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1A week passed, and no news arrived of Mr. Rochester: ten days, and still he did not come. Mrs. Fairfax said she should
2not be surprised if he were to go straight from the Leas to London, and thence to the Continent, and not show his face
3again at Thornfield for a year to come; he had not unfrequently quitted it in a manner quite as abrupt and unexpected.
4When I heard this, I was beginning to feel a strange chill and failing at the heart. I was actually permitting myself to
5experience a sickening sense of disappointment; but rallying my wits, and recollecting my principles, I at once called
6my sensations to order; and it was wonderful how I got over the temporary blunder--how I cleared up the mistake of
7supposing Mr. Rochester's movements a matter in which I had any cause to take a vital interest. Not that I humbled
8myself by a slavish notion of inferiority: on the contrary, I just said-- "You have nothing to do with the master of
9Thornfield, further than to receive the salary he gives you for teaching his protégée, and to be grateful for such
10respectful and kind treatment as, if you do your duty, you have a right to expect at his hands. Be sure that is the only
11tie he seriously acknowledges between you and him; so don't make him the object of your fine feelings, your raptures,
12agonies, and so forth. He is not of your order: keep to your caste, and be too self-respecting to lavish the love of the
13whole heart, soul, and strength, where such a gift is not wanted and would be despised." I went on with my day's
14business tranquilly; but ever and anon vague suggestions kept wandering across my brain of reasons why I should quit
15Thornfield; and I kept involuntarily framing advertisements and pondering conjectures about new situations: these
16thoughts I did not think to check; they might germinate and bear fruit if they could. Mr. Rochester had been absent
17upwards of a fortnight, when the post brought Mrs. Fairfax a letter. "It is from the master," said she, as she looked at
18the direction. "Now I suppose we shall know whether we are to expect his return or not." And while she broke the seal
19and perused the document, I went on taking my coffee (we were at breakfast): it was hot, and I attributed to that
20circumstance a fiery glow which suddenly rose to my face. Why my hand shook, and why I involuntarily spilt half the
21contents of my cup into my saucer, I did not choose to consider. "Well, I sometimes think we are too quiet; but we run a
22chance of being busy enough now: for a little while at least," said Mrs. Fairfax, still holding the note before her
23spectacles. Ere I permitted myself to request an explanation, I tied the string of Adèle's pinafore, which happened to
24be loose: having helped her also to another bun and refilled her mug with milk, I said, nonchalantly-- "Mr. Rochester is
25not likely to return soon, I suppose?" "Indeed he is--in three days, he says: that will be next Thursday; and not alone
26either. I don't know how many of the fine people at the Leas are coming with him: he sends directions for all the best
27bedrooms to be prepared; and the library and drawing-rooms are to be cleaned out; I am to get more kitchen hands from
28the George Inn, at Millcote, and from wherever else I can; and the ladies will bring their maids and the gentlemen their
29valets: so we shall have a full house of it." And Mrs. Fairfax swallowed her breakfast and hastened away to commence
30operations. The three days were, as she had foretold, busy enough. I had thought all the rooms at Thornfield beautifully
31clean and well arranged; but it appears I was mistaken. Three women were got to help; and such scrubbing, such brushing,
32such washing of paint and beating of carpets, such taking down and putting up of pictures, such polishing of mirrors and
33lustres, such lighting of fires in bedrooms, such airing of sheets and feather-beds on hearths, I never beheld, either
34before or since. Adèle ran quite wild in the midst of it: the preparations for company and the prospect of their
35arrival, seemed to throw her into ecstasies. She would have Sophie to look over all her "toilettes," as she called
36frocks; to furbish up any that were "passées," and to air and arrange the new. For herself, she did nothing but caper
37about in the front chambers, jump on and off the bedsteads, and lie on the mattresses and piled-up bolsters and pillows
38before the enormous fires roaring in the chimneys. From school duties she was exonerated: Mrs. Fairfax had pressed me
39into her service, and I was all day in the storeroom, helping (or hindering) her and the cook; learning to make custards
40and cheese-cakes and French pastry, to truss game and garnish desert-dishes. The party were expected to arrive on
41Thursday afternoon, in time for dinner at six. During the intervening period I had no time to nurse chimeras; and I
42believe I was as active and gay as anybody--Adèle excepted. Still, now and then, I received a damping check to my
43cheerfulness; and was, in spite of myself, thrown back on the region of doubts and portents, and dark conjectures. This
44was when I chanced to see the third-storey staircase door (which of late had always been kept locked) open slowly, and
45give passage to the form of Grace Poole, in prim cap, white apron, and handkerchief; when I watched her glide along the
46gallery, her quiet tread muffled in a list slipper; when I saw her look into the bustling, topsy-turvy bedrooms,--just
47say a word, perhaps, to the charwoman about the proper way to polish a grate, or clean a marble mantelpiece, or take
48stains from papered walls, and then pass on. She would thus descend to the kitchen once a day, eat her dinner, smoke a
49moderate pipe on the hearth, and go back, carrying her pot of porter with her, for her private solace, in her own
50gloomy, upper haunt. Only one hour in the twenty-four did she pass with her fellow-servants below; all the rest of her
51time was spent in some low-ceiled, oaken chamber of the second storey: there she sat and sewed--and probably laughed
52drearily to herself,--as companionless as a prisoner in his dungeon. The strangest thing of all was, that not a soul in
53the house, except me, noticed her habits, or seemed to marvel at them: no one discussed her position or employment; no
54one pitied her solitude or isolation. I once, indeed, overheard part of a dialogue between Leah and one of the
55charwomen, of which Grace formed the subject. Leah had been saying something I had not caught, and the charwoman
56remarked-- "She gets good wages, I guess?" "Yes," said Leah; "I wish I had as good; not that mine are to complain
57of,--there's no stinginess at Thornfield; but they're not one fifth of the sum Mrs. Poole receives. And she is laying
58by: she goes every quarter to the bank at Millcote. I should not wonder but she has saved enough to keep her independent
59if she liked to leave; but I suppose she's got used to the place; and then she's not forty yet, and strong and able for
60anything. It is too soon for her to give up business." "She is a good hand, I daresay," said the charwoman. "Ah!--she
61understands what she has to do,--nobody better," rejoined Leah significantly; "and it is not every one could fill her
62shoes--not for all the money she gets." "That it is not!" was the reply. "I wonder whether the master--" The charwoman
63was going on; but here Leah turned and perceived me, and she instantly gave her companion a nudge. "Doesn't she know?" I
64heard the woman whisper. Leah shook her head, and the conversation was of course dropped. All I had gathered from it
65amounted to this,--that there was a mystery at Thornfield; and that from participation in that mystery I was purposely
66excluded. Thursday came: all work had been completed the previous evening; carpets were laid down, bed-hangings
67festooned, radiant white counterpanes spread, toilet tables arranged, furniture rubbed, flowers piled in vases: both
68chambers and saloons looked as fresh and bright as hands could make them. The hall, too, was scoured; and the great
69carved clock, as well as the steps and banisters of the staircase, were polished to the brightness of glass; in the
70dining-room, the sideboard flashed resplendent with plate; in the drawing-room and boudoir, vases of exotics bloomed on
71all sides.
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