Page 525 - tess-of-the-durbervilles

murmured—
‘Why, Tess, the gentleman a-horseback!’
‘He didn’t call,’ said Tess. ‘He spoke to me in passing.’
‘Who was the gentleman?’ asked the mother. ‘Your hus-
band?’
‘No. He’ll never, never come,’ answered Tess in stony
hopelessness.
‘Then who was it?’
‘Oh, you needn’t ask. You’ve seen him before, and so
have I.’
‘Ah! What did he say?’ said Joan curiously.
‘I will tell you when we are settled in our lodging at
Kingsbere to-morrow—every word.’
It was not her husband, she had said. Yet a consciousness
that in a physical sense this man alone was her husband
seemed to weigh on her more and more.

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