Page:Hardy - Jude the Obscure, 1896.djvu/202

 "I shall always care for you!" said Jude.

"And I for you. Because you are single-hearted, and forgiving to your faulty and tiresome little Sue!"

He looked away, for that epicene tenderness of hers was too harrowing. Was it that which had broken the heart of the poor leader writer; and was he to be the next one?... But Sue was so dear!... If he could only get over the sense of her sex, as she seemed to be able to do so easily of his, what a comrade she would make; for their difference of opinion on conjectural subjects only drew them closer together on matters of daily human experience. She was nearer to him than any other woman he had ever met, and he could scarcely believe that time, creed, or absence would ever divide him from her.

But his grief at her incredulities returned. They sat on till she fell asleep again, and he nodded in his chair likewise. Whenever he aroused himself he turned her things, and made up the fire anew. About six o'clock he awoke completely, and, lighting a candle, found that her clothes were dry. Her chair being a far more comfortable one than his, she still slept on, inside his great-coat, looking warm as a new bun and boyish as a Ganymedes. Placing the garments by her, and touching her on the shoulder, he went down-stairs and washed himself by starlight in the yard.