Some days passed, and the evening of their last meal together had
come--a cloudy evening with wind--which indeed was very seldom absent
in this elevated place. How permanently it was imprinted upon his
vision; that look of her as she glided into the parlour to tea;
a slim flexible figure; a face, strained from its roundness, and
marked by the pallors of restless days and nights, suggesting tragic
possibilities quite at variance with her times of buoyancy; a trying
of this morsel and that, and an inability to eat either. Her nervous
manner, begotten of a fear lest he should be injured by her course,
might have been interpreted by a stranger as displeasure that
Phillotson intruded his presence on her for the few brief minutes
that remained.
"You had better have a slice of ham or an egg, or something with your
tea? You can't travel on a mouthful of bread and butter."
She took the slice he helped her to; and they discussed as they sat
trivial questions of housekeeping, such as where he would find the
key of this or that cupboard, what little bills were paid, and what
not.
"I am a bachelor by nature, as you know, Sue," he said, in a heroic
attempt to put her at her ease. "So that being without a wife will
not really be irksome to me, as it might be to other men who have
had one a little while. I have, too, this grand hobby in my head of
writing 'The Roman Antiquities of Wessex,' which will occupy all my
spare hours."
"If you will send me some of the manuscript to copy at any time,
as you used to, I will do it with so much pleasure!" she said with
amenable gentleness. "I should much like to be some help to you
still--as a--friend."
Phillotson mused, and said: "No, I think we ought to be really
separate, if we are to be at all. And for this reason, that I don't
wish to ask you any questions, and particularly wish you not to give
me information as to your movements, or even your address... Now,
what money do you want? You must have some, you know."
"Oh, of course, Richard, I couldn't think of having any of your money
to go away from you with! I don't want any either. I have enough of
my own to last me for a long while, and Jude will let me have--"
"I would rather not know anything about him, if you don't mind.
You are free, absolutely; and your course is your own."