‘Did I like his voice?’ he asked. ‘Very much.’ I was not fond of pampering that susceptible vanity of his; but for once, and from motives of expediency, I would e’en soothe and stimulate it. ‘Then, Jane, you must play the accompaniment.’ ‘Very well, sir, I will try.’ I did try, but was presently swept […]
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‘Why, Jane, what would you have? I fear you will compel me to go through a private marriage ceremony, besides that performed at the altar. You will stipulate, I see, for peculiar terms—what will they be?’ ‘I only want an easy mind, sir; not crushed by crowded obligations. Do you remember what you said of […]
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He was quite peremptory, both in look and voice. The chill of Mrs. Fairfax’s warnings, and the damp of her doubts were upon me: something of unsubstantiality and uncertainty had beset my hopes. I half lost the sense of power over him. I was about mechanically to obey him, without further remonstrance; but as he […]
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‘To women who please me only by their faces, I am the very devil when I find out they have neither souls nor hearts—when they open to me a perspective of flatness, triviality, and perhaps imbecility, coarseness, and ill-temper: but to the clear eye and eloquent tongue, to the soul made of fire, and the […]
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Mrs. Fairfax surprised me by looking out of the window with a sad countenance, and saying gravely—‘Miss Eyre, will you come to breakfast?’ During the meal she was quiet and cool: but I could not undeceive her then. I must wait for my master to give explanations; and so must she. I ate what I […]
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‘Hasten to take off your wet things,’ said he; ‘and before you go, good-night—good-night, my darling!’ He kissed me repeatedly. When I looked up, on leaving his arms, there stood the widow, pale, grave, and amazed. I only smiled at her, and ran upstairs. ‘Explanation will do for another time,’ thought I. Still, when I […]
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‘And your will shall decide your destiny,’ he said: ‘I offer you my hand, my heart, and a share of all my possessions.’ ‘You play a farce, which I merely laugh at.’ ‘I ask you to pass through life at my side—to be my second self, and best earthly companion.’ ‘For that fate you have […]
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‘Not the voyage, but the distance: and then the sea is a barrier—‘ ‘From what, Jane?’ ‘From England and from Thornfield: and—‘ ‘Well?’ ‘From YOU, sir.’ I said this almost involuntarily, and, with as little sanction of free will, my tears gushed out. I did not cry so as to be heard, however; I avoided […]
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A splendid Midsummer shone over England: skies so pure, suns so radiant as were then seen in long succession, seldom favour even singly, our wave-girt land. It was as if a band of Italian days had come from the South, like a flock of glorious passenger birds, and lighted to rest them on the cliffs […]
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‘I have been with my aunt, sir, who is dead.’ ‘A true Janian reply! Good angels be my guard! She comes from the other world—from the abode of people who are dead; and tells me so when she meets me alone here in the gloaming! If I dared, I’d touch you, to see if you […]
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