Tess of the d'Urbervilles Phase II: Maiden No More Chapter 12

In which Tess, burdened with heavy thoughts and her physical load, returns to her native village under the cold light of an October dawn, encountering Alec d’Urberville once more and facing the bitter realities of their estranged connection. Along a rural lane, she meets a zealous artisan inscribing fiery biblical admonitions that haunt her conscience, and at home she reveals her sorrowful tale to a bewildered mother who neither fathoms her daughter's ordeal nor the full measure of female innocence betrayed.