The Queen of Spades forgot the stain on her bo dice, and stood beside the Queen of Diamonds and the new-married, staggering young woman—all with a gaze of fixity in the direction in which the horse's tramp was diminishing into silence on the road.
“What be ye.looking at?”asked a man who had not observed the incident.
“Ho-ho-ho！”laughed dark Car.
“Hee-hee-hee！”laughed the tippling bride, as she steadied her self on the arm of her fond husband.
“Heu-heu-heu！”laughed dark Car's mother, stroking her moustache as she explained laconically：“Out of the fryingpan into the fire！”
Then these children of th e open air, whom even excess of alcohol cou ldscarce in jure per manently, betook themselves to the field-p ath; and as they went there moved onward with them, around the shadow of each one's head, a circle of opalized light, formed by the moon's rays upon the glistening sheet of dew.Each pedestrian could see no halo but his or her own, which never deserted the head-shado w, whatever its vulgar unsteadiness might b e; but adhered to it, and p ersistently beautified it; till the erratic motions seemed an inherent part of the irradiation, and the fumes of their breathing a component of the night's mist; and the spirit of the scene, and of the moonlight, and of Nature, seemed harmoniously to mingle with the spirit of wine.
11
The twain cantered along for some time without speech, Tess as sheclung to him still panting in her triumph, yet in other respects dubious.She had perceived that the horse was not the spirited one he sometimes rode, and felt no alarm on that score, thou gh her seat was precarious enough despite her tigh t hold of him.She b egged him to slow the animal to a w alk, wh ich Alec accordingly did.
“Neatly done, was it not, dear Tess?”he said by and by.
“Yes！”said she.“I am sure I ought to be much obliged to you.”
“And are you?”
She did not reply.
“Tess, why do you always dislike my kissing you?”
“I suppose—because I don't love you.”
“You are quite sure?”
“I am angry with you sometimes！”
“Ah, I half feared as much.”Neverthe less, Alec did no t ob ject to th at confession.He knew that anything was better than frigid ity.“Why haven't you told me when I have made you angry?”
“You know very well why.Because I cannot help myself here.”
“I haven't offended you often by love-making?”
“You have sometimes.”
“How many times?”
“You know as well as I—too many times, ”
“Every time I have tried?”
She was silent, and the horse ambled along for a considerable distance, till a faint lu minous fog, which had hung in the hollows all th e evening, became general and enveloped them.It s eemed to ho ld the moonlight in suspens ion, rendering it more pervasive than in clear air.Whether on this account, or fro m absent-mindedness, or from sleepiness, she did not perceive that they had long ago passed the po int at which th e lane to Tr antridge branched fro m th e highway, and that her conductor had not taken the Trantridge track.
She was inexpressibly weary.She had risen at five o'clock every morning of that week, had been on foot the whole of each day, and on this evening had in addition walked the three miles to Chaseborough, waited three hours for her neighbours without eating or drinking, her impatience to start them preventing either; she h ad then walked a mile of the way home, and had undergone the excitement of the quarrel, till, with the slow progress of their steed, it was now nearly one o'clock.Only once, ho wever, was she overcome by actual drowsiness.In that moment of oblivion her head sank gently against him.
D'Urberville stopped the horse, withdrew his feet from the stirrups, turned sideways on the saddle, and enclosed her waist with his arm to support her.
This immediately put h er on the defensive, and with one of th ose sudden impulses of reprisal to which she was liable she gave him a little push from her.In his tick lish position h e nearly lost his balan ce and only just avoided ro lling over in to th e road, the horse, thoug h a powerfu l one, b eing fortunately th e quietest he rode.
“That is d evilish unkind！”he said.“I mean no harm—only to keep you from falling.”
She pondered suspiciously; till, thinking that this might after all be tru e, she relented, and said quite humbly, “I beg your pardon, sir.”
“I won't pardon you unless you show some confidence in me.Good God！”he burst ou t, “what am I, to be repu lsed so by a mere chit like you?For n ear three mortal months have you trifled with my feelings, eluded me, and snubbed me; and I won't stand it！”
“I'll leave you to-morrow, sir.”
“No, you will not leave me to-morrow！Will y ou, I ask o nce more, show your belief in me by letting me clasp you with my arm?Come, between us two and nobody else, now.We know each other well; and you know that I love you, and think you are the prettiest girl in the world, which y ou are.Mayn't I tre at you as a lover?”
She drew a quick pettish breath of objection, writhing uneasily on her seat, looked far ahead, and murmured, “I don't know—I wish—how can I say yes or no when—”
He settled the matter by clasping his arm round her as he desired, and Tessexpressed no further negative.Thus they sidled slowly onward till it struck her they had been advan cing for an un conscionable time—far longer th an was usually occupied by th e short jour ney from Chase-boroug h, even at this walking pace, and that they were no longer on hard road, but in a mere trackway.
“Why, where be we?”she exclaimed.
“Passing by a wood.”
“A wood—what wood?Surely we are quite out of the road?”
“A bit of The Chase—the oldest wood in England.It is a lovely night, and why should we not prolong our ride a little?”
“How could you be so treacherous！”said Tess, between archness and real dismay, and get ting rid of his arm by pulling o pen his fing ers one by one, though at th e risk of slipping off herself.“Just when I've been putting such trust in y ou, and obliging you to pleas e you, because I though t I had wronged you by that push！Please set me down, and let me walk home.”
“You cannot walk home, darling, even if the air were clear.We are miles away from Trantridge, if I must tell you, and in this growing fog y ou might wander for hours among these trees.”
“Never mind that, ”she coaxed.“Put m e down, I beg y ou.I don't mind where it is; only let me get down, sir, please！”