Jude the Obscure (Oxford World's Classics)

At Aldbrickham and Elsewhere
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There was a silence. An inconvenient sympathy seemed to be
rising in Jude’s breast at the appeal. ‘But aren’t you married?’ he
said.
Arabella hesitated. ‘No, Jude, I am not,’ she returned. ‘He
wouldn’t, after all. And I am in great di
fficulty. I hope to get another
situation as barmaid soon. But it takes time, and I really am in great
distress, because of a sudden responsibility that’s been sprung upon
me, from Australia; or I wouldn’t trouble you––believe me I
wouldn’t. I want to tell you about it.’
Sue remained at gaze in painful tension, hearing every word, but
speaking none.
‘You are not really in want of money, Arabella?’ he asked in a
distinctly softened tone.
‘I have enough to pay for the night’s lodging I have obtained, but
barely enough to take me back again.’
‘Where are you living?’
‘In London still.’ She was about to give the address, but she said,
‘I am afraid somebody may hear, so I don’t like to call out particulars
of myself so loud. If you could come down and walk a little way with
me towards The Prince Inn, where I am staying to-night, I would
explain all. You may as well, for old time’s sake.’
‘Poor thing––I must do her the kindness of hearing what’s the
matter, I suppose,’ said Jude in much perplexity. ‘As she’s going back
to-morrow it can’t make much di
fference.’
‘But you can go and see her to-morrow, Jude! Don’t go now, Jude!’
came in plaintive accents from the doorway. ‘O it is only to entrap
you, I know it is, as she did before! Don’t, don’t, go, dear! She is
such a low-passioned woman––I can see it in her shape, and hear it
in her voice!’
‘But I shall go,’ said Jude. ‘Don’t attempt to detain me, Sue. God
knows I love her little enough now, but I don’t want to be cruel to
her.’ He turned to the stairs.
‘But she’s not your wife!’ cried Sue distractedly. ‘And I——’
‘And you are not either, dear, yet,’ said Jude.
‘O, but are you going to her? Don’t! Stay at home.* Please, please
stay at home, Jude, and not go to her, now she’s not your wife any
more than I!’
‘Well, she is, rather more than you, come to that,’ he said taking
his hat determinedly. ‘I’ve wanted you to be, and I’ve waited with the
Jude the Obscure
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patience of Job, and I don’t see that I’ve got anything by my self-
denial. I shall certainly give her something, and hear what it is she is
so anxious to tell me. No man could do less.’
There was that in his manner which she knew it would be futile to
oppose. She said no more, but, turning to her room as meekly as a
martyr, heard him go downstairs, unbolt the door, and close it
behind him. With a woman’s disregard of her dignity when in the
presence of nobody but herself, she also trotted down, sobbing
articulately as she went. She listened. She knew exactly how far it
was to the inn that Arabella had named as her lodging. It would
occupy about seven minutes to get there at an ordinary walking pace;
seven to come back again. If he did not return in fourteen minutes he
would have lingered. She looked at the clock. It was twenty-
five
minutes to eleven. He might enter the inn with Arabella, as they
would reach it before closing time; she might get him to drink with
her; and Heaven only knew what disasters would befall him then.
In a still suspense she waited on. It seemed as if the whole time
had nearly elapsed when the door was opened again, and Jude
appeared.
Sue gave a little ecstatic cry. ‘O I knew I could trust you––how
good you are’––she began.
‘I can’t 
find her anywhere in this street, and I went out in my
slippers only. She has walked on, thinking I’ve been so hard-hearted
as to refuse her requests entirely, poor woman. I’ve come back for my
boots, as it is beginning to rain.’
‘O, but why should you take such trouble for a woman who has
served you so badly!’ said Sue in a jealous burst of disappointment.
‘But, Sue, she’s a woman, and I once cared for her; and one can’t
be a brute in such circumstances.’
‘She isn’t your wife any longer!’ exclaimed Sue, passionately
excited. ‘You mustn’t go out to 
find her! It isn’t right! You can’t join
her, now she’s a stranger to you. How can you forget such a thing, my
dear, dear one!’
‘She seems much the same as ever––an erring, careless, unre
flect-
ing fellow creature,’ he said, continuing to pull on his boots. ‘What
those legal fellows have been playing at in London makes no di
ffer-
ence in my real relations to her. If she was my wife while she was
away in Australia with another husband she’s my wife now.’
‘But she wasn’t! That’s just what I hold! There’s the absurdity!——