Page:Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891 Volume 2).pdf/106

‘Tess, why did you say “no” in such a positive way?’ he asked her in the course of a few days.

She started.

‘Don’t ask me, I told you—partly. I am not good enough—not worthy enough.’

‘How? Not fine lady enough?’

‘Yes—something like that,’ murmured she. ‘Your friends would scorn me.’

‘Indeed, you mistake them—my father and mother. As for my brothers, I don’t care——’ He clasped his fingers behind her back to keep her from slipping away. ‘Now—you did not mean it, sweet?—I am sure you did not! You have made me so restless that I cannot read, or play, or do anything. I am in no hurry, Tess, but I want to know—to hear from your own warm lips—that you will some day be mine—any time you may choose; but some day?’

She could only shake her head and look away from him.

Clare regarded her attentively, conned the characters of her face as if they had been hieroglyphics. The denial seemed real.

‘Then I ought not to hold you in this way—