Thomasin receives a substantial inheritance after Wildeve's death and then moves in with Clym by choice. Clym occupies himself in preparing for his vocation of preacher. Now a dairy farmer and normal in color, Venn comes calling and Thomasin is pleased to see him. On Maypole Day, Venn manages to obtain one of Thomasin's gloves, worn by her servant girl, though Thomasin herself does not go to the festivities.
After discovering from the servant what Venn has done, Thomasin encounters him while taking her daughter, Eustacia, for an airing. Venn and Thomasin see each other often after this meeting. Thinking he is obligated to do so because of his mother's wishes when she was alive, Clym is about to ask Thomasin to marry him when she tells him she wants to marry Venn. First disapproving because of his mother's memory, then approving, Clym offers no obstacle to Thomasin's marrying Venn.
On the day of the wedding, the heath folk are helping Fairway stuff a mattress with feathers as a gift to the newlyweds. After giving the bride away, Clym wishes to have nothing to do with the wedding party and wanders off. He encounters Charley and gives him a lock of Eustacia's hair as a remembrance. After the party, Venn and Thomasin go off to Venn's farm, leaving Clym alone in the house at Blooms-End.
Shortly thereafter, Clym begins practice of his vocation of wandering preacher, starting with an appearance on Rainbarrow.
