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1Presentiments are strange things! and so are sympathies; and so are signs; and the three combined make one mystery to
2which humanity has not yet found the key. I never laughed at presentiments in my life, because I have had strange ones
3of my own. Sympathies, I believe, exist (for instance, between far-distant, long-absent, wholly estranged relatives
4asserting, notwithstanding their alienation, the unity of the source to which each traces his origin) whose workings
5baffle mortal comprehension. And signs, for aught we know, may be but the sympathies of Nature with man. When I was a
6little girl, only six years old, I one night heard Bessie Leaven say to Martha Abbot that she had been dreaming about a
7little child; and that to dream of children was a sure sign of trouble, either to one's self or one's kin. The saying
8might have worn out of my memory, had not a circumstance immediately followed which served indelibly to fix it there.
9The next day Bessie was sent for home to the deathbed of her little sister. Of late I had often recalled this saying and
10this incident; for during the past week scarcely a night had gone over my couch that had not brought with it a dream of
11an infant, which I sometimes hushed in my arms, sometimes dandled on my knee, sometimes watched playing with daisies on
12a lawn, or again, dabbling its hands in running water. It was a wailing child this night, and a laughing one the next:
13now it nestled close to me, and now it ran from me; but whatever mood the apparition evinced, whatever aspect it wore,
14it failed not for seven successive nights to meet me the moment I entered the land of slumber. I did not like this
15iteration of one idea--this strange recurrence of one image, and I grew nervous as bedtime approached and the hour of
16the vision drew near. It was from companionship with this baby-phantom I had been roused on that moonlight night when I
17heard the cry; and it was on the afternoon of the day following I was summoned downstairs by a message that some one
18wanted me in Mrs. Fairfax's room. On repairing thither, I found a man waiting for me, having the appearance of a
19gentleman's servant: he was dressed in deep mourning, and the hat he held in his hand was surrounded with a crape band.
20"I daresay you hardly remember me, Miss," he said, rising as I entered; "but my name is Leaven: I lived coachman with
21Mrs. Reed when you were at Gateshead, eight or nine years since, and I live there still." "Oh, Robert! how do you do? I
22remember you very well: you used to give me a ride sometimes on Miss Georgiana's bay pony. And how is Bessie? You are
23married to Bessie?" "Yes, Miss: my wife is very hearty, thank you; she brought me another little one about two months
24since--we have three now--and both mother and child are thriving." "And are the family well at the house, Robert?" "I am
25sorry I can't give you better news of them, Miss: they are very badly at present--in great trouble." "I hope no one is
26dead," I said, glancing at his black dress. He too looked down at the crape round his hat and replied-- "Mr. John died
27yesterday was a week, at his chambers in London." "Mr. John?" "Yes." "And how does his mother bear it?" "Why, you see,
28Miss Eyre, it is not a common mishap: his life has been very wild: these last three years he gave himself up to strange
29ways, and his death was shocking." "I heard from Bessie he was not doing well." "Doing well! He could not do worse: he
30ruined his health and his estate amongst the worst men and the worst women. He got into debt and into jail: his mother
31helped him out twice, but as soon as he was free he returned to his old companions and habits. His head was not strong:
32the knaves he lived amongst fooled him beyond anything I ever heard. He came down to Gateshead about three weeks ago and
33wanted missis to give up all to him. Missis refused: her means have long been much reduced by his extravagance; so he
34went back again, and the next news was that he was dead. How he died, God knows!--they say he killed himself." I was
35silent: the tidings were frightful. Robert Leaven resumed-- "Missis had been out of health herself for some time: she
36had got very stout, but was not strong with it; and the loss of money and fear of poverty were quite breaking her down.
37The information about Mr. John's death and the manner of it came too suddenly: it brought on a stroke. She was three
38days without speaking; but last Tuesday she seemed rather better: she appeared as if she wanted to say something, and
39kept making signs to my wife and mumbling. It was only yesterday morning, however, that Bessie understood she was
40pronouncing your name; and at last she made out the words, 'Bring Jane--fetch Jane Eyre: I want to speak to her.' Bessie
41is not sure whether she is in her right mind, or means anything by the words; but she told Miss Reed and Miss Georgiana,
42and advised them to send for you. The young ladies put it off at first; but their mother grew so restless, and said,
43'Jane, Jane,' so many times, that at last they consented. I left Gateshead yesterday: and if you can get ready, Miss, I
44should like to take you back with me early to-morrow morning." "Yes, Robert, I shall be ready: it seems to me that I
45ought to go." "I think so too, Miss. Bessie said she was sure you would not refuse: but I suppose you will have to ask
46leave before you can get off?" "Yes; and I will do it now;" and having directed him to the servants' hall, and
47recommended him to the care of John's wife, and the attentions of John himself, I went in search of Mr. Rochester. He
48was not in any of the lower rooms; he was not in the yard, the stables, or the grounds. I asked Mrs. Fairfax if she had
49seen him;--yes: she believed he was playing billiards with Miss Ingram. To the billiard-room I hastened: the click of
50balls and the hum of voices resounded thence; Mr. Rochester, Miss Ingram, the two Misses Eshton, and their admirers,
51were all busied in the game. It required some courage to disturb so interesting a party; my errand, however, was one I
52could not defer, so I approached the master where he stood at Miss Ingram's side. She turned as I drew near, and looked
53at me haughtily: her eyes seemed to demand, "What can the creeping creature want now?" and when I said, in a low voice,
54"Mr. Rochester," she made a movement as if tempted to order me away. I remember her appearance at the moment--it was
55very graceful and very striking: she wore a morning robe of sky-blue crape; a gauzy azure scarf was twisted in her hair.
56She had been all animation with the game, and irritated pride did not lower the expression of her haughty lineaments.
57"Does that person want you?" she inquired of Mr. Rochester; and Mr. Rochester turned to see who the "person" was. He
58made a curious grimace--one of his strange and equivocal demonstrations--threw down his cue and followed me from the
59room. "Well, Jane?" he said, as he rested his back against the schoolroom door, which he had shut. "If you please, sir,
60I want leave of absence for a week or two." "What to do?--where to go?" "To see a sick lady who has sent for me." "What
61sick lady?--where does she live?" "At Gateshead; in ----shire." "-shire? That is a hundred miles off! Who may she be
62that sends for people to see her that distance?" "Her name is Reed, sir--Mrs. Reed." "Reed of Gateshead? There was a
63Reed of Gateshead, a magistrate." "It is his widow, sir." "And what have you to do with her? How do you know her?" "Mr.
64Reed was my uncle--my mother's brother." "The deuce he was! You never told me that before: you always said you had no
65relations." "None that would own me, sir. Mr. Reed is dead, and his wife cast me off." "Why?" "Because I was poor, and
66burdensome, and she disliked me." "But Reed left children?--you must have cousins? Sir George Lynn was talking of a Reed
67of Gateshead yesterday, who, he said, was one of the veriest rascals on town; and Ingram was mentioning a Georgiana Reed
68of the same place, who was much admired for her beauty a season or two ago in London."
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