THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE

by Thomas Hardy

CONTENTS

PREFACE

BOOK ONE — THE THREE WOMEN

1—A Face on Which Time Makes but Little Impression

2—Humanity Appears upon the Scene, Hand in Hand with Trouble

3—The Custom of the Country

4—The Halt on the Turnpike Road

5—Perplexity among Honest People

6—The Figure against the Sky

7—Queen of Night

8—Those Who Are Found Where There Is Said to Be Nobody

9—Love Leads a Shrewd Man into Strategy

10—A Desperate Attempt at Persuasion

11—The Dishonesty of an Honest Woman

BOOK TWO — THE ARRIVAL

1—Tidings of the Comer

2—The People at Blooms-End Make Ready

3—How a Little Sound Produced a Great Dream

4—Eustacia Is Led on to an Adventure

5—Through the Moonlight

6—The Two Stand Face to Face

7—A Coalition between Beauty and Oddness

8—Firmness Is Discovered in a Gentle Heart

BOOK THREE — THE FASCINATION

1—"My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is"

2—The New Course Causes Disappointment

3—The First Act in a Timeworn Drama

4—An Hour of Bliss and Many Hours of Sadness

5—Sharp Words Are Spoken, and a Crisis Ensues

6—Yeobright Goes, and the Breach Is Complete

7—The Morning and the Evening of a Day

8—A New Force Disturbs the Current

BOOK FOUR — THE CLOSED DOOR

1—The Rencounter by the Pool

2—He Is Set upon by Adversities but He Sings a Song

3—She Goes Out to Battle against Depression

4—Rough Coercion Is Employed

5—The Journey across the Heath

6—A Conjuncture, and Its Result upon the Pedestrian

7—The Tragic Meeting of Two Old Friends

8—Eustacia Hears of Good Fortune, and Beholds Evil

BOOK FIVE — THE DISCOVERY

1—"Wherefore Is Light Given to Him That Is in Misery"

2—A Lurid Light Breaks in upon a Darkened Understanding

3—Eustacia Dresses Herself on a Black Morning

4—The Ministrations of a Half-forgotten One

5—An Old Move Inadvertently Repeated

6—Thomasin Argues with Her Cousin, and He Writes a Letter

7—The Night of the Sixth of November

8—Rain, Darkness, and Anxious Wanderers

9—Sights and Sounds Draw the Wanderers Together

BOOK SIX — AFTERCOURSES

1—The Inevitable Movement Onward

2—Thomasin Walks in a Green Place by the Roman Road

3—The Serious Discourse of Clym with His Cousin

4—Cheerfulness Again Asserts Itself at Blooms-End, and Clym Finds His