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Return of the Native

  
[title page]
  
PREFACE
  
Book First The Three Women

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BOOK FIRST THREE WOMEN
 1.1. 
A Face on which Time Makes but Little Impression I
 1.2. 
HUMANITY APPEARS UPON THE SCENE, HAND IN HAND WITH TROUBLE II
 1.3. 
The Custom of the Country III
 1.4. 
The Halt on the Turnpike Road IV
 1.5. 
Perplexity among Honest People V
 1.6. 
The Figure Against the Sky VI
 1.7. 
Queen of Night VII
 1.8. 
Those Who are Found Where There is Said to Be Nobody VIII
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Love Leads a Shrewd Man into Strategy IX
  
[section]
  
DEAR DIGGORY VENN
  
[section]
 1.10. 
A Desperate Attempt at Persuasion X
 1.11. 
The Dishonesty of an Honest Woman XI
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BOOK SECOND THE ARRIVAL
 2.1. 
Tidings of the Comer I
 2.2. 
The People at Blooms-End Make Ready II
 2.3. 
How a Little Sound Produced a Great Dream III
 2.4. 
Eustacia Is Led on to an Adventure IV
 2.5. 
Through the Moonlight V
 2.6. 
The Two Stand Face to Face VI
 2.7. 
A Coalition between Beauty and Oddness VII
 2.8. 
Firmness Is Discovered in a Gentle Heart VIII
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BOOK THIRD THE FASCINATION
 3.1. 
'My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is' I
 3.2. 
The New Course Causes Disappointment II
 3.3. 
The First Act in a Timeworn Drama III
 3.4. 
An Hour of Bliss and Many Hours of Sadness IV
 3.5. 
Sharp Words Are Spoken, and a Crisis Ensues V
 3.6. 
Yeobright Goes, and the Breach Is Complete VI
 3.7. 
The Morning and the Evening of a Day VII
 3.8. 
A New Force Disturbs the Current VIII
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BOOK FOURTH THE CLOSED DOOR
 4.1. 
The Rencounter by the Pool I
 4.2. 
He Is Set upon by Adversities but He Sings a Song II
 4.3. 
She Goes Out to Battle against Depression III
 4.4. 
Rough Coercion Is Employed IV
 4.5. 
The Journey across the Heath V
 4.6. 
A Conjuncture, and its Result upon the Pedestrian VI
 4.7. 
The Tragic Meeting of Two Old Friends VII
 4.8. 
Eustacia Hears of Good Fortune, and Beholds Evil VIII
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BOOK FIVE THE DISCOVERY V
 5.1. 
'Wherefore Is Light Given to Him That Is in Misery?' I
 5.2. 
A Lurid Light Breaks in upon a Darkened Understanding II
 5.3. 
Eustacia Dresses Herself on a Black Morning III
 5.4. 
The Ministrations of a Half-forgotten One IV
 5.5. 
An Old Move Inadvertently Repeated V
 5.6. 
Thomasin Argues with Her Cousin, and He Writes a Letter VI
 5.7. 
The Night of the Sixth of November VII
 5.8. 
Rain, Darkness, and Anxious Wanderers VIII
 5.9. 
Sights and Sounds Draw the Wanderers Together IX
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BOOK SIX AFTERCOURSES
 6.1. 
The Inevitable Movement Onward I
 6.2. 
Thomasin Walks in a Green Place by the Roman Road II
 6.3. 
The Serious Discourse of Clym with His Cousin III
 6.4. 
Cheerfulness Again Asserts Itself at Blooms-End, and Clym Finds His Vocation IV

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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 southwestern quarter is here described, may be the heath of that traditionary King of Wessex--Lear.

T.H.
July, 1895

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