ould say: I was conscious that a moment’s mutiny had already rendered me liable to

o go to a

Miss Abbot: she’

t shocking conduct, Miss Eyre, to strike a young ge

he my master?

ou do nothing for your keep. There, sit

Reed, and had thrust me upon a stool: my impulse was to rise fro

down,’ said Bessie. ‘Miss Abbot, lend me y

to divest a stout

d the additional ignominy it inferred, t

off,’ I cried;

I attached myself to

ding, she loosened her hold of me; then she and Miss Abbot stood with folded

re,’ at last, said Bes

y opinion about the child, and Missis agreed with me. She’s an under

o be aware, Miss, that you are under ligations to Mrs. Reed: she keeps y

e: my very first recollections of existence included hints

inful and crushing, but only half

ster Reed, because Missis kindly al- lows you to be brought up with them. They

greeable to them.’ ‘What we tell you

en, perhaps, you would have a home here; but if you become

e go? Come, Bessie, we will leave her: I wouldn’t have her heart for anything. Say your prayers, Miss Eyre, when you

the door, and lock

ce influx of visitors at Gateshead Hall rendered it necessary to turn to account all the accommodation

n festoons and falls of similar drapery; the carpet was red; the table at the foot of the bed was covered with a crimson cloth; the walls were a soft fawn color with a blush of pink in it;

as an ample cushioned easy chair near the head of the bed, also white, w

turdays, to wipe from the mirrors and the furniture a week’s quiet dust: and Mrs. Reed herself, at far intervals, visited it to review the contents of a certain secret drawer in the wardrobe, where w

re he lay in state; hence his coffin was borne by the undertaker’s men; and, since

there was the high, dark wardrobe, with subdued, broken flections varying the gloss of its panels; to my left was the muffled windows; a great looking-glass betwe

es: no

: and the strange little figure there gazing at me, with a white face and arms specking the gloom, and glittering eyes of fear moving where all else was still, had the effect of a real spirit: I thought it

blood was still warm; the mood of the revolted slave was still bracing me with its bitter vigo

his sisters’ proud indifference, all his

hy was I always suffering, always brow-beaten, always accused, forever condemn

carriage, was universally indulged. Her beauty, her pink cheeks and golden curls, seemed to give delight to all who looked at her and to

e called his mother ‘old girl,’ too; sometimes reviled her for her dark skin, similar to his own; bluntly disregarded her wishes; not infrequently

neaking, from morning to no

d reproved Clark for wantonly striking me; and because I had turned against h

and Resolve, equally wrought up, instigated some strange experience to achieve escape from insupportable oppres

n insurrection! Yet in what darkness, what dense ignorance, was the mental battle fought! I could not answer th

harmony with Mrs. Reed or her children, or her chosen vassalage. If they did

sympathize with one amongst them; a

nt, of contempt of their judgment. I know that had I been a sanguine, brilliant, careless, exacting, handsome, romping child—though equally dependent and friendless—Mrs. Reed would have endured m

forsake the red ro

and forlorn depression, fell damp on the embers of my decaying ire. All said I was wicked, and perhaps I might be so; what thought had I been but just conceiving of starving myself to death? That certainly was a crime: and was I fit to die? Or was the vault under the chancel of Gateshead Church

d, I dare say, as well as her nature would permit her; but how could she really like an interloper not of her race, and unconnected with her, after her husband’s death, by any tie? It must have been mo

the white bed and overshadowed walls— occasionally also turning a fascinated eye towards the dimly gleaning mirror—I began to recall what I had heard of dead

arted—and rise before me in this chamber. I wiped my tears and hushed my sobs, fearful lest any sign of violent grief might waken a preternatura

eavored to stifle it and endeavored to be firm.

eadily that this streak of light was, in all likelihood, a gleam from a lantern carried by someone across the lawn: but then, prepared as my mind was for horror, shaken as my nerves were by agitation, I thought the swift darting beam was a herald of some coming vision from another world. My heart beat thick

are you ill?

! it went quite throug

rsery!’ was my cry. ‘What for? Are

emanded

would come.’ I had now got hold of Bessie’

d what a scream! If she had been in great pain one would have excused i

orridor, her cap flying wide, her gown rustling stormily. ‘Abbot and Bessie, I believe

med so loud, ma’a

ured. I abhor artifice, particularly in children; it is my duty to show you that tricks will not answer: you will now st

nnot endure it—let me be punished so

ce is all most repuls

recocious actress in h

virulent passions, mean spir

, abruptly thrust me back and locked me in, without farther parley. I heard her sweeping away;