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
far-away spot. The field-folk 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 d'Urberville had driven 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 half-veiled in mist. It
was always beautiful from here; it was terribly beautiful to Tess
to-day, 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 two-wheeled 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 d'Urberville, 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 won't
come back.'
'I shan't come back,' said she.
'I thought you wouldn't--I said so! Well, then, put up your basket,
and let me help you on.'
She listlessly placed her basket and bundle within the dog-cart, 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.
D'Urberville 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.
