Hardy develops a scene between Eustacia and Wildeve in these chapters to show the reactions of old lovers who meet again. When Wildeve appears, Eustacia laughs and is said to be full of "triumphant pleasure." Hardy writes of her: "She let her joyous eyes rest upon him without speaking, as upon some wondrous thing she had created out of chaos." As almost his first words, Wildeve is made to say: "You give me no peace. Why do you not leave me alone?" His reply undermines her feelings immediately, and the meeting is off on the wrong foot.
Not only does Wildeve not appear in the image Eustacia wants to have of him, but he makes her take the initiative in trying to define the relationship between them. Hardy makes her the stronger of the two personalities, a fact which Wildeve himself tacitly admits. It is she who brings up the subject of his marriage. Then she guesses at his motives for not yet going through with the marriage and compares herself with Thomasin. Wildeve, meanwhile, remains simply the critic, mildly complaining about what he calls his "curse of inflammability." Beyond words, even the gesture of showing him her face will not make him what Eustacia wants him to be.
Finally, Eustacia has to ask if he loves her, but Wildeve will not commit himself. Instead, they take small vengeance on each other, ending in her refusal to let him touch her. The meeting has been one of conflicting intentions, skillfully shown in Wildeve's being said to bow his way out of the scene like "a dancing-master" and Hardy's comment on Eustacia: "She knew that he trifled with her; but she loved on." He uses her; she, him. It has always been so, it is clear, and always will be. Events in the next chapter make it obvious how it will take more of a man than Wildeve to handle Eustacia. And perhaps no man at all can.
