Summary: Chapter LVI
Mrs. Brooks, the landlady at The Herons, follows Tess
upstairs and spies on her through the keyhole. She sees Tess holding
her head in her hands, accusing Alec of deceiving her into thinking
that Angel would never come back for her. Alec replies angrily,
and Mrs. Brooks, startled, flees the scene. Back in her own room,
she sees Tess go through the front gate, where she disappears onto
the street. A short while later, Mrs. Brooks notices a dark red
spot spreading on the ceiling. Terrified, Mrs. Brooks has a workman
open the door of the d’Urberville rooms, where they discover Alec
lying on the bed, stabbed to death. The landlady gives the alarm,
and the news of Alec’s murder quickly spreads through the town.
Summary: Chapter LVII
Angel decides to leave on the first train. At his hotel,
he finds a telegraph from his mother informing him that Cuthbert
is going to marry Mercy Chant. Rather than waiting for the train,
Angel decides to walk to the next station and meet it there. As
he hikes out of the valley, he sees Tess running after him. He draws
her off the main road, and she tells him that she has killed Alec.
Tess says she had to kill Alec because he wronged Angel, but that
she also had to return to Alec because Angel abandoned her. She
begs Angel’s forgiveness, and he, thinking she is delirious, tells
her he loves her. At last he realizes she is serious, though he
still does not believe she has actually killed Alec. He agrees to
protect her.
They walk toward the interior of the country, waiting
for the search for Tess to be called off so they can escape overseas.
That evening, they find an old mansion and slip in through the windows. After
a woman comes to close up the house, Angel opens the shutters, and
they are alone for the night.
Summary: Chapter LVIII
Five days pass, and Angel and Tess slowly lapse back into
their original love. They make little mention of their estrangement.
One day the woman who airs the house discovers their hiding place,
and they decide it is time to leave. After a day of travel, they
arrive in the evening at Stonehenge, where Tess feels quite at home.
As she rests by a pillar, she says that she feels as if there are
no people in the world but them.
Tess becomes distraught, and asks Angel to look after
Liza-Lu when Tess is dead. She says she hopes Angel will marry Liza-Lu, then
asks her husband if he believes they will meet again after death. Angel
does not answer, and Tess, upset, drifts into sleep.
At dawn, Angel realizes that they are surrounded. Men
are moving in from all sides, and Angel realizes Tess must truly
have killed Alec. Angel asks the men not to take Tess until she
wakes. When she sees them, she feels strangely relieved. Tess is
glad she will not live, because she feels unworthy of Angel’s love.
