Jane Eyre
Page 349"Yes."
"My aunt, consequently?"
He bowed.
"My uncle John was your uncle John? You, Diana, and Mary are his
sister's children, as I am his brother's child?"
"Undeniably."
"You three, then, are my cousins; half our blood on each side flows
from the same source?"
"We are cousins; yes."
I surveyed him. It seemed I had found a brother: one I could be
proud of,--one I could love; and two sisters, whose qualities were
such, that, when I knew them but as mere strangers, they had
on whom, kneeling down on the wet ground, and looking through the
low, latticed window of Moor House kitchen, I had gazed with so
bitter a mixture of interest and despair, were my near kinswomen;
and the young and stately gentleman who had found me almost dying at
his threshold was my blood relation. Glorious discovery to a lonely
wretch! This was wealth indeed!--wealth to the heart!--a mine of
pure, genial affections. This was a blessing, bright, vivid, and
exhilarating;--not like the ponderous gift of gold: rich and
welcome enough in its way, but sobering from its weight. I now
clapped my hands in sudden joy--my pulse bounded, my veins thrilled.
"Oh, I am glad!--I am glad!" I exclaimed.
pursue trifles?" he asked. "You were serious when I told you you
had got a fortune; and now, for a matter of no moment, you are
excited."
"What can you mean? It may be of no moment to you; you have sisters
and don't care for a cousin; but I had nobody; and now three
relations,--or two, if you don't choose to be counted,--are born
into my world full-grown. I say again, I am glad!"
I walked fast through the room: I stopped, half suffocated with the
thoughts that rose faster than I could receive, comprehend, settle
them:- thoughts of what might, could, would, and should be, and that
ere long. I looked at the blank wall: it seemed a sky thick with
who had saved my life, whom, till this hour, I had loved barrenly, I
could now benefit. They were under a yoke,--I could free them:
they were scattered,--I could reunite them: the independence, the
affluence which was mine, might be theirs too. Were we not four?
Twenty thousand pounds shared equally would be five thousand each,
justice--enough and to spare: justice would be done,--mutual
happiness secured. Now the wealth did not weigh on me: now it was
not a mere bequest of coin,--it was a legacy of life, hope,
enjoyment.