Joan uses Tess's guilt to convince her to go to the d'Urbervilles and ask for money and Tess gives in because of her role in the horse's death. But she insists that she wants only to ask the d'Urbervilles for work, not for a handout and certainly not for a husband. Tess makes the journey part of the way on foot and part of the way by a rented carriage. She reaches the manor house in Tantridge not knowing that the d'Urbervilles she expects are family are really a wealthy merchant family. The new d'Urbervilles changed their name to a noble name they thought extinct so that no one in the area will know how they made their money.
Tess arrives in at the manor house and is approached by a young man in his early twenties with a moustache. He introduces himself as Alec d'Urberville, son of the old Mrs. d'Urberville Tess has come to see. Tess embarrassedly explains why she's come and he treats her courteously because he thinks she's pretty. He walks her around the property, talking with her and flirting with her in a way that makes her embarrassed and uneasy. Before she leaves, he assures her that his mother will find some work for her to do. He considers kissing her, but decides against it.
"Thus, the thing began. Had she perceived this meeting's import she might have asked why she was doomed to be seen and coveted that day by the wrong man, and not by some other man, the right and desired one in all respects, . . ."Chapter 5, pg. 37
