Jude the Obsure - Page 117/318

Yet 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.

His first and natural thought had been that she was ill from her

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."

Jude entered and ascended. On reaching the landing a voice told him

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!"

"Well?"

"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!"