To make the call as unobtrusive as possible, they left the carriage
by the wicket leading down from the high road to the dairy-house, and
descended the track on foot, side by side. The withy-bed 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 cow-stalls 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 barton-gate the dairyman saw them, and came forward,
throwing into his face the kind of jocularity deemed appropriate
in Talbothays and its vicinity on the re-appearance of the
newly-married. 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.
Pages:
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419