Jude the Obsure
Page 117Yet Jude was in danger of attaching more meaning to Sue's impulsive
note than it really was intended to bear.
After the lapse of a few days he found himself hoping that she would
write again. But he received no further communication; and in the
intensity of his solicitude he sent another note, suggesting that he
should pay her a visit some Sunday, the distance being under eighteen
miles.
He expected a reply on the second morning after despatching his
missive; but none came. The third morning arrived; the postman did
not stop. This was Saturday, and in a feverish state of anxiety
about her he sent off three brief lines stating that he was coming
the following day, for he felt sure something had happened.
immersion; but it soon occurred to him that somebody would have
written for her in such a case. Conjectures were put an end to by
his arrival at the village school-house near Shaston on the bright
morning of Sunday, between eleven and twelve o'clock, when the parish
was as vacant as a desert, most of the inhabitants having gathered
inside the church, whence their voices could occasionally be heard in
unison.
A little girl opened the door. "Miss Bridehead is up-stairs," she
said. "And will you please walk up to her?"
"Is she ill?" asked Jude hastily.
"Only a little--not very."
which way to turn--the voice of Sue calling his name. He passed the
doorway, and found her lying in a little bed in a room a dozen feet
square.
"Oh, Sue!" he cried, sitting down beside her and taking her hand.
"How is this! You couldn't write?"
"No--it wasn't that!" she answered. "I did catch a bad cold--but I
could have written. Only I wouldn't!"
"Why not?--frightening me like this!"
"Yes--that was what I was afraid of! But I had decided not to write
to you any more. They won't have me back at the school--that's why I
couldn't write. Not the fact, but the reason!"
"They not only won't have me, but they gave me a parting piece of
advice--"
"What?"
She did not answer directly. "I vowed I never would tell you,
Jude--it is so vulgar and distressing!"
"Is it about us?"
"Yes."
"But do tell me!"
"Well--somebody has sent them baseless reports about us, and they
say you and I ought to marry as soon as possible, for the sake of my
reputation! ... There--now I have told you, and I wish I hadn't!"