Tess of the D'Urbervilles Phase VII: "Fulfillment," Chapter Fifty-Seven Summary

  • Angel, meanwhile, has walked back to his hotel.
  • He receives a telegram saying that his brother is engaged to marry Mercy Chant.
  • He decides to leave Sandbourne immediately, and sets out along the road.
  • Tess sees him in the street, and catches up to him at a run.
  • She says that she's killed Alec, and that she owed it to herself and to Angel, for what Alec had done to her when she was young, and for coming between them again now.
  • Angel is horrified, but he only thinks of protecting her and swears never to desert her, no matter what she's done.
  • They set out from the city, walking in a random direction, with no more plans than a couple of kids playing hooky.
  • They decide to head towards London. Angel hopes that they'll be able to get passage on a ship and go to some remote corner of the world together.
  • They walk for more than twenty miles before wearing out.
  • They find an abandoned mansion to spend the night in, and sneak in through one of the windows.
  • The caretaker of the mansion comes in to check the windows that evening, but doesn't enter the room where Tess and Angel have hidden themselves, and they spend the night there.