Page:Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891 Volume 3).pdf/243

 'He has married her, Joan whispered. Go inside.'

Clare saw her efforts for reticence, and asked—

'Do you think Tess would wish me to try and find her? If not, of course'

'I don't think she would.'

'Are you sure?'

'I am sure she wouldn't.'

He was turning away; and then he thought of Tess's tender letter.

'I am sure she would!' he retorted passionately. 'I know her better than you do.'

'That's very likely, sir; for I have never really known her.'

'Please tell me her address, Mrs. Durbeyfield, in kindness to a lonely wretched man!'

Tess's mother again restlessly swept her cheek with her vertical hand, and seeing that he suffered, she at last said, in a low voice—

'She is at Sandbourne.'

'Ah—where there? Sandbourne has become a large place, they say.'

'I don't know more particularly than I have said—Sandbourne. For myself, I was never there.'