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第9章 混沌套装

　　'But you are passionate, Jane, that you must allow: and nowreturn to the nursery- there's a dear- and lie down a little.'

　　I pronounced his name, offering him at the same time my hand: hetook it, smiling and saying, 'We shall do very well by and by.' Thenhe laid me down, and addressing Bessie, charged her to be very carefulthat I was not disturbed during the night. Having given some furtherdirections, and intimated that he should call again the next day, hedeparted; to my grief: I felt so sheltered and befriended while he satin the chair near my pillow; and as he closed the door after him,all the room darkened and my heart again sank: inexpressible sadnessweighed it down.

　　Mr. Rochester must have been aware of the entrance of Mrs.Fairfax and myself; but it appeared he was not in the mood to noticeus, for he never lifted his head as we approached.

　　I did so: she put her arm over me, and I nestled close to her.After a long silence, she resumed, still whispering-

　　Nor could I pass unnoticed the suggestion of the bleak shores ofLapland, Siberia, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, Iceland, Greenland, with'the vast sweep of the Arctic Zone, and those forlorn regions ofdreary space,- that reservoir of frost and snow, where firm fieldsof ice, the accumulation of centuries of winters, glazed in Alpineheights above heights, surround the pole and concentre themultiplied rigours of extreme cold.' Of these death-white realms Iformed an idea of my own: shadowy, like all the half-comprehendednotions that float dim through children's brains, but strangelyimpressive. The words in these introductory pages connected themselveswith the succeeding vignettes, and gave significance to the rockstanding up alone in a sea of billow and spray; to the broken boatstranded on a desolate coast; to the cold and ghastly moon glancingthrough bars of cloud at a wreck just sinking.

　　'Is he a good man?'

　　Bessie had been down into the kitchen, and she brought up withher a tart on a certain brightly painted china plate, whose bird ofparadise, nestling in a wreath of convolvuli and rosebuds, had beenwont to stir in me a most enthusiastic sense of admiration; andwhich plate I had often petitioned to be allowed to take in my hand inorder to examine it more closely, but had always hitherto beendeemed unworthy of such a privilege. This precious vessel was nowplaced on my knee, and I was cordially invited to eat the circlet ofdelicate pastry upon it. Vain favour! coming, like most otherfavours long deferred and often wished for, too late! I could noteat the tart; and the plumage of the bird, the tints of the flowers,seemed strangely faded: I put both plate and tart away. Bessie askedif I would have a book: the word book acted as a transient stimulus,and I begged her to fetch Gulliver's Travels from the library. Thisbook I had again and again perused with delight. I considered it anarrative of facts, and discovered

　　About a week subsequently to the incidents above narrated, MissTemple, who had written to Mr. Lloyd, received his answer: it appearedthat what he said went to corroborate my account. Miss Temple,having assembled the whole school, announced that inquiry had beenmade into the charges alleged against Jane Eyre, and that she was mosthappy to be able to pronounce her completely cleared from everyimputation. The teachers then shook hands with me and kissed me, and amurmur of pleasure ran through the ranks of my companions.

　　'Yes, sir.'