"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 candle: he had just descended from the upper

storey. One of the ladies ran to him directly; she seized his arm:

it was Miss Ingram.

"What awful event has taken place?" said she. "Speak! let us know

the worst at once!"

"But don't pull me down or strangle me," he replied: for the Misses

Eshton were clinging about him now; and the two dowagers, in vast

white wrappers, were bearing down on him like ships in full sail.

"All's right!--all's right!" he cried. "It's a mere rehearsal of

Much Ado about Nothing. Ladies, keep off, or I shall wax

dangerous."

And dangerous he looked: his black eyes darted sparks. Calming

himself by an effort, he added "A servant has had the nightmare; that is all. She's an excitable,

nervous person: she construed her dream into an apparition, or

something of that sort, no doubt; and has taken a fit with fright.

Now, then, I must see you all back into your rooms; for, till the

house is settled, she cannot be looked after. Gentlemen, have the

goodness to set the ladies the example. Miss Ingram, I am sure you

will not fail in evincing superiority to idle terrors. Amy and

Louisa, return to your nests like a pair of doves, as you are.

Mesdames" (to the dowagers), "you will take cold to a dead

certainty, if you stay in this chill gallery any longer."

And so, by dint of alternate coaxing and commanding, he contrived to

get them all once more enclosed in their separate dormitories. I

did not wait to be ordered back to mine, but retreated unnoticed, as

unnoticed I had left it.

Not, however, to go to bed: on the contrary, I began and dressed

myself carefully. The sounds I had heard after the scream, and the

words that had been uttered, had probably been heard only by me; for

they had proceeded from the room above mine: but they assured me

that it was not a servant's dream which had thus struck horror

through the house; and that the explanation Mr. Rochester had given

was merely an invention framed to pacify his guests. I dressed,

then, to be ready for emergencies. When dressed, I sat a long time

by the window looking out over the silent grounds and silvered

fields and waiting for I knew not what. It seemed to me that some

event must follow the strange cry, struggle, and call.




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024