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y breakfast of bread and milk stood on the table; and having crumbled a morsel of roll; I was tugging at the sash to put out the crumbs on the window… sill; when Bessie came running upstairs into the nursery。
“Miss Jane; take off your pinafore; what are you doing there? Have you washed your hands and face this morning?” I gave another tug before I answered; for I wanted the bird to be secure of its bread: the sash yielded; I scattered the crumbs; some on the stone sill; some on the cherry…tree bough; then; closing the window; I replied—
“No; Bessie; I have only just finished dusting。”
“Troublesome; careless child! and what are you doing now? You look quite red; as if you had been about some mischief: what were you opening the window for?”
I was spared the trouble of answering; for Bessie seemed in too great a hurry to listen to explanations; she hauled me to the washstand; inflicted a merciless; but happily brief scrub on my face and hands with soap; water; and a coarse towel; disciplined my head with a bristly brush; denuded me of my pinafore; and then hurrying me to the top of the stairs; bid me go down directly; as I was wanted in the breakfast…room。
I would have asked who wanted me: I would have demanded if Mrs。 Reed was there; but Bessie was already gone; and had closed the nursery…door upon me。 I slowly descended。 For nearly three months; I had never been called to Mrs。 Reed’s presence; restricted so long to the nursery; the breakfast; dining; and drawing…rooms were bee for me awful regions; on which it dismayed me to intrude。
I now stood in the empty hall; before me was the breakfast…room door; and I stopped; intimidated and trembling。 What a miserable little poltroon had fear; engendered of unjust punishment; made of me in those days! I feared to return to the nursery; and feared to go forward to the parlour; ten minutes I stood in agitated hesitation; the vehement ringing of the breakfast…room bell decided me; I must enter。
“Who could want me?” I asked inwardly; as with both hands I turned the stiff door…handle; which; for a second or two; resisted my efforts。 “What should I see besides Aunt Reed in the apartment?—a man or a woman?” The handle turned; the door unclosed; and passing through and curtseying low; I looked up at—a black pillar!—such; at least; appeared to me; at first sight; the straight; narrow; sable…clad shape standing erect on the rug: the grim face at the top was like a carved mask; placed above the shaft by way of capital。
Mrs。 Reed occupied her usual seat by the fireside; she made a signal to me to approach; I did so; and she introduced me to the stony stranger with the words: “This is the little girl respecting whom I applied to you。”
HE; for it was a man; turned his head slowly towards where I stood; and having examined me with the two inquisitive…looking grey eyes which twinkled under a pair of bushy brows; said solemnly; and in a bass voice; “Her size is small: what is her age?”
“Ten years。”
“So much?” was the doubtful answer; and he prolonged his scrutiny for some minutes。 Presently he addressed me—“Your name; little girl?”
“Jane Eyre; sir。”
In uttering these words I looked up: he seemed to me a tall gentleman; but then I was very little; his features were large; and they and all the lines of his frame 。
“Well; Jane Eyre; and are you a good child?”
Impossible to reply to this in the affirmative: my little world held a contrary opinion: I was silent。 Mrs。 Reed answered for me by an expressive shake of the head; adding soon; “Perhaps the less said on that subject the better; Mr。 Brocklehurst。”
“Sorry indeed to hear it! she and I must have some talk;” and bending from the perpendicular; he installed his person in the arm… chair opposite Mrs。 Reed’s。 “e here;” he said。
I stepped across the rug; he placed me square and straight before him。 What a face he had; now that it was almost on a level with mine! what a great nose! and what a mouth! and what large prominent teeth!
“No sight so sad as that of a naughty child;” he began; “especially a naughty little girl。 Do you know where the wicked go after death?”
“They go to hell;” was my ready and orthodox answer。
“And what is hell? Can you tell me that?”
“A pit full of fire。”
“And should you like to fall into that pit; and to be burning there for ever?”
“No; sir。”
“What must you do to avoid it?”
I deliberated a moment; my answer; when it did e; was objectionable: “I must keep in good health; and not die。”
“How can you keep in good health? Children younger than you die daily。 I buried a little child of five years old only a day or two since;—a good little child; whose soul is now in heaven。 It is to be feared the same could not be said of you were you to be called hence。”
Not being in a condition to remove his doubt; I only cast my eyes down on the two large feet planted on the rug; and sighed; wishing myself far enough away。
“I hope that sigh is from the heart; and that you repent of ever having been the occasion of disfort to your excellent benefactress。”
“Benefactress! benefactress!” said I inwardly: “they all call Mrs。 Reed my benefactress; if so; a benefactress is a disagreeable thing。”
“Do you say your prayers night and morning?” continued my interrogator。
“Yes; sir。”
“Do you read your Bible?”
“Sometimes。”
“With pleasure? Are you fond of it?”
“I like Revelations; and the book of Daniel; and Genesis and Samuel; and a little bit of Exodus; and some parts of Kings and Chronicles; and Job and Jonah。”
“And the Psalms? I hope you like them?”
“No; sir。”
“No? oh; shocking! I have a little boy; younger than you; who knows six Psalms by heart: and when you ask him which he would rather have; a gingerbread…nut to eat or a verse of a Psalm to learn; he says: ‘Oh! the verse of a Psalm! angels sing Psalms;’ says he; ‘I wish to be a little angel here below;’ he then gets two nuts in repense for his infant piety。”
“Psalms are not interesting;” I remarked。
“That proves you have a wicked heart; and you must pray to God to change it: to give you a new and clean one: to take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh。”
I was abou