Her narrative ended. She had not tried to excuse herself, and she had not wept. The fire seemed like a demon, laughing at her fate.

Angel stood up and began walking around the room. His face was pale and haggard. 'Why didn't you tell me this before?' he asked. 'Ah! Now I remember. You tried, but I interrupted you.'

'In the name of our love, forgive me!' she whispered with a dry mouth. 'I have forgiven you for the same. Forgive me as you are forgiven, forgive you, Angel.'

'Yes, you do.'

'But you do not forgive me?'

'O Tess, forgiveness does not apply to this case! You were one person, and now you are another.'

He began to laugh. It was as unnatural and horrible as a laugh in hell.

'Oh stop!' cried Tess. 'Forgive me! I thought that you loved me - me, my very self! I love you, and my love will never change. How can you stop loving me?'

'The woman I have been loving is not you.'

Tess burst into a flood of self-pitying tears. He waited patiently and apathetically until she stopped crying.

'I cannot stay here. I will go for a walk.' Saying this, Angel left the room.

Tess followed him, a few steps behind, with dumb and vacant fidelity. After a while she spoke. 'Angel, I am not the deceitful woman you think I am!'

'Not deceitful, my wife, but not the same.'

'I was a child when it happened!'

'I know.'

'Then you forgive me?'

'I do forgive you, but forgiveness is not all.'

'And love me?'

He did not answer.

'Mother says it happens often, and husbands forgive wives.'

'Don't argue, Tess. Different societies have different manners. You sound like an ignorant peasant woman who does not understand social things.'

'I am only a peasant by position, not by nature!'

'That parson should have kept silent about your family. I am sure that your lack of prudence is linked to your descent. I thought you were a fresh child of Nature, but really you are the last descendant of a decadent aristocracy!'

They walked for hours in silence. At one point, Tess said, 'You can divorce me.'

'No I can't. Tess, you know nothing of the law.'

'I don't want to cause you misery for the rest of your life. The river is down there. I will drown myself. I am not afraid.'

'I don't want to add murder to my other errors,' he replied. 'Just go back to the house and go to bed.'