Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers

Help / FAQ



<- Previous | Table of Contents | Next ->
PinkMonkey.com Digital Library - PinkMonkey.com Digital Library-Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte


359

union that gives a character of permanent conformity to the
destinies and designs of human beings; and, passing over all minor
caprices-all trivial difficulties and delicacies of feeling-all scruple
about the degree, kind, strength or tenderness of mere personal
inclination-you will hasten to enter into that union at once.’ ‘Shall
I?’ I said briefly; and I looked at his features, beautiful in their
harmony, but strangely formidable in their still severity; at his
brow, commanding but not open; at his eyes, bright and deep and
searching, but never soft; at his tall imposing figure; and fancied
myself in idea his wife. Oh! it would never do! As his curate, his
comrade, all would be right: I would cross oceans with him in that
capacity; toil under Eastern suns, in Asian deserts with him in that
office; admire and emulate his courage and devotion and vigour;
accommodate quietly to his masterhood; smile undisturbed at his
ineradicable ambition; discriminate the Christian from the man:
profoundly esteem the one, and freely forgive the other. I should
suffer often, no doubt, attached to him only in this capacity: my
body would be under rather a stringent yoke, but my heart and
mind would be free. I should still have my unblighted self to turn
to: my natural unenslaved feelings with which to communicate in
moments of loneliness. There would be recesses in my mind which
would be only mine, to which he never came, and sentiments
growing there fresh and sheltered which his austerity could never
blight, nor his measured warrior-march trample down: but as his
wife-at his side always, and always restrained, and always
checked-forced to keep the fire of my nature continually low, to
compel it to burn inwardly and never utter a cry, though the
imprisoned flame consumed vital after vital-this would be
unendurable.

‘St. John!’ I exclaimed, when I had got so far in my meditation.
‘Well?’ he answered icily.

‘I repeat I freely consent to go with you as your fellow-missionary,
but not as your wife; I cannot marry you and become part of you.’
‘A part of me you must become,’ he answered steadily: ‘otherwise
the whole bargain is void. How can I, a man not yet thirty, take out
with me to India a girl of nineteen, unless she be married to me?
How can we be for ever together-sometimes in solitudes,
sometimes amidst savage tribes-and unwed?’ ‘Very well,’ I said
shortly; ‘under the circumstances, quite as well as if I were either
your real sister, or a man and a clergyman like yourself.’ ‘It is
known that you are not my sister; I cannot introduce you as such:
to attempt it would be to fasten injurious suspicions on us both.
And for the rest, though you have a man’s vigorous brain, you
have a woman’s heart and-it would not do.’
<- Previous | Table of Contents | Next ->
PinkMonkey.com Digital Library - PinkMonkey.com Digital Library-Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte



All Contents Copyright © All rights reserved.
Further Distribution Is Strictly Prohibited.

About Us | Advertising | Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Home Page


Search:
Keywords:
In Association with Amazon.com