"Yes, sir, I will advertise immediately: and meantime, I suppose--"

I was going to say, "I suppose I may stay here, till I find another

shelter to betake myself to:" but I stopped, feeling it would not do

to risk a long sentence, for my voice was not quite under command.

"In about a month I hope to be a bridegroom," continued Mr.

Rochester; "and in the interim, I shall myself look out for

employment and an asylum for you."

"Thank you, sir; I am sorry to give--"

"Oh, no need to apologise! I consider that when a dependent does

her duty as well as you have done yours, she has a sort of claim

upon her employer for any little assistance he can conveniently

render her; indeed I have already, through my future mother-in-law,

heard of a place that I think will suit: it is to undertake the

education of the five daughters of Mrs. Dionysius O'Gall of

Bitternutt Lodge, Connaught, Ireland. You'll like Ireland, I think:

they're such warm-hearted people there, they say."

"It is a long way off, sir."

"No matter--a girl of your sense will not object to the voyage or

the distance."

"Not the voyage, but the distance: and then the sea is a barrier--"

"From what, Jane?"

"From England and from Thornfield: and--"

"Well?"

"From YOU, sir."

I said this almost involuntarily, and, with as little sanction of

free will, my tears gushed out. I did not cry so as to be heard,

however; I avoided sobbing. The thought of Mrs. O'Gall and

Bitternutt Lodge struck cold to my heart; and colder the thought of

all the brine and foam, destined, as it seemed, to rush between me

and the master at whose side I now walked, and coldest the

remembrance of the wider ocean--wealth, caste, custom intervened

between me and what I naturally and inevitably loved.

"It is a long way," I again said.

"It is, to be sure; and when you get to Bitternutt Lodge, Connaught,

Ireland, I shall never see you again, Jane: that's morally certain.

I never go over to Ireland, not having myself much of a fancy for

the country. We have been good friends, Jane; have we not?"

"Yes, sir."

"And when friends are on the eve of separation, they like to spend

the little time that remains to them close to each other. Come!

we'll talk over the voyage and the parting quietly half-an-hour or

so, while the stars enter into their shining life up in heaven

yonder: here is the chestnut tree: here is the bench at its old

roots. Come, we will sit there in peace to-night, though we should

never more be destined to sit there together." He seated me and

himself.




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