Tess of the d'Urbervilles: Chapter 22 Summary & Analysis

The next morning Dairyman Crick is upset because a customer had complained of the butter's taste. They try it, and Crick decides that it is a garlic plant in the meadow. All the workers form a line and walk slowly across the fields, looking for garlic shoots. Tess and Angel walk side by side, but speak perfunctorily.

Tess and Angel break from the line, and Tess tries to turn his attention to Izz and Retty, as she has decided they are more worthy of marrying Angel than she. She compliments their beauty and agricultural skills, and the fact that they blush when he looks at them. After that she makes herself avoid Angel, and tries to give her three friends every opportunity to be near him. She realizes that all the dairymaids love him, and it is admirable that he shows such self-restraint.