Tess of the d'Urbervilles Chapter 34

While Tess and Angel are waiting for their luggage to arrive from Talbothays, another package arrives for Tess from Angel's parents. They have sent her the diamond jewelry Angel's godmother left for his wife.

Their luggage arrives from the dairy along with the news that Rhetty tried to drown herself and Marian got horribly drunk soon after Tess and Angel left. Tess knows that in fairness to the dairymaids who loved Angel to such an extent, she must tell him about her past so that he may leave her for one of them if his feelings for her are changed. Before she can tell him, however, he confesses that he had an affair with a woman in London when he was younger. He assures her that he's never done anything like that since then and begs her forgiveness. He says that he wanted to tell her many times in fairness, but "[he] did not mention it because [he] was afraid of endangering [his] chance of [her], . . . the great prize of [his] life." Chapter 34, pg. 221

Tess is eager to forgive him because now she knows that he'll forgive her the same thing. She tells him about how a man seduced and took advantage of her, but she does not reveal whom it was.

Topic Tracking: Fatalism 7