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 the letter. ‘Perhaps she will never be reconciled to me!’

‘Don't, Angel, be so anxious about a mere child of the soil!’ said his mother.

‘Child of the soil! Well, we all are children of the soil. I wish she were so in the sense you mean; but let me now explain to you what I have never explained before, that her father is a descendant in the male line of one of the oldest Norman houses, like a good many others who lead obscure agricultural lives in our villages, and are dubbed “sons of the soil.

He soon retired to bed; and the next morning, feeling exceedingly unwell, he remained in his room pondering. The circumstances amid which he had left Tess were such that though, while on the south of the Equator, it had seemed the easiest thing in the world to rush back into her arms, now that he had arrived it was not so easy as it had seemed. She was passionate, and her letter made him ask himself if it would be wise to confront her unannounced in the presence of her parents. Supposing that her love had indeed turned to dislike during the separation, a sudden meeting might lead to bitter words.