E-text prepared by Joseph E. Loewenstein, M.D., and John Hamm

THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE

by

Thomas Hardy

1912

CONTENTS

[AUTHOR'S PREFACE]
BOOK FIRST: THE THREE WOMEN
I. [A Face on Which Time Makes But Little Impression]
II. [Humanity Appears upon the Scene, Hand in Hand with Trouble]
III. [The Custom of the Country]
IV. [The Halt on the Turnpike Road]
V. [Perplexity among Honest People]
VI. [The Figure against the Sky]
VII. [Queen of Night]
VIII. [Those Who Are Found Where There Is Said to Be Nobody]
IX. [Love Leads a Shrewd Man into Strategy]
X. [A Desperate Attempt at Persuasion]
XI. [The Dishonesty of an Honest Woman]
BOOK SECOND: THE ARRIVAL
I. [Tidings of the Comer]
II. [The People at Blooms-End Make Ready]
III. [How a Little Sound Produced a Great Dream]
IV. [Eustacia Is Led On to an Adventure]
V. [Through the Moonlight]
VI. [The Two Stand Face to Face]
VII. [A Coalition between Beauty and Oddness]
VIII. [Firmness Is Discovered in a Gentle Heart]
BOOK THIRD: THE FASCINATION
I. ["My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is"]
II. [The New Course Causes Disappointment]
III. [The First Act in a Timeworn Drama]
IV. [An Hour of Bliss and Many Hours of Sadness]
V. [Sharp Words Are Spoken, and a Crisis Ensues]
VI. [Yeobright Goes, and the Breach Is Complete]
VII. [The Morning and the Evening of a Day]
VIII. [A New Force Disturbs the Current]
BOOK FOURTH: THE CLOSED DOOR
I. [The Rencounter by the Pool]
II. [He Is Set Upon by Adversities; but He Sings a Song]
III. [She Goes Out to Battle against Depression]
IV. [Rough Coercion Is Employed]
V. [The Journey across the Heath]
VI. [A Conjuncture, and Its Result upon the Pedestrian]
VII. [The Tragic Meeting of Two Old Friends]
VIII. [Eustacia Hears of Good Fortune, and Beholds Evil]
BOOK FIFTH: THE DISCOVERY
I. ["Wherefore Is Light Given to Him That Is in Misery"]
II. [A Lurid Light Breaks In upon a Darkened Understanding]
III. [Eustacia Dresses Herself on a Black Morning]
IV. [The Ministrations of a Half-Forgotten One]
V. [An Old Move Inadvertently Repeated]
VI. [Thomasin Argues with Her Cousin, and He Writes a Letter]
VII. [The Night of the Sixth of November]
VIII. [Rain, Darkness, and Anxious Wanderers]
IX. [Sights and Sounds Draw the Wanderers Together]
BOOK SIXTH: AFTERCOURSES
I. [The Inevitable Movement Onward]
II. [Thomasin Walks in a Green Place by the Roman Road]
III. [The Serious Discourse of Clym with His Cousin]
IV. [Cheerfulness Again Asserts Itself at Blooms-End, and Clym Finds His Vocation]