Chapter 53
Angel goes to Flintcomb Ash because that is where her loving letter was sent. While he's there, he finds out that she did not tell anyone that she was married, and she did not use his name. He also learns how hard she worked on the farm there and sees that she must've needed money and was too proud to ask his parents for it.
He feels awful for the way that Tess had to live while he was gone.
He tracks her to Marlott, where she went to tend to her parents, and in trying to find out where they've gone to next, he stumbles across the burial plot of Tess 's father in the churchyard. He's buried as "Sir John Durbeyfield," and the church caretaker enjoys explaining to Angel that for all his high family tree, Durbeyfield's headstone isn't even paid for. Angel learns that Joan is in Tantridge, and as he's leaving town, he pays the mason for Durbeyfield's headstone.
When he finally finds Joan, she sheepishly tells him that Tess is in Sandbourne, so he heads in that direction after making sure that Tess's mother doesn't need anything.
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