Tess of the D‘Urbervilles

e 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 ab

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 h

d upon the girl's mind to make her anxious, and wondering what had become of him she dropped away fr

well. They were a regular series of thumpings from the interior of the house, occasioned by the violent rocking of a cradle upon a st

- der green gro' - ove; Come,

aneously for a moment, and an exclamation at highe

heeks! And thy cherry mouth! And thy Cubit'

nd the `Spotted Cow' proceed as before. So matters stood when Tess op

low-wands, 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 t

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

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

ws, 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

the prettiness, of her youth; rendering it probable that the personal charms which Tess co

for 'ee, mother,' said

and help you wring up? I thoug

feeling but slightly the lack of Tess's assistance whilst her instinctive plan for relieving herself of her labours lay in postponing them. To-night, however,

ll 'ee what have happened. Y'll be fess enough, my poppet, when th'st know!' (Mrs Durbeyfield habitually spoke the dialect; her daughter, who had passed the Sixth Stand

been away?'

y!

t of himself in thik carriage this afternoon? Why did 'e

he Pagan Turks - with monuments, and vaults, and crests, and `scutcheons, and the Lord knows what all. In Saint Charles's days we was made Knights o' the Royal Oak, our real

. Will it do us a

n rank will be down here in their carriages as soon as 'tis known. Your father learnt it o

er now?' asked

urved 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 st

to go behind the eternal cloud so soon,

father?' she

pa'son's news - that he went up to Rolliver's half an hour ago. He do want to get up his strength for his journey to-morrow with that

elling to her eyes. `O my God! Go to a public-house to ge

and to impart a cowed look to the furniture, and candle

agreed. I have been waiting for 'ee to bid

ll

ou see, it wou

acket and bonnet were already hanging slily upon a chair by her side, in readiness for th

the outhouse,' Joan continued, rapidly wi

table at her elbow, so worn by pocketing that the margins had reac

idental 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 appurtenan

wing it to stay in the house all night, and hither it was brought back whenever it had been consulted. Between the mother, with her fast-perishing lumber of superstitions, folk-lore, dialect, and orally transmitted ballads, and the daugh

th sprinkling the linen dried during the daytime, in company with her nine-year-old brother Abraham, and her sister Eliza-Louisa of twelve and a half, called `'Liza-Lu', the youngest ones being put to bed. There was an interval of four years and more between Tess and the next of the family,

disaster, starvation, disease, degradation, death, thither were these half-dozen 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 con

k a mental journey through Marlott. The village was shutting its eves. Candles and lamps were

a man in indifferent health, who proposed to start on a journey before one in the

t on your hat - you bain't afraid? - and go up to Rol

him up. Half an hour passed yet again; neither man, woman, nor child returned. Abr

myself,'

ark and crooked lane or street not made for hasty progress; a street laid out before