Mrs.Durbeyfield clapped her hands like a child.Then she looked down, then stared again.Could she be deceived as to the meaning of this?
“Is dat the gentleman-kinsman who'll make S issy a lady?”asked th e youngest child.
Meanwhile the muslined for m of Tess cou ld be seen standing s till, undecided, beside this tur n-out, whose owner was talkin g to her.Her seeming indecision was, in fact, more than indecision：it was misgiving.She would have preferred the humble cart the young man dismounted, and appeared to urge her to ascend.S he turned her face down the hi ll to her relatives, and regarded the little group.Something seemed to quicken her to a determination; possibly the thought that she had killed Prince.She suddenly stepped up; he mounted beside her, and immediately whipped on th e horse.In am oment they had passed the slow cart with the box, and disappeared behind the shoulder of the hill.
Directly Tess was ou t of sight, and the interest of the matter as a drama was at an end, the little ones'eyes filled with tears.The youngest child said, “I wish poor, poor Tess wasn't gone away to be a lady！”and, lowering the corners of his lips, burst out crying.The new point of view was infectious, and the next child did likewise, and then the next, till the whole three of them wailed loud.
There were tears also in Joan Durbeyfield's eyes as she turned to go home.But by the time she had got back to the village she was passively trusting to the favour of acciden t.However, in b ed that n ight s he sighed, and her husb and asked her what was the matter.
“Oh, I don't know exactly, ”she said.“I was thinking that perhaps it would ha'been better if Tess had not gone.”
“Oughtn't ye to have thought of that before?”
“Well, 'tis a ch ance fo r th e maid—Still, if'twere the do ing agai n, I wouldn't let her go till I had found out whether the g entleman is really a good-hearted young man and choice over her as his kinswoman.”
“Yes, you ought, perhaps, to ha'done that, ”snored Sir John.
Joan Durbeyfield always managed to find consolation somewhere：“Well, as one of the genuine s tock, she ough t to make her way with'en, if she p lays her trump card arigh t.And if h e don't marry her afore h e will after.For that he's all afire wi'love for her any eye can see.”
“What's her trump card?Her d'Urberville blood, you mean?”
“No, stupid; her face—as'twas mine.”
8
Having mounted beside her, Al ec d'Urberville drove rapidly alongthe crest of the first hill, chatting compliments to Tess as they went, the cart with her box being left far behind.Rising still, an immense landscape stretched around them on every side; behind, the green valley of her birth, before, a gray country of which she knew nothin g excep t fr om h er firs t brief v isit to Trantridge.Thus they reached the verge of an incline dow n which the roa d stretched in a long straight descent of nearly a mile.
Ever s ince th e accident with her father's horse Tess Durbeyfield, courageous as she natu rally was, had been exceedingly timid on wheels; the least irregularity of motio n startled he r.She began to get un easy at a certa in recklessness in her conductor's driving.
“You will go down slow, sir, I s uppose?”she said with attem pted unconcern.
D'Urberville looked roun d upon h er, nipped his cigar with the tips of his large white center-teeth, and allowed his lips to smile slowly of themselves.
“Why, Tess, ”he answer ed, af ter ano ther whif f o r two, “it isn't a brav e bouncing girl like you who asks that?Why, I alway s go down at full g allop.There's nothing like it for raising your spirits.”
“But perhaps you need not now?”
“Ah, ”he said, shaking his head, “ther e are two to be reckoned with.It is not me alone.Tib has to be considered, and she has a very queer temper.”
“Who?”
“Why, this mare.I fan cy she looked round at me in a very grim way just then.Didn't you notice it?”
“Don't try to frighten me, sir, ”said Tess stiffly.
“Well, I don't.If any living man can manage this horse I can：—I won't say any living man can do it—but if such has the power, I am he.”
“Why do you have such a horse?”
“Ah, well may you ask i t！It was m y fate, I supp ose.Tib has killed on e chap; and just after I bought her she nearly killed me.And then, take my word for it, I ne arly killed her.But she's touchy still, v ery touchy; and one's life is hardly safe behind her sometimes.”
They were just begin ning to descend; and it was evident that the horse, whether of her own will or of h is（the latter b eing the more likely）, knew so well the reckless perfor mance expected of her th at she hard ly required a hin t from behind.
Down, down, they sped, the wheels humming like a top, the dogcar t rocking right and left, its axis acquiring a slightly oblique set in relation to the line of progress; the figure of the horse rising and falling in undulations before them.So metimes a wheel was off the ground, it seemed, fo r many y ards; sometimes a stone was sent spinning over the hedge, and flinty sparks from the horse's hoofs outshone the daylight.The aspect of the straight road enlarged with their advance, the two banks d ividing like a splitting stick; one rushing past at each shoulder.
The wind b lew through Tess's white muslin to her very skin, and her washed hair flew out behind.She was determined to show no open fear, but she clutched d'Urberville's rein-arm.
“Don't touch my arm！We shall be thrown out if you do！H old on round my waist！”
She grasped his waist, and so they reached the bottom.
“Safe, thank God, in spite of your fooling！”said she, her face on fire.
“Tess—fie！that's temper！”said d'Urberville.
“'Tis truth.”
“Well, you need not let go your hold of me so thanklessly the moment you feel yourself out of danger.”
She had not considered what she had been doing; whether he were man or woman, stick or s tone, in her involuntary hold on him.Recovering her reserve she sat without replying, and thus they reached the summit of another declivity.
“Now then, again！”said d'Urberville.
“No, no！”said Tess.“Show more sense, do, please.”
“But when people f ind themselves on one of the highes t p oints in th e county, they must get down again, ”he retorted.
He loosened rein, and away they went a second time.D'Urberville turned his face to her as they rocked, and said, in playful raillery：“Now then, put your arms round my waist again, as you did before, my Beauty.”
“Never！”said Tess independently, holding on as well as she co uld without touching him.
“Let me put one little k iss on those holm berry lips, Tess, or even on th at warmed cheek, and I'll stop—on my honour, I will！”
Tess, surprised beyond measure, slid farther back still on her seat, at which he urged the horse anew, and rocked her the more.
“Will nothing else do?”she cried at length, in desperation, her large eyes staring at him like those of a wild anim al.This dressing her up so prettily by her mother had apparently been to lamentable purpose.
“Nothing, dear Tess, ”he replied.
“Oh, I don't know—very well, I don't mind！”she panted miserably.