“Sometimes a woman's love of being loved gets the better of her conscience, and though she is agonized at the thought of treating a man cruelly, she encourages him to love her while she doesn't love him at all. Then, when she sees him suffering, her remorse sets in, and she does what she can to repair the wrong.”
More from Thomas Hardy
“To dwellers in a wood, almost every species of tree has its voice as well as its feature.”
“Yet it was in that vale that her sorrow had taken shape, and she did not love it as…”
“I cannot tell you. It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in language that is…”
“She's never found peace since she left his arms, and never will again till she's as he is…”