介绍:
Ferndean Manor was a large old house in the middle of a wood. It looked dark and lonely, surrounded by trees. As I approached, the narrow front door opened, and out came a figure I could not fail to recognize, Edward Rochester. I held my breath as I watched, feeling a mixture of happiness and sadness. He looked as strong as before and his hair was still black, but on his face I saw a bitter, desperate look, which I had never seen there before. He walked slowly and hesitatingly along the path. Although he kept looking up eagerly at the sky, it was obvious that he could see nothing. After a while he stopped, and stood quietly there, the rain falling fast on his head. Finally he found his way painfully back to the house, and closed the door.
When I knocked at the door, Mr Rochester’s old servant, John, opened it and recognized me. He and his wife Mary were the only servants their master had wanted to keep when he moved from Thornfield. Although they were surprised to see me, I had no difficulty in arranging to stay at Ferndean that night.
“But he may not want to see you,” warned Mary, as we sat together in the kitchen. “He refuses to see anybody except us.” She was lighting some candles. “He always wants candles in the sitting-room when it’s dark, even though he’s blind.”
“Give them to me, Mary,” I said. “I’ll take them to him.”
The blind man was sitting near the neglected fire in the dark room. “Put down the candles, Mary,” he sighed.
“Here they are, sir,” I said.
“That is Mary, isn’t it?” he asked, listening carefully.
“Mary’s in the kitchen,” I answered.
“What sweet madness has seized me?” he cried suddenly.
“Where is the speaker? I can’t see, but I must feel, or my heart will stop, and my brain will burst! Let me touch you, or I can’t live!” I held his hands with both of mine. “Is it Jane? This is her shape...” He released his hand and seized my arms, shoulders, neck and waist and held me close to him.
“She is here,” I said, “and her heart, too. I am Jane Eyre. I have found you and come back to you.”
“My living darling! So you aren’t lying dead in a ditch somewhere! Is it a dream? I’ve dreamed so often of you, only to wake in the morning, abandoned with my life dark and my soul thirsty.”
