Page:Hardy - Jude the Obscure, 1896.djvu/301

 was to soothe me. Now when a woman jumps out of window without caring whether she breaks her neck or no, she's not to be mistaken; and this being the case, I have come to a conclusion: that it is wrong to so torture a fellow-creature any longer; and I won't be the inhuman wretch to do it, cost what it may!"

"What—you'll let her go? And with her lover?"

"Whom with is her matter. I shall let her go; with him certainly, if she wishes. I know I may be wrong—I know I can't logically, or religiously, defend my concession to such a wish of hers, or harmonize it with the doctrines I was brought up in. Only I know one thing: something within me tells me I am doing wrong in refusing her. I, like other men, profess to hold that if a husband gets such a so-called preposterous request from his wife, the only course that can possibly be regarded as right and proper and honorable in him is to refuse it, and put her virtuously under lock and key, and murder her lover perhaps. But is that essentially right and proper and honorable, or is it contemptibly mean and selfish? I don't profess to decide. I simply am going to act by instinct, and let principles take care of themselves. If a person who has blindly walked into a quagmire cries for help, I am inclined to give it, if possible."

"But—you see, there's the question of neighbors and society—what will happen if everybody—"

"Oh, I am not going to be a philosopher any longer! I only see what's under my eyes.

"Well, I don't agree with your instinct, Dick," said Gillingham, gravely. "I am quite amazed, to tell the truth, that such a sedate, plodding fellow as you should have entertained such a craze for a moment. You said when I called that she was puzzling and peculiar; I think you are!"

"Have you ever stood before a woman whom you know to be intrinsically a good woman, while she has pleaded