A relief was afforded to him by the entry of the companion and nurse of his aunt, who must have been listening to the conversation, for she began a commentary on past years, introducing Sue Bridehead as a character in her recollections. She described what an odd little maid Sue had been when a pupil at the village school across the green opposite, before her father went to Londonâhow, when the vicar arranged readings and recitations, she appeared on the platform, the smallest of them all, âin her little white frock, and shoes, and pink sashâ; how she recited âExcelsior,â âThere was a sound of revelry by night,â and âThe Ravenâ; how during the delivery she would knit her little brows and glare round tragically, and say to the empty air, as if some real creature stood thereâ
âGhastly, grim, and ancient Raven,
wandering from the Nightly shore,
Tell me what thy lordly name is
on the Nightâs Plutonian shore!â
âSheâd bring up the nasty carrion bird that clear,â corroborated the sick woman reluctantly, âas she stood there in her little sash and things, that you could see un aâmost before your very eyes. You too, Jude, had the same trick as a child of seeming to see things in the air.â
The neighbour told also of Sueâs accomplishments in other kinds:
âShe was not exactly a tomboy, you know; but she could do things that only boys do, as a rule. Iâve seen her hit in and steer down the long slide on yonder pond, with her little curls blowing, one of a file of twenty moving along against the sky like shapes painted on glass, and up the back slide without stopping. All boys except herself; and then theyâd cheer her, and then sheâd say, âDonât be saucy, boys,â and suddenly run indoors. Theyâd try to coax her out again. But âa wouldnât come.â
These retrospective visions of Sue only made Jude the more miserable that he was unable to woo her, and he left the cottage of his aunt that day with a heavy heart. He would fain have glanced into the school to see the room in which Sueâs little figure had so glorified itself; but he checked his desire and went on.
It being Sunday evening some villagers who had known him during his residence here were standing in a group in their best clothes. Jude was startled by a salute from one of them:
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