Adam made no reply to that, and no other word but "good-night" passed
between them.



Chapter XXXI

In Hetty's Bed-Chamber Poor wandering Hetty, with the rounded childish face and the hard,
unloving, despairing soul looking out of it--with the narrow heart "Hetty," she said gently, "do you know who it is that sits by your
side?"

"Yes," Hetty answered slowly, "it's Dinah." Hetty did not speak, but Adam's face was very close to hers, and she
put up her round cheek against his, like a kitten. She wanted to be
caressed--she wanted to feel as if Arthur were with her again. Adam cared for no words after that, and they hardly spoke through the
rest of the walk. He only said, "I may tell your uncle and aunt, mayn't
I, Hetty?" and she said, "Yes." But they started asunder with beating hearts: something had fallen on
the ground with a rattling noise; it was Hetty's basket; all her little "Why," said Martin, looking with sharper attention at Adam, "ye look
bad. Is there anything happened?"

"Yes," said Adam, heavily. "A sad thing's happened. I didna find Hetty
at Snowfield." hands. At last Hetty whispered, "I did do it, Dinah...I buried it in the
wood...the little baby...and it cried...I heard it cry...ever such a way The old woman had seen the ghastly look of fear in Adam's face. But he
was not stunned or confounded: he was thinking eagerly where he could
inquire about Hetty. It was an ill-smelling close place, but warm, and there was straw on
the ground. Hetty sank down on the straw with a sense of escape. Tears "Dinah," Hetty sobbed out, throwing her arms round Dinah's neck, "I will
speak...I will tell...I won't hide it any more." Adam assented silently. A puzzled alarm had taken possession of him. Had
Hetty a lover he didn't know of? For none of her relations, he was sure, "Look there! She's fainting," said the landlady, hastening to support
Hetty, who had lost her miserable consciousness and looked like a
beautiful corpse. They carried her to the sofa and loosened her dress. Adam answered with a half-sob, "Yes, I forgive thee Hetty. I forgave
thee long ago." How Hetty's heart beat as Arthur approached her! He had hardly looked at
her to-day: now he must take her hand. Would he press it? Would he look of him. It was the supreme moment of his suffering: Hetty was guilty;
and he was silently calling to God for help. He heard no more of the
evidence, and was unconscious when the case for the prosecution had Again there was a slight startled movement through Hetty's frame,
and without uncovering her face, she raised her head a little, as if
listening.

"Hetty...Dinah is come to you." Adam's words relieved one of Hetty's fears, but they also carried a
meaning which sickened her with a strengthened foreboding. She was pale "No, I've never seen her, child--at least not as she is now," said Mrs.
Irwine, continuing to look at Hetty. "Well-looking, indeed! She's a "And tell him," Hetty said, in rather a stronger voice, "tell him...for
there's nobody else to tell him...as I went after him and couldn't find
"Hetty," she said gently, "do you know who it is that sits by your
side?"

"Yes," Hetty answered slowly, "it's Dinah." It was an ill-smelling close place, but warm, and there was straw on
the ground. Hetty sank down on the straw with a sense of escape. Tears hands. At last Hetty whispered, "I did do it, Dinah...I buried it in the
wood...the little baby...and it cried...I heard it cry...ever such a way faces by. Dinah stood still for a minute, hesitating to speak because
Hetty might be asleep, and looking at the motionless heap with a
yearning heart. Then she said, softly, "Hetty!" Again there was a slight startled movement through Hetty's frame,
and without uncovering her face, she raised her head a little, as if
listening.

"Hetty...Dinah is come to you." But they started asunder with beating hearts: something had fallen on
the ground with a rattling noise; it was Hetty's basket; all her little Hetty did not speak, but Adam's face was very close to hers, and she
put up her round cheek against his, like a kitten. She wanted to be
caressed--she wanted to feel as if Arthur were with her again. rescue of this helpless one. At last she was prompted to speak and find
out how far Hetty was conscious of the present. "Look there! She's fainting," said the landlady, hastening to support
Hetty, who had lost her miserable consciousness and looked like a
beautiful corpse. They carried her to the sofa and loosened her dress. "Speak to him, Hetty," Dinah said; "tell him what is in your heart."

Hetty obeyed her, like a little child. "And tell him," Hetty said, in rather a stronger voice, "tell him...for
there's nobody else to tell him...as I went after him and couldn't find what was considered Hetty's proper work. But now she came forward, and,
putting out her arms, said, "Come Totty, come and let Dinah carry her leaving Hetty more at ease. He lingered, because he wanted to see her
safely through that evening, and he was delighted to find how much By this time Molly had come with bonnet and shawl, and as soon as she
had taken Totty, Adam placed the locket in Hetty's hand. She took it Slowly, while Dinah was speaking, Hetty rose, took a step forward, and
was clasped in Dinah's arms. Adam made no reply to that, and no other word but "good-night" passed
between them.



Chapter XXXI

In Hetty's Bed-Chamber "Dinah," Hetty sobbed out, throwing her arms round Dinah's neck, "I will
speak...I will tell...I won't hide it any more." Hetty told her she was quite well this morning. She had only been very
tired and overcome with her journey, for she had come a long way to ask Dinah, having taken off her bonnet and shawl, had hitherto kept quietly
seated in the background, not liking to thrust herself between Hetty and Seth in these parting moments. But when they saw Hetty, they paused and
shook hands; Seth turned homewards, and Dinah came on alone.
town would tell him the way to Sloman's End. So Adam got on his horse
again and rode to the town, putting up at the old inn and taking a himself to the Saracen's Head, which was doing a thriving business in
the back street of a neighbouring market-town. But, oddly enough, he has Dinah. It was at a thatched cottage outside the town, a little way from
the mill--an old cottage, standing sideways towards the road, with a THE next Saturday evening there was much excited discussion at the
Donnithorne Arms concerning an incident which had occurred that very his own home, only not quite so charming. Here was a market-town--very
much like Treddleston--where the arms of the neighbouring lord of the Stoniton, and when she got down at the inn where the coach stopped, she
hastened away with her basket to another part of the town. When she And another evening she was gone to Treddleston to buy some things;
though, to his great surprise, as he was returning home, he saw her at Book Two




Chapter XVII

In Which the Story Pauses a Little afterwards, and I trust her heart is touched. But I've noticed that
in these villages where the people lead a quiet life among the green
pastures and the still waters, tilling the ground and tending the The old squire's funeral had taken place that morning, the will had been
read, and now in the first breathing-space, Arthur Donnithorne had come He hastened out of the cottage, and the old woman followed him to the
gate, watching him sadly with her shaking head as he almost ran towards
the town. He was going to inquire at the place where the Oakbourne coach
stopped. "And then I got to Stoniton, and I began to feel frightened that night,
because I was so near home. And then the little baby was born, when I Windsor, they told her. Oh what a large world it was, and what hard work
for her to find her way in it! She went by mistake to Stratford-on-Avon, All hands worked on in silence for some minutes, until the church clock
began to strike six. Before the first stroke had died away, Sandy Jim About a quarter to seven there was an unusual appearance of excitement
in the village of Hayslope, and through the whole length of its It was an ill-smelling close place, but warm, and there was straw on
the ground. Hetty sank down on the straw with a sense of escape. Tears It was after twelve o'clock on Tuesday night when Adam reached
Treddleston; and, unwilling to disturb his mother and Seth, and also before a door at which he knocked gently. "Come in," said a woman's
voice, and he entered a room so darkened by blinds and curtains that AN upper room in a dull Stoniton street, with two beds in it--one laid
on the floor. It is ten o'clock on Thursday night, and the dark wall "Close by here. I inquired all about him of Mr. Irwine. He lodges over
a tinman's shop, in the street on the right hand as you entered the
They sat down opposite each other in the old places, and Arthur said,
"I'm going away, Adam; I'm going into the army." With a "good-bye," a bright glance, and a bow to Hetty Arthur left the
dairy. But he was mistaken in imagining himself waited for. The rector Arthur wanted to go home without saying any more--he was too painfully
embarrassed in mind, as well as too weak in body, to wish for any Arthur cantered for five miles beyond the Chase, till he was at the foot
of a hill where there were no hedges or trees to hem in the road. Then
he threw the bridle on Meg's neck and prepared to make up his mind. Arthur had passed the village of Hayslope and was approaching the
Broxton side of the hill, when, at a turning in the road, he saw a himself. Perhaps the whole thing had been contrived by him, and he had
given her directions how to follow him to Ireland--for Adam knew that
Arthur had been gone thither three weeks ago, having recently learnt it These were Arthur's chief thoughts, so far as a man's thoughts through
hours of travelling can be compressed into a few sentences, which are then, when she got to Stoniton, where nobody knew her, she would ask
for the coach that would take her on the way to Windsor. Arthur was at
Windsor, and she would go to him. Arthur gave his horse to the groom at the rectory gate, and walked along
the gravel towards the door which opened on the garden. He knew that the except Hetty, who knew now where Arthur was gone, but was only the
more puzzled and uneasy. For it appeared that his absence was quite Arthur rose from his seat with the last words, and went to one of the
windows, looking out and turning his back on Adam, as he continued, There was no answer for some moments. Then Arthur said, "I'll see you
to-morrow. I can bear no more now; I'm ill." He rose as he spoke, and
reached his cap, as if intending to go. away. And she was gone to him. The old indignation and jealousy
rose again, and prompted the suspicion that Arthur had been dealing "What I want to say to you," Arthur continued, "is this: one of my
reasons for going away is that no one else may leave Hayslope--may leave matter to attend to, Arthur," continued Mr. Irwine, rising to leave the
room, "and then I shall be ready to set out with you." Arthur had no sooner come to this determination than he began to think
which of the paths would lead him home, and made as short a walk thither As for Arthur, he rushed back through the wood, as if he wanted to put
a wide space between himself and Hetty. He would not go to the Hermitage It was a long while--more than an hour before Arthur had brought his
meditations to this point; but once arrived there, he could stay no Arthur read no more. He started up from his chair and stood for a single
minute with a sense of violent convulsion in his whole frame, as if the trust. She must run away; she must hide herself where no familiar eyes
could detect her; and then the terror of wandering out into the world,
of which she knew nothing, made the possibility of going to Arthur a
agonizing fears. Hetty had been deceiving herself in thinking that she
could love and marry him: she had been loving Arthur all the while; and
now, in her desperation at the nearness of their marriage, she had run love Adam well enough to marry him. She saw too clearly the absence of
any warm, self-devoting love in Hetty's nature to regard the coldness of
her behaviour towards Adam as any indication that he was not the man Hetty, of allowing himself any opportunity for such slight caresses as
he had been betrayed into already--than he refused to believe such a
future possible for himself. To flirt with Hetty was a very different think of marrying. It would always be a hard struggle with his mother,
he knew: she would be jealous of any wife he might choose, and she had
set her mind especially against Hetty--perhaps for no other reason than influence lasts, for he was certainly not in love with Hetty now. He
had been earnestly desiring, for months, that she should marry Adam,
and there was nothing that contributed more to his happiness in these her, and so shut himself out from Mary Burge and the partnership as
effectually as by marrying Hetty. Snowfield and said "it was no use--Dinah's heart wasna turned towards
marrying." For when he told his mother that Hetty was willing they "Why, you're not very fit for travelling," she said, glancing while she
spoke at Hetty's ringless hand. "Have you come far?" which cannot possibly happen. For, dear Hetty, if I were to do what you
one day spoke of, and make you my wife, I should do what you yourself Arthur dared not turn his eyes towards Hetty while Mrs. Irwine was
speaking of her. He feigned not to hear, and to be occupied with And Hetty? You know quite well that Adam was mistaken about her. Like
many other men, he thought the signs of love for another were signs of wi' telling her as her aunt wants her, for all she writes o' not being
able to come." Hetty had not liked the thought of going to Snowfield, When Hetty was gone upstairs he said, "I canna make it out as she should
want to go away, for I thought she'd got a mind t' Adam Bede. She's
looked like it o' late." Dinah paused and released Hetty's hands that she might not hinder her.
Hetty sat quite still; she felt no response within herself to Dinah's "Hey, hey," said Mr. Poyser, while Hetty stood without moving, "not go
to Cousin Hetty? That's like a babby. Totty's a little woman, an' not a
babby." "Speak to him, Hetty," Dinah said; "tell him what is in your heart."

Hetty obeyed her, like a little child. Adam assented silently. A puzzled alarm had taken possession of him. Had
Hetty a lover he didn't know of? For none of her relations, he was sure, The blood rushed to Hetty's face with anger. "I belong to respectable
folks," she said; "I'm not a thief." last view of the matter must be the true one. How could Hetty have
an accepted lover, quite unknown to him? She was never away from her that she suspected Hetty to be the woman he HAD chosen. It would never
do, he feared, for his mother to live in the same house with him when
"Hetty Sorrel is in prison, and will be tried on Friday for the crime of
child-murder."... of him. It was the supreme moment of his suffering: Hetty was guilty;
and he was silently calling to God for help. He heard no more of the
evidence, and was unconscious when the case for the prosecution had The effect of this evidence on Adam was electrical; it gave him new
force. Hetty could not be guilty of the crime--her heart must have clung The blood rushed to Hetty's face, and then fled back again as she
looked up at the judge and kept her wide-open eyes fixed on him, as if And Hetty? You know quite well that Adam was mistaken about her. Like
many other men, he thought the signs of love for another were signs of "Yes," said Hetty. Then, after a pause, she added, "But you can do
nothing for me. You can't make 'em do anything. They'll hang me o'
Monday--it's Friday now." and Hetty had brought disgrace on them all--disgrace that could never
be wiped out. That was the all-conquering feeling in the mind both of "Dinah," Hetty sobbed out, throwing her arms round Dinah's neck, "I will
speak...I will tell...I won't hide it any more." hands. At last Hetty whispered, "I did do it, Dinah...I buried it in the
wood...the little baby...and it cried...I heard it cry...ever such a way "Hetty," she said gently, "do you know who it is that sits by your
side?"

"Yes," Hetty answered slowly, "it's Dinah." Adam answered with a half-sob, "Yes, I forgive thee Hetty. I forgave
thee long ago." All Stoniton had heard of Dinah Morris, the young Methodist woman who
had brought the obstinate criminal to confess, and there was as much
eagerness to see her as to see the wretched Hetty. Hetty did not speak, but Adam's face was very close to hers, and she
put up her round cheek against his, like a kitten. She wanted to be
caressed--she wanted to feel as if Arthur were with her again. It was an ill-smelling close place, but warm, and there was straw on
the ground. Hetty sank down on the straw with a sense of escape. Tears Again there was a slight startled movement through Hetty's frame,
and without uncovering her face, she raised her head a little, as if
listening.

"Hetty...Dinah is come to you." But they started asunder with beating hearts: something had fallen on
the ground with a rattling noise; it was Hetty's basket; all her little Adam had not been shaken in his belief that Hetty was innocent of the
crime she was charged with, for Mr. Irwine, feeling that the belief in The blood rushed to Hetty's face with anger. "I belong to respectable
folks," she said; "I'm not a thief." Arthur Donnithorne, too, had the same sort of notion about Hetty, so
far as he had thought of her nature of all. He felt sure she was a "Speak to him, Hetty," Dinah said; "tell him what is in your heart."

Hetty obeyed her, like a little child.
"Hetty," she said gently, "do you know who it is that sits by your
side?"

"Yes," Hetty answered slowly, "it's Dinah." rescue of this helpless one. At last she was prompted to speak and find
out how far Hetty was conscious of the present. Adam answered with a half-sob, "Yes, I forgive thee Hetty. I forgave
thee long ago." Hetty did not speak, but Adam's face was very close to hers, and she
put up her round cheek against his, like a kitten. She wanted to be
caressed--she wanted to feel as if Arthur were with her again. "Dinah," Hetty sobbed out, throwing her arms round Dinah's neck, "I will
speak...I will tell...I won't hide it any more." It was an ill-smelling close place, but warm, and there was straw on
the ground. Hetty sank down on the straw with a sense of escape. Tears Slowly, while Dinah was speaking, Hetty rose, took a step forward, and
was clasped in Dinah's arms. How Hetty's heart beat as Arthur approached her! He had hardly looked at
her to-day: now he must take her hand. Would he press it? Would he look Arthur had laid his hand on the soft arm that was nearest to him, and
was stooping towards Hetty with a look of coaxing entreaty. Hetty lifted Adam made no reply to that, and no other word but "good-night" passed
between them.



Chapter XXXI

In Hetty's Bed-Chamber "Speak to him, Hetty," Dinah said; "tell him what is in your heart."

Hetty obeyed her, like a little child. of him. It was the supreme moment of his suffering: Hetty was guilty;
and he was silently calling to God for help. He heard no more of the
evidence, and was unconscious when the case for the prosecution had leaving Hetty more at ease. He lingered, because he wanted to see her
safely through that evening, and he was delighted to find how much "And tell him," Hetty said, in rather a stronger voice, "tell him...for
there's nobody else to tell him...as I went after him and couldn't find The old woman had seen the ghastly look of fear in Adam's face. But he
was not stunned or confounded: he was thinking eagerly where he could
inquire about Hetty. faces by. Dinah stood still for a minute, hesitating to speak because
Hetty might be asleep, and looking at the motionless heap with a
yearning heart. Then she said, softly, "Hetty!" And Hetty? You know quite well that Adam was mistaken about her. Like
many other men, he thought the signs of love for another were signs of agonizing fears. Hetty had been deceiving herself in thinking that she
could love and marry him: she had been loving Arthur all the while; and
now, in her desperation at the nearness of their marriage, she had run The blood rushed to Hetty's face, and then fled back again as she
looked up at the judge and kept her wide-open eyes fixed on him, as if Again there was a slight startled movement through Hetty's frame,
and without uncovering her face, she raised her head a little, as if
listening.

"Hetty...Dinah is come to you."
his mother, but it was a case in which he must make her feel that his
will was strong--it would be better for her in the end. For himself,
he would have liked that they should all live together till Seth was skill. The money gained in this way, with the good wages he received
as foreman, would soon enable them to get beforehand with the world,
so sparingly as they would all live now. No sooner had this little Edenlike peace and loveliness, the stalwart strength of the two brothers
in their rusty working clothes, and the long coffin on their shoulders.
They paused for the last time before a small farmhouse outside the And they walked on so in silence, while the warm tears fell. Adam was
content, and said nothing. It was Dinah who spoke first. herself. There is but one thing left to her: she must go away, go where
they can't find her. afterwards, and I trust her heart is touched. But I've noticed that
in these villages where the people lead a quiet life among the green
pastures and the still waters, tilling the ground and tending the business of his own, which he and Seth will carry on, and will perhaps
be able to enlarge by degrees. So he has agreed at last, and I have into rest. He conceived no picture of the future but one made up of
hard-working days such as he lived through, with growing contentment and
intensity of interest, every fresh week. Love, he thought, could never It was a long time before the convulsed throat was quiet, and even
then they sat some time in stillness and darkness, holding each other's fields, and who would now have a place in her loving remembrance for
ever. She thought of the struggles and the weariness that might lie
before them in the rest of their life's journey, when she would be away So, when the good-byes had been said, Dinah and Adam left the Hall Farm
together.



Chapter L

In the Cottage "Well, Mrs. Bede," said Mrs. Poyser, as they walked on together, "you
must keep up your heart; husbands and wives must be content when they've
lived to rear their children and see one another's hair grey." Adam paused and looked into her sincere eyes.

"Then we'll never part any more, Dinah, till death parts us."

And they kissed each other with a deep joy. her life Hetty wished no one would look at her. She set out walking
again; but this day she was fortunate, for she was soon overtaken by Jonathan Burge and settle with his mother and Seth in a home within
reach of the friends to whom he felt bound by a mutual sorrow. And when they were all gone, the old man leaned on the gate again,
watching them across the lane along the Home Close, and through the should all live together and there was no more need of them to think of
parting, she said, in a more contented tone than he had heard her speak But they started asunder with beating hearts: something had fallen on
the ground with a rattling noise; it was Hetty's basket; all her little With this exit speech, which he considered effective, Wiry Ben
shouldered his basket and left the workshop, quickly followed by Mum
Taft and Sandy Jim. Seth lingered, and looked wistfully at Adam, as if
he expected him to say something. Chapter LIV

The Meeting on the Hill
That was Adam's state of mind in this second autumn of his sorrow. His
work, as you know, had always been part of his religion, and from very For Adam, though you see him quite master of himself, working hard and
delighting in his work after his inborn inalienable nature, had not "Well, Adam, how are you?" said Arthur, holding out his hand. He never
shook hands with any of the farmers, and Adam felt the honour keenly. "I As Adam was getting over a stile at this point in his reflections, he
perceived a man walking along the field before him. He knew it was Seth,
returning from an evening preaching, and made haste to overtake him. the world of a masculine kind. But tell me about Adam. Has he accepted
the post? I don't see that it can be much more profitable than his "Yes," said Adam, pleased to have her ask a question about himself. "Ten
years ago, when I was a lad, I went with father to see about some work Chapter XIX

Adam on a Working Day "Sit down here." He pointed to a chair just opposite to him, at no more
than a yard's distance from his own, and Adam sat down with a sense It's a little drama I've got up in honour of my friend Adam. He's a fine
fellow, and I like the opportunity of letting people know that I think
so." Adam spoke these words with the firm distinctness of a man who is
resolved to leave nothing unsaid that he is bound to say; but he went on
with more hesitation. Adam was unable to speak. The strong man, accustomed to suppress the
signs of sorrow, had felt his heart swell like a child's at this first
approach of sympathy. He fell on Seth's neck and sobbed. until the tall slim figure in deep mourning suddenly stood before him at
only two yards' distance. They both started, and looked at each other
in silence. Often, in the last fortnight, Adam had imagined himself Adam had refolded the letter, and was sitting meditatively with his head
resting on his arm at the head of the bed, when Seth came upstairs.

"Hast read the letter?" said Seth. You would hardly have known it was Adam without being told. His face has
got thinner this last week: he has the sunken eyes, the neglected beard work, takes to preachin' an' that, like Seth Bede. But you see Adam, as
has got one o' the best head-pieces hereabout, knows better; he's a good interests of those who employ him as for his own. I'm proud to say that
I was very fond of Adam when I was a little boy, and I have never lost Adam had on his working-dress again, now, for he had thrown off the
other with a sense of relief as soon as he came home; and if he had had see her quite well. And so the time passed pleasantly till Adam got up
to go. He was pressed to come again soon, but not to stay longer, for at But Adam had been refreshed by his long rest, and with his habitual
impatience of mere passivity, he was eager to begin the new day and with a letter in his hand and gave it to Adam, saying that the captain
was too busy to see him, and had written everything he had to say.
The letter was directed to Adam, but he went out of doors again before
"Hetty Sorrel is in prison, and will be tried on Friday for the crime of
child-murder."... of him. It was the supreme moment of his suffering: Hetty was guilty;
and he was silently calling to God for help. He heard no more of the
evidence, and was unconscious when the case for the prosecution had The blood rushed to Hetty's face, and then fled back again as she
looked up at the judge and kept her wide-open eyes fixed on him, as if And Hetty? You know quite well that Adam was mistaken about her. Like
many other men, he thought the signs of love for another were signs of The effect of this evidence on Adam was electrical; it gave him new
force. Hetty could not be guilty of the crime--her heart must have clung Hetty did not speak, but Adam's face was very close to hers, and she
put up her round cheek against his, like a kitten. She wanted to be
caressed--she wanted to feel as if Arthur were with her again. Hetty, of allowing himself any opportunity for such slight caresses as
he had been betrayed into already--than he refused to believe such a
future possible for himself. To flirt with Hetty was a very different Adam made no reply to that, and no other word but "good-night" passed
between them.



Chapter XXXI

In Hetty's Bed-Chamber But they started asunder with beating hearts: something had fallen on
the ground with a rattling noise; it was Hetty's basket; all her little The blood rushed to Hetty's face with anger. "I belong to respectable
folks," she said; "I'm not a thief." Arthur Donnithorne, too, had the same sort of notion about Hetty, so
far as he had thought of her nature of all. He felt sure she was a "That man played with Hetty's feelings, and behaved to her as he'd no
right to do to a girl in her station o' life--made her presents and used "Hetty," she said gently, "do you know who it is that sits by your
side?"

"Yes," Hetty answered slowly, "it's Dinah." Again there was a slight startled movement through Hetty's frame,
and without uncovering her face, she raised her head a little, as if
listening.

"Hetty...Dinah is come to you." What a strange contrast the two figures made, visible enough in that
mingled twilight and moonlight! Hetty, her cheeks flushed and her eyes "Speak to him, Hetty," Dinah said; "tell him what is in your heart."

Hetty obeyed her, like a little child. It was an ill-smelling close place, but warm, and there was straw on
the ground. Hetty sank down on the straw with a sense of escape. Tears "Yes," said Hetty. Then, after a pause, she added, "But you can do
nothing for me. You can't make 'em do anything. They'll hang me o'
Monday--it's Friday now." and Hetty had brought disgrace on them all--disgrace that could never
be wiped out. That was the all-conquering feeling in the mind both of the strongest suspicions without any proof of guilt. His mind was so
occupied with imaginary arguments against such suspicions, that he
could not listen to the cross-examination by Hetty's counsel, who tried,
"Hetty," she said gently, "do you know who it is that sits by your
side?"

"Yes," Hetty answered slowly, "it's Dinah." "Yes," said Hetty. Then, after a pause, she added, "But you can do
nothing for me. You can't make 'em do anything. They'll hang me o'
Monday--it's Friday now." "I want to go to Hetty Sorrel, the young woman who has been condemned
to death--and to stay with her, if I may be permitted. Have you power in
the prison, sir?" "Dinah," Hetty sobbed out, throwing her arms round Dinah's neck, "I will
speak...I will tell...I won't hide it any more." "No, Hetty, I won't leave you. I'll stay with you to the last....But,
Hetty, there is some one else in this cell besides me, some one close to
you." "And tell him," Hetty said, in rather a stronger voice, "tell him...for
there's nobody else to tell him...as I went after him and couldn't find The blood rushed to Hetty's face, and then fled back again as she
looked up at the judge and kept her wide-open eyes fixed on him, as if Adam answered with a half-sob, "Yes, I forgive thee Hetty. I forgave
thee long ago." "You will go with me to Stoniton, Adam?" he said again, after a moment's
pause. "We have to see if it is really Hetty who is there, you know." "Speak to him, Hetty," Dinah said; "tell him what is in your heart."

Hetty obeyed her, like a little child. Hetty did not speak, but Adam's face was very close to hers, and she
put up her round cheek against his, like a kitten. She wanted to be
caressed--she wanted to feel as if Arthur were with her again. and cunning as he was himself. As for any real harm in Hetty's case, it
was out of the question: Arthur Donnithorne accepted his own bond for
himself with perfect confidence. Slowly, while Dinah was speaking, Hetty rose, took a step forward, and
was clasped in Dinah's arms. faces by. Dinah stood still for a minute, hesitating to speak because
Hetty might be asleep, and looking at the motionless heap with a
yearning heart. Then she said, softly, "Hetty!" Hetty obeyed Dinah's movement, and sank on her knees. They still held
each other's hands, and there was long silence. Then Dinah said, "Hetty, you hang on my arm, Hetty?" in a pleading tone, as if he had already
asked her and she had refused. Hetty looked up at him smilingly and put Hetty said, "Very well." She was really as anxious as Adam was that she
should have some private talk with him. She wondered what he thought of How Hetty's heart beat as Arthur approached her! He had hardly looked at
her to-day: now he must take her hand. Would he press it? Would he look of him. It was the supreme moment of his suffering: Hetty was guilty;
and he was silently calling to God for help. He heard no more of the
evidence, and was unconscious when the case for the prosecution had Adam assented silently. A puzzled alarm had taken possession of him. Had
Hetty a lover he didn't know of? For none of her relations, he was sure,
of him. It was the supreme moment of his suffering: Hetty was guilty;
and he was silently calling to God for help. He heard no more of the
evidence, and was unconscious when the case for the prosecution had The blood rushed to Hetty's face, and then fled back again as she
looked up at the judge and kept her wide-open eyes fixed on him, as if "Yes," said Hetty. Then, after a pause, she added, "But you can do
nothing for me. You can't make 'em do anything. They'll hang me o'
Monday--it's Friday now." Adam made no reply to that, and no other word but "good-night" passed
between them.



Chapter XXXI

In Hetty's Bed-Chamber "Hetty Sorrel is in prison, and will be tried on Friday for the crime of
child-murder."... weary prisoner might think of the possible pillory. They would think her
conduct shameful, and shame was torture. That was poor little Hetty's
conscience. then to be hanged by the neck till you be dead," a piercing shriek rang
through the hall. It was Hetty's shriek. Adam started to his feet and wi' telling her as her aunt wants her, for all she writes o' not being
able to come." Hetty had not liked the thought of going to Snowfield, And Hetty? You know quite well that Adam was mistaken about her. Like
many other men, he thought the signs of love for another were signs of The effect of this evidence on Adam was electrical; it gave him new
force. Hetty could not be guilty of the crime--her heart must have clung Hetty, of allowing himself any opportunity for such slight caresses as
he had been betrayed into already--than he refused to believe such a
future possible for himself. To flirt with Hetty was a very different Hetty did not speak, but Adam's face was very close to hers, and she
put up her round cheek against his, like a kitten. She wanted to be
caressed--she wanted to feel as if Arthur were with her again. "And tell him," Hetty said, in rather a stronger voice, "tell him...for
there's nobody else to tell him...as I went after him and couldn't find "Hetty," she said gently, "do you know who it is that sits by your
side?"

"Yes," Hetty answered slowly, "it's Dinah." It was very much in this way that our friend Adam Bede thought about
Hetty; only he put his thoughts into different words. If ever she At three o'clock that day, when Hetty was on the coach that was to take
her, they said, to Leicester--part of the long, long way to Windsor--she Hetty told her she was quite well this morning. She had only been very
tired and overcome with her journey, for she had come a long way to ask It was an ill-smelling close place, but warm, and there was straw on
the ground. Hetty sank down on the straw with a sense of escape. Tears influence lasts, for he was certainly not in love with Hetty now. He
had been earnestly desiring, for months, that she should marry Adam,
and there was nothing that contributed more to his happiness in these "Speak to him, Hetty," Dinah said; "tell him what is in your heart."

Hetty obeyed her, like a little child.
And Hetty? You know quite well that Adam was mistaken about her. Like
many other men, he thought the signs of love for another were signs of love towards himself. When Adam was approaching unseen by her, she was
absorbed as usual in thinking and wondering about Arthur's possible
return. The sound of any man's footstep would have affected her just in "Dear, dear Hetty, sweet as our love has been to me, sweet as it would
be to me for you to love me always, I feel that it would have been "Dinah," he said suddenly, taking both her hands between his, "I love
you with my whole heart and soul. I love you next to God who made me." with silk clocks to them; for he must love her very much--no one else
had ever put his arm round her and kissed her in that way. He would want sure they could never love anything more insignificant than a Diana, and
yet have found themselves in middle life happily settled with a wife who
waddles. Yes! Thank God; human feeling is like the mighty rivers that that he loved her and would not care to look at Mary Burge. He could no
more stir in her the emotions that make the sweet intoxication of young
love than the mere picture of a sun can stir the spring sap in the "Because, Hetty, you are shutting up your soul against him, by trying
to hide the truth. God's love and mercy can overcome all things--our picture she is the central figure in fine clothes; Captain Donnithorne
is very close to her, putting his arm round her, perhaps kissing her,
and everybody else is admiring and envying her--especially Mary Burge, "But now, dear, dear Dinah, now you know I love you better than you love
me...it's all different now. You won't think o' going. You'll stay, and Seth and said, in her tender but calm treble notes, "Seth Bede, I thank
you for your love towards me, and if I could think of any man as more agonizing fears. Hetty had been deceiving herself in thinking that she
could love and marry him: she had been loving Arthur all the while; and
now, in her desperation at the nearness of their marriage, she had run hanging over the orchard wall, within sight of everybody, and everybody
must long for her! To be sure, if she loved him very much, she would be from her, full of one thought, and a thought of which she only is the
object. He is going to see Hetty again: that is the longing which has "Adam," Arthur said, impelled to full confession now, "it would never
have happened if I'd known you loved her. That would have helped to save with a terrible pang that there was something in Hetty's life unknown to
him; that while he had been rocking himself in the hope that she would
come to love him, she was already loving another. The pleasure of the both told Mr. Irwine all about it--that Adam had been deeply in love
with Hetty these two years, and that now it was agreed they were to be Dinah's confession that Sunday afternoon. There is a wonderful amount
of sustenance in the first few words of love. But towards the middle
of October the resolution began to dwindle perceptibly, and showed That is a simple scene, reader. But it is almost certain that you, too,
have been in love--perhaps, even, more than once, though you may not me," he said to himself, "to love her and know as she loves me. I shall
look t' her to help me to see things right. For she's better than I
to her baby--else why should she have taken it with her? She might have
left it behind. The little creature had died naturally, and then she
had hidden it. Babies were so liable to death--and there might be choppings, and took out the child. It had got comfortable clothes on,
but its body was cold, and I thought it must be dead. I made haste back I was in the wood and heard the cry. I don't know what I felt till I saw
the baby was gone. And when I'd put it there, I thought I should like how I felt about the baby. I seemed to hate it--it was like a heavy
weight hanging round my neck; and yet its crying went through me, and I of me. And I stooped down on hands and knees to pick it up. And I saw it
was a little baby's hand." insistence that she should look at "Baby," that is, at a large wooden
doll with no legs and a long skirt, whose bald head Totty, seated in her frightened to death. I thought that man in the smock-frock 'ud see me
and know I put the baby there. But I went on, for all that. I'd left off He ran back to Seth, and the two sons lifted the sad burden in
heart-stricken silence. The wide-open glazed eyes were grey, like But they started asunder with beating hearts: something had fallen on
the ground with a rattling noise; it was Hetty's basket; all her little particular. She had already addressed Sandy Jim, who was now holding the
baby to relieve his wife, and the big soft-hearted man had rubbed away
some tears with his fist, with a confused intention of being a better thought he was going to the wood and would perhaps find the baby. And I
went right on, till I came to a village, a long way off from the wood, The witness then stated that in the night a child was born, and she
identified the baby-clothes then shown to her as those in which she had
herself dressed the child. baby was crying. And I saw a wood a little way off...I thought there'd
perhaps be a ditch or a pond there...and it was so early I thought I sudden I saw a hole under the nut-tree, like a little grave. And it
darted into me like lightning--I'd lay the baby there and cover it with and I was very sick, and faint, and hungry. I got something to eat
there, and bought a loaf. But I was frightened to stay. I heard the baby "And then I got to Stoniton, and I began to feel frightened that night,
because I was so near home. And then the little baby was born, when I and the baby was warm against me; and I must have gone to sleep for a
good while, for when I woke it was morning, but not very light, and the and when we went in, the candle was standing burning just as I left it,
but the prisoner and the baby were both gone. She'd taken her cloak and felt so weak. I knew I couldn't run away, and everybody as saw me 'ud
know about the baby. My heart went like a stone. I couldn't wish or try and hunger--a tiny infant in her arms. The woman was rescued and taken
to the parish. "The parish!" You can perhaps hardly understand the
When Hetty was gone upstairs he said, "I canna make it out as she should
want to go away, for I thought she'd got a mind t' Adam Bede. She's
looked like it o' late." so piteously at the thought of leaving Adam that he had gone to Hetty
and asked her if, for the love of him, she would put up with his She would like to run away that very morning, and never see any of the
old faces again. But Hetty's was not a nature to face difficulties--to It was an ill-smelling close place, but warm, and there was straw on
the ground. Hetty sank down on the straw with a sense of escape. Tears Seth was silent from utter astonishment: he knew nothing that could
suggest to him a reason for Hetty's going away.

"Hast any notion what she's done it for?" he said, at last. But they started asunder with beating hearts: something had fallen on
the ground with a rattling noise; it was Hetty's basket; all her little so he was silent for the length of that field. The calm patience
with which he had once waited for Hetty's love, content only with her
presence and the thought of the future, had forsaken him since that hands. At last Hetty whispered, "I did do it, Dinah...I buried it in the
wood...the little baby...and it cried...I heard it cry...ever such a way distressed for Hetty's sake, and distressed for his own, that he
must leave her behind. He had always, both in making and breaking
resolutions, looked beyond his passion and seen that it must speedily love Adam well enough to marry him. She saw too clearly the absence of
any warm, self-devoting love in Hetty's nature to regard the coldness of
her behaviour towards Adam as any indication that he was not the man wi' telling her as her aunt wants her, for all she writes o' not being
able to come." Hetty had not liked the thought of going to Snowfield, Dinah, having taken off her bonnet and shawl, had hitherto kept quietly
seated in the background, not liking to thrust herself between Hetty and But Hetty's tears were not for Adam--not for the anguish that would come
upon him when he found she was gone from him for ever. They were for the that she suspected Hetty to be the woman he HAD chosen. It would never
do, he feared, for his mother to live in the same house with him when leaving Hetty more at ease. He lingered, because he wanted to see her
safely through that evening, and he was delighted to find how much As soon as Hetty had determined on this scheme, she rose from the
grassy bank of the pool, took up her basket, and went on her way to Without waiting for her to speak, he turned away from her and hurried
back towards the road that led to the Hermitage, leaving Hetty to pursue Snowfield and said "it was no use--Dinah's heart wasna turned towards
marrying." For when he told his mother that Hetty was willing they the meadowy banks of the Avon. But how wearily long it was to Hetty!
It seemed to her as if this country of flat fields, and hedgerows, and Adam made no reply to that, and no other word but "good-night" passed
between them.



Chapter XXXI

In Hetty's Bed-Chamber
Adam paused and looked into her sincere eyes.

"Then we'll never part any more, Dinah, till death parts us."

And they kissed each other with a deep joy. sure they could never love anything more insignificant than a Diana, and
yet have found themselves in middle life happily settled with a wife who
waddles. Yes! Thank God; human feeling is like the mighty rivers that into rest. He conceived no picture of the future but one made up of
hard-working days such as he lived through, with growing contentment and
intensity of interest, every fresh week. Love, he thought, could never The last time they had met his was when he parted from her with his
heart full of joyous hopeful love, and they looked out with a tearful It was a long time before the convulsed throat was quiet, and even
then they sat some time in stillness and darkness, holding each other's "Dinah," he said suddenly, taking both her hands between his, "I love
you with my whole heart and soul. I love you next to God who made me." Behind this last couple came Mr. Irwine, glad at heart over this good
morning's work of joining Adam and Dinah. For he had seen Adam in the agonizing fears. Hetty had been deceiving herself in thinking that she
could love and marry him: she had been loving Arthur all the while; and
now, in her desperation at the nearness of their marriage, she had run And Hetty? You know quite well that Adam was mistaken about her. Like
many other men, he thought the signs of love for another were signs of Seth and said, in her tender but calm treble notes, "Seth Bede, I thank
you for your love towards me, and if I could think of any man as more What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they
are joined for life--to strengthen each other in all labour, to rest on love was welcomed by the wretched lost one. The light got fainter as
they stood, and when at last they sat down on the straw pallet together,
their faces had become indistinct. moments than the thought of their marriage. It was the exaggerating
effect of imagination that made his heart still beat a little more
quickly at the thought of her. When he saw the little thing again as she both told Mr. Irwine all about it--that Adam had been deeply in love
with Hetty these two years, and that now it was agreed they were to be were while their eyes met and his arms touched her! Love is such a
simple thing when we have only one-and-twenty summers and a sweet girl Adam did not speak immediately. They sat looking at each other in
delicious silence--for the first sense of mutual love excludes other
feelings; it will have the soul all to itself. Adam took the blanched wasted hand she put out to him, and they gave
each other the solemn unspeakable kiss of a lifelong parting. What was she thinking of as she wound up the hill? Perhaps she had found
complete repose without him, and had ceased to feel any need of his
love. On the verge of a decision we all tremble: hope pauses with
fluttering wings. themselves loved when they are not loved, cease loving on all
proper occasions, and marry the woman most fitted for them in every on Sundays. But a happy time, nevertheless, for it was taking him nearer
and nearer to March, when they were to be married, and all the little
preparations for their new housekeeping marked the progress towards the
Arthur dared not turn his eyes towards Hetty while Mrs. Irwine was
speaking of her. He feigned not to hear, and to be occupied with Arthur had laid his hand on the soft arm that was nearest to him, and
was stooping towards Hetty with a look of coaxing entreaty. Hetty lifted "Yes, sir," Hetty answered, with a tremulous, almost whispering voice.
She didn't know one bit how to speak to a gentleman like Mr. Arthur, and
her very vanity made her more coy of speech. How Hetty's heart beat as Arthur approached her! He had hardly looked at
her to-day: now he must take her hand. Would he press it? Would he look The hopes he felt about Hetty softened a little his feeling towards
Arthur. Surely his attentions to Hetty must have been of a slight kind; Hetty did not speak, but Adam's face was very close to hers, and she
put up her round cheek against his, like a kitten. She wanted to be
caressed--she wanted to feel as if Arthur were with her again. Yes; for Arthur was at ease about Hetty--not quite at ease about the
past, for a certain burning of the ears would come whenever he thought Arthur had felt pure distress and self-reproach at discovering that
Adam's happiness was involved in his relation to Hetty. If there had agonizing fears. Hetty had been deceiving herself in thinking that she
could love and marry him: she had been loving Arthur all the while; and
now, in her desperation at the nearness of their marriage, she had run except Hetty, who knew now where Arthur was gone, but was only the
more puzzled and uneasy. For it appeared that his absence was quite Arthur Donnithorne, too, had the same sort of notion about Hetty, so
far as he had thought of her nature of all. He felt sure she was a use it. That look of Hetty's oppressed Arthur with a dread which yet had
something of a terrible unconfessed delight in it, that she loved him as he had agreed with Arthur beforehand, to see how the merriment of the
cottagers was prospering. Meanwhile, all the less distinguished couples
had taken their places: Hetty was led out by the inevitable Mr. Craig, Irwine had not mentioned Arthur's name to Burge, and yet the story of
his conduct towards Hetty, with all the dark shadows cast upon it by
its terrible consequences, was presently as well known as that his Poor Adam was led on to speak about Arthur because he thought Hetty
would be pleased to know that the young squire was so ready to befriend a special claim on him--Hetty herself should feel that any pain she
had suffered through Arthur in the past was compensated to her a
hundredfold. For really she could not have felt much, since she had so And while he was dreaming this, Arthur was leading Hetty to the dance
and saying to her in low hurried tones, "I shall be in the wood the day While Hetty's hands were busy packing up the butter, and her head filled
with these pictures of the morrow, Arthur Donnithorne, riding by Mr. "It's Captain Donnithorne," said Hetty tremulously, her heart beginning
to beat painfully at this disappointment of her hope that she should
find Arthur at once. not to see Arthur Donnithorne again, if it were possible to avoid him.
He had no message to deliver from Hetty now, for Hetty had seen Arthur.
"Speak to him, Hetty," Dinah said; "tell him what is in your heart."

Hetty obeyed her, like a little child. "Dinah," Hetty sobbed out, throwing her arms round Dinah's neck, "I will
speak...I will tell...I won't hide it any more." Again there was a slight startled movement through Hetty's frame,
and without uncovering her face, she raised her head a little, as if
listening.

"Hetty...Dinah is come to you." Dinah had shown her, and those words of Dinah in the bed-chamber--that
Hetty must think of her as a friend in trouble. Suppose she were to go Slowly, while Dinah was speaking, Hetty rose, took a step forward, and
was clasped in Dinah's arms. Dinah, having taken off her bonnet and shawl, had hitherto kept quietly
seated in the background, not liking to thrust herself between Hetty and to Dinah, and ask her to help her? Dinah did not think about things as
other people did. She was a mystery to Hetty, but Hetty knew she was Hetty obeyed Dinah's movement, and sank on her knees. They still held
each other's hands, and there was long silence. Then Dinah said, "Hetty, "Aye," said Seth, rather timidly, "and Dinah's fond o' Hetty too; she
thinks a deal about her." She had had a letter from Dinah lately, full of kind words about the
coming marriage, which she had heard of from Seth; and when Hetty had Hetty clung round Dinah and shuddered again. The silence seemed long
before she went on. Seth in these parting moments. But when they saw Hetty, they paused and
shook hands; Seth turned homewards, and Dinah came on alone. faces by. Dinah stood still for a minute, hesitating to speak because
Hetty might be asleep, and looking at the motionless heap with a
yearning heart. Then she said, softly, "Hetty!" As Hetty said the last words, she clung closer to Dinah, shuddering. Hetty kept her eyes fixed on Dinah's face--at first like an animal that
gazes, and gazes, and keeps aloof. Still there was silence. At last Hetty spoke, in a tone of beseeching--

"Dinah...help me...I can't feel anything like you...my heart is hard." But Dinah was hardly conscious of the multitude. When Hetty had
caught sight of the vast crowd in the distance, she had clutched Dinah
convulsively. come up to her. They, too, like Hetty, had lingered a little in their
walk, for Dinah was trying to speak words of comfort and strength to Hetty was silent, but she shuddered again, as if there was still
something behind; and Dinah waited, for her heart was so full that tears Dinah began to doubt whether Hetty was conscious who it was that sat
beside her. She thought suffering and fear might have driven the poor
That was Adam's state of mind in this second autumn of his sorrow. His
work, as you know, had always been part of his religion, and from very For Adam, though you see him quite master of himself, working hard and
delighting in his work after his inborn inalienable nature, had not Chapter XIX

Adam on a Working Day "Well, Adam, how are you?" said Arthur, holding out his hand. He never
shook hands with any of the farmers, and Adam felt the honour keenly. "I As Adam was getting over a stile at this point in his reflections, he
perceived a man walking along the field before him. He knew it was Seth,
returning from an evening preaching, and made haste to overtake him. "Yes," said Adam, pleased to have her ask a question about himself. "Ten
years ago, when I was a lad, I went with father to see about some work "Sit down here." He pointed to a chair just opposite to him, at no more
than a yard's distance from his own, and Adam sat down with a sense work, takes to preachin' an' that, like Seth Bede. But you see Adam, as
has got one o' the best head-pieces hereabout, knows better; he's a good the world of a masculine kind. But tell me about Adam. Has he accepted
the post? I don't see that it can be much more profitable than his It's a little drama I've got up in honour of my friend Adam. He's a fine
fellow, and I like the opportunity of letting people know that I think
so." Adam had on his working-dress again, now, for he had thrown off the
other with a sense of relief as soon as he came home; and if he had had Adam spoke these words with the firm distinctness of a man who is
resolved to leave nothing unsaid that he is bound to say; but he went on
with more hesitation. Adam had refolded the letter, and was sitting meditatively with his head
resting on his arm at the head of the bed, when Seth came upstairs.

"Hast read the letter?" said Seth. Adam was unable to speak. The strong man, accustomed to suppress the
signs of sorrow, had felt his heart swell like a child's at this first
approach of sympathy. He fell on Seth's neck and sobbed. see her quite well. And so the time passed pleasantly till Adam got up
to go. He was pressed to come again soon, but not to stay longer, for at interests of those who employ him as for his own. I'm proud to say that
I was very fond of Adam when I was a little boy, and I have never lost But Adam had been refreshed by his long rest, and with his habitual
impatience of mere passivity, he was eager to begin the new day and "Yes," said Adam, entering. "That was Seth Bede. I'm his brother Adam.
He told me to give his respects to you and your good master." You would hardly have known it was Adam without being told. His face has
got thinner this last week: he has the sunken eyes, the neglected beard Adam took his chair again mechanically, and Bartle, for whom there was
no chair remaining, sat on the bed in the background.

"Have you seen her, sir?" said Adam tremulously.
When Hetty was gone upstairs he said, "I canna make it out as she should
want to go away, for I thought she'd got a mind t' Adam Bede. She's
looked like it o' late." so piteously at the thought of leaving Adam that he had gone to Hetty
and asked her if, for the love of him, she would put up with his love Adam well enough to marry him. She saw too clearly the absence of
any warm, self-devoting love in Hetty's nature to regard the coldness of
her behaviour towards Adam as any indication that he was not the man But Hetty's tears were not for Adam--not for the anguish that would come
upon him when he found she was gone from him for ever. They were for the influence lasts, for he was certainly not in love with Hetty now. He
had been earnestly desiring, for months, that she should marry Adam,
and there was nothing that contributed more to his happiness in these It seems strange that Adam, in the incessant occupation of his mind
about Hetty, should never have alighted on the probability that she had
gone to Windsor, ignorant that Arthur was no longer there. Perhaps the Adam made no reply to that, and no other word but "good-night" passed
between them.



Chapter XXXI

In Hetty's Bed-Chamber Adam paused and looked at Hetty, who was plucking the leaves from the
filbert-trees and tearing them up in her hand. Her little plans and Hetty did not speak, but Adam's face was very close to hers, and she
put up her round cheek against his, like a kitten. She wanted to be
caressed--she wanted to feel as if Arthur were with her again. agonizing fears. Hetty had been deceiving herself in thinking that she
could love and marry him: she had been loving Arthur all the while; and
now, in her desperation at the nearness of their marriage, she had run Adam assented silently. A puzzled alarm had taken possession of him. Had
Hetty a lover he didn't know of? For none of her relations, he was sure, The old woman had seen the ghastly look of fear in Adam's face. But he
was not stunned or confounded: he was thinking eagerly where he could
inquire about Hetty. Hetty said, "Very well." She was really as anxious as Adam was that she
should have some private talk with him. She wondered what he thought of Without waiting for her to speak, he turned away from her and hurried
back towards the road that led to the Hermitage, leaving Hetty to pursue She would like to run away that very morning, and never see any of the
old faces again. But Hetty's was not a nature to face difficulties--to Adam had never behaved so much like a determined lover before. As soon
as the boys had both set off, he looked down at Hetty and said, "Won't Adam cared for no words after that, and they hardly spoke through the
rest of the walk. He only said, "I may tell your uncle and aunt, mayn't
I, Hetty?" and she said, "Yes." "How do you know? How durst you say so?" said Hetty, pausing in her walk
and trembling. The terrible decision of Adam's tone shook her with fear. Hetty to Adam went to convince him that he was making a sacrifice. With a "good-bye," a bright glance, and a bow to Hetty Arthur left the
dairy. But he was mistaken in imagining himself waited for. The rector
Adam made no reply to that, and no other word but "good-night" passed
between them.



Chapter XXXI

In Hetty's Bed-Chamber Poor wandering Hetty, with the rounded childish face and the hard,
unloving, despairing soul looking out of it--with the narrow heart "Hetty," she said gently, "do you know who it is that sits by your
side?"

"Yes," Hetty answered slowly, "it's Dinah." Hetty did not speak, but Adam's face was very close to hers, and she
put up her round cheek against his, like a kitten. She wanted to be
caressed--she wanted to feel as if Arthur were with her again. Adam cared for no words after that, and they hardly spoke through the
rest of the walk. He only said, "I may tell your uncle and aunt, mayn't
I, Hetty?" and she said, "Yes." But they started asunder with beating hearts: something had fallen on
the ground with a rattling noise; it was Hetty's basket; all her little "Why," said Martin, looking with sharper attention at Adam, "ye look
bad. Is there anything happened?"

"Yes," said Adam, heavily. "A sad thing's happened. I didna find Hetty
at Snowfield." hands. At last Hetty whispered, "I did do it, Dinah...I buried it in the
wood...the little baby...and it cried...I heard it cry...ever such a way The old woman had seen the ghastly look of fear in Adam's face. But he
was not stunned or confounded: he was thinking eagerly where he could
inquire about Hetty. It was an ill-smelling close place, but warm, and there was straw on
the ground. Hetty sank down on the straw with a sense of escape. Tears "Dinah," Hetty sobbed out, throwing her arms round Dinah's neck, "I will
speak...I will tell...I won't hide it any more." Adam assented silently. A puzzled alarm had taken possession of him. Had
Hetty a lover he didn't know of? For none of her relations, he was sure, "Look there! She's fainting," said the landlady, hastening to support
Hetty, who had lost her miserable consciousness and looked like a
beautiful corpse. They carried her to the sofa and loosened her dress. Adam answered with a half-sob, "Yes, I forgive thee Hetty. I forgave
thee long ago." How Hetty's heart beat as Arthur approached her! He had hardly looked at
her to-day: now he must take her hand. Would he press it? Would he look of him. It was the supreme moment of his suffering: Hetty was guilty;
and he was silently calling to God for help. He heard no more of the
evidence, and was unconscious when the case for the prosecution had Again there was a slight startled movement through Hetty's frame,
and without uncovering her face, she raised her head a little, as if
listening.

"Hetty...Dinah is come to you." Adam's words relieved one of Hetty's fears, but they also carried a
meaning which sickened her with a strengthened foreboding. She was pale "No, I've never seen her, child--at least not as she is now," said Mrs.
Irwine, continuing to look at Hetty. "Well-looking, indeed! She's a "And tell him," Hetty said, in rather a stronger voice, "tell him...for
there's nobody else to tell him...as I went after him and couldn't find
"Dinah," Hetty sobbed out, throwing her arms round Dinah's neck, "I will
speak...I will tell...I won't hide it any more." Slowly, while Dinah was speaking, Hetty rose, took a step forward, and
was clasped in Dinah's arms. Again there was a slight startled movement through Hetty's frame,
and without uncovering her face, she raised her head a little, as if
listening.

"Hetty...Dinah is come to you." "Speak to him, Hetty," Dinah said; "tell him what is in your heart."

Hetty obeyed her, like a little child. Dinah, having taken off her bonnet and shawl, had hitherto kept quietly
seated in the background, not liking to thrust herself between Hetty and She had had a letter from Dinah lately, full of kind words about the
coming marriage, which she had heard of from Seth; and when Hetty had faces by. Dinah stood still for a minute, hesitating to speak because
Hetty might be asleep, and looking at the motionless heap with a
yearning heart. Then she said, softly, "Hetty!" to Dinah, and ask her to help her? Dinah did not think about things as
other people did. She was a mystery to Hetty, but Hetty knew she was Hetty obeyed Dinah's movement, and sank on her knees. They still held
each other's hands, and there was long silence. Then Dinah said, "Hetty, "Aye," said Seth, rather timidly, "and Dinah's fond o' Hetty too; she
thinks a deal about her." Seth in these parting moments. But when they saw Hetty, they paused and
shook hands; Seth turned homewards, and Dinah came on alone. But Dinah was hardly conscious of the multitude. When Hetty had
caught sight of the vast crowd in the distance, she had clutched Dinah
convulsively. As Hetty said the last words, she clung closer to Dinah, shuddering. Dinah had shown her, and those words of Dinah in the bed-chamber--that
Hetty must think of her as a friend in trouble. Suppose she were to go Hetty clung round Dinah and shuddered again. The silence seemed long
before she went on. "Don't you know me, Hetty? Don't you remember Dinah? Did you think I
wouldn't come to you in trouble?" Dinah began to doubt whether Hetty was conscious who it was that sat
beside her. She thought suffering and fear might have driven the poor Dinah paused and released Hetty's hands that she might not hinder her.
Hetty sat quite still; she felt no response within herself to Dinah's it, and wanted to do some mending for her. Dinah was a riddle to her;
Hetty looked at her much in the same way as one might imagine a little Hetty kept her eyes fixed on Dinah's face--at first like an animal that
gazes, and gazes, and keeps aloof.
Arthur dared not turn his eyes towards Hetty while Mrs. Irwine was
speaking of her. He feigned not to hear, and to be occupied with except Hetty, who knew now where Arthur was gone, but was only the
more puzzled and uneasy. For it appeared that his absence was quite As for Arthur, he rushed back through the wood, as if he wanted to put
a wide space between himself and Hetty. He would not go to the Hermitage It seems strange that Adam, in the incessant occupation of his mind
about Hetty, should never have alighted on the probability that she had
gone to Windsor, ignorant that Arthur was no longer there. Perhaps the When Hetty was gone upstairs he said, "I canna make it out as she should
want to go away, for I thought she'd got a mind t' Adam Bede. She's
looked like it o' late." With a "good-bye," a bright glance, and a bow to Hetty Arthur left the
dairy. But he was mistaken in imagining himself waited for. The rector wi' telling her as her aunt wants her, for all she writes o' not being
able to come." Hetty had not liked the thought of going to Snowfield, Adam himself was not come back from Stoniton, for though he shrank from
seeing Hetty, he could not bear to go to a distance from her again. then be something to detain them at Snowfield. But when a fortnight had
passed they began to feel a little surprise that Hetty did not return; agonizing fears. Hetty had been deceiving herself in thinking that she
could love and marry him: she had been loving Arthur all the while; and
now, in her desperation at the nearness of their marriage, she had run Seth was silent from utter astonishment: he knew nothing that could
suggest to him a reason for Hetty's going away.

"Hast any notion what she's done it for?" he said, at last. not to see Arthur Donnithorne again, if it were possible to avoid him.
He had no message to deliver from Hetty now, for Hetty had seen Arthur. resemblance was not much the less because Hetty felt very unhappy all
the while. The parting with Arthur was a double pain to her--mingling
with the tumult of passion and vanity there was a dim undefined fear distance, that no one's attention might be disturbed from the young
squire, the hero of the day. Arthur did not venture to stop near Hetty, his pocket, and was anxious to have an opportunity of talking to Hetty
alone. He could not see her face at church, for she had changed her Irwine had not mentioned Arthur's name to Burge, and yet the story of
his conduct towards Hetty, with all the dark shadows cast upon it by
its terrible consequences, was presently as well known as that his "It's Captain Donnithorne," said Hetty tremulously, her heart beginning
to beat painfully at this disappointment of her hope that she should
find Arthur at once. Without waiting for her to speak, he turned away from her and hurried
back towards the road that led to the Hermitage, leaving Hetty to pursue She would like to run away that very morning, and never see any of the
old faces again. But Hetty's was not a nature to face difficulties--to "What I want to say to you," Arthur continued, "is this: one of my
reasons for going away is that no one else may leave Hayslope--may leave
"Yes," said Hetty. Then, after a pause, she added, "But you can do
nothing for me. You can't make 'em do anything. They'll hang me o'
Monday--it's Friday now." Adam answered with a half-sob, "Yes, I forgive thee Hetty. I forgave
thee long ago." then to be hanged by the neck till you be dead," a piercing shriek rang
through the hall. It was Hetty's shriek. Adam started to his feet and of him. It was the supreme moment of his suffering: Hetty was guilty;
and he was silently calling to God for help. He heard no more of the
evidence, and was unconscious when the case for the prosecution had "Hetty," she said gently, "do you know who it is that sits by your
side?"

"Yes," Hetty answered slowly, "it's Dinah." The effect of this evidence on Adam was electrical; it gave him new
force. Hetty could not be guilty of the crime--her heart must have clung influence lasts, for he was certainly not in love with Hetty now. He
had been earnestly desiring, for months, that she should marry Adam,
and there was nothing that contributed more to his happiness in these Hetty did not speak, but Adam's face was very close to hers, and she
put up her round cheek against his, like a kitten. She wanted to be
caressed--she wanted to feel as if Arthur were with her again. "I want to go to Hetty Sorrel, the young woman who has been condemned
to death--and to stay with her, if I may be permitted. Have you power in
the prison, sir?" The hopes he felt about Hetty softened a little his feeling towards
Arthur. Surely his attentions to Hetty must have been of a slight kind; "Dinah," Hetty sobbed out, throwing her arms round Dinah's neck, "I will
speak...I will tell...I won't hide it any more." you hang on my arm, Hetty?" in a pleading tone, as if he had already
asked her and she had refused. Hetty looked up at him smilingly and put and cunning as he was himself. As for any real harm in Hetty's case, it
was out of the question: Arthur Donnithorne accepted his own bond for
himself with perfect confidence. And Hetty? You know quite well that Adam was mistaken about her. Like
many other men, he thought the signs of love for another were signs of The blood rushed to Hetty's face, and then fled back again as she
looked up at the judge and kept her wide-open eyes fixed on him, as if The old woman had seen the ghastly look of fear in Adam's face. But he
was not stunned or confounded: he was thinking eagerly where he could
inquire about Hetty. Adam assented silently. A puzzled alarm had taken possession of him. Had
Hetty a lover he didn't know of? For none of her relations, he was sure, had impressed on Hetty that it would be fatal to betray, by word or
look, that there had been the least intimacy between them; and Adam, who
knew half their secret, would rather help them to keep it than betray "Hetty Sorrel is in prison, and will be tried on Friday for the crime of
child-murder."... "Because, Hetty, you are shutting up your soul against him, by trying
to hide the truth. God's love and mercy can overcome all things--our
soon made up her mind to marry Adam. IN little more than a month after that meeting on the hill--on a rimy
morning in departing November--Adam and Dinah were married. love Adam well enough to marry him. She saw too clearly the absence of
any warm, self-devoting love in Hetty's nature to regard the coldness of
her behaviour towards Adam as any indication that he was not the man Why should she not marry Adam? She did not care what she did, so that
it made some change in her life. She felt confident that he would still want to marry her, and any further thought about Adam's happiness in the
matter had never yet visited her. Adam paused and looked into her sincere eyes.

"Then we'll never part any more, Dinah, till death parts us."

And they kissed each other with a deep joy. marrying Adam presented itself to her in a new light. In a mind where no
strong sympathies are at work, where there is no supreme sense of
right to which the agitated nature can cling and steady itself to quiet A new light had broken in on Seth. He turned round, and laying his
hand on Adam's shoulder, said, "Why, wouldst like her to marry THEE,
Brother?" "I hope you have no objections against me for her husband," said Adam;
"I'm a poor man as yet, but she shall want nothing as I can work for." without the least grumbling or pouting. It must be, after all, that she
had set her heart on Adam at last, and her sudden freak of wanting to all sorts of answers to our own yearnings. It was impossible for Adam
not to feel that what had happened in the last week had brought the
prospect of marriage nearer to him. Hitherto he had felt keenly the Adam did not speak immediately. They sat looking at each other in
delicious silence--for the first sense of mutual love excludes other
feelings; it will have the soul all to itself. "Yes, Adam," Dinah said, "I know marriage is a holy state for those who
are truly called to it, and have no other drawing; but from my childhood "She must ha' done," said Adam. "She didn't like our marriage when it
came to the point--that must be it. She'd mistook her feelings." "Yes," said Adam, pleased to have her ask a question about himself. "Ten
years ago, when I was a lad, I went with father to see about some work Adam took the blanched wasted hand she put out to him, and they gave
each other the solemn unspeakable kiss of a lifelong parting. They went out and walked towards the fields, where they would meet the
family coming from church. Adam said, "Take my arm, Dinah," and she took obliged to get up early or be scolded by anybody. She thought, if Adam
had been rich and could have given her these things, she loved him well
enough to marry him. Adam got up, blushing like a small maiden--great strong fellow as he
was--and, putting his arm round Hetty stooped down and gently kissed her
lips. Chapter LII

Adam and Dinah
the village, and set off, through the fields, towards the Farm. It was
an immense relief to him, as he came near the Home Close, to see Mr. Arthur had passed the village of Hayslope and was approaching the
Broxton side of the hill, when, at a turning in the road, he saw a About a quarter to seven there was an unusual appearance of excitement
in the village of Hayslope, and through the whole length of its pasture and woodyard towards the green corn-fields and walnut-trees of
the Hall Farm; but apparently there was more interest for him in the
living groups close at hand. Every generation in the village was there, afterwards, and I trust her heart is touched. But I've noticed that
in these villages where the people lead a quiet life among the green
pastures and the still waters, tilling the ground and tending the The Green lay at the extremity of the village, and from it the road
branched off in two directions, one leading farther up the hill by the "Why, what's up in your pretty village, landlord?" he continued, getting
down. "There seems to be quite a stir." He determined to go to the village, in the first place, attend to his
business for an hour, and give notice to Burge of his being obliged to It was an event much thought of in the village. All Mr. Burge's men had
a holiday, and all Mr. Poyser's, and most of those who had a holiday thought he was going to the wood and would perhaps find the baby. And I
went right on, till I came to a village, a long way off from the wood, But do not imagine them gathered in a knot. Villagers never swarm: a
whisper is unknown among them, and they seem almost as incapable of an more than the pleasure of lounging in the evening sunshine. The
Donnithorne Arms stood at the entrance of the village, and a small
farmyard and stackyard which flanked it, indicating that there was a The old squire's funeral had taken place that morning, the will had been
read, and now in the first breathing-space, Arthur Donnithorne had come village of Broxton. By six o'clock the task was done, the coffin nailed
down, and Adam and Seth were on their way home. They chose a shorter at him as a stranger. But an experienced eye would have fixed on him at
once as the village blacksmith, after seeing the humble deference with
which the big saucy fellow took off his hat and stroked his hair to the Maskery out of the village with rope-ends and pitchforks; and then, when
I had furnished them with half a sovereign to get gloriously drunk after himself to the Saracen's Head, which was doing a thriving business in
the back street of a neighbouring market-town. But, oddly enough, he has corn-fields which lay between the village and the Hall Farm. Dinah had
taken off her little Quaker bonnet again, and was holding it in
her hands that she might have a freer enjoyment of the cool evening Adam hastened with long strides, Gyp close to his heels, out of the
workyard, and along the highroad leading away from the village and down THE next day, at evening, two men were walking from opposite points
towards the same scene, drawn thither by a common memory. The scene was
the Grove by Donnithorne Chase: you know who the men were.
IT is near the end of June, in 1807. The workshops have been shut
up half an hour or more in Adam Bede's timber-yard, which used to "Yes," said Adam, pleased to have her ask a question about himself. "Ten
years ago, when I was a lad, I went with father to see about some work Book Two




Chapter XVII

In Which the Story Pauses a Little THE thirtieth of July was come, and it was one of those half-dozen warm
days which sometimes occur in the middle of a rainy English summer. No But now he could not help saying to himself that the heaviest part of
his burden was removed, and that even before the end of another year
his circumstances might be brought into a shape that would allow him to "Aye, they'd have a deal to say to one another," said Seth, "and the
meeting 'ud touch 'em both pretty closish. Why, it's getting on towards
eight years since they parted." IT was a busy time for Adam--the time between the beginning of November
and the beginning of February, and he could see little of Hetty, except years; and she may die under it, and never know comfort any more." The old squire's funeral had taken place that morning, the will had been
read, and now in the first breathing-space, Arthur Donnithorne had come It was then past nine by the clock, which was always in advance of
the days, and before it had struck ten the latch was lifted and Seth
entered. He had heard the sound of the tools as he was approaching. All hands worked on in silence for some minutes, until the church clock
began to strike six. Before the first stroke had died away, Sandy Jim IT was beyond the middle of August--nearly three weeks after the
birthday feast. The reaping of the wheat had begun in our north midland odour like that of a flower-garden borne on the evening breeze. Foolish
thoughts! But all this happened, you must remember, nearly sixty years kitchen, at well-graduated distances from the blazing fire. And for the
last two years, at least, Hetty had been in the habit of hearing her has undergone, as well as the years which have changed us all. And the
death of the poor wanderer, when she was coming back to us, has been
sorrow upon sorrow." IT was only a few minutes measured by the clock--though Adam always
thought it had been a long while--before he perceived a gleam of "You will know by and by, mother. It would not be right for me to tell
you at present. Good-night: you'll sleep now you have no longer anything
to listen for." free from that weakness are those who have no work to call their own. It
was nearly seven before he had finished and put on his jacket again; and
on giving a last look round, he observed that Seth, who had been working Adam sat looking at the clock: the minute-hand was hurrying along the
last five minutes to ten with a loud, hard, indifferent tick, and Adam AN upper room in a dull Stoniton street, with two beds in it--one laid
on the floor. It is ten o'clock on Thursday night, and the dark wall
irritation to Arthur. There was no having his own way in the stables;
everything was managed in the stingiest fashion. His grandfather
persisted in retaining as head groom an old dolt whom no sort of Arthur gave his horse to the groom at the rectory gate, and walked along
the gravel towards the door which opened on the garden. He knew that the loved and been proud of in old days; but nearer memories would not be
thrust away. He was silent; yet Arthur saw an answer in his face that
induced him to go on, with growing earnestness. These were Arthur's chief thoughts, so far as a man's thoughts through
hours of travelling can be compressed into a few sentences, which are grandfather is in the drawing-room with the ladies. Something that will
surprise you," he continued, as they sat down. "My grandfather has come
round after all." members of the family, which tells that the visitor is on the best terms
with the visited. The young gentleman was Arthur Donnithorne, known to come, and he would not have to say "good-bye" to the grand old woods,
but would like them better because they were Arthur's. For this new Arthur knew the rector too well to suppose that a clever invention would
be of any use, so he said, with his accustomed frankness, "No, I went to Arthur's, as you know, was a loving nature. Deeds of kindness were as
easy to him as a bad habit: they were the common issue of his weaknesses The old squire's funeral had taken place that morning, the will had been
read, and now in the first breathing-space, Arthur Donnithorne had come They sat down opposite each other in the old places, and Arthur said,
"I'm going away, Adam; I'm going into the army." Old John's wooden, deep-wrinkled face was the first object that met
Arthur's eyes as he entered the stable-yard, and it quite poisoned for that Arthur wanted to tell him something, and thought of smoothing
the way for him by this direct question. But he was mistaken. Brought
suddenly and involuntarily to the brink of confession, Arthur shrank and had real provocation. No, Arthur had not an evil feeling in his mind
towards any human being: he was happy, and would make every one else
happy that came within his reach. Arthur paused a moment and then added, pleadingly, "You know that's a
good work to do for the sake of other people, besides the owner. And "Well, Adam, how are you?" said Arthur, holding out his hand. He never
shook hands with any of the farmers, and Adam felt the honour keenly. "I he thought far more of Arthur's good qualities, and attached far more
value to very slight actions of his, than if they had been the qualities
and actions of a common workman like himself. He felt sure it would be Mr. Irwine gave up his intention of sending a letter to meet Arthur,
since it would not now hasten his return: the news of his grandfather's "Good-night, sir," said Adam. But he heard no reply; Arthur had turned
into the house.



Chapter XXIX

The Next Morning "Yes, Ralph was gone before the news was brought to us. Dear Arthur, I
shall live now to see him master at the Chase, and making good times on
What happens to Hetty's child? Who helps Hetty deliver her baby? Where, in what town, does the story take place? Where does Arthur go when he leaves his hometown? What stops Hetty from getting married? What crime is Hetty convicted of? Who saves Hetty? Which of the 4 characters eventually build a life together? What is Adam's profession? What is Hetty charged with? Who pledges to stand by Hetty until execution? Why is Hetty's sentence changed to transportation? Who is involved in the "love rectangle"? How does the baby die? Why does Hetty choose to leave the baby in the field? Which couple finds love together by the end? What is Arthur to Hetty? What is Hetty to Dinah? What is Adam's job? Why does Hetty leave before her wedding to Adam? What happens to Hetty's child? How are Dinah and Hetty related? Why does Hetty stay away from the village when she fails to find Arthur? Who has Hetty's hanging cancelled? Who does Adam marry? What is the name of the village? What year is it? What is Arthur's grandfather's job?
He dies from exposure after being abondoned in a field by Hetty. It died after Hetty left it in a field
a friendly woman A friendly woman Hetty encounters.
Hayslope Hayslope.
He goes back to the militia. Back to his militia.
She goes to look for, Arthur, the potential father of her unborn child. She finds out she is pregnant
Hetty is convicted of murdering her child. Child murder
Arthur was back in town from military leave and he is able to have her sentence commuted to transportation. Arthur Donnithorne.
Adam and Dinah Adam and Dinah
Carpenter local carpenter
Child murder child murder
Dinah Dinah
Hetty confesses the exact sequence of events that occurred before the murder and is heard by Arthur. Arthur Donnithorne has the sentence commuted.
Adam, Arthur, Dinah and Hetty. Adam and Dinah
Exposure from being left in the field. Exposure
To avoid shame from her fellow villagers. She did not want shame soon her.
Adam and Dinah Adam and Dinah.
The young squire that gains her affection. He's her lover.
Her cousin she's her cousin.
carpenter Carpenter.
she is pregnant by Arthur. She discovers she is pregnant.
it dies of exposure after she abandons it. It dies of exposure.
They're cousins. they are cousins
she doesn't want to face shame  Fear of shame and ostracism
Arthur. Arthur Donnithorne
Dinah. Dinah
Hayslope Hayslope
1799 1799
squire. the local squire