Paragraphs from Tess.
 
 
 
From Phase the Fourth, XXXIV
 
. .Looking at her silently for a long time; “She is a dear dear Tess,” he thought to himself, as one deciding on the true construction of a difficult passage. “Do I realise solemnly enough how utterly and irretrievably this little womanly thing is the creature of my good or bad faith and fortune? I think not. I think I could not, unless I were a woman myself. What am I in worldly estate, she is. What I become, she must become. What I cannot be, she cannot be. And shall I ever neglect her, or hurt her, or even forget to consider her? God forbid such a crime!”
 
 
 
Comment:
   
A patronising, and a little discouraging, aspect of her erstwhile true love.