Tess gazed desperately at the pile of furniture.  The cold sunlight of this spring evening peered invidiously upon the crocks and kettles, upon the bunches of dried herbs shivering in the breeze, upon the brass handles of the dresser, upon the wicker-cradle they had all been rocked in, and upon the well-rubbed clock-case, all of which gave out the reproachful gleam of indoor articles abandoned to the vicissitudes of a roofless exposure for which they were never made.  Round about were deparked hills and slopes—­now cut up into little paddocks—­and the green foundations that showed where the d’Urberville mansion once had stood; also an outlying stretch of Egdon Heath that had always belonged to the estate.  Hard by, the aisle of the church called the d’Urberville Aisle looked on imperturbably.

“Isn’t your family vault your own freehold?” said Tess’s mother, as she returned from a reconnoitre of the church and graveyard.  “Why, of course ’tis, and that’s where we will camp, girls, till the place of your ancestors finds us a roof!  Now, Tess and ’Liza and Abraham, you help me.  We’ll make a nest for these children, and then we’ll have another look round.”

Tess listlessly lent a hand, and in a quarter of an hour the old four-post bedstead was dissociated from the heap of goods, and erected under the south wall of the church, the part of the building known as the d’Urberville Aisle, beneath which the huge vaults lay.  Over the tester of the bedstead was a beautiful traceried window, of many lights, its date being the fifteenth century.  It was called the d’Urberville Window, and in the upper part could be discerned heraldic emblems like those on Durbeyfield’s old seal and spoon.

Joan drew the curtains round the bed so as to make an excellent tent of it, and put the smaller children inside.  “If it comes to the worst we can sleep there too, for one night,” she said.  “But let us try further on, and get something for the dears to eat!  O, Tess, what’s the use of your playing at marrying gentlemen, if it leaves us like this!”

Accompanied by ’Liza-Lu and the boy, she again ascended the little lane which secluded the church from the townlet.  As soon as they got into the street they beheld a man on horseback gazing up and down.  “Ah—­I’m looking for you!” he said, riding up to them.  “This is indeed a family gathering on the historic spot!”

It was Alec d’Urberville.  “Where is Tess?” he asked.

Personally Joan had no liking for Alec.  She cursorily signified the direction of the church, and went on, d’Urberville saying that he would see them again, in case they should be still unsuccessful in their search for shelter, of which he had just heard.  When they had gone, d’Urberville rode to the inn, and shortly after came out on foot.

In the interim Tess, left with the children inside the bedstead, remained talking with them awhile, till, seeing that no more could be done to make them comfortable just then, she walked about the churchyard, now beginning to be embrowned by the shades of nightfall.  The door of the church was unfastened, and she entered it for the first time in her life.