'Liza-Lu

At the very end when Tess and Angel are spending their last night at Stonehenge, Tess tells him to marry her sister in the event of her death. Up until this point, 'Liza-Lu has played a very insignificant role in the story. She is around a little in the very beginning, then goes to fetch Tess when their mother is ill. Other than these few tidbits, all we really know about this girl is that she has suddenly grown tall and Tess is impressed with her beauty. Tess's wish for their marriage caught me off-guard for this reason--Hardy never really establishes a connection between the two sisters. The way he describes 'Liza-Lu, though, as a "spiritualized image of Tess, slighter than she, but with the same beautiful eyes" serves its part in making her fit better in this place. Her relationship with Angel at this point is never spelled out directly, and only the fact that they were holding hands gives us any clue. My interpretation is that the younger knows of the older sister's wish, she is beginning to get to know Angel Clare, and a relatively happy future may lie in store for them. This seems like a fitting ending, injecting some hope into an otherwise tragic story.