五月下旬的一個傍晚，一個中年男子正從沙斯頓嚮靠近布萊剋莫爾𠔌（也叫黑荒原𠔌）的馬洛特村裏的傢中走去。他走路的一雙腿搖搖晃晃的，走路的姿態不能保持一條直綫，老是朝左邊歪着。他偶爾還輕快地點一下頭，仿佛對某個意見表示同意，其實他心裏一點兒也沒有想到什麽特別的事。他的胳膊上挎着一隻裝雞蛋的空籃子，頭上戴的帽子的絨面皺皺巴巴的，摘帽子時大拇指接觸帽沿的地方也被磨舊了一大塊。不一會兒，一個騎着一匹灰色母馬一邊隨口哼着小調的老牧師迎面走來——
“您好。”挎着籃子的男子說。
“您好，約翰爵士。”牧師說。
步行的男子又嚮前走了一兩步，站住了，轉過身來。
“喂，對不起，先生；大約上個集市日的這個時候，我們在這條路上遇見了，我說‘您好’，你也回答說‘您好，約翰爵士’，就像剛纔說的一樣。”
“我是這樣說的。”牧師說。
“在那以前還有一次——大約一個月以前。”
“我也許說過。”
“我衹不過是一個普通的流動小販，名叫傑剋·德北菲爾德，那你反復叫我‘約翰爵士’是什麽意思？”
牧師騎着馬嚮他走近一兩步。
“那衹是我的一時興致，”他說；然後又稍稍遲疑了一會兒：“那是因為不久前我為了編寫新的郡史在查考傢譜時的一個發現。我是鹿腳路的考古學家特林漢姆牧師。德北菲爾德，你真的不知道你是德貝維爾這個古老騎士世傢的嫡傳子孫嗎？德貝維爾傢是從著名的騎士帕根·德貝維爾爵士傳下來的，據紀功寺文檔①記載，他是跟隨徵服者威廉王從諾曼底來的。”
①紀功寺文檔（Battle Abbey Roll），記載跟隨威廉王徵戰英國的諾曼貴族的一份名單，現保存於紀功寺。 “過去我從沒聽說過，先生！”
“啊，不錯。你把下巴擡起來一點點，讓我好好看看你的臉的側面。不錯，這正是德貝維爾傢族的鼻子和下巴——但有一點兒衰落。輔佐諾曼底的埃斯徹瑪維拉勳爵徵服格拉摩甘郡的騎士一共有十二個，你的祖先是他們中間的一個。在英格蘭這一帶地方，到處都有你們傢族分支的采地；在斯蒂芬王時代，派普名册②記載着他們的名字。在約翰王時代，他們的分支中有一支很富有，曾給救護騎士團贈送了一份采地；在愛德華二世時代，你的祖先布裏恩也應召到威斯敏斯特參加過大議會。你們傢族在奧利弗·剋倫威爾時代就有點兒開始衰落，不過沒有到嚴重的程度，在查理斯二世時期，你們傢族又因為對王室忠心，被封為皇傢橡樹爵士。唉，你們傢族的約翰爵士已經有好幾代了，如果騎士稱號也像從男爵一樣可以世襲的話，你現在就應該是約翰爵士了，其實在過去的時代裏都是世襲的，騎士稱號由父親傳給兒子。”
②派普名册（Pipe Rolls），記錄皇傢每年收支情況的文件，始於1131年，止於1842年。 “可你沒有這樣說過呀！”
“簡而言之，”牧師態度堅决地用馬鞭抽了一下自己的腿，下結論說，“在英格蘭，你們這樣的傢族簡直找不出第二傢。”
“真令我吃驚，在英格蘭找不出第二傢嗎？”德北菲爾德說，“可是我一直在這一帶四處漂泊，一年又一年的，糟糕透頂了，好像我同這個教區裏的最普通的人沒有什麽兩樣……特林漢姆牧師，關於我們傢族的這件事，大傢知道得有多久了？”牧師解釋說，據他所知，這件事早讓人忘光了，很難說有什麽人知道。他對傢係的調查，是從去年春天開始的。他一直在對德貝維爾傢族的盛衰史進行研究，在馬車上看見了德北菲爾德的名字，因而纔引起他展開對德北菲爾德的父親和祖父的調查，最後纔確定了這件事。
“起初我决心不拿這種毫無用處的消息打擾你，”他說，“可是，我們的衝動有時候太強烈，控製不住我們的理智。我還一直以為你也許對這件事已經知道一些了。”
“啊，是的，我也聽說過一兩次，說我這傢人在搬到黑荒原𠔌以前，也經歷過富裕的日子。可是我卻沒有在意，心想衹是說我們現在衹有一匹馬，而過去我們曾經有過兩匹馬。我傢裏還保存着一把古老的銀匙和一方刻有紋章的古印；可是，天啦，一把銀匙和一方古印算得了什麽？……想想吧，我一直同這些高貴的德貝維爾血肉相連。聽別人說，我的曾祖父有些不肯告人的秘密，不肯談論他的來歷……噢，牧師，我想冒昧地問一句，現在我們傢族的炊煙又升起在哪兒呢？我是說，我們德貝維爾傢族住在哪兒？”
“哪兒也沒有你們傢族了。作為一個郡的傢族，你們傢族是已經滅絶了。”
“真是遺憾。”
“是的——那些虛假的傢譜所說的男係滅絶，就是說衰敗了，沒落了。”
“那麽，我們的祖先又埋在哪兒呢？”
“埋在青山下的金斯比爾：一排一排地埋在你們傢族的地下墓室裏，在用佩比剋大理石做成的華蓋下面，還刻有你們祖先的雕像。”
“還有，我們傢族的宅第和房産在哪兒呢？”
“你們沒有宅第和房産了。”
“啊？土地也沒有了？”
“也沒有了；雖然像我說的那樣，你們曾經擁有過大量的宅第和房産，因為你們的傢族是由衆多的支係組成的。在這個郡，過去在金斯比爾有一處你們的房産，在希爾屯還有一處，在磨房池有一處，在拉爾斯德有一處，在井橋還有一處。”
“我們還會恢復我們自己的傢族嗎？”
“噢——不行了，不行了；‘大英雄何竟死亡’，你除了用這句話責罰你自己外，別無它法。這件事對本地的歷史學家和傢譜學家還有些興趣，但沒有其它什麽了。在本郡居住的農戶裏，有差不多同樣光榮歷史的還有好幾傢。再見。”
“可是，特林漢姆牧師，為了這件事，你轉回來和我去喝一誇脫啤酒好不好？在純酒酒店，正好開了一桶上好的佳釀——雖然我敢說它還是不如羅利弗酒店的酒好。”
“不喝了，謝謝你——德北菲爾德，今天晚上不喝了。你已經喝得夠多了。”牧師這樣把話說完以後，就騎着馬走了，心裏有些懷疑，該不該把這個多少有點奇怪的傳說告訴他。
牧師走了，德北菲爾德陷入沉思，走了幾步路，就把籃子放在面前，然後在路邊的草坡上坐下來。不一會兒，遠方出現了一個年輕人，正朝先前德北菲爾德走路的方向走着。德北菲爾德一看見他，就把手舉起來，小夥子緊走幾步，來到他的跟前。
“小夥子，把那個籃子拿起來！我要你為我走一趟。”
那個像板條一樣瘦長的小夥子有點不高興：“你是什麽人，約翰·德北菲爾德，你竟要使喚我，叫我‘小夥子’？我們誰不認識誰呀！”
“你認識我，認識我？這是秘密——這是秘密！現在你就聽我的吩咐，把我讓你送的信送走……好吧，弗裏德，我不在乎把這個秘密告訴你，我是一傢貴族的後裔，——我也是午後，今天這個下午纔知道的。”德北菲爾德一邊宣佈這則消息，一邊從坐着的姿勢嚮後倒下去，舒舒服服地仰臥在草坡上的雛菊中了。
小夥子站在德北菲爾德的面前，把他從頭到腳仔細地打量了一番。
“約翰·德貝爾菲爾爵士——這纔是我的名字。”躺着的人接着說。“我是說，如果騎士是從男爵的話——它們本來就是一樣的呀。我的一切都記錄在歷史中。小夥子，你知道不知道青山下的金斯伯爾這個地方？”
“知道。我去過那兒的青山市場。”
“好了，就在那個城市的教堂下面，埋着——”
“那兒哪是一個城市，我是說那兒衹是一塊地方；至少我去那兒的時候不是一個城市——那兒衹不過是像一隻眼睛般大小的討厭的地方。”
“你不必管那個地方了，小夥子，那不是我們要說的事。在那個教區的下面，埋着我的祖先——有好幾百個——穿着鎧甲，滿身珠寶，睡的用鉛做成的大棺材就有好幾噸重。在南威塞剋斯這個郡裏，沒有誰傢有比我更顯赫更高貴的祖先了。”
“是嗎？”
“好了，你把籃子拿上，到馬洛特村去，走到純酒酒店的時候，告訴他們立刻給我叫一輛馬車，把我接回傢去。馬車裏叫他們放上一小瓶甜酒，記在我的帳上。你把這件事辦完了，就把籃子送到我傢裏去，告訴我老婆把正在洗的衣服放下來，用不着把衣服洗完，等着我回傢，因為我有話要告訴她。”
小夥子半信半疑，站着沒有動身，德北菲爾德就把手伸進口袋，摸出來一個先令，長期以來，那是他口袋中少有的先令中的一個。
“辛苦你了，小夥子，這個給你。”
有了這個先令，小夥子對形勢的估計就有了不同。
“好吧，約翰爵士。謝謝你。還有別的事要我為你效勞嗎，約翰爵士？”
“告訴我傢裏人，晚飯我想吃——好吧，要是有羊雜碎，我就吃油煎羊雜碎；要是沒有羊雜碎，我就吃血腸；要是沒有血腸，好吧，我就將就着吃小腸吧。”
“是，約翰爵士。”
小夥子拿起籃子，就在他要動身離開的時候，聽見一陣銅管樂隊的音樂聲從村子的方向傳過來。
“什麽聲音？”德北菲爾德說。“不是為了歡迎我吧？”
“那是婦女俱樂部正在，約翰爵士。唔，你女兒就是俱樂部的一個會員呀。”
“真是的——我想的都是大事情，把這件事全給忘了。好吧，你去馬洛特村吧，給我把馬車叫來，說不定我要坐車轉一圈，好看看俱樂部的。”
小夥子走了，德北菲爾德躺在草地的雛菊中，沐浴着午後的夕照等候着。很久很久，那條路上沒有一個人走過，在緑色山巒的四周以內，能夠聽到的人類聲音衹有那隱約傳來的銅管樂隊的音樂聲。
"Good night t'ee," said the man with the basket.
"Good night, Sir John," said the parson.
The pedestrian, after another pace or two, halted, and turned round.
"Now, sir, begging your pardon; we met last market-day on this road about this time, and I said "Good night," and you made reply 'GOOD NIGHT, SIR JOHN,' as now."
"I did," said the parson.
"And once before that--near a month ago."
"I may have."
"Then what might your meaning be in calling me 'Sir John' these different times, when I be plain Jack Durbeyfield, the haggler?"
The parson rode a step or two nearer.
"It was only my whim," he said; and, after a moment's hesitation: "It was on account of a discovery I made some little time ago, whilst I was hunting up pedigrees for the new county history. I am Parson Tringham, the antiquary, of Stagfoot Lane. Don't you really know, Durbeyfield, that you are the lineal representative of the ancient and knightly family of the d'Urbervilles, who derive their descent from Sir Pagan d'Urberville, that renowned knight who came from Normandy with William the Conqueror, as appears by Battle Abbey Roll?"
"Never heard it before, sir!"
"Well it's true. Throw up your chin a moment, so that I may catch the profile of your face better. Yes, that's the d'Urberville nose and chin--a little debased. Your ancestor was one of the twelve knights who assisted the Lord of Estremavilla in Normandy in his conquest of Glamorganshire. Branches of your family held manors over all this part of England; their names appear in the Pipe Rolls in the time of King Stephen. In the reign of King John one of them was rich enough to give a manor to the Knights Hospitallers; and in Edward the Second's time your forefather Brian was summoned to Westminster to attend the great Council there. You declined a little in Oliver Cromwell's time, but to no serious extent, and in Charles the Second's reign you were made Knights of the Royal Oak for your loyalty. Aye, there have been generations of Sir Johns among you, and if knighthood were hereditary, like a baronetcy, as it practically was in old times, when men were knighted from father to son, you would be Sir John now."
"Ye don't say so!"
"In short," concluded the parson, decisively smacking his leg with his switch, "there's hardly such another family in England."
"Daze my eyes, and isn't there?" said Durbeyfield. "And here have I been knocking about, year after year, from pillar to post, as if I was no more than the commonest feller in the parish....And how long hev this news about me been knowed, Pa'son Tringham?"
The clergyman explained that, as far as he was aware, it had quite died out of knowledge, and could hardly be said to be known at all. His own investigations had begun on a day in the preceding spring when, having been engaged in tracing the vicissitudes of the d'Urberville family, he had observed Durbeyfield's name on his waggon, and had thereupon been led to make inquiries about his father and grandfather till he had no doubt on the subject.
"At first I resolved not to disturb you with such a useless piece of information," said he. "However, our impulses are too strong for our judgement sometimes. I thought you might perhaps know something of it all the while."
"Well, I have heard once or twice, 'tis true, that my family had seen better days afore they came to Blackmoor. But I took no notice o't, thinking it to mean that we had once kept two horses where we now keep only one. I've got a wold silver spoon, and a wold graven seal at home, too; but, Lord, what's a spoon and seal? ... And to think that I and these noble d'Urbervilles were one flesh all the time. 'Twas said that my gr't-granfer had secrets, and didn't care to talk of where he came from.... And where do we raise our smoke, now, parson, if I may make so bold; I mean, where do we d'Urbervilles live?"
"You don't live anywhere. You are extinct--as a county family."
"That's bad."
"Yes--what the mendacious family chronicles call extinct in the male line--that is, gone down--gone under."
"Then where do we lie?"
"At Kingsbere-sub-Greenhill: rows and rows of you in your vaults, with your effigies under Purbeck-marble canopies."
"And where be our family mansions and estates?"
"You haven't any."
"Oh? No lands neither?"
"None; though you once had 'em in abundance, as I said, for you family consisted of numerous branches. In this county there was a seat of yours at Kingsbere, and another at Sherton, and another in Millpond, and another at Lullstead, and another at Wellbridge."
"And shall we ever come into our own again?"
"Ah--that I can't tell!"
"And what had I better do about it, sir?" asked Durbeyfield, after a pause.
"Oh--nothing, nothing; except chasten yourself with the thought of 'how are the mighty fallen.' It is a fact of some interest to the local historian and genealogist, nothing more. There are several families among the cottagers of this county of almost equal lustre. Good night."
"But you'll turn back and have a quart of beer wi' me on the strength o't, Pa'son Tringham? There's a very pretty brew in tap at The Pure Drop--though, to be sure, not so good as at Rolliver's."
"No, thank you--not this evening, Durbeyfield. You've had enough already." Concluding thus the parson rode on his way, with doubts as to his discretion in retailing this curious bit of lore.
When he was gone Durbeyfield walked a few steps in a profound reverie, and then sat down upon the grassy bank by the roadside, depositing his basket before him. In a few minutes a youth appeared in the distance, walking in the same direction as that which had been pursued by Durbeyfield. The latter, on seeing him, held up his hand, and the lad quickened his pace and came near.
"Boy, take up that basket! I want 'ee to go on an errand for me."
The lath-like stripling frowned. "Who be you, then, John Durbeyfield, to order me about and call me 'boy?' You know my name as well as I know yours!"
"Do you, do you? That's the secret--that's the secret! Now obey my orders, and take the message I'm going to charge 'ee wi'.... Well, Fred, I don't mind telling you that the secret is that I'm one of a noble race--it has been just found out by me this present afternoon, P.M." And as he made the announcement, Durbeyfield, declining from his sitting position, luxuriously stretched himself out upon the bank among the daisies.
The lad stood before Durbeyfield, and contemplated his length from crown to toe.
"Sir John d'Urberville--that's who I am," continued the prostrate man. "That is if knights were baronets--which they be. "Tis recorded in history all about me. Dost know of such a place, lad, as Kingsbere-sub-Greenhill?"
"Ees, I've been there to Greenhill Fair."
"Well, under the church of that city there lie--"
"'Tisn't a city, the place I mean; leastwise 'twaddn' when I was there--'twas a little one-eyed, blinking sort o'place."
"Never you mind the place, boy, that's not the question before us. Under the church of that there parish lie my ancestors--hundreds of 'em--in coats of mail and jewels, in gr't lead coffins weighing tons and tons. There's not a man in the county o' South-Wessex that's got grander and nobler skillentons in his family than I."
"Oh?"
"Now take up that basket, and goo on to Marlott, and when you've come to The Pure Drop Inn, tell 'em to send a horse and carriage to me immed'ately, to carry me hwome. And in the bottom o' the carriage they be to put a noggin o' rum in a small bottle, and chalk it up to my account. And when you've done that goo on to my house with the basket, and tell my wife to put away that washing, because she needn't finish it, and wait till I come hwome, as I've news to tell her."
As the lad stood in a dubious attitude, Durbeyfield put his hand in his pocket, and produced a shilling, one of the chronically few that he possessed.
"Here's for your labour, lad."
This made a difference in the young man's estimate of the position.
"Yes, Sir John. Thank 'ee. Anything else I can do for 'ee, Sir John?"
"Tell 'em at hwome that I should like for supper,--well, lamb's fry if they can get it; and if they can't, black-pot; and if they can't get that, well chitterlings will do."
"Yes, Sir John."
The boy took up the basket, and as he set out the notes of a brass band were heard from the direction of the village.
"What's that?" said Durbeyfield. "Not on account o' I?"
"'Tis the women's club-walking, Sir John. Why, your da'ter is one o' the members."
"To be sure--I'd quite forgot it in my thoughts of greater things! Well, vamp on to Marlott, will ye, and order that carriage, and maybe I'll drive round and inspect the club."
The lad departed, and Durbeyfield lay waiting on the grass and daisies in the evening sun. Not a soul passed that way for a long while, and the faint notes of the band were the only human sounds audible within the rim of blue hills.
“您好。”挎着籃子的男子說。
“您好，約翰爵士。”牧師說。
步行的男子又嚮前走了一兩步，站住了，轉過身來。
“喂，對不起，先生；大約上個集市日的這個時候，我們在這條路上遇見了，我說‘您好’，你也回答說‘您好，約翰爵士’，就像剛纔說的一樣。”
“我是這樣說的。”牧師說。
“在那以前還有一次——大約一個月以前。”
“我也許說過。”
“我衹不過是一個普通的流動小販，名叫傑剋·德北菲爾德，那你反復叫我‘約翰爵士’是什麽意思？”
牧師騎着馬嚮他走近一兩步。
“那衹是我的一時興致，”他說；然後又稍稍遲疑了一會兒：“那是因為不久前我為了編寫新的郡史在查考傢譜時的一個發現。我是鹿腳路的考古學家特林漢姆牧師。德北菲爾德，你真的不知道你是德貝維爾這個古老騎士世傢的嫡傳子孫嗎？德貝維爾傢是從著名的騎士帕根·德貝維爾爵士傳下來的，據紀功寺文檔①記載，他是跟隨徵服者威廉王從諾曼底來的。”
①紀功寺文檔（Battle Abbey Roll），記載跟隨威廉王徵戰英國的諾曼貴族的一份名單，現保存於紀功寺。 “過去我從沒聽說過，先生！”
“啊，不錯。你把下巴擡起來一點點，讓我好好看看你的臉的側面。不錯，這正是德貝維爾傢族的鼻子和下巴——但有一點兒衰落。輔佐諾曼底的埃斯徹瑪維拉勳爵徵服格拉摩甘郡的騎士一共有十二個，你的祖先是他們中間的一個。在英格蘭這一帶地方，到處都有你們傢族分支的采地；在斯蒂芬王時代，派普名册②記載着他們的名字。在約翰王時代，他們的分支中有一支很富有，曾給救護騎士團贈送了一份采地；在愛德華二世時代，你的祖先布裏恩也應召到威斯敏斯特參加過大議會。你們傢族在奧利弗·剋倫威爾時代就有點兒開始衰落，不過沒有到嚴重的程度，在查理斯二世時期，你們傢族又因為對王室忠心，被封為皇傢橡樹爵士。唉，你們傢族的約翰爵士已經有好幾代了，如果騎士稱號也像從男爵一樣可以世襲的話，你現在就應該是約翰爵士了，其實在過去的時代裏都是世襲的，騎士稱號由父親傳給兒子。”
②派普名册（Pipe Rolls），記錄皇傢每年收支情況的文件，始於1131年，止於1842年。 “可你沒有這樣說過呀！”
“簡而言之，”牧師態度堅决地用馬鞭抽了一下自己的腿，下結論說，“在英格蘭，你們這樣的傢族簡直找不出第二傢。”
“真令我吃驚，在英格蘭找不出第二傢嗎？”德北菲爾德說，“可是我一直在這一帶四處漂泊，一年又一年的，糟糕透頂了，好像我同這個教區裏的最普通的人沒有什麽兩樣……特林漢姆牧師，關於我們傢族的這件事，大傢知道得有多久了？”牧師解釋說，據他所知，這件事早讓人忘光了，很難說有什麽人知道。他對傢係的調查，是從去年春天開始的。他一直在對德貝維爾傢族的盛衰史進行研究，在馬車上看見了德北菲爾德的名字，因而纔引起他展開對德北菲爾德的父親和祖父的調查，最後纔確定了這件事。
“起初我决心不拿這種毫無用處的消息打擾你，”他說，“可是，我們的衝動有時候太強烈，控製不住我們的理智。我還一直以為你也許對這件事已經知道一些了。”
“啊，是的，我也聽說過一兩次，說我這傢人在搬到黑荒原𠔌以前，也經歷過富裕的日子。可是我卻沒有在意，心想衹是說我們現在衹有一匹馬，而過去我們曾經有過兩匹馬。我傢裏還保存着一把古老的銀匙和一方刻有紋章的古印；可是，天啦，一把銀匙和一方古印算得了什麽？……想想吧，我一直同這些高貴的德貝維爾血肉相連。聽別人說，我的曾祖父有些不肯告人的秘密，不肯談論他的來歷……噢，牧師，我想冒昧地問一句，現在我們傢族的炊煙又升起在哪兒呢？我是說，我們德貝維爾傢族住在哪兒？”
“哪兒也沒有你們傢族了。作為一個郡的傢族，你們傢族是已經滅絶了。”
“真是遺憾。”
“是的——那些虛假的傢譜所說的男係滅絶，就是說衰敗了，沒落了。”
“那麽，我們的祖先又埋在哪兒呢？”
“埋在青山下的金斯比爾：一排一排地埋在你們傢族的地下墓室裏，在用佩比剋大理石做成的華蓋下面，還刻有你們祖先的雕像。”
“還有，我們傢族的宅第和房産在哪兒呢？”
“你們沒有宅第和房産了。”
“啊？土地也沒有了？”
“也沒有了；雖然像我說的那樣，你們曾經擁有過大量的宅第和房産，因為你們的傢族是由衆多的支係組成的。在這個郡，過去在金斯比爾有一處你們的房産，在希爾屯還有一處，在磨房池有一處，在拉爾斯德有一處，在井橋還有一處。”
“我們還會恢復我們自己的傢族嗎？”
“噢——不行了，不行了；‘大英雄何竟死亡’，你除了用這句話責罰你自己外，別無它法。這件事對本地的歷史學家和傢譜學家還有些興趣，但沒有其它什麽了。在本郡居住的農戶裏，有差不多同樣光榮歷史的還有好幾傢。再見。”
“可是，特林漢姆牧師，為了這件事，你轉回來和我去喝一誇脫啤酒好不好？在純酒酒店，正好開了一桶上好的佳釀——雖然我敢說它還是不如羅利弗酒店的酒好。”
“不喝了，謝謝你——德北菲爾德，今天晚上不喝了。你已經喝得夠多了。”牧師這樣把話說完以後，就騎着馬走了，心裏有些懷疑，該不該把這個多少有點奇怪的傳說告訴他。
牧師走了，德北菲爾德陷入沉思，走了幾步路，就把籃子放在面前，然後在路邊的草坡上坐下來。不一會兒，遠方出現了一個年輕人，正朝先前德北菲爾德走路的方向走着。德北菲爾德一看見他，就把手舉起來，小夥子緊走幾步，來到他的跟前。
“小夥子，把那個籃子拿起來！我要你為我走一趟。”
那個像板條一樣瘦長的小夥子有點不高興：“你是什麽人，約翰·德北菲爾德，你竟要使喚我，叫我‘小夥子’？我們誰不認識誰呀！”
“你認識我，認識我？這是秘密——這是秘密！現在你就聽我的吩咐，把我讓你送的信送走……好吧，弗裏德，我不在乎把這個秘密告訴你，我是一傢貴族的後裔，——我也是午後，今天這個下午纔知道的。”德北菲爾德一邊宣佈這則消息，一邊從坐着的姿勢嚮後倒下去，舒舒服服地仰臥在草坡上的雛菊中了。
小夥子站在德北菲爾德的面前，把他從頭到腳仔細地打量了一番。
“約翰·德貝爾菲爾爵士——這纔是我的名字。”躺着的人接着說。“我是說，如果騎士是從男爵的話——它們本來就是一樣的呀。我的一切都記錄在歷史中。小夥子，你知道不知道青山下的金斯伯爾這個地方？”
“知道。我去過那兒的青山市場。”
“好了，就在那個城市的教堂下面，埋着——”
“那兒哪是一個城市，我是說那兒衹是一塊地方；至少我去那兒的時候不是一個城市——那兒衹不過是像一隻眼睛般大小的討厭的地方。”
“你不必管那個地方了，小夥子，那不是我們要說的事。在那個教區的下面，埋着我的祖先——有好幾百個——穿着鎧甲，滿身珠寶，睡的用鉛做成的大棺材就有好幾噸重。在南威塞剋斯這個郡裏，沒有誰傢有比我更顯赫更高貴的祖先了。”
“是嗎？”
“好了，你把籃子拿上，到馬洛特村去，走到純酒酒店的時候，告訴他們立刻給我叫一輛馬車，把我接回傢去。馬車裏叫他們放上一小瓶甜酒，記在我的帳上。你把這件事辦完了，就把籃子送到我傢裏去，告訴我老婆把正在洗的衣服放下來，用不着把衣服洗完，等着我回傢，因為我有話要告訴她。”
小夥子半信半疑，站着沒有動身，德北菲爾德就把手伸進口袋，摸出來一個先令，長期以來，那是他口袋中少有的先令中的一個。
“辛苦你了，小夥子，這個給你。”
有了這個先令，小夥子對形勢的估計就有了不同。
“好吧，約翰爵士。謝謝你。還有別的事要我為你效勞嗎，約翰爵士？”
“告訴我傢裏人，晚飯我想吃——好吧，要是有羊雜碎，我就吃油煎羊雜碎；要是沒有羊雜碎，我就吃血腸；要是沒有血腸，好吧，我就將就着吃小腸吧。”
“是，約翰爵士。”
小夥子拿起籃子，就在他要動身離開的時候，聽見一陣銅管樂隊的音樂聲從村子的方向傳過來。
“什麽聲音？”德北菲爾德說。“不是為了歡迎我吧？”
“那是婦女俱樂部正在，約翰爵士。唔，你女兒就是俱樂部的一個會員呀。”
“真是的——我想的都是大事情，把這件事全給忘了。好吧，你去馬洛特村吧，給我把馬車叫來，說不定我要坐車轉一圈，好看看俱樂部的。”
小夥子走了，德北菲爾德躺在草地的雛菊中，沐浴着午後的夕照等候着。很久很久，那條路上沒有一個人走過，在緑色山巒的四周以內，能夠聽到的人類聲音衹有那隱約傳來的銅管樂隊的音樂聲。
"Good night t'ee," said the man with the basket.
"Good night, Sir John," said the parson.
The pedestrian, after another pace or two, halted, and turned round.
"Now, sir, begging your pardon; we met last market-day on this road about this time, and I said "Good night," and you made reply 'GOOD NIGHT, SIR JOHN,' as now."
"I did," said the parson.
"And once before that--near a month ago."
"I may have."
"Then what might your meaning be in calling me 'Sir John' these different times, when I be plain Jack Durbeyfield, the haggler?"
The parson rode a step or two nearer.
"It was only my whim," he said; and, after a moment's hesitation: "It was on account of a discovery I made some little time ago, whilst I was hunting up pedigrees for the new county history. I am Parson Tringham, the antiquary, of Stagfoot Lane. Don't you really know, Durbeyfield, that you are the lineal representative of the ancient and knightly family of the d'Urbervilles, who derive their descent from Sir Pagan d'Urberville, that renowned knight who came from Normandy with William the Conqueror, as appears by Battle Abbey Roll?"
"Never heard it before, sir!"
"Well it's true. Throw up your chin a moment, so that I may catch the profile of your face better. Yes, that's the d'Urberville nose and chin--a little debased. Your ancestor was one of the twelve knights who assisted the Lord of Estremavilla in Normandy in his conquest of Glamorganshire. Branches of your family held manors over all this part of England; their names appear in the Pipe Rolls in the time of King Stephen. In the reign of King John one of them was rich enough to give a manor to the Knights Hospitallers; and in Edward the Second's time your forefather Brian was summoned to Westminster to attend the great Council there. You declined a little in Oliver Cromwell's time, but to no serious extent, and in Charles the Second's reign you were made Knights of the Royal Oak for your loyalty. Aye, there have been generations of Sir Johns among you, and if knighthood were hereditary, like a baronetcy, as it practically was in old times, when men were knighted from father to son, you would be Sir John now."
"Ye don't say so!"
"In short," concluded the parson, decisively smacking his leg with his switch, "there's hardly such another family in England."
"Daze my eyes, and isn't there?" said Durbeyfield. "And here have I been knocking about, year after year, from pillar to post, as if I was no more than the commonest feller in the parish....And how long hev this news about me been knowed, Pa'son Tringham?"
The clergyman explained that, as far as he was aware, it had quite died out of knowledge, and could hardly be said to be known at all. His own investigations had begun on a day in the preceding spring when, having been engaged in tracing the vicissitudes of the d'Urberville family, he had observed Durbeyfield's name on his waggon, and had thereupon been led to make inquiries about his father and grandfather till he had no doubt on the subject.
"At first I resolved not to disturb you with such a useless piece of information," said he. "However, our impulses are too strong for our judgement sometimes. I thought you might perhaps know something of it all the while."
"Well, I have heard once or twice, 'tis true, that my family had seen better days afore they came to Blackmoor. But I took no notice o't, thinking it to mean that we had once kept two horses where we now keep only one. I've got a wold silver spoon, and a wold graven seal at home, too; but, Lord, what's a spoon and seal? ... And to think that I and these noble d'Urbervilles were one flesh all the time. 'Twas said that my gr't-granfer had secrets, and didn't care to talk of where he came from.... And where do we raise our smoke, now, parson, if I may make so bold; I mean, where do we d'Urbervilles live?"
"You don't live anywhere. You are extinct--as a county family."
"That's bad."
"Yes--what the mendacious family chronicles call extinct in the male line--that is, gone down--gone under."
"Then where do we lie?"
"At Kingsbere-sub-Greenhill: rows and rows of you in your vaults, with your effigies under Purbeck-marble canopies."
"And where be our family mansions and estates?"
"You haven't any."
"Oh? No lands neither?"
"None; though you once had 'em in abundance, as I said, for you family consisted of numerous branches. In this county there was a seat of yours at Kingsbere, and another at Sherton, and another in Millpond, and another at Lullstead, and another at Wellbridge."
"And shall we ever come into our own again?"
"Ah--that I can't tell!"
"And what had I better do about it, sir?" asked Durbeyfield, after a pause.
"Oh--nothing, nothing; except chasten yourself with the thought of 'how are the mighty fallen.' It is a fact of some interest to the local historian and genealogist, nothing more. There are several families among the cottagers of this county of almost equal lustre. Good night."
"But you'll turn back and have a quart of beer wi' me on the strength o't, Pa'son Tringham? There's a very pretty brew in tap at The Pure Drop--though, to be sure, not so good as at Rolliver's."
"No, thank you--not this evening, Durbeyfield. You've had enough already." Concluding thus the parson rode on his way, with doubts as to his discretion in retailing this curious bit of lore.
When he was gone Durbeyfield walked a few steps in a profound reverie, and then sat down upon the grassy bank by the roadside, depositing his basket before him. In a few minutes a youth appeared in the distance, walking in the same direction as that which had been pursued by Durbeyfield. The latter, on seeing him, held up his hand, and the lad quickened his pace and came near.
"Boy, take up that basket! I want 'ee to go on an errand for me."
The lath-like stripling frowned. "Who be you, then, John Durbeyfield, to order me about and call me 'boy?' You know my name as well as I know yours!"
"Do you, do you? That's the secret--that's the secret! Now obey my orders, and take the message I'm going to charge 'ee wi'.... Well, Fred, I don't mind telling you that the secret is that I'm one of a noble race--it has been just found out by me this present afternoon, P.M." And as he made the announcement, Durbeyfield, declining from his sitting position, luxuriously stretched himself out upon the bank among the daisies.
The lad stood before Durbeyfield, and contemplated his length from crown to toe.
"Sir John d'Urberville--that's who I am," continued the prostrate man. "That is if knights were baronets--which they be. "Tis recorded in history all about me. Dost know of such a place, lad, as Kingsbere-sub-Greenhill?"
"Ees, I've been there to Greenhill Fair."
"Well, under the church of that city there lie--"
"'Tisn't a city, the place I mean; leastwise 'twaddn' when I was there--'twas a little one-eyed, blinking sort o'place."
"Never you mind the place, boy, that's not the question before us. Under the church of that there parish lie my ancestors--hundreds of 'em--in coats of mail and jewels, in gr't lead coffins weighing tons and tons. There's not a man in the county o' South-Wessex that's got grander and nobler skillentons in his family than I."
"Oh?"
"Now take up that basket, and goo on to Marlott, and when you've come to The Pure Drop Inn, tell 'em to send a horse and carriage to me immed'ately, to carry me hwome. And in the bottom o' the carriage they be to put a noggin o' rum in a small bottle, and chalk it up to my account. And when you've done that goo on to my house with the basket, and tell my wife to put away that washing, because she needn't finish it, and wait till I come hwome, as I've news to tell her."
As the lad stood in a dubious attitude, Durbeyfield put his hand in his pocket, and produced a shilling, one of the chronically few that he possessed.
"Here's for your labour, lad."
This made a difference in the young man's estimate of the position.
"Yes, Sir John. Thank 'ee. Anything else I can do for 'ee, Sir John?"
"Tell 'em at hwome that I should like for supper,--well, lamb's fry if they can get it; and if they can't, black-pot; and if they can't get that, well chitterlings will do."
"Yes, Sir John."
The boy took up the basket, and as he set out the notes of a brass band were heard from the direction of the village.
"What's that?" said Durbeyfield. "Not on account o' I?"
"'Tis the women's club-walking, Sir John. Why, your da'ter is one o' the members."
"To be sure--I'd quite forgot it in my thoughts of greater things! Well, vamp on to Marlott, will ye, and order that carriage, and maybe I'll drive round and inspect the club."
The lad departed, and Durbeyfield lay waiting on the grass and daisies in the evening sun. Not a soul passed that way for a long while, and the faint notes of the band were the only human sounds audible within the rim of blue hills.
在前面說過的美麗的布萊剋莫爾𠔌或者叫做黑荒原𠔌東北部起伏不平的𠔌地中間，坐落着馬洛特村。布萊剋莫爾𠔌四周環山，是一片幽僻的區域，雖然離倫敦衹有不到四個小時的路程，但是直到現在它的大部分地區都還不曾有過旅遊者或風景畫傢的足跡。
從環繞在𠔌地周圍的山巒的頂上往下看，這個山𠔌可以看得最清楚——不過也許夏天的幹旱天氣要除開不算。天氣不好的時候，沒有嚮導帶路而獨自漫遊到𠔌內幽深之處的人，容易對蜿蜒其間的狹窄的泥濘小道産生不滿情緒。
這是一片遠離塵囂的肥沃原野，泉水從不幹涸，土地永不枯黃，一道陡峭的石灰岩山嶺在南邊形成界綫，把漢伯頓山、野牛墳、蕁麻崗、道格伯利堡、上斯托利高地和巴布草原環繞其問。那個從海岸走來的遊客，嚮北面跋涉了二十幾英裏的路程，纔走完白堊質的草原和麥地。他突然走到一處懸崖的山脊上，看見一片田野就像一幅地圖鋪展在下面，同他剛纔走過的地方决然不同、不禁又驚又喜。在他的身後，山巒盡收眼底，太陽照耀着廣阔的田野，為那片風景增添了氣勢恢弘的特點，小路是白色的，低矮的樹籬的枝條糾結在一起，大氣也是清澈透明的。就在下面的山𠔌裏，世界似乎是按照較小的但是更為精巧的規模建造的；田地衹是一些圍場，從高處看去，它們縮小了，所以衛面的樹籬就好像是用深緑色的綫織成的網，鋪展在淺緑色的草地上。下面的大氣是寧靜的，染上了一層淺藍，甚至連被藝術傢稱作中景的部分，也染上了那種顔色，但是遠方的地平綫染上的卻是濃重的深藍。這兒的耕地很少，面積不大；這兒的景物除了很少的例外，衹見那些廣阔的生長茂盛的草地和樹木覆蓋着大山中間的山巒和小𠔌。黑荒原𠔌就是這種風光。
這塊地方不僅地形引人入勝，它的歷史也很有趣。在從前的時代裏，這個𠔌被叫作白鹿苑。名字來自國王亨利三世治下的一段離奇傳說。據說國王追上了一隻美麗的白鹿後把它放了，卻被一個名叫托瑪斯·德·拉·林的人把白鹿殺了，因此他被國王處罰了一大筆罰金。在那個時代，一直到比較近些的時代，這個地方到處都長着茂密的森林。即使到了現在，從山坡上殘存下來的古老的橡樹林和錯落不齊的樹林帶上，從為牧場遮蔭的許多空心樹上，都找得到當年情形的痕跡。
茂密的森林已經消失了，但是森林濃蔭下曾經有過的一些古老風俗依然還在。不過風俗猶存，但許多已經改換了形式，加上了偽裝。例如，已經通知下午舉行的五朔節舞會，從中就能看見它采用了會社的形式，或者是被當地人稱作“會社”的形式。
對馬洛特村稍為年輕的居民來說，會社是一件使他們感興趣的事件，儘管參加的人看不出它的真正趣味。它的特點主要不在於它保留了每年排隊和跳舞的古風，而在於參加的人全是婦女。在男子會社裏，這類慶祝雖然逐漸消失，但還不算特別；但是，由於軟弱女子天性羞澀和男性傢屬方面的譏笑態度，已經把殘留下來的婦女會社（如果還有其它會社的話）的榮耀和隆盛剝奪幹淨了。現在衹有馬洛特村的婦女會社殘存下來，保留着慶祝賽麗斯節①的古風。它已經延續了好幾白年，如果算不上共濟會，它也是一種供奉上帝的姐妹會；而且它還要繼續存在下去。
①賽麗斯節（Ceralia），指慶祝羅馬豐收女神賽麗斯（Ceres）的節日。
隊伍中的婦女們都身穿白色長袍——這是一種從羅馬舊歷時代就開始流行的歡樂遺風，那時候快樂和五月的時光是同義詞——那個還沒有習慣着眼未來的時代，已經把人的感情降低到了單調乏味的程度。他們最初的表演是排成雙行隊伍繞着教區。太陽照亮了她們的身形，在緑色的樹籬和爬滿藤蘿的房屋前墻的映襯下，理想和現實就稍微顯出一些衝突來；因為儘管整個的隊伍都穿着白色服裝，然而她們中間卻沒有兩件的顔色是一樣的。有些近乎純白；有些卻是泛藍的淺白；還有一些已經被婦女會的老會員穿得破舊（它們有可能疊起來存放許多年了）而接近了一種灰白的顔色，式樣還是喬治時代的。
除了白色的長袍醒目而外，每一個婦女和姑娘的右手，都拿着一根剝去了外皮的柳樹枝條，左手裏則拿着一束白色的鮮花。剝去柳枝的外皮，選擇白色的鮮花，都是每個人自己細心操作的。
在的隊伍裏，有幾個已到中年甚至還要年老的婦女，她們遭到時光的蝕刻和痛苦的磨難，銀白的鬈發和滿是皺紋的面孔在輕快活潑的環境裏，顯得叫人好笑，也肯定叫人同情。真實地看來，每一個經歷過人間滄桑的人同她們年輕的夥伴比起來，也許更值得搜集她們的材料加以敘述，因為她們要說“生命毫無喜悅”的年月就要來到了。不過還是讓我們把年長的婦女放在一邊，述說那些生命在胸衣下跳動得快速而熱烈的婦女吧。
年輕的姑娘們的確在的隊伍中占了大多數，她們頭上厚實的秀發在陽光的照耀下，反射出每一種金黃、烏黑和棕褐的顔色。有的姑娘眼睛漂亮，有的姑娘鼻子好看，有的姑娘嘴巴美觀和身材秀美，但是如果說有人能夠集衆美於一身，那也沒有幾個人。由於在衆目睽睽之下拋頭露面，很明顯她們對如何安排她們的嘴唇就感到睏難了，對如何擺放她們的腦袋，如何使她們的自我意識同她們的形體分開，她們也感到無能為力。這表明她們都是素樸的鄉村姑娘，還不習慣被許多眼睛註視。
在她們每一個人的胸膛裏，她們都有自己的小太陽照耀着靈魂，所以大傢身上都暖烘烘的，不過不是被太陽曬熱的；有些夢想，有些純情，有些偏愛，至少有些遙遠而渺茫的希望，雖然也許正在化為泡影，卻仍然還在不斷地滋長，因為希望是會不斷滋長的。所以，她們每個人都精神振奮，許多人都歡欣鼓舞。
他們繞過純酒酒店，從一條大道走出來，準備拐彎穿過一道小柵欄門走進草地裏去，這時有個婦女說——
“唉呀，我的天啦！噢，苔絲·德北菲爾德，那坐着馬車回傢的不是你父親呀！”
聽見這聲驚訝，隊伍中有個年輕的姑娘扭頭看去。她是一個娟秀俊俏的姑娘——同有些別的姑娘比起來，也許不是更俊俏——但是她那生動的豔若牡丹的嘴，加上一雙天真無邪的大眼睛，就為她的容貌和形象增添了動人之處。她的頭髮上係一根紅色的發帶，在一群穿白色衣服的隊伍裏，她是唯一能以這種引人註目的裝飾而感到自豪的人。她回過頭去，看見德北菲爾德正坐着純酒酒店的馬車沿道而來，趕車的是一個滿頭鬈發、體格健壯的姑娘，兩衹袖子捲到了胳膊肘以上。她是酒店裏一個性格開朗的僕女，有時候喂馬，有時候趕車。德北菲爾德在車裏嚮後靠着，舒舒服服地閉着眼睛，一隻手不停地在頭頂上舞動着，嘴裏頭慢慢地哼着一首宣敘小調——
“金斯比爾有我傢的地下墓室——鉛做的棺材裏睡的是我的騎士祖先！”
婦女會的會員們都吃吃地笑起來，衹是那個叫做苔絲的姑娘除外——她意識到她的父親在衆人眼裏出醜賣乖，不禁感到臉上發燒。
“他衹是纍了，沒有別的，”她急忙說：“他是搭別人的便車回傢，因為我們傢的馬今天休息。”
“別裝糊塗了吧，苔絲，”她的同伴們說，“他是在集市上喝醉了。哈哈！”
“聽着，你們要是拿他開玩笑，那我就一步也不同你往前走了！”苔絲叫起來，臉頰上的紅暈擴大了，從臉上延伸到脖子上。
不一會兒，她的眼睛濕潤了，目光垂到了地上。她們看見真的讓她難過了，就住口不再說了，重新整理好隊伍。苔絲的自尊心不讓她再扭過頭去，看看她的父親是什麽意思，如果她的父親有什麽意思的話。因此，苔絲又隨着隊伍移動了，一直嚮在草地上跳舞的地方走去。一走到那個地方，苔絲就恢復了平靜，用手中的柳枝輕輕地抽打她的同伴，同往常一樣有說有笑了。
苔絲·德北菲爾德在她人生的這個時候，滿腔的純情還沒有帶上人生的經驗。儘管進過鄉村小學，但在她的說話裏還是帶有某種程度的鄉音：因為這個地區的方言的特殊音調，大約就體現在音節UR的發聲上，也許同任何可以發現的人類說話的言語一樣豐富。要念這個本地的音節，苔絲得把她深紅的嘴巴撅起來，但是又剛好沒有把形狀固定下來，她的下嘴唇在上嘴唇的中部有點兒撮起，念完一個字後，她纔把嘴巴閉起來。
她的童年的各個階段的特徵，現在仍然還留在她的身上。在她今天一路走着的時候，就她全部的一個漂亮健壯婦女的豐韻來說，有時候你在她的雙頰上能夠看到她十二歲時的影子，或者從她的眼睛裏看到她九歲時的神情，在她的嘴角的麯綫上，甚至有時候還能夠看到她五歲時的模樣。
但是這一點很少有人知道，更沒有多少人加以註意。有一小群人，主要是一群陌生人，在他們偶然路過的時候會對她看上一陣，暫時為她的新鮮美感所吸引，心想他們是不是還能再見到她：但是對其他大多數人來說，她衹不過是一個俊俏的迷人的鄉村姑娘而已。
德北菲爾德坐在榮耀的雙輪馬車裏，由女車夫趕着車走了，既看不見也聽不見了。隊伍已經走進了指定的地點，開始跳起舞來。因為隊伍裏沒有男子，所以開始時姑娘們相互對舞着，但是隨着收工時間的臨近，村子裏的男性居民就同其他沒事的閑人和過路行人一起聚集到舞場的周圍，似乎想爭取到一個舞伴。
在這群旁觀的人中間有三個階層較高的年輕男子，肩上背着小背包，手裏拄着粗棍子。他們的面貌大致上相似，年齡一個比一個小，這幾乎已經暗示說他們可能是親兄弟，而實際上他們正是親兄弟。年齡最長的一個是助理牧師，係白色的領帶，穿圓領背心，戴窄邊帽子；第二個是通常的大學生；最小的第三個似乎還很難看出他的身分。從他的眼神裏和衣服上，可以看出一種不拘形跡的神情，暗示他到目前為止還沒有找到專門職業的大門。從他身上大概可以猜測出，他是一個對什麽事情都想廣泛學習的學生。
這兄弟三個告訴他們偶然遇見的人，他們正在過聖靈降臨節，要步行遊玩黑荒原𠔌，他們的路綫是從東北的小鎮夏斯頓往西南方向走。
他們斜靠在大路邊的柵欄門上，詢問婦女穿白袍跳舞的意思。兄弟中年紀較大的兩位顯然不想在這兒逗留，可是看見一群姑娘跳舞而沒有男子相伴，這似乎引起了老三的興趣，使他不急着往前走了。他把背包從身上取下來，連同手中的棍子一起放在樹籬坡上，把門打開了。
“你要幹什麽呀，安琪兒？”大哥問。
“我想去同她們跳一會兒舞。為什麽我們不都去跳一會兒舞——就一會兒，不會耽誤我們太久的。”
“不行——不行；鬍說八道！”大哥說，“在公開場合同一群鄉下野姑娘跳舞——假如讓人看見了怎麽辦！快走吧，不然我們走不到斯圖爾堡天就黑了，走不到那兒我們可找不到地方睡覺。另外，在我們睡覺之前，我們還要把《駁不可知論》①的另一章讀完，你看，我還不怕麻煩地帶着這本書呢。”
①《駁不可知論》（ACounterblasttoAgnosticism），該書名疑為哈代杜撰，與英國科學家赫胥黎的“不可知論”有關。
“好吧——我在五分鐘之內趕上你和卡斯貝特；不用等我；你放心，菲力剋斯，我會在五分鐘內趕上你。”
兩個哥哥不情願地走了。他們帶走了背包，好讓弟弟趕路時輕鬆些，而最年輕的弟弟則走進了跳舞的場地。
“真是萬分的遺憾，”跳舞劇一停頓，他就對離他最近的兩三個姑娘大獻殷勤說。“親愛的，你們的舞伴呢？”
“現在他們還沒有收工呢，”有一個最大膽的姑娘回答說。“他們馬上就都來了。趁他們還沒來，你來跳好嗎，先生？”
“當然好。可是我一個人怎麽同這許多女孩子跳啊！”
“總比沒有好呀。同你自己的同類面對面地跳舞，真是一件掃興的事，根本就不能摟摟抱抱親一個嘴。現在，由你自己從中挑選一個吧。”
“噓——別厚臉皮吧！”一個害羞的姑娘說。
年青人這樣受到邀請，就把她們打量了一陣，想作一番鑒別；但是，他見這一群姑娘全是新面孔，就感到不能很好地應用他的鑒別力了。他挑選的幾乎就是第一個走到他跟前的女孩子，而不是希望被他挑中的那個說話的姑娘。苔絲·德北菲爾德碰巧也沒有被挑中。高貴的門第，祖先的枯骨，紀功的銘文，德北菲爾傢族的容貌，在苔絲人生的搏鬥中到目前為止還沒有為她幫上忙，就是在一群最普通的鄉村女孩子中間，也沒有幫她吸引到一個陪她跳舞的舞伴。沒有維多利亞財富支持的諾曼人的血統，原來也不過如此。
無論如何，那個獨占鰲頭的姑娘的名字並沒有流傳下來；但是她在那天傍晚卻因為第一個得到擁有男舞伴的殊榮而受到大傢的羨慕。不過榜樣自有它的力量，在外人還沒有進入舞場的時候，鄉村的男青年並不急着進去，現在很快都進了舞場，不久，大多數成對的女孩子中就摻進來鄉村小夥子，最後連相貌最平常的婦女也有男子陪着她們跳舞了。
教堂的鐘聲敲響了，那個學生突然說他必須離開了——他剛纔一直得意忘形——他不得不去追趕他的同伴。在他從跳舞中退出來時，眼睛看見了苔絲·德北菲爾德，老實說，因為先前沒有選中她，她的一雙大眼睛裏含有微微的怨恨。此時，由於她的退縮不前，他也為自己沒有註意到她而感到遺憾；他心裏就帶着這種遺憾離開了牧場。
因為他已經耽擱很久了，他就開始在通嚮西邊的小路上飛跑起來，很快就跑過了一片窪地，到了前面的山坡上。他還沒有追上他的兩個哥哥，但是他得停下來喘一口氣，又回頭看看。他能夠看見姑娘們的白色身影在緑色的舞場上旋轉着，就像剛纔他在她們中間一起旋轉一樣。她們似乎已經完全把他忘記了。
她們所有的人都把他忘了，也許有一個姑娘除外。那個白色的身影離開了舞場，獨自一人站在樹籬旁邊。他從她站的地點上可以看出來，她就是那個他沒有同她跳舞的漂亮姑娘。雖然衹不過是一件微不足道的小事，但是他本能地感覺到，她已經因為被他忽視而遭到了傷害。他真希望他邀請過她；他也真希望曾經問過她的名字。她是那樣的羞怯，那樣的富有情感，她穿着那件薄薄的白色袍子，看上去是那樣的溫柔，他感到他剛纔沒有挑選她是太愚蠢了。
但是，現在已經於事無補了，他轉過身去，彎腰快步嚮前走去，心裏不再想這件事了。
It is a vale whose acquaintance is best made by viewing it from the summits of the hills that surround it--except perhaps during the droughts of summer. An unguided ramble into its recesses in bad weather is apt to engender dissatisfaction with its narrow, tortuous, and miry ways.
This fertile and sheltered tract of country, in which the fields are never brown and the springs never dry, is bounded on the south by the bold chalk ridge that embraces the prominences of Hambledon Hill, Bulbarrow, Nettlecombe-Tout, Dogbury, High Stoy, and Bubb Down. The traveller from the coast, who, after plodding northward for a score of miles over calcareous downs and corn-lands, suddenly reaches the verge of one of these escarpments, is surprised and delighted to behold, extended like a map beneath him, a country differing absolutely from that which he has passed through. Behind him the hills are open, the sun blazes down upon fields so large as to give an unenclosed character to the landscape, the lanes are white, the hedges low and plashed, the atmosphere colourless. Here, in the valley, the world seems to be constructed upon a smaller and more delicate scale; the fields are mere paddocks, so reduced that from this height their hedgerows appear a network of dark green threads overspreading the paler green of the grass. The atmosphere beneath is languorous, and is so tinged with azure that what artists call the middle distance partakes also of that hue, while the horizon beyond is of the deepest ultramarine. Arable lands are few and limited; with but slight exceptions the prospect is a broad rich mass of grass and trees, mantling minor hills and dales within the major. Such is the Vale of Blackmoor.
The district is of historic, no less than of topographical interest. The Vale was known in former times as the Forest of White Hart, from a curious legend of King Henry III's reign, in which the killing by a certain Thomas de la Lynd of a beautiful white hart which the king had run down and spared, was made the occasion of a heavy fine. In those days, and till comparatively recent times, the country was densely wooded. Even now, traces of its earlier condition are to be found in the old oak copses and irregular belts of timber that yet survive upon its slopes, and the hollow-trunked trees that shade so many of its pastures.
The forests have departed, but some old customs of their shades remain. Many, however, linger only in a metamorphosed or disguised form. The May-Day dance, for instance, was to be discerned on the afternoon under notice, in the guise of the club revel, or "club-walking," as it was there called.
It was an interesting event to the younger inhabitants of Marlott, though its real interest was not observed by the participators in the ceremony. Its singularity lay less in the retention of a custom of walking in procession and dancing on each anniversary than in the members being solely women. In men's clubs such celebrations were, though expiring, less uncommon; but either the natural shyness of the softer sex, or a sarcastic attitude on the part of male relatives, had denuded such women's clubs as remained (if any other did) or this their glory and consummation. The club of Marlott alone lived to uphold the local Cerealia. It had walked for hundreds of years, if not as benefit-club, as votive sisterhood of some sort; and it walked still.
The banded ones were all dressed in white gowns--a gay survival from Old Style days, when cheerfulness and May-time were synonyms--days before the habit of taking long views had reduced emotions to a monotonous average. Their first exhibition of themselves was in a processional march of two and two round the parish. Ideal and real clashed slightly as the sun lit up their figures against the green hedges and creeper-laced house-fronts; for, though the whole troop wore white garments, no two whites were alike among them. Some approached pure blanching; some had a bluish pallor; some worn by the older characters (which had possibly lain by folded for many a year) inclined to a cadaverous tint, and to a Georgian style.
In addition to the distinction of a white frock, every woman and girl carried in her right hand a peeled willow wand, and in her left a bunch of white flowers. The peeling of the former, and the selection of the latter, had been an operation of personal care.
There were a few middle-aged and even elderly women in the train, their silver-wiry hair and wrinkled faces, scourged by time and trouble, having almost a grotesque, certainly a pathetic, appearance in such a jaunty situation. In a true view, perhaps, there was more to be gathered and told of each anxious and experienced one, to whom the years were drawing nigh when she should say, "I have no pleasure in them," than of her juvenile comrades. But let the elder be passed over here for those under whose bodices the life throbbed quick and warm.
The young girls formed, indeed, the majority of the band, and their heads of luxuriant hair reflected in the sunshine every tone of gold, and black, and brown. Some had beautiful eyes, others a beautiful nose, others a beautiful mouth and figure: few, if any, had all. A difficulty of arranging their lips in this crude exposure to public scrutiny, an inability to balance their heads, and to dissociate self-consciousness from their features, was apparent in them, and showed that they were genuine country girls, unaccustomed to many eyes.
And as each and all of them were warmed without by the sun, so each had a private little sun for her soul to bask in; some dream, some affection, some hobby, at least some remote and distant hope which, though perhaps starving to nothing, still lived on, as hopes will. They were all cheerful, and many of them merry.
They came round by The Pure Drop Inn, and were turning out of the high road to pass through a wicket-gate into the meadows, when one of the women said--
"The Load-a-Lord! Why, Tess Durbeyfield, if there isn't thy father riding hwome in a carriage!"
A young member of the band turned her head at the exclamation. She was a fine and handsome girl--not handsomer than some others, possibly--but her mobile peony mouth and large innocent eyes added eloquence to colour and shape. She wore a red ribbon in her hair, and was the only one of the white company who could boast of such a pronounced adornment. As she looked round Durbeyfield was seen moving along the road in a chaise belonging to The Pure Drop, driven by a frizzle-headed brawny damsel with her gown-sleeves rolled above her elbows. This was the cheerful servant of that establishment, who, in her part of factotum, turned groom and ostler at times. Durbeyfield, leaning back, and with his eyes closed luxuriously, was waving his hand above his head, and singing in a slow recitative--
"I've-got-a-gr't-family-vault-at-Kingsbere--and knighted-forefathers-in-lead-coffins-there!"
The clubbists tittered, except the girl called Tess-- in whom a slow heat seemed to rise at the sense that her father was making himself foolish in their eyes.
"He's tired, that's all," she said hastily, "and he has got a lift home, because our own horse has to rest today."
"Bless thy simplicity, Tess," said her companions. "He's got his market-nitch. Haw-haw!"
"Look here; I won't walk another inch with you, if you say any jokes about him!" Tess cried, and the colour upon her cheeks spread over her face and neck. In a moment her eyes grew moist, and her glance drooped to the ground. Perceiving that they had really pained her they said no more, and order again prevailed. Tess's pride would not allow her to turn her head again, to learn what her father's meaning was, if he had any; and thus she moved on with the whole body to the enclosure where there was to be dancing on the green. By the time the spot was reached she has recovered her equanimity, and tapped her neighbour with her wand and talked as usual.
Tess Durbeyfield at this time of her life was a mere vessel of emotion untinctured by experience. The dialect was on her tongue to some extent, despite the village school: the characteristic intonation of that dialect for this district being the voicing approximately rendered by the syllable UR, probably as rich an utterance as any to be found in human speech. The pouted-up deep red mouth to which this syllable was native had hardly as yet settled into its definite shape, and her lower lip had a way of thrusting the middle of her top one upward, when they closed together after a word.
Phases of her childhood lurked in her aspect still. As she walked along today, for all her bouncing handsome womanliness, you could sometimes see her twelfth year in her cheeks, or her ninth sparkling from her eyes; and even her fifth would flit over the curves of her mouth now and then.
Yet few knew, and still fewer considered this. A small minority, mainly strangers, would look long at her in casually passing by, and grow momentarily fascinated by her freshness, and wonder if they would ever see her again: but to almost everybody she was a fine and picturesque country girl, and no more.
Nothing was seen or heard further of Durbeyfield in his triumphal chariot under the conduct of the ostleress, and the club having entered the allotted space, dancing began. As there were no men in the company the girls danced at first with each other, but when the hour for the close of labour drew on, the masculine inhabitants of the village, together with other idlers and pedestrians, gathered round the spot, and appeared inclined to negotiate for a partner.
Among these on-lookers were three young men of a superior class, carrying small knapsacks strapped to their shoulders, and stout sticks in their hands. Their general likeness to each other, and their consecutive ages, would almost have suggested that they might be, what in fact they were, brothers. The eldest wore the white tie, high waistcoat, and thin-brimmed hat of the regulation curate; the second was the normal undergraduate; the appearance of the third and youngest would hardly have been sufficient to characterize him; there was an uncribbed, uncabined aspect in his eyes and attire, implying that he had hardly as yet found the entrance to his professional groove. That he was a desultory tentative student of something and everything might only have been predicted of him.
These three brethren told casual acquaintance that they were spending their Whitsun holidays in a walking tour through the Vale of Blackmoor, their course being southwesterly from the town of Shaston on the north-east. dh They leant over the gate by the highway, and inquired as to the meaning of the dance and the white-frocked maids. The two elder of the brothers were plainly not intending to linger more than a moment, but the spectacle of a bevy of girls dancing without male partners seemed to amuse the third, and make him in no hurry to move on. He unstrapped his knapsack, put it, with his stick, on the hedge-bank, and opened the gate.
"What are you going to do, Angel?" asked the eldest.
"I am inclined to go and have a fling with them. Why not all of us--just for a minute or two--it will not detain us long?"
"No--no; nonsense!" said the first. "Dancing in public with a troop of country hoydens--suppose we should be seen! Come along, or it will be dark before we get to Stourcastle, and there's no place we can sleep at nearer than that; besides, we must get through another chapter of A COUNTERBLAST TO AGNOSTICISM before we turn in, now I have taken the trouble to bring the book."
"All right--I'll overtake you and Cuthbert in five minutes; don't stop; I give my word that I will, Felix."
The two elder reluctantly left him and walked on, taking their brother's knapsack to relieve him in following, and the youngest entered the field.
"This is a thousand pities," he said gallantly, to two or three of the girls nearest him, as soon as there was a pause in the dance. "Where are your partners, my dears?"
"They've not left off work yet," answered one of the boldest. "They'll be here by and by. Till then, will you be one, sir?"
"Certainly. But what's one among so many!"
"Better than none. 'Tis melancholy work facing and footing it to one of your own sort, and no clipsing and colling at all. Now, pick and choose."
"'Ssh--don't be so for'ard!" said a shyer girl.
The young man, thus invited, clanged them over, and attempted some discrimination; but, as the group were all so new to him, he could not very well exercise it. He took almost the first that came to hand, which was not the speaker, as she had expected; nor did it happen to be Tess Durbeyfield. Pedigree, ancestral skeletons, monumental record, the d'Urberville lineaments, did not help Tess in her life's battle as yet, even to the extent of attracting to her a dancing-partner over the heads of the commonest peasantry. So much for Norman blood unaided by Victorian lucre.
The name of the eclipsing girl, whatever it was, has not been handed down; but she was envied by all as the first who enjoyed the luxury of a masculine partner that evening. Yet such was the force of example that the village young men, who had not hastened to enter the gate while no intruder was in the way, now dropped in quickly, and soon the couples became leavened with rustic youth to a marked extent, till at length the plainest woman in the club was no longer compelled to foot it on the masculine side of the figure.
The church clock struck, when suddenly the student said that he must leave--he had been forgetting himself-- he had to join his companions. As he fell out of the dance his eyes lighted on Tess Durbeyfield, whose own large orbs wore, to tell the truth, the faintest aspect of reproach that he had not chosen her. He, too, was sorry then that, owing to her backwardness, he had not observed her; and with that in his mind he left the pasture.
On account of his long delay he started in a flying-run down the lane westward, and had soon passed the hollow and mounted the next rise. He had not yet overtaken his brothers, but he paused to get breath, and looked back. He could see the white figures of the girls in the green enclosure whirling about as they had whirled when he was among them. They seemed to have quite forgotten him already.
All of them, except, perhaps, one. This white shape stood apart by the hedge alone. From her position he knew it to be the pretty maiden with whom he had not danced. Trifling as the matter was, he yet instinctively felt that she was hurt by his oversight. He wished that he had asked her; he wished that he had inquired her name. She was so modest, so expressive, she had looked so soft in her thin white gown that he felt he had acted stupidly.
However, it could not be helped, and turning, and bending himself to a rapid walk, he dismissed the subject from his mind.
從環繞在𠔌地周圍的山巒的頂上往下看，這個山𠔌可以看得最清楚——不過也許夏天的幹旱天氣要除開不算。天氣不好的時候，沒有嚮導帶路而獨自漫遊到𠔌內幽深之處的人，容易對蜿蜒其間的狹窄的泥濘小道産生不滿情緒。
這是一片遠離塵囂的肥沃原野，泉水從不幹涸，土地永不枯黃，一道陡峭的石灰岩山嶺在南邊形成界綫，把漢伯頓山、野牛墳、蕁麻崗、道格伯利堡、上斯托利高地和巴布草原環繞其問。那個從海岸走來的遊客，嚮北面跋涉了二十幾英裏的路程，纔走完白堊質的草原和麥地。他突然走到一處懸崖的山脊上，看見一片田野就像一幅地圖鋪展在下面，同他剛纔走過的地方决然不同、不禁又驚又喜。在他的身後，山巒盡收眼底，太陽照耀着廣阔的田野，為那片風景增添了氣勢恢弘的特點，小路是白色的，低矮的樹籬的枝條糾結在一起，大氣也是清澈透明的。就在下面的山𠔌裏，世界似乎是按照較小的但是更為精巧的規模建造的；田地衹是一些圍場，從高處看去，它們縮小了，所以衛面的樹籬就好像是用深緑色的綫織成的網，鋪展在淺緑色的草地上。下面的大氣是寧靜的，染上了一層淺藍，甚至連被藝術傢稱作中景的部分，也染上了那種顔色，但是遠方的地平綫染上的卻是濃重的深藍。這兒的耕地很少，面積不大；這兒的景物除了很少的例外，衹見那些廣阔的生長茂盛的草地和樹木覆蓋着大山中間的山巒和小𠔌。黑荒原𠔌就是這種風光。
這塊地方不僅地形引人入勝，它的歷史也很有趣。在從前的時代裏，這個𠔌被叫作白鹿苑。名字來自國王亨利三世治下的一段離奇傳說。據說國王追上了一隻美麗的白鹿後把它放了，卻被一個名叫托瑪斯·德·拉·林的人把白鹿殺了，因此他被國王處罰了一大筆罰金。在那個時代，一直到比較近些的時代，這個地方到處都長着茂密的森林。即使到了現在，從山坡上殘存下來的古老的橡樹林和錯落不齊的樹林帶上，從為牧場遮蔭的許多空心樹上，都找得到當年情形的痕跡。
茂密的森林已經消失了，但是森林濃蔭下曾經有過的一些古老風俗依然還在。不過風俗猶存，但許多已經改換了形式，加上了偽裝。例如，已經通知下午舉行的五朔節舞會，從中就能看見它采用了會社的形式，或者是被當地人稱作“會社”的形式。
對馬洛特村稍為年輕的居民來說，會社是一件使他們感興趣的事件，儘管參加的人看不出它的真正趣味。它的特點主要不在於它保留了每年排隊和跳舞的古風，而在於參加的人全是婦女。在男子會社裏，這類慶祝雖然逐漸消失，但還不算特別；但是，由於軟弱女子天性羞澀和男性傢屬方面的譏笑態度，已經把殘留下來的婦女會社（如果還有其它會社的話）的榮耀和隆盛剝奪幹淨了。現在衹有馬洛特村的婦女會社殘存下來，保留着慶祝賽麗斯節①的古風。它已經延續了好幾白年，如果算不上共濟會，它也是一種供奉上帝的姐妹會；而且它還要繼續存在下去。
①賽麗斯節（Ceralia），指慶祝羅馬豐收女神賽麗斯（Ceres）的節日。
隊伍中的婦女們都身穿白色長袍——這是一種從羅馬舊歷時代就開始流行的歡樂遺風，那時候快樂和五月的時光是同義詞——那個還沒有習慣着眼未來的時代，已經把人的感情降低到了單調乏味的程度。他們最初的表演是排成雙行隊伍繞着教區。太陽照亮了她們的身形，在緑色的樹籬和爬滿藤蘿的房屋前墻的映襯下，理想和現實就稍微顯出一些衝突來；因為儘管整個的隊伍都穿着白色服裝，然而她們中間卻沒有兩件的顔色是一樣的。有些近乎純白；有些卻是泛藍的淺白；還有一些已經被婦女會的老會員穿得破舊（它們有可能疊起來存放許多年了）而接近了一種灰白的顔色，式樣還是喬治時代的。
除了白色的長袍醒目而外，每一個婦女和姑娘的右手，都拿着一根剝去了外皮的柳樹枝條，左手裏則拿着一束白色的鮮花。剝去柳枝的外皮，選擇白色的鮮花，都是每個人自己細心操作的。
在的隊伍裏，有幾個已到中年甚至還要年老的婦女，她們遭到時光的蝕刻和痛苦的磨難，銀白的鬈發和滿是皺紋的面孔在輕快活潑的環境裏，顯得叫人好笑，也肯定叫人同情。真實地看來，每一個經歷過人間滄桑的人同她們年輕的夥伴比起來，也許更值得搜集她們的材料加以敘述，因為她們要說“生命毫無喜悅”的年月就要來到了。不過還是讓我們把年長的婦女放在一邊，述說那些生命在胸衣下跳動得快速而熱烈的婦女吧。
年輕的姑娘們的確在的隊伍中占了大多數，她們頭上厚實的秀發在陽光的照耀下，反射出每一種金黃、烏黑和棕褐的顔色。有的姑娘眼睛漂亮，有的姑娘鼻子好看，有的姑娘嘴巴美觀和身材秀美，但是如果說有人能夠集衆美於一身，那也沒有幾個人。由於在衆目睽睽之下拋頭露面，很明顯她們對如何安排她們的嘴唇就感到睏難了，對如何擺放她們的腦袋，如何使她們的自我意識同她們的形體分開，她們也感到無能為力。這表明她們都是素樸的鄉村姑娘，還不習慣被許多眼睛註視。
在她們每一個人的胸膛裏，她們都有自己的小太陽照耀着靈魂，所以大傢身上都暖烘烘的，不過不是被太陽曬熱的；有些夢想，有些純情，有些偏愛，至少有些遙遠而渺茫的希望，雖然也許正在化為泡影，卻仍然還在不斷地滋長，因為希望是會不斷滋長的。所以，她們每個人都精神振奮，許多人都歡欣鼓舞。
他們繞過純酒酒店，從一條大道走出來，準備拐彎穿過一道小柵欄門走進草地裏去，這時有個婦女說——
“唉呀，我的天啦！噢，苔絲·德北菲爾德，那坐着馬車回傢的不是你父親呀！”
聽見這聲驚訝，隊伍中有個年輕的姑娘扭頭看去。她是一個娟秀俊俏的姑娘——同有些別的姑娘比起來，也許不是更俊俏——但是她那生動的豔若牡丹的嘴，加上一雙天真無邪的大眼睛，就為她的容貌和形象增添了動人之處。她的頭髮上係一根紅色的發帶，在一群穿白色衣服的隊伍裏，她是唯一能以這種引人註目的裝飾而感到自豪的人。她回過頭去，看見德北菲爾德正坐着純酒酒店的馬車沿道而來，趕車的是一個滿頭鬈發、體格健壯的姑娘，兩衹袖子捲到了胳膊肘以上。她是酒店裏一個性格開朗的僕女，有時候喂馬，有時候趕車。德北菲爾德在車裏嚮後靠着，舒舒服服地閉着眼睛，一隻手不停地在頭頂上舞動着，嘴裏頭慢慢地哼着一首宣敘小調——
“金斯比爾有我傢的地下墓室——鉛做的棺材裏睡的是我的騎士祖先！”
婦女會的會員們都吃吃地笑起來，衹是那個叫做苔絲的姑娘除外——她意識到她的父親在衆人眼裏出醜賣乖，不禁感到臉上發燒。
“他衹是纍了，沒有別的，”她急忙說：“他是搭別人的便車回傢，因為我們傢的馬今天休息。”
“別裝糊塗了吧，苔絲，”她的同伴們說，“他是在集市上喝醉了。哈哈！”
“聽着，你們要是拿他開玩笑，那我就一步也不同你往前走了！”苔絲叫起來，臉頰上的紅暈擴大了，從臉上延伸到脖子上。
不一會兒，她的眼睛濕潤了，目光垂到了地上。她們看見真的讓她難過了，就住口不再說了，重新整理好隊伍。苔絲的自尊心不讓她再扭過頭去，看看她的父親是什麽意思，如果她的父親有什麽意思的話。因此，苔絲又隨着隊伍移動了，一直嚮在草地上跳舞的地方走去。一走到那個地方，苔絲就恢復了平靜，用手中的柳枝輕輕地抽打她的同伴，同往常一樣有說有笑了。
苔絲·德北菲爾德在她人生的這個時候，滿腔的純情還沒有帶上人生的經驗。儘管進過鄉村小學，但在她的說話裏還是帶有某種程度的鄉音：因為這個地區的方言的特殊音調，大約就體現在音節UR的發聲上，也許同任何可以發現的人類說話的言語一樣豐富。要念這個本地的音節，苔絲得把她深紅的嘴巴撅起來，但是又剛好沒有把形狀固定下來，她的下嘴唇在上嘴唇的中部有點兒撮起，念完一個字後，她纔把嘴巴閉起來。
她的童年的各個階段的特徵，現在仍然還留在她的身上。在她今天一路走着的時候，就她全部的一個漂亮健壯婦女的豐韻來說，有時候你在她的雙頰上能夠看到她十二歲時的影子，或者從她的眼睛裏看到她九歲時的神情，在她的嘴角的麯綫上，甚至有時候還能夠看到她五歲時的模樣。
但是這一點很少有人知道，更沒有多少人加以註意。有一小群人，主要是一群陌生人，在他們偶然路過的時候會對她看上一陣，暫時為她的新鮮美感所吸引，心想他們是不是還能再見到她：但是對其他大多數人來說，她衹不過是一個俊俏的迷人的鄉村姑娘而已。
德北菲爾德坐在榮耀的雙輪馬車裏，由女車夫趕着車走了，既看不見也聽不見了。隊伍已經走進了指定的地點，開始跳起舞來。因為隊伍裏沒有男子，所以開始時姑娘們相互對舞着，但是隨着收工時間的臨近，村子裏的男性居民就同其他沒事的閑人和過路行人一起聚集到舞場的周圍，似乎想爭取到一個舞伴。
在這群旁觀的人中間有三個階層較高的年輕男子，肩上背着小背包，手裏拄着粗棍子。他們的面貌大致上相似，年齡一個比一個小，這幾乎已經暗示說他們可能是親兄弟，而實際上他們正是親兄弟。年齡最長的一個是助理牧師，係白色的領帶，穿圓領背心，戴窄邊帽子；第二個是通常的大學生；最小的第三個似乎還很難看出他的身分。從他的眼神裏和衣服上，可以看出一種不拘形跡的神情，暗示他到目前為止還沒有找到專門職業的大門。從他身上大概可以猜測出，他是一個對什麽事情都想廣泛學習的學生。
這兄弟三個告訴他們偶然遇見的人，他們正在過聖靈降臨節，要步行遊玩黑荒原𠔌，他們的路綫是從東北的小鎮夏斯頓往西南方向走。
他們斜靠在大路邊的柵欄門上，詢問婦女穿白袍跳舞的意思。兄弟中年紀較大的兩位顯然不想在這兒逗留，可是看見一群姑娘跳舞而沒有男子相伴，這似乎引起了老三的興趣，使他不急着往前走了。他把背包從身上取下來，連同手中的棍子一起放在樹籬坡上，把門打開了。
“你要幹什麽呀，安琪兒？”大哥問。
“我想去同她們跳一會兒舞。為什麽我們不都去跳一會兒舞——就一會兒，不會耽誤我們太久的。”
“不行——不行；鬍說八道！”大哥說，“在公開場合同一群鄉下野姑娘跳舞——假如讓人看見了怎麽辦！快走吧，不然我們走不到斯圖爾堡天就黑了，走不到那兒我們可找不到地方睡覺。另外，在我們睡覺之前，我們還要把《駁不可知論》①的另一章讀完，你看，我還不怕麻煩地帶着這本書呢。”
①《駁不可知論》（ACounterblasttoAgnosticism），該書名疑為哈代杜撰，與英國科學家赫胥黎的“不可知論”有關。
“好吧——我在五分鐘之內趕上你和卡斯貝特；不用等我；你放心，菲力剋斯，我會在五分鐘內趕上你。”
兩個哥哥不情願地走了。他們帶走了背包，好讓弟弟趕路時輕鬆些，而最年輕的弟弟則走進了跳舞的場地。
“真是萬分的遺憾，”跳舞劇一停頓，他就對離他最近的兩三個姑娘大獻殷勤說。“親愛的，你們的舞伴呢？”
“現在他們還沒有收工呢，”有一個最大膽的姑娘回答說。“他們馬上就都來了。趁他們還沒來，你來跳好嗎，先生？”
“當然好。可是我一個人怎麽同這許多女孩子跳啊！”
“總比沒有好呀。同你自己的同類面對面地跳舞，真是一件掃興的事，根本就不能摟摟抱抱親一個嘴。現在，由你自己從中挑選一個吧。”
“噓——別厚臉皮吧！”一個害羞的姑娘說。
年青人這樣受到邀請，就把她們打量了一陣，想作一番鑒別；但是，他見這一群姑娘全是新面孔，就感到不能很好地應用他的鑒別力了。他挑選的幾乎就是第一個走到他跟前的女孩子，而不是希望被他挑中的那個說話的姑娘。苔絲·德北菲爾德碰巧也沒有被挑中。高貴的門第，祖先的枯骨，紀功的銘文，德北菲爾傢族的容貌，在苔絲人生的搏鬥中到目前為止還沒有為她幫上忙，就是在一群最普通的鄉村女孩子中間，也沒有幫她吸引到一個陪她跳舞的舞伴。沒有維多利亞財富支持的諾曼人的血統，原來也不過如此。
無論如何，那個獨占鰲頭的姑娘的名字並沒有流傳下來；但是她在那天傍晚卻因為第一個得到擁有男舞伴的殊榮而受到大傢的羨慕。不過榜樣自有它的力量，在外人還沒有進入舞場的時候，鄉村的男青年並不急着進去，現在很快都進了舞場，不久，大多數成對的女孩子中就摻進來鄉村小夥子，最後連相貌最平常的婦女也有男子陪着她們跳舞了。
教堂的鐘聲敲響了，那個學生突然說他必須離開了——他剛纔一直得意忘形——他不得不去追趕他的同伴。在他從跳舞中退出來時，眼睛看見了苔絲·德北菲爾德，老實說，因為先前沒有選中她，她的一雙大眼睛裏含有微微的怨恨。此時，由於她的退縮不前，他也為自己沒有註意到她而感到遺憾；他心裏就帶着這種遺憾離開了牧場。
因為他已經耽擱很久了，他就開始在通嚮西邊的小路上飛跑起來，很快就跑過了一片窪地，到了前面的山坡上。他還沒有追上他的兩個哥哥，但是他得停下來喘一口氣，又回頭看看。他能夠看見姑娘們的白色身影在緑色的舞場上旋轉着，就像剛纔他在她們中間一起旋轉一樣。她們似乎已經完全把他忘記了。
她們所有的人都把他忘了，也許有一個姑娘除外。那個白色的身影離開了舞場，獨自一人站在樹籬旁邊。他從她站的地點上可以看出來，她就是那個他沒有同她跳舞的漂亮姑娘。雖然衹不過是一件微不足道的小事，但是他本能地感覺到，她已經因為被他忽視而遭到了傷害。他真希望他邀請過她；他也真希望曾經問過她的名字。她是那樣的羞怯，那樣的富有情感，她穿着那件薄薄的白色袍子，看上去是那樣的溫柔，他感到他剛纔沒有挑選她是太愚蠢了。
但是，現在已經於事無補了，他轉過身去，彎腰快步嚮前走去，心裏不再想這件事了。
It is a vale whose acquaintance is best made by viewing it from the summits of the hills that surround it--except perhaps during the droughts of summer. An unguided ramble into its recesses in bad weather is apt to engender dissatisfaction with its narrow, tortuous, and miry ways.
This fertile and sheltered tract of country, in which the fields are never brown and the springs never dry, is bounded on the south by the bold chalk ridge that embraces the prominences of Hambledon Hill, Bulbarrow, Nettlecombe-Tout, Dogbury, High Stoy, and Bubb Down. The traveller from the coast, who, after plodding northward for a score of miles over calcareous downs and corn-lands, suddenly reaches the verge of one of these escarpments, is surprised and delighted to behold, extended like a map beneath him, a country differing absolutely from that which he has passed through. Behind him the hills are open, the sun blazes down upon fields so large as to give an unenclosed character to the landscape, the lanes are white, the hedges low and plashed, the atmosphere colourless. Here, in the valley, the world seems to be constructed upon a smaller and more delicate scale; the fields are mere paddocks, so reduced that from this height their hedgerows appear a network of dark green threads overspreading the paler green of the grass. The atmosphere beneath is languorous, and is so tinged with azure that what artists call the middle distance partakes also of that hue, while the horizon beyond is of the deepest ultramarine. Arable lands are few and limited; with but slight exceptions the prospect is a broad rich mass of grass and trees, mantling minor hills and dales within the major. Such is the Vale of Blackmoor.
The district is of historic, no less than of topographical interest. The Vale was known in former times as the Forest of White Hart, from a curious legend of King Henry III's reign, in which the killing by a certain Thomas de la Lynd of a beautiful white hart which the king had run down and spared, was made the occasion of a heavy fine. In those days, and till comparatively recent times, the country was densely wooded. Even now, traces of its earlier condition are to be found in the old oak copses and irregular belts of timber that yet survive upon its slopes, and the hollow-trunked trees that shade so many of its pastures.
The forests have departed, but some old customs of their shades remain. Many, however, linger only in a metamorphosed or disguised form. The May-Day dance, for instance, was to be discerned on the afternoon under notice, in the guise of the club revel, or "club-walking," as it was there called.
It was an interesting event to the younger inhabitants of Marlott, though its real interest was not observed by the participators in the ceremony. Its singularity lay less in the retention of a custom of walking in procession and dancing on each anniversary than in the members being solely women. In men's clubs such celebrations were, though expiring, less uncommon; but either the natural shyness of the softer sex, or a sarcastic attitude on the part of male relatives, had denuded such women's clubs as remained (if any other did) or this their glory and consummation. The club of Marlott alone lived to uphold the local Cerealia. It had walked for hundreds of years, if not as benefit-club, as votive sisterhood of some sort; and it walked still.
The banded ones were all dressed in white gowns--a gay survival from Old Style days, when cheerfulness and May-time were synonyms--days before the habit of taking long views had reduced emotions to a monotonous average. Their first exhibition of themselves was in a processional march of two and two round the parish. Ideal and real clashed slightly as the sun lit up their figures against the green hedges and creeper-laced house-fronts; for, though the whole troop wore white garments, no two whites were alike among them. Some approached pure blanching; some had a bluish pallor; some worn by the older characters (which had possibly lain by folded for many a year) inclined to a cadaverous tint, and to a Georgian style.
In addition to the distinction of a white frock, every woman and girl carried in her right hand a peeled willow wand, and in her left a bunch of white flowers. The peeling of the former, and the selection of the latter, had been an operation of personal care.
There were a few middle-aged and even elderly women in the train, their silver-wiry hair and wrinkled faces, scourged by time and trouble, having almost a grotesque, certainly a pathetic, appearance in such a jaunty situation. In a true view, perhaps, there was more to be gathered and told of each anxious and experienced one, to whom the years were drawing nigh when she should say, "I have no pleasure in them," than of her juvenile comrades. But let the elder be passed over here for those under whose bodices the life throbbed quick and warm.
The young girls formed, indeed, the majority of the band, and their heads of luxuriant hair reflected in the sunshine every tone of gold, and black, and brown. Some had beautiful eyes, others a beautiful nose, others a beautiful mouth and figure: few, if any, had all. A difficulty of arranging their lips in this crude exposure to public scrutiny, an inability to balance their heads, and to dissociate self-consciousness from their features, was apparent in them, and showed that they were genuine country girls, unaccustomed to many eyes.
And as each and all of them were warmed without by the sun, so each had a private little sun for her soul to bask in; some dream, some affection, some hobby, at least some remote and distant hope which, though perhaps starving to nothing, still lived on, as hopes will. They were all cheerful, and many of them merry.
They came round by The Pure Drop Inn, and were turning out of the high road to pass through a wicket-gate into the meadows, when one of the women said--
"The Load-a-Lord! Why, Tess Durbeyfield, if there isn't thy father riding hwome in a carriage!"
A young member of the band turned her head at the exclamation. She was a fine and handsome girl--not handsomer than some others, possibly--but her mobile peony mouth and large innocent eyes added eloquence to colour and shape. She wore a red ribbon in her hair, and was the only one of the white company who could boast of such a pronounced adornment. As she looked round Durbeyfield was seen moving along the road in a chaise belonging to The Pure Drop, driven by a frizzle-headed brawny damsel with her gown-sleeves rolled above her elbows. This was the cheerful servant of that establishment, who, in her part of factotum, turned groom and ostler at times. Durbeyfield, leaning back, and with his eyes closed luxuriously, was waving his hand above his head, and singing in a slow recitative--
"I've-got-a-gr't-family-vault-at-Kingsbere--and knighted-forefathers-in-lead-coffins-there!"
The clubbists tittered, except the girl called Tess-- in whom a slow heat seemed to rise at the sense that her father was making himself foolish in their eyes.
"He's tired, that's all," she said hastily, "and he has got a lift home, because our own horse has to rest today."
"Bless thy simplicity, Tess," said her companions. "He's got his market-nitch. Haw-haw!"
"Look here; I won't walk another inch with you, if you say any jokes about him!" Tess cried, and the colour upon her cheeks spread over her face and neck. In a moment her eyes grew moist, and her glance drooped to the ground. Perceiving that they had really pained her they said no more, and order again prevailed. Tess's pride would not allow her to turn her head again, to learn what her father's meaning was, if he had any; and thus she moved on with the whole body to the enclosure where there was to be dancing on the green. By the time the spot was reached she has recovered her equanimity, and tapped her neighbour with her wand and talked as usual.
Tess Durbeyfield at this time of her life was a mere vessel of emotion untinctured by experience. The dialect was on her tongue to some extent, despite the village school: the characteristic intonation of that dialect for this district being the voicing approximately rendered by the syllable UR, probably as rich an utterance as any to be found in human speech. The pouted-up deep red mouth to which this syllable was native had hardly as yet settled into its definite shape, and her lower lip had a way of thrusting the middle of her top one upward, when they closed together after a word.
Phases of her childhood lurked in her aspect still. As she walked along today, for all her bouncing handsome womanliness, you could sometimes see her twelfth year in her cheeks, or her ninth sparkling from her eyes; and even her fifth would flit over the curves of her mouth now and then.
Yet few knew, and still fewer considered this. A small minority, mainly strangers, would look long at her in casually passing by, and grow momentarily fascinated by her freshness, and wonder if they would ever see her again: but to almost everybody she was a fine and picturesque country girl, and no more.
Nothing was seen or heard further of Durbeyfield in his triumphal chariot under the conduct of the ostleress, and the club having entered the allotted space, dancing began. As there were no men in the company the girls danced at first with each other, but when the hour for the close of labour drew on, the masculine inhabitants of the village, together with other idlers and pedestrians, gathered round the spot, and appeared inclined to negotiate for a partner.
Among these on-lookers were three young men of a superior class, carrying small knapsacks strapped to their shoulders, and stout sticks in their hands. Their general likeness to each other, and their consecutive ages, would almost have suggested that they might be, what in fact they were, brothers. The eldest wore the white tie, high waistcoat, and thin-brimmed hat of the regulation curate; the second was the normal undergraduate; the appearance of the third and youngest would hardly have been sufficient to characterize him; there was an uncribbed, uncabined aspect in his eyes and attire, implying that he had hardly as yet found the entrance to his professional groove. That he was a desultory tentative student of something and everything might only have been predicted of him.
These three brethren told casual acquaintance that they were spending their Whitsun holidays in a walking tour through the Vale of Blackmoor, their course being southwesterly from the town of Shaston on the north-east. dh They leant over the gate by the highway, and inquired as to the meaning of the dance and the white-frocked maids. The two elder of the brothers were plainly not intending to linger more than a moment, but the spectacle of a bevy of girls dancing without male partners seemed to amuse the third, and make him in no hurry to move on. He unstrapped his knapsack, put it, with his stick, on the hedge-bank, and opened the gate.
"What are you going to do, Angel?" asked the eldest.
"I am inclined to go and have a fling with them. Why not all of us--just for a minute or two--it will not detain us long?"
"No--no; nonsense!" said the first. "Dancing in public with a troop of country hoydens--suppose we should be seen! Come along, or it will be dark before we get to Stourcastle, and there's no place we can sleep at nearer than that; besides, we must get through another chapter of A COUNTERBLAST TO AGNOSTICISM before we turn in, now I have taken the trouble to bring the book."
"All right--I'll overtake you and Cuthbert in five minutes; don't stop; I give my word that I will, Felix."
The two elder reluctantly left him and walked on, taking their brother's knapsack to relieve him in following, and the youngest entered the field.
"This is a thousand pities," he said gallantly, to two or three of the girls nearest him, as soon as there was a pause in the dance. "Where are your partners, my dears?"
"They've not left off work yet," answered one of the boldest. "They'll be here by and by. Till then, will you be one, sir?"
"Certainly. But what's one among so many!"
"Better than none. 'Tis melancholy work facing and footing it to one of your own sort, and no clipsing and colling at all. Now, pick and choose."
"'Ssh--don't be so for'ard!" said a shyer girl.
The young man, thus invited, clanged them over, and attempted some discrimination; but, as the group were all so new to him, he could not very well exercise it. He took almost the first that came to hand, which was not the speaker, as she had expected; nor did it happen to be Tess Durbeyfield. Pedigree, ancestral skeletons, monumental record, the d'Urberville lineaments, did not help Tess in her life's battle as yet, even to the extent of attracting to her a dancing-partner over the heads of the commonest peasantry. So much for Norman blood unaided by Victorian lucre.
The name of the eclipsing girl, whatever it was, has not been handed down; but she was envied by all as the first who enjoyed the luxury of a masculine partner that evening. Yet such was the force of example that the village young men, who had not hastened to enter the gate while no intruder was in the way, now dropped in quickly, and soon the couples became leavened with rustic youth to a marked extent, till at length the plainest woman in the club was no longer compelled to foot it on the masculine side of the figure.
The church clock struck, when suddenly the student said that he must leave--he had been forgetting himself-- he had to join his companions. As he fell out of the dance his eyes lighted on Tess Durbeyfield, whose own large orbs wore, to tell the truth, the faintest aspect of reproach that he had not chosen her. He, too, was sorry then that, owing to her backwardness, he had not observed her; and with that in his mind he left the pasture.
On account of his long delay he started in a flying-run down the lane westward, and had soon passed the hollow and mounted the next rise. He had not yet overtaken his brothers, but he paused to get breath, and looked back. He could see the white figures of the girls in the green enclosure whirling about as they had whirled when he was among them. They seemed to have quite forgotten him already.
All of them, except, perhaps, one. This white shape stood apart by the hedge alone. From her position he knew it to be the pretty maiden with whom he had not danced. Trifling as the matter was, he yet instinctively felt that she was hurt by his oversight. He wished that he had asked her; he wished that he had inquired her name. She was so modest, so expressive, she had looked so soft in her thin white gown that he felt he had acted stupidly.
However, it could not be helped, and turning, and bending himself to a rapid walk, he dismissed the subject from his mind.