Tess of the d'Urbervilles: Chapter 44 Summary & Analysis

Tess wonders if she should ask the Clares for Angel's address. She has been too independent and proud to appeal to them for assistance so far, but now she wants to send a letter to Angel. She has heard that Reverend Clare is a good man, and hopes he will take pity on her. She has to walk to Emminster, so she can only go on a Sunday and has to leave before dawn.

On the day she decides to leave Izz and Marian dress her up and sincerely wish her the best, despite their own passions. It has been a year since the wedding. Tess feels hopeful that she can win Mrs. Clare over. She passes by the Vale of Blakemore and feels sad, and then goes near a stone monolith called “Cross-in-Hand,” which marks “a miracle, or murder, or both.” As she gets nearer her confidence fades.

She reaches Mr. Clare's stern-looking church and takes off her walking boots before entering the town. Tess looks for a good omen but none appears. She calls at Angel's house but no one is there – they are all at church. A bloody piece of paper blows down the road. Just as Tess reaches the church the congregation emerges. Everyone stares at her, so she tries to escape, but two young men walk closely behind her.

Tess realizes the men are Angel's brothers, and she dreads meeting them. They see a young woman and name her as Mercy Chant. Tess recognizes her significance. Tess then overhears the brothers' conversation. They lament Angel's foolish marriage and lack of communication, and then find Tess's walking boots. The brothers assume they belong to some treacherous person, and they take them to give to charity.

Tess despairs and starts to weep. She cannot help but see the scene as a bad omen and condemnation of her journey. She cannot bear to return to the Clares' house. The narrator muses that if she had met Mr. Clare first instead of Cuthbert and Felix, things would have gone better. The brothers are more liberal but lack the Reverend's charitable heart.

Tess dissolves into self-pity and starts the long walk back to Flintcomb-Ash. She does not realize what a mistake this is, as Mr. and Mrs. Clare would surely have taken her in as a lost soul.

Her journey back is sorrowful and slow, and she does not stop until she reaches a barn with a fiery Christian preacher giving a service. Tess can hear his words as she passes, and he describes how he was once a great sinner, but then was touched by the patience of a parson he had insulted, and so became converted. Tess recognizes the preacher's voice, and she nervously enters the barn to see that he is none other than Alec d'Urberville.