Outside the inn Mrs. Yeobright meets the reddleman, Diggory Venn, who she has been told is looking for her. He informs her that he has her niece in his van, and Mrs. Yeobright immediately goes to the girl. She very soon learns from Thomasin that the girl has returned home alone from Anglebury, where she and Wildeve were to have been married earlier in the day, and that she is not yet married. Her aunt immediately confronts Wildeve and is not entirely satisfied with his explanation of what happened.
In a private conversation, Wildeve answers Thomasin's questions by saying that, of course, he will still marry her.
Their discussion is interrupted when the group from Rainbarrow arrives. Led by Fairway and Grandfer Cantle, they have come to serenade the supposed newlyweds. Wildeve is annoyed by their appearance but must put up with their congratulations and rambling conversation. By the time they leave, he discovers Mrs. Yeobright and Thomasin have already gone, and he starts off toward Mistover Knap, assuming that the fire still burning in front of Captain Vye's is a signal from Eustacia.
