Tess of the D'Urbervilles Phase III: "The Rally," Chapter Twenty-Two Summary

  • The next morning, Dairyman Crick is all in a huff because he's had a letter complaining of a funny taste in the butter.
  • He can taste it himself, and realizes that there must be garlic in the fields that the cows have been munching.
  • So all the dairymaids and dairymen gather up and go over every inch of the field in a row, trying to find the offending plants.
  • This, as you can imagine, is very tedious work—like hunting meticulously for a needle in the proverbial haystack.
  • Angel is sure to put himself next to Tess in the row, so that they can speak quietly to each other as they scour the field.
  • After a while, Tess separates herself from the rest of the group, and Angel follows after a few minutes.
  • Tess remarks on how pretty the other dairymaids look, especially Izz and Retty.
  • After this, she tries to avoid Angel as much as possible, to give the other dairymaids a fair chance.
  • After all, she thinks that she can't, in good conscience, marry anyone after having had a baby out of wedlock.