The Return of the Native

Eighteen months have passed since the deaths of Wildeve and Eustacia. They have been mythologized by gossip; the story of their romantic deaths is more intriguing than “long years of wrinkles, neglect, and decay” (366). Thomasin mourns Wildeve, her grief no longer overshadowed by fears of desertion. She has moved into Blooms-End, heir of about 10,000 pounds, a wealthy woman with three servants. Her cousin, Clym, who lives satisfied with 120 pounds a year inherited from his mother, occupies two rooms at the top of the back stairs. He reproaches himself while he wallows in self-pity that he is ill-used by fortune. Winter had come and gone, and both Thomasin and Clym, living in the same house but apart, have narrow lives. He studies from books with large print and walks on the heath, imagining its historical inhabitants.

One day Venn appears at the door of Blooms-End, no longer red. He is the well-dressed owner of a dairy farm with eighty cows. Thomasin, at first frightened, finds him more attractive than before. Fairway constructs a maypole, and Venn has come to ask if they might put it up outside her door. She agrees. The next morning, the villagers come.