As soon as she recovered from her surprise, she moved away so that he would not notice her. But he suddenly caught sight of her, and the effect on him was electric. His enthusiasm faded, his voice hesitated, his lips trembled, his eyes dropped in confusion. Tess walked rapidly away along the road.

However, as she walked she felt he must be looking at her back as she walked away. And now she knew she could never escape the past, as she had hoped. Reminders of her past would surround her until she died. As she walked uphill she heard footsteps behind her, and, turning, saw that it was the one person in the whole world she did not want to meet this side of the grave.

This was the first time she had seen or heard of D'Urberville since she had left Trantridge. And although he stood there openly as a preacher, as a religious man, she still felt afraid of him. He had changed his clothes, his hair, his moustache and his expression, but could she really believe that he had changed his most secret thoughts and beliefs?

"I see you are," she said coldly. They walked on together.

"You may wonder why I'm following you. Well, I feel you are the person I would most like to save from hell. So I have come to do that."

"Have you saved yourself?" Tess asked bitterly.

"Tess!" he said. "I'm Alec D'Urberville!"

"God has done it all, not me! I must tell you how I came to believe in Him. Have you ever heard of the parson of Emminster, old Mr Clare? A very strict, sincere man."

"I have," said Tess.

"Don't go on!" cried Tess. "I can't believe in such a sudden change! I almost hate you for talking to me like this, when you know how you've ruined my life! You enjoy yourself for a while and then you make sure of your place in heaven!" As she spoke she looked him full in the face with her great beautiful eyes.

"Well, he came to Trantridge once and tried to show me how wicked my life was. I insulted him at the time. But later my mother died, and somehow I began to think about what old Mr Clare said. Since then my one desire has been to help others to understand God too…"

"I must go to the right here. I'm preaching at six this evening. Tell me, how has your life been since we last met?"

"Don't look at me like that!" said Alec. "Your eyes remind me of -- well, women's faces have too much power over me. Don't look at me! It might be dangerous for you!"

Eventually they came to a crossroads, where a strange stone stood. It was a lonely, unfriendly place, where people did not like to stay for long. Alec stopped here.

Tess told him about the baby. Alec was shocked.

Tess went on her way, feeling upset, and soon met a man on the road. He told her that the cross was not religious, but marked the place where a criminal was put to death and buried. Trembling a little at this information, she finally arrived at Flintcomb-Ash.

"I shall pray for you," called Alec as he walked away. "Who knows, we may meet again!"

Tess placed her hand on the stone and swore.

"Good God! How can you ask such an unnecessary thing! I don't want to see you ever again!"

"You should have told me! But before we part, come, put your hand on this stone. It was once a holy cross. I'm afraid of your power over me. Swear on the cross that you will never tempt me into wickedness!"

"No, but swear it."

"Who is he?" asked D'Urberville. "Where is he? Why isn't he here to look after you? What sort of husband can he be, leaving you to work like this?"

"No!"

"Oh no, sir!" she cried, horrified.

"Perhaps that is only a passing feeling…"

"Yes! Why not? You must tell me!"

"Your eyes!" whispered Alec. "I thought I no longer felt anything for you, but when I look into your eyes…" He took her hand.

"Well, then… I have married him."

"Will you help me put right the wicked thing I did to you? Will you be my wife?"

"Why not?" Disappointment was visible in his face. It was not only duty which pushed him to make this offer, but also his old passion for her.

"Ah!" he cried and looked hard at her.

"It's a secret here," she begged. "Please don't tell anybody."

One day the following week when Tess was working in the fields as usual, Alec D'Urberville came to see her. He explained to her that he intended to sell his land at Trantridge and go to help poor people in Africa.

"You know I don't love you," answered Tess. "In fact, I love somebody else."

"Don't ask!" cried Tess, her eyes flashing.

The farmer approached at that moment and was angry with Tess for wasting time talking to a stranger. Tess preferred hard words from this man of stone to sweet ones from Alec D'Urberville. For a moment, however, she imagined escaping from her present hard life by marrying Alec, but rejected it immediately.

"Don't worry, I can control myself. I just hoped that our marriage would take away the bad in both of us. But that plan is no good now." He walked slowly away, his head bent in thought.

"Go now, please, in the name of your new religion, go! Respect me and my husband!"

At home that night she began a letter to Clare, telling him of her great love for him. Reading between the lines he would have seen her secret fear for the future. But again she could not finish the letter, thinking of his offer to lzz, and so he never received it.

She pulled it quickly away.

On a Sunday in February she was eating her lunch in the cottage where she lived, when D'Urberville knocked at the door. He rushed in and threw himself into a chair.

"What do I care? You are the one woman I have always wanted. Why have you tempted me away from religion? I can't resist you!" His black eyes flashed passionately. He advanced towards her.

"Tess!" he cried desperately. "I can't help it! I can't stop thinking of you! Pray for me, Tess!"

"My husband."

"Who told you that?"

Tess did not pity him. "I cannot because I don't believe God would change His plans just because I asked Him."

"Ah, that's because he knows everything!" Tess replied with enthusiasm. "What is good enough for him is good enough for me."

"Ah, your dear husband… Tell me what he believes."

"H'm, interesting," murmured D'Urberville. "Perhaps he understands religion better than old Mr Clare. Perhaps he's right not to attach too much importance to the Bible and to fixed ideas. Perhaps I was wrong to become a preacher. Today I should be preaching at half-past two, and here I am! My passion for you was too strong for me!"

"The fact is, you just believe whatever he says. That's just like you women!"

"You have let all those people down? They are waiting for you!"

Tess explained, as clearly as she could remember, Angel's beliefs. Alec watched her closely.

Alec stopped, turned, and went out without another word. But he went on thinking of Angel's religious logic, as explained by Tess. It seemed to make sense. "That clever husband doesn't know that his ideas may lead me back to her!" he laughed to himself.

"I couldn't help your seeing me again!" cried Tess, moving nervously away from him. "Please leave me! Remember I am married! Remember I can't defend myself!"

In March the threshing-machine came for a day to Flintcomb-Ash. It was a huge red machine which ate all the corn the farm-workers could feed it. Next to it stood the engine which ran it, and the engineer. He lived in a world of fire and smoke, and was permanently black, as if he came from hell. The farmer put Tess next to the threshing-machine, so that she had the hardest and most tiring job of all. She had little chance to talk or rest, and at lunch time was about to start eating when she noticed D'Urberville approaching. He had Changed his parson's clothes and now looked just like the young gentleman she had first met at Trantridge.

"I have. What a lot of stupid people they are to listen to a preacher anyway! And I am convinced that your wonderful husband's views are better than old Parson Clare's. I don't know how I became so enthusiastic! So now, here I am, my love, just as in the old times!"

"You trouble me! Your eyes look at me night and day. I can't forget them. Tess, when you told me about that child of ours, my feelings for you became strong again. I have lost interest in religion and it is your fault!"

"Not like that at all, no, now it's different!" she said firmly. "Oh why couldn't you stay religious?"

"Why do you bother me like this?" she cried.

"Because you've explained your husband's ideas so well to me that I accept them! Ha ha! But seriously, Tess, you need help. I am here and this husband of yours is not. Come with me! My carriage is waiting the other side of the field! You have tempted me, now share my life for ever!" He put an arm round her waist. Tess was red with anger but said nothing. She picked up a heavy leather glove and hit him in the face with it. It was an action which her ancestors must have often practised. Alec jumped up and wiped the blood from his mouth.

"I am here again, you see," he said, smiling at her.

"You have stopped preaching?" asked Tess, shocked.

So he left, and the farm-workers started the afternoon's threshing. It went on until the evening, as the work had to be finished that day. Tess became more and more exhausted and was near to fainting when they finally stopped. Alec D'Urberville, who had been waiting for this moment, appeared at her side.

"Remember one thing!" he said angrily, only just controlling himself as he held her by the shoulders. "Remember, my lady, if you are any man's wife, you are mine! I will have you again! I'll come back for an answer later on!"

"You are so weak," he said, holding her arm. "I've told the farmer he should not use women for work with the threshing-machine. It's too hard. I'll walk home with you."

"Oh yes, please do!" murmured Tess, too tired to be afraid of him. "You are kind sometimes. And at least you wanted to put right the wrong by offering to marry me."

"If I can't marry you, at least I can help you. I have finished with religion. But you must trust me! I have enough money to help your family and make them comfortable."

How silly I was to trust that you would always love me! I ought to have known I couldn't be so lucky.

Haven't you ever felt one little bit of your love for me at the dairy? I am the same woman you fell in love with then, the very same. As soon as I met you, the past was dead for me. Can't you see this?

I live only for you. Don't think I shall be bitter because you left me. I am so lonely without you, my darling!

As soon as she reached her room she wrote a passionate letter to Angel. My own husband,

"Have you seen them lately?" asked Tess quickly. "God knows they need help…but no -- no, I can take nothing from you, either for them or for me! Please leave me alone!"

I must call you that. I must ask you for help -- I have no one else! I am so open to temptation, Angel! I cannot tell you who it is. Can't you come to me now, before anything terrible happens? I know you are far away, but I need help! I know I deserved the punishment you gave me, but please, Angel, please be kind to me! If you would come, I could die in your arms!

Your faithful heartbroken

If you won't come to me, could I come to you? I'm so worried! I'm afraid I may fall into some wicked trap. Save me from what threatens me!

People say I am still rather pretty, Angel. But I don't care about my looks because you are not here.

Tess

This desperate cry for help eventually arrived at the parson's house in Emminster. Old Mr Clare was pleased.

This was the only complaint she ever made to her husband. He too was worried that he had been unfair to Angel. They blamed themselves for this unfortunate marriage. If Angel had studied at Cambridge he would never have become a farmer and married a country girl. Still, his more recent letters showed that Angel was planning to come home to fetch her, so perhaps their quarrel, whatever it was, could be settled.

"I think this letter is from Angel's wife. I hope this will bring him home more quickly. He did say he was planning to come home next month."

"Dear boy, I hope he will get home safely," murmured Mrs Clare. "I still feel he should have gone university like the other two. He should have had the same chance as them, Church or no Church."

His attitude to life had changed during this time. He began to look again at what was right and wrong. He began to see that a person should be judged not only on what he has done but also on what he wanted to do. He began to think that he had perhaps been unfair to Tess, and he thought about her with growing affection.

He wondered why she had not written. He forgot that he had told her not to write first. He did not realize that she was obeying his orders exactly, although it was breaking her heart.

On his journey, he travelled with another Englishman. They were both depressed and both told each other their problems. The stranger was older and more experienced than Angel. He had a different, more open approach to life. He told Angel clearly that he was wrong in parting from Tess.

Angel himself was at this moment riding across Brazil towards the coast. He had never completely recovered from the serious illness he had had when he first arrived. He was not as strong as before, and looked much older. The country had been a disappointment to him. Many farmers had come here from England hoping to make their fortune, and had died in the fields or on the roads. He knew now he could not farm here.

The next day they got wet in a thunderstorm. The stranger fell ill and died a few days later. Death came as no surprise in that unfriendly land. Clare buried him, and continued his journey. The man's words were somehow given greater importance by his unexpected death, and suddenly Clare felt ashamed. Tess had committed no crime. He should believe in her character, and not object to a past action she could not avoid. He remembered the words of Izz Huett: She would have laid down her life for you. No woman could do more. How she had looked at him on their wedding day -- as if he were a god! And during that terrible evening by the fireside, when she told him her story, how desperately sad she had been to realize he might not love her any more.

Meanwhile Tess was not hopeful that Angel would come in answer to her letter. The past had not changed, so he might not change either. Nevertheless she spent her spare time preparing for his possible return, practising singing the songs he used to like, tears rolling down her cheeks all the while.

"Mother is very ill," her sister said seriously, "and father is not well either and says a man of such noble family shouldn't have to work. So we don't know what to do."

Tess thought for a moment. She realized she had to go home immediately, although her time was not yet up at the farm. She left her sister to rest for a while, and she herself set off at once with her possessions in a basket.

"Liza-Lu!" said Tess. "What's the matter?"

Although it was night and she had a fifteen-mile walk, she felt quite safe. She was only worried about her mother, and did not notice the strange shapes of trees and hedges in the darkness. At three in the morning she passed the field where she had first seen Angel Clare, and felt again the disappointment when he did not dance with her. And when she saw the family cottage, it seemed to be part of her body and life, as it always did.

One evening she was in the cottage as usual when there was a knock at the door. A tall thin girl came in and Tess recognized her young sister Liza-Lu.

She found her mother recovering from her illness, and took over as head of the household. Her father did not seem ill, and had a new plan for earning money.

"I'm going to find all the historians round here," he said, "and get them to pay money to keep me going. After all, they pay to look after old ruins, and I'm of historical interest. I think they'll be pleased to do it!"

"What are you doing here?"

Tess did not have time to answer. She nursed her mother, fed the children, and worked in the garden, planting vegetables for next year. She enjoyed working outside, among her neighbours. One evening when it was almost dark, she was digging happily in the vegetable garden, some distance from the cottage. It was a clear, fresh night, with smoke blowing about from small fires in the gardens. Suddenly she saw a man's face in the light of a fire. It was D'Urberville! She gasped and stepped back, her face pale.

"Where are you going next? To join your dear husband?"

"Yes, I have."

"My dear Tess, I just want to help you, to see you. Have you finished at that farm?"

"Oh, I don't know!" she said bitterly. "I have no husband!"

"But father was only a little bit ill!" said Tess, trying to take in the news.

Poor John Durbeyfield's death had more importance than his family realized at first. The cottage was in his name. On his death the farmer who owned it decided to put farm workers in it, and told the Durbeyfields to leave. They were not much respected in the village because of John's laziness. Tess also felt guilty that her presence might have influenced the farmer. The village people clearly thought she was not a good example for their children.

On her way back one of her sisters rushed towards her shouting, "Tess! Tess! Mother is much better but father is dead!"

"Oh Alec, I wish you wouldn't give me anything! I -- I have enough, I -- I just don't want to live at all!" Her tears fell as she started digging again. When she looked round, D'Urberville had left.

"That is quite true in one way. But you have a true friend. When you go back to your cottage, you'll see what I've done for you."

"He dropped down just now, and the doctor said there was no hope for him because it's his heart!"

So on Lady Day the Durbeyfields had to leave their old home. The night before they left, D'Urberville came to visit Tess, to offer her and her family a little house on his land at Trantridge. Her mother could look after the chickens, and he would pay for the children to go to school. Tess firmly rejected his offer. But when he had gone, for the first time a feeling of anger rose in her against her husband. She had never intended to do wrong and he had punished her too hard! She passionately wrote these few words to him:

T

She ran out and posted it before she could change her mind.

Oh why have you treated me so badly, Angel? I do not deserve it. You are cruel! I intend to forget you. You have been so unfair to me!

"No, it wasn't him. He'll never, never come," said Tess hopelessly. She had said it was not her husband, but she was feeling more and more that D'Urberville was physically her husband.

"I see there's been a visitor," said her mother, coming into the living room later. "Your husband, was it?"

Next day their possessions were put on a waggon and taken to Kingsbere. Mrs Durbeyfield had booked rooms there, as it was the family home of the D'Urbervilles, and she still hoped some good would come of belonging to the ancient family. But as they approached Kingsbere after a long and tiring day's journey, a man came to tell them there were no rooms available. Tess and her mother unloaded the waggon, and left the children and furniture near the churchyard wall, while they looked for somewhere to stay. But all the rooms were full.

"Tomorrow we'll find somewhere better!" said Joan cheerfully. "But Tess, what's the good of you playing at marrying gentlemen, if it leaves us like this!"

Tess looked desperately at the pile of their possessions. In the cold sunlight of this spring evening the furniture looked old and the pots looked worn.

Tess helped her mother move the big bed against the church wall. Underground were the tombs of the D'Urbervilles, and at the head of the bed was a beautiful old window, in which the symbols on the Durbeyfield seal and spoon could be seen. The children were put to bed all together for warmth and comfort.

"Tombs belong to families for ever, don't they?" asked her mother brightly, having looked round the churchyard. "Well, that's where we'll stay, children, until the place of your ancestors finds us some shelter!"

Tess went inside the ancient church and stared sadly at the tombs of her ancestors. She thought she saw a movement and turned to look again at a stone figure lying on a tomb. When she saw it was Alec D'Urberville lying there, she almost fainted.

Dear Sir,

"Why am I on the wrong side of this stone?" she whispered.

"I'm going to help you," he said, jumping up and smiling at her. "You'll see that I'm more useful than a real D'Urberville. I'll see your mother. You'll thank me for this!" As he brushed past her, she dropped her head on to the cold stone of the tomb.

Marian and Izz had seen Tess moving house with her family, and knew what a difficult position she was in. They generously hoped she would one day be happy with Angel again, and were afraid for her, knowing that Alec D'Urberville was constantly tempting her. They decided to write a letter to Angel Clare, to inform him of the dangerous situation his wife was in. This is what they wrote:

From two well-wishers

Watch out for your wife if you love her as much as she loves you. She is in danger from an enemy in the shape of a friend. A woman's strength cannot last for ever, and water, if it drops continually, will wear away a stone -- yes, even a diamond.