Clym goes to Captain Vye's, saying he wants to help with the lost bucket. He really wants to meet Eustacia. He meets her, and after she suffers a slight injury assisting him in getting water from the well, he tries to get her to admit she is the young woman he met in mummer's costume at Mrs. Yeobright's party. She will not admit anything, and they disagree over what the heath means to them.
At home the next day, Mrs. Yeobright expresses annoyance at Clym's meeting Eustacia. But he continues to do so for the next few weeks until he and his mother quarrel bitterly over both his new career and his interest in Eustacia. Mrs. Yeobright is sure that he would not persist in his desire to be a teacher if he had not met Eustacia.
The next evening, Clym meets Eustacia on Rainbarrow, the signal for their tryst being the start of an eclipse of the moon. Urged on by his mother's criticism of Eustacia, he wants to marry the girl, but Eustacia will not commit herself, preferring that he tell her of Paris. Finally, she does agree to marry him, thinking he will soon forget his desire to be a schoolmaster and then return to Paris with her.
