Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented — Chapter I • Paragraph 2145
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That was all she said on the matter. If Tess had been artful, had she made a scene, fainted, wept hysterically, in that lonely lane, notwithstanding the fury of fastidiousness with which he was possessed, he would probably not have withstood her. But her mood of long-suffering made his way easy for him, and she herself was his best advocate. Pride, too, entered into her submission—which perhaps was a symptom of that reckless acquiescence in chance too apparent in the whole d’Urberville family—and the many effective chords which she could have stirred by an appeal were left untouched.