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简爱(英文版)-第章

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 from it: he was seldom in the house; his parish was large; the population scattered; and he found daily business in visiting the sick and poor in its different districts。
One morning at breakfast; Diana; after looking a little pensive for some minutes; asked him; “If his plans were yet unchanged。”
“Unchanged and unchangeable;” was the reply。 And he proceeded to inform us that his departure from England was now definitively fixed for the ensuing year。
“And Rosamond Oliver?” suggested Mary; the words seeming to escape her lips involuntarily: for no sooner had she uttered them; than she made a gesture as if wishing to recall them。 St。 John had a book in his hand—it was his unsocial custom to read at meals—he closed it; and looked up;
“Rosamond Oliver;” said he; “is about to be married to Mr。 Granby; one of the best connected and most estimable residents in S…; grandson and heir to Sir Frederic Granby: I had the intelligence from her father yesterday。”
His sisters looked at each other and at me; we all three looked at him: he was serene as glass。
“The match must have been got up hastily;” said Diana: “they cannot have known each other long。”
“But two months: they met in October at the county ball at S…。 But where there are no obstacles to a union; as in the present case; where the connection is in every point desirable; delays are unnecessary: they will be married as soon as S… Place; which Sir Frederic gives up to them; can he refitted for their reception。”
The first time I found St。 John alone after this munication; I felt tempted to inquire if the event distressed him: but he seemed so little to need sympathy; that; so far from venturing to offer him more; I experienced some shame at the recollection of what I had already hazarded。 Besides; I was out of practice in talking to him: his reserve was again frozen over; and my frankness was congealed beneath it。 He had not kept his promise of treating me like his sisters; he continually made little chilling differences between us; which did not at all tend to the development of cordiality: in short; now that I was acknowledged his kinswoman; and lived under the same roof with him; I felt the distance between us to be far greater than when he had known me only as the village schoolmistress。 When I remembered how far I had once been admitted to his confidence; I could hardly prehend his present frigidity。
Such being the case; I felt not a little surprised when he raised his head suddenly from the desk over which he was stooping; and said—
“You see; Jane; the battle is fought and the victory won。”
Startled at being thus addressed; I did not immediately reply: after a moment’s hesitation I answered—
“But are you sure you are not in the position of those conquerors whose triumphs have cost them too dear? Would not such another ruin you?”
“I think not; and if I were; it does not much signify; I shall never be called upon to contend for such another。 The event of the conflict is decisive: my way is now clear; I thank God for it!” So saying; he returned to his papers and his silence。
As our mutual happiness (i。e。; Diana’s; Mary’s; and mine) settled into a quieter character; and we resumed our usual habits and regular studies; St。 John stayed more at home: he sat with us in the same room; sometimes for hours together。 While Mary drew; Diana pursued a course of encyclopaedic reading she had (to my awe and amazement) undertaken; and I fagged away at German; he pondered a mystic lore of his own: that of some Eastern tongue; the acquisition of which he thought necessary to his plans。
Thus engaged; he appeared; sitting in his own recess; quiet and absorbed enough; but that blue eye of his had a habit of leaving the outlandish…looking grammar; and wandering over; and sometimes fixing upon us; his fellow…students; with a curious intensity of observation: if caught; it would be instantly withdrawn; yet ever and anon; it returned searchingly to our table。 I wondered what it meant: I wondered; too; at the punctual satisfaction he never failed to exhibit on an occasion that seemed to me of small moment; namely; my weekly visit to Morton school; and still more was I puzzled when; if the day was unfavourable; if there was snow; or rain; or high wind; and his sisters urged me not to go; he would invariably make light of their solicitude; and encourage me to acplish the task without regard to the elements。
“Jane is not such a weakling as you would make her;” he would say: “she can bear a mountain blast; or a shower; or a few flakes of snow; as well as any of us。 Her constitution is both sound and elastic;—better calculated to endure variations of climate than many more robust。”
And when I returned; sometimes a good deal tired; and not a little weather…beaten; I never dared plain; because I saw that to murmur would be to vex him: on all occasions fortitude pleased him; the reverse was a special annoyance。
One afternoon; however; I got leave to stay at home; because I really had a cold。 His sisters were gone to Morton in my stead: I sat reading Schiller; he; deciphering his crabbed Oriental scrolls。 As I exchanged a translation for an exercise; I happened to look his way: there I found myself under the influence of the ever…watchful blue eye。 How long it had been searching me through and through; and over and over; I cannot tell: so keen was it; and yet so cold; I felt for the moment superstitious—as if I were sitting in the room with something uncanny。
“Jane; what are you doing?”
“Learning German。”
“I want you to give up German and learn Hindostanee。”
“You are not in earnest?”
“In such earnest that I must have it so: and I will tell you why。”
He then went on to explain that Hindostanee was the language he was himself at present studying; that; as he advanced; he was apt to forget the mencement; that it would assist him greatly to have a pupil with whom he might again and again go over the elements; and so fix them thoroughly in his mind; that his choice had hovered for some time between me and his sisters; but that he had fixed on me because he saw I could sit at a task the longest of the three。 Would I do him this favour? I should not; p
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