Page:Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891 Volume 3).pdf/27

 horse's head suddenly. 'I don't know what I've been saying! I will now drive you back to where your lane branches off.'

'So much for honesty towards 'ee! O—how can I bear it—how can I—how can I!'

Izz Huett burst into wild tears, and beat her forehead as she saw what she had done.

'Do you regret that poor little act of justice to an absent one? O, Izz, don't spoil it by regret!'

She stilled herself by degrees.

'Very well, sir. Perhaps I didn't know what I was saying, either, when I agreed to go. I wish—what cannot be!'

'Because I have a loving wife already?'

'Yes, yes. You have.'

They reached the corner of the lane which they had passed half an hour earlier, and she hopped down.

'You will forget my momentary levity?' he said. 'It was ill-considered, ill-advised.'

'Forget it? Never, never! O, it was no levity to me!'

He felt how richly he deserved the reproach that the wounded cry conveyed, and, in a sorrow