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第2章 语出惊人

　　'And so you're glad to leave me?'

　　'So much?' was the doubtful answer; and he prolonged his scrutinyfor some minutes. Presently he addressed me-

　　'Jane, you are mistaken: probably not one in the school eitherdespises or dislikes you: many, I am sure, pity you much.'

　　'Yes, that is it- that is the very word.'

　　I hastened to Mrs. Fairfax's room; there was a fire there too,but no candle, and no Mrs. Fairfax. Instead, all alone, sittingupright on the rug, and gazing with gravity at the blaze, I beheld agreat black and white long-haired dog, just like the Gytrash of thelane. It was so like it that I went forward and said- 'Pilot,' and thething got up and came to me and snuffed me. I caressed him, and hewagged his great tail; but he looked an eerie creature to be alonewith, and I could not tell whence he had come. I rang the bell, forI wanted a candle; and I wanted, too, to get an account of thisvisitant. Leah entered.

　　'Let her go,' was the only answer. 'Loose Bessie's hand, child: youcannot succeed in getting out by these means, be assured. I abhorartifice, particularly in children; it is my duty to show you thattricks will not answer: you will now stay here an hour longer, andit is only on condition of perfect submission and stillness that Ishall liberate you then.'

　　I did not like re-entering Thornfield. To pass its threshold was toreturn to stagnation; to cross the silent hall, to ascend the darksomestaircase, to seek my own lonely little room, and then to meettranquil Mrs. Fairfax, and spend the long winter evening with her, andher only, was to quell wholly the faint excitement wakened by mywalk,- to slip again over my faculties the viewless fetters of anuniform and too still existence; of an existence whose very privilegesof security and ease I was becoming incapable of appreciating. Whatgood it would have done me at that time to have been tossed in thestorms of an uncertain struggling life, and to have been taught byrough and bitter experience to long for the calm amidst which I nowrepined! Yes, just as much good as it would do a man tired ofsitting still in a 'too easy chair' to take a long walk: and just asnatural was the wish to stir, under my circumstances, as it would beunder his.

　　Adele was not easy to teach that day; she could not apply: she keptrunning to the door and looking over the banisters to see if she couldget a glimpse of Mr. Rochester; then she coined pretexts to godownstairs, in order, as I shrewdly suspected, to visit the library,where I knew she was not wanted; then, when I got a little angry,and made her sit still, she continued to talk incessantly of her 'ami,Monsieur Edouard Fairfax de Rochester,' as she dubbed him (I had notbefore heard his prenomens), and to conjecture what presents he hadbrought her: for it appears he had intimated the night before, thatwhen his luggage came from Millcote, there would be found amongst it alittle box in whose contents she had an interest.

　　'My feet they are sore, and my limbs they are weary;