Tess of the d'Urbervilles

Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy Phase the First: The Maiden
Phase the First: The Maiden Phase the Second: Maiden no More Phase the Third: The Rally Phase the Fourth: The Consequence Phase the Fifth: The Woman Pays Phase the Sixth: The Convert Phase the Seventh: Fulfilment This is a hypertextual, self-referential edition of Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. The text was prepared using the Project Gutenberg edition. Click on any word to see its occurrences in the text; click on line numbers to go to that line; click on chapter names to go to that chapter; or search using the form below. Search terms can contain spaces and punctuation. The concordance for Tess of the d'Urbervilles ordered alphanumerically, and listed in order of word frequency. Click here for more texts.
[1] [2] Phase the First: The Maiden [3] [4] [5] I [6] [7] [8] On an evening in the latter part of May a middle-aged man was walking [9] homeward from Shaston to the village of Marlott, in the adjoining [10] Vale of Blakemore, or Blackmoor. The pair of legs that carried him [11] were rickety, and there was a bias in his gait which inclined him [12] somewhat to the left of a straight line. He occasionally gave a [13] smart nod, as if in confirmation of some opinion, though he was not [14] thinking of anything in particular. An empty egg-basket was slung [15] upon his arm, the nap of his hat was ruffled, a patch being quite [16] worn away at its brim where his thumb came in taking it off. [17] Presently he was met by an elderly parson astride on a gray mare, [18] who, as he rode, hummed a wandering tune. [19] [20] "Good night t'ee," said the man with the basket. [21] [22] "Good night, Sir John," said the parson. [23] [24] The pedestrian, after another pace or two, halted, and turned round. [25] [26] "Now, sir, begging your pardon; we met last market-day on this road [27] about this time, and I said 'Good night,' and you made reply '_Good [28] night, Sir John_,' as now." [29] [30] "I did," said the parson. [31] [32] "And once before that--near a month ago." [33] [34] "I may have." [35] [36] "Then what might your meaning be in calling me 'Sir John' these [37] different times, when I be plain Jack Durbeyfield, the haggler?" [38] [39] The parson rode a step or two nearer. [40] [41] "It was only my whim," he said; and, after a moment's hesitation: "It [42] was on account of a discovery I made some little time ago, whilst I [43] was hunting up pedigrees for the new county history. I am Parson [44] Tringham, the antiquary, of Stagfoot Lane. Don't you really know, [45] Durbeyfield, that you are the lineal representative of the ancient [46] and knightly family of the d'Urbervilles, who derive their descent [47] from Sir Pagan d'Urberville, that renowned knight who came from [48] Normandy with William the Conqueror, as appears by Battle Abbey [49] Roll?" [50] [51] "Never heard it before, sir!" [52] [53] "Well it's true. Throw up your chin a moment, so that I may catch [54] the profile of your face better. Yes, that's the d'Urberville nose [55] and chin--a little debased. Your ancestor was one of the twelve [56] knights who assisted the Lord of Estremavilla in Normandy in his [57] conquest of Glamorganshire. Branches of your family held manors over [58] all this part of England; their names appear in the Pipe Rolls in the [59] time of King Stephen. In the reign of King John one of them was rich [60] enough to give a manor to the Knights Hospitallers; and in Edward the [61] Second's time your forefather Brian was summoned to Westminster to [62] attend the great Council there. You declined a little in Oliver [63] Cromwell's time, but to no serious extent, and in Charles the [64] Second's reign you were made Knights of the Royal Oak for your [65] loyalty. Aye, there have been generations of Sir Johns among [66] you, and if knighthood were hereditary, like a baronetcy, as it [67] practically was in old times, when men were knighted from father [68] to son, you would be Sir John now." [69] [70] "Ye don't say so!" [71] [72] "In short," concluded the parson, decisively smacking his leg with [73] his switch, "there's hardly such another family in England." [74] [75] "Daze my eyes, and isn't there?" said Durbeyfield. "And here have I [76] been knocking about, year after year, from pillar to post, as if I [77] was no more than the commonest feller in the parish... And how long [78] hev this news about me been knowed, Pa'son Tringham?" [79] [80] The clergyman explained that, as far as he was aware, it had quite [81] died out of knowledge, and could hardly be said to be known at all. [82] His own investigations had begun on a day in the preceding spring [83] when, having been engaged in tracing the vicissitudes of the [84] d'Urberville family, he had observed Durbeyfield's name on his [85] waggon, and had thereupon been led to make inquiries about his [86] father and grandfather till he had no doubt on the subject. [87] [88] "At first I resolved not to disturb you with such a useless piece of [89] information," said he. "However, our impulses are too strong for our [90] judgement sometimes. I thought you might perhaps know something of [91] it all the while." [92] [93] "Well, I have heard once or twice, 'tis true, that my family had seen [94] better days afore they came to Blackmoor. But I took no notice o't, [95] thinking it to mean that we had once kept two horses where we now [96] keep only one. I've got a wold silver spoon, and a wold graven seal [97] at home, too; but, Lord, what's a spoon and seal? ... And to think [98] that I and these noble d'Urbervilles were one flesh all the time. [99] 'Twas said that my gr't-granfer had secrets, and didn't care to talk [100] of where he came from... And where do we raise our smoke, now, [101] parson, if I may make so bold; I mean, where do we d'Urbervilles [102] live?" [103] [104] "You don't live anywhere. You are extinct--as a county family." [105] [106] "That's bad." [107] [108] "Yes--what the mendacious family chronicles call extinct in the male [109] line--that is, gone down--gone under." [110] [111] "Then where do we lie?" [112] [113] "At Kingsbere-sub-Greenhill: rows and rows of you in your vaults, [114] with your effigies under Purbeck-marble canopies." [115] [116] "And where be our family mansions and estates?" [117] [118] "You haven't any." [119] [120] "Oh? No lands neither?" [121] [122] "None; though you once had 'em in abundance, as I said, for you [123] family consisted of numerous branches. In this county there was a [124] seat of yours at Kingsbere, and another at Sherton, and another in [125] Millpond, and another at Lullstead, and another at Wellbridge." [126] [127] "And shall we ever come into our own again?" [128] [129] "Ah--that I can't tell!" [130] [131] "And what had I better do about it, sir?" asked Durbeyfield, after a [132] pause. [133] [134] "Oh--nothing, nothing; except chasten yourself with the thought of [135] 'how are the mighty fallen.' It is a fact of some interest to the [136] local historian and genealogist, nothing more. There are several [137] families among the cottagers of this county of almost equal lustre. [138] Good night." [139] [140] "But you'll turn back and have a quart of beer wi' me on the strength [141] o't, Pa'son Tringham? There's a very pretty brew in tap at The Pure [142] Drop--though, to be sure, not so good as at Rolliver's." [143] [144] "No, thank you--not this evening, Durbeyfield. You've had enough [145] already." Concluding thus, the parson rode on his way, with doubts [146] as to his discretion in retailing this curious bit of lore. [147] [148] When he was gone, Durbeyfield walked a few steps in a profound [149] reverie, and then sat down upon the grassy bank by the roadside, [150] depositing his basket before him. In a few minutes a youth appeared [151] in the distance, walking in the same direction as that which had been [152] pursued by Durbeyfield. The latter, on seeing him, held up his hand, [153] and the lad quickened his pace and came near. [154] [155] "Boy, take up that basket! I want 'ee to go on an errand for me." [156] [157] The lath-like stripling frowned. "Who be you, then, John [158] Durbeyfield, to order me about and call me 'boy'? You know my [159] name as well as I know yours!" [160] [161] "Do you, do you? That's the secret--that's the secret! Now obey my [162] orders, and take the message I'm going to charge 'ee wi'... Well, [163] Fred, I don't mind telling you that the secret is that I'm one of a [164] noble race--it has been just found out by me this present afternoon, [165] P.M." And as he made the announcement, Durbeyfield, declining from [166] his sitting position, luxuriously stretched himself out upon the bank [167] among the daisies. [168] [169] The lad stood before Durbeyfield, and contemplated his length from [170] crown to toe. [171] [172] "Sir John d'Urberville--that's who I am," continued the prostrate [173] man. "That is if knights were baronets--which they be. 'Tis [174] recorded in history all about me. Dost know of such a place, lad, [175] as Kingsbere-sub-Greenhill?" [176] [177] "Ees. I've been there to Greenhill Fair." [178] [179] "Well, under the church of that city there lie--" [180] [181] "'Tisn't a city, the place I mean; leastwise 'twaddn' when I was [182] there--'twas a little one-eyed, blinking sort o' place." [183] [184] "Never you mind the place, boy, that's not the question before us. [185] Under the church of that there parish lie my ancestors--hundreds of [186] 'em--in coats of mail and jewels, in gr't lead coffins weighing tons [187] and tons. There's not a man in the county o' South-Wessex that's [188] got grander and nobler skillentons in his family than I." [189] [190] "Oh?" [191] [192] "Now take up that basket, and goo on to Marlott, and when you've come [193] to The Pure Drop Inn, tell 'em to send a horse and carriage to me [194] immed'ately, to carry me hwome. And in the bottom o' the carriage [195] they be to put a noggin o' rum in a small bottle, and chalk it up [196] to my account. And when you've done that goo on to my house with [197] the basket, and tell my wife to put away that washing, because she [198] needn't finish it, and wait till I come hwome, as I've news to tell [199] her." [200] [201] As the lad stood in a dubious attitude, Durbeyfield put his hand in [202] his pocket, and produced a shilling, one of the chronically few that [203] he possessed. [204] [205] "Here's for your labour, lad." [206] [207] This made a difference in the young man's estimate of the position. [208] [209] "Yes, Sir John. Thank 'ee. Anything else I can do for 'ee, Sir [210] John?" [211] [212] "Tell 'em at hwome that I should like for supper,--well, lamb's fry [213] if they can get it; and if they can't, black-pot; and if they can't [214] get that, well chitterlings will do." [215] [216] "Yes, Sir John." [217] [218] The boy took up the basket, and as he set out the notes of a brass [219] band were heard from the direction of the village. [220] [221] "What's that?" said Durbeyfield. "Not on account o' I?" [222] [223] "'Tis the women's club-walking, Sir John. Why, your da'ter is one o' [224] the members." [225] [226] "To be sure--I'd quite forgot it in my thoughts of greater things! [227] Well, vamp on to Marlott, will ye, and order that carriage, and [228] maybe I'll drive round and inspect the club." [229] [230] The lad departed, and Durbeyfield lay waiting on the grass and [231] daisies in the evening sun. Not a soul passed that way for a long [232] while, and the faint notes of the band were the only human sounds [233] audible within the rim of blue hills. [234] [235] [236] [237] II [238] [239] [240] The village of Marlott lay amid the north-eastern undulations of the [241] beautiful Vale of Blakemore, or Blackmoor, aforesaid, an engirdled [242] and secluded region, for the most part untrodden as yet by tourist or [243] landscape-painter, though within a four hours' journey from London. [244] [245] It is a vale whose acquaintance is best made by viewing it from the [246] summits of the hills that surround it--except perhaps during the [247] droughts of summer. An unguided ramble into its recesses in bad [248] weather is apt to engender dissatisfaction with its narrow, tortuous, [249] and miry ways. [250] [251] This fertile and sheltered tract of country, in which the fields are [252] never brown and the springs never dry, is bounded on the south by the [253] bold chalk ridge that embraces the prominences of Hambledon Hill, [254] Bulbarrow, Nettlecombe-Tout, Dogbury, High Stoy, and Bubb Down. The [255] traveller from the coast, who, after plodding northward for a score [256] of miles over calcareous downs and corn-lands, suddenly reaches [257] the verge of one of these escarpments, is surprised and delighted [258] to behold, extended like a map beneath him, a country differing [259] absolutely from that which he has passed through. Behind him the [260] hills are open, the sun blazes down upon fields so large as to give [261] an unenclosed character to the landscape, the lanes are white, the [262] hedges low and plashed, the atmosphere colourless. Here, in the [263] valley, the world seems to be constructed upon a smaller and more [264] delicate scale; the fields are mere paddocks, so reduced that from [265] this height their hedgerows appear a network of dark green threads [266] overspreading the paler green of the grass. The atmosphere beneath [267] is languorous, and is so tinged with azure that what artists call the [268] middle distance partakes also of that hue, while the horizon beyond [269] is of the deepest ultramarine. Arable lands are few and limited; [270] with but slight exceptions the prospect is a broad rich mass of grass [271] and trees, mantling minor hills and dales within the major. Such is [272] the Vale of Blackmoor. [273] [274] The district is of historic, no less than of topographical interest. [275] The Vale was known in former times as the Forest of White Hart, from [276] a curious legend of King Henry III's reign, in which the killing by [277] a certain Thomas de la Lynd of a beautiful white hart which the king [278] had run down and spared, was made the occasion of a heavy fine. [279] In those days, and till comparatively recent times, the country was [280] densely wooded. Even now, traces of its earlier condition are to be [281] found in the old oak copses and irregular belts of timber that yet [282] survive upon its slopes, and the hollow-trunked trees that shade so [283] many of its pastures. [284] [285] The forests have departed, but some old customs of their shades [286] remain. Many, however, linger only in a metamorphosed or disguised [287] form. The May-Day dance, for instance, was to be discerned on [288] the afternoon under notice, in the guise of the club revel, or [289] "club-walking," as it was there called. [290] [291] It was an interesting event to the younger inhabitants of Marlott, [292] though its real interest was not observed by the participators in the [293] ceremony. Its singularity lay less in the retention of a custom of [294] walking in procession and dancing on each anniversary than in the [295] members being solely women. In men's clubs such celebrations were, [296] though expiring, less uncommon; but either the natural shyness of the [297] softer sex, or a sarcastic attitude on the part of male relatives, [298] had denuded such women's clubs as remained (if any other did) or this [299] their glory and consummation. The club of Marlott alone lived to [300] uphold the local Cerealia. It had walked for hundreds of years, if [301] not as benefit-club, as votive sisterhood of some sort; and it walked [302] still. [303] [304] The banded ones were all dressed in white gowns--a gay survival from [305] Old Style days, when cheerfulness and May-time were synonyms--days [306] before the habit of taking long views had reduced emotions to a [307] monotonous average. Their first exhibition of themselves was in a [308] processional march of two and two round the parish. Ideal and real [309] clashed slightly as the sun lit up their figures against the green [310] hedges and creeper-laced house-fronts; for, though the whole troop [311] wore white garments, no two whites were alike among them. Some [312] approached pure blanching; some had a bluish pallor; some worn by the [313] older characters (which had possibly lain by folded for many a year) [314] inclined to a cadaverous tint, and to a Georgian style. [315] [316] In addition to the distinction of a white frock, every woman and girl [317] carried in her right hand a peeled willow wand, and in her left a [318] bunch of white flowers. The peeling of the former, and the selection [319] of the latter, had been an operation of personal care. [320] [321] There were a few middle-aged and even elderly women in the train, [322] their silver-wiry hair and wrinkled faces, scourged by time and [323] trouble, having almost a grotesque, certainly a pathetic, appearance [324] in such a jaunty situation. In a true view, perhaps, there was more [325] to be gathered and told of each anxious and experienced one, to whom [326] the years were drawing nigh when she should say, "I have no pleasure [327] in them," than of her juvenile comrades. But let the elder be passed [328] over here for those under whose bodices the life throbbed quick and [329] warm. [330] [331] The young girls formed, indeed, the majority of the band, and their [332] heads of luxuriant hair reflected in the sunshine every tone of gold, [333] and black, and brown. Some had beautiful eyes, others a beautiful [334] nose, others a beautiful mouth and figure: few, if any, had all. A [335] difficulty of arranging their lips in this crude exposure to public [336] scrutiny, an inability to balance their heads, and to dissociate [337] self-consciousness from their features, was apparent in them, and [338] showed that they were genuine country girls, unaccustomed to many [339] eyes. [340] [341] And as each and all of them were warmed without by the sun, so each [342] had a private little sun for her soul to bask in; some dream, some [343] affection, some hobby, at least some remote and distant hope which, [344] though perhaps starving to nothing, still lived on, as hopes will. [345] They were all cheerful, and many of them merry. [346] [347] They came round by The Pure Drop Inn, and were turning out of the [348] high road to pass through a wicket-gate into the meadows, when one of [349] the women said-- [350] [351] "The Load-a-Lord! Why, Tess Durbeyfield, if there isn't thy father [352] riding hwome in a carriage!" [353] [354] A young member of the band turned her head at the exclamation. [355] She was a fine and handsome girl--not handsomer than some others, [356] possibly--but her mobile peony mouth and large innocent eyes added [357] eloquence to colour and shape. She wore a red ribbon in her hair, [358] and was the only one of the white company who could boast of such [359] a pronounced adornment. As she looked round Durbeyfield was seen [360] moving along the road in a chaise belonging to The Pure Drop, driven [361] by a frizzle-headed brawny damsel with her gown-sleeves rolled above [362] her elbows. This was the cheerful servant of that establishment, [363] who, in her part of factotum, turned groom and ostler at times. [364] Durbeyfield, leaning back, and with his eyes closed luxuriously, was [365] waving his hand above his head, and singing in a slow recitative-- [366] [367] "I've-got-a-gr't-family-vault-at-Kingsbere--and [368] knighted-forefathers-in-lead-coffins-there!" [369] [370] The clubbists tittered, except the girl called Tess--in whom a slow [371] heat seemed to rise at the sense that her father was making himself [372] foolish in their eyes. [373] [374] "He's tired, that's all," she said hastily, "and he has got a lift [375] home, because our own horse has to rest to-day." [376] [377] "Bless thy simplicity, Tess," said her companions. "He's got his [378] market-nitch. Haw-haw!" [379] [380] "Look here; I won't walk another inch with you, if you say any jokes [381] about him!" Tess cried, and the colour upon her cheeks spread over [382] her face and neck. In a moment her eyes grew moist, and her glance [383] drooped to the ground. Perceiving that they had really pained her [384] they said no more, and order again prevailed. Tess's pride would not [385] allow her to turn her head again, to learn what her father's meaning [386] was, if he had any; and thus she moved on with the whole body to the [387] enclosure where there was to be dancing on the green. By the time [388] the spot was reached she has recovered her equanimity, and tapped her [389] neighbour with her wand and talked as usual. [390] [391] Tess Durbeyfield at this time of her life was a mere vessel of [392] emotion untinctured by experience. The dialect was on her tongue [393] to some extent, despite the village school: the characteristic [394] intonation of that dialect for this district being the voicing [395] approximately rendered by the syllable UR, probably as rich an [396] utterance as any to be found in human speech. The pouted-up deep red [397] mouth to which this syllable was native had hardly as yet settled [398] into its definite shape, and her lower lip had a way of thrusting the [399] middle of her top one upward, when they closed together after a word. [400] [401] Phases of her childhood lurked in her aspect still. As she walked [402] along to-day, for all her bouncing handsome womanliness, you could [403] sometimes see her twelfth year in her cheeks, or her ninth sparkling [404] from her eyes; and even her fifth would flit over the curves of her [405] mouth now and then. [406] [407] Yet few knew, and still fewer considered this. A small minority, [408] mainly strangers, would look long at her in casually passing by, and [409] grow momentarily fascinated by her freshness, and wonder if they [410] would ever see her again: but to almost everybody she was a fine and [411] picturesque country girl, and no more. [412] [413] Nothing was seen or heard further of Durbeyfield in his triumphal [414] chariot under the conduct of the ostleress, and the club having [415] entered the allotted space, dancing began. As there were no men in [416] the company, the girls danced at first with each other, but when the [417] hour for the close of labour drew on, the masculine inhabitants of [418] the village, together with other idlers and pedestrians, gathered [419] round the spot, and appeared inclined to negotiate for a partner. [420] [421] Among these on-lookers were three young men of a superior class, [422] carrying small knapsacks strapped to their shoulders, and stout [423] sticks in their hands. Their general likeness to each other, and [424] their consecutive ages, would almost have suggested that they might [425] be, what in fact they were, brothers. The eldest wore the white tie, [426] high waistcoat, and thin-brimmed hat of the regulation curate; the [427] second was the normal undergraduate; the appearance of the third and [428] youngest would hardly have been sufficient to characterize him; there [429] was an uncribbed, uncabined aspect in his eyes and attire, implying [430] that he had hardly as yet found the entrance to his professional [431] groove. That he was a desultory tentative student of something and [432] everything might only have been predicted of him. [433] [434] These three brethren told casual acquaintance that they were spending [435] their Whitsun holidays in a walking tour through the Vale of [436] Blackmoor, their course being south-westerly from the town of Shaston [437] on the north-east. [438] [439] They leant over the gate by the highway, and inquired as to the [440] meaning of the dance and the white-frocked maids. The two elder of [441] the brothers were plainly not intending to linger more than a moment, [442] but the spectacle of a bevy of girls dancing without male partners [443] seemed to amuse the third, and make him in no hurry to move on. He [444] unstrapped his knapsack, put it, with his stick, on the hedge-bank, [445] and opened the gate. [446] [447] "What are you going to do, Angel?" asked the eldest. [448] [449] "I am inclined to go and have a fling with them. Why not all of [450] us--just for a minute or two--it will not detain us long?" [451] [452] "No--no; nonsense!" said the first. "Dancing in public with a troop [453] of country hoydens--suppose we should be seen! Come along, or it [454] will be dark before we get to Stourcastle, and there's no place we [455] can sleep at nearer than that; besides, we must get through another [456] chapter of _A Counterblast to Agnosticism_ before we turn in, now I [457] have taken the trouble to bring the book." [458] [459] "All right--I'll overtake you and Cuthbert in five minutes; don't [460] stop; I give my word that I will, Felix." [461] [462] The two elder reluctantly left him and walked on, taking their [463] brother's knapsack to relieve him in following, and the youngest [464] entered the field. [465] [466] "This is a thousand pities," he said gallantly, to two or three of [467] the girls nearest him, as soon as there was a pause in the dance. [468] "Where are your partners, my dears?" [469] [470] "They've not left off work yet," answered one of the boldest. [471] "They'll be here by and by. Till then, will you be one, sir?" [472] [473] "Certainly. But what's one among so many!" [474] [475] "Better than none. 'Tis melancholy work facing and footing it to one [476] of your own sort, and no clipsing and colling at all. Now, pick and [477] choose." [478] [479] "'Ssh--don't be so for'ard!" said a shyer girl. [480] [481] The young man, thus invited, glanced them over, and attempted some [482] discrimination; but, as the group were all so new to him, he could [483] not very well exercise it. He took almost the first that came to [484] hand, which was not the speaker, as she had expected; nor did it [485] happen to be Tess Durbeyfield. Pedigree, ancestral skeletons, [486] monumental record, the d'Urberville lineaments, did not help Tess in [487] her life's battle as yet, even to the extent of attracting to her a [488] dancing-partner over the heads of the commonest peasantry. So much [489] for Norman blood unaided by Victorian lucre. [490] [491] The name of the eclipsing girl, whatever it was, has not been handed [492] down; but she was envied by all as the first who enjoyed the luxury [493] of a masculine partner that evening. Yet such was the force of [494] example that the village young men, who had not hastened to enter [495] the gate while no intruder was in the way, now dropped in quickly, [496] and soon the couples became leavened with rustic youth to a marked [497] extent, till at length the plainest woman in the club was no longer [498] compelled to foot it on the masculine side of the figure. [499] [500] The church clock struck, when suddenly the student said that he must [501] leave--he had been forgetting himself--he had to join his companions. [502] As he fell out of the dance his eyes lighted on Tess Durbeyfield, [503] whose own large orbs wore, to tell the truth, the faintest aspect of [504] reproach that he had not chosen her. He, too, was sorry then that, [505] owing to her backwardness, he had not observed her; and with that in [506] his mind he left the pasture. [507] [508] On account of his long delay he started in a flying-run down the lane [509] westward, and had soon passed the hollow and mounted the next rise. [510] He had not yet overtaken his brothers, but he paused to get breath, [511] and looked back. He could see the white figures of the girls in the [512] green enclosure whirling about as they had whirled when he was among [513] them. They seemed to have quite forgotten him already. [514] [515] All of them, except, perhaps, one. This white shape stood apart [516] by the hedge alone. From her position he knew it to be the pretty [517] maiden with whom he had not danced. Trifling as the matter was, he [518] yet instinctively felt that she was hurt by his oversight. He wished [519] that he had asked her; he wished that he had inquired her name. She [520] was so modest, so expressive, she had looked so soft in her thin [521] white gown that he felt he had acted stupidly. [522] [523] However, it could not be helped, and turning, and bending himself to [524] a rapid walk, he dismissed the subject from his mind. [525] [526] [527] [528] III [529] [530] [531] As for Tess Durbeyfield, she did not so easily dislodge the incident [532] from her consideration. She had no spirit to dance again for a long [533] time, though she might have had plenty of partners; but ah! they did [534] not speak so nicely as the strange young man had done. It was not [535] till the rays of the sun had absorbed the young stranger's retreating [536] figure on the hill that she shook off her temporary sadness and [537] answered her would-be partner in the affirmative. [538] [539] She remained with her comrades till dusk, and participated with a [540] certain zest in the dancing; though, being heart-whole as yet, she [541] enjoyed treading a measure purely for its own sake; little divining [542] when she saw "the soft torments, the bitter sweets, the pleasing [543] pains, and the agreeable distresses" of those girls who had been [544] wooed and won, what she herself was capable of in that kind. The [545] struggles and wrangles of the lads for her hand in a jig were an [546] amusement to her--no more; and when they became fierce she rebuked [547] them. [548] [549] She might have stayed even later, but the incident of her father's [550] odd appearance and manner returned upon the girl's mind to make her [551] anxious, and wondering what had become of him she dropped away from [552] the dancers and bent her steps towards the end of the village at [553] which the parental cottage lay. [554] [555] While yet many score yards off, other rhythmic sounds than those she [556] had quitted became audible to her; sounds that she knew well--so [557] well. They were a regular series of thumpings from the interior of [558] the house, occasioned by the violent rocking of a cradle upon a stone [559] floor, to which movement a feminine voice kept time by singing, in a [560] vigorous gallopade, the favourite ditty of "The Spotted Cow"-- [561] [562] [563] I saw her lie do'-own in yon'-der green gro'-ove; [564] Come, love!' and I'll tell' you where!' [565] [566] [567] The cradle-rocking and the song would cease simultaneously for a [568] moment, and an exclamation at highest vocal pitch would take the [569] place of the melody. [570] [571] "God bless thy diment eyes! And thy waxen cheeks! And thy cherry [572] mouth! And thy Cubit's thighs! And every bit o' thy blessed body!" [573] [574] After this invocation the rocking and the singing would recommence, [575] and the "Spotted Cow" proceed as before. So matters stood when Tess [576] opened the door and paused upon the mat within it, surveying the [577] scene. [578] [579] The interior, in spite of the melody, struck upon the girl's senses [580] with an unspeakable dreariness. From the holiday gaieties of the [581] field--the white gowns, the nosegays, the willow-wands, the whirling [582] movements on the green, the flash of gentle sentiment towards the [583] stranger--to the yellow melancholy of this one-candled spectacle, [584] what a step! Besides the jar of contrast there came to her a chill [585] self-reproach that she had not returned sooner, to help her mother [586] in these domesticities, instead of indulging herself out-of-doors. [587] [588] There stood her mother amid the group of children, as Tess had left [589] her, hanging over the Monday washing-tub, which had now, as always, [590] lingered on to the end of the week. Out of that tub had come the day [591] before--Tess felt it with a dreadful sting of remorse--the very white [592] frock upon her back which she had so carelessly greened about the [593] skirt on the damping grass--which had been wrung up and ironed by her [594] mother's own hands. [595] [596]

Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy Phase the First: The Maiden

Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Phase the First: The Maiden