of the occasion, ‘Well, I hope my young friend will like such a comely specimen of his own blood. And tell’n, Tess, that being reduced, quite, from our former grandeur, I’ll sell him the title—yes, sell it—and at no onreasonable figure.’
‘Not for less than a thousand pound!’ cried Lady Durbeyfield.
‘Tell’n—I’ll take a thousand pound. Well, I’ll take less, when I come to think o’t. He’ll adorn it better than a poor broken-down feller like myself can. Tell’n he shall hae it for a hundred. But I won’t stand upon trifles—tell’n he shall hae it for fifty—for twenty pound! Yes, twenty pound—that’s the lowest. Dammy, family honour is family honour, and I won’t take a penny less!’
Tess’s eyes were too full and her voice too choked to utter the bitter sentiments that were in her. She turned quickly, and went out.
So the girls and their mother all walked together, a child on each side of Tess, holding her hand, and looking at her meditatively from time to time, as at one who was about to do great things; her mother just behind; the group forming a picture of honest beauty flanked by inno-
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