ABSTRACT
The story opens with a description of a middle-aged man walking back to his village (in Wessex, of course) from a visit to the nearby town of Shaston. On the way he meets an elderly parson on horseback who surprises him by addressing him as 'Sir John'. In fact, he's not a knight, he's a poor 'haggler' (which means a kind of pedlar who trudges around selling produce) and
he's our heroine's Dad (we'll meet her very soon). It turns out the old parson is a bit of an amateur genealogist and he's discovered that the Durbeyfields are descended from an aristocratic family called d'Urberville who came over with William the Conqueror. Of course, the family have long since lost all their money and prestige and so the connection doesn't mean very much in practical terms. But Jack Durbeyfield is a rather vain and self-deluding chap and he soon convinces himself (with the help of a few drinks) that a new life of money and leisure beckons him and his family.
