When Angel asks for Tess, she appears in startlingly elegant attire and stands aloof. He tenderly asks her forgiveness, but Tess, in anguish, tells him he has come too late. Thinking he will never return, she has yielded at last to Alec d'Urberville's persuasion and become his mistress. She gently asks Angel to leave and never return. He departs and Tess goes back to her bedroom, where she falls to her knees and begins to lament. She blames Alec for causing her to lose Angel's love a second time, accusing him of lying when he said that Angel would never return to her.