When the house was silent, and they could do nothing but await the coroner's inquest, a subdued, large, low voice spread into the air of the room from behind the heavy walls at the back.
"What is it?" said Sue, her spasmodic breathing suspended.
"The organ of the college chapel. The organist practising I suppose. It's the anthem from the seventy-third Psalm; 'Truly God is loving unto Israel.'"
She sobbed again. "Oh, Oh my babies! They had done no harm! Why should they have been taken away, and not I!"
There was another stillness--broken at last by two persons in conversation somewhere without.
"They are talking about us, no doubt!" moaned Sue. "'We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men!'"
Jude listened--"No--they are not talking of us," he said. "They are two clergymen of different views, arguing about the eastward position. Good God--the eastward position, and all creation groaning!"
Then another silence, till she was seized with another uncontrollable fit of grief. "There is something external to us which says, 'You shan't!' First it said, 'You shan't learn!' Then it said, 'You shan't labour!' Now it says, 'You shan't love!'"
He tried to soothe her by saying, "That's bitter of you, darling."
"But it's true!"
Thus they waited, and she went back again to her room. The baby's frock, shoes, and socks, which had been lying on a chair at the time of his death, she would not now have removed, though Jude would fain have got them out of her sight. But whenever he touched them she implored him to let them lie, and burst out almost savagely at the woman of the house when she also attempted to put them away.
Jude dreaded her dull apathetic silences almost more than her paroxysms. "Why don't you speak to me, Jude?" she cried out, after one of these. "Don't turn away from me! I can't BEAR the loneliness of being out of your looks!"
"There, dear; here I am," he said, putting his face close to hers.
"Yes.... Oh, my comrade, our perfect union--our two-in-oneness-- is now stained with blood!"
"Shadowed by death--that's all."
"Ah; but it was I who incited him really, though I didn't know I was doing it! I talked to the child as one should only talk to people of mature age. I said the world was against us, that it was better to be out of life than in it at this price; and he took it literally. And I told him I was going to have another child. It upset him. Oh how bitterly he upbraided me!"
"Why did you do it, Sue?"
"I can't tell. It was that I wanted to be truthful. I couldn't bear deceiving him as to the facts of life. And yet I wasn't truthful, for with a false delicacy I told him too obscurely.--Why was I half-wiser than my fellow-women? And not entirely wiser! Why didn't I tell him pleasant untruths, instead of half-realities? It was my want of self-control, so that I could neither conceal things nor reveal them!"
"Your plan might have been a good one for the majority of cases; only in our peculiar case it chanced to work badly perhaps. He must have known sooner or later."
"And I was just making my baby darling a new frock; and now I shall never see him in it, and never talk to him any more! ... My eyes are so swollen that I can scarcely see; and yet little more than a year ago I called myself happy! We went about loving each other too much--indulging ourselves to utter selfishness with each other! We said-- do you remember?--that we would make a virtue of joy. I said it was Nature's intention, Nature's law and RAISON D'ETRE that we should be joyful in what instincts she afforded us-- instincts which civilization had taken upon itself to thwart. What dreadful things I said! And now Fate has given us this stab in the back for being such fools as to take Nature at her word!"
She sank into a quiet contemplation, till she said, "It is best, perhaps, that they should be gone.--Yes--I see it is! Better that they should be plucked fresh than stay to wither away miserably!"
"Yes," replied Jude. "Some say that the elders should rejoice when their children die in infancy."
"But they don't know! ... Oh my babies, my babies, could you be alive now! You may say the boy wished to be out of life, or he wouldn't have done it. It was not unreasonable for him to die: it was part of his incurably sad nature, poor little fellow! But then the others--my OWN children and yours!"
Again Sue looked at the hanging little frock and at the socks and shoes; and her figure quivered like a string. "I am a pitiable creature," she said, "good neither for earth nor heaven any more! I am driven out of my mind by things! What ought to be done?" She stared at Jude, and tightly held his hand.
"Nothing can be done," he replied. "Things are as they are, and will be brought to their destined issue."
She paused. "Yes! Who said that?" she asked heavily.
"It comes in the chorus of the AGAMEMNON. It has been in my mind continually since this happened."
"My poor Jude--how you've missed everything!--you more than I, for I did get you! To think you should know that by your unassisted reading, and yet be in poverty and despair!"
After such momentary diversions her grief would return in a wave.
The jury duly came and viewed the bodies, the inquest was held; and next arrived the melancholy morning of the funeral. Accounts in the newspapers had brought to the spot curious idlers, who stood apparently counting the window-panes and the stones of the walls. Doubt of the real relations of the couple added zest to their curiosity. Sue had declared that she would follow the two little ones to the grave, but at the last moment she gave way, and the coffins were quietly carried out of the house while she was lying down. Jude got into the vehicle, and it drove away, much to the relief of the landlord, who now had only Sue and her luggage remaining on his hands, which he hoped to be also clear of later on in the day, and so to have freed his house from the exasperating notoriety it had acquired during the week through his wife's unlucky admission of these strangers. In the afternoon he privately consulted with the owner of the house, and they agreed that if any objection to it arose from the tragedy which had occurred there they would try to get its number changed.
When Jude had seen the two little boxes--one containing little Jude, and the other the two smallest--deposited in the earth he hastened back to Sue, who was still in her room, and he therefore did not disturb her just then. Feeling anxious, however, he went again about four o'clock. The woman thought she was still lying down, but returned to him to say that she was not in her bedroom after all. Her hat and jacket, too, were missing: she had gone out. Jude hurried off to the public house where he was sleeping. She had not been there. Then bethinking himself of possibilities he went along the road to the cemetery, which he entered, and crossed to where the interments had recently taken place. The idlers who had followed to the spot by reason of the tragedy were all gone now. A man with a shovel in his hands was attempting to earth in the common grave of the three children, but his arm was held back by an expostulating woman who stood in the half-filled hole. It was Sue, whose coloured clothing, which she had never thought of changing for the mourning he had bought, suggested to the eye a deeper grief than the conventional garb of bereavement could express.
"He's filling them in, and he shan't till I've seen my little ones again!" she cried wildly when she saw Jude. "I want to see them once more. Oh Jude-- please Jude--I want to see them! I didn't know you would let them be taken away while I was asleep! You said perhaps I should see them once more before they were screwed down; and then you didn't, but took them away! Oh Jude, you are cruel to me too!"
"She's been wanting me to dig out the grave again, and let her get to the coffins," said the man with the spade. "She ought to be took home, by the look o' her. She is hardly responsible, poor thing, seemingly. Can't dig 'em up again now, ma'am. Do ye go home with your husband, and take it quiet, and thank God that there'll be another soon to swage yer grief."
But Sue kept asking piteously: "Can't I see them once more--just once! Can't I? Only just one little minute, Jude? It would not take long! And I should be so glad, Jude! I will be so good, and not disobey you ever any more, Jude, if you will let me? I would go home quietly afterwards, and not want to see them any more! Can't I? Why can't I?"
Thus she went on. Jude was thrown into such acute sorrow that he almost felt he would try to get the man to accede. But it could do no good, and might make her still worse; and he saw that it was imperative to get her home at once. So he coaxed her, and whispered tenderly, and put his arm round her to support her; till she helplessly gave in, and was induced to leave the cemetery.
He wished to obtain a fly to take her back in, but economy being so imperative she deprecated his doing so, and they walked along slowly, Jude in black crape, she in brown and red clothing. They were to have gone to a new lodging that afternoon, but Jude saw that it was not practicable, and in course of time they entered the now hated house. Sue was at once got to bed, and the doctor sent for.
Jude waited all the evening downstairs. At a very late hour the intelligence was brought to him that a child had been prematurely born, and that it, like the others, was a corpse.
那房子只好算城区里的旧棚户房子，她坐在那儿，瞧着什么也没铺的光地板，然后又从没挂窗帘的窗户，仔细看外边的情景。近在对面的是石棺学院的不出声音、没有窗户的黑糊糊外墙。它们夜晚挡住月光，白天挡住阳光，把积了四百年之久的幽晦阴凄、顽梗偏执和老迈昏馈一古脑儿倾倒在她屋里。再往前是丹书学院，再远点是另一所学院的塔楼，它们的外形都清晰可辨。她不禁喟然感叹，主宰一个心地单纯的男人的激情会产生多么不可思议的作用，就像裘德那样把她们娘几个放在心窝里爱的人，由于始终未能忘情于昔日的梦想，竟然不惜把他们安置在这么叫人觉得丧气的地方。哪怕到了现在这光景，他还是没听清楚那些沾满学究气味的墙壁对他的愿望发出的回响是何等冷酷无情的否定。
找房子一再失败，加上现在的房子也没有父亲容身之处，在大孩子心里留下了深刻的印象——仿佛有一种无影无形。不可名状的恐怖紧紧地扼住了他。屋里的沉寂因为他开口说话而打破了：“妈，明几个咱们可怎么办哪？”
“我也不知道！”苏懒懒地说。“我担心又要让你爸爸发愁啦。”
“我真盼爸爸棒棒的，有个屋子住哟！那一来就没多大关系啦！”
“是啊，那就没多大关系啦！”
“还有事儿叫我干吗？”
“没有！反正咱们万事只有烦心、倒霉、受罪的份儿！”
“爸爸走是为我们孩子有地方住，对不对？”
“这也有关系。”
“呆在这世界上还不如离开好，对不对？”
“有这么一点，亲爱的。”
“你们找不到好地方住，就因为有我们这些孩子，对不对？”
“呃——大人有时候也嫌孩子累赘。”
“那，孩子要是惹这么多麻烦，干吗还要生孩子啊？”
“哦——那是个自然法则。”
“可我们自个儿没要生，是吧？”
“对，是这么回事。”
“可我比别的孩子还糟哪，因为你不是我亲妈；你要是不喜欢我，就用不着留我。我就不该上你这儿来——这可一点都不错。我在澳洲麻烦人，上这儿来还麻烦人。但愿我没生下地哟！”
“这你办不到啊，亲爱的！”
“我觉着，孩子生下来了，又没人想要，那就趁他魂儿没长起来，干脆把他掐死，不让他往大里长，到处跑！”
苏没答话。她心里嘀咕着，拿不定主意怎么对待这个异想天开的孩子。
后来她总算想定了：凡是像老朋友一样愿意和她分忧的人，只要情况许可，她一定对他实心实意，决不藏藏掖掖。
“咱们家又要添个孩子啦。”她含混不清地说。
“什么？”
“又要有个小宝宝啦。”
“怎么？”孩子发了疯似地跳起来。“哦，上帝哟，妈呀，你可千万别再弄一个来哟，你现在够麻烦啦！”
“是啊，是够麻烦啦，我也不好意思说啊，”她嘟囔着，因为忍住泪，眼睛亮晶晶的。
孩子一下子哭了。“哦，你没心没肺，你没心没肺！”他喊起来，毫不留情地责怪她。“妈呀，你怎么这么坏，这么狠心，你就不能等家里好点，爸爸身体好了，再这么干吗？你这不是把咱们家搞得更麻烦吗？咱们没家没业的，爸爸只好到外头住，明儿个咱们又让人赶出去啦；可你还要给咱们家再添口人！……你这是存心哪 ——存心哪，存心哪！”他哭着，走来走去的。
“小裘德哟，你、你可得原谅我呀！”她央告着，她的胸脯这会儿也像孩子的胸脯那样起伏。“我这会儿说不清啊——你长大了，我一定告诉你。现在咱们困难到这个份儿上，真像我是存心要这样哪！我没法说清楚，亲爱的！可是我实在不是存心——我也没办法啊！”
“你就是存心——准是存心！你要是不答应，不是行吗？因为这样的事，谁也没法在咱们家里插一手！我决不原谅你，永远不原谅！我以后再也不信你心里记挂我，记挂爸爸，家里哪一个你也不记挂着哟！”
他站定了，转身走到连着她屋子的套间，那儿地板上临时搭了个铺。她听见他在那儿说：“要是我们孩子都走了，不是没了麻烦吗？”
“别胡思乱想的，亲爱的。”她大声说，口气很严厉。“好好睡觉吧！”
第二大早晨六点过一点，她醒了，决定立刻起床，在早饭前按裘德告诉她的地点，赶到他住的客店，把他走后发生的事情告诉他。她轻手轻脚地起来，免得惊醒孩子，她知道他们昨天一天都挺吃力，一定累得很。
她看见裘德正在那个不起眼的小酒馆吃早饭，他是为省下钱好垫上她住处的房租，才选上那么个地方。她把现在又要无可为家的情形跟他说了。他说他整夜都替她着急。好在现在已经到了早上，房东要她离开那个住处，就不像头天晚上那么叫人无可奈何了，就算她后来没找成住的地方，也不像原先那么紧迫。裘德同意她的想法，犯不上为住一个礼拜的权利纠缠下去，他们要立刻采取步骤，搬走了事。
“你们先得在这个客店待一两天。”裘德说。“这地方杂得很，对孩子们不合适，可是咱们就有时间，东西南北找地方住啦。我从前住在别是巴，郊区一带出租的房子多得很呢。你就在这儿跟我吃早饭，我的小鸟儿。你是不是觉得身子还好？时间充裕得很，他们没醒之前，够你回去做早饭。反正我跟你一块儿走。”
她跟裘德胡乱吃完饭，一刻钟之后，两人就动身了，决定从苏住的架子老大的那家立刻一走了之。他们一到就上楼，苏发现孩子屋里悄没声的。她怯怯地喊女房东把茶壶和早饭用具送上来。女房东敷衍了事给她办了。苏把自己带来的两个鸡蛋放到水正开着的壶里，喊裘德看着给孩子吃的鸡蛋，她自己去喊他们起来，时间大概是八点半。
裘德弯着腰站在那儿，拿着表，背对着孩子睡的小套间。突地苏一声尖叫，他不由得转过身来，只见套间门开了。原来她推门时候，觉得门扣得很紧，她一进去，就一下子瘫到地板上了。他赶紧过去把她扶起来，转眼往地上床铺看时，孩子们都不在了。他大惑不解，往屋子四下里找，却见门背后原来挂衣服用的钩子上挂着两个小孩子的身体，脖子上各拴着一根捆箱子的绳子，几码以外的一个钉子上也同样吊着小裘德的身体，旁边有个翻了的椅子，他的玻璃一样的眼珠对着屋里张望，而那个小女孩和还在怀抱的小男孩的眼睛却闭上了。
这怪异得无以复加的恐怖景象吓得他魂不附体，他只好让苏先躺下来，再拿小刀割断绳子，把三个孩子都扔到了床上；在这短促的动作中间，他摸了摸他们的身体，心里想他们大概都死了。他一把抱起昏厥的苏，把她放到外间屋床上，跟着透不过气地喊女房东上来，然后跑出去找医生。
他回来时，苏已苏醒；两个手足无措的女人，弯着腰，拼命想叫孩子活过来，这情景加上小尸体三个一排躺在床上的惨象，把他所有自制能力全都摧垮了。离得最近的一位外科医生到了，但正像裘德先已料到的，他在场也无济于事，把孩子救活的时间已经过去了。他们的身体虽然没全凉，但估计那会儿离上吊时间总有一个钟头。后来两个做父母的理智恢复了，他们推究惨剧发生的前因后果时，认为大致情况是：大孩子醒了，朝外间看看苏，一瞧见她人不在，他本来就因为头天晚上的见闻心情非常恶劣，那会儿就变本加厉，于是诱发了他的病态心理，才干出那样的事情；他们还在地上找到一个纸条，是孩子的笔迹，他用身上带的铅笔写着：
我们太多了，算了吧。
苏看了纸条，再也撑不住了；原来她同孩子的一席谈竟是导致惨剧发生的种因。这个可怕的想法使她浑身痉挛，剧烈的痛苦一刻不停地折磨着她。他们也不管她怎么哀求，硬把她抬到下面一层的屋里，她躺在那儿，张着嘴拼命喘气，纤弱的身子随着一抽一抽的。两眼直勾勾对着天花板，女房东怎么劝慰也没用。
他们在这间卧室里听得见上面的人走动，她央告大家让她回到楼上；大家一再劝说，如果孩子还有一线希望，她去了反倒坏事，还提醒她，她一定要注意自己的身体，否则会害了还没生的孩子。如此这般，她才没闹下去。她没完没了地问孩子的情况，最后裘德从楼上下来，告诉她已经毫无希望。等她后来能正常说话了，她就把头天跟孩子说了什么一五一十地告诉了裘德，认为自己就是这场祸事的根子。
“不是那么回事儿，”裘德说，“他这是天性使然，所以才干得出来。大夫讲了，这样的孩子正在咱们这一辈里头冒出来——这样的孩子，上一辈还闻所未闻呢，他们是种种新人生观带来的后果。他们还没长到坚忍不拔到足以抗拒这类思想影响的程度似乎就已经看穿了人生的险恶凶残了。他讲，这种现象表明厌世之想行将在人们中间普遍开始。大夫的思想很前进，不过他也没法去开导——”
为了她的缘故，裘德一直强抑悲痛，现在他也忍不住了。他的悲痛激发了苏对他的同情，这转而缓和了几分她对自己的严酷的谴责。来人散了之后，裘德答应她去看孩子。
他们经历的一切拂逆在大孩子脸上分明表现出来。使裘德第一次婚姻陷于不幸的所有恶兆和阴影，他在第二次结合中发生的所有变故、错误、忧惧和过失，通通汇集到这个小小的形体上。他就是他们的过去和现在的缩影，他们的过去和现在的焦点，并且是他们的过去和现在的独一无二的象征。他已经为先前的父母的混账行为而呻吟，为他们的恶劣结合而颤栗，又为现在的父母噩运当头而送了命。
整个房子静下来了，他们也无事可做，只候着验尸组来验尸，忽然间学院那边一阵宏大低沉的声音，连它后身的厚厚围墙也没挡住，传到了他们的屋里。
“这是什么？”苏说，她的快慢不匀的呼吸骤然停了一下。
“是学院礼拜堂的风琴声音。我想是风琴师在练琴吧。他奏的是《诗篇》第七十三章的一段《颂歌》：‘上帝实在恩待以色列那些清心的人’。”
她又呜咽起来。“呜，呜，我的宝贝儿哟！他们没干过坏事！干吗不把我带走，把他们带走了哟！”
又是一阵寂静——后来又让外面什么地方两个人说话声打破了。
“他们议论咱们呢，没错儿！”苏哭着说。“‘我们成了一台戏，给世人和天使都看过了。’”
裘德听了听——“他们不是议论咱们。”他说。“是两位观点不一致的牧师，正辩论东向位置。天哪——什么东向位置不东向位置，众生都苦苦呻吟着哪！”
又一阵沉寂，直到她又因悲不自胜而开口。“咱们身外有个东西说，‘你别干啦！’它先说，‘你别学习啦！’接着说，‘你别做工啦！’现在说，‘你别爱啦！’”
他想宽慰她，就说，“你心里太苦才这样啊，亲亲！”
他们还是往下等。她又回到自己的屋子。顶小的孩子的连衣裙、鞋和袜子在他死时候都放在椅上，到现在她也不把它们拿开。裘德虽然不想再让她瞧见，可每逢他一动这些东西，她就央告他还是让它们放在那儿。女房东也想把它们拿开，她简直发了疯一样，跟她大哭大闹。
裘德固然担心她的阵发性抽搐，可是更害怕她把痛苦闷在心里，不言不语地麻木下去。“你干吗不理我，裘德？”沉默一会儿之后，她高声喊出来。“你别对我不管不顾的，你要不在我身边，那么孤单，我可受不了。”
“你看，亲爱的，我不是在这儿吗？”他说，同时脸挨近她的脸。
“对啦！……哦，我的同志，咱们这完美的结合——咱们这二合一整体，现在沾上了鲜血啦！”
“是让死亡的阴影笼罩啦——应该这么看。”
“啊，可的确是我把他引得那样啊，虽然我当时没想到把他引错了。我跟他说话，就跟同懂事的成年人说话一样。我说这世界就是跟咱们作对，花这样的代价活在这世界上还不如死了好。他把这些话都当真啦。我还跟他说又要生孩子了。他一听就慌了神啦。哦，他把我熊得好厉害哟！”
“你干吗跟他说这个呢，苏？”
“我也说不上来。我是想做到诚实无欺。我实在不忍对他隐瞒真相。可是我并没有诚实无欺，因为我当时是转弯抹角跟他说的。我怎么比别的女人都笨，没点心眼哪？简直笨透啦！我干吗不跟他说叫他高兴的一套，假的也行啊，何必用半真半假的一套？这是因为我没自制能力，所以我遮掩不了，也说不明白。”
“碰到大多数情形，你这个办法或许是个顶用的；只是咱们的情形太特别，碰巧用了一下，就糟糕了。他要是不死的话，早晚还是会明白过来的。”
“再说我正给小宝贝儿做新连衣裙哪，我可永远看不见他穿着啦，永远没法跟他说话啦……我眼睛胀得很，简直看不出东西啦；可是就在一年前，我还觉得自己幸福呢！咱们未免太卿卿我我喽——两个人净顾自个儿，完全落到了自私自利的地步。咱们说过——你记得吧——咱们要做到真心快乐，叫人羡慕。我说过这就是自然的意向、自然的法则和自然之所以为自然，按自然赋予我们的本能，我们要真真得到快乐——文明已经一手把这些本能扼杀了。我说的这些话够多造孽呀！好啦，现在咱们就为蠢得把自然的法则信以为真，命运女神才在咱们背上狠狠捅了一刀！”
