Jude the Obscure (Oxford World's Classics)

Jude the Obscure
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the new ground, quite away from her ancestors. Sue and Jude had
gone side by side to the grave, and now sat down to tea in the familiar
house; their lives united at least in this last attention to the dead.
‘She was opposed to marriage, from 
first to last, you say?’
murmured Sue.
‘Yes. Particularly for members of our family.’
Her eyes met his, and remained on him awhile.
‘We are rather a sad family, don’t you think, Jude?’
‘She said we made bad husbands and wives. Certainly we make
unhappy ones. At all events I do, for one!’
Sue was silent. ‘Is it wrong, Jude,’ she said with a tentative tremor
‘for a husband or wife to tell a third person that they are unhappy in
their marriage? If a marriage ceremony is a religious thing, it is
possibly wrong; but if it is only a sordid contract, based on material
convenience in householding, rating and taxing, and the inheritance
of land and money by children making it necessary that the male
parent should be known, which it seems to be––why surely a person
may say, even proclaim upon the housetops, that it hurts and grieves
him or her?’
‘I have said so, anyhow, to you.’
Presently she went on: ‘Are there many couples, do you think,
where one dislikes the other for no de
finite fault?’
‘Yes, I suppose. If either cares for another person, for instance.’
‘But even apart from that? Wouldn’t the woman, for example, be
very bad-natured if she didn’t like to live with her husband;
merely’––(her voice undulated, and he guessed things)––‘merely
because she had a personal feeling against it––a physical objection––
a fastidiousness, or whatever it may be called––although she might
respect and be grateful to him? I am merely putting a case. Ought
she to try to overcome her pruderies?’
Jude threw a troubled look at her. He said, looking away: ‘It would
be just one of those cases in which my experiences go contrary to my
dogmas. Speaking as an order-loving man––which I hope I am,
though I fear I am not––I should say yes. Speaking from experience
and unbiased nature, I should say, no. . . . Sue, I believe you are not
happy!’
‘Of course I am!’ she contradicted. ‘How can a woman be
unhappy who has only been married eight weeks to a man she chose
freely?’
At Shaston
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‘ “Chose freely!” ’
‘Why do you repeat it? . . . But I have to go back by the six o’clock
train. You will be staying on here, I suppose?’
‘For a few days, to wind up aunt’s a
ffairs. This house is gone now.
Shall I go to the train with you?’
A little laugh of objection came from Sue. ‘I think not. You may
come part of the way.’
‘But stop––you can’t go to-night! That train won’t take you to
Shaston. You must stay and go back to-morrow. Mrs. Edlin has
plenty of room, if you don’t like to stay here?’
‘Very well,’ she said dubiously. ‘I didn’t tell him I would come for
certain.’
Jude went to the widow’s house adjoining, to let her know; and
returning in a few minutes sat down again.
‘It is horrible how we are circumstanced, Sue––horrible!’ he said
abruptly, with his eyes bent to the 
floor.
‘No! Why?’
‘I can’t tell you all my part of the gloom. Your part is that you
ought not to have married him. I saw it before you had done it, but I
thought I mustn’t interfere. I was wrong. I ought to have!’
‘But what makes you assume all this, dear?’
‘Because––I can see you through your feathers, my poor little
bird!’
Her hand lay on the table, and Jude put his upon it. Sue drew hers
away.
‘That’s absurd, Sue,’ cried he, ‘after what we’ve been talking
about! I am more strict and formal than you, if it comes to that; and
that you should object to such an innocent action shows that you are
ridiculously inconsistent.’
‘Perhaps it was too prudish,’ she said repentantly. ‘Only I have
fancied it was a sort of trick of ours––too frequent perhaps. There,
you may hold it as much as you like. Is that good of me?’
‘Yes; very.’
‘But I must tell him.’
‘Who?’
‘Richard.’
‘Oh––of course, if you think it necessary. But as it means nothing
it may be bothering him needlessly.’
‘Well––are you sure you mean it only as my cousin?’