I see that your tubs and buckets are packed together. Going away, aren't you?'
'Yes, to-morrow—Old Lady-Day.'
'I heard you were, but could hardly believe it; it seems so sudden. Why is it?'
'Father's was the last life on the property, and when that dropped we had no further right to bide. Though we might, perhaps, have stayed as weekly tenants—if it had not been for me.'
'What about you?'
'I am not a—proper woman.'
D'Urberville's face flushed.
'What an infernal shame! Miserable snobs! May their dirty souls be burnt to cinders!' he exclaimed in tones of fierce resentment. 'That's why you are going, is it? Turned out!'
'We are not turned out exactly; but as they said we should have to go soon, it was best to go now everybody was moving, because there are better chances.'
'Where are you going to?'
'Kingsbere. We have taken rooms there. Mother is so foolish about father's people that she will go there.'
'But your mother's family are not fit for
