second time DUrberville turned his
face to her as they rocked and said in playful raillery »Now then put your
arms round my waist again as you did before my Beauty«
»Never« said Tess independently holding on as well as she could without
touching him
»Let me put one little kiss on those holmberry lips Tess or even on that
warmed cheek and Ill stop on my honour I will«
Tess surprised beyond measure slid farther back still on her seat at
which he urged the horse anew and rocked her the more
»Will nothing else do« she cried at length in desperation her large eyes
staring at him like those of a wild animal This dressing her up so prettily by
her mother had apparently been to lamentable purpose
»Nothing dear Tess« he replied
»Oh I dont know very well I dont mind« she panted miserably
He drew rein and as they slowed he was on the point of imprinting the
desired salute when as if hardly yet aware of her own modesty she dodged
aside His arms being occupied with the reins there was left him no power to
prevent her manoeuvre
»Now damn it Ill break both our necks« swore her capriciously
passionate companion »So you can go from your word like that you young witch
can you«
»Very well« said Tess »Ill not move since you be so determined But I
thought you would be kind to me and protect me as my kinsman«
»Kinsman be hanged Now«
»But I dont want anybody to kiss me sir« she implored a big tear
beginning to roll down her face and the corners of her mouth trembling in her
attempts not to cry »And I wouldnt ha come if I had known«
He was inexorable and she sat still and dUrberville gave her the kiss of
mastery No sooner had he done so than she flushed with shame took out her
handkerchief and wiped the spot on her cheek that had been touched by his lips
His ardour was nettled at the sight for the act on her part had been
unconsciously done
»You are mighty sensitive for a cottage girl« said the young man
Tess made no reply to this remark of which indeed she did not quite
comprehend the drift unheeding the snub she had administered by her instinctive
rub upon her cheek She had in fact undone the kiss as far as such a thing
was physically possible With a dim sense that he was vexed she looked steadily
ahead as they trotted on near Melbury Down and Wingreen till she saw to her
consternation that there was yet another descent to be undergone
»You shall be made sorry for that« he resumed his injured tone still
remaining as he flourished the whip anew »Unless that is you agree willingly
to let me do it again and no handkerchief«
She sighed »Very well sir« she said »Oh let me get my hat«
At the moment of speaking her hat had blown off into the road their present
speed on the upland being by no means slow DUrberville pulled up and said he
would get it for her but Tess was down on the other side
She turned back and picked up the article
»You look prettier with it off upon my soul if thats possible« he said
contemplating her over the back of the vehicle »Now then up again Whats the
matter«
The hat was in place and tied but Tess had not stepped forward
»No sir« she said revealing the red and ivory of her mouth as her eye lit
in defiant triumph »not again if I know it«
»What you wont get up beside me«
»No I shall walk«
»Tis five or six miles yet to Trantridge«
»I dont care if tis dozens Besides the cart is behind«
»You artful hussy Now tell me didnt you make that hat blow off on
purpose Ill swear you did«
Her strategic silence confirmed his suspicion
Then dUrberville cursed and swore at her and called her everything he
could think of for the trick Turning the horse suddenly he tried to drive back
upon her and so hem her in between the gig and the hedge But he could not do
this short of injuring her
»You ought to be ashamed of yourself for using such wicked words« cried
Tess with spirit from the top of the hedge into which she had scrambled »I
dont like ee at all I hate and detest you Ill go back to mother I will«
DUrbervilles bad temper cleared up at sight of hers and he laughed
heartily
»Well I like you all the better« he said »Come let there be peace Ill
never do it any more against your will My life upon it now«
Still Tess could not be induced to remount She did not however object to
his keeping his gig alongside her and in this manner at a slow pace they
advanced towards the village of Trantridge From time to time dUrberville
exhibited a sort of fierce distress at the sight of the tramping he had driven
her to undertake by his misdemeanour She might in truth have safely trusted him
now but he had forfeited her confidence for the time and she kept on the
ground progressing thoughtfully as if wondering whether it would be wiser to
return home Her resolve however had been taken and it seemed vacillating
even to childishness to abandon it now unless for graver reasons How could she
face her parents get back her box and disconcert the whole scheme for the
rehabilitation of her family on such sentimental grounds
A few minutes later the chimneys of The Slopes appeared in view and in a
snug nook to the right the poultry farm and cottage of Tesss destination
IX
The community of fowls to which Tess had been appointed as supervisor purveyor
nurse surgeon and friend made its headquarters in an old thatched cottage
standing in an enclosure that had once been a garden but was now a trampled and
sanded square The house was overrun with ivy its chimney being enlarged by the
boughs of the parasite to the aspect of a ruined tower The lower rooms were
entirely given over to the birds who walked about them with a proprietary air
as though the place had been built by themselves and not by certain dusty
copyholders who now lay east and west in the churchyard The descendants of
these bygone owners felt it almost as a slight to their family when the house
which had so much of their affection had cost so much of their forefathers
money and had been in their possession for several generations before the
dUrbervilles came and built here was indifferently turned into a fowlhouse by
Mrs StokedUrberville as soon as the property fell into hand according to law
»Twas good enough for Christians in grandfathers time« they said
The rooms wherein dozens of infants had wailed at their nursing now
resounded with the tapping of nascent chicks Distracted hens in coops occupied
spots where formerly stood chairs supporting sedate agriculturists The
chimneycorner and once blazing hearth was now filled with inverted beehives in
which the hens laid their eggs while out of doors the plots that each
succeeding householder had carefully shaped with his spade were torn by the
cocks in wildest fashion
The garden in which the cottage stood was surrounded by a wall and could
only be entered through a door
When Tess had occupied herself about an hour the next morning in altering
and improving the arrangements according to her skilled ideas as the daughter
of a professed poulterer the door in the wall opened and a servant in white cap
and apron entered She had come from the manorhouse
»Mrs dUrberville wants the fowls as usual« she said but perceiving that
Tess did not quite understand she explained »Misess is a old lady and
blind«
»Blind« said Tess
Almost before her misgiving at the news could find time to shape itself she
took under her companions direction two of the most beautiful of the
Hamburghs in her arms and followed the maidservant who had likewise taken
two to the adjacent mansion which though ornate and imposing showed traces
everywhere on this side that some occupant of its chambers could bend to the
love of dumb creatures feathers floating within view of the front and
hencoops standing on the grass
In a sittingroom on the groundfloor ensconced in an armchair with her
back to the light was the owner and mistress of the estate a whitehaired
woman of not more than sixty or even less wearing a large cap She had the
mobile face frequent in those whose sight has decayed by stages has been
laboriously striven after and reluctantly let go rather than the stagnant mien
apparent in persons long sightless or born blind Tess walked up to this lady
with her feathered charges one sitting on each arm
»Ah you are the young woman come to look after my birds« said Mrs
dUrberville recognizing a new footstep »I hope you will be kind to them My
bailiff tells me you are quite the proper person Well where are they Ah this
is Strut But he is hardly so lively today is he He is alarmed at being
handled by a stranger I suppose And Phena too yes they are a little
frightened arent you dears But they will soon get used to you«
While the old lady had been speaking Tess and the other maid in obedience
to her gestures had placed the fowls severally in her lap and she had felt
them over from head to tail examining their beaks their combs the manes of
the cocks their wings and their claws Her touch enabled her to recognize them
in a moment and to discover if a single feather were crippled or draggled She
handled their crops and knew what they had eaten and if too little or too
much her face enacting a vivid pantomime of the criticisms passing in her mind
The birds that the two girls had brought in were duly returned to the yard
and the process was repeated till all the pet cocks and hens had been submitted
to the old woman Hamburghs Bantams Cochins Brahmas Dorkings and such
other sorts as were in fashion just then her perception of each visitor being
seldom at fault as she received the bird upon her knees
It reminded Tess of a Confirmation in which Mrs dUrberville was the
bishop the fowls the young people presented and herself and the maidservant
the parson and curate of the parish bringing them up At the end of the ceremony
Mrs dUrberville abruptly asked Tess wrinkling and twitching her face into
undulations »Can you whistle«
»Whistle Maam«
»Yes whistle tunes«
Tess could whistle like most other country girls though the accomplishment
was one which she did not care to profess in genteel company However she
blandly admitted that such was the fact
»Then you will have to practise it every day I had a lad who did it very
well but he has left
I want you to whistle to my bullfinches as I cannot see them I like to hear
them and we teach em airs that way Tell her where the cages are Elizabeth
You must begin tomorrow or they will go back in their piping They have been
neglected these several days«
»Mr dUrberville whistled to em this morning maam« said Elizabeth
»He Pooh«
The old ladys face creased into furrows of repugnance and she made no
further reply
Thus the reception of Tess by her fancied kinswoman terminated and the
birds were taken back to their quarters The girls surprise at Mrs
dUrbervilles manner was not great for since seeing the size of the house she
had expected no more But she was far from being aware that the old lady had
never heard a word of the socalled kinship She gathered that no great
affection flowed between the blind woman and her son But in that too she was
mistaken Mrs dUrberville was not the first mother compelled to love her
offspring resentfully and to be bitterly fond
In spite of the unpleasant initiation of the day before Tess inclined to the
freedom and novelty of her new position in the morning when the sun shone now
that she was once installed there and she was curious to test her powers in the
unexpected direction asked of her so as to ascertain her chance of retaining
her post As soon as she was alone within the walled garden she sat herself down
on a coop and seriously screwed up her mouth for the longneglected practice
She found her former ability to have degenerated to the production of a hollow
rush of wind through the lips and no clear note at all
She remained fruitlessly blowing and blowing wondering how she could have
so grown out of the art which had come by nature till she became aware of a
movement among the ivyboughs which cloaked the gardenwall no less than the
cottage Looking that way she beheld a form springing from the coping to the
plot It was Alec dUrberville whom she had not set eyes on since he had
conducted her the day before to the door of the gardeners cottage where she had
lodgings
»Upon my honour« cried he there was never before such a beautiful thing
in Nature or Art as you look Cousin Tess Cousin had a faint ring of mockery
I have been watching you from over the wall sitting like Impatience on a
monument and pouting up that pretty red mouth to whistling shape and whooing
and whooing and privately swearing and never being able to produce a note
Why you are quite cross because you cant do it
»I may be cross but I didnt swear«
»Ah I understand why you are trying those bullies My mother wants you to
carry on their musical education How selfish of her As if attending to these
curst cocks and hens here were not enough work for any girl I would flatly
refuse if I were you«
»But she wants me particularly to do it and to be ready by tomorrow
morning«
»Does she Well then Ill give you a lesson or two«
»Oh no you wont« said Tess withdrawing towards the door
»Nonsense I dont want to touch you See Ill stand on this side of the
wirenetting and you can keep on the other so you may feel quite safe Now
look here you screw up your lips too harshly There tis so«
He suited the action to the word and whistled a line of »Take O take those
lips away« But the allusion was lost upon Tess
»Now try« said dUrberville
She attempted to look reserved her face put on a sculptural severity But
he persisted in his demand and at last to get rid of him she did put up her
lips as directed for producing a clear note laughing distressfully however
and then blushing with vexation that she had laughed
He encouraged her with »Try again«
Tess was quite serious painfully serious by this time and she tried
ultimately and unexpectedly emitting a real round sound The momentary pleasure
of success got the better of her her eyes enlarged and she involuntarily
smiled in his face
»Thats it Now I have started you youll go on beautifully There I
said I would not come near you and in spite of such temptation as never before
fell to mortal man Ill keep my word Tess do you think my mother a queer
old soul«
»I dont know much of her yet sir«
»Youll find her so she must be to make you learn to whistle to her
bullfinches I am rather out of her books just now but you will be quite in
favour if you treat her livestock well Good morning If you meet with any
difficulties and want help here dont go to the bailiff come to me«
It was in the economy of this regime that Tess Durbeyfield had undertaken to
fill a place Her first days experiences were fairly typical of those which
followed through many succeeding days A familiarity with Alec dUrbervilles
presence which that young man carefully cultivated in her by playful dialogue
and by jestingly calling her his cousin when they were alone removed much of
her original shyness of him without however implanting any feeling which
could engender shyness of a new and tenderer kind But she was more pliable
under his hands than a mere companionship would have made her owing to her
unavoidable dependence upon his mother and through that ladys comparative
helplessness upon him
She soon found that whistling to the bullfinches in Mrs dUrbervilles room
was no such onerous business when she had regained the art for she had caught
from her musical mother numerous airs that suited those songsters admirably A
far more satisfactory time than when she practised in the garden was this
whistling by the cages each morning Unrestrained by the young mans presence
she threw up her mouth put her lips near the bars and piped away in easeful
grace to the attentive listeners
Mrs dUrberville slept in a large fourpost bedstead hung with heavy damask
curtains and the bullfinches occupied the same apartment where they flitted
about freely at certain hours and made little white spots on the furniture and
upholstery Once while Tess was at the window where the cages were ranged
giving her lesson us usual she thought she heard a rustling behind the bed The
old lady was not present and turning round the girl had an impression that the
toes of a pair of boots were visible below the fringe of the curtains Thereupon
her whistling became so disjointed that the listener if such there were must
have discovered her suspicion of his presence She searched the curtains every
morning after that but never found anybody within them Alec dUrberville had
evidently thought better of his freak to terrify her by an ambush of that kind
X
Every village has its idiosyncrasy its constitution often its own code of
morality The levity of some of the younger women in and about Trantridge was
marked and was perhaps symptomatic of the choice spirit who ruled The Slopes in
that vicinity The place had also a more abiding defect it drank hard The
staple conversation on the farms around was on the uselessness of saving money
and smockfrocked arithmeticians leaning on their ploughs or hoes would enter
into calculations of great nicety to prove that parish relief was a fuller
provision for a man in his old age than any which could result from savings out
of their wages during a whole lifetime
The chief pleasure of these philosophers lay in going every Saturday night
when work was done to Chaseborough a decayed markettown two or three miles
distant and returning in the small hours of the next morning to spend Sunday
in sleeping off the dyspeptic effects of the curious compounds sold to them as
beer by the monopolizers of the once independent inns
For a long time Tess did not join in the weekly pilgrimages But under
pressure from matrons not much older than herself for a fieldmans wages
being as high at twentyone as at forty marriage was early here Tess at
length consented to go Her first experience of the journey afforded her more
enjoyment than she had expected the hilariousness of the others being quite
contagious after her monotonous attention to the poultryfarm all the week She
went again and again Being graceful and interesting standing moreover on the
momentary threshold of womanhood her appearance drew down upon her some sly
regards from loungers in the streets of Chaseborough hence though sometimes
her journey to the town was made independently she always searched for her
fellows at nightfall to have the protection of their companionship homeward
This had gone on for a month or two when there came a Saturday in September
on which a fair and a market coincided and the pilgrims from Trantridge sought
double delights at the inns on that account Tesss occupations made her late in
setting out so that her comrades reached the town long before her It was a
fine September evening just before sunset when yellow lights struggle with
blue shades in hairlike lines and the atmosphere itself forms a prospect
without aid from more solid objects except the innumerable winged insects that
dance in it Through this lowlit mistiness Tess walked leisurely along
She did not discover the coincidence of the market with the fair till she
had reached the place by which time it was close upon dusk Her limited
marketing was soon completed and then as usual she began to look about for some
of the Trantridge cottagers
At first she could not find them and she was informed that most of them had
gone to what they called a private little jig at the house of a haytrusser and
peatdealer who had transactions with their farm He lived in an outoftheway
nook of the townlet and in trying to find her course thither her eyes fell upon
Mr dUrberville standing at a street corner
»What my Beauty You here so late« he said
She told him that she was simply waiting for company homeward
»Ill see you again« said he over her shoulder as she went on down the back
lane
Approaching the haytrussers she could hear the fiddled notes of a reel
proceeding from some building in the rear but no sound of dancing was audible
an exceptional state of things for these parts where as a rule the stamping
drowned the music The front door being open she could see straight through the
house into the garden at the back as far as the shades of night would allow and
nobody appearing to her knock she traversed the dwelling and went up the path to
the outhouse whence the sound had attracted her
It was a windowless erection used for storage and from the open door there
floated into the obscurity a mist of yellow radiance which at first Tess
thought to be illuminated smoke But on drawing nearer she perceived that it was
a cloud of dust lit by candles within the outhouse whose beams upon the haze
carried forward the outline of the doorway into the wide night of the garden
When she came close and looked in she beheld indistinct forms racing up and
down to the figure of the dance the silence of their footfalls arising from
their being overshoe in »scroff« that is to say the powdery residuum from the
storage of peat and other products the stirring of which by their turbulent
feet created the nebulosity that involved the scene Through this floating
fusty débris of peat and hay mixed with the perspirations and warmth of the
dancers and forming together a sort of vegetohuman pollen the muted fiddles
feebly pushed their notes in marked contrast to the spirit with which the
measure was trodden out They coughed as they danced and laughed as they
coughed Of the rushing couples there could barely be discerned more than the
high lights the indistinctness shaping them to satyrs clasping nymphs a
multiplicity of Pans whirling a multiplicity of Syrinxes Lotis attempting to
elude Priapus and always failing
At intervals a couple would approach the doorway for air and the haze no
longer veiling their features the demigods resolved themselves into the homely
personalities of her own nextdoor neighbours Could Trantridge in two or three
short hours have metamorphosed itself thus madly
Some Sileni of the throng sat on benches and haytrusses by the wall and
one of them recognized her
»The maids dont think it respectable to dance at The FlowerdeLuce« he
explained »They dont like to let everybody see which be their fancymen
Besides the house sometimes shuts up just when their jints begin to get
greased So we come here and send out for liquor«
»But when be any of you going home« asked Tess with some anxiety
»Now a most directly This is all but the last jig«
She waited The reel drew to a close and some of the party were in the mind
for starting But others would not and another dance was formed This surely
would end it thought Tess But it merged in yet another She became restless
and uneasy yet having waited so long it was necessary to wait longer on
account of the fair the roads were dotted with roving characters of possibly ill
intent and though not fearful of measurable dangers she feared the unknown
Had she been near Marlott she would have had less dread
»Dont ye be nervous my dear good soul« expostulated between his coughs
a young man with a wet face and his straw hat so far back upon his head that
the brim encircled it like the nimbus of a saint »Whats yer hurry Tomorrow
is Sunday thank God and we can sleep it off in churchtime Now have a turn
with me«
She did not abhor dancing but she was not going to dance here The movement
grew more passionate the fiddlers behind the luminous pillar of cloud now and
then varied the air by playing on the wrong side of the bridge or with the back
of the bow But it did not matter the panting shapes spun onwards
They did not vary their partners if their inclination were to stick to
previous ones Changing partners simply meant that a satisfactory choice had not
as yet been arrived at by one or other of the pair and by this time every
couple had been suitably matched It was then that the ecstasy and the dream
began in which emotion was the matter of the universe and matter but an
adventitious intrusion likely to hinder you from spinning where you wanted to
spin
Suddenly there was a dull thump on the ground a couple had fallen and lay
in a mixed heap The next couple unable to check its progress came toppling
over the obstacle An inner cloud of dust rose around the prostrate figures amid
the general one of the room in which a twitching entanglement of arms and legs
was discernible
»You shall catch it for this my gentleman when you get home« burst in
female accents from the human heap those of the unhappy partner of the man
whose clumsiness had caused the mishap she happened also to be his recently
married wife in which assortment there was nothing unusual at Trantridge as
long as any affection remained between wedded couples and indeed it was not
uncustomary in their later lives to avoid making odd lots of the single people
between whom there might be a warm understanding
A loud laugh from behind Tesss back in the shade of the garden united
with the titter within the room She looked round and saw the red coal of a
cigar Alec dUrberville was standing there alone He beckoned to her and she
reluctantly retreated towards him
»Well my Beauty what are you doing here«
She was so tired after her long day and her walk that she confided her
trouble to him that she had been waiting ever since he saw her to have their
company home because the road at night was strange to her »But it seems they
will never leave off and I really think I will wait no longer«
»Certainly do not I have only a saddlehorse here today but come to The
FlowerdeLuce and Ill hire a trap and drive you home with me«
Tess though flattered had never quite got over her original mistrust of
him and despite their tardiness she preferred to walk home with the
workfolk So she answered that she was much obliged to him but would not
trouble him »I have said that I will wait for em and they will expect me to
now«
»Very well Miss Independence Please yourself Then I shall not hurry
My good Lord what a kickup they are having there«
He had not put himself forward into the light but some of them had
perceived him and his presence led to a slight pause and a consideration of how
the time was flying As soon as he had relit a cigar and walked away the
Trantridge people began to collect themselves from amid those who had come in
from other farms and prepared to leave in a body Their bundles and baskets
were gathered up and half an hour later when the clockchime sounded a quarter
past eleven they were straggling along the lane which led up the hill towards
their homes
It was a threemile walk along a dry white road made whiter tonight by the
light of the moon
Tess soon perceived as she walked in the flock sometimes with this one
sometimes with that that the fresh night air was producing staggerings and
serpentine courses among the men who had partaken too freely some of the more
careless women also were wandering in their gait to wit a dark virago Car
Darch dubbed Queen of Spades till lately a favourite of dUrbervilles Nancy
her sister nicknamed the Queen of Diamonds and the young married woman who had
already tumbled down Yet however terrestrial and lumpy their appearance just
now to the mean unglamoured eye to themselves the case was different They
followed the road with a sensation that they were soaring along in a supporting
medium possessed of original and profound thoughts themselves and surrounding
nature forming an organism of which all the parts harmoniously and joyously
interpenetrated each other They were as sublime as the moon and stars above
them and the moon and stars were as ardent as they
Tess however had undergone such painful experiences of this kind in her
fathers house that the discovery of their condition spoilt the pleasure she
was beginning to feel in the moonlight journey Yet she stuck to the party for
reasons above given
In the open highway they had progressed in scattered order but now their
route was through a fieldgate and the foremost finding a difficulty in opening
it they closed up together
This leading pedestrian was Car the Queen of Spades who carried a
wickerbasket containing her mothers groceries her own draperies and other
purchases for the week The basket being large and heavy Car had placed it for
convenience of porterage on the top of her head where it rode on in jeopardized
balance as she walked with arms akimbo
»Well whatever is that acreeping down thy back Car Darch« said one of
the group suddenly
All looked at Car Her gown was a light cotton print and from the back of
her head a kind of rope could be seen descending to some distance below her
waist like a Chinamans queue
»Tis her hair falling down« said another
No it was not her hair it was a black stream of something oozing from her
basket and it glistened like a slimy snake in the cold still rays of the moon
»Tis treacle« said an observant matron
Treacle it was Cars poor old grandmother had a weakness for the sweet
stuff Honey she had in plenty out of her own hives but treacle was what her
soul desired and Car had been about to give her a treat of surprise Hastily
lowering the basket the dark girl found that the vessel containing the syrup had
been smashed within
By this time there had arisen a shout of laughter at the extraordinary
appearance of Cars back which irritated the dark queen into getting rid of the
disfigurement by the first sudden means available and independently of the help
of the scoffers She rushed excitedly into the field they were about to cross
and flinging herself flat on her back upon the grass began to wipe her gown as
well as she could by spinning horizontally on the herbage and dragging herself
over it upon her elbows
The laughter rang louder they clung to the gate to the posts rested on
their staves in the weakness engendered by their convulsions at the spectacle
of Car Our heroine who had hitherto held her peace at this wild moment could
not help joining in with the rest
It was a misfortune in more ways than one No sooner did the dark queen
hear the soberer richer note of Tess among those of the other workpeople than a
long smouldering sense of rivalry inflamed her to madness She sprang to her
feet and closely faced the object of her dislike
»How darest th laugh at me hussy« she cried
»I couldnt really help it when tothers did« apologized Tess still
tittering
»Ah thst think th beest everybody dostnt because th beest first
favourite with He just now But stop a bit my lady stop a bit Im as good as
two of such Look here heres at ee«
To Tesss horror the dark queen began stripping off the bodice of her gown
which for the added reason of its ridiculed condition she was only too glad to
be free of till she had bared her plump neck shoulders and arms to the
moonshine under which they looked as luminous and beautiful as some Praxitelean
creation in their possession of the faultless rotundities of a lusty country
girl She closed her fists and squared up at Tess
»Indeed then I shall not fight« said the latter majestically »and if I
had known you was of that sort I wouldnt have so let myself down as to come
with such a whorage as this is«
The rather too inclusive speech brought down a torrent of vituperation from
other quarters upon fair Tesss unlucky head particularly from the Queen of
Diamonds who having stood in the relations to dUrberville that Car had also
been suspected of united with the latter against the common enemy Several
other women also chimed in with an animus which none of them would have been so
fatuous as to show but for the rollicking evening they had passed Thereupon
finding Tess unfairly browbeaten the husbands and lovers tried to make peace by
defending her but the result of that attempt was directly to increase the war
Tess was indignant and ashamed She no longer minded the loneliness of the
way and the lateness of the hour her one object was to get away from the whole
crew as soon as possible She knew well enough that the better among them would
repent of their passion next day They were all now inside the field and she
was edging back to rush off alone when a horseman emerged almost silently from
the corner of the hedge that screened the road and Alec dUrberville looked
round upon them
»What the devil is all this row about workfolk« he asked
The explanation was not readily forthcoming and in truth he did not
require any Having heard their voices while yet some way off he had ridden
creepingly forward and learnt enough to satisfy himself
Tess was standing apart from the rest near the gate He bent over towards
her »Jump up behind me« he whispered »and well get shot of the screaming
cats in a jiffy«
She felt almost ready to faint so vivid was her sense of the crisis At
almost any other moment of her life she would have refused such proffered aid
and company as she had refused them several times before and now the
loneliness would not of itself have forced her to do otherwise But coming as
the invitation did at the particular juncture when fear and indignation at these
adversaries could be transformed by a spring of the foot into a triumph over
them she abandoned herself to her impulse climbed the gate put her toe upon
his instep and scrambled into the saddle behind him The pair were speeding
away into the distant gray by the time that the contentious revellers became
aware of what had happened
The Queen of Spades forgot the stain on her bodice and stood beside the
Queen of Diamonds and the newmarried staggering young woman all with a gaze
of fixity in the direction in which the horses tramp was diminishing into
silence on the road
»What be ye looking at« asked a man who had not observed the incident
»Hohoho« laughed dark Car
»Heeheehee« laughed the tippling bride as she steadied herself on the
arm of her fond husband
»Heuheuheu« laughed dark Cars mother stroking her moustache as she
explained laconically »Out of the fryingpan into the fire«
Then these children of the open air whom even excess of alcohol could
scarce injure permanently betook themselves to the fieldpath and as they went
there moved onward with them around the shadow of each ones head a circle of
opalized light formed by the moons rays upon the glistening sheet of dew Each
pedestrian could see no halo but his or her own which never deserted the
headshadow whatever its vulgar unsteadiness might be but adhered to it and
persistently beautified it till the erratic motions seemed an inherent part of
the irradiation and the fumes of their breathing a component of the nights
mist and the spirit of the scene and of the moonlight and of Nature seemed
harmoniously to mingle with the spirit of wine
XI
The twain cantered along for some time without speech Tess as she clung to him
still panting in her triumph yet in other respects dubious She had perceived
that the horse was not the spirited one he sometimes rode and felt no alarm on
that score though her seat was precarious enough despite her tight hold of him
She begged him to slow the animal to a walk which Alec accordingly did
»Neatly done was it not dear Tess« he said by and by
»Yes« said she »I am sure I ought to be much obliged to you«
»And are you«
She did not reply
»Tess why do you always dislike my kissing you«
»I suppose because I dont love you«
»You are quite sure«
»I am angry with you sometimes«
Ah I half feared as much »Nevertheless Alec did not object to that
confession He knew that anything was better than frigidity Why havent you
told me when I have made you angry«
»You know very well why Because I cannot help myself here«
»I havent offended you often by lovemaking«
»You have sometimes«
»How many times«
»You know as well as I too many times«
»Every time I have tried«
She was silent and the horse ambled along for a considerable distance till
a faint luminous fog which had hung in the hollows all the evening became
general and enveloped them It seemed to hold the moonlight in suspension
rendering it more pervasive than in clear air Whether on this account or from
absentmindedness or from sleepiness she did not perceive that they had long
ago passed the point at which the lane to Trantridge branched from the highway
and that her conductor had not taken the Trantridge track
She was inexpressibly weary She had risen at five oclock every morning of
that week had been on foot the whole of each day and on this evening had in
addition walked the three miles to Chaseborough waited three hours for her
neighbours without eating or drinking her impatience to start them preventing
either she had then walked a mile of the way home and had undergone the
excitement of the quarrel till with the slow progress of their steed it was
now nearly one oclock Only once however was she overcome by actual
drowsiness In that moment of oblivion her head sank gently against him
DUrberville stopped the horse withdrew his feet from the stirrups turned
sideways on the saddle and enclosed her waist with his arm to support her
This immediately put her on the defensive and with one of those sudden
impulses of reprisal to which she was liable she gave him a little push from
her In his ticklish position he nearly lost his balance and only just avoided
rolling over into the road the horse though a powerful one being fortunately
the quietest he rode
»That is devilish unkind« he said »I mean no harm only to keep you from
falling«
She pondered suspiciously till thinking that this might after all be true
she relented and said quite humbly »I beg your pardon sir«
»I wont pardon you unless you show some confidence in me Good God« he
burst out »what am I to be repulsed so by a mere chit like you For near three
mortal months have you trifled with my feelings eluded me and snubbed me and
I wont stand it«
»Ill leave you tomorrow sir«
»No you will not leave me tomorrow Will you I ask once more show your
belief in me by letting me clasp you with my arm Come between us two and
nobody else now We know each other well and you know that I love you and
think you the prettiest girl in the world which you are Maynt I treat you as
a lover«
She drew a quick pettish breath of objection writhing uneasily on her seat
looked far ahead and murmured »I dont know I wish how can I say yes or no
when «
He settled the matter by clasping his arm round her as he desired and Tess
expressed no further negative Thus they sidled slowly onward till it struck her
they had been advancing for an unconscionable time far longer than was usually
occupied by the short journey from Chaseborough even at this walking pace and
that they were no longer on hard road but in a mere trackway
»Why where be we« she exclaimed
»Passing by a wood«
»A wood what wood Surely we are quite out of the road«
»A bit of The Chase the oldest wood in England It is a lovely night and
why should we not prolong our ride a little«
»How could you be so treacherous« said Tess between archness and real
dismay and getting rid of his arm by pulling open his fingers one by one
though at the risk of slipping off herself »Just when Ive been putting such
trust in you and obliging you to please you because I thought I had wronged
you by that push Please set me down and let me walk home«
»You cannot walk home darling even if the air were clear We are miles
away from Trantridge if I must tell you and in this growing fog you might
wander for hours among these trees«
»Never mind that« she coaxed »Put me down I beg you I dont mind where
it is only let me get down sir please«
»Very well then I will on one condition Having brought you here to this
outoftheway place I feel myself responsible for your safeconduct home
whatever you may yourself feel about it As to your getting to Trantridge
without assistance it is quite impossible for to tell the truth dear owing
to this fog which so disguises everything I dont quite know where we are
myself Now if you will promise to wait beside the horse while I walk through
the bushes till I come to some road or house and ascertain exactly our
whereabouts Ill deposit you here willingly When I come back Ill give you
full directions and if you insist upon walking you may or you may ride at
your pleasure«
She accepted these terms and slid off on the near side though not till he
had stolen a cursory kiss He sprang down on the other side
»I suppose I must hold the horse« said she
»Oh no its not necessary« replied Alec patting the panting creature
»Hes had enough of it for tonight«
He turned the horses head into the bushes hitched him on to a bough and
made a sort of couch or nest for her in the deep mass of dead leaves
»Now you sit there« he said »The leaves have not got damp as yet Just
give an eye to the horse it will be quite sufficient«
He took a few steps away from her but returning said »By the bye Tess
your father has a new cob today Somebody gave it to him«
»Somebody You«
DUrberville nodded
»O how very good of you that is« she exclaimed with a painful sense of the
awkwardness of having to thank him just then
»And the children have some toys«
»I didnt know you ever sent them anything« she murmured much moved »I
almost wish you had not yes I almost wish it«
»Why dear«
»It hampers me so«
»Tessy dont you love me ever so little now«
»Im grateful« she reluctantly admitted »But I fear I do not « The sudden
vision of his passion for herself as a factor in this result so distressed her
that beginning with one slow tear and then following with another she wept
outright
»Dont cry dear dear one Now sit down here and wait till I come« She
passively sat down amid the leaves he had heaped and shivered slightly »Are
you cold« he asked
»Not very a little«
He touched her with his fingers which sank into her as into down »You have
only that puffy muslin dress on hows that«
»Its my best summer one Twas very warm when I started and I didnt know
I was going to ride and that it would be night«
»Nights grow chilly in September Let me see« He pulled off a light
overcoat that he had worn and put it round her tenderly »Thats it now
youll feel warmer« he continued »Now my pretty rest there I shall soon be
back again«
Having buttoned the overcoat round her shoulders he plunged into the webs of
vapour which by this time formed veils between the trees She could hear the
rustling of the branches as he ascended the adjoining slope till his movements
were no louder than the hopping of a bird and finally died away With the
setting of the moon the pale light lessened and Tess became invisible as she
fell into reverie upon the leaves where he had left her
In the meantime Alec dUrberville had pushed on up the slope to clear his
genuine doubt as to the quarter of The Chase they were in He had in fact
ridden quite at random for over an hour taking any turning that came to hand in
order to prolong companionship with her and giving far more attention to Tesss
moonlit person than to any wayside object A little rest for the jaded animal
being desirable he did not hasten his search for landmarks A clamber over the
hill into the adjoining vale brought him to the fence of a highway whose
contours he recognized which settled the question of their whereabouts
DUrberville thereupon turned back but by this time the moon had quite gone
down and partly on account of the fog The Chase was wrapped in thick darkness
although morning was not far off He was obliged to advance with outstretched
hands to avoid contact with the boughs and discovered that to hit the exact
spot from which he had started was at first entirely beyond him Roaming up and
down round and round he at length heard a slight movement of the horse close
at hand and the sleeve of his overcoat unexpectedly caught his foot
»Tess« said dUrberville
There was no answer The obscurity was now so great that he could see
absolutely nothing but a pale nebulousness at his feet which represented the
white muslin figure he had left upon the dead leaves Everything else was
blackness alike DUrberville stooped and heard a gentle regular breathing He
knelt and bent lower till her breath warmed his face and in a moment his cheek
was in contact with hers She was sleeping soundly and upon her eyelashes there
lingered tears
Darkness and silence ruled everywhere around Above them rose the primeval
yews and oaks of The Chase in which were poised gentle roosting birds in their
last nap and about them stole the hopping rabbits and hares But might some
say where was Tesss guardian angel where was the providence of her simple
faith Perhaps like that other god of whom the ironical Tishbite spoke he was
talking or he was pursuing or he was in a journey or he was sleeping and not
to be awaked
Why it was that upon this beautiful feminine tissue sensitive as gossamer
and practically blank as snow as yet there should have been traced such a
coarse pattern as it was doomed to receive why so often the coarse appropriates
the finer thus the wrong man the woman the wrong woman the man many thousand
years of analytical philosophy have failed to explain to our sense of order One
may indeed admit the possibility of a retribution lurking in the present
catastrophe Doubtless some of Tess dUrbervilles mailed ancestors rollicking
home from a fray had dealt the same measure even more ruthlessly towards peasant
girls of their time But though to visit the sins of the fathers upon the
children may be a morality good enough for divinities it is scorned by average
human nature and it therefore does not mend the matter
As Tesss own people down in those retreats are never tired of saying among
each other in their fatalistic way »It was to be« There lay the pity of it An
immeasurable social chasm was to divide our heroines personality thereafter
from that previous self of hers who stepped from her mothers door to try her
fortune at Trantridge poultryfarm
End of Phase the First
Phase the Second
Maiden no More
XII
The basket was heavy and the bundle was large but she lugged them along like a
person who did not find her especial burden in material things Occasionally she
stopped to rest in a mechanical way by some gate or post and then giving the
baggage another hitch upon her full round arm went steadily on again
It was a Sunday morning in late October about four months after Tess
Durbeyfields arrival at Trantridge and some few weeks subsequent to the night
ride in The Chase The time was not long past daybreak and the yellow
luminosity upon the horizon behind her back lighted the ridge towards which her
face was set the barrier of the vale wherein she had of late been a stranger
which she would have to climb over to reach her birthplace The ascent was
gradual on this side and the soil and scenery differed much from those within
Blakemore Vale Even the character and accent of the two peoples had shades of
difference despite the amalgamating effects of a roundabout railway so that
though less than twenty miles from the place of her sojourn at Trantridge her
native village had seemed a faraway spot The fieldfolk shut in there traded
northward and westward travelled courted and married northward and westward
thought northward and westward those on this side mainly directed their
energies and attention to the east and south
The incline was the same down which dUrberville had driven with her so
wildly on that day in June Tess went up the remainder of its length without
stopping and on reaching the edge of the escarpment gazed over the familiar
green world beyond now halfveiled in mist It was always beautiful from here
it was terribly beautiful to Tess today for since her eyes last fell upon it
she had learnt that the serpent hisses where the sweet birds sing and her views
of life had been totally changed for her by the lesson Verily another girl than
the simple one she had been at home was she who bowed by thought stood still
here and turned to look behind her She could not bear to look forward into the
Vale
Ascending by the long white road that Tess herself had just laboured up she
saw a twowheeled vehicle beside which walked a man who held up his hand to
attract her attention
She obeyed the signal to wait for him with unspeculative repose and in a
few minutes man and horse stopped beside her
»Why did you slip away by stealth like this« said dUrberville with
upbraiding breathlessness »on a Sunday morning too when people were all in
bed I only discovered it by accident and I have been driving like the deuce to
overtake you Just look at the mare Why go off like this You know that nobody
wished to hinder your going And how unnecessary it has been for you to toil
along on foot and encumber yourself with this heavy load I have followed like
a madman simply to drive you the rest of the distance if you wont come back«
»I shant come back« said she
»I thought you wouldnt I said so Well then put up your baskets and
let me help you on«
She listlessly placed her basket and bundle within the dogcart and stepped
up and they sat side by side She had no fear of him now and in the cause of
her confidence her sorrow lay
DUrberville mechanically lit a cigar and the journey was continued with
broken unemotional conversation on the commonplace objects by the wayside He
had quite forgotten his struggle to kiss her when in the early summer they had
driven in the opposite direction along the same road But she had not and she
sat now like a puppet replying to his remarks in monosyllables After some
miles they came in view of the clump of trees beyond which the village of
Marlott stood It was only then that her still face showed the least emotion a
tear or two beginning to trickle down
»What are you crying for« he coldly asked
»I was only thinking that I was born over there« murmured Tess
»Well we must all be born somewhere«
»I wish I had never been born there or anywhere else«
»Pooh Well if you didnt wish to come to Trantridge why did you come«
She did not reply
»You didnt come for love of me that Ill swear«
»Tis quite true If I had gone for love o you if I had ever sincerely
loved you if I loved you still I should not so loathe and hate myself for my
weakness as I do now My eyes were dazed by you for a little and that was
all«
He shrugged his shoulders She resumed
»I didnt understand your meaning till it was too late«
Thats what every woman says
»How can you dare to use such words« she cried turning impetuously upon
him her eyes flashing as the latent spirit of which he was to see more some
day awoke in her »My God I could knock you out of the gig Did it never
strike your mind that what every woman says some women may feel«
»Very well« he said laughing »I am sorry to wound you I did wrong I
admit it« He dropped into some little bitterness as he continued »Only you
neednt be so everlastingly flinging it in my face I am ready to pay to the
uttermost farthing You know you need not work in the fields or the dairies
again You know you may clothe yourself with the best instead of in the bald
plain way you have lately affected as if you couldnt get a ribbon more than
you earn«
Her lip lifted slightly though there was little scorn as a rule in her
large and impulsive nature
»I have said I will not take anything more from you and I will not I
cannot I should be your creature to go on doing that and I wont«
»One would think you were a princess from your manner in addition to a true
and original dUrberville ha ha Well Tess dear I can say no more I
suppose I am a bad fellow a damn bad fellow I was born bad and I have lived
bad and I shall die bad in all probability But upon my lost soul I wont be
bad towards you again Tess And if certain circumstances should arise you
understand in which you are in the least need the least difficulty send me
one line and you shall have by return whatever you require I may not be at
Trantridge I am going to London for a time I cant stand the old woman But
all letters will be forwarded«
She said that she did not wish him to drive her further and they stopped
just under the clump of trees DUrberville alighted and lifted her down bodily
in his arms afterwards placing her articles on the ground beside her She bowed
to him slightly her eye just lingering in his and then she turned to take the
parcels for departure
Alec dUrberville removed his cigar bent towards her and said
»You are not going to turn away like that dear Come«
»If you wish« she answered indifferently »See how youve mastered me«
She thereupon turned round and lifted her face to his and remained like a
marble term while he imprinted a kiss upon her cheek half perfunctorily half
as if zest had not yet quite died out Her eyes vaguely rested upon the remotest
trees in the lane while the kiss was given as though she were nearly
unconscious of what he did
»Now the other side for old acquaintance sake«
She turned her head in the same passive way as one might turn at the
request of a sketcher or hairdresser and he kissed the other side his lips
touching cheeks that were damp and smoothly chill as the skin of the mushrooms
in the fields around
»You dont give me your mouth and kiss me back
You never willingly do that youll never love me I fear«
»I have said so often It is true I have never really and truly loved you
and I think I never can« She added mournfully »Perhaps of all things a lie
on this thing would do the most good to me now but I have honour enough left
little as tis not to tell that lie If I did love you I may have the best o
causes for letting you know it But I dont«
He emitted a laboured breath as if the scene were getting rather oppressive
to his heart or to his conscience or to his gentility
»Well you are absurdly melancholy Tess I have no reason for flattering
you now and I can say plainly that you need not be so sad You can hold your
own for beauty against any woman of these parts gentle or simple I say it to
you as a practical man and wellwisher If you are wise you will show it to the
world more than you do before it fades And yet Tess will you come back to
me Upon my soul I dont like to let you go like this«
»Never never I made up my mind as soon as I saw what I ought to have
seen sooner and I wont come«
»Then good morning my four months cousin goodbye«
He leapt up lightly arranged the reins and was gone between the tall
redberried hedges
Tess did not look after him but slowly wound along the crooked lane It was
still early and though the suns lower limb was just free of the hill his
rays ungenial and peering addressed the eye rather than the touch as yet
There was not a human soul near Sad October and her sadder self seemed the only
two existences haunting that lane
As she walked however some footsteps approached behind her the footsteps
of a man and owing to the briskness of his advance he was close at her heels
and had said »Good morning« before she had been long aware of his propinquity
He appeared to be an artisan of some sort and carried a tin pot of red paint in
his hand He asked in a businesslike manner if he should take her basket which
she permitted him to do walking beside him
»It is early to be astir this Sabbath morn« he said cheerfully
»Yes« said Tess
»When most people are at rest from their weeks work«
She also assented to this
»Though I do more real work today than all the week besides«
»Do you«
»All the week I work for the glory of man and on Sunday for the glory of
God Thats more real than the other hey I have a little to do here at this
stile« The man turned as he spoke to an opening at the roadside leading into a
pasture »If youll wait a moment« he added »I shall not be long«
As he had her basket she could not well do otherwise and she waited
observing him He set down her basket and the tin pot and stirring the paint
with the brush that was in it began painting large square letters on the middle
board of the three composing the stile placing a comma after each word as if
to give pause while that word was driven well home to the readers heart
Thy Damnation Slumbereth Not
2 PET ii 3
Against the peaceful landscape the pale decaying tints of the copses the blue
air of the horizon and the lichened stile boards these staring vermilion
words shone forth They seemed to shout themselves out and make the atmosphere
ring Some people might have cried »Alas poor Theology« at the hideous
defacement the last grotesque phase of a creed which had served mankind well
in its time But the words entered Tess with accusatory horror It was as if
this man had known her recent history yet he was a total stranger
Having finished his text he picked up her basket and she mechanically
resumed her walk beside him
»Do you believe what you paint« she asked in low tones
»Believe that tex Do I believe in my own existence«
»But« said she tremulously »suppose your sin was not of your own seeking«
He shook his head
»I cannot split hairs on that burning query« he said »I have walked
hundreds of miles this past summer painting these texes on every wall gate
and stile in the length and breadth of this district I leave their application
to the hearts of the people who read em«
»I think they are horrible« said Tess »Crushing killing«
»Thats what they are meant to be« he replied in a trade voice »But you
should read my hottest ones them I kips for slums and seaports Theyd make ye
wriggle Not but what this is a very good tex for rural districts Ah
theres a nice bit of blank wall up by that barn standing to waste I must put
one there one that it will be good for dangerous young females like yerself to
heed Will ye wait missy«
»No« said she and taking her basket Tess trudged on A little way forward
she turned her head The old gray wall began to advertise a similar fiery
lettering to the first with a strange and unwonted mien as if distressed at
duties it had never before been called upon to perform It was with a sudden
flush that she read and realized what was to be the inscription he was now
halfway through
Thou shalt not commit
Her cheerful friend saw her looking stopped his brush and shouted
»If you want to ask for edification on these things of moment theres a
very earnest good man going to preach a charitysermon today in the parish you
are going to Mr Clare of Emminster Im not of his persuasion now but hes a
good man and hell expound as well as any parson I know Twas he began the
work in me«
But Tess did not answer she throbbingly resumed her walk her eyes fixed on
the ground »Pooh I dont believe God said such things« she murmured
contemptuously when her flush had died away
A plume of smoke soared up suddenly from her fathers chimney the sight of
which made her heart ache The aspect of the interior when she reached it made
her heart ache more Her mother who had just come down stairs turned to greet
her from the fireplace where she was kindling barkedoak twigs under the
breakfast kettle The young children were still above as was also her father
it being Sunday morning when he felt justified in lying an additional
halfhour
»Well my dear Tess« exclaimed her surprised mother jumping up and
kissing the girl »How be ye I didnt see you till you was in upon me Have you
come home to be married«
»No I have not come for that mother«
»Then for a holiday«
»Yes for a holiday for a long holiday« said Tess
»What isnt your cousin going to do the handsome thing«
»Hes not my cousin and hes not going to marry me«
Her mother eyed her narrowly
»Come you have not told me all« she said
Then Tess went up to her mother put her face upon Joans neck and told
»And yet thst not got him to marry ee« reiterated her mother »Any woman
would have done it but you after that«
»Perhaps any woman would except me«
»It would have been something like a story to come back with if you had«
continued Mrs Durbeyfield ready to burst into tears of vexation »After all
the talk about you and him which has reached us here who would have expected it
to end like this Why didnt ye think of doing some good for your family instead
o thinking only of yourself See how Ive got to teave and slave and your poor
weak father with his heart clogged like a drippingpan I did hope for something
to come out o this To see what a pretty pair you and he made that day when you
drove away together four months ago See what he has given us all as we
thought because we were his kin But if hes not it must have been done
because of his love for ee And yet youve not got him to marry«
Get Alec dUrberville in the mind to marry her He marry her On matrimony
he had never once said a word And what if he had How a convulsive snatching at
social salvation might have impelled her to answer him she could not say But
her poor foolish mother little knew her present feeling towards this man
Perhaps it was unusual in the circumstances unlucky unaccountable but there
it was and this as she had said was what made her detest herself She had
never wholly cared for him she did not at all care for him now She had dreaded
him winced before him succumbed to adroit advantages he took of her
helplessness then temporarily blinded by his ardent manners had been stirred
to confused surrender awhile had suddenly despised and disliked him and had
run away That was all Hate him she did not quite but he was dust and ashes to
her and even for her names sake she scarcely wished to marry him
»You ought to have been more careful if you didnt mean to get him to make
you his wife«
»O mother my mother« cried the agonized girl turning passionately upon
her parent as if her poor heart would break »How could I be expected to know I
was a child when I left this house four months ago Why didnt you tell me there
was danger in menfolk Why didnt you warn me Ladies know what to fend hands
against because they read novels that tell them of these tricks but I never
had the chance o learning in that way and you did not help me«
Her mother was subdued
»I thought if I spoke of his fond feelings and what they might lead to you
would be hontish wi him and lose your chance« she murmured wiping her eyes
with her apron »Well we must make the best of it I suppose Tis nater after
all and what do please God«
XIII
The event of Tess Durbeyfields return from the manor of her bogus kinsfolk was
rumoured abroad if rumour be not too large a word for a space of a square mile
In the afternoon several young girls of Marlott former schoolfellows and
acquaintances of Tess called to see her arriving dressed in their best
starched and ironed as became visitors to a person who had made a transcendent
conquest as they supposed and sat round the room looking at her with great
curiosity For the fact that it was this said thirtyfirst cousin Mr
dUrberville who had fallen in love with her a gentleman not altogether local
whose reputation as a reckless gallant and heartbreaker was beginning to spread
beyond the immediate boundaries of Trantridge lent Tesss supposed position by
its fearsomeness a far higher fascination than it would have exercised if
unhazardous
Their interest was so deep that the younger ones whispered when her back was
turned
»How pretty she is and how that best frock do set her off I believe it
cost an immense deal and that it was a gift from him«
Tess who was reaching up to get the teathings from the cornercupboard
did not hear these commentaries If she had heard them she might soon have set
her friends right on the matter But her mother heard and Joans simple vanity
having been denied the hope of a dashing marriage fed itself as well as it
could upon the sensation of a dashing flirtation Upon the whole she felt
gratified even though such a limited and evanescent triumph should involve her
daughters reputation it might end in marriage yet and in the warmth of her
responsiveness to their admiration she invited her visitors to stay to tea
Their chatter their laughter their goodhumoured innuendoes above all
their flashes and flickerings of envy revived Tesss spirits also and as the
evening wore on she caught the infection of their excitement and grew almost
gay The marble hardness left her face she moved with something of her old
bounding step and flushed in all her young beauty
At moments in spite of thought she would reply to their inquiries with a
manner of superiority as if recognizing that her experiences in the field of
courtship had indeed been slightly enviable But so far was she from being in
the words of Robert South »in love with her own ruin« that the illusion was
transient as lightning cold reason came back to mock her spasmodic weakness
the ghastliness of her momentary pride would convict her and recall her to
reserved listlessness again
And the despondency of the next mornings dawn when it was no longer
Sunday but Monday and no best clothes and the laughing visitors were gone
and she awoke alone in her old bed the innocent younger children breathing
softly around her In place of the excitement of her return and the interest it
had inspired she saw before her a long and stony highway which she had to
tread without aid and with little sympathy Her depression was then terrible
and she could have hidden herself in a tomb
In the course of a few weeks Tess revived sufficiently to show herself so
far as was necessary to get to church one Sunday morning She liked to hear the
chanting such as it was and the old Psalms and to join in the Morning Hymn
That innate love of melody which she had inherited from her balladsinging
mother gave the simplest music a power over her which could wellnigh drag her
heart out of her bosom at times
To be as much out of observation as possible for reasons of her own and to
escape the gallantries of the young men she set out before the chiming began
and took a back seat under the gallery close to the lumber where only old men
and women came and where the bier stood on end among the churchyard tools
Parishioners dropped in by twos and threes deposited themselves in rows
before her rested threequarters of a minute on their foreheads as if they were
praying though they were not then sat up and looked around When the chants
came on one of her favourites happened to be chosen among the rest the old
double chant »Langdon« but she did not know what it was called though she
would much have liked to know She thought without exactly wording the thought
how strange and godlike was a composers power who from the grave could lead
through sequences of emotion which he alone had felt at first a girl like her
who had never heard of his name and never would have a clue to his personality
The people who had turned their heads turned them again as the service
proceeded and at last observing her they whispered to each other She knew what
their whispers were about grew sick at heart and felt that she could come to
church no more
The bedroom which she shared with some of the children formed her retreat
more continually than ever Here under her few square yards of thatch she
watched winds and snows and rains gorgeous sunsets and successive moons at
their full So close kept she that at length almost everybody thought she had
gone away
The only exercise that Tess took at this time was after dark and it was
then when out in the woods that she seemed least solitary She knew how to hit
to a hairsbreadth that moment of evening when the light and the darkness are
so evenly balanced that the constraint of day and the suspense of night
neutralize each other leaving absolute mental liberty It is then that the
plight of being alive becomes attenuated to its least possible dimensions She
had no fear of the shadows her sole idea seemed to be to shun mankind or
rather that cold accretion called the world which so terrible in the mass is
so unformidable even pitiable in its units
On these lonely hills and dales her quiescent glide was of a piece with the
element she moved in Her flexuous and stealthy figure became an integral part
of the scene At times her whimsical fancy would intensify natural processes
around her till they seemed a part of her own story Rather they became a part
of it for the world is only a psychological phenomenon and what they seemed
they were The midnight airs and gusts moaning amongst the tightlywrapped buds
and bark of the winter twigs were formulae of bitter reproach A wet day was
the expression of irremediable grief at her weakness in the mind of some vague
ethical being whom she could not class definitely as the God of her childhood
and could not comprehend as any other
But this encompassment of her own characterization based on shreds of
convention peopled by phantoms and voices antipathetic to her was a sorry and
mistaken creation of Tesss fancy a cloud of moral hobgoblins by which she was
terrified without reason It was they that were out of harmony with the actual
world not she Walking among the sleeping birds in the hedges watching the
skipping rabbits on a moonlit warren or standing under a pheasantladen bough
she looked upon herself as a figure of Guilt intruding into the haunts of
Innocence But all the while she was making a distinction where there was no
difference Feeling herself in antagonism she was quite in accord She had been
made to break an accepted social law but no law known to the environment in
which she fancied herself such an anomaly
XIV
It was a hazy sunrise in August The denser nocturnal vapours attacked by the
warm beams were dividing and shrinking into isolated fleeces within hollows and
coverts where they waited till they should be dried away to nothing
The sun on account of the mist had a curious sentient personal look
demanding the masculine pronoun for its adequate expression His present aspect
coupled with the lack of all human forms in the scene explained the oldtime
heliolatries in a moment One could feel that a saner religion had never
prevailed under the sky The luminary was a goldenhaired beaming mildeyed
Godlike creature gazing down in the vigour and intentness of youth upon an
earth that was brimming with interest for him
His light a little later broke through chinks of cottage shutters
throwing stripes like redhot pokers upon cupboards chests of drawers and
other furniture within and awakening harvesters who were not already astir
But of all ruddy things that morning the brightest were two broad arms of
painted wood which rose from the margin of a yellow cornfield hard by Marlott
village They with two others below formed the revolving Maltese cross of the
reapingmachine which had been brought to the field on the previous evening to
be ready for operations this day The paint with which they were smeared
intensified in hue by the sunlight imparted to them a look of having been
dipped in liquid fire
The field had already been »opened« that is to say a lane a few feet wide
had been handcut through the wheat along the whole circumference of the field
for the first passage of the horses and machine
Two groups one of men and lads the other of women had come down the lane
just at the hour when the shadows of the eastern hedgetop struck the west hedge
midway so that the heads of the groups were enjoying sunrise while their feet
were still in the dawn They disappeared from the lane between the two stone
posts which flanked the nearest fieldgate
Presently there arose from within a ticking like the lovemaking of the
grasshopper The machine had begun and a moving concatenation of three horses
and the aforesaid long rickety machine was visible over the gate a driver
sitting upon one of the hauling horses and an attendant on the seat of the
implement Along one side of the field the whole wain went the arms of the
mechanical reaper revolving slowly till it passed down the hill quite out of
sight In a minute it came up on the other side of the field at the same equable
pace the glistening brass star in the forehead of the fore horse first catching
the eye as it rose into view over the stubble then the bright arms and then
the whole machine
The narrow lane of stubble encompassing the field grew wider with each
circuit and the standing corn was reduced to smaller area as the morning wore
on Rabbits hares snakes rats mice retreated inwards as into a fastness
unaware of the ephemeral nature of their refuge and of the doom that awaited
them later in the day when their covert shrinking to a more and more horrible
narrowness they were huddled together friends and foes till the last few
yards of upright wheat fell also under the teeth of the unerring reaper and
they were every one put to death by the sticks and stones of the harvesters
The reapingmachine left the fallen corn behind it in little heaps each
heap being of the quantity for a sheaf and upon these the active binders in the
rear laid their handsmainly women but some of them men in print shirts and
trousers supported round their waists by leather straps rendering useless the
two buttons behind which twinkled and bristled with sunbeams at every movement
of each wearer as if they were a pair of eyes in the small of his back
But those of the other sex were the most interesting of this company of
binders by reason of the charm which is acquired by woman when she becomes part
and parcel of outdoor nature and is not merely an object set down therein as at
ordinary times A fieldman is a personality afield a fieldwoman is a portion
of the field she has somehow lost her own margin imbibed the essence of her
surrounding and assimilated herself with it
The women or rather girls for they were mostly young wore drawn cotton
bonnets with great flapping curtains to keep off the sun and gloves to prevent
their hands being wounded by the stubble There was one wearing a pale pink
jacket another in a cream coloured tight sleeved gown another in a
petticoat as red as the arms of the reapingmachine and others older in the
brownrough »wropper« or overall the oldestablished and most appropriate
dress of the fieldwoman which the young ones were abandoning This morning the
eye returns involuntarily to the girl in the pink cotton jacket she being the
most flexuous and finelydrawn figure of them all But her bonnet is pulled so
far over her brow that none of her face is disclosed while she binds though her
complexion may be guessed from a stray twine or two of dark brown hair which
extends below the curtain of her bonnet Perhaps one reason why she seduces
casual attention is that she never courts it though the other women often gaze
around them
Her binding proceeds with clocklike monotony From the sheaf last finished
she draws a handful of ears patting their tips with her left palm to bring them
even Then stooping low she moves forward gathering the corn with both hands
against her knees and pushing her left gloved hand under the bundle to meet the
right on the other side holding the corn in an embrace like that of a lover
She brings the ends of the bond together and kneels on the sheaf while she ties
it beating back her skirts now and then when lifted by the breeze A bit of her
naked arm is visible between the buff leather of the gauntlet and the sleeve of
her gown and as the day wears on its feminine smoothness becomes scarified by
the stubble and bleeds
At intervals she stands up to rest and to retie her disarranged apron or
to pull her bonnet straight Then one can see the oval face of a handsome young
woman with deep dark eyes and long heavy clinging tresses which seem to clasp
in a beseeching way anything they fall against The cheeks are paler the teeth
more regular the red lips thinner than is usual in a country bred girl
It is Tess Durbeyfield otherwise dUrberville somewhat changed the same
but not the same at the present stage of her existence living as a stranger and
an alien here though it was no strange land that she was in After a long
seclusion she had come to a resolve to undertake outdoor work in her native
village the busiest season of the year in the agricultural world having
arrived and nothing that she could do within the house being so remunerative
for the time as harvesting in the fields
The movements of the other women were more or less similar to Tesss the
whole bevy of them drawing together like dancers in a quadrille at the
completion of a sheaf by each every one placing her sheaf on end against those
of the rest till a shock or »stitch« as it was here called of ten or a dozen
was formed
They went to breakfast and came again and the work proceeded as before As
the hour of eleven drew near a person watching her might have noticed that every
now and then Tesss glance flitted wistfully to the brow of the hill though she
did not pause in her sheafing On the verge of the hour the heads of a group of
children of ages ranging from six to fourteen rose above the stubbly convexity
of the hill
The face of Tess flushed slightly but still she did not pause
The eldest of the comers a girl who wore a triangular shawl its corner
draggling on the stubble carried in her arms what at first sight seemed to be a
doll but proved to be an infant in long clothes Another brought some lunch
The harvesters ceased working took their provisions and sat down against one
of the shocks Here they fell to the men plying a stone jar freely and passing
round a cup
Tess Durbeyfield had been one of the last to suspend her labours She sat
down at the end of the shock her face turned somewhat away from her companions
When she had deposited herself a man in a rabbitskin cap and with a red
handkerchief tucked into his belt held the cup of ale over the top of the shock
for her to drink But she did not accept his offer As soon as her lunch was
spread she called up the big girl her sister and took the baby of her who
glad to be relieved of the burden went away to the next shock and joined the
other children playing there Tess with a curiously stealthy yet courageous
movement and with a still rising colour unfastened her frock and began
suckling the child
The men who sat nearest considerately turned their faces towards the other
end of the field some of them beginning to smoke one with absentminded
fondness regretfully stroking the jar that would no longer yield a stream All
the women but Tess fell into animated talk and adjusted the disarranged knots
of their hair
When the infant had taken its fill the young mother sat it upright in her
lap and looking into the far distance dandled it with a gloomy indifference
that was almost dislike then all of a sudden she fell to violently kissing it
some dozens of times as if she could never leave off the child crying at the
vehemence of an onset which strangely combined passionateness with contempt
»Shes fond of that there child though she mid pretend to hate en and say
she wishes the baby and her too were in the churchyard« observed the woman in
the red petticoat
»Shell soon leave off saying that« replied the one in buff »Lord tis
wonderful what a body can get used to o that sort in time«
»A little more than persuading had to do wi the coming ot I reckon There
were they that heard a sobbing one night last year in The Chase and it mid ha
gone hard wi a certain party if folks had come along«
»Well a little more or a little less twas a thousand pities that it
should have happened to she of all others But tis always the comeliest The
plain ones be as safe as churches hey Jenny« The speaker turned to one of
the group who certainly was not illdefined as plain
It was a thousand pities indeed it was impossible for even an enemy to
feel otherwise on looking at Tess as she sat there with her flowerlike mouth
and large tender eyes neither black nor blue nor gray nor violet rather all
those shades together and a hundred others which could be seen if one looked
into their irises shade behind shade tint beyond tint around pupils that
had no bottom an almost standard woman but for the slight incautiousness of
character inherited from her race
A resolution which had surprised herself had brought her into the fields
this week for the first time during many months After wearing and wasting her
palpitating heart with every engine of regret that lonely inexperience could
devise commonsense had illumined her She felt that she would do well to be
useful again to taste anew sweet independence at any price The past was past
whatever it had been it was no more at hand Whatever its consequences time
would close over them they would all in a few years be as if they had never
been and she herself grassed down and forgotten Meanwhile the trees were just
as green as before the birds sang and the sun shone as clearly now as ever The
familiar surroundings had not darkened because of her grief nor sickened
because of her pain
She might have seen that what had bowed her head so profoundly the thought
of the worlds concern at her situation was founded on an illusion She was
not an existence an experience a passion a structure of sensations to
anybody but herself To all humankind besides Tess was only a passing thought
Even to friends she was no more than a frequently passing thought If she made
herself miserable the livelong night and day it was only this much to them
»Ah she makes herself unhappy« If she tried to be cheerful to dismiss all
care to take pleasure in the daylight the flowers the baby she could only be
this idea to them »Ah she bears it very well« Moreover alone in a desert
island would she have been wretched at what had happened to her Not greatly If
she could have been but just created to discover herself as a spouseless
mother with no experience of life except as the parent of a nameless child
would the position have caused her to despair No she would have taken it
calmly and found pleasures therein Most of the misery had been generated by
her conventional aspect and not by her innate sensations
Whatever Tesss reasoning some spirit had induced her to dress herself up
neatly as she had formerly done and come out into the fields harvesthands
being greatly in demand just then This was why she had borne herself with
dignity and had looked people calmly in the face at times even when holding
the baby in her arms
The harvestmen rose from the shock of corn and stretched their limbs and
extinguished their pipes The horses which had been unharnessed and fed were
again attached to the scarlet machine Tess having quickly eaten her own meal
beckoned to her eldest sister to come and take away the baby fastened her
dress put on the buff gloves again and stooped anew to draw a bond from the
last completed sheaf for the tying of the next
In the afternoon and evening the proceedings of the morning were continued
Tess staying on till dusk with the body of harvesters Then they all rode home
in one of the largest wagons in the company of a broad tarnished moon that had
risen from the ground to the eastwards its face resembling the outworn
goldleaf halo of some wormeaten Tuscan saint Tesss female companions sang
songs and showed themselves very sympathetic and glad at her reappearance out
of doors though they could not refrain from mischievously throwing in a few
verses of the ballad about the maid who went to the merry green wood and came
back a changed state There are counterpoises and compensations in life and the
event which had made of her a social warning had also for the moment made her
the most interesting personage in the village to many Their friendliness won
her still farther away from herself their lively spirits were contagious and
she became almost gay
But now that her moral sorrows were passing away a fresh one arose on the
natural side of her which knew no social law When she reached home it was to
learn to her grief that the baby had been suddenly taken ill since the
afternoon Some such collapse had been probable so tender and puny was its
frame but the event came as a shock nevertheless
The babys offence against society in coming into the world was forgotten by
the girlmother her souls desire was to continue that offence by preserving
the life of the child However it soon grew clear that the hour of emancipation
for that little prisoner of the flesh was to arrive earlier than her worst
misgivings had conjectured And when she had discovered this she was plunged
into a misery which transcended that of the childs simple loss Her baby had
not been baptized
Tess had drifted into a frame of mind which accepted passively the
consideration that if she should have to burn for what she had done burn she
must and there was an end of it Like all village girls she was well grounded
in the Holy Scriptures and had dutifully studied the histories of Aholah and
Aholibah and knew the inferences to be drawn therefrom But when the same
question arose with regard to the baby it had a very different colour Her
darling was about to die and no salvation
It was nearly bedtime but she rushed downstairs and asked if she might send
for the parson The moment happened to be one at which her fathers sense of the
antique nobility of his family was highest and his sensitiveness to the smudge
which Tess had set upon that nobility most pronounced for he had just returned
from his weekly booze at Rollivers Inn No parson should come inside his door
he declared prying into his affairs just then when by her shame it had
become more necessary than ever to hide them He locked the door and put the key
in his pocket
The household went to bed and distressed beyond measure Tess retired
also She was continually waking as she lay and in the middle of the night
found that the baby was still worse It was obviously dying quietly and
painlessly but none the less surely
In her misery she rocked herself upon the bed The clock struck the solemn
hour of one that hour when fancy stalks outside reason and malignant
possibilities stand rockfirm as facts She thought of the child consigned to
the nethermost corner of hell as its double doom for lack of baptism and lack
of legitimacy saw the archfiend tossing it with his threepronged fork like
the one they used for heating the oven on baking days to which picture she
added many other quaint and curious details of torment sometimes taught the
young in this Christian country The lurid presentment so powerfully affected
her imagination in the silence of the sleeping house that her nightgown became
damp with perspiration and the bedstead shook with each throb of her heart
The infants breathing grew more difficult and the mothers mental tension
increased It was useless to devour the little thing with kisses she could stay
in bed no longer and walked feverishly about the room
»O merciful God have pity have pity upon my poor baby« she cried »Heap
as much anger as you want to upon me and welcome but pity the child«
She leant against the chest of drawers and murmured incoherent
supplications for a long while till she suddenly started up
»Ah perhaps baby can be saved Perhaps it will be just the same«
She spoke so brightly that it seemed as though her face might have shone in
the gloom surrounding her
She lit a candle and went to a second and a third bed under the wall where
she awoke her young sisters and brothers all of whom occupied the same room
Pulling out the washingstand so that she could get behind it she poured some
water from a jug and made them kneel around putting their hands together with
fingers exactly vertical While the children scarcely awake awestricken at
her manner their eyes growing larger and larger remained in this position she
took the baby from her bed a childs child so immature as scarce to seem a
sufficient personality to endow its producer with the maternal title Tess then
stood erect with the infant on her arm beside the basin the next sister held
the PrayerBook open before her as the clerk at church held it before the
parson and thus the girl set about baptizing her child
Her figure looked singularly tall and imposing as she stood in her long
white nightgown a thick cable of twisted dark hair hanging straight down her
back to her waist The kindly dimness of the weak candle abstracted from her
form and features the little blemishes which sunlight might have revealed the
stubble scratches upon her wrists and the weariness of her eyes her high
enthusiasm having a transfiguring effect upon the face which had been her
undoing showing it as a thing of immaculate beauty with a touch of dignity
which was almost regal The little ones kneeling round their sleepy eyes
blinking and red awaited her preparations full of a suspended wonder which
their physical heaviness at that hour would not allow to become active
The most impressed of them said
»Be you really going to christen him Tess«
The girlmother replied in a grave affirmative
»Whats his name going to be«
She had not thought of that but a name suggested by a phrase in the book of
Genesis came into her head as she proceeded with the baptismal service and now
she pronounced it
»SORROW I baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
the Holy Ghost«
She sprinkled the water and there was silence
»Say Amen children«
The tiny voices piped in obedient response »Amen«
Tess went on
»We receive this child« and so forth »and do sign him with the sign of
the Cross«
Here she dipped her hand into the basin and fervently drew an immense cross
upon the baby with her forefinger continuing with the customary sentences as to
his manfully fighting against sin the world and the devil and being a
faithful soldier and servant unto his lifes end She duly went on with the
Lords Prayer the children lisping it after her in a thin gnatlike wail till
at the conclusion raising their voices to clerks pitch they again piped into
the silence »Amen«
Then their sister with much augmented confidence in the efficacy of this
sacrament poured forth from the bottom of her heart the thanksgiving that
follows uttering it boldly and triumphantly in the stoptdiapason note which
her voice acquired when her heart was in her speech and which will never be
forgotten by those who knew her The ecstasy of faith almost apotheosized her
it set upon her face a glowing irradiation and brought a red spot into the
middle of each cheek while the miniature candleflame inverted in her
eyepupils shone like a diamond The children gazed up at her with more and more
reverence and no longer had a will for questioning She did not look like Sissy
to them now but as a being large towering and awful a divine personage with
whom they had nothing in common
Poor Sorrows campaign against sin the world and the devil was doomed to
be of limited brilliancy luckily perhaps for himself considering his
beginnings In the blue of the morning that fragile soldier and servant breathed
his last and when the other children awoke they cried bitterly and begged
Sissy to have another pretty baby
The calmness which had possessed Tess since the christening remained with
her in the infants loss In the daylight indeed she felt her terrors about
his soul to have been somewhat exaggerated whether well founded or not she had
no uneasiness now reasoning that if Providence would not ratify such an act of
approximation she for one did not value the kind of heaven lost by the
irregularity either for herself or for her child
So passed away Sorrow the Undesired that intrusive creature that bastard
gift of shameless Nature who respects not the social law a waif to whom eternal
Time had been a matter of days merely who knew not that such things as years
and centuries ever were to whom the cottage interior was the universe the
weeks weather climate newborn babyhood human existence and the instinct to
suck human knowledge
Tess who mused on the christening a good deal wondered if it were
doctrinally sufficient to secure a Christian burial for the child Nobody could
tell this but the parson of the parish and he was a newcomer and did not know
her She went to his house after dusk and stood by the gate but could not
summon courage to go in The enterprise would have been abandoned if she had not
by accident met him coming homeward as she turned away In the gloom she did not
mind speaking freely
»I should like to ask you something sir«
He expressed his willingness to listen and she told the story of the babys
illness and the extemporized ordinance
»And now sir« she added earnestly »can you tell me this will it be just
the same for him as if you had baptized him«
Having the natural feelings of a tradesman at finding that a job he should
have been called in for had been unskilfully botched by his customers among
themselves he was disposed to say no Yet the dignity of the girl the strange
tenderness in her voice combined to affect his nobler impulses or rather
those that he had left in him after ten years of endeavour to graft technical
belief on actual scepticism The man and the ecclesiastic fought within him and
the victory fell to the man
»My dear girl« he said »it will be just the same«
»Then will you give him a Christian burial« she asked quickly
The Vicar felt himself cornered Hearing of the babys illness he had
conscientiously gone to the house after nightfall to perform the rite and
unaware that the refusal to admit him had come from Tesss father and not from
Tess he could not allow the plea of necessity for its irregular administration
»Ah thats another matter« he said
»Another matter why« asked Tess rather warmly
»Well I would willingly do so if only we two were concerned But I must
not for certain reasons«
»Just for once sir«
»Really I must not«
»O sir« She seized his hand as she spoke
He withdrew it shaking his head
»Then I dont like you« she burst out »and Ill never come to your church
no more«
»Dont talk so rashly«
»Perhaps it will be just the same to him if you dont Will it be just
the same Dont for Gods sake speak as saint to sinner but as you yourself to
me myself poor me«
How the Vicar reconciled his answer with the strict notions he supposed
himself to hold on these subjects it is beyond a laymans power to tell though
not to excuse Somewhat moved he said in this case also
»It will be just the same«
So the baby was carried in a small deal box under an ancient womans shawl
to the churchyard that night and buried by lanternlight at the cost of a
shilling and a pint of beer to the sexton in that shabby corner of Gods
allotment where He lets the nettles grow and where all unbaptized infants
notorious drunkards suicides and others of the conjecturally damned are laid
In spite of the untoward surroundings however Tess bravely made a little cross
of two laths and a piece of string and having bound it with flowers she stuck
it up at the head of the grave one evening when she could enter the churchyard
without being seen putting at the foot also a bunch of the same flowers in a
little jar of water to keep them alive What matter was it that on the outside
of the jar the eye of mere observation noted the words »Keelwells Marmalade«
The eye of maternal affection did not see them in its vision of higher things
XV
»By experience« says Roger Ascham »we find out a short way by a long
wandering« Not seldom that long wandering unfits us for further travel and of
what use is our experience to us then Tess Durbeyfields experience was of this
incapacitating kind At last she had learned what to do but who would now
accept her doing
If before going to the dUrbervilles she had vigorously moved under the
guidance of sundry gnomic texts and phrases known to her and to the world in
general no doubt she would never have been imposed on But it had not been in
Tesss power nor is it in anybodys power to feel the whole truth of golden
opinions while it is possible to profit by them She and how many more might
have ironically said to God with Saint Augustine »Thou hast counselled a better
course than Thou hast permitted«
She remained in her fathers house during the winter months plucking fowls
or cramming turkeys and geese or making clothes for her sisters and brothers
out of some finery which dUrberville had given her and she had put by with
contempt Apply to him she would not But she would often clasp her hands behind
her head and muse when she was supposed to be working hard
She philosophically noted dates as they came past in the revolution of the
year the disastrous night of her undoing at Trantridge with its dark background
of The Chase also the dates of the babys birth and death also her own
birthday and every other day individualized by incidents in which she had taken
some share She suddenly thought one afternoon when looking in the glass at her
fairness that there was yet another date of greater importance to her than
those that of her own death when all these charms would have disappeared a
day which lay sly and unseen among all the other days of the year giving no
sign or sound when she annually passed over it but not the less surely there
When was it Why did she not feel the chill of each yearly encounter with such a
cold relation She had Jeremy Taylors thought that some time in the future
those who had known her would say »It is the th the day that poor Tess
Durbeyfield died« and there would be nothing singular to their minds in the
statement Of that day doomed to be her terminus in time through all the ages
she did not know the place in month week season or year
Almost at a leap Tess thus changed from simple girl to complex woman
Symbols of reflectiveness passed into her face and a note of tragedy at times
into her voice Her eyes grew larger and more eloquent She became what would
have been called a fine creature her aspect was fair and arresting her soul
that of a woman whom the turbulent experiences of the last year or two had quite
failed to demoralize But for the worlds opinion those experiences would have
been simply a liberal education
She had held so aloof of late that her trouble never generally known was
nearly forgotten in Marlott But it became evident to her that she could never
be really comfortable again in a place which had seen the collapse of her
familys attempt to »claim kin« and through her even closer union with the
rich dUrbervilles At least she could not be comfortable there till long years
should have obliterated her keen consciousness of it Yet even now Tess felt the
pulse of hopeful life still warm within her she might be happy in some nook
which had no memories To escape the past and all that appertained thereto was
to annihilate it and to do that she would have to get away
Was once lost always lost really true of chastity she would ask herself
She might prove it false if she could veil bygones The recuperative power which
pervaded organic nature was surely not denied to maidenhood alone
She waited a long time without finding opportunity for a new departure A
particularly fine spring came round and the stir of germination was almost
audible in the buds it moved her as it moved the wild animals and made her
passionate to go At last one day in early May a letter reached her from a
former friend of her mothers to whom she had addressed inquiries long before
a person whom she had never seen that a skilful milkmaid was required at a
dairyhouse many miles to the southward and that the dairyman would be glad to
have her for the summer months
It was not quite so far off as could have been wished but it was probably
far enough her radius of movement and repute having been so small To persons
of limited spheres miles are as geographical degrees parishes as counties
counties as provinces and kingdoms
On one point she was resolved there should be no more dUrberville
aircastles in the dreams and deeds of her new life She would be the dairymaid
Tess and nothing more Her mother knew Tesss feeling on this point so well
though no words had passed between them on the subject that she never alluded
to the knightly ancestry now
Yet such is human inconsistency that one of the interests of the new place
to her was the accidental virtue of its lying near her forefathers country for
they were not Blakemore men though her mother was Blakemore to the bone The
dairy called Talbothays for which she was bound stood not remotely from some
of the former estates of the dUrbervilles near the great family vaults of her
granddames and their powerful husbands She would be able to look at them and
think not only that dUrberville like Babylon had fallen but that the
individual innocence of a humble descendant could lapse as silently All the
while she wondered if any strange good thing might come of her being in her
ancestral land and some spirit within her rose automatically as the sap in the
twigs It was unexpended youth surging up anew after its temporary check and
bringing with it hope and the invincible instinct towards selfdelight
End Of Phase The Second
Phase the Third
The Rally
XVI
On a thymescented birdhatching morning in May between two and three years
after the return from Trantridge silent reconstructive years for Tess
Durbeyfield she left her home for the second time
Having packed up her luggage so that it could be sent to her later she
started in a hired trap for the little town of Stourcastle through which it was
necessary to pass on her journey now in a direction almost opposite to that of
her first adventuring On the curve of the nearest hill she looked back
regretfully at Marlott and her fathers house although she had been so anxious
to get away
Her kindred dwelling there would probably continue their daily lives as
heretofore with no great diminution of pleasure in their consciousness
although she would be far off and they deprived of her smile In a few days the
children would engage in their games as merrily as ever without the sense of any
gap left by her departure This leaving of the younger children she had decided
to be for the best were she to remain they would probably gain less good by her
precepts than harm by her example
She went through Stourcastle without pausing and onward to a junction of
highways where she could await a carriers van that ran to the southwest for
the railways which engirdled this interior tract of country had never yet struck
across it While waiting however there came along a farmer in his spring cart
driving approximately in the direction that she wished to pursue Though he was
a stranger to her she accepted his offer of a seat beside him ignoring that its
motive was a mere tribute to her countenance He was going to Weatherbury and
by accompanying him thither she could walk the remainder of the distance instead
of travelling in the van by way of Casterbridge
Tess did not stop at Weatherbury after this long drive further than to
make a slight nondescript meal at noon at a cottage to which the farmer
recommended her Thence she started on foot basket in hand to reach the wide
upland of heath dividing this district from the lowlying meads of a further
valley in which the dairy stood that was the aim and end of her days
pilgrimage
Tess had never before visited this part of the country and yet she felt
akin to the landscape Not so very far to the left of her she could discern a
dark patch in the scenery which inquiry confirmed her in supposing to be trees
marking the environs of Kingsbere in the church of which parish the bones of
her ancestors her useless ancestors lay entombed
She had no admiration for them now she almost hated them for the dance they
had led her not a thing of all that had been theirs did she retain but the old
seal and spoon »Pooh I have as much of mother as father in me« she said
»All my prettiness comes from her and she was only a dairymaid«
The journey over the intervening uplands and lowlands of Egdon when she
reached them was a more troublesome walk than she had anticipated the distance
being actually but a few miles It was two hours owing to sundry wrong
turnings ere she found herself on a summit commanding the longsoughtfor vale
the Valley of the Great Dairies the valley in which milk and butter grew to
rankness and were produced more profusely if less delicately than at her home
the verdant plain so well watered by the river Var or Froom
It was intrinsically different from the Vale of Little Dairies Blackmoor
Vale which save during her disastrous sojourn at Trantridge she had
exclusively known till now The world was drawn to a larger pattern here The
enclosures numbered fifty acres instead of ten the farmsteads were more
extended the groups of cattle formed tribes hereabout there only families
These myriads of cows stretching under her eyes from the far east to the far
west outnumbered any she had ever seen at one glance before The green lea was
speckled as thickly with them as a canvas by Van Alsloot or Sallaert with
burghers The ripe hues of the red and dun kine absorbed the evening sunlight
which the whitecoated animals returned to the eye in rays almost dazzling even
at the distant elevation on which she stood
The birdseye perspective before her was not so luxuriantly beautiful
perhaps as that other one which she knew so well yet it was more cheering It
lacked the intensely blue atmosphere of the rival vale and its heavy soils and
scents the new air was clear bracing ethereal The river itself which
nourished the grass and cows of these renowned dairies flowed not like the
streams in Blackmoor Those were slow silent often turbid flowing over beds
of mud into which the incautious wader might sink and vanish unawares The Froom
waters were clear as the pure River of Life shown to the Evangelist rapid as
the shadow of a cloud with pebbly shallows that prattled to the sky all day
long There the waterflower was the lily the crowfoot here
Either the change in the quality of the air from heavy to light or the
sense of being amid new scenes where there were no invidious eyes upon her sent
up her spirits wonderfully Her hopes mingled with the sunshine in an ideal
photosphere which surrounded her as she bounded along against the soft south
wind She heard a pleasant voice in every breeze and in every birds note
seemed to lurk a joy
Her face had latterly changed with changing states of mind continually
fluctuating between beauty and ordinariness according as the thoughts were gay
or grave One day she was pink and flawless another pale and tragical When she
was pink she was feeling less than when pale her more perfect beauty accorded
with her less elevated mood her more intense mood with her less perfect beauty
It was her best face physically that was now set against the south wind
The irresistible universal automatic tendency to find sweet pleasure
somewhere which pervades all life from the meanest to the highest had at
length mastered Tess Being even now only a young woman of twenty one who
mentally and sentimentally had not finished growing it was impossible that any
event should have left upon her an impression that was not in time capable of
transmutation
And thus her spirits and her thankfulness and her hopes rose higher and
higher She tried several ballads but found them inadequate till recollecting
the psalter that her eyes had so often wandered over of a Sunday morning before
she had eaten of the tree of knowledge she chanted »O ye Sun and Moon O ye
Stars ye Green Things upon the Earth ye Fowls of the Air Beasts and
Cattle Children of Men bless ye the Lord praise Him and magnify Him for
ever«
She suddenly stopped and murmured »But perhaps I dont quite know the Lord
as yet«
And probably the halfunconscious rhapsody was a Fetichistic utterance in a
Monotheistic setting women whose chief companions are the forms and forces of
outdoor Nature retain in their souls far more of the Pagan fantasy of their
remote forefathers than of the systematized religion taught their race at later
date However Tess found at least approximate expression for her feelings in
the old Benedicite that she had lisped from infancy and it was enough Such
high contentment with such a slight initial performance as that of having
started towards a means of independent living was a part of the Durbeyfield
temperament Tess really wished to walk uprightly while her father did nothing
of the kind but she resembled him in being content with immediate and small
achievements and in having no mind for laborious effort towards such petty
social advancement as could alone be effected by a family so heavily handicapped
as the once powerful dUrbervilles were now
There was it might be said the energy of her mothers unexpended family
as well as the natural energy of Tesss years rekindled after the experience
which had so overwhelmed her for the time Let the truth be told women do as a
rule live through such humiliations and regain their spirits and again look
about them with an interested eye While theres life theres hope is a
conviction not so entirely unknown to the »betrayed« as some amiable theorists
would have us believe
Tess Durbeyfield then in good heart and full of zest for life descended
the Egdon slopes lower and lower towards the dairy of her pilgrimage
The marked difference in the final particular between the rival vales now
showed itself The secret of Blackmoor was best discovered from the heights
around to read aright the valley before her it was necessary to descend into
its midst When Tess had accomplished this feat she found herself to be standing
on a carpeted level which stretched to the east and west as far as the eye
could reach
The river had stolen from the higher tracts and brought in particles to the
vale all this horizontal land and now exhausted aged and attenuated lay
serpentining along through the midst of its former spoils
Not quite sure of her direction Tess stood still upon the hemmed expanse of
verdant flatness like a fly on a billiardtable of indefinite length and of no
more consequence to the surroundings than that fly The sole effect of her
presence upon the placid valley so far had been to excite the mind of a solitary
heron which after descending to the ground not far from her path stood with
neck erect looking at her
Suddenly there arose from all parts of the lowland a prolonged and repeated
call
»Waow waow I waow«
From the furthest east to the furthest west the cries spread as if by
contagion accompanied in some cases by the barking of a dog It was not the
expression of the valleys consciousness that beautiful Tess had arrived but
the ordinary announcement of milkingtime halfpast four oclock when the
dairymen set about getting in the cows
The red and white herd nearest at hand which had been phlegmatically
waiting for the call now trooped towards the steading in the background their
great bags of milk swinging under them as they walked Tess followed slowly in
their rear and entered the barton by the open gate through which they had
entered before her Long thatched sheds stretched round the enclosure their
slopes encrusted with vivid green moss and their eaves supported by wooden
posts rubbed to a glossy smoothness by the flanks of infinite cows and calves of
bygone years now passed to an oblivion almost inconceivable in its profundity
Between the posts were ranged the milchers each exhibiting herself at the
present moment to a whimsical eye in the rear as a circle on two stalks down
the centre of which a switch moved pendulumwise while the sun lowering itself
behind this patient row threw their shadows accurately inwards upon the wall
Thus it threw shadows of these obscure and homely figures every evening with as
much care over each contour as if it had been the profile of a Court beauty on a
palace wall copied them as diligently as it had copied Olympian shapes on
marble façades long ago or the outline of Alexander Caesar and the Pharaohs
They were the less restful cows that were stalled Those that would stand
still of their own will were milked in the middle of the yard where many of
such better behaved ones stood waiting now all prime milchers such as were
seldom seen out of this valley and not always within it nourished by the
succulent feed which the watermeads supplied at this prime season of the year
Those of them that were spotted with white reflected the sunshine in dazzling
brilliancy and the polished brass knobs on their horns glittered with something
of military display Their largeveined udders hung ponderous as sandbags the
teats sticking out like the legs of a gipsys crock and as each animal lingered
for her turn to arrive the milk oozed forth and fell in drops to the ground
XVII
The dairymaids and men had flocked down from their cottages and out of the
dairyhouse with the arrival of the cows from the meads the maids walking in
pattens not on account of the weather but to keep their shoes above the mulch
of the barton Each girl sat down on her threelegged stool her face sideways
her right cheek resting against the cow and looked musingly along the animals
flank at Tess as she approached The male milkers with hatbrims turned down
resting flat on their foreheads and gazing on the ground did not observe her
One of these was a sturdy middleaged man whose long white »pinner« was
somewhat finer and cleaner than the wraps of the others and whose jacket
underneath had a presentable marketing aspect the masterdairyman of whom she
was in quest his double character as a working milker and buttermaker here
during six days and on the seventh as a man in shining broadcloth in his
family pew at church being so marked as to have inspired a rhyme
Dairyman Dick
All the week
On Sundays Mister Richard Crick
Seeing Tess standing at gaze he went across to her
The majority of dairymen have a cross manner at milkingtime but it
happened that Mr Crick was glad to get a new hand for the days were busy ones
now and he received her warmly inquiring for her mother and the rest of the
family though this as a matter of form merely for in reality he had not been
aware of Mrs Durbeyfields existence till apprised of the fact by a brief
businessletter about Tess
»Oh ay as a lad I knowed your part o the country very well« he said
terminatively Though Ive never been there since And a aged woman of ninety
that used to live nigh here but is dead and gone long ago told me that a
family of some such name as yours in Blackmoor Vale came originally from these
parts and that twere a old ancient race that had all but perished off the
earth though the new generations didnt know it But Lord I took no notice
of the old womans ramblings not I«
»Oh no it is nothing« said Tess
Then the talk was of business only
»You can milk em clean my maidy I dont want my cows going azew at this
time o year«
She reassured him on that point and he surveyed her up and down She had
been staying indoors a good deal and her complexion had grown delicate
»Quite sure you can stand it Tis comfortable enough here for rough folk
but we dont live in a cowcumber frame«
She declared that she could stand it and her zest and willingness seemed to
win him over
»Well I suppose youll want a dish o tay or victuals of some sort hey
Not yet Well do as ye like about it But faith if twas I I should be as dry
as a kex wi travelling so far«
»Ill begin milking now to get my hand in« said Tess
She drank a little milk as temporary refreshment to the surprise indeed
slight contempt of Dairyman Crick to whose mind it had apparently never
occurred that milk was good as a beverage
»Oh if ye can swaller that be it so« he said indifferently while one
held up the pail that she sipped from Tis what I haint touched for years not
I Rot the stuff it would lie in my innerds like lead You can try your hand
upon she he pursued nodding to the nearest cow Not but what she do milk
rather hard Weve hard ones and weve easy ones like other folks However
youll find out that soon enough«
When Tess had changed her bonnet for a hood and was really on her stool
under the cow and the milk was squirting from her fists into the pail she
appeared to feel that she really had laid a new foundation for her future The
conviction bred serenity her pulse slowed and she was able to look about her
The milkers formed quite a little battalion of men and maids the men
operating on the hardteated animals the maids on the kindlier natures It was
a large dairy There were nearly a hundred milchers under Cricks management
all told and of the herd the masterdairyman milked six or eight with his own
hands unless away from home These were the cows that milked hardest of all
for his journey milkmen being more or less casually hired he would not entrust
this halfdozen to their treatment lest from indifference they should not
milk them fully nor to the maids lest they should fail in the same way for
lack of fingergrip with the result that in course of time the cows would »go
azew« that is dry up It was not the loss for the moment that made slack
milking so serious but that with the decline of demand there came decline and
ultimately cessation of supply
After Tess had settled down to her cow there was for a time no talk in the
barton and not a sound interfered with the purr of the milkjets into the
numerous pails except a momentary exclamation to one or other of the beasts
requesting her to turn round or stand still The only movements were those of
the milkers hands up and down and the swing of the cows tails Thus they all
worked on encompassed by the vast flat mead which extended to either slope of
the valley a level landscape compounded of old landscapes long forgotten and
no doubt differing in character very greatly from the landscape they composed
now
»To my thinking« said the dairyman rising suddenly from a cow he had just
finished off snatching up his threelegged stool in one hand and the pail in
the other and moving on to the next hardyielder in his vicinity »to my
thinking the cows dont gie down their milk today as usual Upon my life if
Winker do begin keeping back like this shell not be worth going under by
midsummer«
»Tis because theres a new hand come among us« said Jonathan Kail »Ive
noticed such things afore«
»To be sure It may be so I didnt think ot«
»Ive been told that it goes up into their horns at such times« said a
dairymaid
»Well as to going up into their horns« replied Dairyman Crick dubiously
as though even witchcraft might be limited by anatomical possibilities »I
couldnt say I certainly could not But as nott cows will keep it back as well
as the horned ones I dont quite agree to it Do ye know that riddle about the
nott cows Jonathan Why do nott cows give less milk in a year than horned«
»I dont« interposed the milkmaid »Why do they«
»Because there baint so many of em« said the dairyman »Howsomever these
gamsters do certainly keep back their milk today Folks we must lift up a
stave or two thats the only cure fort«
Songs were often resorted to in dairies hereabout as an enticement to the
cows when they showed signs of withholding their usual yield and the band of
milkers at this request burst into melody in purely businesslike tones it is
true and with no great spontaneity the result according to their own belief
being a decided improvement during the songs continuance When they had gone
through fourteen or fifteen verses of a cheerful ballad about a murderer who was
afraid to go to bed in the dark because he saw certain brimstone flames around
him one of the male milkers said
»I wish singing on the stoop didnt use up so much of a mans wind You
should get your harp sir not but what a fiddle is best«
Tess who had given ear to this thought the words were addressed to the
dairyman but she was wrong A reply in the shape of »Why« came as it were out
of the belly of a dun cow in the stalls it had been spoken by a milker behind
the animal whom she had not hitherto perceived
»Oh yes theres nothing like a fiddle« said the dairyman »Though I do
think that bulls are more moved by a tune than cows at least thats my
experience Once there was a old aged man over at Mellstock William Dewy by
name one of the family that used to do a good deal of business as tranters
over there Jonathan do ye mind I knowed the man by sight as well as I know
my own brother in a manner of speaking Well this man was a coming homealong
from a wedding where he had been playing his fiddle one fine moonlight night
and for shortness« sake he took a cut across Fortyacres a field lying that
way where a bull was out to grass The bull seed William and took after him
horns aground begad and though William runned his best and hadnt much drink
in him considering twas a wedding and the folks well off he found hed
never reach the fence and get over in time to save himself Well as a last
thought he pulled out his fiddle as he runned and struck up a jig turning to
the bull and backing towards the corner The bull softened down and stood
still looking hard at William Dewy who fiddled on and on till a sort of a
smile stole over the bulls face But no sooner did William stop his playing and
turn to get over hedge than the bull would stop his smiling and lower his horns
towards the seat of Williams breeches Well William had to turn about and play
on willynilly and twas only three oclock in the world and a knowed that
nobody would come that way for hours and he so leery and tired that a didnt
know what to do When he had scraped till about four oclock he felt that he
verily would have to give over soon and he said to himself Theres only this
last tune between me and eternal welfare Heaven save me or Im a done man
Well then he called to mind how hed seen the cattle kneel o Christmas Eves in
the dead o night It was not Christmas Eve then but it came into his head to
play a trick upon the bull So he broke into the »Tivity Hymn just as at
Christmas carolsinging when lo and behold down went the bull on his bended
knees in his ignorance just as if twere the true Tivity night and hour As
soon as his horned friend were down William turned clinked off like a
longdog and jumped safe over hedge before the praying bull had got on his
feet again to take after him William used to say that hed seen a man look a
fool a good many times but never such a fool as that bull looked when he found
his pious feelings had been played upon and twas not Christmas Eve Yes
William Dewy that was the mans name and I can tell you to a foot wheres he
alying in Mellstock Churchyard at this very moment just between the second
yewtree and the north aisle«
»Its a curious story it carries us back to mediaeval times when faith was
a living thing«
The remark singular for a dairyyard was murmured by the voice behind the
dun cow but as nobody understood the reference no notice was taken except that
the narrator seemed to think it might imply scepticism as to his tale
»Well tis quite true sir whether or no I knowed the man well«
»Oh yes I have no doubt of it« said the person behind the dun cow
Tesss attention was thus attracted to the dairymans interlocutor of whom
she could see but the merest patch owing to his burying his head so
persistently in the flank of the milcher She could not understand why he should
be addressed as »sir« even by the dairyman himself But no explanation was
discernible he remained under the cow long enough to have milked three
uttering a private ejaculation now and then as if he could not get on
»Take it gentle sir take it gentle« said the dairyman »Tis knack not
strength that does it«
»So I find« said the other standing up at last and stretching his arms »I
think I have finished her however though she made my fingers ache«
Tess could then see him at full length He wore the ordinary white pinner
and leather leggings of a dairy when milking and his boots were clogged with
the mulch of the yard but this was all his local livery Beneath it was
something educated reserved subtle sad differing
But the details of his aspect were temporarily thrust aside by the discovery
that he was one whom she had seen before Such vicissitudes had Tess passed
through since that time that for a moment she could not remember where she had
met him and then it flashed upon her that he was the pedestrian who had joined
in the clubdance at Marlott the passing stranger who had come she knew not
whence had danced with others but not with her had slightingly left her and
gone on his way with his friends
The flood of memories brought back by this revival of an incident anterior
to her troubles produced a momentary dismay lest recognizing her also he
should by some means discover her story But it passed away when she found no
sign of remembrance in him She saw by degrees that since their first and only
encounter his mobile face had grown more thoughtful and had acquired a young
mans shapely moustache and beard the latter of the palest straw colour where
it began upon his cheeks and deepening to a warm brown farther from its root
Under his linen milkingpinner he wore a dark velveteen jacket cord breeches
and gaiters and a starched white shirt Without the milkinggear nobody could
have guessed what he was He might with equal probability have been an eccentric
landowner or a gentlemanly ploughman That he was but a novice at dairywork
she had realized in a moment from the time he had spent upon the milking of one
cow
Meanwhile many of the milkmaids had said to one another of the newcomer
»How pretty she is« with something of real generosity and admiration though
with a half hope that the auditors would qualify the assertion which strictly
speaking they might have done prettiness being an inexact definition of what
struck the eye in Tess When the milking was finished for the evening they
straggled indoors where Mrs Crick the dairymans wife who was too
respectable to go out milking herself and wore a hot stuff gown in warm weather
because the dairymaids wore prints was giving an eye to the leads and things
Only two or three of the maids Tess learnt slept in the dairyhouse
besides herself most of the helpers going to their homes She saw nothing at
suppertime of the superior milker who had commented on the story and asked no
questions about him the remainder of the evening being occupied in arranging
her place in the bedchamber It was a large room over the milkhouse some
thirty feet long the sleepingcots of the other three indoor milkmaids being in
the same apartment They were blooming young women and except one rather
older than herself By bedtime Tess was thoroughly tired and fell asleep
immediately
But one of the girls who occupied an adjoining bed was more wakeful than
Tess and would insist upon relating to the latter various particulars of the
homestead into which she had just entered The girls whispered words mingled
with the shades and to Tesss drowsy mind they seemed to be generated by the
darkness in which they floated
»Mr Angel Clare he that is learning milking and that plays the harp
never says much to us He is a pasons son and is too much taken up wi his
own thoughts to notice girls He is the dairymans pupil learning farming in
all its branches He has learnt sheepfarming at another place and hes now
mastering dairywork Yes he is quite the gentlemanborn His father is the
Reverent Mr Clare at Emminster a good many miles from here«
»Oh I have heard of him« said her companion now awake »A very earnest
clergyman is he not«
»Yes that he is the earnestest man in all Wessex they say the last of
the old Low Church sort they tell me for all about here be what they call
High All his sons except our Mr Clare be made pasons too«
Tess had not at this hour the curiosity to ask why the present Mr Clare was
not made a parson like his brethren and gradually fell asleep again the words
of her informant coming to her along with the smell of the cheeses in the
adjoining cheeseloft and the measured dripping of the whey from the wrings
downstairs
XVIII
Angel Clare rises out of the past not altogether as a distinct figure but as an
appreciative voice a long regard of fixed abstracted eyes and a mobility of
mouth somewhat too small and delicately lined for a mans though with an
unexpectedly firm close of the lower lip now and then enough to do away with
any inference of indecision Nevertheless something nebulous preoccupied
vague in his bearing and regard marked him as one who probably had no very
definite aim or concern about his material future Yet as a lad people had said
of him that he was one who might do anything if he tried
He was the youngest son of his father a poor parson at the other end of the
county and had arrived at Talbothays Dairy as a six months pupil after going
the round of some other farms his object being to acquire a practical skill in
the various processes of farming with a view either to the Colonies or the
tenure of a homefarm as circumstances might decide
His entry into the ranks of the agriculturists and breeders was a step in
the young mans career which had been anticipated neither by himself nor by
others
Mr Clare the elder whose first wife had died and left him a daughter
married a second late in life This lady had somewhat unexpectedly brought him
three sons so that between Angel the youngest and his father the vicar there
seemed to be almost a missing generation Of these boys the aforesaid Angel the
child of his old age was the only son who had not taken a University degree
though he was the single one of them whose early promise might have done full
justice to an academical training
Some two or three years before Angels appearance at the Marlott dance on a
day when he had left school and was pursuing his studies at home a parcel came
to the vicarage from the local booksellers directed to the Reverend James
Clare The vicar having opened it and found it to contain a book read a few
pages whereupon he jumped up from his seat and went straight to the shop with
the book under his arm
»Why has this been sent to my house« he asked peremptorily holding up the
volume
»It was ordered sir«
»Not by me or any one belonging to me I am happy to say«
The shopkeeper looked into his orderbook
»Oh it has been misdirected sir« he said »It was ordered by Mr Angel
Clare and should have been sent to him«
Mr Clare winced as if he had been struck He went home pale and dejected
and called Angel into his study
»Look into this book my boy« he said »What do you know about it«
»I ordered it« said Angel simply
»What for«
»To read«
»How can you think of reading it«
»How can I Why it is a system of philosophy There is no more moral or
even religious work published«
»Yes moral enough I dont deny that But religious and for you who
intend to be a minister of the Gospel«
»Since you have alluded to the matter father« said the son with anxious
thought upon his face »I should like to say once for all that I should prefer
not to take Orders I fear I could not conscientiously do so I love the Church
as one loves a parent I shall always have the warmest affection for her There
is no institution for whose history I have a deeper admiration but I cannot
honestly be ordained her minister as my brothers are while she refuses to
liberate her mind from an untenable redemptive theolatry«
It had never occurred to the straightforward and simpleminded Vicar that
one of his own flesh and blood could come to this He was stultified shocked
paralyzed And if Angel were not going to enter the Church what was the use of
sending him to Cambridge The University as a step to anything but ordination
seemed to this man of fixed ideas a preface without a volume He was a man not
merely religious but devout a firm believer not as the phrase is now
elusively construed by theological thimbleriggers in the Church and out of it
but in the old and ardent sense of the Evangelical school one who could
Indeed opine
That the Eternal and Divine
Did eighteen centuries ago
In very truth
Angels father tried argument persuasion entreaty
»No father I cannot underwrite Article Four leave alone the rest taking
it in the literal and grammatical sense as required by the Declaration and
therefore I cant be a parson in the present state of affairs« said Angel »My
whole instinct in matters of religion is towards reconstruction to quote your
favourite Epistle to the Hebrews the removing of those things that are shaken
as of things that are made that those things which cannot be shaken may remain
«
His father grieved so deeply that it made Angel quite ill to see him
»What is the good of your mother and me economizing and stinting ourselves
to give you a University education if it is not to be used for the honour and
glory of God« his father repeated
»Why that it may be used for the honour and glory of man father«
Perhaps if Angel had persevered he might have gone to Cambridge like his
brothers But the Vicars view of that seat of learning as a steppingstone to
Orders alone was quite a family tradition and so rooted was the idea in his
mind that perseverance began to appear to the sensitive son akin to an intent to
misappropriate a trust and wrong the pious heads of the household who had been
and were as his father had hinted compelled to exercise much thrift to carry
out this uniform plan of education for the three young men
»I will do without Cambridge« said Angel at last »I feel that I have no
right to go there in the circumstances«
The effects of this decisive debate were not long in showing themselves He
spent years and years in desultory studies undertakings and meditations he
began to evince considerable indifference to social forms and observances The
material distinctions of rank and wealth he increasingly despised Even the
»good old family« to use a favourite phrase of a late local worthy had no
aroma for him unless there were good new resolutions in its representatives As
a balance to these austerities when he went to live in London to see what the
world was like and with a view to practising a profession or business there he
was carried off his head and nearly entrapped by a woman much older than
himself though luckily he escaped not greatly the worse for the experience
Early association with country solitudes had bred in him an unconquerable
and almost unreasonable aversion to modern town life and shut him out from
such success as he might have aspired to by following a mundane calling in the
impracticability of the spiritual one But something had to be done he had
wasted many valuable years and having an acquaintance who was starting on a
thriving life as a Colonial farmer it occurred to Angel that this might be a
lead in the right direction Farming either in the Colonies America or at
home farming at any rate after becoming well qualified for the business by a
careful apprenticeship that was a vocation which would probably afford an
independence without the sacrifice of what he valued even more than a competency
intellectual liberty
So we find Angel Clare at sixandtwenty here at Talbothays as a student of
kine and as there were no houses near at hand in which he could get a
comfortable lodging a boarder at the dairymans
His room was an immense attic which ran the whole length of the dairyhouse
It could only be reached by a ladder from the cheeseloft and had been closed
up for a long time till he arrived and selected it as his retreat Here Clare
had plenty of space, and could often be heard by the dairyfolk pacing up and
down when the household had gone to rest A portion was divided off at one end
by a curtain behind which was his bed the outer part being furnished as a
homely sittingroom
At first he lived up above entirely reading a good deal and strumming upon
an old harp which he had bought at a sale saying when in a bitter humour that
he might have to get his living by it in the streets some day But he soon
preferred to read human nature by taking his meals downstairs in the general
diningkitchen with the dairyman and his wife and the maids and men who all
together formed a lively assembly for though but few milking hands slept in the
house several joined the family at meals The longer Clare resided here the
less objection had he to his company and the more did he like to share quarters
with them in common
Much to his surprise he took indeed a real delight in their companionship
The conventional farmfolk of his imagination personified in the newspaper by
the pitiable dummy known as Hodge were obliterated after a few days
residence At close quarters no Hodge was to be seen At first it is true when
Clares intelligence was fresh from a contrasting society these friends with
whom he now hobnobbed seemed a little strange Sitting down as a level member of
the dairymans household seemed at the outset an undignified proceeding The
ideas the modes the surroundings appeared retrogressive and unmeaning But
with living on there day after day the acute sojourner became conscious of a
new aspect in the spectacle Without any objective change whatever variety had
taken the place of monotonousness His host and his hosts household his men
and his maids as they became intimately known to Clare began to differentiate
themselves as in a chemical process The thought of Pascals was brought home to
him »A mesure quon a plus desprit on trouve quil y a plus dhommes
originaux Les gens du commun ne trouvent pas de différence entre les hommes«
The typical and unvarying Hodge ceased to exist He had been disintegrated into
a number of varied fellowcreatures beings of many minds beings infinite in
difference some happy many serene a few depressed one here and there bright
even to genius some stupid others wanton others austere some mutely
Miltonic some potentially Cromwellian into men who had private views of each
other as he had of his friends who could applaud or condemn each other amuse
or sadden themselves by the contemplation of each others foibles or vices men
every one of whom walked in his own individual way the road to dusty death
Unexpectedly he began to like the outdoor life for its own sake and for
what it brought apart from its bearing on his own proposed career Considering
his position he became wonderfully free from the chronic melancholy which is
taking hold of the civilized races with the decline of belief in a beneficent
Power For the first time of late years he could read as his musings inclined
him without any eye to cramming for a profession since the few farming
handbooks which he deemed it desirable to master occupied him but little time
He grew away from old associations and saw something new in life and
humanity Secondarily he made close acquaintance with phenomena which he had
before known but darkly the seasons in their moods morning and evening night
and noon winds in their different tempers trees waters and mists shades and
silences and the voices of inanimate things
The early mornings were still sufficiently cool to render a fire acceptable in
the large room wherein they breakfasted and by Mrs Cricks orders who held
that he was too genteel to mess at their table it was Angel Clares custom to
sit in the yawning chimneycorner during the meal his cupandsaucer and plate
being placed on a hinged flap at his elbow The light from the long wide
mullioned window opposite shone in upon his nook and assisted by a secondary
light of cold blue quality which shone down the chimney enabled him to read
there easily whenever disposed to do so Between Clare and the window was the
table at which his companions sat their munching profiles rising sharp against
the panes while to the side was the milkhouse door through which were visible
the rectangular leads in rows full to the brim with the mornings milk At the
further end the great churn could be seen revolving and its slipslopping heard
the moving power being discernible through the window in the form of a
spiritless horse walking in a circle and driven by a boy
For several days after Tesss arrival Clare sitting abstractedly reading
from some book periodical or piece of music just come by post hardly noticed
that she was present at table She talked so little and the other maids talked
so much that the babble did not strike him as possessing a new note and he was
ever in the habit of neglecting the particulars of an outward scene for the
general impression One day however when he had been conning one of his
musicscores and by force of imagination was hearing the tune in his head he
lapsed into listlessness and the musicsheet rolled to the hearth He looked at
the fire of logs with its one flame pirouetting on the top in a dying dance
after the breakfastcooking and boiling and it seemed to jig to his inward
tune also at the two chimney crooks dangling down from the cotterel or
crossbar plumed with soot which quivered to the same melody also at the
halfempty kettle whining an accompaniment The conversation at the table mixed
in with his phantasmal orchestra till he thought »What a fluty voice one of
those milkmaids has I suppose it is the new one«
Clare looked round upon her seated with the others
She was not looking towards him Indeed owing to his long silence his
presence in the room was almost forgotten
»I dont know about ghosts« she was saying »but I do know that our souls
can be made to go outside our bodies when we are alive«
The dairyman turned to her with his mouth full his eyes charged with
serious inquiry and his great knife and fork breakfasts were breakfasts here
planted erect on the table like the beginning of a gallows
»What really now And is it so maidy« he said
»A very easy way to feel« em go continued Tess »is to lie on the grass at
night and look straight up at some big bright star and by fixing your mind
upon it you will soon find that you are hundreds and hundreds o miles away
from your body which you dont seem to want at all«
The dairyman removed his hard gaze from Tess and fixed it on his wife
»Now thats a rum thing Christianner hey To think o the miles Ive
vamped o starlight nights these last thirty year courting or trading or for
doctor or for nurse and yet never had the least notion o that till now or
feeled my soul rise so much as an inch above my shirtcollar«
The general attention being drawn to her including that of the dairymans
pupil Tess flushed and remarking evasively that it was only a fancy resumed
her breakfast
Clare continued to observe her She soon finished her eating and having a
consciousness that Clare was regarding her began to trace imaginary patterns on
the tablecloth with her forefinger with the constraint of a domestic animal that
perceives itself to be watched
»What a fresh and virginal daughter of Nature that milkmaid is« he said to
himself
And then he seemed to discern in her something that was familiar something
which carried him back into a joyous and unforeseeing past before the necessity
of taking thought had made the heavens gray He concluded that he had beheld her
before where he could not tell A casual encounter during some country ramble
it certainly had been and he was not greatly curious about it But the
circumstance was sufficient to lead him to select Tess in preference to the
other pretty milkmaids when he wished to contemplate contiguous womankind
XIX
In general the cows were milked as they presented themselves without fancy or
choice But certain cows will show a fondness for a particular pair of hands
sometimes carrying this predilection so far as to refuse to stand at all except
to their favourite the pail of a stranger being unceremoniously kicked over
It was Dairyman Cricks rule to insist on breaking down these partialities
and aversions by constant interchange since otherwise in the event of a
milkman or maid going away from the dairy he was placed in a difficulty The
maids private aims however were the reverse of the dairymans rule the daily
selection by each damsel of the eight or ten cows to which she had grown
accustomed rendering the operation on their willing udders surprisingly easy and
effortless
Tess like her compeers soon discovered which of the cows had a preference
for her style of manipulation and her fingers having become delicate from the
long domiciliary imprisonments to which she had subjected herself at intervals
during the last two or three years she would have been glad to meet the
milchers views in this respect Out of the whole ninetyfive there were eight
in particular Dumpling Fancy Lofty Mist Old Pretty Young Pretty Tidy
and Loud who though the teats of one or two were as hard as carrots gave
down to her with a readiness that made her work on them a mere touch of the
fingers Knowing however the dairymans wish she endeavoured conscientiously
to take the animals just as they came excepting the very hard yielders which
she could not yet manage
But she soon found a curious correspondence between the ostensibly chance
position of the cows and her wishes in this matter till she felt that their
order could not be the result of accident The dairymans pupil had lent a hand
in getting the cows together of late and at the fifth or sixth time she turned
her eyes as she rested against the cow full of sly inquiry upon him
»Mr Clare you have ranged the cows« she said blushing and in making the
accusation symptoms of a smile gently lifted her upper lip in spite of her so
as to show the tips of her teeth the lower lip remaining severely still
»Well it makes no difference« said he »You will always be here to milk
them«
»Do you think so I hope I shall But I dont know«
She was angry with herself afterwards thinking that he unaware of her
grave reasons for liking this seclusion might have mistaken her meaning She
had spoken so earnestly to him as if his presence were somehow a factor in her
wish Her misgiving was such that at dusk when the milking was over she walked
in the garden alone to continue her regrets that she had disclosed to him her
discovery of his considerateness
It was a typical summer evening in June the atmosphere being in such
delicate equilibrium and so transmissive that inanimate objects seemed endowed
with two or three senses if not five There was no distinction between the near
and the far and an auditor felt close to everything within the horizon The
soundlessness impressed her as a positive entity rather than as the mere
negation of noise It was broken by the strumming of strings
Tess had heard those notes in the attic above her head Dim flattened
constrained by their confinement they had never appealed to her as now when
they wandered in the still air with a stark quality like that of nudity To
speak absolutely both instrument and execution were poor but the relative is
all and as she listened Tess like a fascinated bird could not leave the spot
Far from leaving she drew up towards the performer keeping behind the hedge
that he might not guess her presence
The outskirt of the garden in which Tess found herself had been left
uncultivated for some years and was now damp and rank with juicy grass which
sent up mists of pollen at a touch and with tall blooming weeds emitting
offensive smells weeds whose red and yellow and purple hues formed a
polychrome as dazzling as that of cultivated flowers She went stealthily as a
cat through this profusion of growth gathering cuckoospittle on her skirts
cracking snails that were underfoot staining her hands with thistlemilk and
slugslime and rubbing off upon her naked arms sticky blights which though
snowwhite on the appletree trunks made madder stains on her skin thus she
drew quite near to Clare still unobserved of him
Tess was conscious of neither time nor space The exaltation which she had
described as being producible at will by gazing at a star came now without any
determination of hers she undulated upon the thin notes of the secondhand
harp and their harmonies passed like breezes through her bringing tears into
her eyes The floating pollen seemed to be his notes made visible and the
dampness of the garden the weeping of the gardens sensibility Though near
nightfall the ranksmelling weedflowers glowed as if they would not close for
intentness and the waves of colour mixed with the waves of sound
The light which still shone was derived mainly from a large hole in the
western bank of cloud it was like a piece of day left behind by accident dusk
having closed in elsewhere He concluded his plaintive melody a very simple
performance demanding no great skill and she waited thinking another might be
begun But tired of playing he had desultorily come round the fence and was
rambling up behind her Tess her cheeks on fire moved away furtively as if
hardly moving at all
Angel however saw her light summer gown and he spoke his low tones
reaching her though he was some distance off
»What makes you draw off in that way Tess« said he »Are you afraid«
»Oh no sir not of outdoor things especially just now when the
appleblooth is falling and everything so green«
»But you have your indoor fears eh«
»Well yes sir«
»What of«
»I couldnt quite say«
»The milk turning sour«
»No«
»Life in general«
»Yes sir«
»Ah so have I very often This hobble of being alive is rather serious
dont you think so«
»It is now you put it that way«
All the same I shouldnt have expected a young girl like you to see it so
just yet How is it you do
She maintained a hesitating silence
»Come Tess tell me in confidence«
She thought that he meant what were the aspects of things to her and
replied shyly
The trees have inquisitive eyes havent they that is seem as if they
had And the river says Why do ye trouble me with your looks And you seem to
see numbers of tomorrows just all in a line the first of them the biggest and
clearest the others getting smaller and smaller as they stand farther away but
they all seem very fierce and cruel and as if they said Im coming Beware of
me Beware of me But you sir can raise up dreams with your music and
drive all such horrid fancies away
He was surprised to find this young woman who though but a milkmaid had
just that touch of rarity about her which might make her the envied of her
housemates shaping such sad imaginings She was expressing in her own native
phrases assisted a little by her Sixth Standard training feelings which
might almost have been called those of the age the ache of modernism The
perception arrested him less when he reflected that what are called advanced
ideas are really in great part but the latest fashion in definition a more
accurate expression by words in logy and ism of sensations which men and women
have vaguely grasped for centuries
Still it was strange that they should have come to her while yet so young
more than strange it was impressive interesting pathetic Not guessing the
cause there was nothing to remind him that experience is as to intensity and
not as to duration Tesss passing corporeal blight had been her mental harvest
Tess on her part could not understand why a man of clerical family and
good education and above physical want should look upon it as a mishap to be
alive For the unhappy pilgrim herself there was very good reason But how could
this admirable and poetic man ever have descended into the Valley of
Humiliation have felt with the man of Uz as she herself had felt two or three
years ago »My soul chooseth strangling and death rather than my life I loathe
it I would not live alway«
It was true that he was at present out of his class But she knew that was
only because like Peter the Great in a shipwrights yard he was studying what
he wanted to know He did not milk cows because he was obliged to milk cows but
because he was learning how to be a rich and prosperous dairyman landowner
agriculturist and breeder of cattle He would become an American or Australian
Abraham commanding like a monarch his flocks and his herds his spotted and his
ringstraked his menservants and his maids At times nevertheless it did
seem unaccountable to her that a decidedly bookish musical thinking young man
should have chosen deliberately to be a farmer and not a clergyman like his
father and brothers
Thus neither having the clue to the others secret they were respectively
puzzled at what each revealed and awaited new knowledge of each others
character and moods without attempting to pry into each others history
Every day every hour brought to him one more little stroke of her nature and
to her one more of his Tess was trying to lead a repressed life but she little
divined the strength of her own vitality
At first Tess seemed to regard Angel Clare as an intelligence rather than as
a man As such she compared him with herself and at every discovery of the
abundance of his illuminations of the distance between her own modest mental
standpoint and the unmeasurable Andean altitude of his she became quite
dejected disheartened from all further effort on her own part whatever
He observed her dejection one day when he had casually mentioned something
to her about pastoral life in ancient Greece She was gathering the buds called
»lords and ladies« from the bank while he spoke
»Why do you look so woebegone all of a sudden« he asked
»Oh tis only about my own self« she said with a frail laugh of
sadness fitfully beginning to peel »a lady« meanwhile »Just a sense of what
might have been with me My life looks as if it had been wasted for want of
chances When I see what you know what you have read and seen and thought I
feel what a nothing I am Im like the poor Queen of Sheba who lived in the
Bible There is no more spirit in me«
»Bless my soul dont go troubling about that Why« he said with some
enthusiasm »I should be only too glad my dear Tess to help you to anything in
the way of history or any line of reading you would like to take up «
»It is a lady again« interrupted she holding out the bud she had peeled
»What«
»I meant that there are always more ladies than lords when you come to peel
them«
»Never mind about the lords and ladies Would you like to take up any course
of study history for example«
»Sometimes I feel I dont want to know anything more about it than I know
already«
»Why not«
»Because whats the use of learning that I am one of a long row only
finding out that there is set down in some old book somebody just like me and
to know that I shall only act her part making me sad thats all The best is
not to remember that your nature and your past doings have been just like
thousands and thousands and that your coming life and doings Ill be like
thousands and thousands«
»What really then you dont want to learn anything«
»I shouldnt mind learning why why the sun do shine on the just and the
unjust alike« she answered with a slight quaver in her voice »But thats what
books will not tell me«
»Tess fie for such bitterness« Of course he spoke with a conventional
sense of duty only for that sort of wondering had not been unknown to himself
in bygone days And as he looked at the unpractised mouth and lips he thought
that such a daughter of the soil could only have caught up the sentiment by
rote She went on peeling the lords and ladies till Clare regarding for a
moment the wavelike curl of her lashes as they drooped with her bent gaze on
her soft cheek lingeringly went away When he was gone she stood awhile
thoughtfully peeling the last bud and then awakening from her reverie flung
it and all the crowd of floral nobility impatiently on the ground in an
ebullition of displeasure with herself for her niaiseries and with a quickening
warmth in her heart of hearts
How stupid he must think her In an access of hunger for his good opinion
she bethought herself of what she had latterly endeavoured to forget so
unpleasant had been its issues the identity of her family with that of the
knightly dUrbervilles Barren attribute as it was disastrous as its discovery
had been in many ways to her perhaps Mr Clare as a gentleman and a student of
history would respect her sufficiently to forget her childish conduct with the
lords and ladies if he knew that those Purbeckmarble and alabaster people in
Kingsbere Church really represented her own lineal forefathers that she was no
spurious dUrberville compounded of money and ambition like those at
Trantridge but true dUrberville to the bone
But before venturing to make the revelation dubious Tess indirectly
sounded the dairyman as to its possible effect upon Mr Clare by asking the
former if Mr Clare had any great respect for old county families when they had
lost all their money and land
»Mr Clare« said the dairyman emphatically »is one of the most rebellest
rozums you ever knowed not a bit like the rest of his family and if theres
one thing that he do hate more than another tis the notion of whats called a
old family He says that it stands to reason that old families have done their
spurt of work in past days and cant have anything left in em now Theres the
Billetts and the Drenkhards and the Greys and the St Quintins and the Hardys
and the Goulds who used to own the lands for miles down this valley you could
buy em all up now for an old song a most Why our little Retty Priddle here
you know is one of the Paridelles the old family that used to own lots o the
lands out by KingsHintock now owned by the Earl o Wessex afore even he or
his was heard of Well Mr Clare found this out and spoke quite scornful to
the poor girl for days Ah he says to her youll never make a good dairymaid
All your skill was used up ages ago in Palestine and you must lie fallow for a
thousand years to git strength for more deeds A boy came here tother day
asking for a job and said his name was Matt and when we asked him his surname
he said hed never heard that a had any surname and when we asked why he said
he supposed his folks hadnt been stablished long enough Ah youre the very
boy I want says Mr Clare jumping up and shaking hands wien Ive great hopes
of you and gave him halfacrown O no he cant stomach old families«
After hearing this caricature of Clares opinions poor Tess was glad that
she had not said a word in a weak moment about her family even though it was
so unusually old as almost to have gone round the circle and become a new one
Besides another dairygirl was as good as she it seemed in that respect She
held her tongue about the dUrberville vault and the Knight of the Conqueror
whose name she bore The insight afforded into Clares character suggested to
her that it was largely owing to her supposed untraditional newness that she had
won interest in his eyes
XX
The season developed and matured Another years instalment of flowers leaves
nightingales thrushes finches and such ephemeral creatures took up their
positions where only a year ago others had stood in their place when these were
nothing more than germs and inorganic particles Rays from the sunrise drew
forth the buds and stretched them into long stalks lifted up sap in noiseless
streams opened petals and sucked out scents in invisible jets and breathings
Dairyman Cricks household of maids and men lived on comfortably placidly
even merrily Their position was perhaps the happiest of all positions in the
social scale being above the line at which neediness ends and below the line
at which the convenances begin to cramp natural feeling and the stress of
threadbare modishness makes too little of enough
Thus passed the leafy time when arborescence seems to be the one thing aimed
at out of doors Tess and Clare unconsciously studied each other ever balanced
on the edge of a passion yet apparently keeping out of it All the while they
were converging under an irresistible law as surely as two streams in one
vale
Tess had never in her recent life been so happy as she was now possibly
never would be so happy again She was for one thing physically and mentally
suited among these new surroundings The sapling which had rooted down to a
poisonous stratum on the spot of its sowing had been transplanted to a deeper
soil Moreover she and Clare also stood as yet on the debatable land between
predilection and love where no profundities have been reached no reflections
have set in awkwardly inquiring »Whither does this new current tend to carry
me What does it mean to my future How does it stand towards my past«
Tess was the merest stray phenomenon to Angel Clare as yet a rosy warming
apparition which had only just acquired the attribute of persistence in his
consciousness So he allowed his mind to be occupied with her deeming his
preoccupation to be no more than a philosophers regard of an exceedingly novel
fresh and interesting specimen of womankind
They met continually they could not help it They met daily in that strange
and solemn interval the twilight of the morning in the violet or pink dawn
for it was necessary to rise early so very early here Milking was done
betimes and before the milking came the skimming which began at a little past
three It usually fell to the lot of some one or other of them to wake the rest
the first being aroused by an alarm and as Tess was the latest arrival and
they soon discovered that she could be depended upon not to sleep through the
alarm as the others did this task was thrust most frequently upon her No
sooner had the hour of three struck and whizzed than she left her room and ran
to the dairymans door then up the ladder to Angels calling him in a loud
whisper then woke her fellowmilkmaids By the time that Tess was dressed Clare
was downstairs and out in the humid air The remaining maids and the dairyman
usually gave themselves another turn on the pillow and did not appear till a
quarter of an hour later
The gray halftones of daybreak are not the gray halftones of the days
close though the degree of their shade may be the same In the twilight of the
morning light seems active darkness passive in the twilight of evening it is
the darkness which is active and crescent and the light which is the drowsy
reverse
Being so often possibly not always by chance the first two persons to
get up at the dairyhouse they seemed to themselves the first persons up of all
the world In these early days of her residence here Tess did not skim but went
out of doors at once after rising where he was generally awaiting her The
spectral halfcompounded aqueous light which pervaded the open mead impressed
them with a feeling of isolation as if they were Adam and Eve At this dim
inceptive stage of the day Tess seemed to Clare to exhibit a dignified largeness
both of disposition and physique an almost regnant power possibly because he
knew that at that preternatural time hardly any woman so well endowed in person
as she was likely to be walking in the open air within the boundaries of his
horizon very few in all England Fair women are usually asleep at midsummer
dawns She was close at hand and the rest were nowhere
The mixed singular luminous gloom in which they walked along together to
the spot where the cows lay often made him think of the Resurrection hour He
little thought that the Magdalen might be at his side Whilst all the landscape
was in neutral shade his companions face which was the focus of his eyes
rising above the mist stratum seemed to have a sort of phosphorescence upon it
She looked ghostly as if she were merely a soul at large In reality her face
without appearing to do so had caught the cold gleam of day from the
northeast his own face though he did not think of it wore the same aspect to
her
It was then as has been said that she impressed him most deeply She was
no longer the milkmaid but a visionary essence of woman a whole sex condensed
into one typical form He called her Artemis Demeter and other fanciful names
half teasingly which she did not like because she did not understand them
»Call me Tess« she would say askance and he did
Then it would grow lighter and her features would become simply feminine
they had changed from those of a divinity who could confer bliss to those of a
being who craved it
At these nonhuman hours they could get quite close to the waterfowl Herons
came with a great bold noise as of opening doors and shutters out of the
boughs of a plantation which they frequented at the side of the mead or if
already on the spot hardily maintained their standing in the water as the pair
walked by watching them by moving their heads round in a slow horizontal
passionless wheel like the turn of puppets by clockwork
They could then see the faint summer fogs in layers woolly level and
apparently no thicker than counterpanes spread about the meadows in detached
remnants of small extent On the gray moisture of the grass were marks where the
cows had lain through the night darkgreen islands of dry herbage the size of
their carcases in the general sea of dew From each island proceeded a
serpentine trail by which the cow had rambled away to feed after getting up at
the end of which trail they found her the snoring puff from her nostrils when
she recognized them making an intenser little fog of her own amid the
prevailing one Then they drove the animals back to the barton or sat down to
milk them on the spot as the case might require
Or perhaps the summer fog was more general and the meadows lay like a white
sea out of which the scattered trees rose like dangerous rocks Birds would
soar through it into the upper radiance and hang on the wing sunning
themselves or alight on the wet rails subdividing the mead which now shone
like glass rods Minute diamonds of moisture from the mist hung too upon
Tesss eyelashes and drops upon her hair like seed pearls When the day grew
quite strong and commonplace these dried off her moreover Tess then lost her
strange and ethereal beauty her teeth lips and eyes scintillated in the
sunbeams and she was again the dazzlingly fair dairymaid only who had to hold
her own against the other women of the world
About this time they would hear Dairyman Cricks voice lecturing the
nonresident milkers for arriving late and speaking sharply to old Deborah
Fyander for not washing her hands
»For Heavens sake pop thy hands under the pump Deb Upon my soul if the
London folk only knowed of thee and thy slovenly ways theyd swaller their milk
and butter more mincing than they do a ready and thats saying a good deal«
The milking progressed till towards the end Tess and Clare in common with
the rest could hear the heavy breakfast table dragged out from the wall in the
kitchen by Mrs Crick this being the invariable preliminary to each meal the
same horrible scrape accompanying its return journey when the table had been
cleared
XXI
There was a great stir in the milkhouse just after breakfast The churn
revolved as usual but the butter would not come Whenever this happened the
dairy was paralyzed Squish squash echoed the milk in the great cylinder but
never arose the sound they waited for
Dairyman Crick and his wife the milkmaids Tess Marian Retty Priddle Izz
Huett and the married ones from the cottages also Mr Clare Jonathan Kail
old Deborah and the rest stood gazing hopelessly at the churn and the boy who
kept the horse going outside put on moonlike eyes to show his sense of the
situation Even the melancholy horse himself seemed to look in at the window in
inquiring despair at each walk round
»Tis years since I went to Conjuror Trendles son in Egdon years« said
the dairyman bitterly »And he was nothing to what his father had been I have
said fifty times if I have said once that I dont believe in en though he do
cast folks waters very true But I shall have to go to n if hes alive O yes
I shall have to go to n if this sort of thing continnys«
Even Mr Clare began to feel tragical at the dairymans desperation
»Conjuror Fall tother side of Casterbridge that they used to call WideO
was a very good man when I was a boy« said Jonathan Kail »But hes rotten as
touchwood by now«
»My grandfather used to go to Conjuror Mynterne out at Owlscombe and a
clever man a were so Ive heard grandfer say« continued Mr Crick »But
theres no such genuine folk about nowadays«
Mrs Cricks mind kept nearer to the matter in hand
»Perhaps somebody in the house is in love« she said tentatively »Ive
heard tell in my younger days that that will cause it Why Crick that maid we
had years ago do ye mind and how the butter didnt come then «
»Ah yes yes but that isnt the rights ot It had nothing to do with the
lovemaking I can mind all about it twas the damage to the churn«
He turned to Clare
»Jack Dollop a horesbird of a fellow we had here as milker at one time
sir courted a young woman over at Mellstock and deceived her as he had
deceived many afore But he had another sort o woman to reckon wi this time
and it was not the girl herself One Holy Thursday of all days in the almanack
we was here as we mid be now only there was no churning in hand when we zid
the girls mother coming up to the door wi a great brassmounted umbrella in
her hand that would ha felled an ox and saying Do Jack Dollop work here
because I want him I have a big bone to pick with he I can assure »n And some
way behind her mother walked Jacks young woman crying bitterly into her
handkercher O Lard heres a time said Jack looking out o winder at em
Shell murder me Where shall I get where shall I Dont tell her where I
be And with that he scrambled into the churn through the trapdoor and shut
himself inside just as the young womans mother busted into the milkhouse The
villain where is he says she Ill claw his face forn let me only catch
him Well she hunted about everywhere ballyragging Jack by side and by seam
Jack lying amost stifled inside the churn and the poor maid or young woman
rather standing at the door crying her eyes out I shall never forget it
never Twould have melted a marble stone But she couldnt find him nowhere at
all«
The dairyman paused and one or two words of comment came from the
listeners
Dairyman Cricks stories often seemed to be ended when they were not really
so and strangers were betrayed into premature interjections of finality though
old friends knew better The narrator went on
»Well how the old woman should have had the wit to guess it I could never
tell but she found out that he was inside that there churn Without saying a
word she took hold of the winch it was turned by handpower then and round she
swung him and Jack began to flop about inside O Lard stop the churn let me
out says he popping out his head I shall be churned into a pummy he was a
cowardly chap in his heart as such men mostly be Not till ye make amends for
ravaging her virgin innocence says the old woman Stop the churn you old
witch screams he You call me old witch do ye you deceiver says she when ye
ought to ha been calling me motherlaw these last five months And on went the
churn and Jacks bones rattled round again Well none of us ventured to
interfere and at last a promised to make it right wi her Yes Ill be as
good as my word he said And so it ended that day«
While the listeners were smiling their comments there was a quick movement
behind their backs and they looked round Tess palefaced had gone to the
door
»How warm tis today« she said almost inaudibly
It was warm and none of them connected her withdrawal with the
reminiscences of the dairyman He went forward and opened the door for her
saying with tender raillery
»Why maidy« he frequently with unconscious irony gave her this pet
name »the prettiest milker Ive got in my dairy you mustnt get so fagged as
this at the first breath of summer weather or we shall be finely put to for
want of ee by dogdays shant we Mr Clare«
»I was faint and I think I am better out o doors« she said
mechanically and disappeared outside
Fortunately for her the milk in the revolving churn at that moment changed
its squashing for a decided flickflack
»Tis coming« cried Mrs Crick and the attention of all was called off from
Tess
That fair sufferer soon recovered herself externally but she remained much
depressed all the afternoon When the evening milking was done she did not care
to be with the rest of them and went out of doors wandering along she knew not
whither She was wretched O so wretched at the perception that to her
companions the dairymans story had been rather a humorous narration than
otherwise none of them but herself seemed to see the sorrow of it to a
certainty not one knew how cruelly it touched the tender place in her
experience The evening sun was now ugly to her like a great inflamed wound in
the sky Only a solitary crackedvoiced reedsparrow greeted her from the bushes
by the river in a sad machinemade tone resembling that of a past friend
whose friendship she had outworn
In these long June days the milkmaids and indeed most of the household
went to bed at sunset or sooner the morning work before milking being so early
and heavy at a time of full pails Tess usually accompanied her fellows
upstairs Tonight however she was the first to go to their common chamber
and she had dozed when the other girls came in She saw them undressing in the
orange light of the vanished sun which flushed their forms with its colour she
dozed again but she was reawakened by their voices and quietly turned her eyes
towards them
Neither of her three chambercompanions had got into bed They were standing
in a group in their nightgowns barefooted at the window the last red rays of
the west still warming their faces and necks and the walls around them All
were watching somebody in the garden with deep interest their three faces close
together a jovial and round one a pale one with dark hair and a fair one
whose tresses were auburn
»Dont push You can see as well as I« said Retty the auburnhaired and
youngest girl without removing her eyes from the window
»Tis no use for you to be in love with him any more than me Retty Priddle«
said jollyfaced Marian the eldest slily »His thoughts be of other cheeks
than thine«
Retty Priddle still looked and the others looked again
»There he is again« cried Izz Huett the pale girl with dark damp hair and
keenly cut lips
»You neednt say anything Izz« answered Retty »For I zid you kissing his
shade«
»What did you see her doing« asked Marian
»Why he was standing over the wheytub to let off the whey and the shade
of his face came upon the wall behind close to Izz who was standing there
filling a vat She put her mouth against the wall and kissed the shade of his
mouth I zid her though he didnt«
»O Izz Huett« said Marian
A rosy spot came into the middle of Izz Huetts cheek
»Well there was no harm in it« she declared with attempted coolness »And
if I be in love wien so is Retty too and so be you Marian come to that«
Marians full face could not blush past its chronic pinkness
»I« she said »What a tale Ah there he is again Dear eyes dear face
dear Mr Clare«
»There youve owned it«
»So have you so have we all« said Marian with the dry frankness of
complete indifference to opinion »It is silly to pretend otherwise amongst
ourselves though we need not own it to other folks I would just marry n
tomorrow«
»So would I and more« murmured Izz Huett
»And I too« whispered the more timid Retty
The listener grew warm
»We cant all marry him« said Izz
»We shant either of us which is worse still« said the eldest »There he
is again«
They all three blew him a silent kiss
»Why« asked Retty quickly
»Because he likes Tess Durbeyfield best« said Marian lowering her voice
»I have watched him every day and have found it out«
There was a reflective silence
»But she dont care anything for n« at length breathed Retty
»Well I sometimes think that too«
»But how silly all this is« said Izz Huett impatiently »Of course he wont
marry any one of us or Tess either a gentlemans son whos going to be a
great landowner and farmer abroad More likely to ask us to come wien as
farmhands at so much a year«
One sighed and another sighed and Marians plump figure sighed biggest of
all Somebody in bed hard by sighed too Tears came into the eyes of Retty
Priddle the pretty redhaired youngestthe last bud of the Paridelles so
important in the county annals They watched silently a little longer their
three faces still close together as before and the triple hues of their hair
mingling But the unconscious Mr Clare had gone indoors and they saw him no
more and the shades beginning to deepen they crept into their beds In a few
minutes they heard him ascend the ladder to his own room Marian was soon
snoring but Izz did not drop into forgetfulness for a long time Retty Priddle
cried herself to sleep
The deeperpassioned Tess was very far from sleeping even then This
conversation was another of the bitter pills she had been obliged to swallow
that day Scarce the least feeling of jealousy arose in her breast For that
matter she knew herself to have the preference Being more finely formed better
educated and though the youngest except Retty more woman than either she
perceived that only the slightest ordinary care was necessary for holding her
own in Angel Clares heart against these her candid friends But the grave
question was ought she to do this There was to be sure hardly a ghost of a
chance for either of them in a serious sense but there was or had been a
chance of one or the other inspiring him with a passing fancy for her and
enjoying the pleasure of his attentions while he stayed here Such unequal
attachments had led to marriage and she had heard from Mrs Crick that Mr
Clare had one day asked in a laughing way what would be the use of his
marrying a fine lady and all the while ten thousand acres of Colonial pasture
to feed and cattle to rear and corn to reap A farmwoman would be the only
sensible kind of wife for him But whether Mr Clare had spoken seriously or
not why should she who could never conscientiously allow any man to marry her
now and who had religiously determined that she never would be tempted to do
so draw off Mr Clares attention from other women for the brief happiness of
sunning herself in his eyes while he remained at Talbothays
XXII
They came downstairs yawning next morning but skimming and milking were
proceeded with as usual and they went indoors to breakfast Dairyman Crick was
discovered stamping about the house He had received a letter in which a
customer had complained that the butter had a twang
»And begad so t have« said the dairyman who held in his left hand a
wooden slice on which a lump of butter was stuck »Yes taste for yourself«
Several of them gathered round him and Mr Clare tasted Tess tasted also
the other indoor milkmaids one or two of the milkingmen and last of all Mrs
Crick who came out from the waiting breakfasttable There certainly was a
twang
The dairyman who had thrown himself into abstraction to better realize the
taste and so divine the particular species of noxious weed to which it
appertained suddenly exclaimed
»Tis garlic and I thought there wasnt a blade left in that mead«
Then all the old hands remembered that a certain dry mead into which a few
of the cows had been admitted of late had in years gone by spoilt the butter
in the same way The dairyman had not recognized the taste at that time and
thought the butter bewitched
»We must overhaul that mead« he resumed »this mustnt continny«
All having armed themselves with old pointed knives they went out together
As the inimical plant could only be present in very microscopic dimensions to
have escaped ordinary observation to find it seemed rather a hopeless attempt
in the stretch of rich grass before them However they formed themselves into
line all assisting owing to the importance of the search the dairyman at the
upper end with Mr Clare who had volunteered to help then Tess Marian Izz
Huett and Retty then Bill Lewell Jonathan and the married dairywomen Beck
Knibbs with her woolly black hair and rolling eyes and flaxen Frances
consumptive from the winter damps of the watermeads who lived in their
respective cottages
With eyes fixed upon the ground they crept slowly across a strip of the
field returning a little further down in such a manner that when they should
have finished not a single inch of the pasture but would have fallen under the
eye of some one of them It was a most tedious business not more than half a
dozen shoots of garlic being discoverable in the whole field yet such was the
herbs pungency that probably one bite of it by one cow had been sufficient to
season the whole dairys produce for the day
Differing one from another in natures and moods so greatly as they did they
yet formed bending a curiously uniform row automatic noiseless and an
alien observer passing down the neighbouring lane might well have been excused
for massing them as »Hodge« As they crept along stooping low to discern the
plant a soft yellow gleam was reflected from the buttercups into their shaded
faces giving them an elfish moonlit aspect though the sun was pouring upon
their backs in all the strength of noon
Angel Clare who communistically stuck to his rule of taking part with the
rest in everything glanced up now and then It was not of course by accident
that he walked next to Tess
»Well how are you« he murmured
»Very well thank you sir« she replied demurely
As they had been discussing a score of personal matters only halfanhour
before the introductory style seemed a little superfluous But they got no
further in speech just then They crept and crept the hem of her petticoat just
touching his gaiter and his elbow sometimes brushing hers At last the
dairyman who came next could stand it no longer
»Upon my soul and body this here stooping do fairly make my back open and
shut« he exclaimed straightening himself slowly with an excruciated look till
quite upright »And you maidy Tess you wasnt well a day or two ago this
will make your head ache finely Dont do any more if you feel fainty leave
the rest to finish it«
Dairyman Crick withdrew and Tess dropped behind Mr Clare also stepped out
of line and began privateering about for the weed When she found him near her
her very tension at what she had heard the night before made her the first to
speak
»Dont they look pretty« she said
»Who«
»Izzy Huett and Retty«
Tess had moodily decided that either of these maidens would make a good
farmers wife and that she ought to recommend them and obscure her own
wretched charms
»Pretty Well yes they are pretty girls fresh looking I have often
thought so«
»Though poor dears prettiness wont last long«
»O no unfortunately«
»They are excellent dairywomen«
»Yes though not better than you«
»They skim better than I«
»Do they«
Clare remained observing them not without their observing him
»She is colouring up« continued Tess heroically
»Who«
»Retty Priddle«
»Oh Why is that«
»Because you are looking at her«
Selfsacrificing as her mood might be Tess could not well go further and
cry »Marry one of them if you really do want a dairywoman and not a lady and
dont think of marrying me« She followed Dairyman Crick and had the mournful
satisfaction of seeing that Clare remained behind
From this day she forced herself to take pains to avoid him never allowing
herself as formerly to remain long in his company even if their juxtaposition
were purely accidental She gave the other three every chance
Tess was woman enough to realize from their avowals to herself that Angel
Clare had the honour of all the dairymaids in his keeping and her perception of
his care to avoid compromising the happiness of either in the least degree bred
a tender respect in Tess for what she deemed rightly or wrongly the
selfcontrolling sense of duty shown by him a quality which she had never
expected to find in one of the opposite sex and in the absence of which more
than one of the simple hearts who were his housemates might have gone weeping on
her pilgrimage
XXIII
The hot weather of July had crept upon them unawares and the atmosphere of the
flat vale hung heavy as an opiate over the dairyfolk the cows and the trees
Hot steaming rains fell frequently making the grass where the cows fed yet more
rank and hindering the late haymaking in the other meads
It was Sunday morning the milking was done the outdoor milkers had gone
home Tess and the other three were dressing themselves rapidly the whole bevy
having agreed to go together to Mellstock Church which lay some three or four
miles distant from the dairyhouse She had now been two months at Talbothays
and this was her first excursion
All the preceding afternoon and night heavy thunderstorms had hissed down
upon the meads and washed some of the hay into the river but this morning the
sun shone out all the more brilliantly for the deluge and the air was balmy and
clear
The crooked lane leading from their own parish to Mellstock ran along the
lowest levels in a portion of its length and when the girls reached the most
depressed spot they found that the result of the rain had been to flood the lane
overshoe to a distance of some fifty yards This would have been no serious
hindrance on a weekday they would have clicked through it in their high
pattens and boots quite unconcerned but on this day of vanity this Sunsday
when flesh went forth to coquet with flesh while hypocritically affecting
business with spiritual things on this occasion for wearing their white
stockings and thin shoes and their pink white and lilac gowns on which every
mud spot would be visible the pool was an awkward impediment They could hear
the churchbell calling as yet nearly a mile off
»Who would have expected such a rise in the river in summertime« said
Marian from the top of the roadsidebank on which they had climbed and were
maintaining a precarious footing in the hope of creeping along its slope till
they were past the pool
»We cant get there anyhow without walking right through it or else going
round the Turnpike way and that would make us so very late« said Retty
pausing hopelessly
»And I do colour up so hot walking into church late and all the people
staring round« said Marian »that I hardly cool down again till we get into the
ThatitmaypleaseThees«
While they stood clinging to the bank they heard a splashing round the bend
of the road and presently appeared Angel Clare advancing along the lane
towards them through the water
Four hearts gave a big throb simultaneously
His aspect was probably as unSabbatarian a one as a dogmatic parsons son
often presented his attire being his dairy clothes long wading boots a
cabbageleaf inside his hat to keep his head cool with a thistlespud to finish
him off
»Hes not going to church« said Marian
»No I wish he was« murmured Tess
Angel in fact rightly or wrongly to adopt the safe phrase of evasive
controversialists preferred sermons in stones to sermons in churches and
chapels on fine summer days This morning moreover he had gone out to see if
the damage to the hay by the flood was considerable or not On his walk he
observed the girls from a long distance though they had been so occupied with
their difficulties of passage as not to notice him He knew that the water had
risen at that spot and that it would quite check their progress So he had
hastened on with a dim idea of how he could help them one of them in
particular
The rosycheeked brighteyed quartet looked so charming in their light
summer attire clinging to the roadside bank like pigeons on a roofslope that
he stopped a moment to regard them before coming close Their gauzy skirts had
brushed up from the grass innumerable flies and butterflies which unable to
escape remained caged in the transparent tissue as in an aviary Angels eye at
last fell upon Tess the hindmost of the four she being full of suppressed
laughter at their dilemma could not help meeting his glance radiantly
He came beneath them in the water which did not rise over his long boots
and stood looking at the entrapped flies and butterflies
»Are you trying to get to church« he said to Marian who was in front
including the next two in his remark but avoiding Tess
»Yes sir and tis getting late and my colour do come up so «
»Ill carry you through the pool every Jill of you«
The whole four flushed as if one heart beat through them
»I think you cant sir« said Marian
»It is the only way for you to get past Stand still Nonsense you are not
too heavy Id carry you all four together Now Marian attend« he continued
»and put your arms round my shoulders so Now Hold on Thats well done«
Marian had lowered herself upon his arm and shoulder as directed and Angel
strode off with her his slim figure as viewed from behind looking like the
mere stem to the great nosegay suggested by hers They disappeared round the
curve of the road and only his sousing footsteps and the top ribbon of Marians
bonnet told where they were In a few minutes he reappeared Izz Huett was the
next in order upon the bank
»Here he comes« she murmured and they could hear that her lips were dry
with emotion »And I have to put my arms round his neck and look into his face
as Marian did«
»Theres nothing in that« said Tess quickly
»Theres a time for everything« continued Izz unheeding »A time to
embrace and a time to refrain from embracing the first is now going to be
mine«
»Fie it is Scripture Izz«
»Yes« said Izz »Ive always a ear at church for pretty verses«
Angel Clare to whom threequarters of this performance was a commonplace
act of kindness now approached Izz She quietly and dreamily lowered herself
into his arms and Angel methodically marched off with her When he was heard
returning for the third time Rettys throbbing heart could be almost seen to
shake her He went up to the redhaired girl and while he was seizing her he
glanced at Tess His lips could not have pronounced more plainly »It will soon
be you and I« Her comprehension appeared in her face she could not help it
There was an understanding between them
Poor little Retty though by far the lightest weight was the most
troublesome of Clares burdens Marian had been like a sack of meal a dead
weight of plumpness under which he had literally staggered Izz had ridden
sensibly and calmly Retty was a bunch of hysterics
However he got through with the disquieted creature deposited her and
returned Tess could see over the hedge the distant three in a group standing
as he had placed them on the next rising ground It was now her turn She was
embarrassed to discover that excitement at the proximity of Mr Clares breath
and eyes which she had contemned in her companions was intensified in herself
and as if fearful of betraying her secret she paltered with him at the last
moment
»I may be able to clim« along the bank perhaps I can clim better than
they You must be so tired Mr Clare
»No no Tess« said he quickly And almost before she was aware she was
seated in his arms and resting against his shoulder
»Three Leahs to get one Rachel« he whispered
»They are better women than I« she replied magnanimously sticking to her
resolve
»Not to me« said Angel
He saw her grow warm at this and they went some steps in silence
»I hope I am not too heavy« she said timidly
»O no You should lift Marian Such a lump You are like an undulating
billow warmed by the sun And all this fluff of muslin about you is the froth«
»It is very pretty if I seem like that to you«
»Do you know that I have undergone threequarters of this labour entirely
for the sake of the fourth quarter«
»No«
»I did not expect such an event today«
»Nor I The water came up so sudden«
That the rise in the water was what she understood him to refer to the
state of her breathing belied Clare stood still and inclined his face towards
hers
»O Tessy« he exclaimed
The girls cheeks burned to the breeze and she could not look into his eyes
for her emotion It reminded Angel that he was somewhat unfairly taking
advantage of an accidental position and he went no further with it No definite
words of love had crossed their lips as yet and suspension at this point was
desirable now However he walked slowly to make the remainder of the distance
as long as possible but at last they came to the bend and the rest of their
progress was in full view of the other three The dry land was reached and he
set her down
Her friends were looking with round thoughtful eyes at her and him and she
could see that they had been talking of her He hastily bade them farewell and
splashed back along the stretch of submerged road
The four moved on together as before till Marian broke the silence by
saying
»No in all truth we have no chance against her« She looked joylessly at
Tess
»What do you mean« asked the latter
»He likes ee best the very best We could see it as he brought ee He
would have kissed ee if you had encouraged him to do it ever so little«
»No no« said she
The gaiety with which they had set out had somehow vanished and yet there
was no enmity or malice between them They were generous young souls they had
been reared in the lonely country nooks where fatalism is a strong sentiment
and they did not blame her Such supplanting was to be
Tesss heart ached There was no concealing from herself the fact that she
loved Angel Clare perhaps all the more passionately from knowing that the
others had also lost their hearts to him There is contagion in this sentiment
especially among women And yet that same hungry heart of hers compassionated
her friends Tesss honest nature had fought against this but too feebly and
the natural result had followed
»I will never stand in your way nor in the way of either of you« she
declared to Retty that night in the bedroom her tears running down »I cant
help this my dear I dont think marrying is in his mind at all but if he were
even to ask me I should refuse him as I should refuse any man«
»Oh would you Why« said wondering Retty
»It cannot be But I will be plain Putting myself quite on one side I
dont think he will choose either of you«
»I have never expected it thought of it« moaned Retty »But O I wish I
was dead«
The poor child torn by a feeling which she hardly understood turned to the
other two girls who came upstairs just then
»We be friends with her again she said to them She thinks no more of his
choosing her than we do«
So the reserve went off and they were confiding and warm
»I dont seem to care what I do now« said Marian whose mood was tuned to
its lowest bass »I was going to marry a dairyman at Stickleford whos asked me
twice but my soul I would put an end to myself rathern be his wife now
Why dont ye speak Izz«
»To confess then« murmured Izz »I made sure today that he was going to
kiss me as he held me and I lay still against his breast hoping and hoping
and never moved at all But he did not I dont like biding here at Talbothays
any longer I shall go hwome«
The air of the sleepingchamber seemed to palpitate with the hopeless
passion of the girls They writhed feverishly under the oppressiveness of an
emotion thrust on them by cruel Natures law an emotion which they had neither
expected nor desired The incident of the day had fanned the flame that was
burning the inside of their hearts out and the torture was almost more than
they could endure The differences which distinguished them as individuals were
abstracted by this passion and each was but portion of one organism called sex
There was so much frankness and so little jealousy because there was no hope
Each one was a girl of fair common sense and she did not delude herself with
any vain conceits or deny her love or give herself airs in the idea of
outshining the others The full recognition of the futility of their
infatuation from a social point of view its purposeless beginning its
selfbounded outlook its lack of everything to justify its existence in the eye
of civilization while lacking nothing in the eye of Nature the one fact that
it did exist ecstasizing them to a killing joy all this imparted to them a
resignation a dignity which a practical and sordid expectation of winning him
as a husband would have destroyed
They tossed and turned on their little beds and the cheesewring dripped
monotonously downstairs
»B you awake Tess« whispered one halfanhour later
It was Izz Huetts voice
Tess replied in the affirmative whereupon also Retty and Marian suddenly
flung the bedclothes off them and sighed
»So be we«
»I wonder what she is like the lady they say his family have looked out
for him«
»I wonder« said Izz
»Some lady looked out for him« gasped Tess starting »I have never heard
o that«
»O yes tis whispered a young lady of his own rank chosen by his family
a Doctor of Divinitys daughter near his fathers parish of Emminster he dont
much care for her they say But he is sure to marry her«
They had heard so very little of this yet it was enough to build up
wretched dolorous dreams upon there in the shade of the night They pictured
all the details of his being won round to consent of the wedding preparations
of the brides happiness of her dress and veil of her blissful home with him
when oblivion would have fallen upon themselves as far as he and their love were
concerned Thus they talked and ached and wept till sleep charmed their sorrow
away
After this disclosure Tess nourished no further foolish thought that there
lurked any grave and deliberate import in Clares attentions to her It was a
passing summer love of her face for loves own temporary sake nothing more
And the thorny crown of this sad conception was that she whom he really did
prefer in a cursory way to the rest she who knew herself to be more impassioned
in nature cleverer more beautiful than they was in the eyes of propriety far
less worthy of him than the homelier ones whom he ignored
XXIV
Amid the oozing fatness and warm ferments of the Froom Vale at a season when
the rush of juices could almost be heard below the hiss of fertilization it was
impossible that the most fanciful love should not grow passionate The ready
bosoms existing there were impregnated by their surroundings
July passed over their heads and the Thermidorean weather which came in its
wake seemed an effort on the part of Nature to match the state of hearts at
Talbothays Dairy The air of the place so fresh in the spring and early summer
was stagnant and enervating now Its heavy scents weighed upon them and at
midday the landscape seemed lying in a swoon Ethiopic scorchings browned the
upper slopes of the pastures but there was still bright green herbage here
where the watercourses purled And as Clare was oppressed by the outward heats
so was he burdened inwardly by waxing fervour of passion for the soft and silent
Tess
The rains having passed the uplands were dry The wheels of the dairymans
spring cart as he sped home from market licked up the pulverized surface of
the highway and were followed by white ribands of dust as if they had set a
thin powdertrain on fire The cows jumped wildly over the fivebarred
bartongate maddened by the gadfly Dairyman Crick kept his shirtsleeves
permanently rolled up from Monday to Saturday open windows had no effect in
ventilation without open doors and in the dairygarden the blackbirds and
thrushes crept about under the currantbushes rather in the manner of quadrupeds
than of winged creatures The flies in the kitchen were lazy teasing and
familiar crawling about in unwonted places on the floor into drawers and
over the backs of the milkmaids hands Conversations were concerning sunstroke
while buttermaking and still more butterkeeping was a despair
They milked entirely in the meads for coolness and convenience without
driving in the cows During the day the animals obsequiously followed the shadow
of the smallest tree as it moved round the stem with the diurnal roll and when
the milkers came they could hardly stand still for the flies
On one of these afternoons four or five unmilked cows chanced to stand apart
from the general herd behind the corner of a hedge among them being Dumpling
and Old Pretty who loved Tesss hands above those of any other maid When she
rose from her stool under a finished cow Angel Clare who had been observing her
for some time asked her if she would take the aforesaid creatures next She
silently assented and with her stool at arms length and the pail against her
knee went round to where they stood Soon the sound of Old Prettys milk
fizzing into the pail came through the hedge and then Angel felt inclined to go
round the corner also to finish off a hardyielding milcher who had strayed
there he being now as capable of this as the dairyman himself
All the men and some of the women when milking dug their foreheads into
the cows and gazed into the pail But a few mainly the younger ones rested
their heads sideways This was Tess Durbeyfields habit her temple pressing the
milchers flank her eyes fixed on the far end of the meadow with the quiet of
one lost in meditation She was milking Old Pretty thus and the sun chancing to
be on the milkingside it shone flat upon her pinkgowned form and her white
curtainbonnet and upon her profile rendering it keen as a cameo cut from the
dun background of the cow
She did not know that Clare had followed her round and that he sat under
his cow watching her The stillness of her head and features was remarkable she
might have been in a trance her eyes open yet unseeing Nothing in the picture
moved but Old Prettys tail and Tesss pink hands the latter so gently as to be
a rhythmic pulsation only as if they were obeying a reflex stimulus like a
beating heart
How very lovable her face was to him Yet there was nothing ethereal about
it all was real vitality real warmth real incarnation And it was in her
mouth that this culminated Eyes almost as deep and speaking he had seen before
and cheeks perhaps as fair brows as arched a chin and throat almost as
shapely her mouth he had seen nothing to equal on the face of the earth To a
young man with the least fire in him that little upward lift in the middle of
her red top lip was distracting infatuating maddening He had never before
seen a womans lips and teeth which forced upon his mind with such persistent
iteration the old Elizabethan simile of roses filled with snow Perfect he as
a lover might have called them offhand But no they were not perfect And it
was the touch of the imperfect upon the wouldbe perfect that gave the
sweetness because it was that which gave the humanity
Clare had studied the curves of those lips so many times that he could
reproduce them mentally with ease and now as they again confronted him
clothed with colour and life they sent an aura over his flesh a breeze through
his nerves which wellnigh produced a qualm and actually produced by some
mysterious physiological process a prosaic sneeze
She then became conscious that he was observing her but she would not show
it by any change of position though the curious dreamlike fixity disappeared
and a close eye might easily have discerned that the rosiness of her face
deepened and then faded till only a tinge of it was left
The influence that had passed into Clare like an excitation from the sky did
not die down Resolutions reticences prudences fears fell back like a
defeated battalion He jumped up from his seat and leaving his pail to be
kicked over if the milcher had such a mind went quickly towards the desire of
his eyes and kneeling down beside her clasped her in his arms
Tess was taken completely by surprise and she yielded to his embrace with
unreflecting inevitableness Having seen that it was really her lover who had
advanced and no one else her lips parted and she sank upon him in her
momentary joy with something very like an ecstatic cry
He had been on the point of kissing that too tempting mouth but he checked
himself for tender conscience sake
»Forgive me Tess dear« he whispered »I ought to have asked I did not
know what I was doing I do not mean it as a liberty I am devoted to you
Tessy dearest in all sincerity«
Old Pretty by this time had looked round puzzled and seeing two people
crouching under her where by immemorial custom there should have been only
one lifted her hind leg crossly
»She is angry she doesnt know what we mean shell kick over the milk«
exclaimed Tess gently striving to free herself her eyes concerned with the
quadrupeds actions her heart more deeply concerned with herself and Clare
She slipped up from her seat and they stood together his arm still
encircling her Tesss eyes fixed on distance began to fill
»Why do you cry my darling« he said
»O I dont know« she murmured
As she saw and felt more clearly the position she was in she became agitated
and tried to withdraw
»Well I have betrayed my feeling Tess at last« said he with a curious
sigh of desperation signifying unconsciously that his heart had outrun his
judgment »That I love you dearly and truly I need not say But I it shall
go no further now it distresses you I am as surprised as you are You will
not think I have presumed upon your defencelessness been too quick and
unreflecting will you«
»N I cant tell«
He had allowed her to free herself and in a minute or two the milking of
each was resumed Nobody had beheld the gravitation of the two into one and
when the dairyman came round by that screened nook a few minutes later there was
not a sign to reveal that the markedly sundered pair were more to each other
than mere acquaintance Yet in the interval since Cricks last view of them
something had occurred which changed the pivot of the universe for their two
natures something which had he known its quality the dairyman would have
despised as a practical man yet which was based upon a more stubborn and
resistless tendency than a whole heap of socalled practicalities A veil had
been whisked aside the tract of each ones outlook was to have a new horizon
thenceforward for a short time or for a long
End Of Phase The Third
Phase the Fourth
The Consequence
XXV
Clare restless went out into the dusk when evening drew on she who had won
him having retired to her chamber
The night was as sultry as the day There was no coolness after dark unless
on the grass Roads gardenpaths the housefronts the bartonwalls were warm
as hearths and reflected the noontide temperature into the noctambulists face
He sat on the east gate of the dairyyard and knew not what to think of
himself Feeling had indeed smothered judgment that day
Since the sudden embrace three hours before the twain had kept apart She
seemed stilled almost alarmed at what had occurred while the novelty
unpremeditation mastery of circumstance disquieted him palpitating
contemplative being that he was He could hardly realize their true relations to
each other as yet and what their mutual bearing should be before third parties
thenceforward
Angel had come as pupil to this dairy in the idea that his temporary
existence here was to be the merest episode in his life soon passed through and
early forgotten he had come as to a place from which as from a screened alcove
he could calmly view the absorbing world without and apostrophizing it with
Walt Whitman
Crowds of men and women attired in the usual costumes
How curious you are to me
resolve upon a plan for plunging into that world anew But behold the
absorbing scene had been imported hither What had been the engrossing world had
dissolved into an uninteresting outer dumbshow while here in this apparently
dim and unimpassioned place novelty had volcanically started up as it had
never for him started up elsewhere
Every window of the house being open Clare could hear across the yard each
trivial sound of the retiring household That dairyhouse so humble so
insignificant so purely to him a place of constrained sojourn that he had never
hitherto deemed it of sufficient importance to be reconnoitred as an object of
any quality whatever in the landscape what was it now The aged and lichened
brick gables breathed forth »Stay« The windows smiled the door coaxed and
beckoned the creeper blushed confederacy A personality within it was so
farreaching in her influence as to spread into and make the bricks mortar and
whole overhanging sky throb with a burning sensibility Whose was this mighty
personality A milkmaids
It was amazing indeed to find how great a matter the life of the obscure
dairy had become to him And though new love was to be held partly responsible
for this it was not solely so Many besides Angel have learnt that the magnitude
of lives is not as to their external displacements but as to their subjective
experiences The impressionable peasant leads a larger fuller more dramatic
life than the pachydermatous king Looking at it thus he found that life was to
be seen of the same magnitude here as elsewhere
Despite his heterodoxy faults and weaknesses Clare was a man with a
conscience Tess was no insignificant creature to toy with and dismiss but a
woman living her precious life a life which to herself who endured or enjoyed
it possessed as great a dimension as the life of the mightiest to himself Upon
her sensations the whole world depended to Tess through her existence all her
fellowcreatures existed to her The universe itself only came into being for
Tess on the particular day in the particular year in which she was born
This consciousness upon which he had intruded was the single opportunity of
existence ever vouchsafed to Tess by an unsympathetic First Cause her all her
every and only chance How then should he look upon her as of less consequence
than himself as a pretty trifle to caress and grow weary of and not deal in
the greatest seriousness with the affection which he knew that he had awakened
in her so fervid and so impressionable as she was under her reserve in order
that it might not agonize and wreck her
To encounter her daily in the accustomed manner would be to develop what had
begun Living in such close relations to meet meant to fall into endearment
flesh and blood could not resist it and having arrived at no conclusion as to
the issue of such a tendency he decided to hold aloof for the present from
occupations in which they would be mutually engaged As yet the harm done was
small
But it was not easy to carry out the resolution never to approach her He
was driven towards her by every heave of his pulse
He thought he would go and see his friends It might be possible to sound
them upon this In less than five months his term here would have ended and
after a few additional months spent upon other farms he would be fully equipped
in agricultural knowledge and in a position to start on his own account Would
not a farmer want a wife and should a farmers wife be a drawingroom
waxfigure or a woman who understood farming Notwithstanding the pleasing
answer returned to him by the silence he resolved to go his journey
One morning when they sat down to breakfast at Talbothays Dairy some maid
observed that she had not seen anything of Mr Clare that day
»O no« said Dairyman Crick »Mr Clare has gone hwome to Emminster to spend
a few days wi his kinsfolk«
For four impassioned ones around that table the sunshine of the morning went
out at a stroke and the birds muffled their song But neither girl by word or
gesture revealed her blankness
»Hes getting on towards the end of his time wi me« added the dairyman
with a phlegm which unconsciously was brutal »and so I suppose he is beginning
to see about his plans elsewhere«
»How much longer is he to bide here« asked Izz Huett the only one of the
gloomstricken bevy who could trust her voice with the question
The others waited for the dairymans answer as if their lives hung upon it
Retty with parted lips gazing on the tablecloth Marian with heat added to
her redness Tess throbbing and looking out at the meads
»Well I cant mind the exact day without looking at my memorandumbook«
replied Crick with the same intolerable unconcern »And even that may be
altered a bit Hell bide to get a little practice in the calving out at the
strawyard for certain Hell hang on till the end of the year I should say«
Four months or so of torturing ecstasy in his society of »pleasure girdled
about with pain« After that the blackness of unutterable night
At this moment of the morning Angel Clare was riding along a narrow lane ten
miles distant from the breakfasters in the direction of his fathers vicarage
at Emminster carrying as well as he could a little basket which contained
some blackpuddings and a bottle of mead sent by Mrs Crick with her kind
respects to his parents The white lane stretched before him and his eyes were
upon it but they were staring into next year and not at the lane He loved
her ought he to marry her Dared he to marry her What would his mother and his
brothers say What would he himself say a couple of years after the event That
would depend upon whether the germs of staunch comradeship underlay the
temporary emotion or whether it were a sensuous joy in her form only with no
substratum of everlastingness
His fathers hillsurrounded little town the Tudor churchtower of red
stone the clump of trees near the vicarage came at last into view beneath him
and he rode down towards the wellknown gate Casting a glance in the direction
of the church before entering his home he beheld standing by the vestrydoor a
group of girls of ages between twelve and sixteen apparently awaiting the
arrival of some other one who in a moment became visible a figure somewhat
older than the schoolgirls wearing a broadbrimmed hat and highlystarched
cambric morninggown with a couple of books in her hand
Clare knew her well He could not be sure that she observed him he hoped
she did not so as to render it unnecessary that he should go and speak to her
blameless creature that she was An overpowering reluctance to greet her made
him decide that she had not seen him The young lady was Miss Mercy Chant the
only daughter of his fathers neighbour and friend whom it was his parents
quiet hope that he might wed some day She was great at Antinomianism and
Bibleclasses and was plainly going to hold a class now Clares mind flew to
the impassioned summersteeped heathens in the Var Vale their rosy faces
courtpatched with cowdroppings and to one the most impassioned of them all
It was on the impulse of the moment that he had resolved to trot over to
Emminster and hence had not written to apprise his mother and father aiming
however to arrive about the breakfast hour before they should have gone out to
their parish duties He was a little late and they had already sat down to the
morning meal The group at table jumped up to welcome him as soon as he entered
They were his father and mother his brother the Reverend Felix curate at a
town in the adjoining county home for the inside of a fortnight and his other
brother the Reverend Cuthbert the classical scholar and Fellow and Dean of
his College down from Cambridge for the long vacation His mother appeared in a
cap and silver spectacles and his father looked what in fact he was an
earnest Godfearing man somewhat gaunt in years about sixtyfive his pale
face lined with thought and purpose Over their heads hung the picture of
Angels sister the eldest of the family sixteen years his senior who had
married a missionary and gone out to Africa
Old Mr Clare was a clergyman of a type which within the last twenty years
has wellnigh dropped out of contemporary life A spiritual descendant in the
direct line from Wycliff Huss Luther Calvin an Evangelical of the
Evangelicals a Conversionist a man of Apostolic simplicity in life and
thought he had in his raw youth made up his mind once for all on the deeper
questions of existence and admitted no further reasoning on them thenceforward
He was regarded even by those of his own date and school of thinking as extreme
while on the other hand those totally opposed to him were unwillingly won to
admiration for his thoroughness and for the remarkable power he showed in
dismissing all question as to principles in his energy for applying them He
loved Paul of Tarsus liked St John hated St James as much as he dared and
regarded with mixed feelings Timothy Titus and Philemon The New Testament was
less a Christiad than a Pauliad to his intelligence less an argument than an
intoxication His creed of determinism was such that it almost amounted to a
vice and quite amounted on its negative side to a renunciative philosophy
which had cousinship with that of Schopenhauer and Leopardi He despised the
Canons and Rubric swore by the Articles and deemed himself consistent through
the whole category which in a way he might have been One thing he certainly
was sincere
To the aesthetic sensuous pagan pleasure in natural life and lush
womanhood which his son Angel had lately been experiencing in Var Vale his
temper would have been antipathetic in a high degree had he either by inquiry
or imagination been able to apprehend it Once upon a time Angel had been so
unlucky as to say to his father in a moment of irritation that it might have
resulted far better for mankind if Greece had been the source of the religion of
modern civilization and not Palestine and his fathers grief was of that blank
description which could not realize that there might lurk a thousandth part of a
truth much less a half truth or a whole truth in such a proposition He had
simply preached austerely at Angel for some time after But the kindness of his
heart was such that he never resented anything for long and welcomed his son
today with a smile which was as candidly sweet as a childs
Angel sat down and the place felt like home yet he did not so much as
formerly feel himself one of the family gathered there Every time that he
returned hither he was conscious of this divergence and since he had last
shared in the Vicarage life it had grown even more distinctly foreign to his own
than usual Its transcendental aspirations still unconsciously based on the
geocentric view of things a zenithal paradise a nadiral hell were as foreign
to his own as if they had been the dreams of people on another planet Latterly
he had seen only Life felt only the great passionate pulse of existence
unwarped uncontorted untrammelled by those creeds which futilely attempt to
check what wisdom would be content to regulate
On their part they saw a great difference in him a growing divergence from
the Angel Clare of former times It was chiefly a difference in his manner that
they noticed just now particularly his brothers He was getting to behave like
a farmer he flung his legs about the muscles of his face had grown more
expressive his eyes looked as much information as his tongue spoke and more
The manner of the scholar had nearly disappeared still more the manner of the
drawingroom young man A prig would have said that he had lost culture and a
prude that he had become coarse Such was the contagion of domiciliary
fellowship with the Talbothays nymphs and swains
After breakfast he walked with his two brothers nonevangelical
welleducated hallmarked young men correct to their remotest fibre such
unimpeachable models as are turned out yearly by the lathe of a systematic
tuition They were both somewhat shortsighted and when it was the custom to
wear a single eyeglass and string they wore a single eyeglass and string when
it was the custom to wear a double glass they wore a double glass when it was
the custom to wear spectacles they wore spectacles straightway all without
reference to the particular variety of defect in their own vision When
Wordsworth was enthroned they carried pocket copies and when Shelley was
belittled they allowed him to grow dusty on their shelves When Correggios Holy
Families were admired they admired Correggios Holy Families when he was
decried in favour of Velasquez they sedulously followed suit without any
personal objection
If these two noticed Angels growing social ineptness he noticed their
growing mental limitations Felix seemed to him all Church Cuthbert all
College His Diocesan Synod and Visitations were the mainsprings of the world to
the one Cambridge to the other Each brother candidly recognized that there
were a few unimportant scores of millions of outsiders in civilized society
persons who were neither University men nor churchmen but they were to be
tolerated rather than reckoned with and respected
They were both dutiful and attentive sons and were regular in their visits
to their parents Felix though an offshoot from a far more recent point in the
devolution of theology than his father was less selfsacrificing and
disinterested More tolerant than his father of a contradictory opinion in its
aspect as a danger to its holder he was less ready than his father to pardon it
as a slight to his own teaching Cuthbert was upon the whole the more
liberalminded though with greater subtlety he had not so much heart
As they walked along the hillside Angels former feeling revived in him
that whatever their advantages by comparison with himself neither saw or set
forth life as it really was lived Perhaps as with many men their
opportunities of observation were not so good as their opportunities of
expression Neither had an adequate conception of the complicated forces at work
outside the smooth and gentle current in which they and their associates
floated Neither saw the difference between local truth and universal truth
that what the inner world said in their clerical and academic hearing was quite
a different thing from what the outer world was thinking
»I suppose it is farming or nothing for you now my dear fellow« Felix was
saying among other things to his youngest brother as he looked through his
spectacles at the distant fields with sad austerity »And therefore we must
make the best of it But I do entreat you to endeavour to keep as much as
possible in touch with moral ideals Farming of course means roughing it
externally but high thinking may go with plain living nevertheless«
»Of course it may« said Angel »Was it not proved nineteen hundred years
ago if I may trespass upon your domain a little Why should you think Felix
that I am likely to drop my high thinking and my moral ideals«
»Well I fancied from the tone of your letters and our conversation it
may be fancy only that you were somehow losing intellectual grasp Hasnt it
struck you Cuthbert«
»Now Felix« said Angel drily »we are very good friends you know each of
us treading our allotted circles but if it comes to intellectual grasp I think
you as a contented dogmatist had better leave mine alone and inquire what has
become of yours«
They returned down the hill to dinner which was fixed at any time at which
their fathers and mothers morning work in the parish usually concluded
Convenience as regarded afternoon callers was the last thing to enter into the
consideration of unselfish Mr and Mrs Clare though the three sons were
sufficiently in unison on this matter to wish that their parents would conform a
little to modern notions
The walk had made them hungry Angel in particular who was now an outdoor
man accustomed to the profuse dapes inemptæ of the dairymans somewhat
coarselyladen table But neither of the old people had arrived and it was not
till the sons were almost tired of waiting that their parents entered The
selfdenying pair had been occupied in coaxing the appetites of some of their
sick parishioners whom they somewhat inconsistently tried to keep imprisoned
in the flesh their own appetites being quite forgotten
The family sat down to table and a frugal meal of cold viands was deposited
before them Angel looked round for Mrs Cricks blackpuddings which he had
directed to be nicely grilled as they did them at the dairy and of which he
wished his father and mother to appreciate the marvellous herbal savours as
highly as he did himself
»Ah you are looking for the blackpuddings my dear boy« observed Clares
mother »But I am sure you will not mind doing without them as I am sure your
father and I shall not when you know the reason I suggested to him that we
should take Mrs Cricks kind present to the children of the man who can earn
nothing just now because of his attacks of delirium tremens and he agreed that
it would be a great pleasure to them so we did«
»Of course« said Angel cheerfully looking round for the mead
»I found the mead so extremely alcoholic« continued his mother »that it
was quite unfit for use as a beverage but as valuable as rum or brandy in an
emergency so I have put it in my medicinecloset«
»We never drink spirits at this table on principle« added his father
»But what shall I tell the dairymans wife« said Angel
»The truth of course« said his father
»I rather wanted to say we enjoyed the mead and the blackpuddings very
much She is a kind jolly sort of body and is sure to ask me directly I
return«
»You cannot if we did not« Mr Clare answered lucidly
»Ah no though that mead was a drop of pretty tipple«
»A what« said Cuthbert and Felix both
»Oh tis an expression they use down at Talbothays« replied Angel
blushing He felt that his parents were right in their practice if wrong in
their want of sentiment and said no more
XXVI
It was not till the evening after family prayers that Angel found opportunity
of broaching to his father one or two subjects near his heart He had strung
himself up to the purpose while kneeling behind his brothers on the carpet
studying the little nails in the heels of their walking boots When the service
was over they went out of the room with their mother and Mr Clare and himself
were left alone
The young man first discussed with the elder his plans for the attainment of
his position as a farmer on an extensive scale either in England or in the
Colonies His father then told him that as he had not been put to the expense
of sending Angel up to Cambridge he had felt it his duty to set by a sum of
money every year towards the purchase or lease of land for him some day that he
might not feel himself unduly slighted
»As far as worldly wealth goes« continued his father »you will no doubt
stand far superior to your brothers in a few years«
This considerateness on old Mr Clares part led Angel onward to the other
and dearer subject He observed to his father that he was then sixandtwenty
and that when he should start in the farming business he would require eyes in
the back of his head to see to all matters some one would be necessary to
superintend the domestic labours of his establishment whilst he was afield
Would it not be well therefore for him to marry
His father seemed to think this idea not unreasonable and then Angel put
the question
»What kind of wife do you think would be best for me as a thrifty
hardworking farmer«
»A truly Christian woman who will be a help and a comfort to you in your
goingsout and your comingsin Beyond that it really matters little Such an
one can be found indeed my earnestminded friend and neighbour Dr Chant «
»But ought she not primarily to be able to milk cows churn good butter
make immense cheeses know how to sit hens and turkeys and rear chickens to
direct a field of labourers in an emergency and estimate the value of sheep and
calves«
»Yes a farmers wife yes certainly It would be desirable« Mr Clare
the elder had plainly never thought of these points before »I was going to
add« he said »that for a pure and saintly woman you will not find one more to
your true advantage and certainly not more to your mothers mind and my own
than your friend Mercy whom you used to show a certain interest in It is true
that my neighbour Chants daughter has lately caught up the fashion of the
younger clergy round about us for decorating the Communiontable altar as I
was shocked to hear her call it one day with flowers and other stuff on
festival occasions But her father who is quite as opposed to such flummery as
I says that can be cured It is a mere girlish outbreak which I am sure will
not be permanent«
»Yes yes Mercy is good and devout I know But father dont you think
that a young woman equally pure and virtuous as Miss Chant but one who in
place of that ladys ecclesiastical accomplishments understands the duties of
farm life as well as a farmer himself would suit me infinitely better«
His father persisted in his conviction that a knowledge of a farmers wifes
duties came second to a Pauline view of humanity and the impulsive Angel
wishing to honour his fathers feelings and to advance the cause of his heart at
the same time grew specious He said that fate or Providence had thrown in his
way a woman who possessed every qualification to be the helpmate of an
agriculturist and was decidedly of a serious turn of mind He would not say
whether or not she had attached herself to the sound Low Church School of his
father but she would probably be open to conviction on that point she was a
regular churchgoer of simple faith honesthearted receptive intelligent
graceful to a degree chaste as a vestal and in personal appearance
exceptionally beautiful
»Is she of a family such as you would care to marry into a lady in
short« asked his startled mother who had come softly into the study during the
conversation
»She is not what in common parlance is called a lady« said Angel
unflinchingly »for she is a cottagers daughter as I am proud to say But she
is a lady nevertheless in feeling and nature«
»Mercy Chant is of a very good family«
»Pooh whats the advantage of that mother« said Angel quickly »How is
family to avail the wife of a man who has to rough it as I have and shall have
to do«
»Mercy is accomplished And accomplishments have their charm« returned his
mother looking at him through her silver spectacles
»As to external accomplishments what will be the use of them in the life I
am going to lead while as to her reading I can take that in hand Shell be
apt pupil enough as you would say if you knew her Shes brim full of poetry
actualized poetry if I may use the expression She lives what paperpoets only
write And she is an unimpeachable Christian I am sure perhaps of the very
tribe genus and species you desire to propagate«
»O Angel you are mocking«
»Mother I beg pardon But as she really does attend Church almost every
Sunday morning and is a good Christian girl I am sure you will tolerate any
social shortcomings for the sake of that quality and feel that I may do worse
than choose her« Angel waxed quite earnest on that rather automatic orthodoxy
in his beloved Tess which never dreaming that it might stand him in such good
stead he had been prone to slight when observing it practised by her and the
other milkmaids because of its obvious unreality amid beliefs essentially
naturalistic
In their sad doubts as to whether their son had himself any right whatever
to the title he claimed for the unknown young woman Mr and Mrs Clare began to
feel it as an advantage not to be overlooked that she at least was sound in her
views especially as the conjunction of the pair must have arisen by an act of
Providence for Angel never would have made orthodoxy a condition of his choice
They said finally that it was better not to act in a hurry but that they would
not object to see her
Angel therefore refrained from declaring more particulars now He felt that
singleminded and selfsacrificing as his parents were there yet existed
certain latent prejudices of theirs as middleclass people which it would
require some tact to overcome For though legally at liberty to do as he chose
and though their daughterinlaws qualifications could make no practical
difference to their lives in the probability of her living far away from them
he wished for affections sake not to wound their sentiment in the most
important decision of his life
He observed his own inconsistencies in dwelling upon accidents in Tesss
life as if they were vital features It was for herself that he loved Tess her
soul her heart her substance not for her skill in the dairy her aptness as
his scholar and certainly not for her simple formal faithprofessions Her
unsophisticated openair existence required no varnish of conventionality to
make it palatable to him He held that education had as yet but little affected
the beats of emotion and impulse on which domestic happiness depends It was
probable that in the lapse of ages improved systems of moral and intellectual
training would appreciably perhaps considerably elevate the involuntary and
even the unconscious instincts of human nature but up to the present day
culture as far as he could see might be said to have affected only the mental
epiderm of those lives which had been brought under its influence This belief
was confirmed by his experience of women which having latterly been extended
from the cultivated middleclass into the rural community had taught him how
much less was the intrinsic difference between the good and wise woman of one
social stratum and the good and wise woman of another social stratum than
between the good and bad the wise and the foolish of the same stratum or
class
It was the morning of his departure His brothers had already left the
vicarage to proceed on a walking tour in the north whence one was to return to
his college and the other to his curacy Angel might have accompanied them but
preferred to rejoin his sweetheart at Talbothays He would have been an awkward
member of the party for though the most appreciative humanist the most ideal
religionist even the bestversed Christologist of the three there was
alienation in the standing consciousness that his squareness would not fit the
round hole that had been prepared for him To neither Felix nor Cuthbert had he
ventured to mention Tess
His mother made him sandwiches and his father accompanied him on his own
mare a little way along the road Having fairly well advanced his own affairs
Angel listened in a willing silence as they jogged on together through the
shady lanes to his fathers account of his parish difficulties and the
coldness of brother clergymen whom he loved because of his strict
interpretations of the New Testament by the light of what they deemed a
pernicious Calvinistic doctrine
»Pernicious« said Mr Clare with genial scorn and he proceeded to recount
experiences which would show the absurdity of that idea He told of wondrous
conversions of evil livers of which he had been the instrument not only amongst
the poor but amongst the rich and welltodo and he also candidly admitted
many failures
As an instance of the latter he mentioned the case of a young upstart
squire named dUrberville living some forty miles off in the neighbourhood of
Trant ridge
»Not one of the ancient dUrbervilles of Kingsbere and other places« asked
his son »That curiously historic wornout family with its ghostly legend of the
coachandfour«
»O no The original dUrbervilles decayed and disappeared sixty or eighty
years ago at least I believe so This seems to be a new family which has
taken the name for the credit of the former knightly line I hope they are
spurious Im sure But it is odd to hear you express interest in old families
I thought you set less store by them even than I«
»You misapprehend me father you often do« said Angel with a little
impatience »Politically I am sceptical as to the virtue of their being old
Some of the wise even among themselves exclaim against their own succession as
Hamlet puts it but lyrically dramatically and even historically I am
tenderly attached to them«
This distinction though by no means a subtle one was yet too subtle for
Mr Clare the elder and he went on with the story he had been about to relate
which was that after the death of the senior socalled dUrberville the young
man developed the most culpable passions though he had a blind mother whose
condition should have made him know better A knowledge of his career having
come to the ears of Mr Clare when he was in that part of the country preaching
missionary sermons he boldly took occasion to speak to the delinquent on his
spiritual state Though he was a stranger occupying anothers pulpit he had
felt this to be his duty and took for his text the words from St Luke »Thou
fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee« The young man much
resented this directness of attack and in the war of words which followed when
they met he did not scruple publicly to insult Mr Clare without respect for
his gray hairs
Angel flushed with distress
»Dear father« he said sadly »I wish you would not expose yourself to such
gratuitous pain from scoundrels«
»Pain« said his father his rugged face shining in the ardour of
selfabnegation »The only pain to me was pain on his account poor foolish
young man Do you suppose his incensed words could give me any pain or even his
blows Being reviled we bless being persecuted we suffer it being defamed we
entreat we are made as the filth of the world and as the offscouring of all
things unto this day Those ancient and noble words to the Corinthians are
strictly true at this present hour«
»Not blows father He did not proceed to blows«
»No he did not Though I have borne blows from men in a mad state of
intoxication«
»No«
»A dozen times my boy What then I have saved them from the guilt of
murdering their own flesh and blood thereby and they have lived to thank me
and praise God«
»May this young man do the same« said Angel fervently »But I fear
otherwise from what you say«
»Well hope nevertheless« said Mr Clare »And I continue to pray for him
though on this side of the grave we shall probably never meet again But after
all one of those poor words of mine may spring up in his heart as a good seed
some day«
Now as always Clares father was sanguine as a child and though the
younger could not accept his parents narrow dogma he revered his practice and
recognized the hero under the pietist Perhaps he revered his fathers practice
even more now than ever seeing that in the question of making Tessy his wife
his father had not once thought of inquiring whether she were well provided or
penniless The same unworldliness was what had necessitated Angels getting a
living as a farmer and would probably keep his brothers in the position of poor
parsons for the term of their activities yet Angel admired it none the less
Indeed despite his own heterodoxy Angel often felt that he was nearer to his
father on the human side than was either of his brethren
XXVII
An uphill and downdale ride of twentyodd miles through a garish midday
atmosphere brought him in the afternoon to a detached knoll a mile or two west
of Talbothays whence he again looked into that green trough of sappiness and
humidity the valley of the Var or Froom Immediately he began to descend from
the upland to the fat alluvial soil below the atmosphere grew heavier the
languid perfume of the summer fruits the mists the hay the flowers formed
therein a vast pool of odour which at this hour seemed to make the animals the
very bees and butterflies drowsy Clare was now so familiar with the spot that
he knew the individual cows by their names when a long distance off he saw
them dotted about the meads It was with a sense of luxury that he recognized
his power of viewing life here from its inner side in a way that had been quite
foreign to him in his studentdays and much as he loved his parents he could
not help being aware that to come here as now after an experience of
homelife affected him like throwing off splints and bandages even the one
customary curb on the humours of English rural societies being absent in this
place Talbothays having no resident landlord
Not a human being was out of doors at the dairy The denizens were all
enjoying the usual afternoon nap of an hour or so which the exceedingly early
hours kept in summertime rendered a necessity At the door the woodhooped
pails sodden and bleached by infinite scrubbings hung like hats on a stand
upon the forked and peeled limb of an oak fixed there for that purpose all of
them ready and dry for the evening milking Angel entered and went through the
silent passages of the house to the back quarters where he listened for a
moment Sustained snores came from the carthouse where some of the men were
lying down the grunt and squeal of sweltering pigs arose from the still further
distance The largeleaved rhubarb and cabbage plants slept too their broad
limp surfaces hanging in the sun like halfclosed umbrellas
He unbridled and fed his horse and as he reentered the house the clock
struck three Three was the afternoon skimminghour and with the stroke Clare
heard the creaking of the floorboards above and then the touch of a descending
foot on the stairs It was Tesss who in another moment came down before his
eyes
She had not heard him enter and hardly realized his presence there She was
yawning and he saw the red interior of her mouth as if it had been a snakes
She had stretched one arm so high above her coiledup cable of hair that he
could see its satin delicacy above the sunburn her face was flushed with sleep
and her eyelids hung heavy over their pupils The brimfulness of her nature
breathed from her It was a moment when a womans soul is more incarnate than at
any other time when the most spiritual beauty bespeaks itself flesh and sex
takes the outside place in the presentation
Then those eyes flashed brightly through their filmy heaviness before the
remainder of her face was well awake With an oddly compounded look of gladness
shyness and surprise she exclaimed
»O Mr Clare How you frightened me I «
There had not at first been time for her to think of the changed relations
which his declaration had introduced but the full sense of the matter rose up
in her face when she encountered Clares tender look as he stepped forward to
the bottom stair
»Dear darling Tessy« he whispered putting his arm round her and his face
to her flushed cheek »Dont for Heavens sake Mister me any more I have
hastened back so soon because of you«
Tesss excitable heart beat against his by way of reply and there they
stood upon the redbrick floor of the entry the sun slanting in by the window
upon his back as he held her tightly to his breast upon her inclining face
upon the blue veins of her temple upon her naked arm and her neck and into
the depths of her hair Having been lying down in her clothes she was warm as a
sunned cat At first she would not look straight up at him but her eyes soon
lifted and his plumbed the deepness of the evervarying pupils with their
radiating fibrils of blue and black and gray and violet while she regarded
him as Eve at her second waking might have regarded Adam
»Ive got to go askimming« she pleaded »and I have ony old Deb to help
me today Mrs Crick is gone to market with Mr Crick and Retty is not well
and the others are gone out somewhere and wont be home till milking«
As they retreated to the milkhouse Deborah Fyander appeared on the stairs
»I have come back Deborah« said Mr Clare upwards »So I can help Tess
with the skimming and as you are very tired I am sure you neednt come down
till milkingtime«
Possibly the Talbothays milk was not very thoroughly skimmed that afternoon
Tess was in a dream wherein familiar objects appeared as having light and shade
and position but no particular outline Every time she held the skimmer under
the pump to cool it for the work her hand trembled the ardour of his affection
being so palpable that she seemed to flinch under it like a plant in too burning
a sun
Then he pressed her again to his side and when she had done running her
forefinger round the leads to cut off the creamedge he cleaned it in natures
way for the unconstrained manners of Talbothays dairy came convenient now
»I may as well say it now as later dearest« he resumed gently »I wish to
ask you something of a very practical nature which I have been thinking of ever
since that day last week in the meads I shall soon want to marry and being a
farmer you see I shall require for my wife a woman who knows all about the
management of farms Will you be that woman Tessy«
He put it in that way that she might not think he had yielded to an impulse
of which his head would disapprove
She turned quite careworn She had bowed to the inevitable result of
proximity the necessity of loving him but she had not calculated upon this
sudden corollary which indeed Clare had put before her without quite meaning
himself to do it so soon With pain that was like the bitterness of dissolution
she murmured the words of her indispensable and sworn answer as an honourable
woman
»O Mr Clare I cannot be your wife I cannot be«
The sound of her own decision seemed to break Tesss very heart and she
bowed her face in her grief
»But Tess« he said amazed at her reply and holding her still more
greedily close »Do you say no Surely you love me«
»O yes yes And I would rather be yours than anybodys in the world«
returned the sweet and honest voice of the distressed girl »But I cannot marry
you«
»Tess« he said holding her at arms length »you are engaged to marry some
one else«
»No no«
»Then why do you refuse me«
»I dont want to marry I have not thought of doing it I cannot I only
want to love you«
»But why«
Driven to subterfuge she stammered
»Your father is a parson and your mother wouldn like you to marry such as
me She will want you to marry a lady«
»Nonsense I have spoken to them both That was partly why I went home«
»I feel I cannot never never« she echoed
»Is it too sudden to be asked thus my Pretty«
»Yes I did not expect it«
»If you will let it pass please Tessy I will give you time« he said »It
was very abrupt to come home and speak to you all at once Ill not allude to it
again for a while«
She again took up the shining skimmer held it beneath the pump and began
anew But she could not as at other times hit the exact undersurface of the
cream with the delicate dexterity required try as she might sometimes she was
cutting down into the milk sometimes in the air She could hardly see her eyes
having filled with two blurring tears drawn forth by a grief which to this her
best friend and dear advocate she could never explain
»I cant skim I cant« she said turning away from him
Not to agitate and hinder her longer the considerate Clare began talking in
a more general way
»You quite misapprehend my parents They are the most simplemannered people
alive and quite unambitious They are two of the few remaining Evangelical
school Tessy are you an Evangelical«
»I dont know«
»You go to church very regularly and our parson here is not very High they
tell me«
Tesss ideas on the views of the parish clergyman whom she heard every
week seemed to be rather more vague than Clares who had never heard him at
all
»I wish I could fix my mind on what I hear there more firmly than I do« she
remarked as a safe generality »It is often a great sorrow to me«
She spoke so unaffectedly that Angel was sure in his heart that his father
could not object to her on religious grounds even though she did not know
whether her principles were High Low or Broad He himself knew that in
reality the confused beliefs which she held apparently imbibed in childhood
were if any thing Tractarian as to phraseology and Pantheistic as to essence
Confused or otherwise to disturb them was his last desire
Leave thou thy sister when she prays
Her early Heaven her happy views
Nor thou with shadowd hint confuse
A life that leads melodious days
He had occasionally thought the counsel less honest than musical but he gladly
conformed to it now
He spoke further of the incidents of his visit of his fathers mode of
life of his zeal for his principles she grew serener and the undulations
disappeared from her skimming as she finished one lead after another he
followed her and drew the plugs for letting down the milk
»I fancied you looked a little downcast when you came in« she ventured to
observe anxious to keep away from the subject of herself
»Yes well my father has been talking a good deal to me of his troubles
and difficulties and the subject always tends to depress me He is so zealous
that he gets many snubs and buffetings from people of a different way of
thinking from himself and I dont like to hear of such humiliations to a man of
his age the more particularly as I dont think earnestness does any good when
carried so far He has been telling me of a very unpleasant scene in which he
took part quite recently He went as the deputy of some missionary society to
preach in the neighbourhood of Trantridge a place forty miles from here and
made it his business to expostulate with a lax young cynic he met with somewhere
about there son of some landowner up that way and who has a mother afflicted
with blindness My father addressed himself to the gentleman pointblank and
there was quite a disturbance It was very foolish of my father I must say to
intrude his conversation upon a stranger when the probabilities were so obvious
that it would be useless But whatever he thinks to be his duty that hell do
in season or out of season and of course he makes many enemies not only
among the absolutely vicious but among the easygoing who hate being bothered
He says he glories in what happened and that good may be done indirectly but I
wish he would not so wear himself out now he is getting old and would leave
such pigs to their wallowing«
Tesss look had grown hard and worn and her ripe mouth tragical but she no
longer showed any tremulousness Clares revived thoughts of his father
prevented his noticing her particularly and so they went on down the white row
of liquid rectangles till they had finished and drained them off when the other
maids returned and took their pails and Deb came to scald out the leads for
the new milk As Tess withdrew to go afield to the cows he said to her softly
»And my question Tessy«
»O no no« replied she with grave hopelessness as one who had heard anew
the turmoil of her own past in the allusion to Alec dUrberville »It cant be«
She went out towards the mead joining the other milkmaids with a bound as
if trying to make the open air drive away her sad constraint All the girls drew
onward to the spot where the cows were grazing in the farther mead the bevy
advancing with the bold grace of wild animals the reckless unchastened motion
of women accustomed to unlimited space in which they abandoned themselves to
the air as a swimmer to the wave It seemed natural enough to him now that Tess
was again in sight to choose a mate from unconstrained Nature and not from the
abodes of Art
XXVIII
Her refusal though unexpected did not permanently daunt Clare His experience
of women was great enough for him to be aware that the negative often meant
nothing more than the preface to the affirmative and it was little enough for
him not to know that in the manner of the present negative there lay a great
exception to the dallyings of coyness That she had already permitted him to
make love to her he read as an additional assurance not fully trowing that in
the fields and pastures to »sigh gratis« is by no means deemed waste
lovemaking being here more often accepted inconsiderately and for its own sweet
sake than in the carking anxious homes of the ambitious where a girls craving
for an establishment paralyzes her healthy thought of a passion as an end
»Tess why did you say no in such a positive way« he asked her in the
course of a few days
She started
»Dont ask me I told you why partly I am not good enough not worthy
enough«
»How Not fine lady enough«
»Yes something like that« murmured she »Your friends would scorn me«
»Indeed you mistake them my father and mother As for my brothers I
dont care « He clasped his fingers behind her back to keep her from slipping
away »Now you did not mean it sweet I am sure you did not You have made
me so restless that I cannot read or play or do anything I am in no hurry
Tess but I want to know to hear from your own warm lips that you will some
day be mine any time you may choose but some day«
She could only shake her head and look away from him
Clare regarded her attentively conned the characters of her face as if they
had been hieroglyphics The denial seemed real
»Then I ought not to hold you in this way ought I I have no right to you
no right to seek out where you are or to walk with you Honestly Tess do
you love any other man«
»How can you ask« she said with continued selfsuppression
»I almost know that you do not But then why do you repulse me«
»I dont repulse you I like you to tell me you love me and you may
always tell me so as you go about with me and never offend me«
»But you will not accept me as a husband«
»Ah thats different it is for your good indeed my dearest O believe
me it is only for your sake I dont like to give myself the great happiness o
promising to be yours in that way because because I am sure I ought not to
do it«
»But you will make me happy«
»Ah you think so but you dont know«
At such times as this apprehending the grounds of her refusal to be her
modest sense of incompetence in matters social and polite he would say that she
was wonderfully wellinformed and versatile which was certainly true her
natural quickness and her admiration for him having led her to pick up his
vocabulary his accent and fragments of his knowledge to a surprising extent
After these tender contests and her victory she would go away by herself under
the remotest cow if at milkingtime or into the sedge or into her room if at
a leisure interval and mourn silently not a minute after an apparently
phlegmatic negative
The struggle was so fearful her own heart was so strongly on the side of
his two ardent hearts against one poor little conscience that she tried to
fortify her resolution by every means in her power She had come to Talbothays
with a madeup mind On no account could she agree to a step which might
afterwards cause bitter rueing to her husband for his blindness in wedding her
And she held that what her conscience had decided for her when her mind was
unbiassed ought not to be overruled now
»Why dont somebody tell him all about me« she said »It was only forty
miles off why hasnt it reached here Somebody must know«
Yet nobody seemed to know nobody told him
For two or three days no more was said She guessed from the sad
countenances of her chamber companions that they regarded her not only as the
favourite but as the chosen but they could see for themselves that she did not
put herself in his way
Tess had never before known a time in which the thread of her life was so
distinctly twisted of two strands positive pleasure and positive pain At the
next cheesemaking the pair were again left alone together The dairyman himself
had been lending a hand but Mr Crick as well as his wife seemed latterly to
have acquired a suspicion of mutual interest between these two though they
walked so circumspectly that suspicion was but of the faintest Anyhow the
dairyman left them to themselves
They were breaking up the masses of curd before putting them into the vats
The operation resembled the act of crumbling bread on a large scale and amid
the immaculate whiteness of the curds Tess Durbeyfields hands showed
themselves of the pinkness of the rose Angel who was filling the vats with his
handfuls suddenly ceased and laid his hands flat upon hers Her sleeves were
rolled far above the elbow and bending lower he kissed the inside vein of her
soft arm
Although the early September weather was sultry her arm from her dabbling
in the curds was as cold and damp to his mouth as a newgathered mushroom and
tasted of the whey But she was such a sheaf of susceptibilities that her pulse
was accelerated by the touch her blood driven to her fingerends and the cool
arms flushed hot Then as though her heart had said »Is coyness longer
necessary Truth is truth between man and woman as between man and man« she
lifted her eyes and they beamed devotedly into his as her lip rose in a tender
halfsmile
»Do you know why I did that Tess« he said
»Because you love me very much«
»Yes and as a preliminary to a new entreaty«
»Not again«
She looked a sudden fear that her resistance might break down under her own
desire
O Tessy »he went on I cannot think why you are so tantalizing Why do
you disappoint me so You seem almost like a coquette upon my life you do a
coquette of the first urban water They blow hot and blow cold just as you do
and it is the very last sort of thing to expect to find in a retreat like
Talbothays And yet dearest« he quickly added observing how the remark
had cut her »I know you to be the most honest spotless creature that ever
lived So how can I suppose you a flirt Tess why dont you like the idea of
being my wife if you love me as you seem to do«
»I have never said I dont like the idea and I never could say it because
it isnt true«
The stress now getting beyond endurance her lip quivered and she was
obliged to go away Clare was so pained and perplexed that he ran after and
caught her in the passage
»Tell me tell me« he said passionately clasping her in forgetfulness of
his curdy hands »do tell me that you wont belong to anybody but me«
»I will I will tell you« she exclaimed »And I will give you a complete
answer if you will let me go now I will tell you my experiences all about
myself all«
»Your experiences dear yes certainly any number« He expressed assent in
loving satire looking into her face »My Tess has no doubt almost as many
experiences as that wild convolvulus out there on the garden hedge that opened
itself this morning for the first time Tell me anything but dont use that
wretched expression any more about not being worthy of me«
»I will try not And Ill give you my reasons tomorrow next week«
»Say on Sunday«
»Yes on Sunday«
At last she got away and did not stop in her retreat till she was in the
thicket of pollard willows at the lower side of the barton where she could be
quite unseen Here Tess flung herself down upon the rustling undergrowth of
speargrass as upon a bed and remained crouching in palpitating misery broken
by momentary shoots of joy which her fears about the ending could not
altogether suppress
In reality she was drifting into acquiescence Every seesaw of her breath
every wave of her blood every pulse singing in her ears was a voice that
joined with nature in revolt against her scrupulousness Reckless inconsiderate
acceptance of him to close with him at the altar revealing nothing and
chancing discovery to snatch ripe pleasure before the iron teeth of pain could
have time to shut upon her that was what love counselled and in almost a
terror of ecstasy Tess divined that despite her many months of lonely
selfchastisement wrestlings communings schemes to lead a future of austere
isolation loves counsel would prevail
The afternoon advanced and still she remained among the willows She heard
the rattle of taking down the pails from the forked stands the »waowwaow«
which accompanied the getting together of the cows But she did not go to the
milking They would see her agitation and the dairyman thinking the cause to
be love alone would goodnaturedly tease her and that harassment could not be
borne
Her lover must have guessed her overwrought state and invented some excuse
for her nonappearance for no inquiries were made or calls given At halfpast
six the sun settled down upon the levels with the aspect of a great forge in
the heavens and presently a monstrous pumpkinlike moon arose on the other
hand The pollard willows tortured out of their natural shape by incessant
choppings became spinyhaired monsters as they stood up against it She went
in and upstairs without a light
It was now Wednesday Thursday came and Angel looked thoughtfully at her
from a distance but intruded in no way upon her The indoor milkmaids Marian
and the rest seemed to guess that something definite was afoot for they did
not force any remarks upon her in the bedchamber Friday passed Saturday
Tomorrow was the day
»I shall give way I shall say yes I shall let myself marry him I
cannot help it« she jealously panted with her hot face to the pillow that
night on hearing one of the other girls sigh his name in her sleep »I cant
bear to let anybody have him but me Yet it is a wrong to him and may kill him
when he knows O my heart O O O«
XXIX
»Now who mid ye think Ive heard news o this morning« said Dairyman Crick as
he sat down to breakfast next day with a riddling gaze round upon the munching
men and maids »Now just who mid ye think«
One guessed and another guessed Mrs Crick did not guess because she knew
already
»Well« said the dairyman tis that slacktwisted »horesbird of a feller
Jack Dollop Hes lately got married to a widowwoman«
»Not Jack Dollop A villain to think o that« said a milker
The name entered quickly into Tess Durbeyfields consciousness for it was
the name of the lover who had wronged his sweetheart and had afterwards been so
roughly used by the young womans mother in the butterchurn
»And has he married the valiant matrons daughter as he promised« asked
Angel Clare absently as he turned over the newspaper he was reading at the
little table to which he was always banished by Mrs Crick in her sense of his
gentility
»Not he sir Never meant to« replied the dairyman »As I say tis a
widowwoman and she had money it seems fifty poun a year or so and that
was all he was after They were married in a great hurry and then she told him
that by marrying she had lost her fifty poun a year Just fancy the state o my
gentlemans mind at that news Never such a catanddog life as theyve been
leading ever since Serves him well beright But onluckily the poor woman gets
the worst ot«
»Well the silly body should have told en sooner that the ghost of her first
man would trouble him« said Mrs Crick
»Ay ay« responded the dairyman indecisively »Still you can see exactly
how twas She wanted a home and didnt like to run the risk of losing him
Dont ye think that was something like it maidens«
He glanced towards the row of girls
»She ought to ha told him just before they went to church when he could
hardly have backed out« exclaimed Marian
»Yes she ought« agreed Izz
»She must have seen what he was after and should ha refused him« cried
Retty spasmodically
»And what do you say my dear« asked the dairyman of Tess
»I think she ought to have told him the true state of things or else
refused him I dont know« replied Tess the breadandbutter choking her
»Be cust if Id have done either ot« said Beck Knibbs a married helper
from one of the cottages »Alls fair in love and war Id ha married en just
as she did and if hed said two words to me about not telling him beforehand
anything whatsomdever about my first chap that I hadnt chose to tell Id ha
knocked him down wi the rollingpin a scram little feller like he Any woman
could do it«
The laughter which followed this sally was supplemented only by a sorry
smile for forms sake from Tess What was comedy to them was tragedy to her
and she could hardly bear their mirth She soon rose from table and with an
impression that Clare would follow her went along a little wriggling path now
stepping to one side of the irrigating channels and now to the other till she
stood by the main stream of the Var Men had been cutting the waterweeds higher
up the river and masses of them were floating past her moving islands of
green crowfoot whereon she might almost have ridden long locks of which weed
had lodged against the piles driven to keep the cows from crossing
Yes there was the pain of it This question of a woman telling her story
the heaviest of crosses to herself seemed but amusement to others It was as
if people should laugh at martyrdom
»Tessy« came from behind her and Clare sprang across the gully alighting
beside her feet »My wife soon«
»No no I cannot For your sake O Mr Clare for your sake I say no«
»Tess«
»Still I say no« she repeated
Not expecting this he had put his arm lightly round her waist the moment
after speaking beneath her hanging tail of hair The younger dairymaids
including Tess breakfasted with their hair loose on Sunday mornings before
building it up extra high for attending church a style they could not adopt
when milking with their heads against the cows If she had said »Yes« instead
of »No« he would have kissed her it had evidently been his intention but her
determined negative deterred his scrupulous heart Their condition of
domiciliary comradeship put her as the woman to such disadvantage by its
enforced intercourse that he felt it unfair to her to exercise any pressure of
blandishment which he might have honestly employed had she been better able to
avoid him He released her momentarilyimprisoned waist and withheld the kiss
It all turned on that release What had given her strength to refuse him
this time was solely the tale of the widow told by the dairyman and that would
have been overcome in another moment But Angel said no more his face was
perplexed he went away
Day after day they met somewhat less constantly than before and thus two
or three weeks went by The end of September drew near and she could see in his
eye that he might ask her again
His plan of procedure was different now as though he had made up his mind
that her negatives were after all only coyness and youth startled by the
novelty of the proposal The fitful evasiveness of her manner when the subject
was under discussion countenanced the idea So he played a more coaxing game
and while never going beyond words or attempting the renewal of caresses he
did his utmost orally
In this way Clare persistently wooed her in undertones like that of the
purling milk at the cows side at skimmings at buttermakings at
cheesemakings among broody poultry and among farrowing pigs as no milkmaid
was ever wooed before by such a man
Tess knew that she must break down Neither a religious sense of a certain
moral validity in the previous union nor a conscientious wish for candour could
hold out against it much longer She loved him so passionately and he was so
godlike in her eyes and being though untrained instinctively refined her
nature cried for his tutelary guidance And thus though Tess kept repeating to
herself »I can never be his wife« the words were vain A proof of her weakness
lay in the very utterance of what calm strength would not have taken the trouble
to formulate Every sound of his voice beginning on the old subject stirred her
with a terrifying bliss and she coveted the recantation she feared
His manner was what mans is not so much that of one who would love and
cherish and defend her under any conditions changes charges or revelations
that her gloom lessened as she basked in it The season meanwhile was drawing
onward to the equinox and though it was still fine the days were much shorter
The dairy had again worked by morning candlelight for a long time and a fresh
renewal of Clares pleading occurred one morning between three and four
She had run up in her bedgown to his door to call him as usual then had
gone back to dress and call the others and in ten minutes was walking to the
head of the stairs with the candle in her hand At the same moment he came down
his steps from above in his shirtsleeves and put his arm across the stairway
»Now Miss Flirt before you go down« he said peremptorily »It is a
fortnight since I spoke and this wont do any longer You must tell me what you
mean or I shall have to leave this house My door was ajar just now and I saw
you For your own safety I must go You dont know Well Is it to be yes at
last«
»I am only just up Mr Clare and it is too early to take me to task« she
pouted »You need not call me Flirt Tis cruel and untrue Wait till by and by
Please wait till by and by I will really think seriously about it between now
and then Let me go downstairs«
She looked a little like what he said she was as holding the candle
sideways she tried to smile away the seriousness of her words
»Call me Angel then and not Mr Clare«
»Angel«
»Angel dearest why not«
»Twould mean that I agree wouldnt it«
»It would only mean that you love me even if you cannot marry me and you
were so good as to own that long ago«
Very well then Angel dearest if I must« she murmured looking at her
candle a roguish curl coming upon her mouth notwithstanding her suspense
Clare had resolved never to kiss her until he had obtained her promise but
somehow as Tess stood there in her prettily tuckedup milking gown her hair
carelessly heaped upon her head till there should be leisure to arrange it when
skimming and milking were done he broke his resolve and brought his lips to
her cheek for one moment She passed downstairs very quickly never looking back
at him or saying another word The other maids were already down and the
subject was not pursued Except Marian they all looked wistfully and
suspiciously at the pair in the sad yellow rays which the morning candles
emitted in contrast with the first cold signals of the dawn without
When skimming was done which as the milk diminished with the approach of
autumn was a lessening process day by day Retty and the rest went out The
lovers followed them
»Our tremulous lives are so different from theirs are they not« he
musingly observed to her as he regarded the three figures tripping before him
through the frigid pallor of opening day
»Not so very different I think« she said
»Why do you think that«
»There are very few womens lives that are not tremulous« Tess replied
pausing over the new word as if it impressed her »Theres more in those three
than you think«
»What is in them«
»Almost either of em« she began »would make perhaps would make a
properer wife than I And perhaps they love you as well as I almost«
»O Tessy«
There were signs that it was an exquisite relief to her to hear the
impatient exclamation though she had resolved so intrepidly to let generosity
make one bid against herself That was now done and she had not the power to
attempt selfimmolation a second time then They were joined by a milker from
one of the cottages and no more was said on that which concerned them so
deeply But Tess knew that this day would decide it
In the afternoon several of the dairymans household and assistants went
down to the meads as usual a long way from the dairy where many of the cows
were milked without being driven home The supply was getting less as the
animals advanced in calf and the supernumerary milkers of the lush green season
had been dismissed
The work progressed leisurely Each pailful was poured into tall cans that
stood in a large springwaggon which had been brought upon the scene and when
they were milked the cows trailed away
Dairyman Crick who was there with the rest his wrapper gleaming
miraculously white against a leaden evening sky suddenly looked at his heavy
watch
»Why tis later than I thought« he said »Begad We shant be soon enough
with this milk at the station if we dont mind Theres no time today to take
it home and mix it with the bulk afore sending off It must go to station
straight from here Wholl drive it across«
Mr Clare volunteered to do so though it was none of his business asking
Tess to accompany him The evening though sunless had been warm and muggy for
the season and Tess had come out with her milkinghood only nakedarmed and
jacketless certainly not dressed for a drive She therefore replied by glancing
over her scant habiliments but Clare gently urged her She assented by
relinquishing her pail and stool to the dairyman to take home and mounted the
springwaggon beside Clare
XXX
In the diminishing daylight they went along the level roadway through the meads
which stretched away into gray miles and were backed in the extreme edge of
distance by the swarthy and abrupt slopes of Egdon Heath On its summit stood
clumps and stretches of firtrees whose notched tips appeared like battlemented
towers crowning blackfronted castles of enchantment
They were so absorbed in the sense of being close to each other that they
did not begin talking for a long while the silence being broken only by the
clucking of the milk in the tall cans behind them The lane they followed was so
solitary that the hazel nuts had remained on the boughs till they slipped from
their shells and the blackberries hung in heavy clusters Every now and then
Angel would fling the lash of his whip round one of these pluck it off and
give it to his companion
The dull sky soon began to tell its meaning by sending down heralddrops of
rain and the stagnant air of the day changed into a fitful breeze which played
about their faces The quicksilvery glaze on the rivers and pools vanished from
broad mirrors of light they changed to lustreless sheets of lead with a surface
like a rasp But that spectacle did not affect her preoccupation Her
countenance a natural carnation slightly embrowned by the season had deepened
its tinge with the beating of the raindrops and her hair which the pressure
of the cows flanks had as usual caused to tumble down from its fastenings and
stray beyond the curtain of her calico bonnet was made clammy by the moisture
till it hardly was better than seaweed
»I ought not to have come I suppose« she murmured looking at the sky
»I am sorry for the rain« said he »But how glad I am to have you here«
Remote Egdon disappeared by degrees behind the liquid gauze The evening
grew darker and the roads being crossed by gates it was not safe to drive
faster than at a walking pace The air was rather chill
»I am so afraid you will get cold with nothing upon your arms and
shoulders« he said »Creep close to me and perhaps the drizzle wont hurt you
much I should be sorrier still if I did not think that the rain might be
helping me«
She imperceptibly crept closer and he wrapped round them both a large piece
of sailcloth which was sometimes used to keep the sun off the milkcans Tess
held it from slipping off him as well as herself Clares hands being occupied
»Now we are all right again Ah no we are not It runs down into my neck a
little and it must still more into yours Thats better Your arms are like wet
marble Tess Wipe them in the cloth Now if you stay quiet you will not get
another drop Well dear about that question of mine that longstanding
question«
The only reply that he could hear for a little while was the smack of the
horses hoofs on the moistening road and the cluck of the milk in the cans
behind them
»Do you remember what you said«
»I do« she replied
»Before we get home mind«
»Ill try«
He said no more then As they drove on the fragment of an old manor house of
Caroline date rose against the sky and was in due course passed and left
behind
»That« he observed to entertain her »is an interesting old place one of
the several seats which belonged to an ancient Norman family formerly of great
influence in this county the dUrbervilles I never pass one of their
residences without thinking of them There is something very sad in the
extinction of a family of renown even if it was fierce domineering feudal
renown«
»Yes« said Tess
They crept along towards a point in the expanse of shade just at hand at
which a feeble light was beginning to assert its presence a spot where by day
a fitful white streak of steam at intervals upon the dark green background
denoted intermittent moments of contact between their secluded world and modern
life Modern life stretched out its steam feeler to this point three or four
times a day touched the native existences and quickly withdrew its feeler
again as if what it touched had been uncongenial
They reached the feeble light which came from the smoky lamp of a little
railway station a poor enough terrestrial star yet in one sense of more
importance to Talbothays Dairy and mankind than the celestial ones to which it
stood in such humiliating contrast The cans of new milk were unladen in the
rain Tess getting a little shelter from a neighbouring holly tree
Then there was the hissing of a train which drew up almost silently upon
the wet rails and the milk was rapidly swung can by can into the truck The
light of the engine flashed for a second upon Tess Durbeyfields figure
motionless under the great holly tree No object could have looked more foreign
to the gleaming cranks and wheels than this unsophisticated girl with the round
bare arms the rainy face and hair the suspended attitude of a friendly leopard
at pause the print gown of no date or fashion and the cotton bonnet drooping
on her brow
She mounted again beside her lover with a mute obedience characteristic of
impassioned natures at times and when they had wrapped themselves up over head
and ears in the sailcloth again they plunged back into the now thick night
Tess was so receptive that the few minutes of contact with the whirl of material
progress lingered in her thought
»Londoners will drink it at their breakfasts tomorrow wont they« she
asked »Strange people that we have never seen«
»Yes I suppose they will Though not as we send it When its strength has
been lowered so that it may not get up into their heads«
»Noble men and noble women ambassadors and centurions ladies and
tradeswomen and babies who have never seen a cow«
»Well yes perhaps particularly centurions«
»Who dont know anything of us and where it comes from or think how we two
drove miles across the moor tonight in the rain that it might reach em in
time«
»We did not drive entirely on account of these precious Londoners we drove
a little on our own on account of that anxious matter which you will I am
sure set at rest dear Tess Now permit me to put it in this way You belong
to me already you know your heart I mean Does it not«
»You know as well as I O yes yes«
»Then if your heart does why not your hand«
»My only reason was on account of you on account of a question I have
something to tell you «
»But suppose it to be entirely for my happiness and my worldly convenience
also«
»O yes if it is for your happiness and worldly convenience But my life
before I came here I want «
Well it is for my convenience as well as my happiness If I have a very
large farm either English or colonial you will be invaluable as a wife to me
better than a woman out of the largest mansion in the country So please
please dear Tessy disabuse your mind of the feeling that you will stand in my
way
»But my history I want you to know it you must let me tell you you will
not like me so well«
»Tell it if you wish to dearest This precious history then Yes I was
born at so and so Anno Domini «
»I was born at Marlott« she said catching at his words as a help lightly
as they were spoken »And I grew up there And I was in the Sixth Standard when
I left school and they said I had great aptness and should make a good
teacher so it was settled that I should be one But there was trouble in my
family father was not very industrious and he drank a little«
»Yes yes Poor child Nothing new« He pressed her more closely to his
side
»And then there is something very unusual about it about me I I was
«
Tesss breath quickened
»Yes dearest Never mind«
»I I am not a Durbeyfield but a dUrberville a descendant of the same
family as those that owned the old house we passed And we are all gone to
nothing«
»A dUrberville Indeed And is that all the trouble dear Tess«
»Yes« she answered faintly
»Well why should I love you less after knowing this«
»I was told by the dairyman that you hated old families«
He laughed
»Well it is true in one sense I do hate the aristocratic principle of
blood before everything and do think that as reasoners the only pedigrees we
ought to respect are those spiritual ones of the wise and virtuous without
regard to corporeal paternity But I am extremely interested in this news you
can have no idea how interested I am Are not you interested yourself in being
one of that wellknown line«
»No I have thought it sad especially since coming here and knowing that
many of the hills and fields I see once belonged to my fathers people But
other hills and fields belonged to Rettys people and perhaps others to
Marians so that I dont value it particularly«
»Yes it is surprising how many of the present tillers of the soil were
once owners of it and I sometimes wonder that a certain school of politicians
dont make capital of the circumstance but they dont seem to know it I
wonder that I did not see the resemblance of your name to dUrberville and
trace the manifest corruption And this was the carking secret«
She had not told At the last moment her courage had failed her she feared
his blame for not telling him sooner and her instinct of self preservation
was stronger than her candour
»Of course« continued the unwitting Clare »I should have been glad to know
you to be descended exclusively from the longsuffering dumb unrecorded rank
and file of the English nation and not from the selfseeking few who made
themselves powerful at the expense of the rest But I am corrupted away from
that by my affection for you Tess he laughed as he spoke and made selfish
likewise For your own sake I rejoice in your descent Society is hopelessly
snobbish and this fact of your extraction may make an appreciable difference to
its acceptance of you as my wife after I have made you the wellread woman that
I mean to make you My mother too poor soul will think so much better of you
on account of it Tess you must spell your name correctly dUrberville from
this very day«
»I like the other way rather best«
»But you must dearest Good heavens why dozens of mushroom millionaires
would jump at such a possession By the bye theres one of that kidney who has
taken the name where have I heard of him Up in the neighbourhood of The
Chase I think Why he is the very man who had that rumpus with my father I
told you of What an odd coincidence«
»Angel I think I would rather not take the name It is unlucky perhaps«
She was agitated
»Now then Mistress Teresa dUrberville I have you Take my name and so
you will escape yours The secret is out so why should you any longer refuse
me«
»If it is sure to make you happy to have me as your wife and you feel that
you do wish to marry me very very much «
»I do dearest of course«
»I mean that it is only your wanting me very much and being hardly able to
keep alive without me whatever my offences that would make me feel I ought to
say I will«
»You will you do say it I know You will be mine for ever and ever«
He clasped her close and kissed her
»Yes«
She had no sooner said it than she burst into a dry hard sobbing so violent
that it seemed to rend her Tess was not a hysterical girl by any means and he
was surprised
»Why do you cry dearest«
»I cant tell quite I am so glad to think of being yours and making
you happy«
»But this does not seem very much like gladness my Tessy«
»I mean I cry because I have broken down in my vow I said I would die
unmarried«
»But if you love me you would like me to be your husband«
»Yes yes yes But O I sometimes wish I had never been born«
»Now my dear Tess if I did not know that you are very much excited and
very inexperienced I should say that remark was not very complimentary How
came you to wish that if you care for me Do you care for me I wish you would
prove it in some way«
»How can I prove it more than I have done« she cried in a distraction of
tenderness »Will this prove it more«
She clasped his neck and for the first time Clare learnt what an
impassioned womans kisses were like upon the lips of one whom she loved with
all her heart and soul as Tess loved him
»There now do you believe« she asked flushed and wiping her eyes
»Yes I never really doubted never never«
So they drove on through the gloom forming one bundle inside the
sailcloth the horse going as he would and the rain driving against them She
had consented She might as well have agreed at first The »appetite for joy«
which pervades all creation that tremendous force which sways humanity to its
purpose as the tide sways the helpless weed was not to be controlled by vague
lucubrations over the social rubric
»I must write to my mother« she said »You dont mind my doing that«
»Of course not dear child You are a child to me Tess not to know how
very proper it is to write to your mother at such a time and how wrong it would
be in me to object Where does she live«
»At the same place Marlott On the further side of Blackmoor Vale«
»Ah then I have seen you before this summer «
»Yes at that dance on the green but you would not dance with me O I hope
that is of no illomen for us now«
XXXI
Tess wrote a most touching and urgent letter to her mother the very next day
and by the end of the week a response to her communication arrived in Joan
Durbeyfields wandering lastcentury hand
Dear Tess I write these few lines Hoping they will find you well as
they leave me at Present thank God for it Dear Tess we are all glad
to Hear that you are going really to be married soon But with respect
to your question Tess I say between ourselves quite private but very
strong that on no account do you say a word of your Bygone Trouble to
him I did not tell everything to your Father he being so Proud on
account of his Respectability which perhaps your Intended is the
same Many a woman some of the Highest in the Land have had a
Trouble in their time and why should you Trumpet yours when others
dont Trumpet theirs No girl would be such a Fool specially as it is
so long ago and not your Fault at all I shall answer the same if you
ask me fifty times Besides you must bear in mind that knowing it to
be your Childish Nature to tell all thats in your heart so simple
I made you promise me never to let it out by Word or Deed having your
Welfare in my Mind and you most solemnly did promise it going from this
Door I have not named either that Question or your coming marriage to
your Father as he would blab it everywhere poor Simple Man
Dear Tess keep up your Spirits and we mean to send you a Hogshead
of Cyder for your Wedding knowing there is not much in your parts and
thin Sour Stuff what there is So no more at present and with kind love
to your Young Man From your affectte Mother
J DURBEYFIELD
»O mother mother« murmured Tess
She was recognizing how light was the touch of events the most oppressive
upon Mrs Durbeyfields elastic spirit Her mother did not see life as Tess saw
it That haunting episode of bygone days was to her mother but a passing
accident But perhaps her mother was right as to the course to be followed
whatever she might be in her reasons Silence seemed on the face of it best
for her adored ones happiness silence it should be
Thus steadied by a command from the only person in the world who had any
shadow of right to control her action Tess grew calmer The responsibility was
shifted and her heart was lighter than it had been for weeks The days of
declining autumn which followed her assent beginning with the month of October
formed a season through which she lived in spiritual altitudes more nearly
approaching ecstasy than any other period of her life
There was hardly a touch of earth in her love for Clare To her sublime
trustfulness he was all that goodness could be knew all that a guide
philosopher and friend should know She thought every line in the contour of
his person the perfection of masculine beauty his soul the soul of a saint his
intellect that of a seer The wisdom of her love for him as love sustained her
dignity she seemed to be wearing a crown The compassion of his love for her
as she saw it made her lift up her heart to him in devotion He would sometimes
catch her large worshipful eyes that had no bottom to them looking at him
from their depths as if she saw something immortal before her
She dismissed the past trod upon it and put it out as one treads on a
coal that is smouldering and dangerous
She had not known that men could be so disinterested chivalrous
protective in their love for women as he Angel Clare was far from all that she
thought him in this respect absurdly far indeed but he was in truth more
spiritual than animal he had himself well in hand and was singularly free from
grossness Though not coldnatured he was rather bright than hot less Byronic
than Shelleyan could love desperately but with a love more especially inclined
to the imaginative and ethereal it was a fastidious emotion which could
jealously guard the loved one against his very self This amazed and enraptured
Tess whose slight experiences had been so infelicitous till now and in her
reaction from indignation against the male sex she swerved to excess of honour
for Clare
They unaffectedly sought each others company in her honest faith she did
not disguise her desire to be with him The sum of her instincts on this matter
if clearly stated would have been that the elusive quality in her sex which
attracts men in general might be distasteful to so perfect a man after an avowal
of love since it must in its very nature carry with it a suspicion of art
The country custom of unreserved comradeship out of doors during betrothal
was the only custom she knew and to her it had no strangeness though it seemed
oddly anticipative to Clare till he saw how normal a thing she in common with
all the other dairyfolk regarded it Thus during this October month of
wonderful afternoons they roved along the meads by creeping paths which followed
the brinks of trickling tributary brooks hopping across by little wooden
bridges to the other side and back again They were never out of the sound of
some purling weir whose buzz accompanied their own murmuring while the beams
of the sun almost as horizontal as the mead itself formed a pollen of radiance
over the landscape They saw tiny blue fogs in the shadows of trees and hedges
all the time that there was bright sunshine elsewhere The sun was so near the
ground and the sward so flat that the shadows of Clare and Tess would stretch
a quarter of a mile ahead of them like two long fingers pointing afar to where
the green alluvial reaches abutted against the sloping sides of the vale
Men were at work here and there for it was the season for »taking up« the
meadows or digging the little waterways clear for the winter irrigation and
mending their banks where trodden down by the cows The shovelfuls of loam
black as jet brought there by the river when it was as wide as the whole
valley were an essence of soils pounded champaigns of the past steeped
refined and subtilized to extraordinary richness out of which came all the
fertility of the mead and of the cattle grazing there
Clare hardily kept his arm round her waist in sight of these watermen with
the air of a man who was accustomed to public dalliance though actually as shy
as she who with lips parted and eyes askance on the labourers wore the look of
a wary animal the while
»You are not ashamed of owning me as yours before them« she said gladly
»O no«
»But if it should reach the ears of your friends at Emminster that you are
walking about like this with me a milkmaid «
»The most bewitching milkmaid ever seen«
»They might feel it a hurt to their dignity«
»My dear girl a dUrberville hurt the dignity of a Clare It is a grand
card to play that of your belonging to such a family and I am reserving it
for a grand effect when we are married and have the proofs of your descent from
Parson Tringham Apart from that my future is to be totally foreign to my
family it will not affect even the surface of their lives We shall leave this
part of England perhaps England itself and what does it matter how people
regard us here You will like going will you not«
She could answer no more than a bare affirmative so great was the emotion
aroused in her at the thought of going through the world with him as his own
familiar friend Her feelings almost filled her ears like a babble of waves and
surged up to her eyes She put her hand in his and thus they went on to a
place where the reflected sun glared up from the river under a bridge with a
moltenmetallic glow that dazzled their eyes though the sun itself was hidden
by the bridge They stood still whereupon little furred and feathered heads
popped up from the smooth surface of the water but finding that the disturbing
presences had paused and not passed by they disappeared again Upon this
riverbrink they lingered till the fog began to close round them which was
very early in the evening at this time of the year settling on the lashes of
her eyes where it rested like crystals and on his brows and hair
They walked later on Sundays when it was quite dark Some of the
dairypeople who were also out of doors on the first Sunday evening after their
engagement heard her impulsive speeches ecstasized to fragments though they
were too far off to hear the words discoursed noted the spasmodic catch in her
remarks broken into syllables by the leapings of her heart as she walked
leaning on his arm her contented pauses the occasional little laugh upon which
her soul seemed to ride the laugh of a woman in company with the man she loves
and has won from all other women unlike anything else in nature They marked
the buoyancy of her tread like the skim of a bird which has not quite alighted
Her affection for him was now the breath and life of Tesss being it
enveloped her as a photosphere irradiated her into forgetfulness of her past
sorrows keeping back the gloomy spectres that would persist in their attempts
to touch her doubt fear moodiness care shame She knew that they were
waiting like wolves just outside the circumscribing light but she had long
spells of power to keep them in hungry subjection there
A spiritual forgetfulness coexisted with an intellectual remembrance She
walked in brightness but she knew that in the background those shapes of
darkness were always spread They might be receding or they might be
approaching one or the other a little every day
One evening Tess and Clare were obliged to sit indoors keeping house all the
other occupants of the domicile being away As they talked she looked
thoughtfully up at him and met his two appreciative eyes
»I am not worthy of you no I am not« she burst out jumping up from her
low stool as though appalled at his homage and the fulness of her own joy
thereat
Clare deeming the whole basis of her excitement to be that which was only
the smaller part of it said
»I wont have you speak like it dear Tess Distinction does not consist in
the facile use of a contemptible set of conventions but in being numbered among
those who are true and honest and just and pure and lovely and of good
report as you are my Tess«
She struggled with the sob in her throat How often had that string of
excellences made her young heart ache in church of late years and how strange
that he should have cited them now
»Why didnt you stay and love me when I was sixteen living with my little
sisters and brothers and you danced on the green O why didnt you why didnt
you« she said impetuously clasping her hands
Angel began to comfort and reassure her thinking to himself truly enough
what a creature of moods she was and how careful he would have to be of her
when she depended for her happiness entirely on him
»Ah why didnt I stay« he said »That is just what I feel If I had only
known But you must not be so bitter in your regret why should you be«
With the womans instinct to hide she diverged hastily
»I should have had four years more of your heart than I can ever have now
Then I should not have wasted my time as I have done I should have had so much
longer happiness«
It was no mature woman with a long dark vista of intrigue behind her who was
tormented thus but a girl of simple life not yet oneandtwenty who had been
caught during her days of immaturity like a bird in a springe To calm herself
the more completely she rose from her little stool and left the room over
turning the stool with her skirts as she went
He sat on by the cheerful firelight thrown from a bundle of green ashsticks
laid across the dogs the sticks snapped pleasantly and hissed out bubbles of
sap from their ends When she came back she was herself again
»Do you not think you are just a wee bit capricious fitful Tess« he said
good humouredly as he spread a cushion for her on the stool and seated himself
in the settle beside her »I wanted to ask you something and just then you ran
away«
»Yes perhaps I am capricious« she murmured She suddenly approached him
and put a hand upon each of his arms »No Angel I am not really so by
Nature I mean« The more particularly to assure him that she was not she
placed herself close to him in the settle and allowed her head to find a
restingplace against Clares shoulder »What did you want to ask me I am sure
I will answer it« she continued humbly
»Well you love me and have agreed to marry me and hence there follows a
thirdly When shall the day be«
»I like living like this«
»But I must think of starting in business on my own hook with the new year
or a little later And before I get involved in the multifarious details of my
new position I should like to have secured my partner«
»But« she timidly answered »to talk quite practically wouldnt it be best
not to marry till after all that Though I cant bear the thought o your
going away and leaving me here«
»Of course you cannot and it is not best in this case I want you to help
me in many ways in making my start When shall it be Why not a fortnight from
now«
»No« she said becoming grave »I have so many things to think of first«
»But «
He drew her gently nearer to him
The reality of marriage was startling when it loomed so near Before
discussion of the question had proceeded further there walked round the corner
of the settle into the full firelight of the apartment Mr Dairyman Crick Mrs
Crick and two of the milkmaids
Tess sprang like an elastic ball from his side to her feet while her face
flushed and her eyes shone in the firelight
»I knew how it would be if I sat so close to him« she cried with vexation
»I said to myself they are sure to come and catch us But I wasnt really
sitting on his knee though it might ha seemed as if I was almost«
»Well if so be you hadnt told us I am sure we shouldnt ha noticed that
ye had been sitting anywhere at all in this light« replied the dairyman He
continued to his wife with the stolid mien of a man who understood nothing of
the emotions relating to matrimony »Now Christianer that shows that folks
should never fancy other folks be supposing things when they baint O no I
should never ha thought a word of where she was a sitting to if she hadnt
told me not I«
»We are going to be married soon« said Clare with improvised phlegm
»Ah and be ye Well I am truly glad to hear it sir Ive thought you mid
do such a thing for some time Shes too good for a dairymaid I said so the
very first day I zid her and a prize for any man and whats more a wonderful
woman for a gentlemanfarmers wife he wont be at the mercy of his baily wi
her at his side«
Somehow Tess disappeared She had been even more struck with the look of the
girls who followed Crick than abashed by Cricks blunt praise
After supper when she reached her bedroom they were all present A light
was burning and each damsel was sitting up whitely in her bed awaiting Tess
the whole like a row of avenging ghosts
But she saw in a few moments that there was no malice in their mood They
could scarcely feel as a loss what they had never expected to have Their
condition was objective contemplative
»Hes going to marry her« murmured Retty never taking eyes off Tess »How
her face do show it«
»You be going to marry him« asked Marian
»Yes« said Tess
»When«
»Some day«
They thought that this was evasiveness only
»Yes going to marry him a gentleman« repeated Izz Huett
And by a sort of fascination the three girls one after another crept out
of their beds and came and stood barefooted round Tess Retty put her hands
upon Tesss shoulders as if to realize her friends corporeality after such a
miracle and the other two laid their arms round her waist all looking into her
face
»How it do seem Almost more than I can think of« said Izz Huett
Marian kissed Tess »Yes« she murmured as she withdrew her lips
»Was that because of love for her or because other lips have touched there
by now« continued Izz drily to Marian
»I wasnt thinking o that said Marian simply I was ony feeling all the
strangeness ot that she is to be his wife and nobody else I dont say nay
to it nor either of us because we did not think of it only loved him Still
nobody else is to marryn in the world no fine lady nobody in silks and
satins but she who do live like we«
»Are you sure you dont dislike me for it« said Tess in a low voice
They hung about her in their white nightgowns before replying as if they
considered their answer might lie in her look
»I dont know I dont know« murmured Retty Priddle »I want to hate ee
but I cannot«
»Thats how I feelechoed Izz and Marian I cant hate her Somehow she
hinders me«
»He ought to marry one of you« murmured Tess
»Why«
»You are all better than I«
»We better than you« said the girls in a low slow whisper »No no dear
Tess«
»You are« she contradicted impetuously And suddenly tearing away from
their clinging arms she burst into a hysterical fit of tears bowing herself on
the chest of drawers and repeating incessantly »O yes yes yes«
Having once given way she could not stop her weeping
»He ought to have had one of you« she cried »I think I ought to make him
even now You would be better for him than I dont know what Im saying O
O«
They went up to her and clasped her round but still her sobs tore her
»Get some water« said Marian »Shes upset by us poor thing poor thing«
They gently led her back to the side of her bed where they kissed her
warmly
»You are best forn« said Marian »More ladylike and a better scholar than
we especially since he has taught ee so much But even you ought to be proud
You be proud Im sure«
»Yes I am« she said »and I am ashamed at so breaking down«
When they were all in bed and the light was out Marian whispered across to
her
»You will think of us when you be his wife Tess and of how we told ee
that we loved him and how we tried not to hate you and did not hate you and
could not hate you because you were his choice and we never hoped to be chose
by him«
They were not aware that at these words salt stinging tears trickled down
upon Tesss pillow anew and how she resolved with a bursting heart to tell
all her history to Angel Clare despite her mothers command to let him for
whom she lived and breathed despise her if he would and her mother regard her
as a fool rather than preserve a silence which might be deemed a treachery to
him and which somehow seemed a wrong to these
XXXII
This penitential mood kept her from naming the weddingday The beginning of
November found its date still in abeyance though he asked her at the most
tempting times But Tesss desire seemed to be for a perpetual betrothal in
which everything should remain as it was then
The meads were changing now but it was still warm enough in early
afternoons before milking to idle there awhile and the state of dairywork at
this time of year allowed a spare hour for idling Looking over the damp sod in
the direction of the sun a glistening ripple of gossamer webs was visible to
their eyes under the luminary like the track of moonlight on the sea Gnats
knowing nothing of their brief glorification wandered across the shimmer of
this pathway irradiated as if they bore fire within them then passed out of
its line and were quite extinct In the presence of these things he would
remind her that the date was still the question
Or he would ask her at night when he accompanied her on some mission
invented by Mrs Crick to give him the opportunity This was mostly a journey to
the farmhouse on the slopes above the vale to inquire how the advanced cows
were getting on in the strawbarton to which they were relegated For it was a
time of the year that brought great changes to the world of kine Batches of the
animals were sent away daily to this lyingin hospital where they lived on
straw till their calves were born after which event and as soon as the calf
could walk mother and offspring were driven back to the dairy In the interval
which elapsed before the calves were sold there was of course little milking
to be done but as soon as the calf had been taken away the milkmaids would have
to set to work as usual
Returning from one of these dark walks they reached a great gravelcliff
immediately over the levels where they stood still and listened The water was
now high in the streams squirting through the weirs and tinkling under
culverts the smallest gullies were all full there was no taking short cuts
anywhere and footpassengers were compelled to follow the permanent ways From
the whole extent of the invisible vale came a multitudinous intonation it
forced upon their fancy that a great city lay below them and that the murmur
was the vociferation of its populace
»It seems like tens of thousands of them« said Tess »holding
publicmeetings in their marketplaces arguing preaching quarrelling
sobbing groaning praying and cursing«
Clare was not particularly heeding
»Did Crick speak to you today dear about his not wanting much assistance
during the winter months«
»No«
»The cows are going dry rapidly«
»Yes Six or seven went to the strawbarton yesterday and three the day
before making nearly twenty in the straw already Ah is it that the farmer
dont want my help for the calving O I am not wanted here any more And I have
tried so hard to «
»Crick didnt exactly say that he would no longer require you But knowing
what our relations were he said in the most goodnatured and respectful manner
possible that he supposed on my leaving at Christmas I should take you with me
and on my asking what he would do without you he merely observed that as a
matter of fact it was a time of year when he could do with a very little female
help I am afraid I was sinner enough to feel rather glad that he was in this
way forcing your hand«
»I dont think you ought to have felt glad Angel Because tis always
mournful not to be wanted even if at the same time tis convenient«
»Well it is convenient you have admitted that« He put his finger upon
her cheek »Ah« he said
»What«
»I feel the red rising up at her having been caught But why should I trifle
so We will not trifle life is too serious«
»It is Perhaps I saw that before you did«
She was seeing it then To decline to marry him after all in obedience to
her emotion of last night and leave the dairy meant to go to some strange
place not a dairy for milkmaids were not in request now calvingtime was
coming on to go to some arable farm where no divine being like Angel Clare was
She hated the thought and she hated more the thought of going home
»So that seriously dearest Tess« he continued »since you will probably
have to leave at Christmas it is in every way desirable and convenient that I
should carry you off then as my property Besides if you were not the most
uncalculating girl in the world you would know that we could not go on like this
for ever«
»I wish we could That it would always be summer and autumn and you always
courting me and always thinking as much of me as you have done through the past
summertime«
»I always shall«
»O I know you will« she cried with a sudden fervour of faith in him
»Angel I will fix the day when I will become yours for always«
Thus at last it was arranged between them during that dark walk home amid
the myriads of liquid voices on the right and left
When they reached the dairy Mr and Mrs Crick were promptly told with
injunctions to secrecy for each of the lovers was desirous that the marriage
should be kept as private as possible The dairyman though he had thought of
dismissing her soon now made a great concern about losing her What should he
do about his skimming Who would make the ornamental butterpats for the
Anglebury and Sandbourne ladies Mrs Crick congratulated Tess on the
shillyshallying having at last come to an end and said that directly she set
eyes on Tess she divined that she was to be the chosen one of somebody who was
no common outdoor man Tess had looked so superior as she walked across the
barton on that afternoon of her arrival that she was of a good family she could
have sworn In point of fact Mrs Crick did remember thinking that Tess was
graceful and goodlooking as she approached but the superiority might have been
a growth of the imagination aided by subsequent knowledge
Tess was now carried along upon the wings of the hours without the sense of
a will The word had been given the number of the day written down Her
naturally bright intelligence had begun to admit the fatalistic convictions
common to field folk and those who associate more extensively with natural
phenomena than with their fellowcreatures and she accordingly drifted into
that passive responsiveness to all things her lover suggested characteristic of
the frame of mind
But she wrote anew to her mother ostensibly to notify the weddingday
really to again implore her advice It was a gentleman who had chosen her which
perhaps her mother had not sufficiently considered A postnuptial explanation
which might be accepted with a light heart by a rougher man might not be
received with the same feeling by him But this communication brought no reply
from Mrs Durbeyfield
Despite Angel Clares plausible representations to himself and to Tess of
the practical need for their immediate marriage there was in truth an element
of precipitancy in the step as became apparent at a later date He loved her
dearly though perhaps rather ideally and fancifully than with the impassioned
thoroughness of her feeling for him He had entertained no notion when doomed
as he had thought to an unintellectual bucolic life that such charms as he
beheld in this idyllic creature would be found behind the scenes
Unsophistication was a thing to talk of but he had not known how it really
struck one until he came here Yet he was very far from seeing his future track
clearly and it might be a year or two before he would be able to consider
himself fairly started in life The secret lay in the tinge of recklessness
imparted to his career and character by the sense that he had been made to miss
his true destiny through the prejudices of his family
»Dont you think twould have been better for us to wait till you were quite
settled in your midland farm« she once asked timidly A midland farm was the
idea just then
»To tell the truth my Tess I dont like you to be left anywhere away from
my protection and sympathy«
The reason was a good one so far as it went His influence over her had
been so marked that she had caught his manner and habits his speech and
phrases his likings and his aversions And to leave her in farmland would be to
let her slip back again out of accord with him He wished to have her under his
charge for another reason His parents had naturally desired to see her once at
least before he carried her off to a distant settlement English or colonial
and as no opinion of theirs was to be allowed to change his intention he judged
that a couple of months life with him in lodgings whilst seeking for an
advantageous opening would be of some social assistance to her at what she might
feel to be a trying ordeal her presentation to his mother at the Vicarage
Next he wished to see a little of the working of a flourmill having an
idea that he might combine the use of one with corngrowing The proprietor of a
large old watermill at Wellbridge once the mill of an Abbey had offered him
the inspection of his timehonoured mode of procedure and a hand in the
operations for a few days whenever he should choose to come Clare paid a visit
to the place some few miles distant one day at this time to inquire
particulars and returned to Talbothays in the evening She found him determined
to spend a short time at the Wellbridge flourmills And what had determined
him Less the opportunity of an insight into grinding and bolting than the
casual fact that lodgings were to be obtained in that very farmhouse which
before its mutilation had been the mansion of a branch of the dUrberville
family This was always how Clare settled practical questions by a sentiment
which had nothing to do with them They decided to go immediately after the
wedding and remain for a fortnight instead of journeying to towns and inns
»Then we will start off to examine some farms on the other side of London
that I have heard of« he said »and by March or April we will pay a visit to my
father and mother«
Questions of procedure such as these arose and passed and the day the
incredible day on which she was to become his loomed large in the near future
The thirtyfirst of December New Years Eve was the date His wife she said
to herself Could it ever be Their two selves together nothing to divide them
every incident shared by them why not And yet why
One Sunday morning Izz Huett returned from church and spoke privately to
Tess
»You was not called home this morning«
»What«
»It should ha been the first time of asking today she answered looking
quietly at Tess You meant to be married New Years Eve deary«
The other returned a quick affirmative
»And there must be three times of asking And now there be only two Sundays
left between«
Tess felt her cheek paling Izz was right of course there must be three
Perhaps he had forgotten If so there must be a weeks postponement and that
was unlucky How could she remind her lover She who had been so backward was
suddenly fired with impatience and alarm lest she should lose her dear prize
A natural incident relieved her anxiety Izz mentioned the omission of the
banns to Mrs Crick and Mrs Crick assumed a matrons privilege of speaking to
Angel on the point
»Have ye forgot em Mr Clare The banns I mean«
»No I have not forgot em« says Clare
As soon as he caught Tess alone he assured her
»Dont let them tease you about the banns A licence will be quieter for us
and I have decided on a licence without consulting you So if you go to church
on Sunday morning you will not hear your own name if you wished to«
»I didnt wish to hear it dearest« she said proudly
But to know that things were in train was an immense relief to Tess
notwithstanding who had wellnigh feared that somebody would stand up and
forbid the banns on the ground of her history How events were favouring her
»I dont quite feel easy« she said to herself »All this good fortune may
be scourged out of me afterwards by a lot of ill Thats how Heaven mostly does
I wish I could have had common banns«
But everything went smoothly She wondered whether he would like her to be
married in her present best white frock or if she ought to buy a new one The
question was set at rest by his forethought disclosed by the arrival of some
large packages addressed to her Inside them she found a whole stock of
clothing from bonnet to shoes including a perfect morning costume such as
would well suit the simple wedding they planned He entered the house shortly
after the arrival of the packages and heard her upstairs undoing them
A minute later she came down with a flush on her face and tears in her eyes
»How thoughtful youve been« she murmured her cheek upon his shoulder
»Even to the gloves and handkerchief My own love how good how kind«
»No no Tess just an order to a tradeswoman in London nothing more
And to divert her from thinking too highly of him he told her to go
upstairs and take her time and see if it all fitted and if not to get the
village sempstress to make a few alterations
She did return upstairs and put on the gown Alone she stood for a moment
before the glass looking at the effect of her silk attire and then there came
into her head her mothers ballad of the mystic robe
That never would become that wife
That had once done amiss
which Mrs Durbeyfield had used to sing to her as a child so blithely and so
archly her foot on the cradle which she rocked to the tune Suppose this robe
should betray her by changing colour as her robe had betrayed Queen Guénever
Since she had been at the dairy she had not once thought of the lines till now
XXXIII
Angel felt that he would like to spend a day with her before the wedding
somewhere away from the dairy as a last jaunt in her company while they were
yet mere lover and mistress a romantic day in circumstances that would never
be repeated with that other and greater day beaming close ahead of them During
the preceding week therefore he suggested making a few purchases in the
nearest town and they started together
Clares life at the dairy had been that of a recluse in respect to the world
of his own class For months he had never gone near a town and requiring no
vehicle had never kept one hiring the dairymans cob or gig if he rode or
drove They went in the gig that day
And then for the first time in their lives they shopped as partners in one
concern It was Christmas Eve with its loads of holly and mistletoe and the
town was very full of strangers who had come in from all parts of the country on
account of the day Tess paid the penalty of walking about with happiness
superadded to beauty on her countenance by being much stared at as she moved
amid them on his arm
In the evening they returned to the inn at which they had put up and Tess
waited in the entry while Angel went to see the horse and gig brought to the
door The general sittingroom was full of guests who were continually going in
and out As the door opened and shut each time for the passage of these the
light within the parlour fell full upon Tesss face Two men came out and passed
by her among the rest One of them had stared her up and down in surprise and
she fancied he was a Trantridge man though that village lay so many miles off
that Trantridge folk were rarities here
A comely maid that« said the other
»True comely enough But unless I make a great mistake « And he negatived
the remainder of the definition forthwith
Clare had just returned from the stableyard and confronting the man on
the threshold heard the words and saw the shrinking of Tess The insult to her
stung him to the quick and before he had considered anything at all he struck
the man on the chin with the full force of his fist sending him staggering
backwards into the passage
The man recovered himself and seemed inclined to come on and Clare
stepping outside the door put himself in a posture of defence But his opponent
began to think better of the matter He looked anew at Tess as he passed her
and said to Clare
»I beg pardon sir twas a complete mistake I thought she was another
woman forty miles from here«
Clare feeling then that he had been too hasty and that he was moreover
to blame for leaving her standing in an innpassage did what he usually did in
such cases gave the man five shillings to plaster the blow and thus they
parted bidding each other a pacific goodnight As soon as Clare had taken the
reins from the ostler and the young couple had driven off the two men went in
the other direction
»And was it a mistake« said the second one
»Not a bit of it But I didnt want to hurt the gentlemans feelings not
I«
In the meantime the lovers were driving onward
»Could we put off our wedding till a little later« Tess asked in a dry dull
voice »I mean if we wished«
»No my love Calm yourself Do you mean that the fellow may have time to
summon me for assault« he asked goodhumouredly
»No I only meant if it should have to be put off«
What she meant was not very clear and he directed her to dismiss such
fancies from her mind which she obediently did as well as she could But she
was grave very grave all the way home till she thought »We shall go away a
very long distance hundreds of miles from these parts and such as this can
never happen again and no ghost of the past reach there«
They parted tenderly that night on the landing and Clare ascended to his
attic Tess sat up getting on with some little requisites lest the few
remaining days should not afford sufficient time While she sat she heard a
noise in Angels room overhead a sound of thumping and struggling Everybody
else in the house was asleep and in her anxiety lest Clare should be ill she
ran up and knocked at his door and asked him what was the matter
»Oh nothing dear« he said from within »I am so sorry I disturbed you
But the reason is rather an amusing one I fell asleep and dreamt that I was
fighting that fellow again who insulted you and the noise you heard was my
pummelling away with my fists at my portmanteau which I pulled out today for
packing I am occasionally liable to these freaks in my sleep Go to bed and
think of it no more«
This was the last drachm required to turn the scale of her indecision
Declare the past to him by word of mouth she could not but there was another
way She sat down and wrote on the four pages of a notesheet a succinct
narrative of those events of three or four years ago put it into an envelope
and directed it to Clare Then lest the flesh should again be weak she crept
upstairs without any shoes and slipped the note under his door
Her night was a broken one as it well might be and she listened for the
first faint noise overhead It came as usual he descended as usual She
descended He met her at the bottom of the stairs and kissed her Surely it was
as warmly as ever
He looked a little disturbed and worn she thought But he said not a word
to her about her revelation even when they were alone Could he have had it
Unless he began the subject she felt that she could say nothing So the day
passed and it was evident that whatever he thought he meant to keep to himself
Yet he was frank and affectionate as before Could it be that her doubts were
childish that he forgave her that he loved her for what she was just as she
was and smiled at her disquiet as at a foolish nightmare Had he really
received her note She glanced into his room and could see nothing of it It
might be that he forgave her But even if he had not received it she had a
sudden enthusiastic trust that he surely would forgive her
Every morning and night he was the same and thus New Years Eve broke the
weddingday
The lovers did not rise at milkingtime having through the whole of this
last week of their sojourn at the dairy been accorded something of the position
of guests Tess being honoured with a room of her own When they arrived
downstairs at breakfasttime they were surprised to see what effects had been
produced in the large kitchen for their glory since they had last beheld it At
some unnatural hour of the morning the dairyman had caused the yawning
chimneycorner to be whitened and the brick hearth reddened and a blazing
yellow damask blower to be hung across the arch in place of the old grimy blue
cotton one with a black sprig pattern which had formerly done duty here This
renovated aspect of what was the focus indeed of the room on a dull winter
morning threw a smiling demeanour over the whole apartment
»I was determined to do summat in honour ot said the dairyman And as you
wouldnt hear of my gieing a rattling good randy wi fiddles and bassviols
complete as we should ha done in old times this was all I could think o as a
noiseless thing«
Tesss friends lived so far off that none could conveniently have been
present at the ceremony even had any been asked but as a fact nobody was
invited from Marlott As for Angels family he had written and duly informed
them of the time and assured them that he would be glad to see one at least of
them there for the day if he would like to come His brothers had not replied at
all seeming to be indignant with him while his father and mother had written a
rather sad letter deploring his precipitancy in rushing into marriage but
making the best of the matter by saying that though a dairywoman was the last
daughterinlaw they could have expected their son had arrived at an age at
which he might be supposed to be the best judge
This coolness in his relations distressed Clare less than it would have done
had he been without the grand card with which he meant to surprise them ere
long To produce Tess fresh from the dairy as a dUrberville and a lady he
had felt to be temerarious and risky hence he had concealed her lineage till
such time as familiarized with worldly ways by a few months travel and reading
with him he could take her on a visit to his parents and impart the knowledge
while triumphantly producing her as worthy of such an ancient line It was a
pretty lovers dream if no more Perhaps Tesss lineage had more value for
himself than for anybody in the world besides
Her perception that Angels bearing towards her still remained in no whit
altered by her own communication rendered Tess guiltily doubtful if he could
have received it She rose from breakfast before he had finished and hastened
upstairs It had occurred to her to look once more into the queer gaunt room
which had been Clares den or rather eyrie for so long and climbing the
ladder she stood at the open door of the apartment regarding and pondering She
stooped to the threshold of the doorway where she had pushed in the note two or
three days earlier in such excitement The carpet reached close to the sill and
under the edge of the carpet she discerned the faint white margin of the
envelope containing her letter to him which he obviously had never seen owing
to her having in her haste thrust it beneath the carpet as well as beneath the
door
With a feeling of faintness she withdrew the letter There it was sealed
up just as it had left her hands The mountain had not yet been removed She
could not let him read it now the house being in full bustle of preparation
and descending to her own room she destroyed the letter there
She was so pale when he saw her again that he felt quite anxious The
incident of the misplaced letter she had jumped at as if it prevented a
confession but she knew in her conscience that it need not there was still
time Yet everything was in a stir there was coming and going all had to
dress the dairyman and Mrs Crick having been asked to accompany them as
witnesses and reflection or deliberate talk was wellnigh impossible The only
minute Tess could get to be alone with Clare was when they met upon the landing
»I am so anxious to talk to you I want to confess all my faults and
blunders« she said with attempted lightness
»No no we cant have faults talked of you must be deemed perfect today
at least my Sweet« he cried »We shall have plenty of time hereafter I hope
to talk over our failings I will confess mine at the same time«
»But it would be better for me to do it now I think so that you could not
say «
»Well my quixotic one you shall tell me anything say as soon as we are
settled in our lodging not now I too will tell you my faults then But do
not let us spoil the day with them they will be excellent matter for a dull
time«
»Then you dont wish me to dearest«
»I do not Tessy really«
The hurry of dressing and starting left no time for more than this Those
words of his seemed to reassure her on further reflection She was whirled
onward through the next couple of critical hours by the mastering tide of her
devotion to him which closed up further meditation Her one desire so long
resisted to make herself his to call him her lord her own then if
necessary to die had at last lifted her up from her plodding reflective
pathway In dressing she moved about in a mental cloud of manycoloured
idealities which eclipsed all sinister contingencies by its brightness
The church was a long way off and they were obliged to drive particularly
as it was winter A close carriage was ordered from a roadside inn a vehicle
which had been kept there ever since the old days of postchaise travelling It
had stout wheelspokes and heavy felloes a great curved bed immense straps
and springs and a pole like a batteringram The postilion was a venerable
»boy« of sixty a martyr to rheumatic gout the result of excessive exposure in
youth counteracted by strong liquors who had stood at inndoors doing nothing
for the whole fiveandtwenty years that had elapsed since he had no longer been
required to ride professionally as if expecting the old times to come back
again He had a permanent running wound on the outside of his right leg
originated by the constant bruisings of aristocratic carriagepoles during the
many years that he had been in regular employ at the Kings Arms Casterbridge
Inside this cumbrous and creaking structure and behind this decayed
conductor the partie carrée took their seats the bride and bridegroom and Mr
and Mrs Crick Angel would have liked one at least of his brothers to be
present as groomsman but their silence after his gentle hint to that effect by
letter had signified that they did not care to come They disapproved of the
marriage and could not be expected to countenance it Perhaps it was as well
that they could not be present They were not worldly young fellows but
fraternizing with dairyfolk would have struck unpleasantly upon their biassed
niceness apart from their views of the match
Upheld by the momentum of the time Tess knew nothing of this did not see
anything did not know the road they were taking to the church She knew that
Angel was close to her all the rest was a luminous mist She was a sort of
celestial person who owed her being to poetry one of those classical
divinities Clare was accustomed to talk to her about when they took their walks
together
The marriage being by licence there were only a dozen or so of people in the
church had there been a thousand they would have produced no more effect upon
her They were at stellar distances from her present world In the ecstatic
solemnity with which she swore her faith to him the ordinary sensibilities of
sex seemed a flippancy At a pause in the service while they were kneeling
together she unconsciously inclined herself towards him so that her shoulder
touched his arm she had been frightened by a passing thought and the movement
had been automatic to assure herself that he was really there and to fortify
her belief that his fidelity would be proof against all things
Clare knew that she loved him every curve of her form showed that but he
did not know at that time the full depth of her devotion its singlemindedness
its meekness what longsuffering it guaranteed what honesty what endurance
what good faith
As they came out of church the ringers swung the bells off their rests and
a modest peal of three notes broke forth that limited amount of expression
having been deemed sufficient by the church builders for the joys of such a
small parish Passing by the tower with her husband on the path to the gate she
could feel the vibrant air humming round them from the louvred belfry in a
circle of sound and it matched the highlycharged mental atmosphere in which
she was living
This condition of mind wherein she felt glorified by an irradiation not her
own like the angel whom St John saw in the sun lasted till the sound of the
church bells had died away and the emotions of the weddingservice had calmed
down Her eyes could dwell upon details more clearly now and Mr and Mrs Crick
having directed their own gig to be sent for them to leave the carriage to the
young couple she observed the build and character of that conveyance for the
first time Sitting in silence she regarded it long
»I fancy you seem oppressed Tessy« said Clare
»Yes« she answered putting her hand to her brow »I tremble at many
things It is all so serious Angel Among other things I seem to have seen this
carriage before to be very well acquainted with it It is very odd I must
have seen it in a dream«
»Oh you have heard the legend of the dUrberville Coach that wellknown
superstition of this county about your family when they were very popular here
and this lumbering old thing reminds you of it«
»I have never heard of it to my knowledge« said she »What is the legend
may I know it«
»WellI would rather not tell it in detail just now A certain dUrberville
of the sixteenth or seventeenth century committed a dreadful crime in his family
coach and since that time members of the family see or hear the old coach
whenever But Ill tell you another day it is rather gloomy Evidently some
dim knowledge of it has been brought back to your mind by the sight of this
venerable caravan«
»I dont remember hearing it before« she murmured »Is it when we are going
to die Angel that members of my family see it or is it when we have committed
a crime«
»Now Tess«
He silenced her by a kiss
By the time they reached home she was contrite and spiritless She was Mrs
Angel Clare indeed but had she any moral right to the name Was she not more
truly Mrs Alexander dUrberville Could intensity of love justify what might be
considered in upright souls as culpable reticence She knew not what was
expected of women in such cases and she had no counsellor
However when she found herself alone in her room for a few minutes the
last day this on which she was ever to enter it she knelt down and prayed She
tried to pray to God but it was her husband who really had her supplication
Her idolatry of this man was such that she herself almost feared it to be
illomened She was conscious of the notion expressed by Friar Laurence »These
violent delights have violent ends« It might be too desperate for human
conditions too rank too wild too deadly
»O my love my love why do I love you so« she whispered there alone »for
she you love is not my real self but one in my image the one I might have
been«
Afternoon came and with it the hour for departure They had decided to
fulfil the plan of going for a few days to the lodgings in the old farmhouse
near Wellbridge Mill at which he meant to reside during his investigation of
flour processes At two oclock there was nothing left to do but to start All
the servantry of the dairy were standing in the redbrick entry to see them go
out the dairyman and his wife following to the door Tess saw her three
chambermates in a row against the wall pensively inclining their heads She
had much questioned if they would appear at the parting moment but there they
were stoical and staunch to the last She knew why the delicate Retty looked so
fragile and Izz so tragically sorrowful and Marian so blank and she forgot
her own dogging shadow for a moment in contemplating theirs
She impulsively whispered to him
»Will you kiss em all once poor things for the first and last time«
Clare had not the least objection to such a farewell formality which was
all that it was to him and as he passed them he kissed them in succession
where they stood saying »Goodbye« to each as he did so When they reached the
door Tess femininely glanced back to discern the effect of that kiss of charity
there was no triumph in her glance as there might have been If there had it
would have disappeared when she saw how moved the girls all were The kiss had
obviously done harm by awakening feelings they were trying to subdue
Of all this Clare was unconscious Passing on to the wicketgate he shook
hands with the dairyman and his wife and expressed his last thanks to them for
their attentions after which there was a moment of silence before they had
moved off It was interrupted by the crowing of a cock The white one with the
rose comb had come and settled on the palings in front of the house within a
few yards of them and his notes thrilled their ears through dwindling away
like echoes down a valley of rocks
»Oh« said Mrs Crick »An afternoon crow«
Two men were standing by the yard gate holding it open
»Thats bad« one murmured to the other not thinking that the words could
be heard by the group at the doorwicket
The cock crew again straight towards Clare
»Well« said the dairyman
»I dont like to hear him said Tess to her husband Tell the man to drive
on Goodbye goodbye«
The cock crew again
»Hoosh Just you be off sir or Ill twist your neck« said the dairyman
with some irritation turning to the bird and driving him away And to his wife
as they went indoors »Now to think o that just today Ive not heard his
crow of an afternoon all the year afore«
»It only means a change in the weather« said she »not what you think tis
impossible«
XXXIV
They drove by the level road along the valley to a distance of a few miles and
reaching Wellbridge turned away from the village to the left and over the
great Elizabethan bridge which gives the place half its name Immediately behind
it stood the house wherein they had engaged lodgings whose exterior features
are so well known to all travellers through the Froom Valley once portion of a
fine manorial residence and the property and seat of a dUrberville but since
its partial demolition a farmhouse
»Welcome to one of your ancestral mansions« said Clare as he handed her
down But he regretted the pleasantry it was too near a satire
On entering they found that though they had only engaged a couple of rooms
the farmer had taken advantage of their proposed presence during the coming days
to pay a New Years visit to some friends leaving a woman from a neighbouring
cottage to minister to their few wants The absoluteness of possession pleased
them and they realized it as the first moment of their experience under their
own exclusive rooftree
But he found that the mouldy old habitation somewhat depressed his bride
When the carriage was gone they ascended the stairs to wash their hands the
charwoman showing the way On the landing Tess stopped and started
»Whats the matter« said he
»Those horrid women« she answered with a smile »How they frightened me«
He looked up and perceived two lifesize portraits on panels built into the
masonry As all visitors to the mansion are aware these paintings represent
women of middle age of a date some two hundred years ago whose lineaments once
seen can never be forgotten The long pointed features narrow eye and smirk of
the one so suggestive of merciless treachery the billhook nose large teeth
and bold eye of the other suggesting arrogance to the point of ferocity haunt
the beholder afterwards in his dreams
»Whose portraits are those« asked Clare of the charwoman
»I have been told by old folk that they were ladies of the dUrberville
family the ancient lords of this manor« she said »Owing to their being
builded into the wall they cant be moved away«
The unpleasantness of the matter was that in addition to their effect upon
Tess her fine features were unquestionably traceable in these exaggerated
forms He said nothing of this however and regretting that he had gone out of
his way to choose the house for their bridal time went on into the adjoining
room The place having been rather hastily prepared for them they washed their
hands in one basin Clare touched hers under the water
»Which are my fingers and which are yours« he said looking up »They are
very much mixed«
»They are all yours« said she very prettily and endeavoured to be gayer
than she was He had not been displeased with her thoughtfulness on such an
occasion it was what every sensible woman would show but Tess knew that she
had been thoughtful to excess and struggled against it
The sun was so low on that short last afternoon of the year that it shone in
through a small opening and formed a golden staff which stretched across to her
skirt where it made a spot like a paintmark set upon her They went into the
ancient parlour to tea and here they shared their first common meal alone Such
was their childishness or rather his that he found it interesting to use the
same breadandbutter plate as herself and to brush crumbs from her lips with
his own He wondered a little that she did not enter into these frivolities with
his own zest
Looking at her silently for a long time »She is a dear dear Tess« he
thought to himself as one deciding on the true construction of a difficult
passage »Do I realize solemnly enough how utterly and irretrievably this little
womanly thing is the creature of my good or bad faith and fortune I think not
I think I could not unless I were a woman myself What I am in worldly estate
she is What I become she must become What I cannot be she cannot be And
shall I ever neglect her or hurt her or even forget to consider her God
forbid such a crime«
They sat on over the teatable waiting for their luggage which the dairyman
had promised to send before it grew dark But evening began to close in and the
luggage did not arrive and they had brought nothing more than they stood in
With the departure of the sun the calm mood of the winter day changed Out of
doors there began noises as of silk smartly rubbed the restful dead leaves of
the preceding autumn were stirred to irritated resurrection and whirled about
unwillingly and tapped against the shutters It soon began to rain
»That cock knew the weather was going to change« said Clare
The woman who had attended upon them had gone home for the night but she
had placed candles upon the table and now they lit them Each candleflame drew
towards the fireplace
»These old houses are so draughty« continued Angel looking at the flames
and at the grease guttering down the sides »I wonder where that luggage is We
havent even a brush and comb«
»I dont know« she answered absentminded
»Tess you are not a bit cheerful this evening not at all as you used to
be Those harridans on the panels upstairs have unsettled you I am sorry I
brought you here I wonder if you really love me after all«
He knew that she did and the words had no serious intent but she was
surcharged with emotion and winced like a wounded animal Though she tried not
to shed tears she could not help showing one or two
»I did not mean it« said he sorry »You are worried at not having your
things I know I cannot think why old Jonathan has not come with them Why it
is seven oclock Ah there he is«
A knock had come to the door and there being nobody else to answer it
Clare went out He returned to the room with a small package in his hand
»It is not Jonathan after allhe said
How vexing« said Tess
The packet had been brought by a special messenger who had arrived at
Talbothays from Emminster Vicarage immediately after the departure of the
married couple and had followed them hither being under injunction to deliver
it into nobodys hands but theirs Clare brought it to the light It was less
than a foot long sewed up in canvas sealed in red wax with his fathers seal
and directed in his fathers hand to »Mrs Angel Clare«
»It is a little weddingpresent for you Tess« said he handing it to her
»How thoughtful they are«
Tess looked a little flustered as she took it
»I think I would rather have you open it dearest« said she turning over
the parcel »I dont like to break those great seals they look so serious
Please open it for me«
He undid the parcel Inside was a case of morocco leather on the top of
which lay a note and a key The note was for Clare in the following words
My Dear Son Possibly you have forgotten that on the death of your
godmother Mrs Pitney when you were a lad she vain kind woman that
she was left to me a portion of the contents of her jewelcase in
trust for your wife if you should ever have one as a mark of her
affection for you and whomsoever you should choose This trust I have
fulfilled and the diamonds have been locked up at my bankers ever
since Though I feel it to be a somewhat incongruous act in the
circumstances I am as you will see bound to hand over the articles to
the woman to whom the use of them for her lifetime will now rightly
belong and they are therefore promptly sent They become I believe
heirlooms strictly speaking according to the terms of your godmothers
will The precise words of the clause that refers to this matter are
enclosed
»I do remember« said Clare »but I had quite forgotten«
Unlocking the case they found it to contain a necklace with pendant
bracelets and earrings and also some other small ornaments
Tess seemed afraid to touch them at first but her eyes sparkled for a
moment as much as the stones when Clare spread out the set
»Are they mine« she asked incredulously
»They are certainly« said he
He looked into the fire He remembered how when he was a lad of fifteen
his godmother the Squires wife the only rich person with whom he had ever
come in contact had pinned her faith to his success had prophesied a wondrous
career for him There had seemed nothing at all out of keeping with such a
conjectured career in the storing up of these showy ornaments for his wife and
the wives of her descendants They gleamed somewhat ironically now »Yet why«
he asked himself It was but a question of vanity throughout and if that were
admitted into one side of the equation it should be admitted into the other His
wife was a dUrberville whom could they become better than her
Suddenly he said with enthusiasm
»Tess put them on put them on« And he turned from the fire to help her
But as if by magic she had already donned them necklace earrings
bracelets and all
»But the gown isnt right Tess« said Clare »It ought to be a low one for
a set of brilliants like that«
»Ought it« said Tess
»Yes« said he
He suggested to her how to tuck in the upper edge of her bodice so as to
make it roughly approximate to the cut for evening wear and when she had done
this and the pendant to the necklace hung isolated amid the whiteness of her
throat as it was designed to do he stepped back to survey her
»My heavens« said Clare »how beautiful you are«
As everybody knows fine feathers make fine birds a peasant girl but very
moderately prepossessing to the casual observer in her simple condition and
attire will bloom as an amazing beauty if clothed as a woman of fashion with
the aids that Art can render while the beauty of the midnight crush would often
cut but a sorry figure if placed inside the field wrapper upon a monotonous
acreage of turnips on a dull day He had never till now estimated the artistic
excellence of Tesss limbs and features
»If you were only to appear in a ballroom« he said »But no no dearest
I think I love you best in the wingbonnet and cottonfrock yes better than
in this well as you support these dignities«
Tesss sense of her striking appearance had given her a flush of excitement
which was yet not happiness
»Ill take them off« she said »in case Jonathan should see me They are
not fit for me are they They must be sold I suppose«
»Let them stay a few minutes longer Sell them Never It would be a breach
of faith«
Influenced by a second thought she readily obeyed She had something to
tell and there might be help in these She sat down with the jewels upon her
and they again indulged in conjectures as to where Jonathan could possibly be
with their baggage The ale they had poured out for his consumption when he came
had gone flat with long standing
Shortly after this they began supper which was already laid on a
sidetable Ere they had finished there was a jerk in the firesmoke the rising
skein of which bulged out into the room as if some giant had laid his hand on
the chimneytop for a moment It had been caused by the opening of the outer
door A heavy step was now heard in the passage and Angel went out
»I couldn make nobody hear at all by knocking« apologized Jonathan Kail
for it was he at last and ast was raining out I opened the door »Ive
brought the things sir«
»I am very glad to see them But you are very late«
»Well yes sir«
There was something subdued in Jonathan Kails tone which had not been there
in the day and lines of concern were ploughed upon his forehead in addition to
the lines of years He continued
»Weve all been gallied at the dairy at what might ha been a most terrible
affliction since you and your Misess so to name her now left us this
aternoon Perhaps you hant forgot the cocks afternoon crow«
»Dear me what «
»Well some says it do mane one thing and some another but whats happened
is that poor little Retty Priddle hev tried to drown herself«
»No Really Why she bade us goodbye with the rest «
»Yes Well sir when you and your Misess so to name what she lawful is
when you two drove away as I say Retty and Marian put on their bonnets and
went out and as there is not much doing now being New Years Eve and folks
mops and brooms from whats inside em nobody took much notice They went on to
LewEverard where they had summut to drink and then on they vamped to
Dreearmed Cross and there they seemed to have parted Retty striking across
the watermeads as if for home and Marian going on to the next village where
theres another publichouse Nothing more was zeed or heard o Retty till the
waterman on his way home noticed something by the Great Pool twas her bonnet
and shawl packed up In the water he found her He and another man brought her
home thinking a was dead but she fetched round by degrees«
Angel suddenly recollecting that Tess was overhearing this gloomy tale
went to shut the door between the passage and the anteroom to the inner parlour
where she was but his wife flinging a shawl round her had come to the outer
room and was listening to the mans narrative her eyes resting absently on the
luggage and the drops of rain glistening upon it
»And more than this theres Marian shes been found dead drunk by the
withybed a girl who hev never been known to touch anything before except
shilling ale though to be sure a was always a good trencherwoman as her
face showed It seems as if the maids had all gone out o their minds«
»And Izz« asked Tess
»Izz is about house as usual but a do say a can guess how it happened
and she seems to be very low in mind about it poor maid as well she mid be
And so you see sir as all this happened just when we was packing your few
traps and your Misesss nightrail and dressing things into the cart why it
belated me«
»Yes Well Jonathan will you get the trunks upstairs and drink a cup of
ale and hasten back as soon as you can in case you should be wanted«
Tess had gone back to the inner parlour and sat down by the fire looking
wistfully into it She heard Jonathan Kails heavy footsteps up and down the
stairs till he had done placing the luggage and heard him express his thanks
for the ale her husband took out to him and for the gratuity he received
Jonathans footsteps then died from the door and his cart creaked away
Angel slid forward the massive oak bar which secured the door and coming in
to where she sat over the hearth pressed her cheeks between his hands from
behind He expected her to jump up gaily and unpack the toiletgear that she had
been so anxious about but as she did not rise he sat down with her in the
firelight the candles on the suppertable being too thin and glimmering to
interfere with its glow
»I am so sorry you should have heard this sad story about the girls« he
said »Still dont let it depress you Retty was naturally morbid you know«
»Without the least cause« said Tess »While they who have cause to be hide
it and pretend they are not«
This incident had turned the scale for her They were simple and innocent
girls on whom the unhappiness of unrequited love had fallen they had deserved
better at the hands of Fate She had deserved worse yet she was the chosen
one It was wicked of her to take all without paying She would pay to the
uttermost farthing she would tell there and then This final determination she
came to when she looked into the fire he holding her hand
A steady glare from the now flameless embers painted the sides and back of
the fireplace with its colour and the wellpolished andirons and the old brass
tongs that would not meet The underside of the mantelshelf was flushed with
the highcoloured light and the legs of the table nearest the fire Tesss face
and neck reflected the same warmth which each gem turned into an Aldebaran or a
Sirius a constellation of white red and green flashes that interchanged
their hues with her every pulsation
»Do you remember what we said to each other this morning about telling our
faults« he asked abruptly finding that she still remained immovable »We spoke
lightly perhaps and you may well have done so But for me it was no light
promise I want to make a confession to you Love«
This from him so unexpectedly apposite had the effect upon her of a
Providential interposition
»You have to confess something« she said quickly and even with gladness
and relief
»You did not expect it Ah you thought too highly of me Now listen Put
your head there because I want you to forgive me and not to be indignant with
me for not telling you before as perhaps I ought to have done«
How strange it was He seemed to be her double She did not speak and Clare
went on
»I did not mention it because I was afraid of endangering my chance of you
darling the great prize of my life my Fellowship I call you My brothers
Fellowship was won at his college mine at Talbothays Dairy Well I would not
risk it I was going to tell you a month ago at the time you agreed to be
mine but I could not I thought it might frighten you away from me I put it
off then I thought I would tell you yesterday to give you a chance at least of
escaping me But I did not And I did not this morning when you proposed our
confessing our faults on the landing the sinner that I was But I must now I
see you sitting there so solemnly I wonder if you will forgive me«
»O yes I am sure that «
»Well I hope so But wait a minute You dont know To begin at the
beginning Though I imagine my poor father fears that I am one of the eternally
lost for my doctrines I am of course a believer in good morals Tess as much
as you I used to wish to be a teacher of men and it was a great disappointment
to me when I found I could not enter the Church I admired spotlessness even
though I could lay no claim to it and hated impurity as I hope I do now
Whatever one may think of plenary inspiration one must heartily subscribe to
these words of Paul Be thou an example in word in conversation in charity
in spirit in faith in purity It is the only safeguard for us poor human
beings Integer vitae says a Roman poet who is strange company for St Paul
The man of upright life from frailties free
Stands not in need of Moorish spear or bow
Well a certain place is paved with good intentions and having felt all that so
strongly you will see what a terrible remorse it bred in me when in the midst
of my fine aims for other people I myself fell«
He then told her of that time of his life to which allusion has been made
when tossed about by doubts and difficulties in London like a cork on the
waves he plunged into eightandforty hours dissipation with a stranger
»Happily I awoke almost immediately to a sense of my folly« he continued
»I would have no more to say to her and I came home I have never repeated the
offence But I felt I should like to treat you with perfect frankness and
honour and I could not do so without telling this Do you forgive me«
She pressed his hand tightly for an answer
»Then we will dismiss it at once and for ever too painful as it is for
the occasion and talk of something lighter«
»O Angel I am almost glad because now you can forgive me I have not
made my confession I have a confession too remember I said so«
»Ah to be sure Now then for it wicked little one«
»Perhaps although you smile it is as serious as yours or more so«
»It can hardly be more serious dearest«
»It cannot O no it cannot« She jumped up joyfully at the hope »No it
cannot be more serious certainly« she cried »because tis just the same I
will tell you now«
She sat down again
Their hands were still joined The ashes under the grate were lit by the
fire vertically like a torrid waste Imagination might have beheld a Last Day
luridness in this redcoaled glow which fell on his face and hand and on hers
peering into the loose hair about her brow and firing the delicate skin
underneath A large shadow of her shape rose upon the wall and ceiling She bent
forward at which each diamond on her neck gave a sinister wink like a toads
and pressing her forehead against his temple she entered on her story of her
acquaintance with Alec dUrberville and its results murmuring the words without
flinching and with her eyelids drooping down
End of Phase the Fourth
Phase the Fifth
The Woman Pays
XXXV
Her narrative ended even its reassertions and secondary explanations were
done Tesss voice throughout had hardly risen higher than its opening tone
there had been no exculpatory phrase of any kind and she had not wept
But the complexion even of external things seemed to suffer transmutation as
her announcement progressed The fire in the grate looked impish demoniacally
funny as if it did not care in the least about her strait The fender grinned
idly as if it too did not care The light from the waterbottle was merely
engaged in a chromatic problem All material objects around announced their
irresponsibility with terrible iteration And yet nothing had changed since the
moments when he had been kissing her or rather nothing in the substance of
things But the essence of things had changed
When she ceased the auricular impressions from their previous endearments
seemed to hustle away into the corners of their brains repeating themselves as
echoes from a time of supremely purblind foolishness
Clare performed the irrelevant act of stirring the fire the intelligence
had not even yet got to the bottom of him After stirring the embers he rose to
his feet all the force of her disclosure had imparted itself now His face had
withered In the strenuousness of his concentration he treadled fitfully on the
floor He could not by any contrivance think closely enough that was the
meaning of his vague movement When he spoke it was in the most inadequate
commonplace voice of the many varied tones she had heard from him
»Tess«
»Yes dearest«
»Am I to believe this From your manner I am to take it as true O you
cannot be out of your mind You ought to be Yet you are not My wife my
Tess nothing in you warrants such a supposition as that«
»I am not out of my mind« she said
»And yet « He looked vacantly at her to resume with dazed senses »Why
didnt you tell me before Ah yes you would have told me in a way but I
hindered you I remember«
These and other of his words were nothing but the perfunctory babble of the
surface while the depths remained paralyzed He turned away and bent over a
chair Tess followed him to the middle of the room where he was and stood there
staring at him with eyes that did not weep Presently she slid down upon her
knees beside his foot and from this position she crouched in a heap
»In the name of our love forgive me« she whispered with a dry mouth »I
have forgiven you for the same«
And as he did not answer she said again
»Forgive me as you are forgiven I forgive you Angel«
»You yes you do«
»But you do not forgive me«
»O Tess forgiveness does not apply to the case You were one person now
you are another My God how can forgiveness meet such a grotesque
prestidigitation as that«
He paused contemplating this definition then suddenly broke into horrible
laughter as unnatural and ghastly as a laugh in hell
»Dont dont It kills me quite that« she shrieked »O have mercy upon
me have mercy«
He did not answer and sickly white she jumped up
»Angel Angel what do you mean by that laugh« she cried out »Do you know
what this is to me«
He shook his head
»I have been hoping longing praying to make you happy I have thought
what joy it will be to do it what an unworthy wife I shall be if I do not
Thats what I have felt Angel«
»I know that«
»I thought Angel that you loved me me my very self If it is I you do
love O how can it be that you look and speak so It frightens me Having begun
to love you I love you for ever in all changes in all disgraces because you
are yourself I ask no more Then how can you O my own husband stop loving
me«
»I repeat the woman I have been loving is not you«
»But who«
»Another woman in your shape«
She perceived in his words the realization of her own apprehensive
foreboding in former times He looked upon her as a species of impostor a
guilty woman in the guise of an innocent one Terror was upon her white face as
she saw it her cheek was flaccid and her mouth had almost the aspect of a
round little hole The horrible sense of his view of her so deadened her that
she staggered and he stepped forward thinking she was going to fall
»Sit down sit down« he said gently »You are ill and it is natural that
you should be«
She did sit down without knowing where she was that strained look still
upon her face and her eyes such as to make his flesh creep
»I dont belong to you any more then do I Angel« she asked helplessly
»It is not me but another woman like me that he loved he says«
The image raised caused her to take pity upon herself as one who was
illused Her eyes filled as she regarded her position further she turned round
and burst into a flood of selfsympathetic tears
Clare was relieved at this change for the effect on her of what had
happened was beginning to be a trouble to him only less than the woe of the
disclosure itself He waited patiently apathetically till the violence of her
grief had worn itself out and her rush of weeping had lessened to a catching
gasp at intervals
»Angel« she said suddenly in her natural tones the insane dry voice of
terror having left her now »Angel am I too wicked for you and me to live
together«
»I have not been able to think what we can do«
»I shant ask you to let me live with you Angel because I have no right
to I shall not write to mother and sisters to say we be married as I said I
would do and I shant finish the goodhussif I cut out and meant to make while
we were in lodgings«
»Shant you«
»No I shant do anything unless you order me to and if you go away from
me I shall not follow ee and if you never speak to me any more I shall not ask
why unless you tell me I may«
»And if I do order you to do anything«
»I will obey you like your wretched slave even if it is to lie down and
die«
»You are very good But it strikes me that there is a want of harmony
between your present mood of selfsacrifice and your past mood of
selfpreservation«
These were the first words of antagonism To fling elaborate sarcasms at
Tess however was much like flinging them at a dog or cat The charms of their
subtlety passed by her unappreciated and she only received them as inimical
sounds which meant that anger ruled She remained mute not knowing that he was
smothering his affection for her She hardly observed that a tear descended
slowly upon his cheek a tear so large that it magnified the pores of the skin
over which it rolled like the object lens of a microscope Meanwhile
reillumination as to the terrible and total change that her confession had
wrought in his life in his universe returned to him and he tried desperately
to advance among the new conditions in which he stood Some consequent action
was necessary yet what
»Tess« he said as gently as he could speak »I cannot stay in this room
just now I will walk out a little way«
He quietly left the room and the two glasses of wine that he had poured out
for their supper one for her one for him remained on the table untasted
This was what their Agape had come to At tea two or three hours earlier they
had in the freakishness of affection drunk from one cup
The closing of the door behind him gently as it had been pulled to roused
Tess from her stupor He was gone she could not stay Hastily flinging her
cloak around her she opened the door and followed putting out the candles as if
she were never coming back The rain was over and the night was now clear
She was soon close at his heels for Clare walked slowly and without
purpose His form beside her light gray figure looked black sinister and
forbidding and she felt as sarcasm the touch of the jewels of which she had
been momentarily so proud Clare turned at hearing her footsteps but his
recognition of her presence seemed to make no difference in him and he went on
over the five yawning arches of the great bridge in front of the house
The cow and horse tracks in the road were full of water the rain having
been enough to charge them but not enough to wash them away Across these
minute pools the reflected stars flitted in a quick transit as she passed she
would not have known they were shining overhead if she had not seen them there
the vastest things of the universe imaged in objects so mean
The place to which they had travelled today was in the same valley as
Talbothays but some miles lower down the river and the surroundings being open
she kept easily in sight of him Away from the house the road wound through the
meads and along these she followed Clare without any attempt to come up with
him or to attract him but with dumb and vacant fidelity
At last however her listless walk brought her up alongside him and still
he said nothing The cruelty of fooled honesty is often great after
enlightenment and it was mighty in Clare now The outdoor air had apparently
taken away from him all tendency to act on impulse she knew that he saw her
without irradiation in all her bareness that Time was chanting his satiric
psalm at her then
Behold when thy face is made bare he that loved thee shall hate
Thy face shall be no more fair at the fall of thy fate
For thy life shall fall as a leaf and be shed as the rain
And the veil of thine head shall be grief and the crown shall be pain
He was still intently thinking and her companionship had now insufficient power
to break or divert the strain of thought What a weak thing her presence must
have become to him She could not help addressing Clare
»What have I done what have I done I have not told of anything that
interferes with or belies my love for you You dont think I planned it do you
It is in your own mind what you are angry at Angel it is not in me O it is
not in me and I am not that deceitful woman you think me«
»Hm well Not deceitful my wife but not the same No not the same But
do not make me reproach you I have sworn that I will not and I will do
everything to avoid it«
But she went on pleading in her distraction and perhaps said things that
would have been better left to silence
»Angel Angel I was a child a child when it happened I knew nothing of
men«
»You were more sinned against than sinning that I admit«
»Then will you not forgive me«
»I do forgive you but forgiveness is not all«
»And love me«
To this question he did not answer
»O Angel my mother says that it sometimes happens so she knows several
cases where they were worse than I and the husband has not minded it much has
got over it at least And yet the woman has not loved him as I do you«
»Dont Tess dont argue Different societies different manners You
almost make me say you are an unapprehending peasant woman who have never been
initiated into the proportions of social things You dont know what you say«
»I am only a peasant by position not by nature«
She spoke with an impulse to anger but it went as it came
»So much the worse for you I think that parson who unearthed your pedigree
would have done better if he had held his tongue I cannot help associating your
decline as a family with this other fact of your want of firmness Decrepit
families imply decrepit wills decrepit conduct Heaven why did you give me a
handle for despising you more by informing me of your descent Here was I
thinking you a newsprung child of nature there were you the belated seedling
of an effete aristocracy«
»Lots of families are as bad as mine in that Rettys family were once large
landowners and so were Dairyman Billetts And the Debbyhouses who now are
carters were once the De Bayeux family You find such as I everywhere tis a
feature of our county and I cant help it«
»So much the worse for the county«
She took these reproaches in their bulk simply not in their particulars he
did not love her as he had loved her hitherto and to all else she was
indifferent
They wandered on again in silence It was said afterwards that a cottager of
Wellbridge who went out late that night for a doctor met two lovers in the
pastures walking very slowly without converse one behind the other as in a
funeral procession and the glimpse that he obtained of their faces seemed to
denote that they were anxious and sad Returning later he passed them again in
the same field progressing just as slowly and as regardless of the hour and of
the cheerless night as before It was only on account of his preoccupation with
his own affairs and the illness in his house that he did not bear in mind the
curious incident which however he recalled a long while after
During the interval of the cottagers going and coming she had said to her
husband
»I dont see how I can help being the cause of much misery to you all your
life The river is down there I can put an end to myself in it I am not
afraid«
»I dont wish to add murder to my other follies« he said
»I will leave something to show that I did it myself on account of my
shame They will not blame you then«
»Dont speak so absurdly I wish not to hear it It is nonsense to have
such thoughts in this kind of case which is rather one for satirical laughter
than for tragedy You dont in the least understand the quality of the mishap
It would be viewed in the light of a joke by ninetenths of the world if it were
known Please oblige me by returning to the house and going to bed«
»I will« said she dutifully
They had rambled round by a road which led to the wellknown ruins of the
Cistercian abbey behind the mill the latter having in centuries past been
attached to the monastic establishment The mill still worked on food being a
perennial necessity the abbey had perished creeds being transient One
continually sees the ministration of the temporary outlasting the ministration
of the eternal Their walk having been circuitous they were still not far from
the house and in obeying his direction she only had to reach the large stone
bridge across the main river and follow the road for a few yards When she got
back everything remained as she had left it the fire being still burning She
did not stay downstairs for more than a minute but proceeded to her chamber
whither the luggage had been taken Here she sat down on the edge of the bed
looking blankly around and presently began to undress In removing the light
towards the bedstead its rays fell upon the tester of white dimity something
was hanging beneath it and she lifted the candle to see what it was A bough of
mistletoe Angel had put it there she knew that in an instant This was the
explanation of that mysterious parcel which it had been so difficult to pack and
bring whose contents he would not explain to her saying that time would soon
show her the purpose thereof In his zest and his gaiety he had hung it there
How foolish and inopportune that mistletoe looked now
Having nothing more to fear having scarce anything to hope for that he
would relent there seemed no promise whatever she lay down dully When sorrow
ceases to be speculative sleep sees her opportunity Among so many happier moods
which forbid repose this was a mood which welcomed it and in a few minutes the
lonely Tess forgot existence surrounded by the aromatic stillness of the
chamber that had once possibly been the bridechamber of her own ancestry
Later on that night Clare also retraced his steps to the house Entering
softly to the sittingroom he obtained a light and with the manner of one who
had considered his course he spread his rugs upon the old horsehair sofa which
stood there and roughly shaped it to a sleepingcouch Before lying down he
crept shoeless upstairs and listened at the door of her apartment Her measured
breathing told that she was sleeping profoundly
»Thank God« murmured Clare and yet he was conscious of a pang of
bitterness at the thought approximately true though not wholly so that
having shifted the burden of her life to his shoulders she was now reposing
without care
He turned away to descend then irresolute faced round to her door again
In the act he caught sight of one of the dUrberville dames whose portrait was
immediately over the entrance to Tesss bedchamber In the candlelight the
painting was more than unpleasant Sinister design lurked in the womans
features a concentrated purpose of revenge on the other sex so it seemed to
him then The Caroline bodice of the portrait was low precisely as Tesss had
been when he tucked it in to show the necklace and again he experienced the
distressing sensation of a resemblance between them
The check was sufficient He resumed his retreat and descended
His air remained calm and cold his small compressed mouth indexing his
powers of selfcontrol his face wearing still that terribly sterile expression
which had spread thereon since her disclosure It was the face of a man who was
no longer passions slave yet who found no advantage in his enfranchisement He
was simply regarding the harrowing contingencies of human experience the
unexpectedness of things Nothing so pure so sweet so virginal as Tess had
seemed possible all the long while that he had adored her up to an hour ago
but
The little less and what worlds away
He argued erroneously when he said to himself that her heart was not indexed in
the honest freshness of her face but Tess had no advocate to set him right
Could it be possible he continued that eyes which as they gazed never
expressed any divergence from what the tongue was telling were yet ever seeing
another world behind her ostensible one discordant and contrasting
He reclined on his couch in the sittingroom and extinguished the light
The night came in and took up its place there unconcerned and indifferent the
night which had already swallowed up his happiness and was now digesting it
listlessly and was ready to swallow up the happiness of a thousand other people
with as little disturbance or change of mien
XXXVI
Clare arose in the light of a dawn that was ashy and furtive as though
associated with crime The fireplace confronted him with its extinct embers the
spread suppertable whereon stood the two full glasses of untasted wine now
flat and filmy her vacated seat and his own the other articles of furniture
with their eternal look of not being able to help it their intolerable inquiry
what was to be done From above there was no sound but in a few minutes there
came a knock at the door He remembered that it would be the neighbouring
cottagers wife who was to minister to their wants while they remained here
The presence of a third person in the house would be extremely awkward just
now and being already dressed he opened the window and informed her that they
could manage to shift for themselves that morning She had a milkcan in her
hand which he told her to leave at the door When the dame had gone away he
searched in the back quarters of the house for fuel and speedily lit a fire
There was plenty of eggs butter bread and so on in the larder and Clare soon
had breakfast laid his experiences at the dairy having rendered him facile in
domestic preparations The smoke of the kindled wood rose from the chimney
without like a lotusheaded column local people who were passing by saw it and
thought of the newlymarried couple and envied their happiness
Angel cast a final glance round and then going to the foot of the stairs
called in a conventional voice
»Breakfast is ready«
He opened the front door and took a few steps in the morning air When
after a short space he came back she was already in the sittingroom
mechanically readjusting the breakfast things As she was fully attired and the
interval since his calling her had been but two or three minutes she must have
been dressed or nearly so before he went to summon her Her hair was twisted up
in a large round mass at the back of her head and she had put on one of the new
frocks a pale blue woollen garment with neckfrillings of white Her hands and
face appeared to be cold and she had possibly been sitting dressed in the
bedroom a long time without any fire The marked civility of Clares tone in
calling her seemed to have inspired her for the moment with a new glimmer of
hope But it soon died when she looked at him
The pair were in truth but the ashes of their former fires To the hot
sorrow of the previous night had succeeded heaviness it seemed as if nothing
could kindle either of them to fervour of sensation any more
He spoke gently to her and she replied with a like undemonstrativeness At
last she came up to him looking in his sharplydefined face as one who had no
consciousness that her own formed a visible object also
»Angel« she said and paused touching him with her fingers lightly as a
breeze as though she could hardly believe to be there in the flesh the man who
was once her lover Her eyes were bright her pale cheek still showed its wonted
roundness though halfdried tears had left glistening traces thereon and the
usually ripe red mouth was almost as pale as her cheek Throbbingly alive as she
was still under the stress of her mental grief the life beat so brokenly that
a little further pull upon it would cause real illness dull her characteristic
eyes and make her mouth thin
She looked absolutely pure Nature in her fantastic trickery had set such
a seal of maidenhood upon Tesss countenance that he gazed at her with a
stupefied air
»Tess Say it is not true No it is not true«
»It is true«
»Every word«
»Every word«
He looked at her imploringly as if he would willingly have taken a lie from
her lips knowing it to be one and have made of it by some sort of sophistry
a valid denial However she only repeated
»It is true«
»Is he living« Angel then asked
»The baby died«
»But the man«
»He is alive«
A last despair passed over Clares face
»Is he in England«
»Yes«
He took a few vague steps
»My position is this« he said abruptly »I thought any man would have
thought that by giving up all ambition to win a wife with social standing
with fortune with knowledge of the world I should secure rustic innocence as
surely as I should secure pink cheeks but However I am no man to reproach
you and I will not«
Tess felt his position so entirely that the remainder had not been needed
Therein lay just the distress of it she saw that he had lost all round
»Angel I should not have let it go on to marriage with you if I had not
known that after all there was a last way out of it for you though I hoped
you would never «
Her voice grew husky
»A last way«
»I mean to get rid of me You can get rid of me«
»How«
»By divorcing me«
»Good heavens how can you be so simple How can I divorce you«
»Cant you now I have told you I thought my confession would give you
grounds for that«
»O Tess you are too too childish unformed crude I suppose I dont
know what you are You dont understand the law you dont understand«
»What you cannot«
»Indeed I cannot«
A quick shame mixed with the misery upon his listeners face
»I thought I thought« she whispered »O now I see how wicked I seem to
you Believe me believe me on my soul I never thought but that you could I
hoped you would not yet I believed without a doubt that you could cast me off
if you were determined and didnt love me at at all«
»You were mistaken« he said
»O then I ought to have done it to have done it last night But I hadnt
the courage Thats just like me«
»The courage to do what«
As she did not answer he took her by the hand
»What were you thinking of doing« he inquired
»Of putting an end to myself«
»When«
She writhed under this inquisitorial manner of his »Last night« she
answered
»Where«
»Under your mistletoe«
»My good How« he asked sternly
»Ill tell you if you wont be angry with me« she said shrinking »It was
with the cord of my box But I could not do the last thing I was afraid that
it might cause a scandal to your name«
The unexpected quality of this confession wrung from her and not
volunteered shook him perceptibly But he still held her and letting his
glance fall from her face downwards he said
»Now listen to this You must not dare to think of such a horrible thing
How could you You will promise me as your husband to attempt that no more«
»I am ready to promise I saw how wicked it was«
»Wicked The idea was unworthy of you beyond description«
»But Angel« she pleaded enlarging her eyes in calm unconcern upon him
»it was thought of entirely on your account to set you free without the
scandal of the divorce that I thought you would have to get I should never have
dreamt of doing it on mine However to do it with my own hand is too good for
me after all It is you my ruined husband who ought to strike the blow I
think I should love you more if that were possible if you could bring yourself
to do it since theres no other way of escape for ee I feel I am so utterly
worthless So very greatly in the way«
»Ssh«
»Well since you say no I wont I have no wish opposed to yours«
He knew this to be true enough Since the desperation of the night her
activities had dropped to zero and there was no further rashness to be feared
Tess tried to busy herself again over the breakfasttable with more or less
success and they sat down both on the same side so that their glances did not
meet There was at first something awkward in hearing each other eat and drink
but this could not be escaped moreover the amount of eating done was small on
both sides Breakfast over he rose and telling her the hour at which he might
be expected to dinner went off to the millers in a mechanical pursuance of the
plan of studying that business which had been his only practical reason for
coming here
When he was gone Tess stood at the window and presently saw his form
crossing the great stone bridge which conducted to the mill premises He sank
behind it crossed the railway beyond and disappeared Then without a sigh
she turned her attention to the room and began clearing the table and setting
it in order
The charwoman soon came Her presence was at first a strain upon Tess but
afterwards an alleviation At halfpast twelve she left her assistant alone in
the kitchen and returning to the sittingroom waited for the reappearance of
Angels form behind the bridge
About one he showed himself Her face flushed although he was a quarter of
a mile off She ran to the kitchen to get the dinner served by the time he
should enter He went first to the room where they had washed their hands
together the day before and as he entered the sittingroom the dishcovers rose
from the dishes as if by his own motion
»How punctual« he said
»Yes I saw you coming over the bridge« said she
The meal was passed in commonplace talk of what he had been doing during the
morning at the Abbey Mill of the methods of bolting and the oldfashioned
machinery which he feared would not enlighten him greatly on modern improved
methods some of it seeming to have been in use ever since the days it ground
for the monks in the adjoining conventual buildings now a heap of ruins He
left the house again in the course of an hour coming home at dusk and
occupying himself through the evening with his papers She feared she was in the
way and when the old woman was gone retired to the kitchen where she made
herself busy as well as she could for more than an hour
Clares shape appeared at the door
»You must not work like this« he said »You are not my servant you are my
wife«
She raised her eyes and brightened somewhat »I may think myself that
indeed« she murmured in piteous raillery »You mean in name Well I dont
want to be anything more«
»You may think so Tess You are What do you mean«
»I dont know« she said hastily with tears in her accents »I thought I
because I am not respectable I mean I told you I thought I was not respectable
enough long ago and on that account I didnt want to marry you only only
you urged me«
She broke into sobs and turned her back to him It would almost have won
round any man but Angel Clare Within the remote depths of his constitution so
gentle and affectionate as he was in general there lay hidden a hard logical
deposit like a vein of metal in a soft loam which turned the edge of
everything that attempted to traverse it It had blocked his acceptance of the
Church it blocked his acceptance of Tess Moreover his affection itself was
less fire than radiance and with regard to the other sex when he ceased to
believe he ceased to follow contrasting in this with many impressionable
natures who remain sensuously infatuated with what they intellectually despise
He waited till her sobbing ceased
»I wish half the women in England were as respectable as you« he said in
an ebullition of bitterness against womankind in general »It isnt a question
of respectability but one of principle«
He spoke such things as these and more of a kindred sort to her being still
swayed by the antipathetic wave which warps direct souls with such persistence
when once their vision finds itself mocked by appearances There was it is
true underneath a back current of sympathy through which a woman of the world
might have conquered him But Tess did not think of this she took everything as
her deserts and hardly opened her mouth The firmness of her devotion to him
was indeed almost pitiful quicktempered as she naturally was nothing that he
could say made her unseemly she sought not her own was not provoked thought
no evil of his treatment of her She might just now have been Apostolic Charity
herself returned to a selfseeking modern world
This evening night and morning were passed precisely as the preceding ones
had been passed On one and only one occasion did she the formerly free and
independent Tess venture to make any advances It was on the third occasion of
his starting after a meal to go out to the flourmill As he was leaving the
table he said »Goodbye« and she replied in the same words at the same time
inclining her mouth in the way of his He did not avail himself of the
invitation saying as he turned hastily aside
»I shall be home punctually«
Tess shrank into herself as if she had been struck Often enough had he
tried to reach those lips against her consent often had he said gaily that her
mouth and breath tasted of the butter and eggs and milk and honey on which she
mainly lived that he drew sustenance from them and other follies of that sort
But he did not care for them now He observed her sudden shrinking and said
gently
»You know I have to think of a course It was imperative that we should
stay together a little while to avoid the scandal to you that would have
resulted from our immediate parting But you must see it is only for forms
sake«
»Yes« said Tess absently
He went out and on his way to the mill stood still and wished for a moment
that he had responded yet more kindly and kissed her once at least
Thus they lived through this despairing day or two in the same house
truly but more widely apart than before they were lovers It was evident to her
that he was as he had said living with paralyzed activities in his endeavour
to think of a plan of procedure She was awestricken to discover such
determination under such apparent flexibility His consistency was indeed too
cruel She no longer expected forgiveness now More than once she thought of
going away from him during his absence at the mill but she feared that this
instead of benefiting him might be the means of hampering and humiliating him
yet more if it should become known
Meanwhile Clare was meditating verily His thought had been unsuspended he
was becoming ill with thinking eaten out with thinking withered by thinking
scourged out of all his former pulsating flexuous domesticity He walked about
saying to himself »Whats to be done whats to be done« and by chance she
overheard him It caused her to break the reserve about their future which had
hitherto prevailed
»I suppose you are not going to live with me long are you Angel« she
asked the sunk corners of her mouth betraying how purely mechanical were the
means by which she retained that expression of chastened calm upon her face
»I cannot« he said »without despising myself and what is worse perhaps
despising you I mean of course cannot live with you in the ordinary sense At
present whatever I feel I do not despise you And let me speak plainly or
you may not see all my difficulties How can we live together while that man
lives he being your husband in Nature and not I If he were dead it might be
different Besides thats not all the difficulty it lies in another
consideration one bearing upon the future of other people than ourselves
Think of years to come and children being born to us and this past matter
getting known for it must get known There is not an uttermost part of the
earth but somebody comes from it or goes to it from elsewhere Well think of
wretches of our flesh and blood growing up under a taunt which they will
gradually get to feel the full force of with their expanding years What an
awakening for them What a prospect Can you honestly say Remain after
contemplating this contingency Dont you think we had better endure the ills we
have than fly to others«
Her eyelids weighted with trouble continued drooping as before
»I cannot say Remain« she answered »I cannot I had not thought so far«
Tesss feminine hope shall we confess it had been so obstinately
recuperative as to revive in her surreptitious visions of a domiciliary intimacy
continued long enough to break down his coldness even against his judgment
Though unsophisticated in the usual sense she was not incomplete and it would
have denoted deficiency of womanhood if she had not instinctively known what an
argument lies in propinquity Nothing else would serve her she knew if this
failed It was wrong to hope in what was of the nature of strategy she said to
herself yet that sort of hope she could not extinguish His last representation
had now been made and it was as she said a new view She had truly never
thought so far as that and his lucid picture of possible offspring who would
scorn her was one that brought deadly conviction to an honest heart which was
humanitarian to its centre Sheer experience had already taught her that in
some circumstances there was one thing better than to lead a good life and
that was to be saved from leading any life whatever Like all who have been
previsioned by suffering she could in the words of M SullyPrudhomme hear a
penal sentence in the fiat »You shall be born« particularly if addressed to
potential issue of hers
Yet such is the vulpine slyness of Dame Nature that till now Tess had
been hoodwinked by her love for Clare into forgetting it might result in
vitalizations that would inflict upon others what she had bewailed as a
misfortune to herself
She therefore could not withstand his argument But with the selfcombating
proclivity of the supersensitive an answer thereto arose in Clares own mind
and he almost feared it It was based on her exceptional physical nature and
she might have used it promisingly She might have added besides »On an
Australian upland or Texan plain who is to know or care about my misfortunes
or to reproach me or you« Yet like the majority of women she accepted the
momentary presentment as if it were the inevitable And she may have been right
The intuitive heart of woman knoweth not only its own bitterness but its
husbands and even if these assumed reproaches were not likely to be addressed
to him or to his by strangers they might have reached his ears from his own
fastidious brain
It was the third day of the estrangement Some might risk the odd paradox
that with more animalism he would have been the nobler man We do not say it
Yet Clares love was doubtless ethereal to a fault imaginative to
impracticability With these natures corporeal presence is sometimes less
appealing than corporeal absence the latter creating an ideal presence that
conveniently drops the defects of the real She found that her personality did
not plead her cause so forcibly as she had anticipated The figurative phrase
was true she was another woman than the one who had excited his desire
»I have thought over what you say« she remarked to him moving her
forefinger over the tablecloth her other hand which bore the ring that mocked
them both supporting her forehead»It is quite true all of it it must be You
must go away from me«
»But what can you do«
»I can go home«
Clare had not thought of that
»Are you sure« he inquired
»Quite sure We ought to part and we may as well get it past and done You
once said that I was apt to win men against their better judgment and if I am
constantly before your eyes I may cause you to change your plans in opposition
to your reason and wish and afterwards your repentance and my sorrow will be
terrible«
»And you would like to go home« he asked
»I want to leave you and go home«
»Then it shall be so«
Though she did not look up at him she started There was a difference
between the proposition and the covenant which she had felt only too quickly
»I feared it would come to this she murmured her countenance meekly
fixed I dont complain Angel I I think it best What you said has quite
convinced me Yes though nobody else should reproach me if we should stay
together yet somewhen years hence you might get angry with me for any
ordinary matter and knowing what you do of my bygones you yourself might be
tempted to say words and they might be overheard perhaps by my own children
O what only hurts me now would torture and kill me then I will go
tomorrow«
»And I shall not stay here Though I didnt like to initiate it I have seen
that it was advisable we should part at least for a while till I can better
see the shape that things have taken and can write to you«
Tess stole a glance at her husband He was pale even tremulous but as
before she was appalled by the determination revealed in the depths of this
gentle being she had married the will to subdue the grosser to the subtler
emotion the substance to the conception, the flesh to the spirit Propensities
tendencies habits were as dead leaves upon the tyrannous wind of his
imaginative ascendency
He may have observed her look for he explained
»I think of people more kindly when I am away from them« adding cynically
»God knows perhaps we shall shake down together some day for weariness
thousands have done it«
That day he began to pack up and she went upstairs and began to pack also
Both knew that it was in their two minds that they might part the next morning
for ever despite the gloss of assuaging conjectures thrown over their
proceeding because they were of the sort to whom any parting which has an air of
finality is a torture He knew and she knew that though the fascination which
each had exercised over the other on her part independently of accomplishments
would probably in the first days of their separation be even more potent than
ever time must attenuate that effect the practical arguments against accepting
her as a housemate might pronounce themselves more strongly in the boreal light
of a remoter view Moreover when two people are once parted have abandoned a
common domicile and a common environment new growths insensibly bud upward to
fill each vacated place unforeseen accidents hinder intentions and old plans
are forgotten
XXXVII
Midnight came and passed silently for there was nothing to announce it in the
Valley of the Froom
Not long after one oclock there was a slight creak in the darkened
farmhouse once the mansion of the dUrbervilles Tess who used the upper
chamber heard it and awoke It had come from the corner step of the staircase
which as usual was loosely nailed She saw the door of her bedroom open and
the figure of her husband crossed the stream of moonlight with a curiously
careful tread He was in his shirt and trousers only and her first flush of joy
died when she perceived that his eyes were fixed in an unnatural stare on
vacancy When be reached the middle of the room he stood still and murmured in
tones of indescribable sadness
»Dead dead dead«
Under the influence of any stronglydisturbing force Clare would
occasionally walk in his sleep and even perform strange feats such as he had
done on the night of their return from market just before their marriage when
he reenacted in his bedroom his combat with the man who had insulted her Tess
saw that continued mental distress had wrought him into that somnambulistic
state now
Her loyal confidence in him lay so deep down in her heart that awake or
asleep he inspired her with no sort of personal fear If he had entered with a
pistol in his hand he would scarcely have disturbed her trust in his
protectiveness
Clare came close and bent over her »Dead dead dead« he murmured
After fixedly regarding her for some moments with the same gaze of
unmeasurable woe he bent lower enclosed her in his arms and rolled her in the
sheet as in a shroud Then lifting her from the bed with as much respect as one
would show to a dead body he carried her across the room murmuring
»My poor poor Tess my dearest darling Tess So sweet so good so true«
The words of endearment withheld so severely in his waking hours were
inexpressibly sweet to her forlorn and hungry heart If it had been to save her
weary life she would not by moving or struggling have put an end to the
position she found herself in Thus she lay in absolute stillness scarcely
venturing to breathe and wondering what he was going to do with her suffered
herself to be borne out upon the landing
»My wife dead dead« he said
He paused in his labours for a moment to lean with her against the banister
Was he going to throw her down Selfsolicitude was near extinction in her and
in the knowledge that he had planned to depart on the morrow possibly for
always she lay in his arms in this precarious position with a sense rather of
luxury than of terror If they could only fall together and both be dashed to
pieces how fit how desirable
However he did not let her fall but took advantage of the support of the
handrail to imprint a kiss upon her lips lips in the daytime scorned Then he
clasped her with a renewed firmness of hold and descended the staircase The
creak of the loose stair did not awaken him and they reached the groundfloor
safely Freeing one of his hands from his grasp of her for a moment he slid
back the doorbar and passed out slightly striking his stockinged toe against
the edge of the door But this he seemed not to mind and having room for
extension in the open air he lifted her against his shoulder so that he could
carry her with ease the absence of clothes taking much from his burden Thus he
bore her off the premises in the direction of the river a few yards distant
His ultimate intention if he had any she had not yet divined and she
found herself conjecturing on the matter as a third person might have done So
easefully had she delivered her whole being up to him that it pleased her to
think he was regarding her as his absolute possession to dispose of as he
should choose It was consoling under the hovering terror of tomorrows
separation to feel that he really recognized her now as his wife Tess and did
not cast her off even if in that recognition he went so far as to arrogate to
himself the right of harming her
Ah now she knew what he was dreaming of that Sunday morning when he had
borne her along through the water with the other dairymaids who had loved him
nearly as much as she if that were possible which Tess could hardly admit
Clare did not cross the bridge with her but proceeding several paces on the
same side towards the adjoining mill at length stood still on the brink of the
river
Its waters in creeping down these miles of meadowland frequently divided
serpentining in purposeless curves looping themselves around little islands
that had no name returning and reembodying themselves as a broad main stream
further on Opposite the spot to which he had brought her was such a general
confluence and the river was proportionately voluminous and deep Across it was
a narrow footbridge but now the autumn flood had washed the handrail away
leaving the bare plank only which lying a few inches above the speeding
current formed a giddy pathway for even steady heads and Tess had noticed from
the window of the house in the daytime young men walking across upon it as a
feat in balancing Her husband had possibly observed the same performance
anyhow he now mounted the plank and sliding one foot forward advanced along
it
Was he going to drown her Probably he was The spot was lonely the river
deep and wide enough to make such a purpose easy of accomplishment He might
drown her if he would it would be better than parting tomorrow to lead severed
lives
The swift stream raced and gyrated under them tossing distorting and
splitting the moons reflected face Spots of froth travelled past and
intercepted weeds waved behind the piles If they could both fall together into
the current now their arms would be so tightly clasped together that they could
not be saved they would go out of the world almost painlessly and there would
be no more reproach to her or to him for marrying her His last halfhour with
her would have been a loving one while if they lived till he awoke his daytime
aversion would return and this hour would remain to be contemplated only as a
transient dream
The impulse stirred in her yet she dared not indulge it to make a movement
that would have precipitated them both into the gulf How she valued her own
life had been proved but his she had no right to tamper with it He reached
the other side with her in safety
Here they were within a plantation which formed the Abbey grounds and
taking a new hold of her he went onward a few steps till they reached the ruined
choir of the Abbeychurch Against the north wall was the empty stone coffin of
an abbot in which every tourist with a turn for grim humour was accustomed to
stretch himself In this Clare carefully laid Tess Having kissed her lips a
second time he breathed deeply as if a greatly desired end were attained Clare
then lay down on the ground alongside when he immediately fell into the deep
dead slumber of exhaustion and remained motionless as a log The spurt of
mental excitement which had produced the effort was now over
Tess sat up in the coffin The night though dry and mild for the season
was more than sufficiently cold to make it dangerous for him to remain here
long in his halfclothed state If he were left to himself he would in all
probability stay there till the morning and be chilled to certain death She
had heard of such deaths after sleepwalking But how could she dare to awaken
him and let him know what he had been doing when it would mortify him to
discover his folly in respect of her Tess however stepping out of her stone
confine shook him slightly but was unable to arouse him without being violent
It was indispensable to do something for she was beginning to shiver the sheet
being but a poor protection Her excitement had in a measure kept her warm
during the few minutes adventure but that beatific interval was over
It suddenly occurred to her to try persuasion and accordingly she whispered
in his ear with as much firmness and decision as she could summon
»Let us walk on darling« at the same time taking him suggestively by the
arm To her relief he unresistingly acquiesced her words had apparently thrown
him back into his dream which thenceforward seemed to enter on a new phase
wherein he fancied she had risen as a spirit and was leading him to Heaven
Thus she conducted him by the arm to the stone bridge in front of their
residence crossing which they stood at the manorhouse door Tesss feet were
quite bare and the stones hurt her and chilled her to the bone but Clare was
in his woollen stockings and appeared to feel no discomfort
There was no further difficulty She induced him to lie down on his own sofa
bed and covered him up warmly lighting a temporary fire of wood to dry any
dampness out of him The noise of these attentions she thought might awaken him
and secretly wished that they might But the exhaustion of his mind and body was
such that he remained undisturbed
As soon as they met the next morning Tess divined that Angel knew little or
nothing of how far she had been concerned in the nights excursion though as
regarded himself he may have been aware that he had not lain still In truth he
had awakened that morning from a sleep deep as annihilation and during those
first few moments in which the brain like a Samson shaking himself is trying
its strength he had some dim notion of an unusual nocturnal proceeding But the
realities of his situation soon displaced conjecture on the other subject
He waited in expectancy to discern some mental pointing he knew that if any
intention of his concluded overnight did not vanish in the light of morning
it stood on a basis approximating to one of pure reason, even if initiated by
impulse of feeling that it was so far therefore to be trusted He thus beheld
in the pale morning light the resolve to separate from her not as a hot and
indignant instinct but denuded of the passionateness which had made it scorch
and burn standing in its bones nothing but a skeleton but none the less
there Clare no longer hesitated
At breakfast and while they were packing the few remaining articles he
showed his weariness from the nights effort so unmistakably that Tess was on
the point of revealing all that had happened but the reflection that it would
anger him grieve him stultify him to know that he had instinctively
manifested a fondness for her of which his commonsense did not approve that
his inclination had compromised his dignity when reason slept again deterred
her It was too much like laughing at a man when sober for his erratic deeds
during intoxication
It just crossed her mind too that he might have a faint recollection of
his tender vagary and was disinclined to allude to it from a conviction that
she would take amatory advantage of the opportunity it gave her of appealing to
him anew not to go
He had ordered by letter a vehicle from the nearest town and soon after
breakfast it arrived She saw in it the beginning of the end the temporary
end at least for the revelation of his tenderness by the incident of the night
raised dreams of a possible future with him The luggage was put on the top and
the man drove them off the miller and the old waitingwoman expressing some
surprise at their precipitate departure which Clare attributed to his discovery
that the millwork was not of the modern kind which he wished to investigate a
statement that was true so far as it went Beyond this there was nothing in the
manner of their leaving to suggest a fiasco or that they were not going
together to visit friends
Their route lay near the dairy from which they had started with such solemn
joy in each other a few days back and as Clare wished to wind up his business
with Mr Crick Tess could hardly avoid paying Mrs Crick a call at the same
time unless she would excite suspicion of their unhappy state
To make the call as unobtrusive as possible they left the carriage by the
wicket leading down from the high road to the dairyhouse and descended the
track on foot side by side The withybed had been cut and they could see over
the stumps the spot to which Clare had followed her when he pressed her to be
his wife to the left the enclosure in which she had been fascinated by his
harp and far away behind the cowstalls the mead which had been the scene of
their first embrace The gold of the summer picture was now gray the colours
mean the rich soil mud and the river cold
Over the bartongate the dairyman saw them and came forward throwing into
his face the kind of jocularity deemed appropriate in Talbothays and its
vicinity on the reappearance of the newlymarried Then Mrs Crick emerged from
the house and several others of their old acquaintance though Marian and Retty
did not seem to be there
Tess valiantly bore their sly attacks and friendly humours which affected
her far otherwise than they supposed In the tacit agreement of husband and wife
to keep their estrangement a secret they behaved as would have been ordinary
And then although she would rather there had been no word spoken on the
subject Tess had to hear in detail the story of Marian and Retty The latter
had gone home to her fathers and Marian had left to look for employment
elsewhere They feared she would come to no good
To dissipate the sadness of this recital Tess went and bade all her
favourite cows goodbye touching each of them with her hand and as she and
Clare stood side by side at leaving as if united body and soul there would
have been something peculiarly sorry in their aspect to one who should have seen
it truly two limbs of one life as they outwardly were his arm touching hers
her skirts touching him facing one way as against all the dairy facing the
other speaking in their adieux as »we« and yet sundered like the poles
Perhaps something unusually stiff and embarrassed in their attitude some
awkwardness in acting up to their profession of unity different from the
natural shyness of young couples may have been apparent for when they were
gone Mrs Crick said to her husband
»How onnatural the brightness of her eyes did seem and how they stood like
waxen images and talked as if they were in a dream Didnt it strike ee that
twas so Tess had always sommat strange in her and shes not now quite like
the proud young bride of a wellbedoing man«
They reentered the vehicle and were driven along the roads towards
Weatherbury and Stagfoot Lane till they reached the Lane inn where Clare
dismissed the fly and man They rested here a while and entering the Vale were
next driven onward towards her home by a stranger who did not know their
relations At a midway point when Nuttlebury had been passed and where there
were crossroads Clare stopped the conveyance and said to Tess that if she
meant to return to her mothers house it was here that he would leave her As
they could not talk with freedom in the drivers presence he asked her to
accompany him for a few steps on foot along one of the branch roads she
assented and directing the man to wait a few minutes they strolled away
»Now let us understand each other« he said gently »There is no anger
between us though there is that which I cannot endure at present I will try to
bring myself to endure it I will let you know where I go to as soon as I know
myself And if I can bring myself to bear it if it is desirable possible I
will come to you But until I come to you it will be better that you should not
try to come to me«
The severity of the decree seemed deadly to Tess she saw his view of her
clearly enough he could regard her in no other light than that of one who had
practised gross deceit upon him Yet could a woman who had done even what she
had done deserve all this But she could contest the point with him no further
She simply repeated after him his own words
»Until you come to me I must not try to come to you«
»Just so«
»May I write to you«
»O yes if you are ill or want anything at all I hope that will not be
the case so that it may happen that I write first to you«
»I agree to the conditions Angel because you know best what my punishment
ought to be only only dont make it more than I can bear«
That was all she said on the matter If Tess had been artful had she made a
scene fainted wept hysterically in that lonely lane notwithstanding the fury
of fastidiousness with which he was possessed he would probably not have
withstood her But her mood of longsuffering made his way easy for him and she
herself was his best advocate Pride too entered into her submission which
perhaps was a symptom of that reckless acquiescence in chance too apparent in
the whole dUrberville family and the many effective chords which she could
have stirred by an appeal were left untouched
The remainder of their discourse was on practical matters only He now
handed her a packet containing a fairly good sum of money which he had obtained
from his bankers for the purpose The brilliants the interest in which seemed
to be Tesss for her life only if he understood the wording of the will he
advised her to let him send to a bank for safety and to this she readily
agreed
These things arranged he walked with Tess back to the carriage and handed
her in The coachman was paid and told where to drive her Taking next his own
bag and umbrella the sole articles he had brought with him hitherwards he
bade her goodbye and they parted there and then
The fly moved creepingly up a hill and Clare watched it go with an
unpremeditated hope that Tess would look out of the window for one moment But
that she never thought of doing would not have ventured to do lying in a
halfdead faint inside Thus he beheld her recede and in the anguish of his
heart quoted a line from a poet with peculiar emendations of his own
Gods not in his heaven alls wrong with the world
When Tess had passed over the crest of the hill he turned to go his own way and
hardly knew that he loved her still
XXXVIII
As she drove on through Blackmoor Vale and the landscape of her youth began to
open around her Tess aroused herself from her stupor Her first thought was how
would she be able to face her parents
She reached a turnpikegate which stood upon the highway to the village It
was thrown open by a stranger not by the old man who had kept it for many
years and to whom she had been known he had probably left on New Years Day
the date when such changes were made Having received no intelligence lately
from her home she asked the turnpikekeeper for news
»Oh nothing miss« he answered »Marlott is Marlott still Folks have
died and that John Durbeyfield too hev had a daughter married this week to a
gentlemanfarmer not from Johns own house you know they was married
elsewhere the gentleman being of that high standing that Johns own folk was
not considered wellbedoing enough to have any part in it the bridegroom
seeming not to know howt have been discovered that John is a old and ancient
nobleman himself by blood with family skillentons in their own vaults to this
day but done out of his property in the time o the Romans However Sir John
as we call n now kept up the weddingday as well as he could and stood treat
to everybody in the parish and Johns wife sung songs at The Pure Drop till
past eleven oclock«
Hearing this Tess felt so sick at heart that she could not decide to go
home publicly in the fly with her luggage and belongings She asked the
turnpikekeeper if she might deposit her things at his house for a while and
on his offering no objection she dismissed her carriage and went on to the
village alone by a back lane
At sight of her fathers chimney she asked herself how she could possibly
enter the house Inside that cottage her relations were calmly supposing her far
away on a weddingtour with a comparatively rich man who was to conduct her to
bouncing prosperity while here she was friendless creeping up to the old door
quite by herself with no better place to go to in the world
She did not reach the house unobserved Just by the gardenhedge she was met
by a girl who knew her one of the two or three with whom she had been intimate
at school After making a few inquiries as to how Tess came there her friend
unheeding her tragic look interrupted with
»But wheres thy gentleman Tess«
Tess hastily explained that he had been called away on business and
leaving her interlocutor clambered over the gardenhedge and thus made her way
to the house
As she went up the gardenpath she heard her mother singing by the back
door coming in sight of which she perceived Mrs Durbeyfield on the doorstep in
the act of wringing a sheet Having performed this without observing Tess she
went indoors and her daughter followed her
The washingtub stood in the same old place on the same old
quarterhogshead and her mother having thrown the sheet aside was about to
plunge her arms in anew
»Why Tess my chil I thought you was married married really and
truly this time we sent the cider «
»Yes mother so I am«
»Going to be«
»No I am married«
»Married Then wheres thy husband«
»Oh hes gone away for a time«
»Gone away When was you married then The day you said«
»Yes Tuesday mother«
»And now tis ony Saturday and he gone away«
»Yes hes gone«
»Whats the meaning o that Nation seize such husbands as you seem to get
say I«
»Mother« Tess went across to Joan Durbeyfield laid her face upon the
matrons bosom and burst into sobs »I dont know how to tell ee mother You
said to me and wrote to me that I was not to tell him But I did tell him I
couldnt help it and he went away«
»O you little fool you little fool« burst out Mrs Durbeyfield splashing
Tess and herself in her agitation »My good God that ever I should ha lived to
say it but I say it again you little fool«
Tess was convulsed with weeping the tension of so many days having relaxed
at last
»I know it I know I know« she gasped through her sobs »But O my
mother I could not help it He was so good and I felt the wickedness of
trying to blind him as to what had happened If if it were to be done again
I should do the same I could not I dared not so sin against him«
»But you sinned enough to marry him first«
»Yes yes thats where my misery do lie But I thought he could get rid o
me by law if he were determined not to overlook it And O if you knew if you
could only half know how I loved him how anxious I was to have him and how
wrung I was between caring so much for him and my wish to be fair to him«
Tess was so shaken that she could get no further and sank a helpless thing
into a chair
»Well well whats done cant be undone Im sure I dont know why children
o my bringing forth should all be bigger simpletons than other peoples not
to know better than to blab such a thing as that when he couldnt ha found it
out till too late« Here Mrs Durbeyfield began shedding tears on her own
account as a mother to be pitied »What your father will say I dont know« she
continued »for hes been talking about the wedding up at Rollivers and The
Pure Drop every day since and about his family getting back to their rightful
position through you poor silly man and now youve made this mess of it
The LordaLord«
As if to bring matters to a focus Tesss father was heard approaching at
that moment He did not however enter immediately and Mrs Durbeyfield said
that she would break the bad news to him herself Tess keeping out of sight for
the present After her first burst of disappointment Joan began to take the
mishap as she had taken Tesss original trouble as she would have taken a wet
holiday or failure in the potatocrop as a thing which had come upon them
irrespective of desert or folly a chance external impingement to be borne with
not a lesson
Tess retreated upstairs and beheld casually that the beds had been shifted
and new arrangements made Her old bed had been adapted for two younger
children There was no place here for her now
The room below being unceiled she could hear most of what went on there
Presently her father entered apparently carrying a live hen He was a
foothaggler now having been obliged to sell his second horse and he travelled
with his basket on his arm The hen had been carried about this morning as it
was often carried to show people that he was in his work though it had lain
with its legs tied under the table at Rollivers for more than an hour
»Weve just had up a story about « Durbeyfield began and thereupon related
in detail to his wife a discussion which had arisen at the inn about the clergy
originated by the fact of his daughter having married into a clerical family
»They was formerly styled sir like my own ancestry« he said »though nowadays
their true style strictly speaking is clerk only« As Tess had wished that no
great publicity should be given to the event he had mentioned no particulars
He hoped she would remove that prohibition soon He proposed that the couple
should take Tesss own name dUrberville as uncorrupted It was better than
her husbands He asked if any letter had come from her that day
Then Mrs Durbeyfield informed him that no letter had come but Tess
unfortunately had come herself
When at length the collapse was explained to him a sullen mortification not
usual with Durbeyfield overpowered the influence of the cheering glass Yet the
intrinsic quality of the event moved his touchy sensitiveness less than its
conjectured effect upon the minds of others
»To think now that this was to be the end ot« said Sir John »And I with
a family vault under that there church of Kingsbere as big as Squire Jollards
alecellar and my folk lying there in sixes and sevens as genuine county bones
and marrow as any recorded in history And now to be sure what they fellers at
Rollivers and The Pure Drop will say to me How theyll squint and glane and
say This is yer mighty match is it this is yer getting back to the true level
of yer forefathers in King Normans time I feel this is too much Joan I shall
put an end to myself title and all I can bear it no longer But she can
make him keep her if hes married her«
»Why yes But she wont think o doing that«
»Dye think he really have married her or is it like the first «
Poor Tess who had heard as far as this could not bear to hear more The
perception that her word could be doubted even here in her own parental house
set her mind against the spot as nothing else could have done How unexpected
were the attacks of destiny And if her father doubted her a little would not
neighbours and acquaintance doubt her much O she could not live long at home
A few days accordingly were all that she allowed herself here at the end
of which time she received a short note from Clare informing her that he had
gone to the North of England to look at a farm In her craving for the lustre of
her true position as his wife and to hide from her parents the vast extent of
the division between them she made use of this letter as her reason for again
departing leaving them under the impression that she was setting out to join
him Still further to screen her husband from any imputation of unkindness to
her she took twentyfive of the fifty pounds Clare had given her and handed
the sum over to her mother as if the wife of a man like Angel Clare could well
afford it saying that it was a slight return for the trouble and humiliation
she had brought upon them in years past With this assertion of her dignity she
bade them farewell and after that there were lively doings in the Durbeyfield
household for some time on the strength of Tesss bounty her mother saying
and indeed believing that the rupture which had arisen between the young
husband and wife had adjusted itself under their strong feeling that they could
not live apart from each other
XXXIX
It was three weeks after the marriage that Clare found himself descending the
hill which led to the wellknown parsonage of his father With his downward
course the tower of the church rose into the evening sky in a manner of inquiry
as to why he had come and no living person in the twilighted town seemed to
notice him still less to expect him He was arriving like a ghost and the
sound of his own footsteps was almost an encumbrance to be got rid of
The picture of life had changed for him Before this time he had known it
but speculatively now he thought he knew it as a practical man though perhaps
he did not even yet Nevertheless humanity stood before him no longer in the
pensive sweetness of Italian art but in the staring and ghastly attitudes of a
Wiertz Museum and with the leer of a study by Van Beers
His conduct during these first weeks had been desultory beyond description
After mechanically attempting to pursue his agricultural plans as though nothing
unusual had happened in the manner recommended by the great and wise men of all
ages he concluded that very few of those great and wise men had ever gone so
far outside themselves as to test the feasibility of their counsel »This is the
chief thing be not perturbed« said the Pagan moralist That was just Clares
own opinion But he was perturbed »Let not your heart be troubled neither let
it be afraid« said the Nazarene Clare chimed in cordially but his heart was
troubled all the same How he would have liked to confront those two great
thinkers and earnestly appeal to them as fellowman to fellowmen and ask them
to tell him their method
His mood transmuted itself into a dogged indifference till at length he
fancied he was looking on his own existence with the passive interest of an
outsider
He was embittered by the conviction that all this desolation had been
brought about by the accident of her being a dUrberville When he found that
Tess came of that exhausted ancient line and was not of the new tribes from
below as he had fondly dreamed why had he not stoically abandoned her in
fidelity to his principles This was what he had got by apostasy and his
punishment was deserved
Then he became weary and anxious and his anxiety increased He wondered if
he had treated her unfairly He ate without knowing that he ate and drank
without tasting As the hours dropped past as the motive of each act in the
long series of bygone days presented itself to his view he perceived how
intimately the notion of having Tess as a dear possession was mixed up with all
his schemes and words and ways
In going hither and thither he observed in the outskirts of a small town a
redandblue placard setting forth the great advantages of the Empire of Brazil
as a field for the emigrating agriculturist Land was offered there on
exceptionally advantageous terms Brazil somewhat attracted him as a new idea
Tess could eventually join him there and perhaps in that country of contrasting
scenes and notions and habits the conventions would not be so operative which
made life with her seem impracticable to him here In brief he was strongly
inclined to try Brazil especially as the season for going thither was just at
hand
With this view he was returning to Emminster to disclose his plan to his
parents and to make the best explanation he could make of arriving without
Tess short of revealing what had actually separated them As he reached the
door the new moon shone upon his face just as the old one had done in the small
hours of that morning when he had carried his wife in his arms across the river
to the graveyard of the monks but his face was thinner now
Clare had given his parents no warning of his visit and his arrival stirred
the atmosphere of the Vicarage as the dive of the kingfisher stirs a quiet pool
His father and mother were both in the drawingroom but neither of his brothers
was now at home Angel entered and closed the door quietly behind him
»But wheres your wife dear Angel« cried his mother »How you surprise
us«
»She is at her mothers temporarily I have come home rather in a hurry
because Ive decided to go to Brazil«
»Brazil Why they are all Roman Catholics there surely«
»Are they I hadnt thought of that«
But even the novelty and painfulness of his going to a Papistical land could
not displace for long Mr and Mrs Clares natural interest in their sons
marriage
»We had your brief note three weeks ago announcing that it had taken place«
said Mrs Clare »and your father sent your godmothers gift to her as you
know Of course it was best that none of us should be present especially as you
preferred to marry her from the dairy and not at her home wherever that may
be It would have embarrassed you and given us no pleasure Your brothers felt
that very strongly Now it is done we do not complain particularly if she suits
you for the business you have chosen to follow instead of the ministry of the
Gospel Yet I wish I could have seen her first Angel or have known a
little more about her We sent her no present of our own not knowing what would
best give her pleasure but you must suppose it only delayed Angel there is no
irritation in my mind or your fathers against you for this marriage but we
have thought it much better to reserve our liking for your wife till we could
see her And now you have not brought her It seems strange What has happened«
He replied that it had been thought best by them that she should go to her
parents home for the present whilst he came there
»I dont mind telling you dear mother« he said »that I always meant to
keep her away from this house till I should feel she could come with credit to
you But this idea of Brazil is quite a recent one If I do go it will be
unadvisable for me to take her on this my first journey She will remain at her
mothers till I come back«
»And I shall not see her before you start«
He was afraid they would not His original plan had been as he had said to
refrain from bringing her there for some little while not to wound their
prejudices feelings in any way and for other reasons he had adhered to it
He would have to visit home in the course of a year if he went out at once and
it would be possible for them to see her before he started a second time with
her
A hastily prepared supper was brought in and Clare made further exposition
of his plans His mothers disappointment at not seeing the bride still remained
with her Clares late enthusiasm for Tess had infected her through her maternal
sympathies till she had almost fancied that a good thing could come out of
Nazareth a charming woman out of Talbothays Dairy She watched her son as he
ate
»Cannot you describe her I am sure she is very pretty Angel«
»Of that there can be no question« he said with a zest which covered its
bitterness
»And that she is pure and virtuous goes without question«
»Pure and virtuous of course she is«
»I can see her quite distinctly You said the other day that she was fine in
figure roundly built had deep red lips like Cupids bow dark eyelashes and
brows an immense rope of hair like a ships cable and large eyes
violetyblueyblackish«
»I did mother«
»I quite see her And living in such seclusion she naturally had scarce ever
seen any young man from the world without till she saw you«
»Scarcely«
»You were her first love«
»Of course«
»There are worse wives than these simple rosymouthed robust girls of the
farm Certainly I could have wished well since my son is to be an
agriculturist it is perhaps but proper that his wife should have been
accustomed to an outdoor life«
His father was less inquisitive but when the time came for the chapter from
the Bible which was always read before evening prayers the Vicar observed to
Mrs Clare
»I think since Angel has come that it will be more appropriate to read the
thirtyfirst of Proverbs than the chapter which we should have had in the usual
course of our reading«
»Yes certainly« said Mrs Clare »The words of King Lemuel« she could
cite chapter and verse as well as her husband »My dear son your father has
decided to read us the chapter in Proverbs in praise of a virtuous wife We
shall not need to be reminded to apply the words to the absent one May Heaven
shield her in all her ways«
A lump rose in Clares throat The portable lectern was taken out from the
corner and set in the middle of the fireplace the two old servants came in and
Angels father began to read at the tenth verse of the aforesaid chapter
»Who can find a virtuous woman for her price is far above rubies She
riseth while it is yet night and giveth meat to her household She girdeth her
loins with strength and strengtheneth her arms She perceiveth that her
merchandise is good her candle goeth not out by night She looketh well to the
ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness Her children arise
up and call her blessed her husband also and he praiseth her Many daughters
have done virtuously but thou excellest them all«
When prayers were over his mother said
»I could not help thinking how very aptly that chapter your dear father read
applied in some of its particulars to the woman you have chosen The perfect
woman you see was a working woman not an idler not a fine lady but one who
used her hands and her head and her heart for the good of others Her children
arise up and call her blessed her husband also and he praiseth her Many
daughters have done virtuously but she excelleth them all Well I wish I could
have seen her Angel Since she is pure and chaste she would have been refined
enough for me«
Clare could bear this no longer His eyes were full of tears which seemed
like drops of molten lead He bade a quick goodnight to these sincere and
simple souls whom he loved so well who knew neither the world the flesh nor
the devil in their own hearts only as something vague and external to
themselves He went to his own chamber
His mother followed him and tapped at his door Clare opened it to discover
her standing without with anxious eyes
»Angel« she asked »is there something wrong that you go away so soon I am
quite sure you are not yourself«
»I am not quite mother« said he
»About her Now my son I know it is that I know it is about her Have
you quarrelled in these three weeks«
»We have not exactly quarrelled« he said »But we have had a difference «
»Angel is she a young woman whose history will bear investigation«
With a mothers instinct Mrs Clare had put her finger on the kind of
trouble that would cause such a disquiet as seemed to agitate her son
»She is spotless« he replied and felt that if it had sent him to eternal
hell there and then he would have told that lie
»Then never mind the rest After all there are few purer things in nature
than an unsullied country maid Any crudeness of manner which may offend your
more educated sense at first will I am sure disappear under the influence of
your companionship and tuition«
Such terrible sarcasm of blind magnanimity brought home to Clare the
secondary perception that he had utterly wrecked his career by this marriage
which had not been among his early thoughts after the disclosure True on his
own account he cared very little about his career but he had wished to make it
at least a respectable one on account of his parents and brothers And now as he
looked into the candle its flame dumbly expressed to him that it was made to
shine on sensible people and that it abhorred lighting the face of a dupe and a
failure
When his agitation had cooled he would be at moments incensed with his poor
wife for causing a situation in which he was obliged to practise deception on
his parents He almost talked to her in his anger as if she had been in the
room And then her cooing voice plaintive in expostulation disturbed the
darkness the velvet touch of her lips passed over his brow and he could
distinguish in the air the warmth of her breath
This night the woman of his belittling deprecations was thinking how great
and good her husband was But over them both there hung a deeper shade than the
shade which Angel Clare perceived namely the shade of his own limitations
With all his attempted independence of judgment this advanced and wellmeaning
young man a sample product of the last fiveandtwenty years was yet the slave
to custom and conventionality when surprised back into his early teachings No
prophet had told him and he was not prophet enough to tell himself that
essentially this young wife of his was as deserving of the praise of King Lemuel
as any other woman endowed with the same dislike of evil her moral value having
to be reckoned not by achievement but by tendency Moreover the figure near at
hand suffers on such occasions because it shows up its sorriness without shade
while vague figures afar off are honoured in that their distance makes artistic
virtues of their stains In considering what Tess was not he overlooked what
she was and forgot that the defective can be more than the entire
XL
At breakfast Brazil was the topic and all endeavoured to take a hopeful view of
Clares proposed experiment with that countrys soil notwithstanding the
discouraging reports of some farmlabourers who had emigrated thither and
returned home within the twelve months After breakfast Clare went into the
little town to wind up such trifling matters as he was concerned with there and
to get from the local bank all the money he possessed On his way back he
encountered Miss Mercy Chant by the church from whose walls she seemed to be a
sort of emanation She was carrying an armful of Bibles for her class and such
was her view of life that events which produced heartache in others wrought
beatific smiles upon her an enviable result although in the opinion of
Angel it was obtained by a curiously unnatural sacrifice of humanity to
mysticism
She had learnt that he was about to leave England and observed what an
excellent and promising scheme it seemed to be
»Yes it is a likely scheme enough in a commercial sense no doubt« he
replied »But my dear Mercy it snaps the continuity of existence Perhaps a
cloister would be preferable«
»A cloister O Angel Clare«
»Well«
»Why you wicked man a cloister implies a monk and a monk Roman
Catholicism«
»And Roman Catholicism sin and sin damnation Thou art in a parlous state
Angel Clare«
»I glory in my Protestantism« she said severely
Then Clare thrown by sheer misery into one of the demoniacal moods in which
a man does despite to his true principles called her close to him and
fiendishly whispered in her ear the most heterodox ideas he could think of His
momentary laughter at the horror which appeared on her fair face ceased when it
merged in pain and anxiety for his welfare
»Dear Mercy« he said »you must forgive me I think I am going crazy«
She thought that he was and thus the interview ended and Clare reentered
the Vicarage With the local banker he deposited the jewels till happier days
should arise He also paid into the bank thirty pounds to be sent to Tess in a
few months as she might require and wrote to her at her parents home in
Blackmoor Vale to inform her of what he had done This amount with the sum he
had already placed in her hands about fifty pounds he hoped would be amply
sufficient for her wants just at present particularly as in an emergency she
had been directed to apply to his father
He deemed it best not to put his parents into communication with her by
informing them of her address and being unaware of what had really happened to
estrange the two neither his father nor his mother suggested that he should do
so During the day he left the parsonage for what he had to complete he wished
to get done quickly
As the last duty before leaving this part of England it was necessary for
him to call at the Wellbridge farmhouse in which he had spent with Tess the
first three days of their marriage the trifle of rent having to be paid the
key given up of the rooms they had occupied and two or three small articles
fetched away that they had left behind It was under this roof that the deepest
shadow ever thrown upon his life had stretched its gloom over him Yet when he
had unlocked the door of the sittingroom and looked into it the memory which
returned first upon him was that of their happy arrival on a similar afternoon
he first fresh sense of sharing a habitation conjointly the first meal
together the chatting by the fire with joined hands
The farmer and his wife were in the field at the moment of his visit and
Clare was in the rooms alone for some time Inwardly swollen with a renewal of
sentiments that he had not quite reckoned with he went upstairs to her chamber
which had never been his The bed was smooth as she had made it with her own
hands on the morning of leaving The mistletoe hung under the tester just as he
had placed it Having been there three or four weeks it was turning colour and
the leaves and berries were wrinkled Angel took it down and crushed it into the
grate Standing there he for the first time doubted whether his course in this
conjuncture had been a wise much less a generous one But had he not been
cruelly blinded In the incoherent multitude of his emotions he knelt down at
the bedside weteyed »O Tess If you had only told me sooner I would have
forgiven you« he mourned
Hearing a footstep below he rose and went to the top of the stairs At the
bottom of the flight he saw a woman standing and on her turning up her face
recognised the pale darkeyed Izz Huett
»Mr Clare« she said »Ive called to see you and Mrs Clare and to
inquire if ye be well I thought you might be back here again«
This was a girl whose secret he had guessed but who had not yet guessed
his an honest girl who loved him one who would have made as good or nearly
as good a practical farmers wife as Tess
»I am here alone« he said »we are not living here now« Explaining why he
had come he asked »Which way are you going home Izz«
I have no home at Talbothays Dairy now sir she said
»Why is that«
Izz looked down
»It was so dismal there that I left I am staying out this way« She pointed
in a contrary direction the direction in which he was journeying
Well are you going there now I can take you if you wish for a lift
Her olive complexion grew richer in hue
»Thank ee Mr Clare« she said
He soon found the farmer and settled the account for his rent and the few
other items which had to be considered by reason of the sudden abandonment of
the lodgings On Clares return to his horse and gig Izz jumped up beside him
»I am going to leave England Izz« he said as they drove on »Going to
Brazil«
»And do Mrs Clare like the notion of such a journey« she asked
»She is not going at present say for a year or so I am going out to
reconnoitre to see what life there is like«
They sped along eastward for some considerable distance Izz making no
observation
»How are the others« he inquired »How is Retty«
»She was in a sort of nervous state when I zid her last and so thin and
hollowcheeked that a do seem in a decline Nobody will ever fall in love wi
her any more« said Izz absently
»And Marian«
Izz lowered her voice
»Marian drinks«
»Indeed«
»Yes The dairyman has got rid of her«
»And you«
»I dont drink and I baint in a decline But I am no great things at
singing afore breakfast now«
»How is that Do you remember how neatly you used to turn Twas down in
Cupids Gardens and The Tailors Breeches at morning milking«
»Ah yes When you first came sir that was Not when you had been there a
bit«
»Why was that fallingoff«
Her black eyes flashed up to his face for one moment by way of answer
»Izz how weak of you for such as I« he said and fell into reverie
»Then suppose I had asked you to marry me«
»If you had I should have said Yes and you would have married a woman who
loved ee«
»Really«
»Down to the ground« she whispered vehemently »O my God did you never
guess it till now«
Byandby they reached a branch road to a village
»I must get down I live out there« said Izz abruptly never having spoken
since her avowal
Clare slowed the horse He was incensed against his fate bitterly disposed
towards social ordinances for they had cooped him up in a corner out of which
there was no legitimate pathway Why not be revenged on society by shaping his
future domesticities loosely instead of kissing the pedagogic rod of convention
in this ensnaring manner
»I am going to Brazil alone Izz« said he »I have separated from my wife
for personal not voyaging reasons I may never live with her again I may not
be able to love you but will you go with me instead of her«
»You truly wish me to go«
»I do I have been badly used enough to wish for relief And you at least
love me disinterestedly«
»Yes I will go« said Izz after a pause
»You will You know what it means Izz«
»It means that I shall live with you for the time you are over there
thats good enough for me«
»Remember you are not to trust me in morals now But I ought to remind you
that it will be wrongdoing in the eyes of civilization Western civilization
that is to say«
»I dont mind that no woman do when it comes to agonypoint and theres no
other way«
»Then dont get down but sit where you are«
He drove past the crossroads one mile two miles without showing any
signs of affection
»You love me very very much Izz« he suddenly asked
»I do I have said I do I loved you all the time we was at the dairy
together«
»More than Tess«
She shook her head
»No« she murmured »not more than she«
»Hows that«
»Because nobody could love ee more than Tess did She would have laid
down her life for ee I could do no more«
Like the prophet on the top of Peor Izz Huett would fain have spoken
perversely at such a moment but the fascination exercised over her rougher
nature by Tesss character compelled her to grace
Clare was silent his heart had risen at these straightforward words from
such an unexpected unimpeachable quarter In his throat was something as if a
sob had solidified there His ears repeated »She would have laid down her life
for ee I could do no more«
»Forget our idle talk Izz« he said turning the horses head suddenly »I
dont know what Ive been saying I will now drive you back to where your lane
branches off«
»So much for honesty towards ee O how can I bear it how can I how
can I«
Izz Huett burst into wild tears and beat her forehead as she saw what she
had done
»Do you regret that poor little act of justice to an absent one O Izz
dont spoil it by regret«
She stilled herself by degrees
»Very well sir Perhaps I didnt know what I was saying either wh when I
agreed to go I wish what cannot be«
»Because I have a loving wife already«
»Yes yes You have«
They reached the corner of the lane which they had passed half an hour
earlier and she hopped down
»Izz please please forget my momentary levity« he cried »It was so
illconsidered so illadvised«
»Forget it Never never O it was no levity to me«
He felt how richly he deserved the reproach that the wounded cry conveyed
and in a sorrow that was inexpressible leapt down and took her hand
»Well but Izz well part friends anyhow You dont know what Ive had to
bear«
She was a really generous girl and allowed no further bitterness to mar
their adieux
»I forgive ee sir« she said
»Now Izz« he said while she stood beside him there forcing himself to the
mentors part he was far from feeling »I want you to tell Marian when you see
her that she is to be a good woman and not to give way to folly Promise that
and tell Retty that there are more worthy men than I in the world that for my
sake she is to act wisely and well remember the words wisely and well for
my sake I send this message to them as a dying man to the dying for I shall
never see them again And you Izzy you have saved me by your honest words
about my wife from an incredible impulse towards folly and treachery Women may
be bad but they are not so bad as men in these things On that one account I
can never forget you Be always the good and sincere girl you have hitherto
been and think of me as a worthless lover but a faithful friend Promise«
She gave the promise
»Heaven bless and keep you sir Goodbye«
He drove on but no sooner had Izz turned into the lane and Clare was out
of sight than she flung herself down on the bank in a fit of racking anguish
and it was with a strained unnatural face that she entered her mothers cottage
late that night Nobody ever was told how Izz spent the dark hours that
intervened between Angel Clares parting from her and her arrival home
Clare too after bidding the girl farewell was wrought to aching thoughts
and quivering lips But his sorrow was not for Izz That evening he was within a
featherweights turn of abandoning his road to the nearest station and driving
across that elevated dorsal line of South Wessex which divided him from his
Tesss home It was neither a contempt for her nature nor the probable state of
her heart which deterred him
No it was a sense that despite her love as corroborated by Izzs
admission the facts had not changed If he was right at first he was right
now And the momentum of the course on which he had embarked tended to keep him
going in it unless diverted by a stronger more sustained force than had played
upon him this afternoon He could soon come back to her He took the train that
night for London and five days after shook hands in farewell of his brothers at
the port of embarkation
XLI
From the foregoing events of the wintertime let us press on to an October day
more than eight months subsequent to the parting of Clare and Tess We discover
the latter in changed conditions instead of a bride with boxes and trunks which
others bore we see her a lonely woman with a basket and a bundle in her own
porterage as at an earlier time when she was no bride instead of the ample
means that were projected by her husband for her comfort through this
probationary period she can produce only a flattened purse
After again leaving Marlott her home she had got through the spring and
summer without any great stress upon her physical powers the time being mainly
spent in rendering light irregular service at dairywork near PortBredy to the
west of the Blackmoor Valley equally remote from her native place and from
Talbothays She preferred this to living on his allowance Mentally she remained
in utter stagnation a condition which the mechanical occupation rather fostered
than checked Her consciousness was at that other dairy at that other season
in the presence of the tender lover who had confronted her there he who the
moment she had grasped him to keep for her own had disappeared like a shape in
a vision
The dairywork lasted only till the milk began to lessen for she had not
met with a second regular engagement as at Talbothays but had done duty as a
supernumerary only However as harvest was now beginning she had simply to
remove from the pasture to the stubble to find plenty of further occupation and
this continued till harvest was done
Of the fiveandtwenty pounds which had remained to her of Clares
allowance after deducting the other half of the fifty as a contribution to her
parents for the trouble and expense to which she had put them she had as yet
spent but little But there now followed an unfortunate interval of wet weather
during which she was obliged to fall back upon her sovereigns
She could not bear to let them go Angel had put them into her hand had
obtained them bright and new from his bank for her his touch had consecrated
them to souvenirs of himself they appeared to have had as yet no other history
than such as was created by his and her own experiences and to disperse them
was like giving away relics But she had to do it and one by one they left her
hands
She had been compelled to send her mother her address from time to time but
she concealed her circumstances When her money had almost gone a letter from
her mother reached her Joan stated that they were in dreadful difficulty the
autumn rains had gone through the thatch of the house which required entire
renewal but this could not be done because the previous thatching had never
been paid for New rafters and a new ceiling upstairs also were required which
with the previous bill would amount to a sum of twenty pounds As her husband
was a man of means and had doubtless returned by this time could she not send
them the money
Tess had thirty pounds coming to her almost immediately from Angels
bankers and the case being so deplorable as soon as the sum was received she
sent the twenty as requested Part of the remainder she was obliged to expend in
winter clothing leaving only a nominal sum for the whole inclement season at
hand When the last pound had gone a remark of Angels that whenever she
required further resources she was to apply to his father remained to be
considered
But the more Tess thought of the step the more reluctant was she to take it
The same delicacy pride false shame whatever it may be called on Clares
account which had led her to hide from her own parents the prolongation of the
estrangement hindered her in owning to his that she was in want after the fair
allowance he had left her They probably despised her already how much more
they would despise her in the character of a mendicant The consequence was that
by no effort could the parsons daughterinlaw bring herself to let him know
her state
Her reluctance to communicate with her husbands parents might she thought
lessen with the lapse of time but with her own the reverse obtained On her
leaving their house after the short visit subsequent to her marriage they were
under the impression that she was ultimately going to join her husband and from
that time to the present she had done nothing to disturb their belief that she
was awaiting his return in comfort hoping against hope that his journey to
Brazil would result in a short stay only after which he would come to fetch
her or that he would write for her to join him in any case that they would
soon present a united front to their families and the world This hope she still
fostered To let her parents know that she was a deserted wife dependent now
that she had relieved their necessities on her own hands for a living after
the éclat of a marriage which was to nullify the collapse of the first attempt
would be too much indeed
The set of brilliants returned to her mind Where Clare had deposited them
she did not know and it mattered little if it were true that she could only
use and not sell them Even were they absolutely hers it would be passing mean
to enrich herself by a legal title to them which was not essentially hers at
all
Meanwhile her husbands days had been by no means free from trial At this
moment he was lying ill of fever in the clay lands near Curitiba in Brazil
having been drenched with thunderstorms and persecuted by other hardships in
common with all the English farmers and farmlabourers who just at this time
were deluded into going thither by the promises of the Brazilian Government and
by the baseless assumption that those frames which ploughing and sowing on
English uplands had resisted all the weathers to whose moods they had been
born could resist equally well all the weathers by which they were surprised on
Brazilian plains
To return Thus it happened that when the last of Tesss sovereigns had been
spent she was unprovided with others to take their place while on account of
the season she found it increasingly difficult to get employment Not being
aware of the rarity of intelligence energy health and willingness in any
sphere of life she refrained from seeking an indoor occupation fearing towns
large houses people of means and social sophistication and of manners other
than rural From that direction of gentility Black Care had come Society might
be better than she supposed from her slight experience of it But she had no
proof of this and her instinct in the circumstances was to avoid its purlieus
The small dairies to the west beyond PortBredy in which she had served as
supernumerary milkmaid during the spring and summer required no further aid
Room would probably have been made for her at Talbothays if only out of sheer
compassion but comfortable as her life had been there she could not go back
The anticlimax would be too intolerable and her return might bring reproach
upon her idolized husband She could not have borne their pity and their
whispered remarks to one another upon her strange situation though she would
almost have faced a knowledge of her circumstances by every individual there so
long as her story had remained isolated in the mind of each It was the
interchange of ideas about her that made her sensitiveness wince Tess could not
account for this distinction she simply knew that she felt it
She was now on her way to an upland farm in the centre of the county to
which she had been recommended by a wandering letter which had reached her from
Marian Marian had somehow heard that Tess was separated from her husband
probably through Izz Huett and the goodnatured and now tippling girl deeming
Tess in trouble had hastened to notify to her former friend that she herself
had gone to this upland spot after leaving the dairy and would like to see her
there where there was room for other hands if it was really true that she
worked again as of old
With the shortening of the days all hope of obtaining her husbands
forgiveness began to leave her and there was something of the habitude of the
wild animal in the unreflecting instinct with which she rambled on
disconnecting herself by littles from her eventful past at every step
obliterating her identity giving no thought to accidents or contingencies which
might make a quick discovery of her whereabouts by others of importance to her
own happiness if not to theirs
Among the difficulties of her lonely position not the least was the
attention she excited by her appearance a certain bearing of distinction which
she had caught from Clare being superadded to her natural attractiveness
Whilst the clothes lasted which had been prepared for her marriage these casual
glances of interest caused her no inconvenience but as soon as she was
compelled to don the wrapper of a fieldwoman rude words were addressed to her
more than once but nothing occurred to cause her bodily fear till a particular
November afternoon
She had preferred the country west of the River Brit to the upland farm for
which she was now bound because for one thing it was nearer to the home of
her husbands father and to hover about that region unrecognized with the
notion that she might decide to call at the Vicarage some day gave her
pleasure But having once decided to try the higher and drier levels she
pressed back eastward marching afoot towards the village of ChalkNewton where
she meant to pass the night
The lane was long and unvaried and owing to the rapid shortening of the
days dusk came upon her before she was aware She had reached the top of a hill
down which the lane stretched its serpentine length in glimpses when she heard
footsteps behind her back and in a few moments she was overtaken by a man He
stepped up alongside Tess and said
»Goodnight my pretty maid« to which she civilly replied
The light still remaining in the sky lit up her face though the landscape
was nearly dark The man turned and stared hard at her
»Why surely it is the young wench who was at Trantridge awhile young
Squire dUrbervilles friend I was there at that time though I dont live
there now«
She recognized in him the welltodo boor whom Angel had knocked down at the
inn for addressing her coarsely A spasm of anguish shot through her and she
returned him no answer
»Be honest enough to own it and that what I said in the town was true
though your fancyman was so up about it hey my sly one You ought to beg my
pardon for that blow of his considering«
Still no answer came from Tess There seemed only one escape for her hunted
soul She suddenly took to her heels with the speed of the wind and without
looking behind her ran along the road till she came to a gate which opened
directly into a plantation Into this she plunged and did not pause till she
was deep enough in its shade to be safe against any possibility of discovery
Under foot the leaves were dry and the foliage of some holly bushes which
grew among the deciduous trees was dense enough to keep off draughts She
scraped together the dead leaves till she had formed them into a large heap
making a sort of nest in the middle Into this Tess crept
Such sleep as she got was naturally fitful she fancied she heard strange
noises but persuaded herself that they were caused by the breeze She thought
of her husband in some vague warm clime on the other side of the globe while
she was here in the cold Was there another such a wretched being as she in the
world Tess asked herself and thinking of her wasted life said »All is
vanity« She repeated the words mechanically till she reflected that this was a
most inadequate thought for modern days Solomon had thought as far as that more
than two thousand years ago she herself though not in the van of thinkers had
got much further If all were only vanity who would mind it All was alas
worse than vanity injustice punishment exaction death The wife of Angel
Clare put her hand to her brow and felt its curve and the edges of her
eyesockets perceptible under the soft skin and thought as she did so that a
time would come when that bone would be bare »I wish it were now« she said
In the midst of these whimsical fancies she heard a new strange sound among
the leaves It might be the wind yet there was scarcely any wind Sometimes it
was a palpitation sometimes a flutter sometimes it was a sort of gasp or
gurgle Soon she was certain that the noises came from wild creatures of some
kind the more so when originating in the boughs overhead they were followed
by the fall of a heavy body upon the ground Had she been ensconced here under
other and more pleasant conditions she would have become alarmed but outside
humanity she had at present no fear
Day at length broke in the sky When it had been day aloft for some little
while it became day in the wood
Directly the assuring and prosaic light of the worlds active hours had
grown strong she crept from under her hillock of leaves and looked around
boldly Then she perceived what had been going on to disturb her The plantation
wherein she had taken shelter ran down at this spot into a peak which ended it
hitherward outside the hedge being arable ground Under the trees several
pheasants lay about their rich plumage dabbled with blood some were dead some
feebly twitching a wing some staring up at the sky some pulsating quickly
some contorted some stretched out all of them writhing in agony except the
fortunate ones whose tortures had ended during the night by the inability of
nature to bear more
Tess guessed at once the meaning of this The birds had been driven down
into this corner the day before by some shootingparty and while those that had
dropped dead under the shot or had died before nightfall had been searched for
and carried off many badly wounded birds had escaped and hidden themselves
away or risen among the thick boughs where they had maintained their position
till they grew weaker with loss of blood in the nighttime when they had fallen
one by one as she had heard them
She had occasionally caught glimpses of these men in girlhood looking over
hedges or peering through bushes and pointing their guns strangely accoutred
a bloodthirsty light in their eyes She had been told that rough and brutal as
they seemed just then they were not like this all the year round but were in
fact quite civil persons save during certain weeks of autumn and winter when
like the inhabitants of the Malay Peninsula they ran amuck and made it their
purpose to destroy life in this case harmless feathered creatures brought
into being by artificial means solely to gratify these propensities at once so
unmannerly and so unchivalrous towards their weaker fellows in Natures teeming
family
With the impulse of a soul who could feel for kindred sufferers as much as
for herself Tesss first thought was to put the still living birds out of their
torture and to this end with her own hands she broke the necks of as many as
she could find leaving them to lie where she had found them till the
gamekeepers should come as they probably would come to look for them a
second time
»Poor darlings to suppose myself the most miserable being on earth in the
sight o such misery as yours« she exclaimed her tears running down as she
killed the birds tenderly »And not a twinge of bodily pain about me I be not
mangled and I be not bleeding and I have two hands to feed and clothe me« She
was ashamed of herself for her gloom of the night based on nothing more
tangible than a sense of condemnation under an arbitrary law of society which
had no foundation in Nature
XLII
It was now broad day and she started again emerging cautiously upon the
highway But there was no need for caution not a soul was at hand and Tess
went onward with fortitude her recollection of the birds silent endurance of
their night of agony impressing upon her the relativity of sorrows and the
tolerable nature of her own if she could once rise high enough to despise
opinion But that she could not do so long as it was held by Clare
She reached ChalkNewton and breakfasted at an inn where several young men
were troublesomely complimentary to her good looks Somehow she felt hopeful
for was it not possible that her husband also might say these same things to her
even yet She was bound to take care of herself on the chance of it and keep
off these casual lovers To this end Tess resolved to run no further risks from
her appearance As soon as she got out of the village she entered a thicket and
took from her basket one of the oldest fieldgowns which she had never put on
even at the dairy never since she had worked among the stubble at Marlott She
also by a felicitous thought took a handkerchief from her bundle and tied it
round her face under her bonnet covering her chin and half her cheeks and
temples as if she were suffering from toothache Then with her little scissors
by the aid of a pocket lookingglass she mercilessly nipped her eyebrows off
and thus insured against aggressive admiration she went on her uneven way
»What a mommet of a maid« said the next man who met her to a companion
Tears came into her eyes for very pity of herself as she heard him
»But I dont care« she said »O no I dont care Ill always be ugly now
because Angel is not here and I have nobody to take care of me My husband that
was is gone away and never will love me any more but I love him just the same
and hate all other men and like to make em think scornfully of me«
Thus Tess walks on a figure which is part of the landscape a fieldwoman
pure and simple in winter guise a gray serge cape a red woollen cravat a
stuff skirt covered by a whiteybrown rough wrapper and buffleather gloves
Every thread of that old attire has become faded and thin under the stroke of
raindrops the burn of sunbeams and the stress of winds There is no sign of
young passion in her now
The maidens mouth is cold
Fold over simple fold
Binding her head
Inside this exterior over which the eye might have roved as over a thing
scarcely percipient almost inorganic there was the record of a pulsing life
which had learnt too well for its years of the dust and ashes of things of
the cruelty of lust and the fragility of love
Next day the weather was bad but she trudged on the honesty directness
and impartiality of elemental enmity disconcerting her but little Her object
being a winters occupation and a winters home there was no time to lose Her
experience of short hirings had been such that she was determined to accept no
more
Thus she went forward from farm to farm in the direction of the place whence
Marian had written to her which she determined to make use of as a last shift
only its rumoured stringencies being the reverse of tempting First she
inquired for the lighter kinds of employment and as acceptance in any variety
of these grew hopeless applied next for the less light till beginning with
the dairy and poultry tendance that she liked best she ended with the heavy and
coarse pursuits which she liked least work on arable land work of such
roughness indeed as she would never have deliberately volunteered for
Towards the second evening she reached the irregular chalk tableland or
plateau bosomed with semiglobular tumuli as if Cybele the Manybreasted were
supinely extended there which stretched between the valley of her birth and
the valley of her love
Here the air was dry and cold and the long cartroads were blown white and
dusty within a few hours after rain There were few trees or none those that
would have grown in the hedges being mercilessly plashed down with the quickset
by the tenantfarmers the natural enemies of tree bush and brake In the
middle distance ahead of her she could see the summits of Bulbarrow and of
Nettlecombe Tout and they seemed friendly They had a low and unassuming aspect
from this upland though as approached on the other side from Blackmoor in her
childhood they were as lofty bastions against the sky Southerly at many miles
distance and over the hills and ridges coastward she could discern a surface
like polished steel it was the English Channel at a point far out towards
France
Before her in a slight depression were the remains of a village She had
in fact reached FlintcombAsh the place of Marians sojourn There seemed to
be no help for it hither she was doomed to come The stubborn soil around her
showed plainly enough that the kind of labour in demand here was of the roughest
kind but it was time to rest from searching and she resolved to stay
particularly as it began to rain At the entrance to the village was a cottage
whose gable jutted into the road and before applying for a lodging she stood
under its shelter and watched the evening close in
»Who would think I was Mrs Angel Clare« she said
The wall felt warm to her back and shoulders and she found that immediately
within the gable was the cottage fireplace the heat of which came through the
bricks She warmed her hands upon them and also put her cheek red and moist
with the drizzle against their comforting surface The wall seemed to be the
only friend she had She had so little wish to leave it that she could have
stayed there all night
Tess could hear the occupants of the cottage gathered together after their
days labour talking to each other within and the rattle of their
supperplates was also audible But in the villagestreet she had seen no soul
as yet The solitude was at last broken by the approach of one feminine figure
who though the evening was cold wore the print gown and the tiltbonnet of
summer time Tess instinctively thought it might be Marian and when she came
near enough to be distinguishable in the gloom surely enough it was she Marian
was even stouter and redder in the face than formerly and decidedly shabbier in
attire At any previous period of her existence Tess would hardly have cared to
renew the acquaintance in such conditions but her loneliness was excessive and
she responded readily to Marians greeting
Marian was quite respectful in her inquiries but seemed much moved by the
fact that Tess should still continue in no better condition than at first
though she had dimly heard of the separation
»Tess Mrs Clare the dear wife of dear he And is it really so bad as
this my child Why is your cwomely face tied up in such a way Anybody been
beating ee Not he«
»No no no I merely did it not to be clipsed or colled Marian«
She pulled off in disgust a bandage which could suggest such wild thoughts
»And youve got no collar on« Tess had been accustomed to wear a little
white collar at the dairy
»I know it Marian«
Youve lost it travelling
»Ive not lost it The truth is I dont care anything about my looks and
so I didnt put it on«
»And you dont wear your weddingring«
»Yes I do but not in public I wear it round my neck on a ribbon I dont
wish people to think who I am by marriage or that I am married at all it would
be so awkward while I lead my present life«
Marian paused
»But you be a gentlemans wife and it seems hardly fair that you should
live like this«
»O yes it is quite fair though I am very unhappy«
»Well well He married you and you can be unhappy«
»Wives are unhappy sometimes from no fault of their husbands from their
own«
»Youve no faults deary that Im sure of And hes none So it must be
something outside ye both«
»Marian dear Marian will you do me a good turn without asking questions
My husband has gone abroad and somehow I have overrun my allowance so that I
have to fall back upon my old work for a time Do not call me Mrs Clare but
Tess as before Do they want a hand here«
»O yes theyll take one always because few care to come Tis a
starveacre place Corn and swedes are all they grow Though I be here myself I
feel tis a pity for such as you to come«
»But you used to be as good a dairywoman as I«
»Yes but Ive got out o that since I took to drink Lord thats the only
comfort Ive got now If you engage youll be set swede hacking Thats what
I be doing but you wont like it«
»O anything Will you speak for me«
»You will do better by speaking for yourself«
»Very well Now Marian remember nothing about him if I get the place I
dont wish to bring his name down to the dirt«
Marian who was really a trustworthy girl though of coarser grain than Tess
promised anything she asked
»This is paynight« she said »and if you were to come with me you would
know at once I be real sorry that you are not happy but tis because hes
away I know You couldnt be unhappy if he were here even if he gied ye no
money even if he used you like a drudge«
»Thats true I could not«
They walked on together and soon reached the farmhouse which was almost
sublime in its dreariness There was not a tree within sight there was not at
this season a green pasture nothing but fallow and turnips everywhere in
large fields divided by hedges plashed to unrelieved levels
Tess waited outside the door of the farmhouse till the group of workfolk had
received their wages and then Marian introduced her The farmer himself it
appeared was not at home but his wife who represented him this evening made
no objection to hiring Tess on her agreeing to remain till Old LadyDay Female
fieldlabour was seldom offered now and its cheapness made it profitable for
tasks which women could perform as readily as men
Having signed the agreement there was nothing more for Tess to do at
present than to get a lodging and she found one in the house at whose
gablewall she had warmed herself It was a poor subsistence that she had
ensured but it would afford a shelter for the winter at any rate
That night she wrote to inform her parents of her new address in case a
letter should arrive at Marlott from her husband But she did not tell them of
the sorriness of her situation it might have brought reproach upon him
XLIII
There was no exaggeration in Marians definition of FlintcombAsh farm as a
starveacre place The single fat thing on the soil was Marian herself and she
was an importation Of the three classes of village the village cared for by
its lord the village cared for by itself and the village uncared for either by
itself or by its lord in other words, the village of a resident squires
tenantry the village of free or copyholders and the absenteeowners village
farmed with the land this place FlintcombAsh was the third
But Tess set to work Patience that blending of moral courage with physical
timidity was now no longer a minor feature in Mrs Angel Clare and it
sustained her
The swedefield in which she and her companion were set hacking was a
stretch of a hundred odd acres in one patch on the highest ground of the farm
rising above stony lanchets or lynchets the outcrop of siliceous veins in the
chalk formation composed of myriads of loose white flints in bulbous cusped
and phallic shapes The upper half of each turnip had been eaten off by the
livestock and it was the business of the two women to grub up the lower or
earthy half of the root with a hooked fork called a hacker that it might be
eaten also Every leaf of the vegetable having already been consumed the whole
field was in colour a desolate drab it was a complexion without features as if
a face from chin to brow should be only an expanse of skin The sky wore in
another colour the same likeness a white vacuity of countenance with the
lineaments gone So these two upper and nether visages confronted each other all
day long the white face looking down on the brown face and the brown face
looking up at the white face without anything standing between them but the two
girls crawling over the surface of the former like flies
Nobody came near them and their movements showed a mechanical regularity
their forms standing enshrouded in Hessian »wroppers« sleeved brown pinafores
tied behind to the bottom to keep their gowns from blowing about scant skirts
revealing boots that reached high up the ankles and yellow sheepskin gloves
with gauntlets The pensive character which the curtained hood lent to their
bent heads would have reminded the observer of some early Italian conception of
the two Marys
They worked on hour after hour unconscious of the forlorn aspect they bore
in the landscape not thinking of the justice or injustice of their lot Even in
such a position as theirs it was possible to exist in a dream In the afternoon
the rain came on again and Marian said that they need not work any more But if
they did not work they would not be paid so they worked on It was so high a
situation this field that the rain had no occasion to fall but raced along
horizontally upon the yelling wind sticking into them like glass splinters till
they were wet through Tess had not known till now what was really meant by
that There are degrees of dampness and a very little is called being wet
through in common talk But to stand working slowly in a field and feel the
creep of rainwater first in legs and shoulders then on hips and head then at
back front and sides and yet to work on till the leaden light diminishes and
marks that the sun is down demands a distinct modicum of stoicism even of
valour
Yet they did not feel the wetness so much as might be supposed They were
both young and they were talking of the time when they lived and loved together
at Talbothays Dairy that happy green tract of land where summer had been
liberal in her gifts in substance to all emotionally to these Tess would fain
not have conversed with Marian of the man who was legally if not actually her
husband but the irresistible fascination of the subject betrayed her into
reciprocating Marians remarks And thus as has been said though the damp
curtains of their bonnets flapped smartly into their faces and their wrappers
clung about them to wearisomeness they lived all this afternoon in memories of
green sunny romantic Talbothays
»You can see a gleam of a hill within a few miles o« Froom Valley from here
when »tis fine« said Marian
»Ah Can you« said Tess awake to the new value of this locality
So the two forces were at work here as everywhere the inherent will to
enjoy and the circumstantial will against enjoyment Marians will had a method
of assisting itself by taking from her pocket as the afternoon wore on a pint
bottle corked with white rag from which she invited Tess to drink Tesss
unassisted power of dreaming however being enough for her sublimation at
present she declined except the merest sip and then Marian took a pull herself
from the spirits
»Ive got used to it« she said »and cant leave it off now Tis my only
comfort You see I lost him you didnt and you can do without it perhaps«
Tess thought her loss as great as Marians but upheld by the dignity of
being Angels wife in the letter at least she accepted Marians
differentiation
Amid this scene Tess slaved in the morning frosts and in the afternoon
rains When it was not swedegrubbing it was swedetrimming in which process
they sliced off the earth and the fibres with a billhook before storing the
roots for future use At this occupation they could shelter themselves by a
thatched hurdle if it rained but if it was frosty even their thick leather
gloves could not prevent the frozen masses they handled from biting their
fingers Still Tess hoped She had a conviction that sooner or later the
magnanimity which she persisted in reckoning as a chief ingredient of Clares
character would lead him to rejoin her
Marian primed to a humorous mood would discover the queershaped flints
aforesaid and shriek with laughter Tess remaining severely obtuse They often
looked across the country to where the Var or Froom was known to stretch even
though they might not be able to see it and fixing their eyes on the cloaking
gray mist imagined the old times they had spent out there
»Ah« said Marian »how I should like another or two of our old set to come
here Then we could bring up Talbothays every day here afield and talk of he
and of what nice times we had there and o the old things we used to know and
make it all come back again amost in seeming« Marians eyes softened and her
voice grew vague as the visions returned »Ill write to Izz Huett« she said
»Shes biding at home doing nothing now I know and Ill tell her we be here
and ask her to come and perhaps Retty is well enough now«
Tess had nothing to say against the proposal and the next she heard of this
plan for importing old Talbothays joys was two or three days later when Marian
informed her that Izz had replied to her inquiry and had promised to come if
she could
There had not been such a winter for years It came on in stealthy and
measured glides like the moves of a chessplayer One morning the few lonely
trees and the thorns of the hedgerows appeared as if they had put off a
vegetable for an animal integument Every twig was covered with a white nap as
of fur grown from the rind during the night giving it four times its usual
stoutness the whole bush or tree forming a staring sketch in white lines on the
mournful gray of the sky and horizon Cobwebs revealed their presence on sheds
and walls where none had ever been observed till brought out into visibility by
the crystallizing atmosphere hanging like loops of white worsted from salient
points of the outhouses posts and gates
After this season of congealed dampness came a spell of dry frost when
strange birds from behind the North Pole began to arrive silently on the upland
of FlintcombAsh gaunt spectral creatures with tragical eyes eyes which had
witnessed scenes of cataclysmal horror in inaccessible polar regions of a
magnitude such as no human being had ever conceived in curdling temperatures
that no man could endure which had beheld the crash of icebergs and the slide
of snowhills by the shooting light of the Aurora been half blinded by the
whirl of colossal storms and terraqueous distortions and retained the
expression of feature that such scenes had engendered These nameless birds came
quite near to Tess and Marian but of all they had seen which humanity would
never see they brought no account The travellers ambition to tell was not
theirs and with dumb impassivity they dismissed experiences which they did
not value for the immediate incidents of this homely upland the trivial
movements of the two girls in disturbing the clods with their hackers so as to
uncover something or other that these visitants relished as food
Then one day a peculiar quality invaded the air of this open country There
came a moisture which was not of rain and a cold which was not of frost It
chilled the eyeballs of the twain made their brows ache penetrated to their
skeletons affecting the surface of the body less than its core They knew that
it meant snow and in the night the snow came Tess who continued to live at
the cottage with the warm gable that cheered any lonely pedestrian who paused
beside it awoke in the night and heard above the thatch noises which seemed to
signify that the roof had turned itself into a gymnasium of all the winds When
she lit her lamp to get up in the morning she found that the snow had blown
through a chink in the casement forming a white cone of the finest powder
against the inside and had also come down the chimney so that it lay soledeep
upon the floor on which her shoes left tracks when she moved about Without
the storm drove so fast as to create a snowmist in the kitchen but as yet it
was too dark outofdoors to see anything
Tess knew that it was impossible to go on with the swedes and by the time
she had finished breakfast beside the solitary little lamp Marian arrived to
tell her that they were to join the rest of the women at reeddrawing in the
barn till the weather changed As soon therefore as the uniform cloak of
darkness without began to turn to a disordered medley of grays they blew out
the lamp wrapped themselves up in their thickest pinners tied their woollen
cravats round their necks and across their chests and started for the barn The
snow had followed the birds from the polar basin as a white pillar of a cloud
and individual flakes could not be seen The blast smelt of icebergs arctic
seas whales and white bears carrying the snow so that it licked the land but
did not deepen on it They trudged onwards with slanted bodies through the
flossy fields keeping as well as they could in the shelter of hedges which
however acted as strainers rather than screens The air afflicted to pallor
with the hoary multitudes that infested it twisted and spun them eccentrically
suggesting an achromatic chaos of things But both the young women were fairly
cheerful such weather on a dry upland is not in itself dispiriting
»Haha the cunning northern birds knew this was coming« said Marian
»Depend upont they keep just in front ot all the way from the North Star
Your husband my dear is I make no doubt having scorching weather all this
time Lord if he could only see his pretty wife now Not that this weather
hurts your beauty at all in fact it rather does it good«
»You mustnt talk about him to me Marian« said Tess severely
»Well but surely you care for n Do you«
Instead of answering Tess with tears in her eyes impulsively faced in the
direction in which she imagined South America to lie and putting up her lips
blew out a passionate kiss upon the snowy wind
»Well well I know you do But pon my body it is a rum life for a married
couple There I wont say another word Well as for the weather it wont
hurt us in the wheatbarn but reeddrawing is fearful hard work worse than
swedehacking I can stand it because Im stout but you be slimmer than I I
cant think why maister should have set ee at it«
They reached the wheatbarn and entered it One end of the long structure
was full of corn the middle was where the reeddrawing was carried on and
there had already been placed in the reedpress the evening before as many
sheaves of wheat as would be sufficient for the women to draw from during the
day
»Why heres Izz« said Marian
Izz it was and she came forward She had walked all the way from her
mothers home on the previous afternoon and not deeming the distance so great
had been belated arriving however just before the snow began and sleeping at
the alehouse The farmer had agreed with her mother at market to take her on if
she came today and she had been afraid to disappoint him by delay
In addition to Tess Marian and Izz there were two women from a
neighbouring village two Amazonian sisters whom Tess with a start remembered
as Dark Car the Queen of Spades and her junior the Queen of Diamonds those who
had tried to fight with her in the midnight quarrel at Trantridge They showed
no recognition of her and possibly had none for they had been under the
influence of liquor on that occasion and were only temporary sojourners there
as here They did all kinds of mens work by preference including wellsinking
hedging ditching and excavating without any sense of fatigue Noted
reeddrawers were they too and looked round upon the other three with some
superciliousness
Putting on their gloves all set to work in a row in front of the press an
erection formed of two posts connected by a crossbeam under which the sheaves
to be drawn from were laid ears outward the beam being pegged down by pins in
the uprights and lowered as the sheaves diminished
The day hardened in colour the light coming in at the barndoors upwards
from the snow instead of downwards from the sky The girls pulled handful after
handful from the press but by reason of the presence of the strange women who
were recounting scandals Marian and Izz could not at first talk of old times as
they wished to do Presently they heard the muffled tread of a horse and the
farmer rode up to the barndoor When he had dismounted he came close to Tess
and remained looking musingly at the side of her face She had not turned at
first but his fixed attitude led her to look round when she perceived that her
employer was the native of Trantridge from whom she had taken flight on the
highroad because of his allusion to her history
He waited till she had carried the drawn bundles to the pile outside when
he said »So you be the young woman who took my civility in such ill part Be
drowned if I didnt think you might be as soon as I heard of your being hired
Well you thought you had got the better of me the first time at the inn with
your fancyman and the second time on the road when you bolted but now I
think Ive got the better of you« He concluded with a hard laugh
Tess between the Amazons and the farmer like a bird caught in a clapnet
returned no answer continuing to pull the straw She could read character
sufficiently well to know by this time that she had nothing to fear from her
employers gallantry it was rather the tyranny induced by his mortification at
Clares treatment of him Upon the whole she preferred that sentiment in man and
felt brave enough to endure it
»You thought I was in love with ee I suppose Some women are such fools to
take every look as serious earnest But theres nothing like a winter afield for
taking that nonsense out o young wenches« heads and youve signed and agreed
till LadyDay Now are you going to beg my pardon
»I think you ought to beg mine«
»Very well as you like But well see which is master here Be they all
the sheaves youve done today«
»Yes sir«
»Tis a very poor show Just see what theyve done over there« pointing to
the two stalwart women »The rest too have done better than you«
»Theyve all practised it before and I have not And I thought it made no
difference to you as it is task work and we are only paid for what we do«
»Oh but it does I want the barn cleared«
»I am going to work all the afternoon instead of leaving at two as the
others will do«
He looked sullenly at her and went away Tess felt that she could not have
come to a much worse place but anything was better than gallantry When two
oclock arrived the professional reeddrawers tossed off the last halfpint in
their flagon put down their hooks tied their last sheaves and went away
Marian and Izz would have done likewise but on hearing that Tess meant to stay
to make up by longer hours for her lack of skill they would not leave her
Looking out at the snow which still fell Marian exclaimed »Now weve got it
all to ourselves« And so at last the conversation turned to their old
experiences at the dairy and of course the incidents of their affection for
Angel Clare
»Izz and Marian« said Mrs Angel Clare with a dignity which was extremely
touching seeing how very little of a wife she was »I cant join in talk with
you now as I used to do about Mr Clare you will see that I cannot because
although he is gone away from me for the present he is my husband«
Izz was by nature the sauciest and most caustic of all the four girls who
had loved Clare »He was a very splendid lover no doubt« she said »but I
dont think he is a too fond husband to go away from you so soon«
»He had to go he was obliged to go to see about the land over there«
pleaded Tess
»He might have tided ee over the winter«
»Ah thats owing to an accident a misunderstanding and we wont argue
it« Tess answered with tearfulness in her words »Perhaps theres a good deal
to be said for him He did not go away like some husbands without telling me
and I can always find out where he is«
After this they continued for some long time in a reverie as they went on
seizing the ears of corn drawing out the straw gathering it under their arms
and cutting off the ears with their billhooks nothing sounding in the barn but
the swish of the straw and the crunch of the hook Then Tess suddenly flagged
and sank down upon the heap of wheatears at her feet
»I knew you wouldnt be able to stand it« cried Marian »It wants harder
flesh than yours for this work«
Just then the farmer entered »Oh thats how you get on when I am away« he
said to her
»But it is my own loss« she pleaded »Not yours«
»I want it finished« he said doggedly as he crossed the barn and went out
at the other door
»Dont ee mind him theres a dear« said Marian »Ive worked here before
Now you go and lie down there and Izz and I will make up your number«
»I dont like to let you do that Im taller than you too«
However she was so overcome that she consented to lie down awhile and
reclined on a heap of pulltails the refuse after the straight straw had been
drawn thrown up at the further side of the barn Her succumbing had been as
largely owing to agitation at reopening the subject of her separation from her
husband as to the hard work She lay in a state of percipience without volition
and the rustle of the straw and the cutting of the ears by the others had the
weight of bodily touches
She could hear from her corner in addition to these noises the murmur of
their voices She felt certain that they were continuing the subject already
broached but their voices were so low that she could not catch the words At
last Tess grew more and more anxious to know what they were saying and
persuading herself that she felt better she got up and resumed work
Then Izz Huett broke down She had walked more than a dozen miles the
previous evening had gone to bed at midnight and had risen again at five
oclock Marian alone thanks to her bottle of liquor and her stoutness of
build stood the strain upon back and arms without suffering Tess urged Izz to
leave off agreeing as she felt better to finish the day without her and make
equal division of the number of sheaves
Izz accepted the offer gratefully and disappeared through the great door
into the snowy track to her lodging Marian as was the case every afternoon at
this time on account of the bottle began to feel in a romantic vein
»I should not have thought it of him never« she said in a dreamy tone
»And I loved him so I didnt mind his having you But this about Izz is too
bad«
Tess in her start at the words narrowly missed cutting off a finger with
the billhook
»Is it about my husband« she stammered
»Well yes Izz said Dont ee tell her but I am sure I cant help it It
was what he wanted Izz to do He wanted her to go off to Brazil with him«
Tesss face faded as white as the scene without and its curves
straightened »And did Izz refuse to go« she asked
»I dont know Anyhow he changed his mind«
»Pooh then he didnt mean it Twas just a mans jest«
»Yes he did for he drove her a goodways towards the station«
»He didnt take her«
They pulled on in silence till Tess without any premonitory symptoms burst
out crying
»There« said Marian »Now I wish I hadnt told ee«
»No It is a very good thing that you have done I have been living on in a
thirtover lackaday way and have not seen what it may lead to I ought to have
sent him a letter oftener He said I could not go to him but he didnt say I
was not to write as often as I liked I wont dally like this any longer I have
been very wrong and neglectful in leaving everything to be done by him«
The dim light in the barn grew dimmer and they could see to work no longer
When Tess had reached home that evening and had entered into the privacy of her
little whitewashed chamber she began impetuously writing a letter to Clare
But falling into doubt she could not finish it Afterwards she took the ring
from the ribbon on which she wore it next her heart and retained it on her
finger all night as if to fortify herself in the sensation that she was really
the wife of this elusive lover of hers who could propose that Izz should go
with him abroad so shortly after he had left her Knowing that how could she
write entreaties to him or show that she cared for him any more
XLIV
By the disclosure in the barn her thoughts were led anew in the direction which
they had taken more than once of late to the distant Emminster Vicarage It
was through her husbands parents that she had been charged to send a letter to
Clare if she desired and to write to them direct if in difficulty But that
sense of her having morally no claim upon him had always led Tess to suspend her
impulse to send these notes and to the family at the Vicarage therefore as to
her own parents since her marriage she was virtually nonexistent This
selfeffacement in both directions had been quite in consonance with her
independent character of desiring nothing by way of favour or pity to which she
was not entitled on a fair consideration of her deserts She had set herself to
stand or fall by her qualities and to waive such merely technical claims upon a
strange family as had been established for her by the flimsy fact of a member of
that family in a season of impulse writing his name in a churchbook beside
hers
But now that she was stung to a fever by Izzs tale there was a limit to her
powers of renunciation Why had her husband not written to her He had
distinctly implied that he would at least let her know of the locality to which
he had journeyed but he had not sent a line to notify his address Was he
really indifferent But was he ill Was it for her to make some advance Surely
she might summon the courage of solicitude call at the Vicarage for
intelligence and express her grief at his silence If Angels father were the
good man she had heard him represented to be he would be able to enter into her
heartstarved situation Her social hardships she could conceal
To leave the farm on a weekday was not in her power Sunday was the only
possible opportunity FlintcombAsh being in the middle of the cretaceous
tableland over which no railway had climbed as yet it would be necessary to
walk And the distance being fifteen miles each way she would have to allow
herself a long day for the undertaking by rising early
A fortnight later when the snow had gone and had been followed by a hard
black frost she took advantage of the state of the roads to try the experiment
At four oclock that Sunday morning she came downstairs and stepped out into the
starlight The weather was still favourable the ground ringing under her feet
like an anvil
Marian and Izz were much interested in her excursion knowing that the
journey concerned her husband Their lodgings were in a cottage a little further
along the lane but they came and assisted Tess in her departure and argued
that she should dress up in her very prettiest guise to captivate the hearts of
her parentsinlaw though she knowing of the austere and Calvinistic tenets of
old Mr Clare was indifferent and even doubtful A year had now elapsed since
her sad marriage but she had preserved sufficient draperies from the wreck of
her then full wardrobe to clothe her very charmingly as a simple country girl
with no pretensions to recent fashion a soft gray woollen gown with white
crape quilling against the pink skin of her face and neck and a black velvet
jacket and hat
Tis a thousand pities your husband cant see »ee now you do look a real
beauty« said Izz Huett regarding Tess as she stood on the threshold between
the steely starlight without and the yellow candlelight within Izz spoke with a
magnanimous abandonment of herself to the situation she could not be no woman
with a heart bigger than a hazelnut could be antagonistic to Tess in her
presence the influence which she exercised over those of her own sex being of a
warmth and strength quite unusual curiously overpowering the less worthy
feminine feelings of spite and rivalry
With a final tug and touch here and a slight brush there they let her go
and she was absorbed into the pearly air of the foredawn They heard her
footsteps tap along the hard road as she stepped out to her full pace Even Izz
hoped she would win and though without any particular respect for her own
virtue felt glad that she had been prevented wronging her friend when
momentarily tempted by Clare
It was a year ago all but a day that Clare had married Tess and only a
few days less than a year that he had been absent from her Still to start on a
brisk walk and on such an errand as hers on a dry clear wintry morning
through the rarefied air of these chalky hogsbacks was not depressing and
there is no doubt that her dream at starting was to win the heart of her
motherinlaw tell her whole history to that lady enlist her on her side and
so gain back the truant
In time she reached the edge of the vast escarpment below which stretched
the loamy Vale of Blackmoor now lying misty and still in the dawn Instead of
the colourless air of the uplands the atmosphere down there was a deep blue
Instead of the great enclosures of a hundred acres in which she was now
accustomed to toil there were little fields below her of less than halfadozen
acres so numerous that they looked from this height like the meshes of a net
Here the landscape was whiteybrown down there as in Froom Valley it was
always green Yet it was in that vale that her sorrow had taken shape and she
did not love it as formerly Beauty to her as to all who have felt lay not in
the thing but in what the thing symbolized
Keeping the Vale on her right she steered steadily westward passing above
the Hintocks crossing at rightangles the highroad from ShertonAbbas to
Casterbridge and skirting Dogbury Hill and HighStoy with the dell between
them called »The Devils Kitchen« Still following the elevated way she reached
CrossinHand where the stone pillar stands desolate and silent to mark the
site of a miracle or murder or both Three miles further she cut across the
straight and deserted Roman road called LongAsh Lane leaving which as soon as
she reached it she dipped down a hill by a transverse lane into the small town
or village of Evershead being now about halfway over the distance She made a
halt here and breakfasted a second time heartily enough not at the
SowandAcorn for she avoided inns but at a cottage by the church
The second half of her journey was through a more gentle country by way of
Benvill Lane But as the mileage lessened between her and the spot of her
pilgrimage so did Tesss confidence decrease and her enterprise loom out more
formidably She saw her purpose in such staring lines and the landscape so
faintly that she was sometimes in danger of losing her way However about noon
she paused by a gate on the edge of the basin in which Emminster and its
Vicarage lay
The square tower beneath which she knew that at that moment the Vicar and
his congregation were gathered had a severe look in her eyes She wished that
she had somehow contrived to come on a weekday Such a good man might be
prejudiced against a woman who had chosen Sunday never realizing the
necessities of her case But it was incumbent upon her to go on now She took
off the thick boots in which she had walked thus far put on her pretty thin
ones of patent leather and stuffing the former into the hedge by the gatepost
where she might readily find them again descended the hill the freshness of
colour she had derived from the keen air thinning away in spite of her as she
drew near the parsonage
Tess hoped for some accident that might favour her but nothing favoured
her The shrubs on the Vicarage lawn rustled uncomfortably in the frosty breeze
she could not feel by any stretch of imagination dressed to her highest as she
was that the house was the residence of near relations and yet nothing
essential in nature or emotion divided her from them in pains pleasures
thoughts birth death and afterdeath they were the same
She nerved herself by an effort entered the swinggate and rang the
doorbell The thing was done there could be no retreat No the thing was not
done Nobody answered to her ringing The effort had to be risen to and made
again She rang a second time and the agitation of the act coupled with her
weariness after the fifteen miles walk led her to support herself while she
waited by resting her hand on her hip and her elbow against the wall of the
porch The wind was so nipping that the ivyleaves had become wizened and gray
each tapping incessantly upon its neighbour with a disquieting stir of her
nerves A piece of bloodstained paper caught up from some meatbuyers
dustheap beat up and down the road without the gate too flimsy to rest too
heavy to fly away and a few straws kept it company
The second peal had been louder and still nobody came Then she walked out
of the porch opened the gate and passed through And though she looked
dubiously at the housefront as if inclined to return it was with a breath of
relief that she closed the gate A feeling haunted her that she might have been
recognized though how she could not tell and orders been given not to admit
her
Tess went as far as the corner She had done all she could do but
determined not to escape present trepidation at the expense of future distress
she walked back again quite past the house looking up at all the windows
Ah the explanation was that they were all at church every one She
remembered her husband saying that his father always insisted upon the
household servants included going to morningservice and as a consequence
eating cold food when they came home It was therefore only necessary to wait
till the service was over She would not make herself conspicuous by waiting on
the spot and she started to get past the church into the lane But as she
reached the churchyardgate the people began pouring out and Tess found herself
in the midst of them
The Emminster congregation looked at her as only a congregation of small
countrytownsfolk walking home at its leisure can look at a woman out of the
common whom it perceives to be a stranger She quickened her pace and ascended
the road by which she had come to find a retreat between its hedges till the
Vicars family should have lunched and it might be convenient for them to
receive her She soon distanced the churchgoers except two youngish men who
linked arminarm were beating up behind her at a quick step
As they drew nearer she could hear their voices engaged in earnest
discourse and with the natural quickness of a woman in her situation did not
fail to recognize in those voices the quality of her husbands tones The
pedestrians were his two brothers Forgetting all her plans Tesss one dread
was lest they should overtake her now in her disorganized condition before she
was prepared to confront them for though she felt that they could not identify
her she instinctively dreaded their scrutiny The more briskly they walked the
more briskly walked she They were plainly bent upon taking a short quick stroll
before going indoors to lunch or dinner to restore warmth to limbs chilled with
sitting through a long service
Only one person had preceded Tess up the hill a ladylike young woman
somewhat interesting though perhaps a trifle guindée and prudish Tess had
nearly overtaken her when the speed of her brothersinlaw brought them so
nearly behind her back that she could hear every word of their conversation
They said nothing however which particularly interested her till observing
the young lady still further in front one of them remarked »There is Mercy
Chant Let us overtake her«
Tess knew the name It was the woman who had been destined for Angels
lifecompanion by his and her parents and whom he probably would have married
but for her intrusive self She would have known as much without previous
information if she had waited a moment for one of the brothers proceeded to
say »Ah poor Angel poor Angel I never see that nice girl without more and
more regretting his precipitancy in throwing himself away upon a dairymaid or
whatever she may be It is a queer business apparently Whether she has joined
him yet or not I dont know but she had not done so some months ago when I
heard from him«
»I cant say He never tells me anything nowadays His illconsidered
marriage seems to have completed that estrangement from me which was begun by
his extraordinary opinions«
Tess beat up the long hill still faster but she could not outwalk them
without exciting notice At last they outsped her altogether and passed her by
The young lady still further ahead heard their footsteps and turned Then there
was a greeting and a shaking of hands and the three went on together
They soon reached the summit of the hill and evidently intending this
point to be the limit of their promenade slackened pace and turned all three
aside to the gate whereat Tess had paused an hour before that time to
reconnoitre the town before descending into it During their discourse one of
the clerical brothers probed the hedge carefully with his umbrella and dragged
something to light
»Heres a pair of old boots« he said »Thrown away I suppose by some
tramp or other«
»Some impostor who wished to come into the town barefoot perhaps and so
excite our sympathies« said Miss Chant »Yes it must have been for they are
excellent walkingboots by no means worn out What a wicked thing to do Ill
carry them home for some poor person«
Cuthbert Clare who had been the one to find them picked them up for her
with the crook of his stick and Tesss boots were appropriated
She who had heard this walked past under the screen of her woollen veil
till presently looking back she perceived that the church party had left the
gate with her boots and retreated down the hill
Thereupon our heroine resumed her walk Tears blinding tears were running
down her face She knew that it was all sentiment all baseless impressibility
which had caused her to read the scene as her own condemnation nevertheless she
could not get over it she could not contravene in her own defenceless person
all these untoward omens It was impossible to think of returning to the
Vicarage Angels wife felt almost as if she had been hounded up that hill like
a scorned thing by those to her superfine clerics Innocently as the slight
had been inflicted it was somewhat unfortunate that she had encountered the
sons and not the father who despite his narrowness was far less starched and
ironed than they and had to the full the gift of charity As she again thought
of her dusty boots she almost pitied those habiliments for the quizzing to which
they had been subjected and felt how hopeless life was for their owner
»Ah« she said still sighing in pity of herself »they didnt know that I
wore those over the roughest part of the road to save these pretty ones he
bought for me no they did not know it And they didnt think that he chose
the colour o my pretty frock no how could they If they had known perhaps
they would not have cared for they dont care much for him poor thing«
Then she grieved for the beloved man whose conventional standard of judgment
had caused her all these latter sorrows and she went her way without knowing
that the greatest misfortune of her life was this feminine loss of courage at
the last and critical moment through her estimating her fatherinlaw by his
sons Her present condition was precisely one which would have enlisted the
sympathies of old Mr and Mrs Clare Their hearts went out of them at a bound
towards extreme cases when the subtle mental troubles of the less desperate
among mankind failed to win their interest or regard In jumping at Publicans
and Sinners they would forget that a word might be said for the worries of
Scribes and Pharisees and this defect or limitation might have recommended
their own daughterinlaw to them at this moment as a fairly choice sort of lost
person for their love
Thereupon she began to plod back along the road by which she had come not
altogether full of hope but full of a conviction that a crisis in her life was
approaching No crisis apparently had supervened and there was nothing left
for her to do but to continue upon that starveacre farm till she could again
summon courage to face the vicarage She did indeed take sufficient interest
in herself to throw up her veil on this return journey as if to let the world
see that she could at least exhibit a face such as Mercy Chant could not show
But it was done with a sorry shake of the head »It is nothing it is nothing«
she said »Nobody loves it nobody sees it Who cares about the looks of a
castaway like me«
Her journey back was rather a meander than a march It had no sprightliness
no purpose only a tendency Along the tedious length of Benvill Lane she began
to grow tired and she leant upon gates and paused by milestones
She did not enter any house till at the seventh or eighth mile she
descended the steep long hill below which lay the village or townlet of
Evershead where in the morning she had breakfasted with such contrasting
expectations The cottage by the church in which she again sat down was almost
the first at that end of the village and while the woman fetched her some milk
from the pantry Tess looking down the street perceived that the place seemed
quite deserted
»The people are gone to afternoon service I suppose« she said
»No my dear« said the old woman »Tis too soon for that the bells haint
strook out yet They be all gone to hear the preaching in yonder barn A ranter
preaches there between the services an excellent fiery Christian man they
say But Lord I dont go to hearn What comes in the regular way over the
pulpit is hot enough for I«
Tess soon went onward into the village her footsteps echoing against the
houses as though it were a place of the dead Nearing the central part her
echoes were intruded on by other sounds and seeing the barn not far off the
road she guessed these to be the utterances of the preacher
His voice became so distinct in the still clear air that she could soon
catch his sentences though she was on the closed side of the barn The sermon
as might be expected was of the extremest antinomian type on justification by
faith as expounded in the theology of St Paul This fixed idea of the
rhapsodist was delivered with animated enthusiasm in a manner entirely
declamatory for he had plainly no skill as a dialectician Although Tess had
not heard the beginning of the address she learnt what the text had been from
its constant iteration
»O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the
truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified
among you«
Tess was all the more interested as she stood listening behind in finding
that the preachers doctrine was a vehement form of the views of Angels father
and her interest intensified when the speaker began to detail his own spiritual
experiences of how he had come by those views He had he said been the
greatest of sinners He had scoffed he had wantonly associated with the
reckless and the lewd But a day of awakening had come and in a human sense
it had been brought about mainly by the influence of a certain clergyman whom
he had at first grossly insulted but whose parting words had sunk into his
heart and had remained there till by the grace of Heaven they had worked this
change in him and made him what they saw him
But more startling to Tess than the doctrine had been the voice which
impossible as it seemed was precisely that of Alec dUrberville Her face fixed
in painful suspense she came round to the front of the barn and passed before
it The low winter sun beamed directly upon the great doubledoored entrance on
this side one of the doors being open so that the rays stretched far in over
the threshingfloor to the preacher and his audience all snugly sheltered from
the northern breeze The listeners were entirely villagers among them being the
man whom she had seen carrying the red paintpot on a former memorable occasion
But her attention was given to the central figure who stood upon some sacks of
corn facing the people and the door The three oclock sun shone full upon him
and the strange enervating conviction that her seducer confronted her which had
been gaining ground in Tess ever since she had heard his words distinctly was
at last established as a fact indeed
End of Phase the Fifth
Phase the Sixth
The Convert
XLV
Till this moment she had never seen or heard from dUrberville since her
departure from Trantridge
The rencounter came at a heavy moment one of all moments calculated to
permit its impact with the least emotional shock But such was unreasoning
memory that though he stood there openly and palpably a converted man who was
sorrowing for his past irregularities a fear overcame her paralyzing her
movement so that she neither retreated nor advanced
To think of what emanated from that countenance when she saw it last and to
behold it now There was the same handsome unpleasantness of mien but now
he wore neatly trimmed oldfashioned whiskers the sable moustache having
disappeared and his dress was halfclerical a modification which had changed
his expression sufficiently to abstract the dandyism from his features and to
hinder for a second her belief in his identity
To Tesss sense there was just at first a ghastly bizarrerie a grim
incongruity in the march of these solemn words of Scripture out of such a
mouth This too familiar intonation less than four years earlier had brought
to her ears expressions of such divergent purpose that her heart became quite
sick at the irony of the contrast
It was less a reform than a transfiguration The former curves of
sensuousness were now modulated to lines of devotional passion The lipshapes
that had meant seductiveness were now made to express supplication the glow on
the cheek that yesterday could be translated as riotousness was evangelized
today into the splendour of pious rhetoric animalism had become fanaticism
Paganism Paulinism the bold rolling eye that had flashed upon her form in the
old time with such mastery now beamed with the rude energy of a theolatry that
was almost ferocious Those black angularities which his face had used to put on
when his wishes were thwarted now did duty in picturing the incorrigible
backslider who would insist upon turning again to his wallowing in the mire
The lineaments as such seemed to complain They had been diverted from
their hereditary connotation to signify impressions for which nature did not
intend them Strange that their very elevation was a misapplication that to
raise seemed to falsify
Yet could it be so She would admit the ungenerous sentiment no longer
DUrberville was not the first wicked man who had turned away from his
wickedness to save his soul alive and why should she deem it unnatural in him
It was but the usage of thought which had been jarred in her at hearing good new
words in bad old notes The greater the sinner the greater the saint it was not
necessary to dive far into Christian history to discover that
Such impressions as these moved her vaguely and without strict
definiteness As soon as the nerveless pause of her surprise would allow her to
stir her impulse was to pass on out of his sight He had obviously not
discerned her yet in her position against the sun
But the moment that she moved again he recognized her The effect upon her
old lover was electric far stronger than the effect of his presence upon her
His fire the tumultuous ring of his eloquence seemed to go out of him His lip
struggled and trembled under the words that lay upon it but deliver them it
could not as long as she faced him His eyes after their first glance upon her
face hung confusedly in every other direction but hers but came back in a
desperate leap every few seconds This paralysis lasted however but a short
time for Tesss energies returned with the atrophy of his and she walked as
fast as she was able past the barn and onward
As soon as she could reflect it appalled her this change in their relative
platforms He who had wrought her undoing was now on the side of the Spirit
while she remained unregenerate And as in the legend it had resulted that her
Cyprian image had suddenly appeared upon his altar whereby the fire of the
priest had been wellnigh extinguished
She went on without turning her head Her back seemed to be endowed with a
sensitiveness to ocular beams even her clothing so alive was she to a
fancied gaze which might be resting upon her from the outside of that barn All
the way along to this point her heart had been heavy with an inactive sorrow
now there was a change in the quality of its trouble That hunger for affection
too long withheld was for the time displaced by an almost physical sense of an
implacable past which still engirdled her It intensified her consciousness of
error to a practical despair the break of continuity between her earlier and
present existence which she had hoped for had not after all taken place
Bygones would never be complete bygones till she was a bygone herself
Thus absorbed she recrossed the northern part of LongAsh Lane at right
angles and presently saw before her the road ascending whitely to the upland
along whose margin the remainder of her journey lay Its dry pale surface
stretched severely onward unbroken by a single figure vehicle or mark save
some occasional brown horsedroppings which dotted its cold aridity here and
there While slowly breasting this ascent Tess became conscious of footsteps
behind her and turning she saw approaching that wellknown form so strangely
accoutred as the Methodist the one personage in all the world she wished not
to encounter alone on this side of the grave
There was not much time however for thought or elusion and she yielded as
calmly as she could to the necessity of letting him overtake her She saw that
he was excited less by the speed of his walk than by the feelings within him
»Tess« he said
She slackened speed without looking round
»Tess« he repeated It is I Alec dUrberville
She then looked back at him and he came up
»I see it is« she answered coldly
»Well is that all Yet I deserve no more Of course« he added with a
slight laugh »there is something of the ridiculous to your eyes in seeing me
like this But I must put up with that I heard you had gone away nobody
knew where Tess you wonder why I have followed you«
»I do rather and I would that you had not with all my heart«
»Yes you may well say it« he returned grimly as they moved onward
together she with unwilling tread »But dont mistake me I beg this because
you may have been led to do so in noticing if you did notice it how your
sudden appearance unnerved me down there It was but a momentary faltering and
considering what you had been to me it was natural enough But will helped me
through it though perhaps you think me a humbug for saying it and
immediately afterwards I felt that of all persons in the world whom it was my
duty and desire to save from the wrath to come sneer if you like the woman
whom I had so grievously wronged was that person I have come with that sole
purpose in view nothing more«
There was the smallest vein of scorn in her words of rejoinder »Have you
saved yourself Charity begins at home they say«
»I have done nothing« said he indifferently »Heaven as I have been
telling my hearers has done all No amount of contempt that you can pour upon
me Tess will equal what I have poured upon myself the old Adam of my former
years Well it is a strange story believe it or not but I can tell you the
means by which my conversion was brought about and I hope you will be
interested enough at least to listen Have you ever heard the name of the parson
of Emminster you must have done so old Mr Clare one of the most earnest
of his school one of the few intense men left in the Church not so intense as
the extreme wing of Christian believers with which I have thrown in my lot but
quite an exception among the Established clergy the younger of whom are
gradually attenuating the true doctrines by their sophistries till they are but
the shadow of what they were I only differ from him on the question of Church
and State the interpretation of the text Come out from among them and be ye
separate saith the Lord thats all He is one who I firmly believe has been
the humble means of saving more souls in this country than any other man you can
name You have heard of him«
»I have« she said
»He came to Trantridge two or three years ago to preach on behalf of some
missionary society and I wretched fellow that I was insulted him when in his
disinterestedness he tried to reason with me and show me the way He did not
resent my conduct he simply said that some day I should receive the
firstfruits of the Spirit that those who came to scoff sometimes remained to
pray There was a strange magic in his words They sank into my mind But the
loss of my mother hit me most and by degrees I was brought to see daylight
Since then my one desire has been to hand on the true view to others and that
is what I was trying to do today though it is only lately that I have preached
hereabout The first months of my ministry have been spent in the North of
England among strangers where I preferred to make my earliest clumsy attempts
so as to acquire courage before undergoing that severest of all tests of ones
sincerity addressing those who have known one and have been ones companions
in the days of darkness If you could only know Tess the pleasure of having a
good slap at yourself I am sure «
»Dont go on with it« she cried passionately as she turned away from him
to a stile by the wayside on which she bent herself »I cant believe in such
sudden things I feel indignant with you for talking to me like this when you
know when you know what harm youve done me You and those like you take
your fill of pleasure on earth by making the life of such as me bitter and black
with sorrow and then it is a fine thing when you have had enough of that to
think of securing your pleasure in heaven by becoming converted Out upon such
I dont believe in you I hate it«
»Tess« he insisted »dont speak so It came to me like a jolly new idea
And you dont believe me What dont you believe«
»Your conversion Your scheme of religion«
»Why«
She dropped her voice »Because a better man than you does not believe in
such«
»What a womans reason Who is this better man«
»I cannot tell you«
»Well« he declared a resentment beneath his words seeming ready to spring
out at a moments notice »God forbid that I should say I am a good man and
you know I dont say any such thing I am new to goodness truly but new comers
see furthest sometimes«
»Yes« she replied sadly »But I cannot believe in your conversion to a new
spirit Such flashes as you feel Alec I fear dont last«
Thus speaking she turned from the stile over which she had been leaning and
faced him whereupon his eyes falling casually upon the familiar countenance
and form remained contemplating her The inferior man was quiet in him now but
it was surely not extracted nor even entirely subdued
»Dont look at me like that« he said abruptly
Tess who had been quite unconscious of her action and mien instantly
withdrew the large dark gaze of her eyes stammering with a flush »I beg your
pardon« And there was revived in her the wretched sentiment which had often
come to her before that in inhabiting the fleshly tabernacle with which nature
had endowed her she was somehow doing wrong
»No no Dont beg my pardon But since you wear a veil to hide your good
looks why dont you keep it down«
She pulled down the veil saying hastily »It was mostly to keep off the
wind«
»It may seem harsh of me to dictate like this« he went on »but it is
better that I should not look too often on you It might be dangerous«
»Ssh« said Tess
»Well womens faces have had too much power over me already for me not to
fear them An evangelist has nothing to do with such as they and it reminds me
of the old times that I would forget«
After this their conversation dwindled to a casual remark now and then as
they rambled onward Tess inwardly wondering how far he was going with her and
not liking to send him back by positive mandate Frequently when they came to a
gate or stile they found painted thereon in red or blue letters some text of
Scripture and she asked him if he knew who had been at the pains to blazon
these announcements He told her that the man was employed by himself and others
who were working with him in that district to paint these reminders that no
means might be left untried which might move the hearts of a wicked generation
At length the road touched the spot called »CrossinHand« Of all spots on
the bleached and desolate upland this was the most forlorn It was so far
removed from the charm which is sought in landscape by artists and viewlovers
as to reach a new kind of beauty a negative beauty of tragic tone The place
took its name from a stone pillar which stood there a strange rude monolith
from a stratum unknown in any local quarry on which was roughly carved a human
hand Differing accounts were given of its history and purport Some authorities
stated that a devotional cross had once formed the complete erection thereon of
which the present relic was but the stump others that the stone as it stood was
entire and that it had been fixed there to mark a boundary or place of meeting
Anyhow whatever the origin of the relic there was and is something sinister
or solemn according to mood in the scene amid which it stands something
tending to impress the most phlegmatic passerby
»I think I must leave you now« he remarked as they drew near to this spot
»I have to preach at AbbotsCernel at six this evening and my way lies across
to the right from here And you upset me somewhat too Tessy I cannot will
not say why I must go away and get strength How is it that you speak so
fluently now Who has taught you such good English«
»I have learnt things in my troubles« she said evasively
What troubles have you had
She told him of the first one the only one that related to him
DUrberville was struck mute »I knew nothing of this till now« he next
murmured »Why didnt you write to me when you felt your trouble coming on«
She did not reply and he broke the silence by adding »Well you will see
me again«
»No« she answered »Do not again come near me«
»I will think But before we part come here He stepped up to the pillar
This was once a Holy Cross Relics are not in my creed but I fear you at
moments far more than you need fear me at present and to lessen my fear put
your hand upon that stone hand and swear that you will never tempt me by your
charms or ways«
»Good God how can you ask what is so unnecessary All that is furthest
from my thought«
»Yes but swear it«
Tess half frightened gave way to his importunity placed her hand upon the
stone and swore
»I am sorry you are not a believer« he continued »that some unbeliever
should have got hold of you and unsettled your mind But no more now At home at
least I can pray for you and I will and who knows what may not happen Im
off Goodbye«
He turned to a huntinggate in the hedge and without letting his eyes again
rest upon her leapt over and struck out across the down in the direction of
AbbotsCernel As he walked his pace showed perturbation and byandby as if
instigated by a former thought he drew from his pocket a small book between
the leaves of which was folded a letter worn and soiled as from much
rereading DUrberville opened the letter It was dated several months before
this time and was signed by Parson Clare
The letter began by expressing the writers unfeigned joy at dUrbervilles
conversion and thanked him for his kindness in communicating with the parson on
the subject It expressed Mr Clares warm assurance of forgiveness for
dUrbervilles former conduct and his interest in the young mans plans for the
future He Mr Clare would much have liked to see dUrberville in the Church
to whose ministry he had devoted so many years of his own life and would have
helped him to enter a theological college to that end but since his
correspondent had possibly not cared to do this on account of the delay it would
have entailed he was not the man to insist upon its paramount importance Every
man must work as he could best work and in the method towards which he felt
impelled by the Spirit
DUrberville read and reread this letter and seemed to quiz himself
cynically He also read some passages from memoranda as he walked till his face
assumed a calm and apparently the image of Tess no longer troubled his mind
She meanwhile had kept along the edge of the hill by which lay her nearest
way home Within the distance of a mile she met a solitary shepherd
»What is the meaning of that old stone I have passed« she asked of him
»Was it ever a Holy Cross«
»Cross no twer not a cross Tis a thing of illomen Miss It was put
up in wuld times by the relations of a malefactor who was tortured there by
nailing his hand to a post and afterwards hung The bones lie underneath They
say he sold his soul to the devil and that he walks at times«
She felt the petite mort at this unexpectedly gruesome information and left
the solitary man behind her It was dusk when she drew near to FlintcombAsh
and in the lane at the entrance to the hamlet she approached a girl and her
lover without their observing her They were talking no secrets and the clear
unconcerned voice of the young woman in response to the warmer accents of the
man spread into the chilly air as the one soothing thing within the dusky
horizon full of a stagnant obscurity upon which nothing else intruded For a
moment the voices cheered the heart of Tess till she reasoned that this
interview had its origin on one side or the other in the same attraction which
had been the prelude to her own tribulation When she came close the girl turned
serenely and recognized her the young man walking off in embarrassment The
woman was Izz Huett whose interest in Tesss excursion immediately superseded
her own proceedings Tess did not explain very clearly its results and Izz who
was a girl of tact began to speak of her own little affair a phase of which
Tess had just witnessed
»He is Amby Seedling the chap who used to sometimes come and help at
Talbothays« she explained indifferently »He actually inquired and found out
that I had come here and has followed me He says hes been in love wi me
these two years But Ive hardly answered him«
XLVI
Several days had passed since her futile journey and Tess was afield The dry
winter wind still blew but a screen of thatched hurdles erected in the eye of
the blast kept its force away from her On the sheltered side was a
turnipslicing machine whose bright blue hue of new paint seemed almost vocal
in the otherwise subdued scene Opposite its front was a long mound or »grave«
in which the roots had been preserved since early winter Tess was standing at
the uncovered end chopping off with a billhook the fibres and earth from each
root and throwing it after the operation into the slicer A man was turning the
handle of the machine and from its trough came the newlycut swedes the fresh
smell of whose yellow chips was accompanied by the sounds of the snuffling wind
the smart swish of the slicingblades and the choppings of the hook in Tesss
leathergloved hand
The wide acreage of blank agricultural brownness apparent where the swedes
had been pulled was beginning to be striped in wales of darker brown gradually
broadening to ribands Along the edge of each of these something crept upon ten
legs moving without haste and without rest up and down the whole length of the
field it was two horses and a man the plough going between them turning up
the cleared ground for a spring sowing
For hours nothing relieved the joyless monotony of things Then far beyond
the ploughingteams a black speck was seen It had come from the corner of a
fence where there was a gap and its tendency was up the incline towards the
swedecutters From the proportions of a mere point it advanced to the shape of
a ninepin and was soon perceived to be a man in black arriving from the
direction of FlintcombAsh The man at the slicer having nothing else to do
with his eyes continually observed the comer but Tess who was occupied did
not perceive him till her companion directed her attention to his approach
It was not her hard taskmaster Farmer Groby it was one in a semiclerical
costume who now represented what had once been the freeandeasy Alec
dUrberville Not being hot at his preaching there was less enthusiasm about him
now and the presence of the grinder seemed to embarrass him A pale distress
was already on Tesss face and she pulled her curtained hood further over it
DUrberville came up and said quietly
»I want to speak to you Tess«
»You have refused my last request not to come near me« said she
»Yes but I have a good reason«
»Well tell it«
»It is more serious than you may think«
He glanced round to see if he were overheard They were at some distance
from the man who turned the slicer and the movement of the machine too
sufficiently prevented Alecs words reaching other ears DUrberville placed
himself so as to screen Tess from the labourer turning his back to the latter
»It is this« he continued with capricious compunction »In thinking of
your soul and mine when we last met I neglected to inquire as to your worldly
condition You were well dressed and I did not think of it But I see now that
it is hard harder than it used to be when I knew you harder than you
deserve Perhaps a good deal of it is owing to me«
She did not answer and he watched her inquiringly as with bent head her
face completely screened by the hood she resumed her trimming of the swedes By
going on with her work she felt better able to keep him outside her emotions
»Tess« he added with a sigh of discontent »yours was the very worst
case I ever was concerned in I had no idea of what had resulted till you told
me Scamp that I was to foul that innocent life The whole blame was mine the
whole unconventional business of our time at Trantridge You too the real
blood of which I am but the base imitation what a blind young thing you were as
to possibilities I say in all earnestness that it is a shame for parents to
bring up their girls in such dangerous ignorance of the gins and nets that the
wicked may set for them whether their motive be a good one or the result of
simple indifference«
Tess still did no more than listen throwing down one globular root and
taking up another with automatic regularity the pensive contour of the mere
fieldwoman alone marking her
»But it is not that I came to say« dUrberville went on »My circumstances
are these I have lost my mother since you were at Trantridge and the place is
my own But I intend to sell it and devote myself to missionary work in Africa
A devil of a poor hand I shall make at the trade no doubt However what I want
to ask you is will you put it in my power to do my duty to make the only
reparation I can make for the trick played you that is will you be my wife
and go with me I have already obtained this precious document It was my
old mothers dying wish«
He drew a piece of parchment from his pocket with a slight fumbling of
embarrassment
»What is it« said she
»A marriage licence«
»O no sir no« she said quickly starting back
»You will not Why is that«
And as he asked the question a disappointment which was not entirely the
disappointment of thwarted duty crossed dUrbervilles face It was unmistakably
a symptom that something of his old passion for her had been revived duty and
desire ran handinhand
»Surely« he began again in more impetuous tones and then looked round at
the labourer who turned the slicer
Tess too felt that the argument could not be ended there Informing the
man that a gentleman had come to see her with whom she wished to walk a little
way she moved off with dUrberville across the zebrastriped field When they
reached the first newlyploughed section he held out his hand to help her over
it but she stepped forward on the summits of the earthrolls as if she did not
see him
»You will not marry me Tess and make me a selfrespecting man« he
repeated as soon as they were over the furrows
»I cannot«
»But why«
»You know I have no affection for you«
»But you would get to feel that in time perhaps as soon as you really
could forgive me«
»Never«
»Why so positive«
»I love somebody else«
The words seemed to astonish him
»You do« he cried »Somebody else But has not a sense of what is morally
right and proper any weight with you«
»No no no dont say that«
»Anyhow then your love for this other man may be only a passing feeling
which you will overcome «
»No no«
»Yes yes Why not«
»I cannot tell you«
»You must in honour«
»Well then I have married him«
»Ah« he exclaimed and he stopped dead and gazed at her
»I did not wish to tell I did not mean to« she pleaded »It is a secret
here or at any rate but dimly known So will you please will you keep from
questioning me You must remember that we are now strangers«
»Strangers are we Strangers«
For a moment a flash of his old irony marked his face but he determinedly
chastened it down
»Is that man your husband« he asked mechanically denoting by a sign the
labourer who turned the machine
»That man« she said proudly »I should think not«
»Who then«
»Do not ask what I do not wish to tell« she begged and flashed her appeal
to him from her upturned face and lashshadowed eyes
DUrberville was disturbed
»But I only asked for your sake« he retorted hotly »Angels of heaven
God forgive me for such an expression I came here I swear as I thought for
your good Tess dont look at me so I cannot stand your looks There never
were such eyes surely before Christianity or since There I wont lose my
head I dare not I own that the sight of you has waked up my love for you
which I believed was extinguished with all such feelings But I thought that
our marriage might be a sanctification for us both The unbelieving husband is
sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband I
said to myself But my plan is dashed from me and I must bear the
disappointment«
He moodily reflected with his eyes on the ground
»Married Married Well that being so« he added quite calmly tearing
the licence slowly into halves and putting them in his pocket »that being
prevented I should like to do some good to you and your husband whoever he may
be There are many questions that I am tempted to ask but I will not do so of
course in opposition to your wishes Though if I could know your husband I
might more easily benefit him and you Is he on this farm«
»No« she murmured »He is far away«
»Far away From you What sort of husband can he be«
»O do not speak against him It was through you He found out «
»Ah is it so Thats sad Tess«
»Yes«
»But to stay away from you to leave you to work like this«
»He does not leave me to work« she cried springing to the defence of the
absent one with all her fervour »He dont know it It is by my own
arrangement«
»Then does he write«
»I I cannot tell you There are things which are private to ourselves«
»Of course that means that he does not You are a deserted wife my fair
Tess«
In an impulse he turned suddenly to take her hand the buffglove was on it
and he seized only the rough leather fingers which did not express the life or
shape of those within
»You must not you must not« she cried fearfully slipping her hand from
the glove as from a pocket and leaving it in his grasp »O will you go away
for the sake of me and my husband go in the name of your own Christianity«
»Yes yes I will« he said abruptly and thrusting the glove back to her
turned to leave Facing round however he said »Tess as God is my judge I
meant no humbug in taking your hand«
A pattering of hoofs on the soil of the field which they had not noticed in
their preoccupation ceased close behind them and a voice reached her ear
»What the devil are you doing away from your work at this time o day«
Farmer Groby had espied the two figures from the distance and had
inquisitively ridden across to learn what was their business in his field
»Dont speak like that to her« said dUrberville his face blackening with
something that was not Christianity
»Indeed Mister And what mid Methodist pasons have to do with she«
»Who is the fellow« asked dUrberville turning to Tess
She went close up to him
»Go I do beg you« she said
»What And leave you to that tyrant I can see in his face what a churl he
is«
»He wont hurt me Hes not in love with me I can leave at LadyDay«
»Well I have no right but to obey I suppose But well goodbye«
Her defender whom she dreaded more than her assailant having reluctantly
disappeared the farmer continued his reprimand which Tess took with the
greatest coolness that sort of attack being independent of sex To have as a
master this man of stone who would have cuffed her if he had dared was almost
a relief after her former experiences She silently walked back towards the
summit of the field that was the scene of her labour so absorbed in the
interview which had just taken place that she was hardly aware that the nose of
Grobys horse almost touched her shoulders
»If so be you make an agreement to work for me till LadyDay Ill see that
you carry it out« he growled Od rot the women now »tis one thing and then
tis another But Ill put up with it no longer«
Knowing very well that he did not harass the other women of the farm as he
harassed her out of spite for the flooring he had once received she did for one
moment picture what might have been the result if she had been free to accept
the offer just made her of being the monied Alecs wife It would have lifted
her completely out of subjection not only to her present oppressive employer
but to a whole world who seemed to despise her »But no no« she said
breathlessly »I could not have married him now He is so unpleasant to me«
That very night she began an appealing letter to Clare concealing from him
her hardships and assuring him of her undying affection Any one who had been
in a position to read between the lines would have seen that at the back of her
great love was some monstrous fear almost a desperation as to some secret
contingencies which were not disclosed But again she did not finish her
effusion he had asked Izz to go with him and perhaps he did not care for her
at all She put the letter in her box and wondered if it would ever reach
Angels hands
After this her daily tasks were gone through heavily enough and brought on
the day which was of great import to agriculturists the day of the Candlemas
Fair It was at this fair that new engagements were entered into for the twelve
months following the ensuing LadyDay and those of the farming population who
thought of changing their places duly attended at the countytown where the fair
was held Nearly all the labourers on FlintcombAsh Farm intended flight and
early in the morning there was a general exodus in the direction of the town
which lay at a distance of from ten to a dozen miles over hilly country Though
Tess also meant to leave at the quarterday she was one of the few who did not
go to the fair having a vaguelyshaped hope that something would happen to
render another outdoor engagement unnecessary
It was a peaceful February day of wonderful softness for the time and one
would almost have thought that winter was over She had hardly finished her
dinner when dUrbervilles figure darkened the window of the cottage wherein she
was a lodger which she had all to herself today
Tess jumped up but her visitor had knocked at the door and she could
hardly in reason run away DUrbervilles knock his walk up to the door had
some indescribable quality of difference from his air when she last saw him
They seemed to be acts of which the doer was ashamed She thought that she would
not open the door but as there was no sense in that either she arose and
having lifted the latch stepped back quickly He came in saw her and flung
himself down into a chair before speaking
»Tess I couldnt help it« he began desperately as he wiped his heated
face which had also a superimposed flush of excitement »I felt that I must
call at least to ask how you are I assure you I had not been thinking of you at
all till I saw you that Sunday now I cannot get rid of your image try how I
may It is hard that a good woman should do harm to a bad man yet so it is If
you would only pray for me Tess«
The suppressed discontent of his manner was almost pitiable and yet Tess
did not pity him
»How can I pray for you« she said »when I am forbidden to believe that the
great Power who moves the world would alter His plans on my account«
»You really think that«
»Yes I have been cured of the presumption of thinking otherwise«
»Cured By whom«
»By my husband if I must tell«
»Ah your husband your husband How strange it seems I remember you
hinted something of the sort the other day What do you really believe in these
matters Tess« he asked »You seem to have no religion perhaps owing to me«
»But I have Though I dont believe in anything supernatural«
DUrberville looked at her with misgiving
»Then do you think that the line I take is all wrong«
»A good deal of it«
»Hm and yet Ive felt so sure about it« he said uneasily
»I believe in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount and so did my dear
husband But I dont believe «
Here she gave her negations
»The fact is« said dUrberville drily »whatever your dear husband believed
you accept and whatever he rejected you reject without the least inquiry or
reasoning on your own part Thats just like you women Your mind is enslaved to
his«
»Ah because he knew everything« said she with a triumphant simplicity of
faith in Angel Clare that the most perfect man could hardly have deserved much
less her husband
»Yes but you should not take negative opinions wholesale from another
person like that A pretty fellow he must be to teach you such scepticism«
»He never forced my judgment He would never argue on the subject with me
But I looked at it in this way what he believed after inquiring deep into
doctrines was much more likely to be right than what I might believe who
hadnt looked into doctrines at all«
»What used he to say He must have said something«
She reflected and with her acute memory for the letter of Angel Clares
remarks even when she did not comprehend their spirit she recalled a merciless
polemical syllogism that she had heard him use when as it occasionally
happened he indulged in a species of thinking aloud with her at his side In
delivering it she gave also Clares accent and manner with reverential
faithfulness
»Say that again« asked dUrberville who had listened with the greatest
attention
She repeated the argument and dUrberville thoughtfully murmured the words
after her
»Anything else« he presently asked
»He said at another time something like this« and she gave another which
might possibly have been paralleled in many a work of the pedigree ranging from
the Dictionnaire Philosophique to Huxleys Essays
»Ah ha How do you remember them«
»I wanted to believe what he believed though he didnt wish me to and I
managed to coax him to tell me a few of his thoughts I cant say I quite
understand that one but I know it is right«
»Hm Fancy your being able to teach me what you dont know yourself«
He fell into thought
»And so I threw in my spiritual lot with his« she resumed »I didnt wish
it to be different Whats good enough for him is good enough for me«
»Does he know that you are as big an infidel as he«
»No I never told him if I am an infidel«
»Well you are better off today than I am Tess after all You dont
believe that you ought to preach my doctrine and therefore do no despite to
your conscience in abstaining I do believe I ought to preach it but like the
devils I believe and tremble for I suddenly leave off preaching it and give
way to my passion for you«
»How«
»Why« he said aridly »I have come all the way here to see you today But
I started from home to go to Casterbridge Fair where I have undertaken to
preach the Word from a waggon at halfpast two this afternoon and where all the
brethren are expecting me this minute Heres the announcement«
He drew from his breastpocket a poster whereon was printed the day hour
and place of meeting at which he dUrberville would preach the Gospel as
aforesaid
»But how can you get there« said Tess looking at the clock
»I cannot get there I have come here«
»What you have really arranged to preach and «
»I have arranged to preach and I shall not be there by reason of my
burning desire to see a woman whom I once despised No by my word and truth
I never despised you if I had I should not love you now Why I did not despise
you was on account of your being unsmirched in spite of all you withdrew
yourself from me so quickly and resolutely when you saw the situation you did
not remain at my pleasure so there was one petticoat in the world for whom I
had no contempt and you are she But you may well despise me now I thought I
worshipped on the mountains but I find I still serve in the groves Ha ha«
»O Alec dUrberville what does this mean What have I done«
»Done« he said with a soulless sneer in the word »Nothing intentionally
But you have been the means the innocent means of my backsliding as they
call it I ask myself am I indeed one of those servants of corruption who
after they have escaped the pollutions of the world are again entangled therein
and overcome whose latter end is worse than their beginning« He laid his hand
on her shoulder »Tess my girl I was on the way to at least social salvation
till I saw you again« he said freakishly shaking her as if she were a child
»And why then have you tempted me I was firm as a man could be till I saw those
eyes and that mouth again surely there never was such a maddening mouth since
Eves« His voice sank and a hot archness shot from his own black eyes
»You temptress Tess you dear damned witch of Babylon I could not resist
you as soon as I met you again«
»I couldnt help your seeing me again« said Tess recoiling
»I know it I repeat that I do not blame you But the fact remains When I
saw you illused on the farm that day I was nearly mad to think that I had no
legal right to protect you that I could not have it whilst he who has it
seems to neglect you utterly«
»Dont speak against him he is absent« she cried in much excitement
»Treat him honourably he has never wronged you O leave his wife before any
scandal spreads that may do harm to his honest name«
»I will I will« he said like a man awakening from a luring dream »I
have broken my engagement to preach to those poor drunken boobies at the fair
it is the first time I have played such a practical joke A month ago I should
have been horrified at such a possibility Ill go away to swear and ah
can I to keep away« Then suddenly »One clasp Tessy one Only for old
friendship «
»I am without defence Alec A good mans honour is in my keeping think
be ashamed«
»Pooh Well yes yes«
He clenched his lips mortified with himself for his weakness His eyes were
equally barren of worldly and religious faith The corpses of those old fitful
passions which had lain inanimate amid the lines of his face ever since his
reformation seemed to wake and come together as in a resurrection He went out
indeterminately
Though dUrberville had declared that this breach of his engagement today
was the simple backsliding of a believer Tesss words as echoed from Angel
Clare had made a deep impression upon him and continued to do so after he had
left her He moved on in silence as if his energies were benumbed by the
hitherto undreamtof possibility that his position was untenable Reason had had
nothing to do with his whimsical conversion which was perhaps the mere freak of
a careless man in search of a new sensation and temporarily impressed by his
mothers death
The drops of logic Tess had let fall into the sea of his enthusiasm served
to chill its effervescence to stagnation He said to himself as he pondered
again and again over the crystallized phrases that she had handed on to him
»That clever fellow little thought that by telling her those things he might
be paving my way back to her«
XLVII
It is the threshing of the last wheatrick at FlintcombAsh Farm The dawn of
the March morning is singularly inexpressive and there is nothing to show where
the eastern horizon lies Against the twilight rises the trapezoidal top of the
stack which has stood forlornly here through the washing and bleaching of the
wintry weather
When Izz Huett and Tess arrived at the scene of operations only a rustling
denoted that others had preceded them to which as the light increased there
were presently added the silhouettes of two men on the summit They were busily
»unhaling« the rick that is stripping off the thatch before beginning to throw
down the sheaves and while this was in progress Izz and Tess with the other
womenworkers in their whiteybrown pinners stood waiting and shivering
Farmer Groby having insisted upon their being on the spot thus early to get the
job over if possible by the end of the day Close under the eaves of the stack
and as yet barely visible was the red tyrant that the women had come to serve
a timberframed construction with straps and wheels appertaining the
threshingmachine which whilst it was going kept up a despotic demand upon the
endurance of their muscles and nerves
A little way off there was another indistinct figure this one black with a
sustained hiss that spoke of strength very much in reserve The long chimney
running up beside an ashtree and the warmth which radiated from the spot
explained without the necessity of much daylight that here was the engine which
was to act as the primum mobile of this little world By the engine stood a dark
motionless being a sooty and grimy embodiment of tallness in a sort of trance
with a heap of coals by his side it was the engineman The isolation of his
manner and colour lent him the appearance of a creature from Tophet who had
strayed into the pellucid smokelessness of this region of yellow grain and pale
soil with which he had nothing in common to amaze and to discompose its
aborigines
What he looked he felt He was in the agricultural world but not of it He
served fire and smoke these denizens of the fields served vegetation weather
frost and sun He travelled with his engine from farm to farm from county to
county for as yet the steam threshingmachine was itinerant in this part of
Wessex He spoke in a strange northern accent his thoughts being turned inwards
upon himself his eye on his iron charge hardly perceiving the scenes around
him and caring for them not at all holding only strictly necessary intercourse
with the natives as if some ancient doom compelled him to wander here against
his will in the service of his Plutonic master The long strap which ran from
the drivingwheel of his engine to the red thresher under the rick was the sole
tieline between agriculture and him
While they uncovered the sheaves he stood apathetic beside his portable
repository of force round whose hot blackness the morning air quivered He had
nothing to do with preparatory labour His fire was waiting incandescent his
steam was at high pressure in a few seconds he could make the long strap move
at an invisible velocity Beyond its extent the environment might be corn
straw or chaos it was all the same to him If any of the autochthonous idlers
asked him what he called himself he replied shortly »an engineer«
The rick was unhaled by full daylight the men then took their places the
women mounted and the work began Farmer Groby or as they called him »he«
had arrived ere this and by his orders Tess was placed on the platform of the
machine close to the man who fed it her business being to untie every sheaf of
corn handed on to her by Izz Huett who stood next but on the rick so that the
feeder could seize it and spread it over the revolving drum which whisked out
every grain in one moment
They were soon in full progress after a preparatory hitch or two which
rejoiced the hearts of those who hated machinery The work sped on till
breakfasttime when the thresher was stopped for half an hour and on starting
again after the meal the whole supplementary strength of the farm was thrown
into the labour of constructing the strawrick which began to grow beside the
stack of corn A hasty lunch was eaten as they stood without leaving their
positions and then another couple of hours brought them near to dinnertime
the inexorable wheels continuing to spin and the penetrating hum of the
thresher to thrill to the very marrow all who were near the revolving wirecage
The old men on the rising strawrick talked of the past days when they had
been accustomed to thresh with flails on the oaken barnfloor when everything
even to winnowing was effected by handlabour which to their thinking though
slow produced better results Those too on the cornrick talked a little but
the perspiring ones at the machine including Tess could not lighten their
duties by the exchange of many words It was the ceaselessness of the work which
tried her so severely and began to make her wish that she had never come to
FlintcombAsh The women on the cornrick Marian who was one of them in
particular could stop to drink ale or cold tea from the flagon now and then
or to exchange a few gossiping remarks while they wiped their faces or cleared
the fragments of straw and husk from their clothing but for Tess there was no
respite for as the drum never stopped the man who fed it could not stop and
she who had to supply the man with untied sheaves could not stop either
unless Marian changed places with her which she sometimes did for half an hour
in spite of Grobys objection that she was too slowhanded for a feeder
For some probably economical reason it was usually a woman who was chosen
for this particular duty and Groby gave as his motive in selecting Tess that
she was one of those who best combined strength with quickness in untying and
both with staying power and this may have been true The hum of the thresher
which prevented speech increased to a raving whenever the supply of corn fell
short of the regular quantity As Tess and the man who fed could never turn
their heads she did not know that just before the dinnerhour a person had come
silently into the field by the gate and had been standing under a second rick
watching the scene and Tess in particular He was dressed in a tweed suit of
fashionable pattern and he twirled a gay walkingcane
»Who is that« said Izz Huett to Marian She had at first addressed the
inquiry to Tess but the latter could not hear it
»Somebodys fancyman I spose« said Marian laconically
»Ill lay a guinea hes after Tess«
»O no Tis a ranter pason whos been sniffing after her lately not a
dandy like this«
»Well this is the same man«
»The same man as the preacher But hes quite different«
»He hev left off his black coat and white neckercher and hev cut off his
whiskers but hes the same man for all that«
»Dye really think so Then Ill tell her« said Marian
»Dont Shell see him soon enough goodnow«
»Well I dont think it at all right for him to join his preaching to
courting a married woman even though her husband mid be abroad and she in a
sense a widow«
»Oh he can do her no harm« said Izz drily »Her mind can no more be
heaved from that one place where it do bide than a stooded waggon from the hole
hes in Lord love ee neither courtpaying nor preaching nor the seven
thunders themselves can wean a woman when twould be better for her that she
should be weaned«
Dinnertime came and the whirling ceased where Tess left her post her
knees trembling so wretchedly with the shaking of the machine that she could
scarcely walk
»You ought to het a quart o drink into ee as Ive done« said Marian
»You wouldnt look so white then Why souls above us your face is as if youd
been hagrode«
It occurred to the goodnatured Marian that as Tess was so tired her
discovery of her visitors presence might have the bad effect of taking away her
appetite and Marian was thinking of inducing Tess to descend by a ladder on the
further side of the stack when the gentleman came forward and looked up
Tess uttered a short little »Oh« And a moment after she said quickly »I
shall eat my dinner here right on the rick«
Sometimes when they were so far from their cottages they all did this but
as there was rather a keen wind going today Marian and the rest descended and
sat under the strawstack
The newcomer was indeed Alec dUrberville the late Evangelist despite
his changed attire and aspect It was obvious at a glance that the original
Weltlust had come back that he had restored himself as nearly as a man could
do who had grown three or four years older to the old jaunty slapdash guise
under which Tess had first known her admirer and cousin so Having decided to
remain where she was Tess sat down among the bundles out of sight of the
ground and began her meal till byandby she heard footsteps on the ladder
and immediately after Alec appeared upon the stack now an oblong and level
platform of sheaves He strode across them and sat down opposite to her without
a word
Tess continued to eat her modest dinner a slice of thick pancake which she
had brought with her The other workfolk were by this time all gathered under
the rick where the loose straw formed a comfortable retreat
»I am here again as you see« said dUrberville
»Why do you trouble me so« she cried reproach flashing from her very
fingerends
»I trouble you I think I may ask why do you trouble me«
»Sure I dont trouble you anywhen«
»You say you dont But you do You haunt me Those very eyes that you
turned upon me with such a bitter flash a moment ago they come to me just as
you showed them then in the night and in the day Tess ever since you told me
of that child of ours it is just as if my feelings which have been flowing in
a strong puritanical stream had suddenly found a way open in the direction of
you and had all at once gushed through The religious channel is left dry
forthwith and it is you who have done it«
She gazed in silence
»What you have given up your preaching entirely« she asked
She had gathered from Angel sufficient of the incredulity of modern thought
to despise flash enthusiasms but as a woman she was somewhat appalled
In affected severity dUrberville continued
»Entirely I have broken every engagement since that afternoon I was to
address the drunkards at Casterbridge Fair The deuce only knows what I am
thought of by the brethren Ahha The brethren No doubt they pray for me
weep for me for they are kind people in their way But what do I care How
could I go on with the thing when I had lost my faith in it it would have
been hypocrisy of the basest kind Among them I should have stood like Hymenæus
and Alexander who were delivered over to Satan that they might learn not to
blaspheme What a grand revenge you have taken I saw you innocent and I
deceived you Four years after you find me a Christian enthusiast you then
work upon me perhaps to my complete perdition But Tess my coz as I used to
call you this is only my way of talking and you must not look so horribly
concerned Of course you have done nothing except retain your pretty face and
shapely figure I saw it on the rick before you saw me that tight
pinaforething sets it off and that wingbonnet you fieldgirls should never
wear those bonnets if you wish to keep out of danger« He regarded her silently
for a few moments and with a short cynical laugh resumed »I believe that if
the bachelorapostle whose deputy I thought I was had been tempted by such a
pretty face he would have let go the plough for her sake as I do«
Tess attempted to expostulate but at this juncture all her fluency failed
her and without heeding he added
»Well this paradise that you supply is perhaps as good as any other after
all But to speak seriously Tess« DUrberville rose and came nearer reclining
sideways amid the sheaves and resting upon his elbow »Since I last saw you I
have been thinking of what you said that he said I have come to the conclusion
that there does seem rather a want of commonsense in these threadbare old
propositions how I could have been so fired by poor Parson Clares enthusiasm
and have gone so madly to work transcending even him I cannot make out As for
what you said last time on the strength of your wonderful husbands
intelligence whose name you have never told me about having what they call
an ethical system without any dogma I dont see my way to that at all«
»Why you can have the religion of lovingkindness and purity at least if
you cant have what do you call it dogma«
»O no Im a different sort of fellow from that If theres nobody to say
Do this and it will be a good thing for you after you are dead do that and it
will be a bad thing for you I cant warm up Hang it I am not going to feel
responsible for my deeds and passions if theres nobody to be responsible to
and if I were you my dear I wouldnt either«
She tried to argue and tell him that he had mixed in his dull brain two
matters theology and morals which in the primitive days of mankind had been
quite distinct But owing to Angel Clares reticence to her absolute want of
training and to her being a vessel of emotions rather than reasons she could
not get on
»Well never mind« he resumed »Here I am my love as in the old times«
»Not as then never as then tis different« she entreated »And there
was never warmth with me O why didnt you keep your faith if the loss of it
has brought you to speak to me like this«
»Because youve knocked it out of me so the evil be upon your sweet head
Your husband little thought how his teaching would recoil upon him Haha Im
awfully glad you have made an apostate of me all the same Tess I am more taken
with you than ever and I pity you too For all your closeness I see you are in
a bad way neglected by one who ought to cherish you«
She could not get her morsels of food down her throat her lips were dry
and she was ready to choke The voices and laughs of the workfolk eating and
drinking under the rick came to her as if they were a quarter of a mile off
»It is cruelty to me« she said »How how can you treat me to this talk
if you care ever so little for me«
»True true« he said wincing a little »I did not come to reproach you for
my deeds I came Tess to say that I dont like you to be working like this
and I have come on purpose for you You say you have a husband who is not I
Well perhaps you have but Ive never seen him and youve not told me his
name and altogether he seems rather a mythological personage However even if
you have one I think I am nearer to you than he is I at any rate try to help
you out of trouble but he does not bless his invisible face The words of the
stern prophet Hosea that I used to read come back to me Dont you know them
Tess And she shall follow after her lover but she shall not overtake him
and she shall seek him but shall not find him then shall she say I will go
and return to my first husband for then was it better with me than now
Tess my trap is waiting just under the hill and darling mine not his you
know the rest«
Her face had been rising to a dull crimson fire while he spoke but she did
not answer
»You have been the cause of my backsliding« he continued stretching his
arm towards her waist »you should be willing to share it and leave that mule
you call husband for ever«
One of her leather gloves which she had taken off to eat her skimmercake
lay in her lap and without the slightest warning she passionately swung the
glove by the gauntlet directly in his face It was heavy and thick as a
warriors and it struck him flat on the mouth Fancy might have regarded the
act as the recrudescence of a trick in which her armed progenitors were not
unpractised Alec fiercely started up from his reclining position A scarlet
oozing appeared where her blow had alighted and in a moment the blood began
dropping from his mouth upon the straw But he soon controlled himself calmly
drew his handkerchief from his pocket and mopped his bleeding lips
She too had sprung up but she sank down again
»Now punish me« she said turning up her eyes to him with the hopeless
defiance of the sparrows gaze before its captor twists its neck »Whip me
crush me you need not mind those people under the rick I shall not cry out
Once victim always victim thats the law«
»O no no Tess« he said blandly »I can make full allowance for this Yet
you most unjustly forget one thing that I would have married you if you had not
put it out of my power to do so Did I not ask you flatly to be my wife hey
Answer me«
»You did«
»And you cannot be But remember one thing« His voice hardened as his
temper got the better of him with the recollection of his sincerity in asking
her and her present ingratitude and he stepped across to her side and held her
by the shoulders so that she shook under his grasp »Remember my lady I was
your master once I will be your master again If you are any mans wife you are
mine«
The threshers now began to stir below
»So much for our quarrel« he said letting her go »Now I shall leave you
and shall come again for your answer during the afternoon You dont know me
yet But I know you«
She had not spoken again remaining as if stunned DUrberville retreated
over the sheaves and descended the ladder while the workers below rose and
stretched their arms and shook down the beer they had drunk Then the
threshingmachine started afresh and amid the renewed rustle of the straw Tess
resumed her position by the buzzing drum as one in a dream untying sheaf after
sheaf in endless succession
XLVIII
In the afternoon the farmer made it known that the rick was to be finished that
night since there was a moon by which they could see to work and the man with
the engine was engaged for another farm on the morrow Hence the twanging and
humming and rustling proceeded with even less intermission than usual
It was not till »nammet«time about three oclock that Tess raised her
eyes and gave a momentary glance round She felt but little surprise at seeing
that Alec dUrberville had come back and was standing under the hedge by the
gate He had seen her lift her eyes and waved his hand urbanely to her while
he blew her a kiss It meant that their quarrel was over Tess looked down
again and carefully abstained from gazing in that direction
Thus the afternoon dragged on The wheatrick shrank lower and the
strawrick grew higher and the cornsacks were carted away At six oclock the
wheatrick was about shoulderhigh from the ground But the unthreshed sheaves
remaining untouched seemed countless still notwithstanding the enormous numbers
that had been gulped down by the insatiable swallower fed by the man and Tess
through whose two young hands the greater part of them had passed And the
immense stack of straw where in the morning there had been nothing appeared as
the faeces of the same buzzing red glutton From the west sky a wrathful shine
all that wild March could afford in the way of sunset had burst forth after
the cloudy day flooding the tired and sticky faces of the threshers and dyeing
them with a coppery light as also the flapping garments of the women which
clung to them like dull flames
A panting ache ran through the rick The man who fed was weary and Tess
could see that the red nape of his neck was encrusted with dirt and husks She
still stood at her post her flushed and perspiring face coated with the
corndust and her white bonnet embrowned by it She was the only woman whose
place was upon the machine so as to be shaken bodily by its spinning and the
decrease of the stack now separated her from Marian and Izz and prevented their
changing duties with her as they had done The incessant quivering in which
every fibre of her frame participated had thrown her into a stupefied reverie
in which her arms worked on independently of her consciousness She hardly knew
where she was and did not hear Izz Huett tell her from below that her hair was
tumbling down
By degrees the freshest among them began to grow cadaverous and saucereyed
Whenever Tess lifted her head she beheld always the great upgrown strawstack
with the men in shirtsleeves upon it against the gray north sky in front of
it the long red elevator like a Jacobs ladder on which a perpetual stream of
threshed straw ascended a yellow river running uphill and spouting out on the
top of the rick
She knew that Alec dUrberville was still on the scene observing her from
some point or other though she could not say where There was an excuse for his
remaining for when the threshed rick drew near its final sheaves a little
ratting was always done and men unconnected with the threshing sometimes
dropped in for that performance sporting characters of all descriptions gents
with terriers and facetious pipes roughs with sticks and stones
But there was another hours work before the layer of live rats at the base
of the stack would be reached and as the evening light in the direction of the
Giants Hill by AbbotsCernel dissolved away the whitefaced moon of the
season arose from the horizon that lay towards Middleton Abbey and Shottsford on
the other side For the last hour or two Marian had felt uneasy about Tess whom
she could not get near enough to speak to the other women having kept up their
strength by drinking ale and Tess having done without it through traditionary
dread owing to its results at her home in childhood But Tess still kept going
if she could not fill her part she would have to leave and this contingency
which she would have regarded with equanimity and even with relief a month or
two earlier had become a terror since dUrberville had begun to hover round
her
The sheafpitchers and feeders had now worked the rick so low that people on
the ground could talk to them To Tesss surprise Farmer Groby came up on the
machine to her and said that if she desired to join her friend he did not wish
her to keep on any longer and would send somebody else to take her place The
»friend« was dUrberville she knew and also that this concession had been
granted in obedience to the request of that friend or enemy She shook her head
and toiled on
The time for the ratcatching arrived at last and the hunt began The
creatures had crept downwards with the subsidence of the rick till they were all
together at the bottom and being now uncovered from their last refuge they ran
across the open ground in all directions a loud shriek from the bythistime
halftipsy Marian informing her companions that one of the rats had invaded her
person a terror which the rest of the women had guarded against by various
schemes of skirttucking and selfelevation The rat was at last dislodged and
amid the barking of dogs masculine shouts feminine screams oaths stampings
and confusion as of Pandemonium Tess untied her last sheaf the drum slowed
the whizzing ceased and she stepped from the machine to the ground
Her lover who had only looked on at the ratcatching was promptly at her
side
»What after all my insulting slap too« said she in an underbreath She
was so utterly exhausted that she had not strength to speak louder
»I should indeed be foolish to feel offended at anything you say or do« he
answered in the seductive voice of the Trantridge time »How the little limbs
tremble You are as weak as a bled calf you know you are and yet you need have
done nothing since I arrived How could you be so obstinate However I have
told the farmer that he has no right to employ women at steamthreshing It is
not proper work for them and on all the better class of farms it has been given
up as he knows very well I will walk with you as far as your home«
»O yes« she answered with a jaded gait »Walk wi me if you will I do bear
in mind that you came to marry me before you knew o my state Perhaps perhaps
you are a little better and kinder than I have been thinking you were Whatever
is meant as kindness I am grateful for whatever is meant in any other way I am
angered at I cannot sense your meaning sometimes«
»If I cannot legitimize our former relations at least I can assist you And
I will do it with much more regard for your feelings than I formerly showed My
religious mania or whatever it was is over But I retain a little good nature
I hope I do Now Tess by all thats tender and strong between man and woman
trust me I have enough and more than enough to put you out of anxiety both for
yourself and your parents and sisters I can make them all comfortable if you
will only show confidence in me«
»Have you seen em lately« she quickly inquired
»Yes They didnt know where you were It was only by chance that I found
you here«
The cold moon looked aslant upon Tesss fagged face between the twigs of the
gardenhedge as she paused outside the cottage which was her temporary home
dUrberville pausing beside her
»Dont mention my little brothers and sisters dont make me break down
quite« she said »If you want to help them God knows they need it do it
without telling me But no no« she cried »I will take nothing from you
either for them or for me«
He did not accompany her further since as she lived with the household
all was public indoors No sooner had she herself entered laved herself in a
washingtub and shared supper with the family than she fell into thought and
withdrawing to the table under the wall by the light of her own little lamp
wrote in a passionate mood
My own Husband Let me call you so I must even if it makes you
angry to think of such an unworthy wife as I I must cry to you in my
trouble I have no one else I am so exposed to temptation Angel I
fear to say who it is and I do not like to write about it at all But I
cling to you in a way you cannot think Can you not come to me now at
once before anything terrible happens O I know you cannot because
you are so far away I think I must die if you do not come soon or tell
me to come to you The punishment you have measured out to me is
deserved I do know that well deserved and you are right and just
to be angry with me But Angel please please not to be just only a
little kind to me even if I do not deserve it and come to me If you
would come I could die in your arms I would be well content to do that
if so be you had forgiven me
Angel I live entirely for you I love you too much to blame you for
going away and I know it was necessary you should find a farm Do not
think I shall say a word of sting or bitterness Only come back to me I
am desolate without you my darling O so desolate I do not mind
having to work but if you will send me one little line and say »I am
coming soon« I will bide on Angel O so cheerfully
It has been so much my religion ever since we were married to be
faithful to you in every thought and look that even when a man speaks a
compliment to me before I am aware it seems wronging you Have you
never felt one little bit of what you used to feel when we were at the
dairy If you have how can you keep away from me I am the same woman
Angel as you fell in love with yes the very same not the one you
disliked but never saw What was the past to me as soon as I met you It
was a dead thing altogether I became another woman filled full of new
life from you How could I be the early one Why do you not see this
Dear if you would only be a little more conceited and believe in
yourself so far as to see that you were strong enough to work this
change in me you would perhaps be in a mind to come to me your poor
wife
How silly I was in my happiness when I thought I could trust you
always to love me I ought to have known that such as that was not for
poor me But I am sick at heart not only for old times but for the
present Think think how it do hurt my heart not to see you ever
ever Ah if I could only make your dear heart ache one little minute of
each day as mine does every day and all day long it might lead you to
show pity to your poor lonely one
People still say that I am rather pretty Angel handsome is the
word they use since I wish to be truthful Perhaps I am what they say
But I do not value my good looks I only like to have them because they
belong to you my dear and that there may be at least one thing about
me worth your having So much have I felt this that when I met with
annoyance on account of the same I tied up my face in a bandage as long
as people would believe in it O Angel I tell you all this not from
vanity you will certainly know I do not but only that you may come
to me
If you really cannot come to me will you let me come to you I am
as I say worried pressed to do what I will not do It cannot be that I
shall yield one inch yet I am in terror as to what an accident might
lead to and I so defenceless on account of my first error I cannot say
more about this it makes me too miserable But if I break down by
falling into some fearful snare my last state will be worse than my
first O God I cannot think of it Let me come at once or at once come
to me
I would be content ay glad to live with you as your servant if I
may not as your wife so that I could only be near you and get glimpses
of you and think of you as mine
The daylight has nothing to show me since you are not here and I
dont like to see the rooks and starlings in the fields because I
grieve and grieve to miss you who used to see them with me I long for
only one thing in heaven or earth or under the earth to meet you my
own dear Come to me come to me and save me from what threatens me
Your faithful heartbroken
TESS
XLIX
The appeal duly found its way to the breakfasttable of the quiet Vicarage to
the westward in that valley where the air is so soft and the soil so rich that
the effort of growth requires but superficial aid by comparison with the tillage
at FlintcombAsh and where to Tess the human world seemed so different though
it was much the same It was purely for security that she had been requested by
Angel to send her communications through his father whom he kept pretty well
informed of his changing addresses in the country he had gone to exploit for
himself with a heavy heart
»Now« said old Mr Clare to his wife when he had read the envelope »if
Angel proposes leaving Rio for a visit home at the end of next month as he told
us that he hoped to do I think this may hasten his plans for I believe it to
be from his wife« He breathed deeply at the thought of her and the letter was
redirected to be promptly sent on to Angel
»Dear fellow I hope he will get home safely« murmured Mrs Clare »To my
dying day I shall feel that he has been illused You should have sent him to
Cambridge in spite of his want of faith and given him the same chance as the
other boys had He would have grown out of it under proper influence and
perhaps would have taken Orders after all Church or no Church it would have
been fairer to him«
This was the only wail with which Mrs Clare ever disturbed her husbands
peace in respect of their sons And she did not vent this often for she was as
considerate as she was devout and knew that his mind too was troubled by doubts
as to his justice in this matter Only too often had she heard him lying awake
at night stifling sighs for Angel with prayers But the uncompromising
Evangelical did not even now hold that he would have been justified in giving
his son an unbeliever the same academic advantages that he had given to the
two others when it was possible if not probable that those very advantages
might have been used to decry the doctrines which he had made it his lifes
mission and desire to propagate and the mission of his ordained sons likewise
To put with one hand a pedestal under the feet of the two faithful ones and
with the other to exalt the unfaithful by the same artificial means he deemed
to be alike inconsistent with his convictions his position and his hopes
Nevertheless he loved his misnamed Angel and in secret mourned over this
treatment of him as Abraham might have mourned over the doomed Isaac while they
went up the hill together His silent selfgenerated regrets were far bitterer
than the reproaches which his wife rendered audible
They blamed themselves for this unlucky marriage If Angel had never been
destined for a farmer he would never have been thrown with agricultural girls
They did not distinctly know what had separated him and his wife nor the date
on which the separation had taken place At first they had supposed it must be
something of the nature of a serious aversion But in his later letters he
occasionally alluded to the intention of coming home to fetch her from which
expressions they hoped the division might not owe its origin to anything so
hopelessly permanent as that He had told them that she was with her relatives
and in their doubts they had decided not to intrude into a situation which they
knew no way of bettering
The eyes for which Tesss letter was intended were gazing at this time on a
limitless expanse of country from the back of a mule which was bearing him from
the interior of the SouthAmerican Continent towards the coast His experiences
of this strange land had been sad The severe illness from which he had suffered
shortly after his arrival had never wholly left him and he had by degrees
almost decided to relinquish his hope of farming here though as long as the
bare possibility existed of his remaining he kept this change of view a secret
from his parents
The crowds of agricultural labourers who had come out to the country in his
wake dazzled by representations of easy independence had suffered died and
wasted away He would see mothers from English farms trudging along with their
infants in their arms when the child would be stricken with fever and would
die the mother would pause to dig a hole in the loose earth with her bare
hands would bury the babe therein with the same natural gravetools shed one
tear and again trudge on
Angels original intention had not been emigration to Brazil but a northern
or eastern farm in his own country He had come to this place in a fit of
desperation the Brazil movement among the English agriculturists having by
chance coincided with his desire to escape from his past existence
During this time of absence he had mentally aged a dozen years What
arrested him now as of value in life was less its beauty than its pathos Having
long discredited the old systems of mysticism he now began to discredit the old
appraisements of morality He thought they wanted readjusting Who was the moral
man Still more pertinently who was the moral woman The beauty or ugliness of
a character lay not only in its achievements but in its aims and impulses its
true history lay not among things done but among things willed
How then about Tess
Viewing her in these lights a regret for his hasty judgment began to
oppress him Did he reject her eternally or did he not He could no longer say
that he would always reject her and not to say that was in spirit to accept her
now
This growing fondness for her memory coincided in point of time with her
residence at FlintcombAsh but it was before she had felt herself at liberty to
trouble him with a word about her circumstances or her feelings He was greatly
perplexed and in his perplexity as to her motives in withholding intelligence
he did not inquire Thus her silence of docility was misinterpreted How much it
really said if he had understood that she adhered with literal exactness to
orders which he had given and forgotten that despite her natural fearlessness
she asserted no rights admitted his judgment to be in every respect the true
one and bent her head dumbly thereto
In the beforementioned journey by mules through the interior of the
country another man rode beside him Angels companion was also an Englishman
bent on the same errand though he came from another part of the island They
were both in a state of mental depression and they spoke of home affairs
Confidence begat confidence With that curious tendency evinced by men more
especially when in distant lands to entrust to strangers details of their lives
which they would on no account mention to friends Angel admitted to this man as
they rode along the sorrowful facts of his marriage
The stranger had sojourned in many more lands and among many more peoples
than Angel to his cosmopolitan mind such deviations from the social norm so
immense to domesticity were no more than are the irregularities of vale and
mountainchain to the whole terrestrial curve He viewed the matter in quite a
different light from Angel thought that what Tess had been was of no importance
beside what she would be and plainly told Clare that he was wrong in coming
away from her
The next day they were drenched in a thunder storm Angels companion was
struck down with fever and died by the weeks end Clare waited a few hours to
bury him and then went on his way
The cursory remarks of the largeminded stranger of whom he knew absolutely
nothing beyond a commonplace name were sublimed by his death and influenced
Clare more than all the reasoned ethics of the philosophers His own
parochialism made him ashamed by its contrast His inconsistencies rushed upon
him in a flood He had persistently elevated Hellenic Paganism at the expense of
Christianity yet in that civilization an illegal surrender was not certain
disesteem Surely then he might have regarded that abhorrence of the unintact
state which he had inherited with the creed of mysticism as at least open to
correction when the result was due to treachery A remorse struck into him The
words of Izz Huett never quite stilled in his memory came back to him He had
asked Izz if she loved him and she had replied in the affirmative Did she love
him more than Tess did No she had replied Tess would lay down her life for
him and she herself could do no more
He thought of Tess as she had appeared on the day of the wedding How her
eyes had lingered upon him how she had hung upon his words as if they were a
gods And during the terrible evening over the hearth when her simple soul
uncovered itself to his how pitiful her face had looked by the rays of the
fire in her inability to realize that his love and protection could possibly be
withdrawn
Thus from being her critic he grew to be her advocate Cynical things he had
uttered to himself about her but no man can be always a cynic and live and he
withdrew them The mistake of expressing them had arisen from his allowing
himself to be influenced by general principles to the disregard of the
particular instance
But the reasoning is somewhat musty lovers and husbands have gone over the
ground before today Clare had been harsh towards her there is no doubt of it
Men are too often harsh with women they love or have loved women with men And
yet these harshnesses are tenderness itself when compared with the universal
harshness out of which they grow the harshness of the position towards the
temperament of the means towards the aims of today towards yesterday of
hereafter towards today
The historic interest of her family that masterful line of dUrbervilles
whom he had despised as a spent force touched his sentiments now Why had he
not known the difference between the political value and the imaginative value
of these things In the latter aspect her dUrberville descent was a fact of
great dimensions worthless to economics it was a most useful ingredient to the
dreamer to the moralizer on declines and falls It was a fact that would soon
be forgotten that bit of distinction in poor Tesss blood and name and
oblivion would fall upon her hereditary link with the marble monuments and
leaded skeletons at Kingsbere So does Time ruthlessly destroy his own romances
In recalling her face again and again he thought now that he could see therein
a flash of the dignity which must have graced her grand dames and the vision
sent that aura through his veins which he had formerly felt and which left
behind it a sense of sickness
Despite her not inviolate past what still abode in such a woman as Tess
outvalued the freshness of her fellows Was not the gleaning of the grapes of
Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer
So spoke love renascent preparing the way for Tesss devoted outpouring
which was then just being forwarded to him by his father though owing to his
distance inland it was to be a long time in reaching him
Meanwhile the writers expectation that Angel would come in response to the
entreaty was alternately great and small What lessened it was that the facts of
her life which had led to the parting had not changed could never change and
that if her presence had not attenuated them her absence could not
Nevertheless she addressed her mind to the tender question of what she could do
to please him best if he should arrive Sighs were expended on the wish that she
had taken more notice of the tunes he played on his harp that she had inquired
more curiously of him which were his favourite ballads among those the
countrygirls sang She indirectly inquired of Amby Seedling who had followed
Izz from Talbothays and by chance Amby remembered that amongst the snatches of
melody in which they had indulged at the dairymans to induce the cows to let
down their milk Clare had seemed to like »Cupids Gardens« »I have parks I
have hounds« and »The break o the day« and had seemed not to care for »The
Tailors Breeches« and »Such a beauty I did grow« excellent ditties as they
were
To perfect the ballads was now her whimsical desire She practised them
privately at odd moments especially »The break o the day«
Arise arise arise
And pick your love a posy
All o the sweetest flowers
That in the garden grow
The turtle doves and sma birds
In every bough abuilding
So early in the Maytime
At the break o the day
It would have melted the heart of a stone to hear her singing these ditties
whenever she worked apart from the rest of the girls in this cold dry time the
tears running down her cheeks all the while at the thought that perhaps he would
not after all come to hear her and the simple silly words of the songs
resounding in painful mockery of the aching heart of the singer
Tess was so wrapt up in this fanciful dream that she seemed not to know how
the season was advancing that the days had lengthened that LadyDay was at
hand and would soon be followed by Old LadyDay the end of her term here
But before the quarterday had quite come something happened which made Tess
think of far different matters She was at her lodging as usual one evening
sitting in the downstairs room with the rest of the family when somebody
knocked at the door and inquired for Tess Through the doorway she saw against
the declining light a figure with the height of a woman and the breadth of a
child a tall thin girlish creature whom she did not recognize in the twilight
till the girl said »Tess«
»What is it LizaLu« asked Tess in startled accents Her sister whom a
little over a year ago she had left at home as a child had sprung up by a
sudden shoot to a form of this presentation of which as yet Lu seemed herself
scarce able to understand the meaning Her thin legs visible below her once
long frock now short by her growing and her uncomfortable hands and arms
revealed her youth and inexperience
»Yes I have been traipsing about all day Tess« said Lu with unemotional
gravity »atrying to find ee and Im very tired«
»What is the matter at home«
»Mother is took very bad and the doctor says shes dying and as father is
not very well neither and says tis wrong for a man of such a high family as
his to slave and drave at common labouring work we dont know what to do«
Tess stood in reverie a long time before she thought of asking LizaLu to
come in and sit down When she had done so and LizaLu was having some tea
she came to a decision It was imperative that she should go home Her agreement
did not end till Old LadyDay the sixth of April but as the interval thereto
was not a long one she resolved to run the risk of starting at once
To go that night would be a gain of twelve hours but her sister was too
tired to undertake such a distance till the morrow Tess ran down to where
Marian and Izz lived informed them of what had happened and begged them to
make the best of her case to the farmer Returning she got Lu a supper and
after that having tucked the younger into her own bed packed up as many of her
belongings as would go into a withy basket and started directing Lu to follow
her next morning
L
She plunged into the chilly equinoctial darkness as the clock struck ten for
her fifteen miles walk under the steely stars In lonely districts night is a
protection rather than a danger to a noiseless pedestrian and knowing this Tess
pursued the nearest course along bylanes that she would almost have feared in
the day time but marauders were wanting now and spectral fears were driven out
of her mind by thoughts of her mother Thus she proceeded mile after mile
ascending and descending till she came to Bulbarrow and about midnight looked
from that height into the abyss of chaotic shade which was all that revealed
itself of the vale on whose further side she was born Having already traversed
about five miles on the upland she had now some ten or eleven in the lowland
before her journey would be finished The winding road downwards became just
visible to her under the wan starlight as she followed it and soon she paced a
soil so contrasting with that above it that the difference was perceptible to
the tread and to the smell It was the heavy clay land of Blackmoor Vale and a
part of the Vale to which turnpikeroads had never penetrated Superstitions
linger longest on these heavy soils Having once been forest at this shadowy
time it seemed to assert something of its old character the far and the near
being blended and every tree and tall hedge making the most of its presence
The harts that had been hunted here the witches that had been pricked and
ducked the greenspangled fairies that »whickered« at you as you passed the
place teemed with beliefs in them still and they formed an impish multitude
now
At Nuttlebury she passed the village inn whose sign creaked in response to
the greeting of her footsteps which not a human soul heard but herself Under
the thatched roofs her minds eye beheld relaxed tendons and flaccid muscles
spread out in the darkness beneath coverlets made of little purple patchwork
squares and undergoing a bracing process at the hands of sleep for renewed
labour on the morrow as soon as a hint of pink nebulosity appeared on Hambledon
Hill
At three she turned the last corner of the maze of lanes she had threaded
and entered Marlott passing the field in which as a clubgirl she had first
seen Angel Clare when he had not danced with her the sense of disappointment
remained with her yet In the direction of her mothers house she saw a light
It came from the bedroom window and a branch waved in front of it and made it
wink at her As soon as she could discern the outline of the house newly
thatched with her money it had all its old effect upon Tesss imagination
Part of her body and life it ever seemed to be the slope of its dormers the
finish of its gables the broken courses of brick which topped the chimney all
had something in common with her personal character A stupefaction had come
into these features to her regard it meant the illness of her mother
She opened the door so softly as to disturb nobody the lower room was
vacant but the neighbour who was sitting up with her mother came to the top of
the stairs and whispered that Mrs Durbeyfield was no better though she was
sleeping just then Tess prepared herself a breakfast and then took her place
as nurse in her mothers chamber
In the morning when she contemplated the children they had all a curiously
elongated look although she had been away little more than a year their growth
was astounding and the necessity of applying herself heart and soul to their
needs took her out of her own cares
Her fathers illhealth was of the same indefinite kind and he sat in his
chair as usual But the day after her arrival he was unusually bright He had a
rational scheme for living and Tess asked him what it was
»Im thinking of sending round to all the old antiqueerians in this part of
England« he said »asking them to subscribe to a fund to maintain me Im sure
theyd see it as a romantical artistical and proper thing to do They spend
lots o money in keeping up old ruins and finding the bones o things and such
like and living remains must be more interesting to em still if they only
knowed of me Would that somebody would go round and tell em what there is
living among em and they thinking nothing of him If Pason Tringham who
discovered me had lived hed ha done it Im sure«
Tess postponed her arguments on this high project till she had grappled with
pressing matters in hand which seemed little improved by her remittances When
indoor necessities had been eased she turned her attention to external things
It was now the season for planting and sowing many gardens and allotments of
the villagers had already received their spring tillage but the garden and the
allotment of the Durbeyfields were behindhand She found to her dismay that
this was owing to their having eaten all the seed potatoes that last lapse of
the improvident At the earliest moment she obtained what others she could
procure and in a few days her father was well enough to see to the garden
under Tesss persuasive efforts while she herself undertook the allotmentplot
which they rented in a field a couple of hundred yards out of the village
She liked doing it after the confinement of the sick chamber where she was
not now required by reason of her mothers improvement Violent motion relieved
thought The plot of ground was in a high dry open enclosure where there were
forty or fifty such pieces and where labour was at its briskest when the hired
labour of the day had ended Digging began usually at six oclock and extended
indefinitely into the dusk or moonlight Just now heaps of dead weeds and refuse
were burning on many of the plots the dry weather favouring their combustion
One fine day Tess and LizaLu worked on here with their neighbours till the
last rays of the sun smote flat upon the white pegs that divided the plots As
soon as twilight succeeded to sunset the flare of the couchgrass and
cabbagestalk fires began to light up the allotments fitfully their outlines
appearing and disappearing under the dense smoke as wafted by the wind When a
fire glowed banks of smoke blown level along the ground would themselves
become illuminated to an opaque lustre screening the workpeople from one
another; and the meaning of the »pillar of a cloud« which was a wall by day and
a light by night could be understood
As evening thickened some of the gardening men and women gave over for the
night but the greater number remained to get their planting done Tess being
among them though she sent her sister home It was on one of the couchburning
plots that she laboured with her fork its four shining prongs resounding
against the stones and dry clods in little clicks Sometimes she was completely
involved in the smoke of her fire then it would leave her figure free
irradiated by the brassy glare from the heap She was oddly dressed tonight
and presented a somewhat staring aspect her attire being a gown bleached by
many washings with a short black jacket over it the effect of the whole being
that of a wedding and funeral guest in one The women further back wore white
aprons which with their pale faces were all that could be seen of them in the
gloom except when at moments they caught a flash from the flames
Westward the wiry boughs of the bare thorn hedge which formed the boundary
of the field rose against the pale opalescence of the lower sky Above Jupiter
hung like a fullblown jonquil so bright as almost to throw a shade A few
small nondescript stars were appearing elsewhere In the distance a dog barked
and wheels occasionally rattled along the dry road
Still the prongs continued to click assiduously for it was not late and
though the air was fresh and keen there was a whisper of spring in it that
cheered the workers on Something in the place the hour the crackling fires
the fantastic mysteries of light and shade made others as well as Tess enjoy
being there Nightfall which in the frost of winter comes as a fiend and in the
warmth of summer as a lover came as a tranquillizer on this March day
Nobody looked at his or her companions The eyes of all were on the soil as
its turned surface was revealed by the fires Hence as Tess stirred the clods
and sang her foolish little songs with scarce now a hope that Clare would ever
hear them she did not for a long time notice the person who worked nearest to
her a man in a long smockfrock who she found was forking the same plot as
herself and whom she supposed her father had sent there to advance the work
She became more conscious of him when the direction of his digging brought him
closer Sometimes the smoke divided them then it swerved and the two were
visible to each other but divided from all the rest
Tess did not speak to her fellowworker nor did he speak to her Nor did
she think of him further than to recollect that he had not been there when it
was broad daylight and that she did not know him as any one of the Marlott
labourers which was no wonder her absences having been so long and frequent of
late years Byandby he dug so close to her that the firebeams were reflected
as distinctly from the steel prongs of his fork as from her own On going up to
the fire to throw a pitch of dead weeds upon it she found that he did the same
on the other side The fire flared up and she beheld the face of dUrberville
The unexpectedness of his presence the grotesqueness of his appearance in a
gathered smockfrock such as was now worn only by the most oldfashioned of the
labourers had a ghastly comicality that chilled her as to its bearing
DUrberville emitted a low long laugh
»If I were inclined to joke I should say How much this seems like
Paradise« he remarked whimsically looking at her with an inclined head
»What do you say« she weakly asked
A jester might say this is just like Paradise You are Eve and I am the
old Other One come to tempt you in the disguise of an inferior animal I used to
be quite up in that scene of Miltons when I was theological Some of it goes
Empress the way is ready and not long
Beyond a row of myrtles
If thou accept
My conduct I can bring thee thither soon
Lead then said Eve
And so on My dear dear Tess I am only putting this to you as a thing that you
might have supposed or said quite untruly because you think so badly of me
»I never said you were Satan or thought it I dont think of you in that
way at all My thoughts of you are quite cold except when you affront me What
did you come digging here entirely because of me«
»Entirely To see you nothing more The smockfrock which I saw hanging for
sale as I came along was an afterthought that I mightnt be noticed I come
to protest against your working like this«
»But I like doing it it is for my father«
»Your engagement at the other place is ended«
»Yes«
»Where are you going to next To join your dear husband«
She could not bear the humiliating reminder
»O I dont know« she said bitterly »I have no husband«
»It is quite true in the sense you mean But you have a friend and I have
determined that you shall be comfortable in spite of yourself When you get down
to your house you will see what I have sent there for you«
»O Alec I wish you wouldnt give me anything at all I cannot take it from
you I dont like it is not right«
»It is right« he cried lightly »I am not going to see a woman whom I feel
so tenderly for as I do for you in trouble without trying to help her«
»But I am very well off I am only in trouble about about not about
living at all«
She turned and desperately resumed her digging tears dripping upon the
forkhandle and upon the clods
»About the children your brothers and sisters« he resumed »Ive been
thinking of them«
Tesss heart quivered he was touching her in a weak place He had divined
her chief anxiety Since returning home her soul had gone out to those children
with an affection that was passionate
»If your mother does not recover somebody ought to do something for them
since your father will not be able to do much I suppose« »He can with my
assistance He must«
»And with mine«
»No sir«
»How damned foolish this is« burst out dUrberville »Why he thinks we are
the same family and will be quite satisfied«
»He dont Ive undeceived him«
»The more fool you«
DUrberville in anger retreated from her to the hedge where he pulled off
the long smockfrock which had disguised him and rolling it up and pushing it
into the couchfire went away
Tess could not get on with her digging after this she felt restless she
wondered if he had gone back to her fathers house and taking the fork in her
hand proceeded homewards
Some twenty yards from the house she was met by one of her sisters
»O Tessy what do you think LizaLu is acrying and theres a lot of
folk in the house and mother is a good deal better but they think father is
dead«
The child realized the grandeur of the news but not as yet its sadness and
stood looking at Tess with roundeyed importance till beholding the effect
produced upon her she said
»What Tess shant we talk to father never no more«
»But father was only a little bit ill« exclaimed Tess distractedly
LizaLu came up
»He dropped down just now and the doctor who was there for mother said
there was no chance for him because his heart was growed in«
Yes the Durbeyfield couple had changed places the dying one was out of
danger and the indisposed one was dead The news meant even more than it
sounded Her fathers life had a value apart from his personal achievements or
perhaps it would not have had much It was the last of the three lives for whose
duration the house and premises were held under a lease and it had long been
coveted by the tenantfarmer for his regular labourers who were stinted in
cottage accommodation Moreover »liviers« were disapproved of in villages
almost as much as little freeholders because of their independence of manner
and when a lease determined it was never renewed
Thus the Durbeyfields once dUrbervilles saw descending upon them the
destiny which no doubt when they were among the Olympians of the county they
had caused to descend many a time and severely enough upon the heads of such
landless ones as they themselves were now So do flux and reflux the rhythm of
change alternate and persist in everything under the sky
LI
At length it was the eve of Old LadyDay and the agricultural world was in a
fever of mobility such as only occurs at that particular date of the year It is
a day of fulfilment agreements for outdoor service during the ensuing year
entered into at Candlemas are to be now carried out The labourers or
»workfolk« as they used to call themselves immemorially till the other word
was introduced from without who wish to remain no longer in old places are
removing to the new farms
These annual migrations from farm to farm were on the increase here When
Tesss mother was a child the majority of the fieldfolk about Marlott had
remained all their lives on one farm which had been the home also of their
fathers and grandfathers but latterly the desire for yearly removal had risen
to a high pitch With the younger families it was a pleasant excitement which
might possibly be an advantage The Egypt of one family was the Land of Promise
to the family who saw it from a distance till by residence there it became in
turn their Egypt also and so they changed and changed
However all the mutations so increasingly discernible in village life did
not originate entirely in the agricultural unrest A depopulation was also going
on The village had formerly contained side by side with the agricultural
labourers an interesting and betterinformed class ranking distinctly above
the former the class to which Tesss father and mother had belonged and
including the carpenter the smith the shoemaker the huckster together with
nondescript workers other than farmlabourers a set of people who owed a
certain stability of aim and conduct to the fact of their being lifeholders
like Tesss father or copyholders or occasionally small freeholders But as
the long holdings fell in they were seldom again let to similar tenants and
were mostly pulled down if not absolutely required by the farmer for his hands
Cottagers who were not directly employed on the land were looked upon with
disfavour and the banishment of some starved the trade of others who were thus
obliged to follow These families who had formed the backbone of the village
life in the past who were the depositaries of the village traditions had to
seek refuge in the large centres the process humorously designated by
statisticians as »the tendency of the rural population towards the large towns«
being really the tendency of water to flow uphill when forced by machinery
The cottage accommodation at Marlott having been in this manner considerably
curtailed by demolitions every house which remained standing was required by
the agriculturist for his workpeople Ever since the occurrence of the event
which had cast such a shadow over Tesss life the Durbeyfield family whose
descent was not credited had been tacitly looked on as one which would have to
go when their lease ended if only in the interests of morality It was indeed
quite true that the household had not been shining examples either of
temperance soberness or chastity The father and even the mother had got
drunk at times the younger children seldom had gone to church and the eldest
daughter had made queer unions By some means the village had to be kept pure
So on this the first LadyDay on which the Durbeyfields were expellable the
house being roomy was required for a carter with a large family and Widow
Joan her daughters Tess and LizaLu The boy Abraham and the younger children
had to go elsewhere
On the evening preceding their removal it was getting dark betimes by reason
of a drizzling rain which blurred the sky As it was the last night they would
spend in the village which had been their home and birthplace Mrs Durbeyfield
LizaLu and Abraham had gone out to bid some friends goodbye and Tess was
keeping house till they should return
She was kneeling in the windowbench her face close to the casement where
an outer pane of rainwater was sliding down the inner pane of glass Her eyes
rested on the web of a spider probably starved long ago which had been
mistakenly placed in a corner where no flies ever came and shivered in the
slight draught through the casement Tess was reflecting on the position of the
household in which she perceived her own evil influence Had she not come home
her mother and the children might probably have been allowed to stay on as
weekly tenants But she had been observed almost immediately on her return by
some people of scrupulous character and great influence they had seen her
idling in the churchyard restoring as well as she could with a little trowel a
babys obliterated grave By this means they had found that she was living here
again her mother was scolded for »harbouring« her sharp retorts had ensued
from Joan who had independently offered to leave at once she had been taken at
her word and here was the result
»I ought never to have come home« said Tess to herself bitterly
She was so intent upon these thoughts that she hardly at first took note of
a man in a white mackintosh whom she saw riding down the street Possibly it was
owing to her face being near to the pane that he saw her so quickly and
directed his horse so close to the cottagefront that his hoofs were almost upon
the narrow border for plants growing under the wall It was not till he touched
the window with his ridingcrop that she observed him The rain had nearly
ceased and she opened the casement in obedience to his gesture
»Didnt you see me« asked dUrberville
»I was not attending« she said »I heard you I believe though I fancied
it was a carriage and horses I was in a sort of dream«
»Ah you heard the dUrberville Coach perhaps You know the legend I
suppose«
»No My somebody was going to tell it me once but didnt«
»If you are a genuine dUrberville I ought not to tell you either I
suppose As for me Im a sham one so it doesnt matter It is rather dismal
It is that this sound of a nonexistent coach can only be heard by one of
dUrberville blood and it is held to be of illomen to the one who hears it It
has to do with a murder committed by one of the family centuries ago«
»Now you have begun it finish it«
»Very well One of the family is said to have abducted some beautiful woman
who tried to escape from the coach in which he was carrying her off and in the
struggle he killed her or she killed him I forget which Such is one version
of the tale I see that your tubs and buckets are packed Going away arent
you«
»Yes tomorrow Old LadyDay«
»I heard you were but could hardly believe it it seems so sudden Why is
it«
»Fathers was the last life on the property and when that dropped we had no
further right to stay Though we might perhaps have stayed as weekly tenants
if it had not been for me«
»What about you«
»I am not a proper woman«
DUrbervilles face flushed
»What a blasted shame Miserable snobs May their dirty souls be burnt to
cinders« he exclaimed in tones of ironic resentment »Thats why you are going
is it Turned out«
»We are not turned out exactly but as they said we should have to go soon
it was best to go now everybody was moving because there are better chances«
»Where are you going to«
»Kingsbere We have taken rooms there Mother is so foolish about fathers
people that she will go there«
»But your mothers family are not fit for lodgings and in a little hole of
a town like that Now why not come to my gardenhouse at Trantridge There are
hardly any poultry now since my mothers death but theres the house as you
know it and the garden It can be whitewashed in a day and your mother can
live there quite comfortably and I will put the children to a good school
Really I ought to do something for you«
»But we have already taken the rooms at Kingsbere« she declared »And we
can wait there «
»Wait what for For that nice husband no doubt Now look here Tess I
know what men are and bearing in mind the grounds of your separation I am
quite positive he will never make it up with you Now though I have been your
enemy I am your friend even if you wont believe it Come to this cottage of
mine Well get up a regular colony of fowls and your mother can attend to them
excellently and the children can go to school«
Tess breathed more and more quickly and at length she said
»How do I know that you would do all this Your views may change and then
we should be my mother would be homeless again«
»O no no I would guarantee you against such as that in writing if
necessary Think it over«
Tess shook her head But dUrberville persisted she had seldom seen him so
determined he would not take a negative
»Please just tell your mother« he said in emphatic tones »It is her
business to judge not yours I shall get the house swept out and whitened
tomorrow morning and fires lit and it will be dry by the evening so that you
can come straight there Now mind I shall expect you«
Tess again shook her head her throat swelling with complicated emotion She
could not look up at dUrberville
»I owe you something for the past you know« he resumed »And you cured me
too of that craze so I am glad «
»I would rather you had kept the craze so that you had kept the practice
which went with it«
»I am glad of this opportunity of repaying you a little Tomorrow I shall
expect to hear your mothers goods unloading Give me your hand on it now
dear beautiful Tess«
With the last sentence he had dropped his voice to a murmur and put his
hand in at the halfopen casement With stormy eyes she pulled the staybar
quickly and in doing so caught his arm between the casement and the stone
mullion
»Damnation you are very cruel« he said snatching out his arm »No no
I know you didnt do it on purpose Well I shall expect you or your mother and
the children at least«
»I shall not come I have plenty of money« she cried
»Where«
»At my fatherinlaws if I ask for it«
»If you ask for it But you wont Tess I know you youll never ask for it
youll starve first«
With these words he rode off Just at the corner of the street he met the
man with the paintpot who asked him if he had deserted the brethren
»You go to the devil« said dUrberville
Tess remained where she was a long while till a sudden rebellious sense of
injustice caused the region of her eyes to swell with the rush of hot tears
thither Her husband Angel Clare himself had like others dealt out hard
measure to her surely he had She had never before admitted such a thought but
he had surely Never in her life she could swear it from the bottom of her
soul had she ever intended to do wrong yet these hard judgments had come
Whatever her sins they were not sins of intention but of inadvertence and why
should she have been punished so persistently
She passionately seized the first piece of paper that came to hand and
scribbled the following lines
O why have you treated me so monstrously Angel I do not deserve it I
have thought it all over carefully and I can never never forgive you
You know that I did not intend to wrong you why have you so wronged
me You are cruel cruel indeed I will try to forget you It is all
injustice I have received at your hands
T
She watched till the postman passed by ran out to him with her epistle and
then again took her listless place inside the windowpanes
It was just as well to write like that as to write tenderly How could he
give way to entreaty The facts had not changed there was no new event to alter
his opinion
It grew darker the firelight shining over the room The two biggest of the
younger children had gone out with their mother the four smallest their ages
ranging from threeandahalf years to eleven all in black frocks were
gathered round the hearth babbling their own little subjects Tess at length
joined them without lighting a candle
»This is the last night that we shall sleep here dears in the house where
we were born« she said quickly »We ought to think of it oughtnt we«
They all became silent with the impressibility of their age they were ready
to burst into tears at the picture of finality she had conjured up though all
the day hitherto they had been rejoicing in the idea of a new place Tess
changed the subject
»Sing to me dears« she said
»What shall we sing«
»Anything you know I dont mind«
There was a momentary pause it was broken first by one little tentative
note then a second voice strengthened it and a third and a fourth chimed in in
unison with words they had learnt at the Sundayschool
Here we suffer grief and pain
Here we meet to part again
In Heaven we part no more
The four sang on with the phlegmatic passivity of persons who had long ago
settled the question and there being no mistake about it felt that further
thought was not required With features strained hard to enunciate the syllables
they continued to regard the centre of the flickering fire the notes of the
youngest straying over into the pauses of the rest
Tess turned from them and went to the window again Darkness had now fallen
without but she put her face to the pane as though to peer into the gloom It
was really to hide her tears If she could only believe what the children were
singing if she were only sure how different all would now be how confidently
she would leave them to Providence and their future kingdom But in default of
that it behoved her to do something to be their Providence for to Tess as to
not a few millions of others there was ghastly satire in the poets lines
Not in utter nakedness
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
To her and her like birth itself was an ordeal of degrading personal
compulsion whose gratuitousness nothing in the result seemed to justify and at
best could only palliate
In the shades of the wet road she soon discerned her mother with tall
LizaLu and Abraham Mrs Durbeyfields pattens clicked up to the door and
Tess opened it
»I see the tracks of a horse outside the window« said Joan »Hev somebody
called«
»No« said Tess
The children by the fire looked gravely at her and one murmured
Why Tess the gentleman ahorseback
»He didnt call« said Tess »He spoke to me in passing«
»Who was the gentleman« asked her mother »Your husband«
»No Hell never never come« answered Tess in stony hopelessness
»Then who was it«
»Oh you neednt ask Youve seen him before and so have I«
»Ah What did he say« said Joan curiously
»I will tell you when we are settled in our lodgings at Kingsbere tomorrow
every word«
It was not her husband she had said Yet a consciousness that in a physical
sense this man alone was her husband seemed to weigh on her more and more
LII
During the small hours of the next morning while it was still dark dwellers
near the highways were conscious of a disturbance of their nights rest by
rumbling noises intermittently continuing till daylight noises as certain to
recur in this particular first week of the month as the voice of the cuckoo in
the third week of the same They were the preliminaries of the general removal
the passing of the empty waggons and teams to fetch the goods of the migrating
families for it was always by the vehicle of the farmer who required his
services that the hired man was conveyed to his destination That this might be
accomplished within the day was the explanation of the reverberation occurring
so soon after midnight the aim of the carters being to reach the door of the
outgoing households by six oclock when the loading of their movables at once
began
But to Tess and her mothers household no such anxious farmer sent his team
They were only women they were not regular labourers they were not
particularly required anywhere hence they had to hire a waggon at their own
expense and got nothing sent gratuitously
It was a relief to Tess when she looked out of the window that morning to
find that though the weather was windy and louring it did not rain and that
the waggon had come A wet LadyDay was a spectre which removing families never
forgot damp furniture damp bedding damp clothing accompanied it and left a
train of ills
Her mother »LizaLu and Abraham were also awake but the younger children
were let sleep on The four breakfasted by the thin light and the
houseridding« was taken in hand
It proceeded with some cheerfulness a friendly neighbour or two assisting
When the large articles of furniture had been packed in position a circular nest
was made of the beds and bedding in which Joan Durbeyfield and the young
children were to sit through the journey After loading there was a long delay
before the horses were brought these having been unharnessed during the
ridding but at length about two oclock the whole was under way the
cookingpot swinging from the axle of the waggon Mrs Durbeyfield and family at
the top the matron having in her lap to prevent injury to its works the head
of the clock which at any exceptional lurch of the waggon struck one or
oneandahalf in hurt tones Tess and the next eldest girl walked alongside
till they were out of the village
They had called on a few neighbours that morning and the previous evening
and some came to see them off all wishing them well though in their secret
hearts hardly expecting welfare possible to such a family harmless as the
Durbeyfields were to all except themselves Soon the equipage began to ascend to
higher ground and the wind grew keener with the change of level and soil
The day being the sixth of April the Durbeyfield waggon met many other
waggons with families on the summit of the load which was built on a wellnigh
unvarying principle as peculiar probably to the rural labourer as the hexagon
to the bee The groundwork of the arrangement was the family dresser which
with its shining handles and fingermarks and domestic evidences thick upon
it stood importantly in front over the tails of the shafthorses in its erect
and natural position like some Ark of the Covenant that they were bound to
carry reverently
Some of the households were lively some mournful some were stopping at the
doors of wayside inns where in due time the Durbeyfield menagerie also drew
up to bait horses and refresh the travellers
During the halt Tesss eyes fell upon a threepint blue mug which was
ascending and descending through the air to and from the feminine section of a
household sitting on the summit of a load that had also drawn up at a little
distance from the same inn She followed one of the mugs journeys upward and
perceived it to be clasped by hands whose owner she well knew Tess went towards
the waggon
»Marian and Izz« she cried to the girls for it was they sitting with the
moving family at whose house they had lodged »Are you houseridding today
like everybody else«
They were they said It had been too rough a life for them at
FlintcombAsh and they had come away almost without notice leaving Groby to
prosecute them if he chose They told Tess their destination and Tess told them
hers
Marian leant over the load and lowered her voice »Do you know that the
gentleman who follows ee youll guess who I mean came to ask for ee at
Flintcomb after you had gone We didnt telln where you was knowing you
wouldnt wish to see him«
»Ah but I did see him« Tess murmured »He found me«
»And do he know where you be going«
»I think so«
»Husband come back«
»No«
She bade her acquaintance goodbye for the respective carters had now come
out from the inn and the two waggons resumed their journey in opposite
directions the vehicle whereon sat Marian Izz and the ploughmans family with
whom they had thrown in their lot being brightly painted and drawn by three
powerful horses with shining brass ornaments on their harness while the waggon
on which Mrs Durbeyfield and her family rode was a creaking erection that would
scarcely bear the weight of the superincumbent load one which had known no
paint since it was made and drawn by two horses only The contrast well marked
the difference between being fetched by a thriving farmer and conveying oneself
whither no hirer waited ones coming
The distance was great too great for a days journey and it was with the
utmost difficulty that the horses performed it Though they had started so early
it was quite late in the afternoon when they turned the flank of an eminence
which formed part of the upland called Greenhill While the horses stood to
stale and breathe themselves Tess looked around Under the hill and just ahead
of them was the halfdead townlet of their pilgrimage Kingsbere where lay
those ancestors of whom her father had spoken and sung to painfulness
Kingsbere the spot of all spots in the world which could be considered the
dUrbervilles home since they had resided there for full five hundred years
A man could be seen advancing from the outskirts towards them and when he
beheld the nature of their waggonload he quickened his steps
»You be the woman they call Mrs Durbeyfield I reckon« he said to Tesss
mother who had descended to walk the remainder of the way
She nodded »Though widow of the late Sir John dUrberville poor nobleman
if I cared for my rights and returning to the domain of his forefathers«
»Oh Well I know nothing about that but if you be Mrs Durbeyfield I am
sent to tell ee that the rooms you wanted be let We didnt know you was coming
till we got your letter this morning when twas too late But no doubt you can
get other lodgings somewhere«
The man had noticed the face of Tess which had become ashpale at his
intelligence Her mother looked hopelessly at fault »What shall we do now
Tess« she said bitterly »Heres a welcome to your ancestors lands However
lets try further«
They moved on into the town and tried with all their might Tess remaining
with the waggon to take care of the children whilst her mother and LizaLu made
inquiries At the last return of Joan to the vehicle an hour later when her
search for accommodation had still been fruitless the driver of the waggon said
the goods must be unloaded as the horses were halfdead and he was bound to
return part of the way at least that night
»Very well unload it here« said Joan recklessly »Ill get shelter
somewhere«
The waggon had drawn up under the churchyard wall in a spot screened from
view and the driver nothing loth soon hauled down the poor heap of household
goods This done she paid him reducing herself to almost her last shilling
thereby and he moved off and left them only too glad to get out of further
dealings with such a family It was a dry night and he guessed that they would
come to no harm
Tess gazed desperately at the pile of furniture The cold sunlight of this
spring evening peered invidiously upon the crocks and kettles upon the bunches
of dried herbs shivering in the breeze upon the brass handles of the dresser
upon the wickercradle they had all been rocked in and upon the wellrubbed
clockcase all of which gave out the reproachful gleam of indoor articles
abandoned to the vicissitudes of a roofless exposure for which they were never
made Round about were deparked hills and slopes now cut up into little
paddocks and the green foundations that showed where the dUrberville mansion
once had stood also an outlying stretch of Egdon Heath that had always belonged
to the estate Hard by the aisle of the church called the dUrberville Aisle
looked on imperturbably
»Isnt your family vault your own freehold« said Tesss mother as she
returned from a reconnoitre of the church and graveyard »Why of course tis
and thats where we will camp girls till the place of your ancestors finds us
a roof Now Tess and Liza and Abraham you help me Well make a nest for these
children and then well have another look round«
Tess listlessly lent a hand and in a quarter of an hour the old fourpost
bedstead was dissociated from the heap of goods and erected under the south
wall of the church the part of the building known as the dUrberville Aisle
beneath which the huge vaults lay Over the tester of the bedstead was a
beautifully traceried window of many lights its date being the fifteenth
century It was called the dUrberville Window and in the upper part could be
discerned heraldic emblems like those on Durbeyfields old seal and spoon
Joan drew the curtains round the bed so as to make an excellent tent of it
and put the smaller children inside »If it comes to the worst we can sleep
there too for one night« she said »But let us try further on and get
something for the dears to eat O Tess whats the use of your playing at
marrying gentlemen if it leaves us like this«
Accompanied by LizaLu and the boy she again ascended the little lane which
secluded the church from the townlet As soon as they got into the street they
beheld a man on horseback gazing up and down »Ah Im looking for you« he
said riding up to them »This is indeed a family gathering on the historic
spot«
It was Alec dUrberville »Where is Tess« he asked
Personally Joan had no liking for Alec She cursorily signified the
direction of the church and went on dUrberville saying that he would see them
again in case they should be still unsuccessful in their search for shelter of
which he had just heard When they had gone dUrberville rode to the inn and
shortly after came out on foot
In the interim Tess left with the children inside the bedstead remained
talking with them awhile till seeing that no more could be done to make them
comfortable just then she walked about the churchyard now beginning to be
embrowned by the shades of nightfall The door of the church was unfastened and
she entered it for the first time in her life
Within the window under which the bedstead stood were the tombs of the
family covering in their dates several centuries They were canopied
altarshaped and plain their carvings being defaced and broken their brasses
torn from the matrices the rivetholes remaining like martinholes in a
sandcliff Of all the reminders that she had ever received that her people were
socially extinct there was none so forcible as this spoliation
She drew near to a dark stone on which was inscribed
Ostium sepulchri antiquae familiae dUrberville
Tess did not read ChurchLatin like a Cardinal but she knew that this was the
door of her ancestral sepulchre and that the tall knights of whom her father
had chanted in his cups lay inside
She musingly turned to withdraw passing near an altartomb the oldest of
them all on which was a recumbent figure In the dusk she had not noticed it
before and would hardly have noticed it now but for an odd fancy that the
effigy moved As soon as she drew close to it she discovered all in a moment
that the figure was a living person and the shock to her sense of not having
been alone was so violent that she was quite overcome and sank down nigh to
fainting not however till she had recognized Alec dUrberville in the form.
He leapt off the slab and supported her
»I saw you come in« he said smiling »and got up there not to interrupt
your meditations A family gathering is it not with these old fellows under us
here Listen«
He stamped with his heel heavily on the floor whereupon there arose a
hollow echo from below
»That shook them a bit Ill warrant« he continued »And you thought I was
the mere stone reproduction of one of them But no The old order changeth The
little finger of the sham dUrberville can do more for you than the whole
dynasty of the real underneath Now command me What shall I do«
»Go away« she murmured
»I will Ill look for your mother« said he blandly But in passing her he
whispered »Mind this youll be civil yet«
When he was gone she bent down upon the entrance to the vaults and said
»Why am I on the wrong side of this door«
In the meantime Marian and Izz Huett had journeyed onward with the chattels of
the ploughman in the direction of their land of Canaan the Egypt of some other
family who had left it only that morning But the girls did not for a long time
think of where they were going Their talk was of Angel Clare and Tess and
Tesss persistent lover whose connection with her previous history they had
partly heard and partly guessed ere this
»Tisnt as though she had never known him afore« said Marian »His having
won her once makes all the difference in the world Twould be a thousand pities
if he were to tole her away again Mr Clare can never be anything to us Izz
and why should we grudge him to her and not try to mend this quarrel If he
could ony know what straits shes put to and whats hovering round he might
come to take care of his own«
»Could we let him know«
They thought of this all the way to their destination but the bustle of
reestablishment in their new place took up all their attention then But when
they were settled a month later they heard of Clares approaching return
though they had learnt nothing more of Tess Upon that agitated anew by their
attachment to him yet honourably disposed to her Marian uncorked the penny
inkbottle they shared and a few lines were concocted between the two girls
Honourd Sir Look to your Wife if you do love her as much as she do
love you For she is sore put to by an Enemy in the shape of a Friend
Sir there is one near her who ought to be Away A woman should not be
tryd beyond her Strength and continual dropping will wear away a Stone
ay more a Diamond
FROM TWO WELLWISHERS
This they addressed to Angel Clare at the only place they had ever heard him to
be connected with Emminster Vicarage after which they continued in a mood of
emotional exaltation at their own generosity which made them sing in hysterical
snatches and weep at the same time
End of Phase the Sixth
Phase the Seventh
Fulfilment
LIII
It was evening at Emminster Vicarage The two customary candles were burning
under their green shades in the Vicars study but he had not been sitting
there Occasionally he came in stirred the small fire which sufficed for the
increasing mildness of the spring and went out again sometimes pausing at the
front door going on to the drawingroom then returning again to the front
door
It faced westward and though gloom prevailed inside there was still light
enough without to see with distinctness Mrs Clare who had been sitting in the
drawingroom followed him hither
»Plenty of time yet« said the Vicar »He doesnt reach ChalkNewton till
six even if the train should be punctual and ten miles of countryroad five
of them in Crimmercrock Lane are not jogged over in a hurry by our old horse«
»But he has done it in an hour with us my dear«
»Years ago«
Thus they passed the minutes each well knowing that this was only waste of
breath the one essential being simply to wait
At length there was a slight noise in the lane and the old ponychaise
appeared indeed outside the railings They saw alight therefrom a form which
they affected to recognize but would actually have passed by in the street
without identifying had he not got out of their carriage at the particular
moment when a particular person was due
Mrs Clare rushed through the dark passage to the door and her husband came
more slowly after her
The new arrival who was just about to enter saw their anxious faces in the
doorway and the gleam of the west in their spectacles because they confronted
the last rays of day but they could only see his shape against the light
»O my boy my boy home again at last« cried Mrs Clare who cared no
more at that moment for the stains of heterodoxy which had caused all this
separation than for the dust upon his clothes What woman indeed among the
most faithful adherents of the truth believes the promises and threats of the
Word in the sense in which she believes in her own children or would not throw
her theology to the wind if weighed against their happiness As soon as they
reached the room where the candles were lighted she looked at his face
»O it is not Angel not my son the Angel who went away« she cried in
all the irony of sorrow as she turned herself aside
His father too was shocked to see him so reduced was that figure from its
former contours by worry and the bad season that Clare had experienced in the
climate to which he had so rashly hurried in his first aversion to the mockery
of events at home You could see the skeleton behind the man and almost the
ghost behind the skeleton He matched Crivellis dead Christus His sunken
eyepits were of morbid hue and the light in his eyes had waned The angular
hollows and lines of his aged ancestors had succeeded to their reign in his face
twenty years before their time
»I was ill over there you know« he said »I am all right now«
As if however to falsify this assertion his legs seemed to give way and
he suddenly sat down to save himself from falling It was only a slight attack
of faintness resulting from the tedious days journey and the excitement of
arrival
»Has any letter come for me lately« he asked »I received the last you sent
on by the merest chance and after considerable delay through being inland or I
might have come sooner«
»It was from your wife we supposed«
»It was«
Only one other had recently come They had not sent it on to him knowing he
would start for home so soon
He hastily opened the letter produced and was much disturbed to read in
Tesss handwriting the sentiments expressed in her last hurried scrawl to him
O why have you treated me so monstrously Angel I do not deserve it I
have thought it all over carefully and I can never never forgive you
You know that I did not intend to wrong you why have you so wronged
me You are cruel cruel indeed I will try to forget you It is all
injustice I have received at your hands
T
»It is quite true« said Angel throwing down the letter »Perhaps she will
never be reconciled to me«
»Dont Angel be so anxious about a mere child of the soil« said his
mother
»Child of the soil Well we all are children of the soil I wish she were
so in the sense you mean but let me now explain to you what I have never
explained before that her father is a descendant in the male line of one of the
oldest Norman houses like a good many others who lead obscure agricultural
lives in our villages and are dubbed sons of the soil«
He soon retired to bed and the next morning feeling exceedingly unwell he
remained in his room pondering The circumstances amid which he had left Tess
were such that though while on the south of the Equator and just in receipt of
her loving epistle it had seemed the easiest thing in the world to rush back
into her arms the moment he chose to forgive her now that he had arrived it was
not so easy as it had seemed She was passionate and her present letter
showing that her estimate of him had changed under his delay too justly
changed he sadly owned made him ask himself if it would be wise to confront
her unannounced in the presence of her parents Supposing that her love had
indeed turned to dislike during the last weeks of separation a sudden meeting
might lead to bitter words
Clare therefore thought it would be best to prepare Tess and her family by
sending a line to Marlott announcing his return and his hope that she was still
living with them there as he had arranged for her to do when he left England
He despatched the inquiry that very day and before the week was out there came
a short reply from Mrs Durbeyfield which did not remove his embarrassment for
it bore no address though to his surprise it was not written from Marlott
Sir I write these few lines to say that my Daughter is away from me at
present and I am not sure when she will return but I will let you know
as Soon as she do I do not feel at liberty to tell you Where she is
temperly biding I should say that me and my Family have left Marlott
for some Time Yours
J DURBEYFIELD
It was such a relief to Clare to learn that Tess was at least apparently well
that her mothers stiff reticence as to her whereabouts did not long distress
him They were all angry with him evidently He would wait till Mrs
Durbeyfield could inform him of Tesss return which her letter implied to be
soon He deserved no more His had been a love »which alters when it alteration
finds« He had undergone some strange experiences in his absence he had seen
the virtual Faustina in the literal Cornelia a spiritual Lucretia in a
corporeal Phryne he had thought of the woman taken and set in the midst as one
deserving to be stoned and of the wife of Uriah being made a queen and he had
asked himself why he had not judged Tess constructively rather than
biographically by the will rather than by the deed
A day or two passed while he waited at his fathers house for the promised
second note from Joan Durbeyfield and indirectly to recover a little more
strength The strength showed signs of coming back but there was no sign of
Joans letter Then he hunted up the old letter sent on to him in Brazil which
Tess had written from FlintcombAsh and reread it The sentences touched him
now as much as when he had first perused them
I must cry to you in my trouble I have no one else I think I must
die if you do not come soon or tell me to come to you Please
please not to be just only a little kind to me If you would come I
could die in your arms I would be well content to do that if so be you
had forgiven me If you will send me one little line and say I am
coming soon I will bide on Angel O so cheerfully Think how it do
hurt my heart not to see you ever ever Ah if I could only make your
dear heart ache one little minute of each day as mine does every day and
all day long it might lead you to show pity to your poor lonely one
I would be content ay glad to live with you as your servant if I
may not as your wife so that I could only be near you and get glimpses
of you and think of you as mine I long for only one thing in
heaven or earth or under the earth to meet you my own dear Come to
me come to me and save me from what threatens me
Clare determined that he would no longer believe in her more recent and severer
regard of him but would go and find her immediately He asked his father if she
had applied for any money during his absence His father returned a negative
and then for the first time it occurred to Angel that her pride had stood in her
way and that she had suffered privation From his remarks his parents now
gathered the real reason of the separation and their Christianity was such
that reprobates being their especial care the tenderness towards Tess which
her blood her simplicity even her poverty had not engendered was instantly
excited by her sin
Whilst he was hastily packing together a few articles for his journey he
glanced over a poor plain missive also lately come to hand the one from Marian
and Izz Huett beginning
»Honourd Sir Look to your wife if you do love her as much as she do you«
and signed »FROM TWO WELLWISHERS«
LIV
In a quarter of an hour Clare was leaving the house whence his mother watched
his thin figure as it disappeared into the street He had declined to borrow his
fathers old mare well knowing of its necessity to the household He went to
the inn where he hired a trap and could hardly wait during the harnessing In
a very few minutes after he was driving up the hill out of the town which three
or four months earlier in the year Tess had descended with such hopes and
ascended with such shattered purposes
Benvill Lane soon stretched before him its hedges and trees purple with
buds but he was looking at other things and only recalled himself to the scene
sufficiently to enable him to keep the way In something less than an
hourandahalf he had skirted the south of the Kings Hintock estates and
ascended to the untoward solitude of CrossinHand the unholy stone whereon
Tess had been compelled by Alec dUrberville in his whim of reformation to
swear the strange oath that she would never wilfully tempt him again The pale
and blasted nettlestems of the preceding year even now lingered nakedly in the
banks young green nettles of the present spring growing from their roots
Thence he went along the verge of the upland overhanging the other
Hintocks and turning to the right plunged into the bracing calcareous region
of FlintcombAsh the address from which she had written to him in one of the
letters and which he supposed to be the place of sojourn referred to by her
mother Here of course he did not find her and what added to his depression
was the discovery that no »Mrs Clare« had ever been heard of by the cottagers
or by the farmer himself though Tess was remembered well enough by her
Christian name His name she had obviously never used during their separation
and her dignified sense of their total severance was shown not much less by this
abstention than by the hardships she had chosen to undergo of which he now
learnt for the first time rather than apply to his father for more funds
From this place they told him Tess Durbeyfield had gone without due notice
to the home of her parents on the other side of Blackmoor and it therefore
became necessary to find Mrs Durbeyfield She had told him she was not now at
Marlott but had been curiously reticent as to her actual address and the only
course was to go to Marlott and inquire for it The farmer who had been so
churlish with Tess was quite smoothtongued to Clare and lent him a horse and
man to drive him towards Marlott the gig he had arrived in being sent back to
Emminster for the limit of a days journey with that horse was reached
Clare would not accept the loan of the farmers vehicle for a further
distance than to the outskirts of the Vale and sending it back with the man
who had driven him he put up at an inn and next day entered on foot the region
wherein was the spot of his dear Tesss birth It was as yet too early in the
year for much colour to appear in the gardens and foliage the socalled spring
was but winter overlaid with a thin coat of greenness and it was of a parcel
with his expectations
The house in which Tess had passed the years of her childhood was now
inhabited by another family who had never known her The new residents were in
the garden taking as much interest in their own doings as if the homestead had
never passed its primal time in conjunction with the histories of others beside
which the histories of these were but as a tale told by an idiot They walked
about the garden paths with thoughts of their own concerns entirely uppermost
bringing their actions at every moment into jarring collision with the dim
ghosts behind them talking as though the time when Tess lived there were not
one whit intenser in story than now Even the spring birds sang over their heads
as if they thought there was nobody missing in particular
On inquiry of these precious innocents to whom even the name of their
predecessors was a failing memory Clare learned that John Durbeyfield was dead
that his widow and children had left Marlott declaring that they were going to
live at Kingsbere but instead of doing so had gone on to another place they
mentioned By this time Clare abhorred the house for ceasing to contain Tess
and hastened away from its hated presence without once looking back
His way was by the field in which he had first beheld her at the dance It
was as bad as the house even worse He passed on through the churchyard where
amongst the new headstones he saw one of a somewhat superior design to the
rest The inscription ran thus
In memory of John Durbeyfield rightly dUrberville of the once powerful family
of that Name and Direct Descendant through an Illustrious Line from Sir Pagan
dUrberville one of the Knights of the Conqueror Died March 10th 18
HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN
Some man apparently the sexton had observed Clare standing there and drew
nigh »Ah sir now thats a man who didnt want to lie here but wished to be
carried to Kingsbere where his ancestors be«
»And why didnt they respect his wish«
»Oh no money Bless your soul sir why there I wouldnt wish to say it
everywhere but even this headstone for all the flourish wrote upon en is
not paid for«
»Ah who put it up«
The man told the name of a mason in the village and on leaving the
churchyard Clare called at the masons house He found that the statement was
true and paid the bill This done he turned in the direction of the migrants
The distance was too long for a walk but Clare felt such a strong desire
for isolation that at first he would neither hire a conveyance nor go to a
circuitous line of railway by which he might eventually reach the place At
Shaston however he found he must hire but the way was such that he did not
enter Joans place till about seven oclock in the evening having traversed a
distance of over twenty miles since leaving Marlott
The village being small he had little difficulty in finding Mrs
Durbeyfields tenement which was a house in a walled garden remote from the
main road where she had stowed away her clumsy old furniture as best she could
It was plain that for some reason or other she had not wished him to visit her
and he felt his call to be somewhat of an intrusion She came to the door
herself and the light from the evening sky fell upon her face
This was the first time that Clare had ever met her but he was too
preoccupied to observe more than that she was still a handsome woman in the
garb of a respectable widow He was obliged to explain that he was Tesss
husband and his object in coming there and he did it awkwardly enough »I want
to see her at once« he added »You said you would write to me again but you
have not done so«
»Because sheve not come home« said Joan
»Do you know if she is well«
»I dont But you ought to sir« said she
»I admit it Where is she staying«
From the beginning of the interview Joan had disclosed her embarrassment by
keeping her hand to the side of her cheek
»I dont know exactly where she is staying« she answered »She was but
«
»Where was she«
»Well she is not there now«
In her evasiveness she paused again and the younger children had by this
time crept to the door where pulling at his mothers skirts the youngest
murmured
»Is this the gentleman who is going to marry Tess«
»He has married her« Joan whispered »Go inside«
Clare saw her efforts for reticence and asked
»Do you think Tess would wish me to try and find her If not of course «
»I dont think she would«
»Are you sure«
»I am sure she wouldnt«
He was turning away and then he thought of Tesss tender letter
»I am sure she would« he retorted passionately »I know her better than you
do«
»Thats very likely sir for I have never really known her«
»Please tell me her address Mrs Durbeyfield in kindness to a lonely
wretched man«
Tesss mother again restlessly swept her cheek with her vertical hand and
seeing that he suffered she at last said in a low voice
»She is at Sandbourne«
»Ah where there Sandbourne has become a large place they say«
»I dont know more particularly than I have said Sandbourne For myself I
was never there«
It was apparent that Joan spoke the truth in this and he pressed her no
further
»Are you in want of anything« he said gently
»No sir« she replied »We are fairly well provided for«
Without entering the house Clare turned away There was a station three
miles ahead and paying off his coachman he walked thither The last train to
Sandbourne left shortly after and it bore Clare on its wheels
LV
At eleven oclock that night having secured a bed at one of the hotels and
telegraphed his address to his father immediately on his arrival he walked out
into the streets of Sandbourne It was too late to call on or inquire for any
one and he reluctantly postponed his purpose till the morning But he could not
retire to rest just yet
This fashionable wateringplace with its eastern and its western stations
its piers its groves of pines its promenades and its covered gardens was to
Angel Clare like a fairy place suddenly created by the stroke of a wand and
allowed to get a little dusty An outlying eastern tract of the enormous Egdon
Waste was close at hand yet on the very verge of that tawny piece of antiquity
such a glittering novelty as this pleasure city had chosen to spring up Within
the space of a mile from its outskirts every irregularity of the soil was
prehistoric every channel an undisturbed British trackway not a sod having
been turned there since the days of the Cæsars Yet the exotic had grown here
suddenly as the prophets gourd and had drawn hither Tess
By the midnight lamps he went up and down the winding ways of this new world
in an old one and could discern between the trees and against the stars the
lofty roofs chimneys gazebos and towers of the numerous fanciful residences
of which the place was composed It was a city of detached mansions a
Mediterranean loungingplace on the English Channel and as seen now by night it
seemed even more imposing than it was
The sea was near at hand but not intrusive it murmured and he thought it
was the pines the pines murmured in precisely the same tones and he thought
they were the sea
Where could Tess possibly be a cottagegirl his young wife amidst all
this wealth and fashion The more he pondered the more was he puzzled Were
there any cows to milk here There certainly were no fields to till She was
most probably engaged to do something in one of these large houses and he
sauntered along looking at the chamberwindows and their lights going out one
by one and wondered which of them might be hers
Conjecture was useless and just after twelve oclock he entered and went to
bed Before putting out his light he reread Tesss impassioned letter Sleep
however he could not so near her yet so far from her and he continually
lifted the windowblind and regarded the backs of the opposite houses and
wondered behind which of the sashes she reposed at that moment
He might almost as well have sat up all night In the morning he arose at
seven and shortly after went out taking the direction of the chief
postoffice At the door he met an intelligent postman coming out with letters
for the morning delivery
»Do you know the address of a Mrs Clare« asked Angel
The postman shook his head
Then remembering that she would have been likely to continue the use of her
maiden name Clare said
Or a Miss Durbeyfield
»Durbeyfield«
This also was strange to the postman addressed
»Theres visitors coming and going every day as you know sir« he said
»and without the name of the house tis impossible to find em«
One of his comrades hastening out at that moment the name was repeated to
him
»I know no name of Durbeyfield but there is the name of dUrberville at The
Herons« said the second
»Thats it« cried Clare pleased to think that she had reverted to the real
pronunciation »What place is The Herons«
»A stylish lodginghouse Tis all lodginghouses here bless ee«
Clare received directions how to find the house and hastened thither
arriving with the milkman The Herons though an ordinary villa stood in its
own grounds and was certainly the last place in which one would have expected
to find lodgings so private was its appearance If poor Tess was a servant
here as he feared she would go to the backdoor to that milkman and he was
inclined to go thither also However in his doubts he turned to the front and
rang
The hour being early the landlady herself opened the door Clare inquired
for Teresa dUrberville or Durbeyfield
»Mrs dUrberville«
»Yes«
Tess then passed as a married woman and he felt glad even though she had
not adopted his name
»Will you kindly tell her that a relative is anxious to see her«
»It is rather early What name shall I give sir«
»Angel«
»Mr Angel«
»No Angel It is my Christian name Shell understand«
»Ill see if she is awake«
He was shown into the front room the diningroom and looked out through
the spring curtains at the little lawn and the rhododendrons and other shrubs
upon it Obviously her position was by no means so bad as he had feared and it
crossed his mind that she must somehow have claimed and sold the jewels to
attain it He did not blame her for one moment Soon his sharpened ear detected
footsteps upon the stairs at which his heart thumped so painfully that he could
hardly stand firm »Dear me what will she think of me so altered as I am« he
said to himself and the door opened
Tess appeared on the threshold not at all as he had expected to see her
bewilderingly otherwise indeed Her great natural beauty was if not
heightened rendered more obvious by her attire She was loosely wrapped in a
cashmere dressinggown of graywhite embroidered in halfmourning tints and
she wore slippers of the same hue Her neck rose out of a frill of down and her
wellremembered cable of darkbrown hair was partially coiled up in a mass at
the back of her head and partly hanging on her shoulder the evident result of
haste
He had held out his arms but they had fallen again to his side for she had
not come forward remaining still in the opening of the doorway Mere yellow
skeleton that he was now he felt the contrast between them and thought his
appearance distasteful to her
»Tess« he said huskily »can you forgive me for going away Cant you
come to me How do you get to be like this«
»It is too late« said she her voice sounding hard through the room her
eyes shining unnaturally
»I did not think rightly of you I did not see you as you were« he
continued to plead »I have learnt to since dearest Tessy mine«
»Too late too late« she said waving her hand in the impatience of a
person whose tortures cause every instant to seem an hour »Dont come close to
me Angel No you must not Keep away«
»But dont you love me my dear wife because I have been so pulled down by
illness You are not so fickle I am come on purpose for you my mother and
father will welcome you now«
»Yes O yes yes But I say I say it is too late«
She seemed to feel like a fugitive in a dream who tries to move away but
cannot »Dont you know all dont you know it Yet how do you come here if you
do not know«
»I inquired here and there and I found the way«
»I waited and waited for you« she went on her tones suddenly resuming
their old fluty pathos »But you did not come And I wrote to you and you did
not come He kept on saying you would never come any more and that I was a
foolish woman He was very kind to me and to mother and to all of us after
fathers death He «
»I dont understand«
»He has won me back to him«
Clare looked at her keenly then gathering her meaning flagged like one
plaguestricken and his glance sank it fell on her hands which once rosy
were now white and more delicate
She continued
»He is upstairs I hate him now because he told me a lie that you would
not come again and you have come These clothes are what hes put upon me I
didnt care what he did wi me But will you go away Angel please and never
come any more«
They stood fixed their baffled hearts looking out of their eyes with a
joylessness pitiful to see Both seemed to implore something to shelter them
from reality
»Ah it is my fault« said Clare
But he could not get on Speech was as inexpressive as silence But he had a
vague consciousness of one thing though it was not clear to him till later
that his original Tess had spiritually ceased to recognize the body before him
as hers allowing it to drift like a corpse upon the current in a direction
dissociated from its living will
A few instants passed and he found that Tess was gone His face grew colder
and more shrunken as he stood concentrated on the moment and a minute or two
after he found himself in the street walking along he did not know whither
LVI
Mrs Brooks the lady who was the householder at The Herons and owner of all
the handsome furniture was not a person of an unusually curious turn of mind
She was too deeply materialized poor woman by her long and enforced bondage to
that arithmetical demon ProfitandLoss to retain much curiosity for its own
sake and apart from possible lodgers pockets Nevertheless the visit of Angel
Clare to her wellpaying tenants Mr and Mrs dUrberville as she deemed them
was sufficiently exceptional in point of time and manner to reinvigorate the
feminine proclivity which had been stifled down as useless save in its bearings
on the letting trade
Tess had spoken to her husband from the doorway without entering the
diningroom and Mrs Brooks who stood within the partly closed door of her
own sittingroom at the back of the passage could hear fragments of the
conversation if conversation it could be called between those two wretched
souls She heard Tess reascend the stairs to the first floor and the departure
of Clare and the closing of the front door behind him Then the door of the
room above was shut and Mrs Brooks knew that Tess had reentered her apartment
As the young lady was not fully dressed Mrs Brooks knew that she would not
emerge again for some time
She accordingly ascended the stairs softly and stood at the door of the
front room a drawingroom connected with the room immediately behind it
which was a bedroom by foldingdoors in the common manner This first floor
containing Mrs Brookss best apartments had been taken by the week by the
dUrbervilles The back room was now in silence but from the drawingroom there
came sounds
All that she could at first distinguish of them was one syllable
continually repeated in a low note of moaning as if it came from a soul bound
to some Ixionian wheel
»O O O«
Then a silence then a heavy sigh and again
»O O O«
The landlady looked through the keyhole Only a small space of the room
inside was visible but within that space came a corner of the breakfast table
which was already spread for the meal and also a chair beside Over the seat of
the chair Tesss face was bowed her posture being a kneeling one in front of
it her hands were clasped over her head the skirts of her dressinggown and
the embroidery of her nightgown flowed upon the floor behind her and her
stockingless feet from which the slippers had fallen protruded upon the
carpet It was from her lips that came the murmur of unspeakable despair
Then a mans voice from the adjoining bedroom
»Whats the matter«
She did not answer but went on in a tone which was a soliloquy rather than
an exclamation and a dirge rather than a soliloquy Mrs Brooks could only
catch a portion
»And then my dear dear husband came home to me and I did not know it
And you had used your cruel persuasion upon me you did not stop using it
no you did not stop My little sisters and brothers and my mothers needs
they were the things you moved me by and you said my husband would never
come back never and you taunted me and said what a simpleton I was to expect
him And at last I believed you and gave way And then he came back Now
he is gone Gone a second time and I have lost him now for ever and he will
not love me the littlest bit ever any more only hate me O yes I have
lost him now again because of you« In writhing with her head on the chair
she turned her face towards the door and Mrs Brooks could see the pain upon
it and that her lips were bleeding from the clench of her teeth upon them and
that the long lashes of her closed eyes stuck in wet tags to her cheeks She
continued »And he is dying he looks as if he is dying And my sin will
kill him and not kill me O you have torn my life all to pieces made me
be what I prayed you in pity not to make me be again My own true husband
will never never O God I cant bear this I cannot«
There were more and sharper words from the man then a sudden rustle she
had sprung to her feet Mrs Brooks thinking that the speaker was coming to
rush out of the door hastily retreated down the stairs
She need not have done so however for the door of the sittingroom was not
opened But Mrs Brooks felt it unsafe to watch on the landing again and
entered her own parlour below
She could hear nothing through the floor although she listened intently
and thereupon went to the kitchen to finish her interrupted breakfast Coming up
presently to the front room on the ground floor she took up some sewing waiting
for her lodgers to ring that she might take away the breakfast which she meant
to do herself to discover what was the matter if possible Overhead as she
sat she could now hear the floorboards slightly creak as if some one were
walking about and presently the movement was explained by the rustle of
garments against the banisters the opening and the closing of the front door
and the form of Tess passing to the gate on her way into the street She was
fully dressed now in the walking costume of a welltodo young lady in which she
had arrived with the sole addition that over her hat and black feathers a veil
was drawn
Mrs Brooks had not been able to catch any word of farewell temporary or
otherwise between her tenants at the door above They might have quarrelled or
Mr dUrberville might still be asleep for he was not an early riser
She went into the back room which was more especially her own apartment and
continued her sewing there The lady lodger did not return nor did the
gentleman ring his bell Mrs Brooks pondered on the delay and on what probable
relation the visitor who had called so early bore to the couple upstairs In
reflecting she leant back in her chair
As she did so her eyes glanced casually over the ceiling till they were
arrested by a spot in the middle of its white surface which she had never
noticed there before It was about the size of a wafer when she first observed
it but it speedily grew as large as the palm of her hand and then she could
perceive that it was red The oblong white ceiling with this scarlet blot in
the midst had the appearance of a gigantic ace of hearts
Mrs Brooks had strange qualms of misgiving She got upon the table and
touched the spot in the ceiling with her fingers It was damp and she fancied
that it was a blood stain
Descending from the table she left the parlour and went upstairs
intending to enter the room overhead which was the bedchamber at the back of
the drawingroom But nerveless woman as she had now become she could not
bring herself to attempt the handle She listened The dead silence within was
broken only by a regular beat
Drip drip drip
Mrs Brooks hastened downstairs opened the front door and ran into the
street A man she knew one of the workmen employed at an adjoining villa was
passing by and she begged him to come in and go upstairs with her she feared
something had happened to one of her lodgers The workman assented and followed
her to the landing
She opened the door of the drawingroom and stood back for him to pass in
entering herself behind him The room was empty the breakfast a substantial
repast of coffee eggs and a cold ham lay spread upon the table untouched as
when she had taken it up excepting that the carving knife was missing She
asked the man to go through the foldingdoors into the adjoining room
He opened the doors entered a step or two and came back almost instantly
with a rigid face »My good God the gentleman in bed is dead I think he has
been hurt with a knife a lot of blood has run down upon the floor«
The alarm was soon given and the house which had lately been so quiet
resounded with the tramp of many footsteps a surgeon among the rest The wound
was small but the point of the blade had touched the heart of the victim who
lay on his back pale fixed dead as if he had scarcely moved after the
infliction of the blow In a quarter of an hour the news that a gentleman who
was a temporary visitor to the town had been stabbed in his bed spread through
every street and villa of the popular wateringplace
LVII
Meanwhile Angel Clare had walked automatically along the way by which he had
come and entering his hotel sat down over the breakfast staring at
nothingness He went on eating and drinking unconsciously till on a sudden he
demanded his bill having paid which he took his dressingbag in his hand the
only luggage he had brought with him and went out
At the moment of his departure a telegram was handed to him a few words
from his mother stating that they were glad to know his address and informing
him that his brother Cuthbert had proposed to and been accepted by Mercy Chant
Clare crumpled up the paper and followed the route to the station reaching
it he found that there would be no train leaving for an hour and more He sat
down to wait and having waited a quarter of an hour felt that he could wait
there no longer Broken in heart and numbed he had nothing to hurry for but he
wished to get out of a town which had been the scene of such an experience and
turned to walk to the first station onward and let the train pick him up there
The highway that he followed was open and at a little distance dipped into
a valley across which it could be seen running from edge to edge He had
traversed the greater part of this depression and was climbing the western
acclivity when pausing for breath he unconsciously looked back Why he did so
he could not say but something seemed to impel him to the act The tapelike
surface of the road diminished in his rear as far as he could see and as he
gazed a moving spot intruded on the white vacuity of its perspective
It was a human figure running Clare waited with a dim sense that somebody
was trying to overtake him
The form descending the incline was a womans yet so entirely was his mind
blinded to the idea of his wifes following him that even when she came nearer
he did not recognize her under the totally changed attire in which he now beheld
her It was not till she was quite close that he could believe her to be Tess
»I saw you turn away from the station just before I got there and I
have been following you all this way«
She was so pale so breathless so quivering in every muscle that he did
not ask her a single question but seizing her hand and pulling it within his
arm he led her along To avoid meeting any possible wayfarers he left the high
road and took a footpath under some firtrees When they were deep among the
moaning boughs he stopped and looked at her inquiringly
»Angel« she said as if waiting for this »do you know what I have been
running after you for To tell you that I have killed him« A pitiful white
smile lit her face as she spoke
»What« said he thinking from the strangeness of her manner that she was in
some delirium
»I have done it I dont know how« she continued »Still I owed it to
you and to myself Angel I feared long ago when I struck him on the mouth
with my glove that I might do it some day for the trap he set for me in my
simple youth and his wrong to you through me He has come between us and ruined
us and now he can never do it any more I never loved him at all Angel as I
loved you You know it dont you You believe it You didnt come back to me
and I was obliged to go back to him Why did you go away why did you when I
loved you so I cant think why you did it But I dont blame you only Angel
will you forgive me my sin against you now I have killed him I thought as I
ran along that you would be sure to forgive me now I have done that It came to
me as a shining light that I should get you back that way I could not bear the
loss of you any longer you dont know how entirely I was unable to bear your
not loving me Say you do now dear dear husband say you do now I have killed
him«
»I do love you Tess O I do it is all come back« he said tightening
his arms round her with fervid pressure »But how do you mean you have killed
him«
»I mean that I have« she murmured in a reverie
»What bodily Is he dead«
»Yes He heard me crying about you and he bitterly taunted me and called
you by a foul name and then I did it My heart could not bear it He had nagged
me about you before And then I dressed myself and came away to find you«
By degrees he was inclined to believe that she had faintly attempted at
least what she said she had done and his horror at her impulse was mixed with
amazement at the strength of her affection for himself and at the strangeness
of its quality which had apparently extinguished her moral sense altogether
Unable to realize the gravity of her conduct she seemed at last content and he
looked at her as she lay upon his shoulder weeping with happiness and wondered
what obscure strain in the dUrberville blood had led to this aberration if it
were an aberration There momentarily flashed through his mind that the family
tradition of the coach and murder might have arisen because the dUrbervilles
had been known to do these things As well as his confused and excited ideas
could reason he supposed that in the moment of mad grief of which she spoke her
mind had lost its balance and plunged her into this abyss
It was very terrible if true if a temporary hallucination sad But
anyhow here was this deserted wife of his this passionatelyfond woman
clinging to him without a suspicion that he would be anything to her but a
protector He saw that for him to be otherwise was not in her mind within the
region of the possible Tenderness was absolutely dominant in Clare at last He
kissed her endlessly with his white lips and held her hand and said
»I will not desert you I will protect you by every means in my power
dearest love whatever you may have done or not have done«
They then walked on under the trees Tess turning her head every now and
then to look at him Worn and unhandsome as he had become it was plain that she
did not discern the least fault in his appearance To her he was as of old all
that was perfection personally and mentally He was still her Antinous her
Apollo even his sickly face was beautiful as the morning to her affectionate
regard on this day no less than when she first beheld him for was it not the
face of the one man on earth who had loved her purely and who had believed in
her as pure
With an instinct as to possibilities he did not now as he had intended
make for the first station beyond the town but plunged still farther under the
firs which here abounded for miles Each clasping the other round the waist
they promenaded over the dry bed of firneedles thrown into a vague
intoxicating atmosphere at the consciousness of being together at last with no
living soul between them ignoring that there was a corpse Thus they proceeded
for several miles till Tess arousing herself looked about her and said
timidly
»Are we going anywhere in particular«
»I dont know dearest Why«
»I dont know«
»Well we might walk a few miles further and when it is evening find
lodgings somewhere or other in a lonely cottage perhaps Can you walk well
Tessy«
»O yes I could walk for ever and ever with your arm round me«
Upon the whole it seemed a good thing to do Thereupon they quickened their
pace avoiding high roads and following obscure paths tending more or less
northward But there was an unpractical vagueness in their movements throughout
the day neither one of them seemed to consider any question of effectual
escape disguise or long concealment Their every idea was temporary and
unforefending like the plans of two children
At midday they drew near to a roadside inn and Tess would have entered it
with him to get something to eat but he persuaded her to remain among the trees
and bushes of this halfwoodland halfmoorland part of the country till he
should come back Her clothes were of recent fashion even the ivoryhandled
parasol that she carried was of a shape unknown in the retired spot to which
they had now wandered and the cut of such articles would have attracted
attention in the settle of a tavern He soon returned with food enough for
halfadozen people and two bottles of wine enough to last them for a day or
more should any emergency arise
They sat down upon some dead boughs and shared their meal Between one and
two oclock they packed up the remainder and went on again
»I feel strong enough to walk any distance« said she
»I think we may as well steer in a general way towards the interior of the
country where we can hide for a time and are less likely to be looked for than
anywhere near the coast« Clare remarked »Later on when they have forgotten
us we can make for some port«
She made no reply to this beyond that of grasping him more tightly and
straight inland they went Though the season was an English May the weather was
serenely bright and during the afternoon it was quite warm Through the latter
miles of their walk their footpath had taken them into the depths of the New
Forest and towards evening turning the corner of a lane they perceived behind
a brook and bridge a large board on which was painted in white letters »This
desirable Mansion to be Let Furnished« particulars following with directions
to apply to some London agents Passing through the gate they could see the
house an old brick building of regular design and large accommodation
»I know it« said Clare »It is Bramshurst Court You can see that it is
shut up and grass is growing on the drive«
»Some of the windows are open« said Tess
»Just to air the rooms I suppose«
»All these rooms empty and we without a roof to our heads«
»You are getting tired my Tess« he said »Well stop soon« And kissing
her sad mouth he again led her onwards
He was growing weary likewise for they had wandered a dozen or fifteen
miles and it became necessary to consider what they should do for rest They
looked from afar at isolated cottages and little inns and were inclined to
approach one of the latter when their hearts failed them and they sheered off
At length their gait dragged and they stood still
»Could we sleep under the trees« she asked
He thought the season insufficiently advanced
»I have been thinking of that empty mansion we passed« he said
»Let us go back towards it again«
They retraced their steps but it was half an hour before they stood without
the entrancegate as earlier He then requested her to stay where she was
whilst he went to see who was within
She sat down among the bushes within the gate and Clare crept towards the
house His absence lasted some considerable time and when he returned Tess was
wildly anxious not for herself but for him He had found out from a boy that
there was only an old woman in charge as caretaker and she only came there on
fine days from the hamlet near to open and shut the windows She would come to
shut them at sunset »Now we can get in through one of the lower windows and
rest there« said he
Under his escort she went tardily forward to the main front whose shuttered
windows like sightless eyeballs excluded the possibility of watchers The door
was reached a few steps further and one of the windows beside it was open
Clare clambered in and pulled Tess in after him
Except the hall the rooms were all in darkness and they ascended the
staircase Up here also the shutters were tightly closed the ventilation being
perfunctorily done for this day at least by opening the hallwindow in front
and an upper window behind Clare unlatched the door of a large chamber felt
his way across it and parted the shutters to the width of two or three inches
A shaft of dazzling sunlight glanced into the room revealing heavy
oldfashioned furniture crimson damask hangings and an enormous fourpost
bedstead along the head of which were carved running figures apparently
Atalantas race
»Rest at last« said he setting down his bag and the parcel of viands
They remained in great quietness till the caretaker should have come to shut
the windows as a precaution putting themselves in total darkness by barring
the shutters as before lest the woman should open the door of their chamber for
any casual reason Between six and seven oclock she came but did not approach
the wing they were in They heard her close the windows fasten them lock the
door and go away Then Clare again stole a chink of light from the window and
they shared another meal till byandby they were enveloped in the shades of
night which they had no candle to disperse
LVIII
The night was strangely solemn and still In the small hours she whispered to
him the whole story of how he had walked in his sleep with her in his arms
across the Froom stream at the imminent risk of both their lives and laid her
down in the stone coffin at the ruined abbey He had never known of that till
now
»Why didnt you tell me next day« he said »It might have prevented much
misunderstanding and woe«
»Dont think of whats past« said she »I am not going to think outside of
now Why should we Who knows what tomorrow has in store«
But it apparently had no sorrow The morning was wet and foggy and Clare
rightly informed that the caretaker only opened the windows on fine days
ventured to creep out of their chamber and explore the house leaving Tess
asleep There was no food on the premises but there was water and he took
advantage of the fog to emerge from the mansion and fetch tea bread and
butter from a shop in a little place two miles beyond as also a small tin
kettle and spiritlamp that they might get fire without smoke His reentry
awoke her and they breakfasted on what he had brought
They were indisposed to stir abroad and the day passed and the night
following and the next and next till almost without their being aware five
days had slipped by in absolute seclusion not a sight or sound of a human being
disturbing their peacefulness such as it was The changes of the weather were
their only events the birds of the New Forest their only company By tacit
consent they hardly once spoke of any incident of the past subsequent to their
weddingday The gloomy intervening time seemed to sink into chaos over which
the present and prior times closed as if it never had been Whenever he
suggested that they should leave their shelter and go forwards towards
Southampton or London she showed a strange unwillingness to move
»Why should we put an end to all thats sweet and lovely« she deprecated
»What must come will come« And looking through the shutter chink »All is
trouble outside there inside here content«
He peeped out also It was quite true within was affection union error
forgiven outside was the inexorable
»And and« she said pressing her cheek against his »I fear that what you
think of me now may not last I do not wish to outlive your present feeling for
me I would rather not I would rather be dead and buried when the time comes
for you to despise me so that it may never be known to me that you despised
me«
I cannot ever despise you
»I also hope that But considering what my life has been I cannot see why
any man should sooner or later be able to help despising me How wickedly
mad I was Yet formerly I never could bear to hurt a fly or a worm and the
sight of a bird in a cage used often to make me cry«
They remained yet another day In the night the dull sky cleared and the
result was that the old caretaker at the cottage awoke early The brilliant
sunrise made her unusually brisk she decided to open the contiguous mansion
immediately and to air it thoroughly on such a day Thus it occurred that
having arrived and opened the lower rooms before six oclock she ascended to
the bedchambers and was about to turn the handle of the one wherein they lay
At that moment she fancied she could hear the breathing of persons within Her
slippers and her antiquity had rendered her progress a noiseless one so far and
she made for instant retreat then deeming that her hearing might have deceived
her she turned anew to the door and softly tried the handle The lock was out
of order but a piece of furniture had been moved forward on the inside which
prevented her opening the door more than an inch or two A stream of morning
light through the shutterchink fell upon the faces of the pair wrapped in
profound slumber Tesss lips being parted like a halfopened flower near his
cheek The caretaker was so struck with their innocent appearance and with the
elegance of Tesss gown hanging across a chair her silk stockings beside it
the pretty parasol and the other habits in which she had arrived because she
had none else that her first indignation at the effrontery of tramps and
vagabonds gave way to a momentary sentimentality over this genteel elopement as
it seemed She closed the door and withdrew as softly as she had come to go
and consult with her neighbours on the odd discovery
Not more than a minute had elapsed after her withdrawal when Tess woke and
then Clare Both had a sense that something had disturbed them though they
could not say what and the uneasy feeling which it engendered grew stronger As
soon as he was dressed he narrowly scanned the lawn through the two or three
inches of shutterchink
»I think we will leave at once« said he »It is a fine day And I cannot
help fancying somebody is about the house At any rate the woman will be sure
to come today«
She passively assented and putting the room in order they took up the few
articles that belonged to them and departed noiselessly When they had got into
the Forest she turned to take a last look at the house
»Ah happy house goodbye« she said »My life can only be a question of a
few weeks Why should we not have stayed there«
»Dont say it Tess We shall soon get out of this district altogether
Well continue our course as weve begun it and keep straight north Nobody
will think of looking for us there We shall be looked for at the Wessex ports
if we are sought at all When we are in the north we will get to a port and
away«
Having thus persuaded her the plan was pursued and they kept a bee line
northward Their long repose at the manorhouse lent them walking power now and
towards midday they found that they were approaching the steepled city of
Melchester which lay directly in their way He decided to rest her in a clump
of trees during the afternoon and push onward under cover of darkness At dusk
Clare purchased food as usual and their night march began the boundary between
Upper and MidWessex being crossed about eight oclock
To walk across country without much regard to roads was not new to Tess and
she showed her old agility in the performance The intercepting city ancient
Melchester they were obliged to pass through in order to take advantage of the
town bridge for crossing a large river that obstructed them It was about
midnight when they went along the deserted streets lighted fitfully by the few
lamps keeping off the pavement that it might not echo their footsteps The
graceful pile of cathedral architecture rose dimly on their left hand but it
was lost upon them now Once out of the town they followed the turnpikeroad
which after a few miles plunged across an open plain
Though the sky was dense with cloud a diffused light from some fragment of a
moon had hitherto helped them a little But the moon had now sunk the clouds
seemed to settle almost on their heads and the night grew as dark as a cave
However they found their way along keeping as much on the turf as possible
that their tread might not resound which it was easy to do there being no
hedge or fence of any kind All around was open loneliness and black solitude
over which a stiff breeze blew
They had proceeded thus gropingly two or three miles further when on a
sudden Clare became conscious of some vast erection close in his front rising
sheer from the grass They had almost struck themselves against it
»What monstrous place is this« said Angel
»It hums« said she »Hearken«
He listened The wind playing upon the edifice produced a booming tune
like the note of some gigantic onestringed harp No other sound came from it
and lifting his hand and advancing a step or two Clare felt the vertical
surface of the structure It seemed to be of solid stone without joint or
moulding Carrying his fingers onward he found that what he had come in contact
with was a colossal rectangular pillar by stretching out his left hand he could
feel a similar one adjoining At an indefinite height overhead something made
the black sky blacker which had the semblance of a vast architrave uniting the
pillars horizontally They carefully entered beneath and between the surfaces
echoed their soft rustle but they seemed to be still out of doors The place
was roofless Tess drew her breath fearfully and Angel perplexed said
»What can it be«
Feeling sideways they encountered another towerlike pillar square and
uncompromising as the first beyond it another and another The place was all
doors and pillars some connected above by continuous architraves
»A very Temple of the Winds« he said
The next pillar was isolated others composed a trilithon others were
prostrate their flanks forming a causeway wide enough for a carriage and it
was soon obvious that they made up a forest of monoliths grouped upon the grassy
expanse of the plain The couple advanced further into this pavilion of the
night till they stood in its midst
»It is Stonehenge« said Clare
»The heathen temple you mean«
»Yes Older than the centuries older than the dUrbervilles Well what
shall we do darling We may find shelter further on«
But Tess really tired by this time flung herself upon an oblong slab that
lay close at hand and was sheltered from the wind by a pillar Owing to the
action of the sun during the preceding day the stone was warm and dry in
comforting contrast to the rough and chill grass around which had damped her
skirts and shoes
»I dont want to go any further Angel« she said stretching out her hand
for his »Cant we bide here«
»I fear not This spot is visible for miles by day although it does not
seem so now«
»One of my mothers people was a shepherd here abouts now I think of it
And you used to say at Talbothays that I was a heathen So now I am at home«
He knelt down beside her outstretched form and put his lips upon hers
»Sleepy are you dear I think you are lying on an altar«
»I like very much to be here« she murmured »It is so solemn and lonely
after my great happiness with nothing but the sky above my face It seems as
if there were no folk in the world but we two and I wish there were not
except LizaLu«
Clare thought she might as well rest here till it should get a little
lighter and he flung his overcoat upon her and sat down by her side
»Angel if anything happens to me will you watch over LizaLu for my
sake« she asked when they had listened a long time to the wind among the
pillars
»I will«
»She is so good and simple and pure O Angel I wish you would marry her
if you lose me as you will do shortly O if you would«
»If I lose you I lose all And she is my sisterinlaw«
»Thats nothing dearest People marry sisterlaws continually about
Marlott and LizaLu is so gentle and sweet and she is growing so beautiful O
I could share you with her willingly when we are spirits If you would train her
and teach her Angel and bring her up for your own self She has all the
best of me without the bad of me and if she were to become yours it would
almost seem as if death had not divided us Well I have said it I wont
mention it again«
She ceased and he fell into thought In the far northeast sky he could see
between the pillars a level streak of light The uniform concavity of black
cloud was lifting bodily like the lid of a pot letting in at the earths edge
the coming day against which the towering monoliths and trilithons began to be
blackly defined
»Did they sacrifice to God here« asked she
»No« said he
»Who to«
»I believe to the sun That lofty stone set away by itself is in the
direction of the sun which will presently rise behind it«
»This reminds me dear« she said »You remember you never would interfere
with any belief of mine before we were married But I knew your mind all the
same and I thought as you thought not from any reasons of my own but because
you thought so Tell me now Angel do you think we shall meet again after we
are dead I want to know«
He kissed her to avoid a reply at such a time
»O Angel I fear that means no« said she with a suppressed sob »And I
wanted so to see you again so much so much What not even you and I Angel
who love each other so well«
Like a greater than himself to the critical question at the critical time
he did not answer and they were again silent In a minute or two her breathing
became more regular her clasp of his hand relaxed and she fell asleep The
band of silver paleness along the east horizon made even the distant parts of
the Great Plain appear dark and near and the whole enormous landscape bore that
impress of reserve taciturnity and hesitation which is usual just before day
The eastward pillars and their architraves stood up blackly against the light
and the great flameshaped Sunstone beyond them and the Stone of Sacrifice
midway Presently the night wind died out and the quivering little pools in the
cuplike hollows of the stones lay still At the same time something seemed to
move on the verge of the dip eastward a mere dot It was the head of a man
approaching them from the hollow beyond the Sunstone Clare wished they had
gone onward but in the circumstances decided to remain quiet The figure came
straight towards the circle of pillars in which they were
He heard something behind him the brush of feet Turning he saw over the
prostrate columns another figure then before he was aware another was at hand
on the right under a trilithon and another on the left The dawn shone full on
the front of the man westward and Clare could discern from this that he was
tall and walked as if trained They all closed in with evident purpose Her
story then was true Springing to his feet he looked around for a weapon loose
stone means of escape anything By this time the nearest man was upon him
»It is no use sir« he said »There are sixteen of us on the Plain and the
whole country is reared«
»Let her finish her sleep« he implored in a whisper of the men as they
gathered round
When they saw where she lay which they had not done till then they showed
no objection and stood watching her as still as the pillars around He went to
the stone and bent over her holding one poor little hand her breathing now was
quick and small like that of a lesser creature than a woman All waited in the
growing light their faces and hands as if they were silvered the remainder of
their figures dark the stones glistening greengray the Plain still a mass of
shade Soon the light was strong and a ray shone upon her unconscious form
peering under her eyelids and waking her
»What is it Angel« she said starting up »Have they come for me«
»Yes dearest« he said »They have come«
»It is as it should be« she murmured »Angel I am almost glad yes glad
This happiness could not have lasted It was too much I have had enough and
now I shall not live for you to despise me«
She stood up shook herself and went forward neither of the men having
moved
»I am ready« she said quietly
LIX
The city of Wintoncester that fine old city aforetime capital of Wessex lay
amidst its convex and concave downlands in all the brightness and warmth of a
July morning The gabled brick tile and freestone houses had almost dried off
for the season their integument of lichen the streams in the meadows were low
and in the sloping High Street from the West Gateway to the mediæval cross and
from the mediæval cross to the bridge that leisurely dusting and sweeping was
in progress which usually ushers in an old fashioned marketday
From the western gate aforesaid the highway as every Wintoncestrian knows
ascends a long and regular incline of the exact length of a measured mile
leaving the houses gradually behind Up this road from the precincts of the city
two persons were walking rapidly as if unconscious of the trying ascent
unconscious through preoccupation and not through buoyancy They had emerged
upon this road through a narrow barred wicket in a high wall a little lower
down They seemed anxious to get out of the sight of the houses and of their
kind and this road appeared to offer the quickest means of doing so Though
they were young they walked with bowed heads which gait of grief the suns rays
smiled on pitilessly
One of the pair was Angel Clare the other a tall budding creature half
girl half woman a spiritualized image of Tess slighter than she but with
the same beautiful eyes Clares sisterinlaw »LizaLu Their pale faces
seemed to have shrunk to half their natural size They moved on hand in hand
and never spoke a word the drooping of their heads being that of Giottos Two
Apostles«
When they had nearly reached the top of the great West Hill the clocks in
the town struck eight Each gave a start at the notes and walking onward yet a
few steps they reached the first milestone standing whitely on the green
margin of the grass and backed by the down which here was open to the road
They entered upon the turf and impelled by a force that seemed to overrule
their will suddenly stood still turned and waited in paralyzed suspense
beside the stone
The prospect from this summit was almost unlimited In the valley beneath
lay the city they had just left its more prominent buildings showing as in an
isometric drawing among them the broad cathedral tower with its Norman
windows and immense length of aisle and nave the spires of St Thomass the
pinnacled tower of the College and more to the right the tower and gables of
the ancient hospice where to this day the pilgrim may receive his dole of bread
and ale Behind the city swept the rotund upland of St Catherines Hill
further off landscape beyond landscape till the horizon was lost in the
radiance of the sun hanging above it
Against these far stretches of country rose in front of the other city
edifices a large redbrick building with level gray roofs and rows of short
barred windows bespeaking captivity the whole contrasting greatly by its
formalism with the quaint irregularities of the Gothic erections It was
somewhat disguised from the road in passing it by yews and evergreen oaks but
it was visible enough up here The wicket from which the pair had lately emerged
was in the wall of this structure From the middle of the building an ugly
flattopped octagonal tower ascended against the east horizon and viewed from
this spot on its shady side and against the light it seemed the one blot on
the citys beauty Yet it was with this blot and not with the beauty that the
two gazers were concerned
Upon the cornice of the tower a tall staff was fixed Their eyes were
riveted on it A few minutes after the hour had struck something moved slowly up
the staff and extended itself upon the breeze It was a black flag
»Justice« was done and the President of the Immortals in Æschylean phrase
had ended his sport with Tess And the dUrberville knights and dames slept on
in their tombs unknowing The two speechless gazers bent themselves down to the
earth as if in prayer and remained thus a long time absolutely motionless
the flag continued to wave silently As soon as they had strength they arose
joined hands again and went on