Jude the Obscure (Oxford World's Classics)

Jude the Obscure
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place and see us!’ Jude returned. ‘Well, it can’t be helped, dear; and
of course I wouldn’t wish to injure Willis’s trade-connection by
staying.’ They sat down passively for a few minutes, proceeded out
of church, and overtaking the boy pursued their thoughtful way to
Aldbrickham.
Fawley had still a pretty zeal in the cause of education, and, as was
natural with his experiences, he was active in furthering ‘equality of
opportunity’ by any humble means open to him. He had joined an
Artizans’ Mutual Improvement Society established in the town
about the time of his arrival there; its members being young men of
all creeds and denominations, including Churchmen, Congregation-
alists, Baptists, Unitarians, Positivists,* and others––Agnostics had
scarcely been heard of at this time––their one common wish to
enlarge their minds forming a su
fficiently close bond of union. The
subscription was small, and the room homely; and Jude’s activity,
uncustomary acquirements, and above all, singular intuition on
what to read and how to set about it––begotten of his years of
struggle against malignant stars––had led to his being placed on the
committee.
A few evenings after his dismissal from the church repairs, and
before he had obtained any more work to do, he went to attend a
meeting of the aforesaid committee. It was late when he arrived: all
the others had come, and as he entered they looked dubiously at him,
and hardly uttered a word of greeting. He guessed that something
bearing on himself had been either discussed or mooted. Some
ordinary business was transacted, and it was disclosed that the num-
ber of subscriptions had shown a sudden falling o
ff for that quarter.
One member––a really well-meaning and upright man––began
speaking in enigmas about certain possible causes: that it behoved
them to look well into their constitution; for if the committee were
not respected, and had not at least, in their di
fferences, a common
standard of conduct, they would bring the institution to the ground.
Nothing further was said in Jude’s presence, but he knew what this
meant; and turning to the table wrote a note resigning his o
ffice there
and then.
Thus the supersensitive couple were more and more impelled to
go away. And then the bills were sent in, and the question arose, what
could Jude do with his great-aunt’s heavy old furniture, if he left the
town to travel he knew not whither? This, and the necessity of ready
At Aldbrickham and Elsewhere
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money, compelled him to decide on an auction, much as he would
have preferred to keep the venerable goods.
The day of the sale came on, and Sue for the last time cooked her
own, the child’s, and Jude’s breakfast in the little house he had
furnished. It chanced to be a wet day, moreover Sue was unwell and
not wishing to desert her poor Jude in such gloomy circumstances,
for he was compelled to stay awhile, she acted on the suggestion of
the auctioneer’s man, and ensconced herself in an upper room,
which could be emptied of its e
ffects, and so kept closed to the
bidders. Here Jude discovered her; and with the child, and their few
trunks, baskets, and bundles, and two chairs and a table that were not
in the sale, the two sat in meditative talk.
Footsteps began stamping up and down the bare stairs, the comers
inspecting the goods, some of which were of so quaint and ancient a
make as to acquire an adventitious value as art. Their door was tried
once or twice, and to guard themselves against intrusion Jude wrote
‘Private’ on a scrap of paper and stuck it upon the panel.
They soon found that instead of the furniture their own personal
histories and past conduct began to be discussed to an unexpected
and intolerable extent by the intending bidders. It was not till now
that they really discovered what a fools’ paradise of supposed unrec-
ognition they had been living in of late. Sue silently took her com-
panion’s hand, and with eyes on each other they heard these passing
remarks––the quaint and mysterious personality of Father Time
being a subject which formed a large ingredient in the hints and
innuendoes. At length the auction began in the room below, whence
they could hear each familiar article knocked down, the highly
prized ones cheaply, the unconsidered at an unexpected price.
‘People don’t understand us,’ he sighed heavily. ‘I am glad we have
decided to go.’
‘The question is, where to?’
‘It ought to be to London. There one can live as one chooses.’
‘No––not London, dear. I know it well. We should be unhappy
there.’
‘Why?’
‘Can’t you think?’
‘Because Arabella is there?’
‘That’s the chief reason.’
‘But in the country I shall always be uneasy lest there should be