Saturday came in early September, on which a fair and a market coincided; and the pilgrims from Trantridge sought double delights at the inns on that account. It was long past sunset, and Tess waited for the troop till she was quite weary. While she stood at a corner by the tavern in which they sat she heard a footstep, and looking round saw the red coal of a cigar. D’Urberville was standing there also. He beckoned to her, and she reluctantly went to him.
‘My Pretty, what are you doing here at this time of night?’
She was so tired after her long day and her walk that she confided her trouble to him.
‘I have been waiting ever so long, sir, to have their company home, because the road is rather strange to me at night. But I really think I will wait no longer.’
‘Do not. I have only a saddle-horse here to-day; but come to the “Flower-de-Luce,” and I’ll hire a trap, and drive you home with me.’
Tess had never quite got over her original mistrust of him, and, with all their tardiness, she preferred to walk home with the work-folk. So she answered that she was much obliged to him,
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