第59章 At Melchester(18)

Then,for one ghastly half-hour of depression caused by these scenes,there returned upon him that feeling which had been his undoing more than once -that he was not worth the trouble of being taken care of either by himself or others;and during this half-hour he met Tinker Taylor,the bankrupt ecclesiastical ironmonger,at Fourways,who proposed that they should adjourn to a bar and drink together.They walked along the street till they stood before one of the great palpitating centres of Christminster life,the inn wherein he formerly had responded to the challenge to rehearse the Creed in Latin -now a popular tavern with a spacious and inviting entrance,which gave admittance to a bar that had been entirely renovated and refitted in modern style since Jude's residence here.

Tinker Taylor drank off his glass and departed,saying it was too stylish a place now for him to feel at home in unless he was drunker than he had money to be just then.Jude was longer finishing his,and stood abstractedly silent in the,for the minute,almost empty place.The bar had been gutted and newly arranged throughout,mahogany fixtures having taken the place of the old painted ones,while at the back of the standing-space there were stuffed sofa-benches.The room was divided into compartments in the approved manner,between which were screens of ground glass in mahogany framing,to prevent topers in one compartment being put to the blush by the recognitions of those in the next.On the inside of the counter two barmaids leant over the white-handled beer-engines,and the row of little silvered taps inside,dripping into a pewter trough.

Feeling tired,and having nothing more to do till the train left,Jude sat down on one of the sofas.At the back of the barmaids rose bevel-edged mirrors,with glass shelves running along their front,on which stood precious liquids that Jude did not know the name of,in bottles of topaz,sapphire,ruby and amethyst.The moment was enlivened by the entrance of some customers into the next compartment,and the starting of the mechanical tell-tale of monies received,which emitted a ting-ting every time a coin was put in.

The barmaid attending to this compartment was invisible to Jude's direct glance,though a reflection of her back in the glass behind her was occasionally caught by his eyes.He had only observed this listlessly,when she turned her face for a moment to the glass to set her hair tidy.

Then he was amazed to discover that the face was Arabella's.

If she had come on to his compartment she would have seen him.

But she did not,this being presided over by the maiden on the other side.

Abby was in a black gown,with white linen cuffs and a broad white collar,and her figure,more developed than formerly,was accentuated by a bunch of daffodils that she wore on her left bosom.In the compartment she served stood an electro-plated fountain of water over a spirit-lamp,whose blue flame sent a steam from the top,all this being visible to him only in the mirror behind her;which also reflected the faces of the men she was attending to -one of them a handsome,dissipated young fellow,possibly an undergraduate,who had been relating to her an experience of some humorous sort.

'Oh,Mr.Cockman,now!How can you tell such a tale to me in my innocence!'she cried gaily.'Mr.Cockman,what do you use to make your moustache curl so beautiful?'As the young man was clean shaven the retort provoked a laugh at his expense.

'Come!'said he,'I'll have a curacao;and a light,please.'

She served the liqueur from one of the lovely bottles and striking a match held it to his cigarette with ministering archness while he whiffed.

'Well,have you heard from your husband lately,my dear?'he asked.

'Not a sound,'said she.

'Where is he?'

'I left him in Australia;and I suppose he's there still.'

Jude's eyes grew rounder.

'What made you part from him?'

'Don't you ask questions,and you won't hear lies.'

'Come then,give me my change,which you've been keeping from me for the last quarter of an hour;and I'll romantically vanish up the street of this picturesque city.'

She handed the change over the counter,in taking which he caught her fingers and held them.There was a slight struggle and titter,and he bade her good-bye and left.

Jude had looked on with the eye of a dazed philosopher.It was extraordinary how far removed from his life Arabella now seemed to be.

He could not realize their nominal closeness.And,this being the case,in his present frame of mind he was indifferent to the fact that Arabella was his wife indeed.

The compartment that she served emptied itself of visitors,and after a brief thought he entered it,and went forward to the counter.Arabella did not recognize him for a moment.Then their glances met.She started;till a humorous impudence sparkled in her eyes,and she spoke.

'Well,I'm blest!I thought you were underground years ago!'

'Oh!'

'I never heard anything of you,or I don't know that I should have come here.But never mind!What shall I treat you to this afternoon?

A Scotch and soda?Come,anything that the house will afford,for old acquaintance'

sake!'

'Thanks,Arabella,'said Jude without a smile.'But I don't want anything more than I've had.'The fact was that her unexpected presence there had destroyed at a stroke his momentary taste for strong liquor as completely as if it had whisked him back to his milk-fed infancy.

'That's a pity,now you could get it for nothing.'

'How long have you been here?'

'About six weeks.I returned from Sydney three months ago.I always liked this business,you know.'

'I wonder you came to this place!'

'Well,as I say,I thought you were gone to glory,and being in London I saw the situation in an advertisement.Nobody was likely to know me here,even if I had minded,for I was never in Christminster in my growing up.'

'Why did you return from Australia?'

'Oh,I had my reasons....Then you are not a don yet?'

'No.'

'Not even a reverend?'

'No.'