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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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161 her auditors: she was evidently bent on striking them as something very dashing and daring indeed. ‘Oh, I am so sick of the young men of the present day!’ exclaimed she, rattling away at the instrument. ‘Poor, puny things, not fit to stir a step beyond papa’s park gates: nor to go even so far without mama’s permission and guardianship! Creatures so absorbed in care about their pretty faces, and their white hands, and their small feet; as if a man had anything to do with beauty! As if loveliness were not the special prerogative of woman-her legitimate appanage and heritage! I grant an ugly woman is a blot on the fair face of creation; but as to the gentlemen, let them be solicitous to possess only strength and valour: let their motto be:Hunt, shoot, and fight: the rest is not worth a fillip. Such should be my device, were I a man.’ ‘Whenever I marry,’ she continued after a pause which none interrupted, ‘I am resolved my husband shall not be a rival, but a foil to me. I will suffer no competitor near the throne; I shall exact an undivided homage: his devotions shall not be shared between me and the shape he sees in his mirror. Mr. Rochester, now sing, and I will play for you.’ ‘I am all obedience,’ was the response. ‘Here then is a Corsair-song. Know that I doat on Corsairs; and for that reason, sing it con spirito.’ ‘Commands from Miss Ingram’s lips would put spirit into a mug of milk and water.’ ‘Take care, then: if you don’t please me, I will shame you by showing how such things should be done.’ ‘That is offering a premium on incapacity: I shall now endeavour to fail.’ ‘Gardez-vous en bien! If you err wilfully, I shall devise a proportionate punishment.’ ‘Miss Ingram ought to be clement, for she has it in her power to inflict a chastisement beyond mortal endurance.’ ‘Ha! explain!’ commanded the lady. ‘Pardon me, madam: no need of explanation; your own fine sense must inform you that one of your frowns would be a sufficient substitute for capital punishment.’ ‘Sing!’ said she, and again touching the piano, she commenced an accompaniment in spirited style. ‘Now is my time to slip away,’ thought I: but the tones that then severed the air arrested me. Mrs. Fairfax had said Mr. Rochester possessed a fine voice: he did-a mellow, powerful bass, into which he threw his own feeling, his own force: finding a way through the ear to the heart, and there waking sensation strangely. I waited till the last deep and full vibration had expired-till the tide of talk, checked an instant, had resumed its flow; I then quitted my sheltered corner and made my exit by the side-door, which was fortunately near. Thence a narrow |
