Page:Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891 Volume 1).pdf/213

 stood not remotely from some of the former estates of the D'Urbervilles, near the great family vaults of her granddames and their powerful husbands. She would be able to look at them, and think not only that D’Urberville, like Babylon, had fallen, but that the individual innocence of a humble descendant could lapse as silently. All the while she wondered if any strange good thing might come of her being in her ancestral land; and some spirit within her rose automatically as the sap in the twigs. It was unexpended youth, surging up anew after its temporary check, and bringing with it hope, and the invincible instinct towards self-delight.