Page:Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891 Volume 1).pdf/77



HE higgling business, which had mainly depended on the horse, became disorganized forthwith. Distress, if not penury, loomed in the distance. Durbeyfield was what was locally called a slack-twisted fellow; he had good strength to work at times; but none of the times could be relied on to coincide with the hours of requirement; and, having been unaccustomed to the regular toil of the day-labourer, he was not particularly persistent when they did so coincide.

Tess, meanwhile, as the one who had dragged them into this quagmire, was silently wondering what she could do to help them out of it; and then her mother broached her scheme.

‘We must take the ups wi’ the downs, Tess,’ said she; ‘and never could your high blood have been discovered at a more necessary moment. You