Angel returns to Talbothays Dairy and asks Tess to marry him. This puts Tess in a painful dilemma: Angel clearly thinks her a virgin, and she shrinks from confessing her past. Such is her love for him, though, that she finally agrees to the marriage, pretending she had only hesitated because she had heard he hated old families and thought he would not approve of her d'Urberville ancestry. However, he is pleased by the news, as he thinks it will make their match more suitable in the eyes of his family.