Jude fixed an arrested, surprised look on her. But she said no more,
and continued her saunter till she was tired. He left the spot, and,
after wandering vaguely a little while, walked in the direction of
Marygreen. Here he called upon his great-aunt, whose infirmities
daily increased.
"Aunt--did my father ill-use my mother, and my aunt her husband?"
said Jude abruptly, sitting down by the fire.
She raised her ancient eyes under the rim of the by-gone bonnet that
she always wore. "Who's been telling you that?" she said.
"I have heard it spoken of, and want to know all."
"You med so well, I s'pose; though your wife--I reckon 'twas
she--must have been a fool to open up that! There isn't much to know
after all. Your father and mother couldn't get on together, and they
parted. It was coming home from Alfredston market, when you were a
baby--on the hill by the Brown House barn--that they had their last
difference, and took leave of one another for the last time. Your
mother soon afterwards died--she drowned herself, in short, and your
father went away with you to South Wessex, and never came here any
more."
Jude recalled his father's silence about North Wessex and Jude's
mother, never speaking of either till his dying day.
"It was the same with your father's sister. Her husband offended
her, and she so disliked living with him afterwards that she went
away to London with her little maid. The Fawleys were not made for
wedlock: it never seemed to sit well upon us. There's sommat in our
blood that won't take kindly to the notion of being bound to do what
we do readily enough if not bound. That's why you ought to have
hearkened to me, and not ha' married."
"Where did Father and Mother part--by the Brown House, did you say?"
"A little further on--where the road to Fenworth branches off, and
the handpost stands. A gibbet once stood there not onconnected with
our history. But let that be."
In the dusk of that evening Jude walked away from his old aunt's as
if to go home. But as soon as he reached the open down he struck out
upon it till he came to a large round pond. The frost continued,
though it was not particularly sharp, and the larger stars overhead
came out slow and flickering. Jude put one foot on the edge of the
ice, and then the other: it cracked under his weight; but this did
not deter him. He ploughed his way inward to the centre, the ice
making sharp noises as he went. When just about the middle he looked
around him and gave a jump. The cracking repeated itself; but he did
not go down. He jumped again, but the cracking had ceased. Jude
went back to the edge, and stepped upon the ground.