Page:Hardy - Jude the Obscure, 1896.djvu/317

 "I can't explain."

It was true that he did not understand her feeling very well. But he did a little, and began to love her none the less.

"I—I thought you cared for nobody—desired nobody in the world but me at that time—and ever since!" continued Sue.

"It is true. I did not, and don't now!" said Jude, as distressed as she.

"But you must have thought much of her! Or—"

"No, I need not; you don't understand me either—women never do! Why should you get into such a tantrum about nothing?"

Looking up from the quilt she replied, provokingly, "If it hadn't been for that, perhaps I would have gone on to the Temperance Hotel, after all, as you proposed; for I was beginning to think I did belong to you!"

"Oh, it is of no consequence," said Jude, distantly.

"I thought, of course, that she had never been really your wife since she left you of her own accord years and years ago. My sense of it was, that a parting such as yours from her, and mine from him, ended the marriage."

"I can't say more without speaking against her, and I don't want to do that," said he. "Yet I must tell you one thing, which would settle the matter in any case. She has married another man—really married him! I knew nothing about it till after the visit we made here."

"Married another?... It is a crime—as the world treats it, but does not believe."

"There; now you are yourself again. Yes, it is a crime—as you don't hold, but would fearfully concede. But I shall never inform against her. And it is evidently a prick of conscience in her that has led her to urge me to get a divorce, that she may re-marry this man legally. So, you perceive, I shall not be likely to see her again."

"And you didn't really know anything of this when you saw her?" said Sue, more gently, as she rose.