- And now, it's time to party like it's 1807. That's where Eliot's "Epilogue" lands us, in a Hayslope that has changed for the better.
- Now we're in "Adam Bede's timber-yard, which used to be Jonathan Burge's, and the mellow evening light is falling on the pleasant house with the buff walls and the soft gray thatch" (Epilogue.1). Adam's house. The old boy sure has risen in the world.
- Soon a figure in a "plain black dress" emerges from the house (Epilogue.3). It's Dinah. She is followed out by their four-year-old daughter, then by Seth, who is carrying their two-year-old son on his shoulders.
- The whole lot of them stand and watch as Adam approaches. Now, Adam is returning from a reunion with Arthur. But hold the confetti! Dinah observes that the passing years "have changed us all," in some cases for the worse (Epilogue.15).
- While the group waits for Adam to show up (they'll stand here like this all day, won't they!), Dinah talks a little more about what has happened to all our favorite Hayslopians. The exiled Hetty in particular has had a hard lot: "The death of the poor wanderer, when she was coming back to us, has been sorrow upon sorrow" (Epilogue.15).
- And now (finally!) Adam arrives. His news about Arthur isn't quite bad, but isn't quite good: "I should ha' known him anywhere. But his colour's changed, and he looks sadly" (Epilogue.21). Plus, he's still haunted by the whole "getting Hetty pregnant" episode. But you know what? Things are slowly getting back to normal. Arthur still values Adam's companionship, and Adam and Seth still haven't settled their religious differences.
- So Adam and Seth quarrel about the whole "women preaching" issue for a few paragraphs (Epilogue.25). Then the Poysers come into view on the horizon. (No religious differences in front of the guests!)
- As everybody's favorite farmers approach, Dinah encourages Adam to "rest; it has been a hard day for thee" (Epilogue.32).