Her refusal, though unexpected, did not permanently daunt Clare. His experience of women was great enough for him to be aware that the negative often meant nothing more than the preface to the affirmative; and it was little enough for him not to know that in the manner of the present negative there lay a great exception to the dallyings of coyness. That she had already permitted him to make love to her he read as an additional assurance, not fully trowing that in the fields and pastures to 'sigh gratis' is by no means deemed waste; love-making being here more often accepted inconsiderately and for its own sweet sake than in the carking anxious homes of the ambitious, where a girl's craving for an establishment paralyzes her healthy thought of a passion as an end.
苔絲的拒絕雖然出乎意外，但是這也不會長期讓克萊爾氣餒。他對女人已經有了經驗，這已經足以使他懂得，否定常常只是肯定的開端；但是他的經驗畢竟有限，還不足以知道目前這種否定完全是一個例外，和那種忸怩作態(tài)的調情不同。既然苔絲已經允許他向她求愛了，他認為這就是一種額外的保證，但是他并沒有完全認識到，發(fā)生在田野里和牧場上的那些“免費的嘆息”①，也決不是浪費了；在這種地方，戀愛常常是沒有多加考慮就被接受了，這種戀愛只是為了戀愛自身的甜蜜，它和充滿野心的憂慮焦躁的家庭不一樣，在那種家庭里，女孩子渴望的只是為了建立家業(yè)，這樣就損害了以感情為目的的健康思想。

'Tess, why did you say "no" in such a positive way?' he asked her in the course of a few days.
“苔絲，為什么你用這種堅決的態(tài)度說‘不’呢？”過了幾天他問苔絲。

她吃了一驚。

'Don't ask me. I told you why - partly. I am not good enough not worthy enough.'
“不要問我。我已經告訴過你了——部分地告訴過你了。我配不上你——我不值得你愛。”

'How? Not fine lady enough?'
“怎么配不上？因為你不是一位千金小姐嗎？”

'Yes - something like that,' murmured she. 'Your friends would scorn me.'
“不錯——和那差不多，”她低聲說?！澳慵依锏娜藭撇黄鹞业摹！?/div>

'Indeed, you mistake them - my father and mother. As for my brothers, I don't care--' He clasped his fingers behind her back to keep her from slipping away. 'Now - you did not mean it, sweet? - I am sure you did not! You have made me so restless that I cannot read, or play, or do anything. I am in no hurry, Tess, but I want to know - to hear from your own warm lips - that you will some day be mine - any time you may choose; but some day?'
“你實在是把他們看錯了——把我的父親和母親看錯了。至于說到我的哥哥，我并不在乎——”他從后面用雙手抱住苔絲，害怕她逃走了?！拔埂阏f的不是真話吧，親愛的？——我敢肯定你不是說的真話！你已經弄得我坐立不安了，不能讀書、無心玩耍，什么事也沒法做。我不著急，苔絲，但是我想知道——想從你溫暖的嘴里親自聽到——有一天你會是我的人——什么時間你可以選擇；但是總有一天吧？”

①免費的嘆息（sigh gratis），引自莎士比亞的悲劇《哈姆雷特》，見該劇第二幕第二場。