Beginning...of my favourite book

My favourite ever book is Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.  It is a pleasure much underestimated...that moment when you have time to settle into a comfortable armchair and open your favourite book with anticipation, knowing that a treat awaits you.
I have included a favourite passage which describes the four dairymaids dressed in their finest clothes on the way to church on a summer Sunday morning.  Heavy overnight rain has caused flooding which blocks their route, and Angel Clare comes to the rescue:
"The rosy-cheeked, bright-eyed quartet looked so charming in their light summer attire, clinging to the roadside bank like pigeons on a roof-slope, that he stopped a moment to regard them before coming close.  Their gauzy skirts had brushed up from the grass innumerable flies and butterflies which, unable to escape, remained caged in the transparent tissue as in an aviary.  Angel's eye at last fell upon Tess, the hindmost of the four; she, being full of supressed laughter at their dilemma, could not help meeting his glance radiantly."
Thomas Hardy 1891

Thanks to Osuzanna for hosting.

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