Angel spends a few days away from the dairy, visiting his family at Emminster. His brothers Felix and Cuthbert, both ordained Church of England ministers, note Angel's coarsened manners, while Angel considers them staid and narrow-minded. The Clares have long hoped that Angel will marry Mercy Chant, a pious schoolmistress, but Angel argues that a wife who knows farm life would be a more practical choice. He tells his parents about Tess and they agree to meet her. His father, the Reverend James Clare, tells Angel of his efforts to convert the local populace, mentioning his failure to tame a young miscreant named Alec d'Urberville.