I did his behest. The company all stared at me as I passed straight among them. I sought Mr. Mason, delivered the message, and preceded him from the room: I ushered him into the library, and then I went upstairs At a late hour, after I had been in bed some time, I heard the […]
Continue Reading
‘Break it, sir.’ ‘There, then—‘Off, ye lendings!’’ And Mr. Rochester stepped out of his disguise. ‘Now, sir, what a strange idea!’ ‘But well carried out, eh? Don’t you think so?’ ‘With the ladies you must have managed well.’ ‘But not with you?’ ‘You did not act the character of a gipsy with me.’ What character […]
Continue Reading
‘Eagerness of a listener!’ repeated she: ‘yes; Mr. Rochester has sat by the hour, his ear inclined to the fascinating lips that took such delight in their task of communicating; and Mr. Rochester was so willing to receive and looked so grateful for the pastime given him; you have noticed this?’ ‘Grateful! I cannot remember […]
Continue Reading
I started to my feet when I heard the name. ‘You have—have you?’ thought I; ‘there is diablerie in the business after all, then!’ ‘Don’t be alarmed,’ continued the strange being; ‘she’s a safe hand is Mrs. Poole: close and quiet; any one may repose confidence in her. But, as I was saying: sitting in […]
Continue Reading
‘You might say all that to almost any one who you knew lived as a solitary dependent in a great house.’ ‘I might say it to almost any one: but would it be true of almost any one?’ ‘In my circumstances.’ ‘Yes; just so, in YOUR circumstances: but find me another precisely placed as you […]
Continue Reading
The library looked tranquil enough as I entered it, and the Sibyl— if Sibyl she were—was seated snugly enough in an easy-chair at the chimney-corner. She had on a red cloak and a black bonnet: or rather, a broad-brimmed gipsy hat, tied down with a striped handkerchief under her chin. An extinguished candle stood on […]
Continue Reading
‘Well, Blanche?’ said Lord Ingram. ‘What did she say, sister?’ asked Mary. ‘What did you think? How do you feel?—Is she a real fortune- teller?’ demanded the Misses Eshton. ‘Now, now, good people,’ returned Miss Ingram, ‘don’t press upon me. Really your organs of wonder and credulity are easily excited: you seem, by the importance […]
Continue Reading
Coffee is handed. The ladies, since the gentlemen entered, have become lively as larks; conversation waxes briskmand merry. Colonel Dent and Mr. Eshton argue on politics; their wives listen. The two proud dowagers, Lady Lynn and Lady Ingram, confabulate together. Sir George—whom, bythe-bye, I have forgotten to describe,—a very big, and very fresh-looking country gentleman, […]
Continue Reading
Genius is said to be self-conscious. I cannot tell whether Miss Ingram was a genius, but she was self-conscious—remarkably self- conscious indeed. She entered into a discourse on botany with the gentle Mrs. Dent. It seemed Mrs. Dent had not studied that science: though, as she said, she liked flowers, ‘especially wild ones;’ Miss Ingram […]
Continue Reading
Fortunately there was another entrance to the drawing-room than that through the saloon where they were all seated at dinner. We found the apartment vacant; a large fire burning silently on the marble hearth, and wax candles shining in bright solitude, amid the exquisite flowers with which the tables were adorned. The crimson curtain hung […]
Continue Reading