# A Pair of Blue Eyes — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy.

- [Epigraph](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/epigraph.md): The epigraph quotes Shakespeare, comparing a young woman to a violet—beautiful and sweet but fleeting, foreshadowing a transient romance.
- [The Persons](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/the-persons.md): This chapter introduces the dramatis personae of the novel, listing the main characters and their roles, along with the setting in Lower Wessex.
- [A Pair of Blue Eyes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/a-pair-of-blue-eyes.md): The chapter introduces Elfride Swancourt and Stephen Smith as they meet and begin to develop a romantic connection, set against the backdrop of the Endelstow vicarage and the surrounding landscape.
- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/i.md): Elfride Swancourt, a naive and sheltered young woman of nineteen or twenty, is introduced. Her father, the vicar, is bedridden with gout, and she must host a strange London man arriving that evening. She nervously prepar
- [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/ii.md): Stephen Smith arrives at Endelstow Vicarage in the evening, having traveled from the railway terminus by dogcart. He is met by Elfride Swancourt, who is surprised to find him young and handsome rather than the elderly, b

> 38 more chapter companions — [open a free preview](https://www.betterreads.dev/reader?bookId=a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se_1183kb&preview=1) to unlock the rest.

- [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/iii.md)
- [Chapter IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/iv.md)
- [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/v.md)
- [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/vi.md)
- [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/vii.md)
- [Chapter VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/viii.md)
- [Chapter IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/ix.md)
- [The Secret Pact](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/x.md)
- [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xi.md)
- [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xii.md)
- [Chapter XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xiii.md)
- [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xiv.md)
- [XV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xv.md)
- [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xvi.md)
- [Chapter XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xvii.md)
- [Chapter XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xviii.md)
- [XIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xix.md)
- [XX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xx.md)
- [XXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxi.md)
- [XXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxii.md)
- [XXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxiii.md)
- [XXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxiv.md)
- [XXV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxv.md)
- [XXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxvi.md)
- [Chapter XXVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxvii.md)
- [XXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxviii.md)
- [XXIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxix.md)
- [Vassal unto Love](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxx.md)
- [XXXII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxxii.md)
- [XXXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxxiii.md)
- [Chapter XXXIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxxiv.md)
- [XXXV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxxv.md)
- [XXXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxxvi.md)
- [XXXVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxxvii.md)
- [XXXVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxxviii.md)
- [XXXIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xxxix.md)
- [XL](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/xl.md)
- [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters/endnotes.md)

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_pair_of_blue_eyes_se/chapters