Page:Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891 Volume 2).pdf/189

Her idolatry of this man was such that she herself almost feared it to be ill-omened. She was conscious of the notion expressed by Friar Laurence, ‘These violent delights have violent ends.’ It might be too desperate for human conditions—too rank, too wild, too deadly.

‘O my love, my love, why do I love you so?’ she whispered there alone; ‘for she you love is not my real self, but one in my image; the one I might have been!’

Afternoon came, and with it the hour for departure. They had decided to fulfil the plan of going for a few days to the lodgings in the old farmhouse near Wellbridge Mill, at which he meant to reside during his investigation of flour-processes. At two o’clock there was nothing left to do but to start. All the servantry of the dairy were standing in the red-brick entry to see them go out, the dairyman and his wife following to the door. Tess saw her three chamber-mates in a row against the wall, pensively inclining their heads. She had much questioned if they would appear at the parting moment; but there they were, stoical and staunch to the last. She knew why the delicate Retty looked so fragile, and Izz