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…

‘Where the devil is Rochester?’ cried Colonel Dent. ‘I cannot find him in his bed.’ ‘Here! here!’ was shouted in return. ‘Be composed, all of you: I’m coming.’ And the door at the end of the gallery opened, and Mr. Rochester advanced with a…

‘As to the mouth, it delights at times in laughter; it is disposed to impart all that the brain conceives; though I daresay it would be silent on much the heart experiences. Mobile and flexible, it was never intended to be compressed in the…

In the midst of the tumult, and while my eyes and ears were fully engaged in the scene before me, I heard a hem close at my elbow: I turned, and saw Sam. ‘If you please, miss, the gipsy declares that there is another…

‘My darling Blanche! recollect—‘ ‘I do—I recollect all you can suggest; and I must have my will— quick, Sam!’ ‘Yes—yes—yes!’ cried all the juveniles, both ladies and gentlemen. ‘Let her come—it will be excellent sport!’ The footman still lingered. ‘She looks such a rough…

I was pondering these things, when an incident, and a somewhat unexpected one, broke the thread of my musings. Mr. Mason, shivering as some one chanced to open the door, asked for more coal to be put on the fire, which had burnt out…

It appears I come at an inopportune time, madam,’ said he, ‘when my friend, Mr. Rochester, is from home; but I arrive from a very long journey, and I think I may presume so far on old and intimate acquaintance as to instal myself…