virgin of the rocks

The man recovered himself, and seemed inclined to come on, and Clare, stepping outside the door, put himself in a posture of defence. But his opponent began to think better of the matter. He looked anew at Tess as he passed her, and said to Clare-- ¡¡¡¡`I beg pardon, sir; 'twas a complete mistake. I thought she was another woman, forty miles from here.' ¡¡¡¡Clare, feeling then that he had been too hasty, and that he was, moreover, to blame for leaving her standing in an inn-passage, did what he usually did in such cases, gave the man five shillings to plaster the blow; and thus they parted, bidding each other a pacific good-night. As soon as Clare had taken the reins from the ostler, and the young couple had driven off, the two men went in the other direction. ¡¡¡¡`And was it a mistake?' said the second one. ¡¡¡¡`Not a bit of it. But I didn't want to hurt the gentleman's feelings - not I.' ¡¡¡¡In the meantime the lovers were driving onward. ¡¡¡¡`Could we put off our wedding till a little later?' Tess asked in a dry dull voice. `I mean if we wished?' ¡¡¡¡`No, my love. Calm yourself. Do you mean that the fellow may have time to summon me for assault?' he asked good-humouredly. ¡¡¡¡`No - I only meant - if it should have to be put off.'