He was embittered by the conviction that all this desolation had been
brought about by the accident of her being a d'Urberville. When he
found that Tess came of that exhausted ancient line, and was not of
the new tribes from below, as he had fondly dreamed, why had he not
stoically abandoned her in fidelity to his principles? This was what
he had got by apostasy, and his punishment was deserved.
Then he became weary and anxious, and his anxiety increased. He
wondered if he had treated her unfairly. He ate without knowing that
he ate, and drank without tasting. As the hours dropped past, as the
motive of each act in the long series of bygone days presented itself
to his view, he perceived how intimately the notion of having Tess as
a dear possession was mixed up with all his schemes and words and
ways.
In going hither and thither he observed in the outskirts of a small
town a red-and-blue placard setting forth the great advantages of
the Empire of Brazil as a field for the emigrating agriculturist.
Land was offered there on exceptionally advantageous terms. Brazil
somewhat attracted him as a new idea. Tess could eventually join him
there, and perhaps in that country of contrasting scenes and notions
and habits the conventions would not be so operative which made life
with her seem impracticable to him here.
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