‘You shall go into the breakfast-room first,’ said Bessie, as she preceded me through the hall; ‘the young ladies will be there.’ In another moment I was within that apartment. There was every article of furniture looking just as it did on the morning…

‘Bless you!—I knew you would come!’ exclaimed Mrs. Leaven, as I entered. ‘Yes, Bessie,’ said I, after I had kissed her; ‘and I trust I am not too late. How is Mrs. Reed?—Alive still, I hope.’ ‘Yes, she is alive; and more sensible and…

‘Does that person want you?’ she inquired of Mr. Rochester; and Mr. Rochester turned to see who the ‘person’ was. He made a curious grimace—one of his strange and equivocal demonstrations—threw down his cue and followed me from the room. ‘Well, Jane?’ he said,…

‘If you have no more to fear from Mr. Mason than you have from me, sir, you are very safe.’ ‘God grant it may be so! Here, Jane, is an arbour; sit down.’ The arbour was an arch in the wall, lined with ivy;…

It was by this time half-past five, and the sun was on the point of rising; but I found the kitchen still dark and silent. T he side- passage door was fastened; I opened it with as little noise as possible: all the yard…

Then my own thoughts worried me. What crime was this that lived incarnate in this sequestered mansion, and could neither be expelled nor subdued by the owner?—what mystery, that broke out now in fire and now in blood, at the deadest hours of night?…

‘Yes, sir.’ ‘And dressed?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Come out, then, quietly.’ I obeyed. Mr. Rochester stood in the gallery holding a light. ‘I want you,’ he said: ‘come this way: take your time, and make no noise.’ My slippers were thin: I could walk the matted…