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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three. The hot weather of July had crept

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upon the unawares, and the atmosphere of the flat veil

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hung heavy as an opiate over the dairy folk, the cows,

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and the trees. Hot steaming rains fell frequently, making the

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grass where the cows fed yet more rank and hindering

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the late hay making in the other meads. It was

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Sunday morning. The milking was done, the outdoor milkers had

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gone home. Tess and the other three were dressing themselves rapidly,

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the whole bevy having agreed to go together to Melstock Church,

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which lay some three or five miles distant from the

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dairy house. She had now been two or three months

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at Talbothay's, and this was her first excursion. All the

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preceding afternoon and night, heavy thunder storms had hissed down

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upon the meads and washed some of the hay into

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the river. But this morning the sun shone out all

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the more brilliantly for the deluge, and the air was

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balmy and clear. The crooked lane leading from their own

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parish to Melstock ran along the lowest levels in a

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portion of its length, and when the girls reached the

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most depressed spot, They found that the result of the

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rain had been to flood the lane over shoe to

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a distance of some fifty yards. This would have been

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no serious hindrance on a week day, they would have

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clicked through it in their high patterns and boots, quite unconcerned.

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But on this day of vanity, this sun's day when

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flesh went forward to coquette with flesh while hypocritically affecting

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business with spiritual things. On this occasion, for wearing their

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white stockings and thin shoes, and their pink, white and

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lilac gowns on which every mud spot would be visible,

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the pool was an awkward impediment. They could hear the

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church bell calling as yet nearly a mile off. Who

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would have expected such a rise in the river in

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summer time, said Marian, from the top of the roadside

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bank on which they had climbed and were maintaining a

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precarious footing in the hope of creeping along its slope

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till they were past the pool. We can't get there

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any hell without walking right through it, or else going

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round the turnpike way, and that would make us very late,

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said Retty, pausing hopelessly. And I do color up so

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hard walking into church late, and all the people staring round,

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said Marian that I hardly cooled down again till we

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get into the that it may please these. While they

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stood clinging to the bank, they heard a splashing round

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the bend of the road, and presently appeared Angel clear

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advancing along the lane toward them through the water. Four

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hearts gave a big throb simultaneously. His aspect was probably

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as unsabbatarian a one as a dogmatic parson's son often

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presented his attire being his dairy clothes, his long wading boots,

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a cabbage leaf inside his hat to cool his head down,

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with a thistle spud to finish him off. He's not

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going to church, said Marian, No I wish he was

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murmured Tess Angel in fact, rightly or wrongly, to adopt

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the safe phrase of evasive controversialists preferred sermons in stones

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to sermons in churches and chapels on fine summer days.

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This morning, however, he had gone out to see if

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the damage to the hay by the flood was considerable

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or not. On his walk, he observed the girls from

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a long distance, though they had been so occupied with

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their difficulties of passage as not to notice him. He

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knew that the water had risen at that spot and

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that it would soon quite checked their progress, so he

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had hastened on with a dim idea of how he

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could help one of them. In particular, the rosy cheeked,

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bright eyed quartet looked so charming in their light summer attire,

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clinging to the roadside bank like pigeons on a roof slope,

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that he stopped a moment to regard them before coming close.

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Their gauzy skirts had brushed up from the grass. Innumerable

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flies and butterflies, which, unable to escape, remained caged in

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the transparent tissue as in an aviary. Angel's eyes at

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last fell upon Tess, behind most of the four. She,

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being full of suppressed laughter at their dilemma, could not

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help meeting his glance. Radiantly, He came beneath them in

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the water, which did not rise over his long boots,

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and stood looking at the entrapped flies and butterflies. Are

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you trying to get to church? He said to Marian,

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who was in front, including the next two in his remark,

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but avoiding Tess. Yes, Sir, and Tis gettin late, and

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my color do come up, so I'll carry you through

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the pool. Every gill of you, the whole four flushed

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as if one heart beat through them. I think you can't, sir,

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said Marian. It's the only way for you to get past.

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Stand still. Nonsense, you're not too heavy. I'll carry you

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all four together. Now, Marian, attend, he continued, and put

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your arms round my shoulders, so now hold on. That's

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well done. Marian had lowered herself upon his arm and

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shoulder as directed, and Angel strode off with her, his

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slim figure, as viewed from behind, looking like the mere

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stem to a great nosegay suggested by hers. They disappeared

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round the curve of the road, and only his sousing

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footsteps and the top ribbon of Marian's bonnet told where

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they were. In a few minutes he reappeared. Is Hewett

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was the next in order upon the bank. Here he comes,

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she murmured, and they could hear that her lips were

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dry with emotion. And I have to put my arms

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round his neck and look into his face as Marian did.

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There's nothing in that, said Tess quickly. There is a

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time for everything, continued, Ear is unheeding a time to

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embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. The first

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is now going to be mine? Fie it is scripture?

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Is yes said? Is I always a ere at church

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for pretty verses? Angel Clear, to whom three quarters of

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this performance was a commonplace act of kindness. Now approached

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is She quietly and dreamily lowered herself into his arms,

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and Angel methodically marched off with her. When he was

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heard returning for the third time, Retty's throbbing heart could

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be almost seen to shake her. He went up to

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the red herd girl, and while he was seizing her,

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he glanced at Tess. His lips could not have pronounced

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more plainly, it will soon be you and I. Her

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comprehension appeared in her face. She could not help it.

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There was an understanding between them. Poor little Retty, though

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by far the lightest weight, was the most troublesome of

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Claire's burdens. Marian had been like a sack of meal,

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a dead weight of plumpness under which he had literally staggered,

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had ridden sensibly and calmly. Retty was a bunch of hysterics. However,

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he got through with a disquieted creature deposited her and returned.

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Tess could see over the hedge that dist three in

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a group, standing as he had placed them. On the

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next rising ground. It was now her turn. She was

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embarrassed to discover that excitement at the proximity of mister

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Clare's breath and eyes, which she had contemned in her companions,

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was intensified in herself, and as if fearful of betraying

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her secret, she pulted with him at the last moment.

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I may be able to clim along the bank. Perhaps

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I can clim better than they. You must be so tired,

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mister Clare. No, no, Tess, said he quickly, and almost

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before she was aware, she was seated in his arms

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and resting against his shoulder, three layers to one. Rachel,

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he whispered. They are better women than I, she replied magnanimously,

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sticking to her resolve not to me, said Angel. He

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saw her grow warm at this, and they went some

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steps in silence. I hope I am not too heavy,

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she said, timidly. Oh, no, you should lift Mary in

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such a lump. You are like an undulating billow warmed

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by the sun, and all this fluff of muslin about

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you is the froth. It is very pretty if I

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seem like that to you. Do you know that I

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have undergone three quarters of this labor entirely for the

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sake of the fourth quarter. No, I did not expect

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such an event to day, nor I The water came

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up so sudden that the rise in the water was

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what she understood him to refer to the state of

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her breathing. Belied, Claire stood still and inclined his face

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toward hers. Oh, tessy, he exclaimed. The girl's cheeks burned

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to the breeze, and she could not look into his

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eyes for her emotion. It reminded Angel that he was

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somewhat unfairly taking advantage of an accidental position, and he

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went no further with it. No definite words of love

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had crossed their lips as yet, and suspension at this

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point was desirable. Now, however, he walked slowly to make

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the remainder of the distance as long as possible. But

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at last they came to the bend, and the rest

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of their progress was in full view of the other three.

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The dry land was reached, and he set her down.

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Her friends were looking with round, thoughtful eyes at her

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and him, and she could see that they had been

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talking of her. He hastily bade them farewell, and splashed

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back along the stretch of submerged road. The four moved

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on together as before, till Marian broke the silence by saying, no,

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in all truth, we have no chance against her. She

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looked joylessly at Tess. What do you mean, asked the latter.

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He likes he best, the very best. We could see

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it as he brought e. He would have kissed thee

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if you had encouraged him to do it. Ever so little, no, no,

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said she. The gaiety with which they had set out

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had somehow vanished, and yet there was no enmity or

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malice between them. They were generous young souls. They had

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been reared in the lonely country nooks where fatalism is

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a strong sentiment, and they did not blame her. Such

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supplanting was to be Tess's heart ached. There was no

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concealing from herself the fact that she loved Angel Clare,

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perhaps all the more passionately from knowing that the others

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had also lost their hearts to him. There is contagion

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in this sentiment, especially among women. And yet that same

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hungry heart of hers, compassionated her friends. Tess's honest nature

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had for against this, but too feebly, and the natural

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result had followed. I will never stand in your way,

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nor in the way of either of you. She declared

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to Retty that night in the bedroom, her tears running down.

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I can't help this, my dear. I don't think marrying

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is in his mind at all. But if he were

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even to ask me, I should refuse, as I should

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refuse any man. Oh would you, why, said wondering Retty.

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It cannot be. But I will be plain, putting myself

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quite on the other side. I don't think he will

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choose either of you. I have never expected it, thought

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of it, moaned Retty. But oh I wish I were

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as dead. The poor child, torn by a feeling which

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she hardly understood, turned to the two other girls who

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came upstairs just then. We be friends with her again,

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she said to them. She thinks no more of his

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choosing her than we do. So the reserve went off

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and they were confiding and warm. I don't seem to

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care what I do now, said Marian, whose mood was

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turned to its lowest base. I was going to marry

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a dairy minute Stickleford, who asked me twice, but my soul,

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I would put an end to myself rather than be

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his wife. Now, why don't ye speak? Is to confess, then,

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murmured e is. I'm made sure to day that he

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was going to kiss me as he held me, and

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I lay still against his breast, hoping and hoping, and

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never moved at all, But he did not. I don't

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like biding here at Talbothoy's any longer. I shall go home.

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The air of the sleeping chamber seemed to palpitate with

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the hopeless passion of the girls. They rise breathed feverishly

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under the oppressiveness of an emotion thrust on them by

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cruel nature's law, an emotion which they had neither expected

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nor desired. The incident of the day had fanned the

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flame that was burning the inside of their hearts out,

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and the torture was almost more than they could endure.

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The differences which distinguished them as individuals were abstracted by

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this passion, and each was just a portion of one

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organism called sex. There was so much frankness and so

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little jealousy, because there was no hope. Each one was

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a girl of fair common sense, and she did not

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delude herself with any vain conceits, or deny her love,

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or give herself airs in the idea of outshining the others,

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the full recognition of the futility of their infatuation from

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a social point of view, its purposeless beginning, itself bounded

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out look its lack of everything to justify its existence

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in the eye of civilization, while lacking nothing in the

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eye of nature, the one fact that did exist, ecstaticizing

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them to a killing joy. All this imparted to them

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a resignation, a dignity which a practical and sordid expectation

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of winning him as a husband would have destroyed. They

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tossed and turned on their little beds, and the cheese

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ring dripped monotonously downstairs. Be you awake, Tess whispered. One

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half an hour later it was is Hewett's voice, Tess

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replied in the affirmative, whereupon also Retty and Marian suddenly

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flung the bedclothes off them and sighed, so be we.

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I wonder what she be like the lady? They say

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his family have looked out for him. I wonder, said

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some lady looked out for him gasped Tess, starting, I

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have never heard of that. Oh, yes, STIs whispered, a

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young lady of his own rank, chosen by his family,

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a doctor of Divinity's daughter, near his father's parish of Emminster.

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He don't much care for her, they say, but he

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is sure to marry her. They had heard so very

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little of this, yet it was enough to build up wretched,

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doldrum dreams. Upon There in the shade of the night,

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they pictured all the details of his being won round

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to consent, of the wedding preparations, of the bride's happiness,

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of her dress and veil, of her blissful home with him.

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Then oblivion would have fallen upon themselves as far as

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he and their love were concerned. Thus they talked and

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ached and wept to a sleep, charm their sorrow away.

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After this disclosure, Tess nourished no further foolish thought that

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there even looked any grave and deliberate import in Claire's

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attentions to her. It was a passing summer love of

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her face for love's own temporary sake, nothing more. And

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the thorny crown of this sad conception was that she

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whom he really did prefer in a cursory way to

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the rest, She who knew herself to be more impassioned

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in nature, cleverer, more beautiful than they, was in the

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eyes of propriety, far less worthy of him than the

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homelier ones whom he ignored. End of Chapter twenty three.