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‘Have ye forgot ’em, Mr. Clare? The banns I mean.’

‘No, I have not forgot ’em,’ says Clare.

As soon as he caught Tess alone he assured her:

‘Don’t let them tease you about the banns. A licence will be quieter for us, and I have decided on a licence. So if you go to church on Sunday morning you will not hear your own name if you wished to.’

‘I didn’t wish to go and hear it, dearest,’ she said proudly.

But to know that things were in train was an immense relief to Tess notwithstanding, who had well-nigh feared that somebody would stand up and forbid the banns on the ground of her history. How events were favouring her!

‘I don’t quite feel easy,’ she said to herself. ‘All this good fortune may be scourged out o’ me afterwards by a lot of ill. That’s how Heaven mostly does. I wish I could have had common banns!’

But everything went smoothly. She wondered whether he would like her to be married in her present best white frock, or if she ought to buy