seated nude

seated nude
Spring Breeze
Sweet Nothings
The Abduction of Psyche
And as she could now have nothing more painful to hear on the subject than had already been told, she did not mistrust her own ability of going through a repetition of particulars with composure. 　　 But it was not immediately that an opportunity of doing so could be commanded, though Lucy was as well disposed as herself to take advantage of any that occurred; for the weather was not often fine enough to allow of their joining in a walk, where they might most easily separate themselves from the others; and though they met at least every other evening either at the Park or cottage, and chiefly at the former, they could not be supposed to meet for the sake of conversation. Such a thought would never enter either Sir John or Lady Middleton's head; and therefore very little leisure was ever given for a general chat, and none at all for particular discourse. They met for the sake of eating, drinking, and laughing together, playing at cards, or consequences, or any other game that was sufficiently noisy.

Rembrandt Biblical Scene

Rembrandt Biblical Scene
Rembrandt The Jewish Bride
Return of the Prodigal Son
Samson And Delilah
not merely from Lucy's assertion, but from her venturing to trust her on so short a personal acquaintance with a secret so confessedly and evidently important. And even Sir John's joking intelligence must have had some weight. But, indeed, while Elinor remained so well assured within herself of being really beloved by Edward, it required no other consideration of probabilities to make it natural that Lucy should be jealous; and that she was so, her very confidence was a proof. What other reason for the disclosure of the affair could there be, but that Elinor might be informed by it of Lucy's superior claims on Edward, and be taught to avoid him in future? She had little difficulty in understanding thus much of her rival's intentions; and while she was firmly resolved to act by her as every principle of honour and honesty directed, to combat her own affection for Edward, and to see him as little as possible, she could not deny herself the comfort of endeavouring to convince Lucy that her heart was unwounded.

precious time

precious time
Red Hat Girl
Red Nude painting
Regatta At Argenteuil
　　 Much as she had suffered from her first conversation with Lucy on the subject, she soon felt an earnest wish of renewing it; and this for more reasons than one. She wanted to hear many particulars of their engagement repeated again; she wanted more clearly to understand what Lucy really felt for Edward, whether there were any sincerity in her declaration of tender regard for him; and she particularly wanted to convince Lucy, by her readiness to enter on the matter again, and her calmness in conversing on it, that she was no otherwise interested in it than as a friend, which she very much feared her involuntary agitation, in their morning discourse, must have left at least doubtful. That Lucy was disposed to be jealous of her appeared very probable: it was plain that Edward had always spoken highly in her praise

Naiade oil painting

Naiade oil painting
Nighthawks Hopper
Nude on the Beach
One Moment in Time
The necessity of concealing from her mother and Marianne what had been intrusted in confidence to herself, though it obliged her to unceasing exertion, was no aggravation of Elinor's distress. On the contrary, it was a relief to her, to be spared the communication of what would give such affliction to them, and to be saved likewise from hearing that condemnation of Edward, which would probably flow from the excess of their partial affection for herself, and which was more than she felt equal to support. 　　 From their counsel, or their conversation, she knew she could receive no assistance; their tenderness and sorrow must add to her distress, while her self-command would neither receive encouragement from their example nor from their praise. She was stronger alone; and her own good sense so well supported her, that her firmness was unshaken, her appearance of cheerfulness as invariable, as, with regrets so poignant and so fresh, it was possible for them to be.

The British Are Coming

The British Are Coming
The Broken Pitcher
The Jewel Casket
The Kitchen Maid
One or two meetings of this kind had taken place, without affording Elinor any chance of engaging Lucy in private, when Sir John called at the cottage one morning, to beg, in the name of charity, that they would all dine with Lady Middleton that day, as he was obliged to attend the club at Exeter, and she would otherwise be quite alone, except her mother and the two Misses Steele. Elinor, who foresaw a fairer opening for the point she had in view, in such a party as this was likely to be, more at liberty among themselves under the tranquil and well-bred direction of Lady Middleton, than when her husband united them together in one noisy purpose immediately accepted the invitation; Margaret, with her mother's permission, was equally compliant; and Marianne, though always unwilling to join any of their parties, was persuaded by her mother, who could not bear to have her seclude herself from any chance of amusement, to go likewise.

Rembrandt The Jewish Bride

Rembrandt The Jewish Bride
Return of the Prodigal Son
Samson And Delilah
seated nude
　　 "No, Edward, I should have something else to do with it." 　　 "Perhaps, then, you would bestow it as a reward on that person who wrote the ablest defence of your favourite maxim, that no one can ever be in love more than once in their life- your opinion on that point is unchanged, I presume?" 　　 "Undoubtedly. At my time of life opinions are tolerably fixed. It is not likely that I should now see or hear any thing to change them." 　　 "Marianne is as steadfast as ever, you see," said Elinor, "she is not at all altered." 　　 "She is only grown a little more grave than she was." 　　 "Nay, Edward," said Marianne, "you need not reproach me. You are not very gay yourself." 　　 "Why should you think so?" replied he, with a sigh. "But gaiety never was a part of my character." 　　 "Nor do I think it a part of Marianne's," said Elinor; "I should hardly call her a lively girl- she is very earnest, very eager in all she does- sometimes talks a great deal, and always with animation- but she is not often really merry." 　　 "I believe you are right," he replied, "and yet I have always set her down as a lively girl."

precious time

precious time
Red Hat Girl
Red Nude painting
Regatta At Argenteuil
Rembrandt Biblical Scene
"What magnificent orders would travel from this family to London," said Edward, "In such an event! What a happy day for booksellers, music-sellers, and print-shops! You, Miss Dashwood, would give a general commission for every new print of merit to be sent you- and as for Marianne, I know her greatness of soul, there would not be music enough in London to content her. And books!- Thomson, Cowper, Scott- she would buy them all over and over again: she would buy up every copy, I believe, to prevent their falling into unworthy hands; and she would have every book that tells her how to admire an old twisted tree. Should not you, Marianne? Forgive me, if I am very saucy. But I was willing to show you that I had not forgot our old disputes." 　　 "I love to be reminded of the past, Edward- whether it be melancholy or gay, I love to recall it- and you will never offend me by talking of former times. You are very right in supposing how my money would be spent- some of it, at least- my loose cash would certainly be employed in improving my collection of music and books." 　　 "And the bulk of your fortune would be laid out in annuities on the authors or their heirs."

virgin of the rocks

virgin of the rocks
The Virgin and Child with St Anne
The Water lily Pond
Venus and Cupid
　　 "Hunters!" repeated Edward- "but why must you have hunters? Every body does not hunt." 　　 Marianne coloured as she replied, "But most people do." 　　 "I wish," said Margaret, striking out a novel thought, "that somebody would give us all a large fortune apiece!" 　　 "Oh that they would!" cried Marianne, her eyes sparkling with animation, and her cheeks glowing with the delight of such imaginary happiness. 　　 "We are all unanimous in that wish, I suppose," said Elinor, "in spite of the insufficiency of wealth." 　　 "Oh dear!" cried Margaret, "how happy I should be! I wonder what I should do with it!" 　　 Marianne looked as if she had no doubt on that point. 　　 "I should be puzzled to spend so large a fortune myself," said Mrs. Dashwood, "if my children were all to be rich my help." 　　 "You must begin your improvements on this house," observed Elinor, "and your difficulties will soon vanish."

The Virgin and Child with St Anne

The Virgin and Child with St Anne
The Water lily Pond
Venus and Cupid
Vermeer girl with the pearl earring
　　 "Grandeur has but little," said Elinor, "but wealth has much to do with it." 　　 "Elinor, for shame!" said Marianne, "money can only give happiness where there is nothing else to give it. Beyond a competence, it can afford no real satisfaction, as far as mere self is concerned." 　　 "Perhaps," said Elinor, smiling, "we may come to the same point. Your competence and my wealth are very much alike, I dare say; and without them, as the world goes now, we shall both agree that every kind of external comfort must be wanting. Your ideas are only more noble than mine. Come, what is your competence?" 　　 "About eighteen hundred or two thousand a year; not more than that." 　　 Elinor laughed. "Two thousand a year! One is my wealth! I guessed how it would end." 　　 "And yet two thousand a year is a very moderate income," said Marianne. "A family cannot well be maintained on a smaller. I am sure I am not extravagant in my demands. A proper establishment of servants, a carriage, perhaps two, and hunters, cannot be supported on less." 　　 Elinor smiled again, to hear her sister describing so accurately their future expenses at Combe Magna.

The Painter's Honeymoon

The Painter's Honeymoon
The Sacrifice of Abraham painting
The Three Ages of Woman
　　 "What are Mrs. Ferrars's views for you at present, Edward?" said she, when dinner was over, and they had drawn round the fire; "are you still to be a great orator in spite of yourself?" 　　 "No. I hope my mother is now convinced that I have no more talents than inclination for a public life." 　　 "But how is your fame to be established? for famous you must be to satisfy all your family; and with no inclination for expense, no affection for expense, no affection for strangers, no profession, and no assurance, you may find it a difficult matter." 　　 "I shall not attempt it. I have no wish to be distinguished; and have every reason to hope I never shall. Thank Heaven! I cannot be forced into genius and eloquence." 　　 "You have no ambition, I well know. Your wishes are all moderate." 　　 "As moderate as those of the rest of the world, I believe. I wish, as well as every body else, to be perfectly happy; but, like every body else, it must be in my own way. Greatness will not make me so." 　　 "Strange that it would!" cried Marianne. "What have wealth or grandeur to do with happiness?"

Rembrandt The Jewish Bride

Rembrandt The Jewish Bride
Return of the Prodigal Son
Samson And Delilah
seated nude
Mamma, you are not doing me justice. I know very well that Colonel Brandon is not old enough to make his friends yet apprehensive of losing him in the course of nature. He may live twenty years longer. But thirty-five has nothing to do with matrimony." 　　 "Perhaps," said Elinor, "thirty-five and seventeen had better not have any thing to do with matrimony together. But if there should by any chance happen to be a woman who is single at seven-and-twenty, I should not think Colonel Brandon's being thirty-five any objection to his marrying her." 　　 "A woman of seven-and-twenty," said Marianne, after pausing a moment, "can never hope to feel or inspire affection again, and if her home be uncomfortable, or her fortune small, I can suppose that she might bring herself to submit to the offices of a nurse, for the sake of the provision and security of a wife. In his marrying such a woman, therefore, there would be nothing unsuitable. It would be a compact of convenience, and the world would be satisfied. In my eyes it would be no marriage at all, but that would be nothing. To me it would seem only a commercial exchange, in which each wished to be benefited at the expense of the other."

Vermeer Girl with a Red Hat

Red Hat Girl
Red Nude painting
Regatta At Argenteuil
Vermeer Girl with a Red Hat
　　 "But at least, mamma, you cannot deny the absurdity of the accusation, though you may not think it intentionally ill-natured. Colonel Brandon is certainly younger than Mrs. Jennings, but he is old enough to be my father; and if he were ever animated enough to be in love, must have long outlived every sensation of the kind. It is too ridiculous! When is a man to be safe from such wit, if age and infirmity will not protect him?" 　　 "Infirmity!" said Elinor, "do you call Colonel Brandon infirm? I can easily suppose that his age may appear much greater to you than to my mother; but you can hardly deceive yourself as to his having the use of his limbs!" 　　 "Did not you hear him complain of the rheumatism? and is not that the commonest infirmity of declining life?" 　　 "My dearest child," said her mother, laughing, "at this rate you must be in continual terror of my decay; and it must seem to you a miracle that my life has been extended to the advanced age of forty."

Nude on the Beach

Nude on the Beach
One Moment in Time
precious time
It would be an excellent match, for he was rich, and she was handsome. Mrs. Jennings had been anxious to see Colonel Brandon well married, ever since her connection with Sir John first brought him to her knowledge; and she was always anxious to get a good husband for every pretty girl. 　　 The immediate advantage to herself was by no means inconsiderable, for it supplied her with endless jokes against them both. At the Park she laughed at the colonel, and in the cottage at Marianne. To the former her raillery was probably, as far as it regarded only himself, perfectly indifferent; but to the latter it was at first incomprehensible; and when its object was understood, she hardly knew whether most to laugh at its absurdity, or censure its impertinence; for she considered it as an unfeeling reflection on the colonel's advanced years, and on his forlorn condition as an old bachelor. 　　 Mrs. Dashwood, who could not think a man five years younger than herself so exceedingly ancient as he appeared to the youthful fancy of her daughter, ventured to clear Mrs. Jennings from the probability of wishing to throw ridicule on his age.

Mother and Child

Mother and Child
My Sweet Rose painting
Naiade oil painting
Nighthawks Hopper
MRS. JENNINGS was a widow with an ample jointure. She had only two daughters, both of whom she had lived to see respectably married, and she had now, therefore, nothing to do but to marry all the rest of the world. In the promotion of this object she was zealously active, as far as her ability reached; and missed no opportunity of projecting weddings among all the young people of her acquaintance. She was remarkably quick in the discovery of attachments, and had enjoyed the advantage of raising the blushes and the vanity of many a young lady by insinuations of her power over such a young man; and this kind of discernment enabled her, soon after her arrival at Barton, decisively to pronounce that Colonel Brandon was very much in love with Marianne Dashwood. She rather suspected it to be so, on the very first evening of their being together, from his listening so attentively while she sang to them; and when the visit was returned by the Middletons dining at the cottage, the fact was ascertained by his listening to her again. It must be so. She was perfectly convinced of it.

Mother and Child

Mother and Child
My Sweet Rose painting
Naiade oil painting
Nighthawks Hopper
MRS. JENNINGS was a widow with an ample jointure. She had only two daughters, both of whom she had lived to see respectably married, and she had now, therefore, nothing to do but to marry all the rest of the world. In the promotion of this object she was zealously active, as far as her ability reached; and missed no opportunity of projecting weddings among all the young people of her acquaintance. She was remarkably quick in the discovery of attachments, and had enjoyed the advantage of raising the blushes and the vanity of many a young lady by insinuations of her power over such a young man; and this kind of discernment enabled her, soon after her arrival at Barton, decisively to pronounce that Colonel Brandon was very much in love with Marianne Dashwood. She rather suspected it to be so, on the very first evening of their being together, from his listening so attentively while she sang to them; and when the visit was returned by the Middletons dining at the cottage, the fact was ascertained by his listening to her again. It must be so. She was perfectly convinced of it.

Spring Breeze

Spring Breeze
Sweet Nothings
The Abduction of Psyche
The British Are Coming
"It would be impossible, I know," replied Elinor, "to convince you that a woman of seven-and-twenty could feel for a man of thirty-five anything near enough to love, to make him a desirable companion to her. But I must object to your dooming Colonel Brandon and his wife to the constant confinement of a sick chamber, merely because he chanced to complain yesterday (a very cold damp day), of a slight rheumatic feel in one of his shoulders." 　　 "But he talked of flannel waistcoats," said Marianne; "and with me a flannel waistcoat is invariably connected with aches, cramps, rheumatisms, and every species of ailment that can afflict the old and the feeble." 　　 "Had he been only in a violent fever, you would not have despised him half so much. Confess, Marianne, is not there something interesting to you in the flushed cheek, hollow eye, and quick pulse of a fever?"

The Virgin and Child with St Anne

The Virgin and Child with St Anne
The Water lily Pond
Venus and Cupid
Sue had dragged herself back. "Mrs. Edlin, good-night again! I am sorry I called you out." The widow retreated a second time. ¡¡¡¡ The strained, resigned look returned to Sue's face when she was alone. "I must do it--I must! I must drink to the dregs!" she whispered. "Richard!" she said again. ¡¡¡¡ "Hey--what? Is that you, Susanna?" ¡¡¡¡ "Yes." ¡¡¡¡ "What do you want? Anything the matter? Wait a moment." He pulled on some articles of clothing, and came to the door. "Yes?" ¡¡¡¡ "When we were at Shaston I jumped out of the window rather than that you should come near me. I have never reversed that treatment till now-- when I have come to beg your pardon for it, and ask you to let me in." ¡¡¡¡ "Perhaps you only think you ought to do this? I don't wish you to come against your impulses, as I have said." ¡¡¡¡ "But I beg to be admitted." She waited a moment, and repeated, "I beg to be admitted! I have been in error--even to-day. I have exceeded my rights. I did not mean to tell you, but perhaps I ought. I sinned against you this afternoon."

William Bouguereau The Nut Gatherers Painting

William Bouguereau The Nut Gatherers Painting
The Nut Gatherers
The Sacrifice of Abraham painting
The Three Ages of Woman

¡¡¡¡ Sue unlatched the other chamber door, and, as if seized with faintness, sank down outside it. Getting up again she half opened the door, and said "Richard." As the word came out of her mouth she visibly shuddered. ¡¡¡¡ The snoring had quite ceased for some time, but he did not reply. Sue seemed relieved, and hurried back to Mrs. Edlin's chamber. "Are you in bed, Mrs. Edlin?" she asked. ¡¡¡¡ "No, dear," said the widow, opening the door. "I be old and slow, and it takes me a long while to un-ray. I han't unlaced my jumps yet." ¡¡¡¡ "I--don't hear him! And perhaps--perhaps-- --" ¡¡¡¡ "What, child?" ¡¡¡¡ "Perhaps he's dead!" she gasped. "And then--I should be FREE, and I could go to Jude! ... Ah--no--I forgot HER--and God!" ¡¡¡¡ "Let's go and hearken. No--he's snoring again. But the rain and the wind is so loud that you can hardly hear anything but between whiles."

The William Bouguereau The Nut Gatherers Painting

William Bouguereau The Nut Gatherers Painting
The Nut Gatherers
The Sacrifice of Abraham painting
The Three Ages of Woman
¡¡¡¡ Sue unlatched the other chamber door, and, as if seized with faintness, sank down outside it. Getting up again she half opened the door, and said "Richard." As the word came out of her mouth she visibly shuddered. ¡¡¡¡ The snoring had quite ceased for some time, but he did not reply. Sue seemed relieved, and hurried back to Mrs. Edlin's chamber. "Are you in bed, Mrs. Edlin?" she asked. ¡¡¡¡ "No, dear," said the widow, opening the door. "I be old and slow, and it takes me a long while to un-ray. I han't unlaced my jumps yet." ¡¡¡¡ "I--don't hear him! And perhaps--perhaps-- --" ¡¡¡¡ "What, child?" ¡¡¡¡ "Perhaps he's dead!" she gasped. "And then--I should be FREE, and I could go to Jude! ... Ah--no--I forgot HER--and God!" ¡¡¡¡ "Let's go and hearken. No--he's snoring again. But the rain and the wind is so loud that you can hardly hear anything but between whiles."

Venus and Cupid

Venus and Cupid
Vermeer girl with the pearl earring
virgin of the rocks
Woman with a Parasol
Yes, but--there's the little spare room--my room that was. It is quite ready. Please stay, Mrs. Edlin!--I shall want you in the morning." ¡¡¡¡ "Oh well--I don't mind, if you wish. Nothing will happen to my four old walls, whether I be there or no." ¡¡¡¡ She then fastened up the doors, and they ascended the stairs together. ¡¡¡¡ "Wait here, Mrs. Edlin," said Sue. "I'll go into my old room a moment by myself." ¡¡¡¡ Leaving the widow on the landing Sue turned to the chamber which had been hers exclusively since her arrival at Marygreen, and pushing to the door knelt down by the bed for a minute or two. She then arose, and taking her night-gown from the pillow undressed and came out to Mrs. Edlin. A man could be heard snoring in the room opposite. She wished Mrs. Edlin good-night, and the widow entered the room that Sue had just vacated.

The Painter's Honeymoon

The Painter's Honeymoon
The Sacrifice of Abraham painting
The Three Ages of Woman
The Virgin and Child with St Anne
"Never." ¡¡¡¡ "I've heard strange tales o' husbands in my time," observed the widow in a lowered voice. "They say that when the saints were upon the earth devils used to take husbands' forms o' nights, and get poor women into all sorts of trouble. But I don't know why that should come into my head, for it is only a tale.... What a wind and rain it is to-night! Well--don't be in a hurry to alter things, my dear. Think it over." ¡¡¡¡ "No, no! I've screwed my weak soul up to treating him more courteously-- and it must be now--at once--before I break down!" ¡¡¡¡ "I don't think you ought to force your nature. No woman ought to be expected to." ¡¡¡¡ "It is my duty. I will drink my cup to the dregs!" ¡¡¡¡ Half an hour later when Mrs. Edlin put on her bonnet and shawl to leave, Sue seemed to be seized with vague terror. ¡¡¡¡ "No--no--don't go, Mrs. Edlin," she implored, her eyes enlarged, and with a quick nervous look over her shoulder. ¡¡¡¡ "But it is bedtime, child."

The Kitchen Maid

The Kitchen Maid
The Lady of Shalott
the night watch by rembrandt
the Night Watch
"Ah!" said the widow. "I told 'ee how 'twould be!" ¡¡¡¡ "But it shan't be! I have not told my husband of his visit; it is not necessary to trouble him about it, as I never mean to see Jude any more. But I am going to make my conscience right on my duty to Richard--by doing a penance--the ultimate thing. I must!" ¡¡¡¡ "I wouldn't--since he agrees to it being otherwise, and it has gone on three months very well as it is." ¡¡¡¡ "Yes--he agrees to my living as I choose; but I feel it is an indulgence I ought not to exact from him. It ought not to have been accepted by me. To reverse it will be terrible--but I must be more just to him. O why was I so unheroic!" ¡¡¡¡ "What is it you don't like in him?" asked Mrs. Edlin curiously. ¡¡¡¡ "I cannot tell you. It is something ... I cannot say. The mournful thing is, that nobody would admit it as a reason for feeling as I do; so that no excuse is left me." ¡¡¡¡ "Did you ever tell Jude what it was?"

The Kitchen Maid

The Kitchen Maid
The Lady of Shalott
the night watch by rembrandt
the Night Watch
The Nut Gatherers
As a set-off against such discussions as these there had come an improvement in their pecuniary position, which earlier in their experience would have made them cheerful. Jude had quite unexpectedly found good employment at his old trade almost directly he arrived, the summer weather suiting his fragile constitution; and outwardly his days went on with that monotonous uniformity which is in itself so grateful after vicissitude. People seemed to have forgotten that he had ever shown any awkward aberrancies: and he daily mounted to the parapets and copings of colleges he could never enter, and renewed the crumbling freestones of mullioned windows he would never look from, as if he had known no wish to do otherwise. ¡¡¡¡ There was this change in him; that he did not often go to any service at the churches now. One thing troubled him more than any other; that Sue and himself had mentally travelled in opposite directions since the tragedy: events which had enlarged his own views of life, laws, customs, and dogmas, had not operated in the same manner on Sue's. She was no longer the same as in the independent days, when her intellect played like lambent lightning over conventions and formalities which he at that time respected, though he did not now.

The Abduction of Psyche

The Abduction of Psyche
The Broken Pitcher
The Jewel Casket
¡¡¡¡ "I should have, just the same. As to ourselves, the fact of our not having entered into a legal contract is the saving feature in our union. We have thereby avoided insulting, as it were, the solemnity of our first marriages." ¡¡¡¡ "Solemnity?" Jude looked at her with some surprise, and grew conscious that she was not the Sue of their earlier time. ¡¡¡¡ "Yes," she said, with a little quiver in her words, "I have had dreadful fears, a dreadful sense of my own insolence of action. I have thought--that I am still his wife!" ¡¡¡¡ "Whose?" ¡¡¡¡ "Richard's." ¡¡¡¡ "Good God, dearest!--why?" ¡¡¡¡ "Oh I can't explain! Only the thought comes to me." ¡¡¡¡ "It is your weakness--a sick fancy, without reason or meaning! Don't let it trouble you." ¡¡¡¡ Sue sighed uneasily.

Sweet Nothings

Sweet Nothings
The British Are Coming
The Broken Pitcher
The Jewel Casket
¡¡¡¡ "I hardly know. Perhaps they would hardly do that. However, I think that we ought to make it legal now--as soon as you are able to go out." ¡¡¡¡ "You think we ought?" ¡¡¡¡ "Certainly." ¡¡¡¡ And Jude fell into thought. "I have seemed to myself lately," he said, "to belong to that vast band of men shunned by the virtuous-- the men called seducers. It amazes me when I think of it! I have not been conscious of it, or of any wrongdoing towards you, whom I love more than myself. Yet I am one of those men! I wonder if any other of them are the same purblind, simple creatures as I? ... Yes, Sue--that's what I am. I seduced you.... You were a distinct type--a refined creature, intended by Nature to be left intact. But I couldn't leave you alone!" ¡¡¡¡ "No, no, Jude!" she said quickly. "Don't reproach yourself with being what you are not. If anybody is to blame it is I." ¡¡¡¡ "I supported you in your resolve to leave Phillotson; and without me perhaps you wouldn't have urged him to let you go."

Rembrandt The Jewish Bride

Rembrandt The Jewish Bride
Return of the Prodigal Son
Samson And Delilah
seated nude
"We must conform!" she said mournfully. "All the ancient wrath of the Power above us has been vented upon us. His poor creatures, and we must submit. There is no choice. We must. It is no use fighting against God!" ¡¡¡¡ "It is only against man and senseless circumstance," said Jude. ¡¡¡¡ "True!" she murmured. "What have I been thinking of! I am getting as superstitious as a savage! ... But whoever or whatever our foe may be, I am cowed into submission. I have no more fighting strength left; no more enterprise. I am beaten, beaten! ... 'We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men!' I am always saying that now." ¡¡¡¡ "I feel the same!" ¡¡¡¡ "What shall we do? You are in work now; but remember, it may only be because our history and relations are not absolutely known.... Possibly, if they knew our marriage had not been formalized they would turn you out of your job as they did at Aldbrickham!"

Vermeer Girl with a Red Hat

Red Hat Girl
Red Nude painting
Regatta At Argenteuil
Vermeer Girl with a Red Hat
SUE was convalescent, though she had hoped for death, and Jude had again obtained work at his old trade. They were in other lodgings now, in the direction of Beersheba, and not far from the Church of Ceremonies-- Saint Silas. ¡¡¡¡ They would sit silent, more bodeful of the direct antagonism of things than of their insensate and stolid obstructiveness. Vague and quaint imaginings had haunted Sue in the days when her intellect scintillated like a star, that the world resembled a stanza or melody composed in a dream; it was wonderfully excellent to the half-aroused intelligence, but hopelessly absurd at the full waking; that the first cause worked automatically like a somnambulist, and not reflectively like a sage; that at the framing of the terrestrial conditions there seemed never to have been contemplated such a development of emotional perceptiveness among the creatures subject to those conditions as that reached by thinking and educated humanity. But affliction makes opposing forces loom anthropomorphous; and those ideas were now exchanged for a sense of Jude and herself fleeing from a persecutor.

Nighthawks Hopper

Nighthawks Hopper
Nude on the Beach
One Moment in Time
precious time
¡¡¡¡ 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.

Regatta At Argenteuil

Regatta At Argenteuil
Rembrandt Biblical Scene
Rembrandt The Jewish Bride
Return of the Prodigal Son
¡¡¡¡ "Yes; but admitting this, or something like it, to be true, you are not the only one in the world to see it, dear little Sue. People go on marrying because they can't resist natural forces, although many of them may know perfectly well that they are possibly buying a month's pleasure with a life's discomfort. No doubt my father and mother, and your father and mother, saw it, if they at all resembled us in habits of observation. But then they went and married just the same, because they had ordinary passions. But you, Sue, are such a phantasmal, bodiless creature, one who-- if you'll allow me to say it--has so little animal passion in you, that you can act upon reason in the matter, when we poor unfortunate wretches of grosser substance can't." ¡¡¡¡ "Well," she sighed, "you've owned that it would probably end in misery for us. And I am not so exceptional a woman as you think. Fewer women like marriage than you suppose, only they enter into it for the dignity it is assumed to confer, and the social advantages it gains them sometimes--a dignity and an advantage that I am quite willing to do without."

The Jewel Casket

The Jewel Casket
The Kitchen Maid
The Lady of Shalott
the night watch by rembrandt
¡¡¡¡ IT was an evening at the end of the month, and Jude had just returned home from hearing a lecture on ancient history in the public hall not far off. When he entered, Sue, who had been keeping indoors during his absence, laid out supper for him. Contrary to custom she did not speak. Jude had taken up some illustrated paper, which he perused till, raising his eyes, he saw that her face was troubled. ¡¡¡¡ "Are you depressed, Sue?" he said. ¡¡¡¡ She paused a moment. "I have a message for you," she answered. ¡¡¡¡ "Somebody has called?" ¡¡¡¡ "Yes. A woman." Sue's voice quavered as she spoke, and she suddenly sat down from her preparations, laid her hands in her lap, and looked into the fire. "I don't know whether I did right or not!" she continued. "I said you were not at home, and when she said she would wait, I said I thought you might not be able to see her." ¡¡¡¡ "Why did you say that, dear? I suppose she wanted a headstone. Was she in mourning?"

Spring Breeze

Spring Breeze
The British Are Coming
The Broken Pitcher
¡¡¡¡ After this the subject of marriage was not mentioned by them for several days, though living as they were with only a landing between them it was constantly in their minds. Sue was assisting Jude very materially now: he had latterly occupied himself on his own account in working and lettering headstones, which he kept in a little yard at the back of his little house, where in the intervals of domestic duties she marked out the letters full size for him, and blacked them in after he had cut them. It was a lower class of handicraft than were his former performances as a cathedral mason, and his only patrons were the poor people who lived in his own neighbourhood, and knew what a cheap man this "Jude Fawley: Monumental Mason" (as he called himself on his front door) was to employ for the simple memorials they required for their dead. But he seemed more independent than before, and it was the only arrangement under which Sue, who particularly wished to be no burden on him, could render any assistance.

The Abduction of Psyche

The Abduction of Psyche
The British Are Coming
The Broken Pitcher
The Jewel Casket
¡¡¡¡ "Don't you? Why?" ¡¡¡¡ "Oh, well--you are not nice--too sermony. Though I suppose I am so bad and worthless that I deserve the utmost rigour of lecturing!" ¡¡¡¡ "No, you are not bad. You are a dear. But as slippery as an eel when I want to get a confession from you." ¡¡¡¡ "Oh yes I am bad, and obstinate, and all sorts! It is no use your pretending I am not! People who are good don't want scolding as I do.... But now that I have nobody but you, and nobody to defend me, it is very hard that I mustn't have my own way in deciding how I'll live with you, and whether I'll be married or no!" ¡¡¡¡ "Sue, my own comrade and sweetheart, I don't want to force you either to marry or to do the other thing--of course I don't! It is too wicked of you to be so pettish! Now we won't say any more about it, and go on just the same as we have done; and during the rest of our walk we'll talk of the meadows only, and the floods, and the prospect of the farmers this coming year."

Samson And Delilah

Samson And Delilah
seated nude
Spring Breeze
Sweet Nothings
¡¡¡¡ Jude fell back upon his old complaint--that, intimate as they were, he had never once had from her an honest, candid declaration that she loved or could love him. "I really fear sometimes that you cannot," he said, with a dubiousness approaching anger. "And you are so reticent. I know that women are taught by other women that they must never admit the full truth to a man. But the highest form of affection is based on full sincerity on both sides. Not being men, these women don't know that in looking back on those he has had tender relations with, a man's heart returns closest to her who was the soul of truth in her conduct. The better class of man, even if caught by airy affectations of dodging and parrying, is not retained by them. A Nemesis attends the woman who plays the game of elusiveness too often, in the utter contempt for her that, sooner or later, her old admirers feel; under which they allow her to go unlamented to her grave." ¡¡¡¡ Sue, who was regarding the distance, had acquired a guilty look; and she suddenly replied in a tragic voice: "I don't think I like you to-day so well as I did, Jude!"