The Return of the Native

The Return of the Native, by
Thomas Hardy

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Hardy
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Title: The Return of the Native
Author: Thomas Hardy

Release Date: January 12, 2006 [eBook #17500]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE
RETURN OF THE NATIVE***
E-text prepared by Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D., and John Hamm

THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE

by
THOMAS HARDY
1912

CONTENTS
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
BOOK FIRST: THE THREE WOMEN
I. A Face on Which Time Makes But Little Impression II. Humanity
Appears upon the Scene, Hand in Hand with Trouble III. The Custom
of the Country IV. The Halt on the Turnpike Road V. Perplexity among
Honest People VI. The Figure against the Sky VII. Queen of Night VIII.
Those Who Are Found Where There Is Said to Be Nobody IX. Love
Leads a Shrewd Man into Strategy X. A Desperate Attempt at
Persuasion XI. The Dishonesty of an Honest Woman
BOOK SECOND: THE ARRIVAL
I. Tidings of the Comer II. The People at Blooms-End Make Ready III.
How a Little Sound Produced a Great Dream IV. Eustacia Is Led On to
an Adventure V. Through the Moonlight VI. The Two Stand Face to
Face VII. A Coalition between Beauty and Oddness VIII. Firmness Is
Discovered in a Gentle Heart
BOOK THIRD: THE FASCINATION
I. "My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is" II. The New Course Causes
Disappointment III. The First Act in a Timeworn Drama IV. An Hour
of Bliss and Many Hours of Sadness V. Sharp Words Are Spoken, and
a Crisis Ensues VI. Yeobright Goes, and the Breach Is Complete VII.
The Morning and the Evening of a Day VIII. A New Force Disturbs the
Current

BOOK FOURTH: THE CLOSED DOOR
I. The Rencounter by the Pool II. He Is Set Upon by Adversities; but
He Sings a Song III. She Goes Out to Battle against Depression IV.
Rough Coercion Is Employed V. The Journey across the Heath VI. A
Conjuncture, and Its Result upon the Pedestrian VII. The Tragic
Meeting of Two Old Friends VIII. Eustacia Hears of Good Fortune, and
Beholds Evil
BOOK FIFTH: THE DISCOVERY
I. "Wherefore Is Light Given to Him That Is in Misery" II. A Lurid
Light Breaks In upon a Darkened Understanding III. Eustacia Dresses
Herself on a Black Morning IV. The Ministrations of a Half-Forgotten
One V. An Old Move Inadvertently Repeated VI. Thomasin Argues
with Her Cousin, and He Writes a Letter VII. The Night of the Sixth of
November VIII. Rain, Darkness, and Anxious Wanderers IX. Sights
and Sounds Draw the Wanderers Together
BOOK SIXTH: AFTERCOURSES
I. The Inevitable Movement Onward II. Thomasin Walks in a Green
Place by the Roman Road III. The Serious Discourse of Clym with His
Cousin IV. Cheerfulness Again Asserts Itself at Blooms-End, and Clym
Finds His Vocation

"To sorrow I bade good morrow, And thought to leave her far away
behind; But cheerly, cheerly, She loves me dearly; She is so constant to
me, and so kind. I would deceive her, And so leave her, But ah! she is
so constant and so kind."

AUTHOR'S PREFACE
The date at which the following events are assumed to have occurred
may be set down as between 1840 and 1850, when the old

watering-place herein called "Budmouth" still retained sufficient
afterglow from its Georgian gaiety and prestige to lend it an absorbing
attractiveness to the romantic and imaginative soul of a lonely dweller
inland.
Under the general name of "Egdon Heath," which has been given to the
sombre scene of the story, are united or typified heaths of various real
names, to the number of at least a dozen; these being virtually one in
character and aspect, though their original unity, or partial unity, is now
somewhat disguised by intrusive strips and slices brought under the
plough with varying degrees of success, or planted to woodland.
It is pleasant to dream that some spot in the extensive tract whose
south-western quarter is here described, may be the heath of that
traditionary King of Wessex--Lear.
July 1895

POSTSCRIPT
To prevent disappointment to searchers for scenery it should be added
that though the action of the narrative is supposed to proceed in the
central and most secluded part of the heaths united into one whole, as
above described, certain topographical features resembling those
delineated really lie on the margin of the waste, several miles to the
westward of the centre. In some other respects also there