Something gurgled and moaned. Ere long, steps retreated up the gallery toward the third story stair-case. A door had lately been made to shut in that stair-case; I heard it open and close, and all was still.
"Was that Grace Poole? and is she possessed with a devil?" thought I. Impossible now to remain longer by myself, I must go to Mrs. Fairfax. I hurried on my frock and a shawl. I withdrew the bolt and opened the door with a trembling hand. There was a candle burning just outside, left on the matting in the gallery. I was surprised at this circumstance, but still more was I amazed to perceive the air quite dim, as if filled with smoke; and, while looking to the right hand and left, to find whence these blue wreaths issued, I became further aware of a strong smell of burning.
Something creaked; it was a door ajar; and that door was Mr. Rochester's, and the smoke rushed in a cloud from thence. I thought no more of Mrs. Fairfax; I thought no more of Grace Poole or the laugh. In an instant I was within the chamber. Tongues of flame darted round the bed; the curtains were on fire. In the midst of blaze and vapor, Mr. Rochester lay stretched motionless, in deep sleep.
"Wake! wake!" I cried. I shook him, but he only murmured and turned; the smoke had stupefied him. Not a moment could be lost; the very sheets were kindling. I rushed to his basin and ewer; fortunately, one was wide and the other deep, and both were filled with water. I heaved them up, deluged the bed and its occupant, flew back to my own room, brought my own water-jug, baptized the couch afresh, and by God's aid, succeeded in extinguishing the flames which were devouring it.
The hiss of the quenched element, the breakage of a pitcher which I flung from my hand when I had emptied it, and, above all, the splash of the shower-bath I had liberally bestowed, roused Mr. Rochester at last. Though it was now dark, I knew he was awake; because I heard him fulminating strange anathemas at finding himself lying in a pool of water.
"Is there a flood?" he cried.
"No, sir," I answered; "but there has been a fire; get up, do, you are quenched now; I will fetch you a candle."
"In the name of all the elves in Christendom, is that Jane Eyre?" he demanded. "What have you done with me, witch, sorceress? Who is in the room besides you? Have you plotted to drown me?"
"I will fetch you a candle, sir; and in Heaven's name, get up. Somebody has plotted something; you cannot too soon find out who and what it is."
"There--I am up now; but at your peril you fetch a candle yet; wait two minutes till I get into some dry garments, if any dry there be--yes, here is my dressing-gown, now run!"
I did run; I brought the candle which still remained in the gallery. He took it from my hand, held it up, and surveyed the bed, all blackened and scorched, the sheets drenched, the carpet round swimming in water.
"What is it? and who did it?" he asked.
I briefly related to him what had transpired; the strange laugh I had heard in the gallery; the step ascending to the third story; the smoke--the smell of fire which had conducted me to his room; in what state I had found matters there, and how I had deluged him with all the water I could lay hands on.
He listened very gravely; his face, as I went on, expressed more concern than astonishment; he did not immediately speak when I had concluded.
"Shall I call Mrs. Fairfax?" I asked.
"Mrs. Fairfax? No--what the deuce would you call her for? What can she do? Let her sleep unmolested."
"Then I will fetch Leah, and wake John and his wife."
"Not at all; just be still. You have a shawl on; if you are not warm enough, you may take my cloak yonder; wrap it about you, and sit down in the arm-chair; there--I will put it on. Now place your feet on the stool, to keep them out of the wet. I am going to leave you a few minutes. I shall take the candle. Remain where you are till I return; be as still as a mouse. I must pay a visit to the third story. Don't move, remember, or call any one."
He went; I watched the light withdraw. He passed up the gallery very softly, unclosed the stair-case door with as little noise as possible, shut it after him, and the last ray vanished. I was left in total darkness. I listened for some noise, but heard nothing. A very long time elapsed. I grew weary; it was cold, in spite of the cloak; and then I did not see the use of staying, as I was not to rouse the house. I was on the point of risking Mr. Rochester's displeasure by disobeying his orders, when the light once more gleamed dimly on the gallery-wall, and I heard his unshod feet tread the matting. "I hope it is he," thought I, "and not something worse."
He reentered, pale and very gloomy. "I have found it all out," said he, setting his candle down on the wash-stand; "it is as I thought."
"How, sir?"
He made no reply, but stood with his arms folded, looking on the ground. At the end of a few minutes he inquired, in rather a peculiar tone--
"I forget whether you said you saw anything when you opened your chamber-door."
"No, sir, only the candlestick on the ground."
"But you heard an odd laugh? You have heard that laugh before I should think, or something like it?"
"Yes, sir; there is a woman who sews here, called Grace Poole--she laughs in that way. She is a singular person."
'Just so. Grace Poole; you have guessed it. She is, as you say, singular--very. Well, I shall reflect on the subject. Meantime, I am glad that you are the only person, besides myself, acquainted with the precise details of tonight's incident. You are no talking fool; say nothing about it. I will account for this state of affairs" (pointing to the bed); "and now return to your own room. I shall do very well on the sofa in the library for the rest of the night. It is near four; in two hours the servants will be up."
"Good-night, then, sir," said I, departing.
He seemed surprised--very inconsistently so, as he had just told me to go.
"What!" he exclaimed, "are you quitting me already; and in that way?"
"You said I might go, sir."
"But not without taking leave; not without a word or two of acknowledgment and good will; not, in short, in that brief, dry fashion. Why, you have saved my life! snatched me from a horrible and excruciating death! and you walk past me as if we were mutual strangers! At least shake hands."
He held out his hand; I gave him mine; he took it first in one, then in both his own.
"You have saved my life; I have a pleasure in owing you so immense a debt. I cannot say more. Nothing else that has being would have been tolerable to me in the character of creditor for such an obligation; but you, it is different--I feel your benefits no burden, Jane."
He paused; gazed at me; words almost visible trembled on his lips--but his voice was checked.
"Good-night again, sir. There is no debt, benefit, burden, obligation, in the case."
"I knew," he continued, "you would do me good in some way, at some time; I saw it in your eyes when I first beheld you; their expression and smile did not"--(again he stopped)--"did not" (he proceeded hastily) "strike delight to my very inmost heart so for nothing. People talk of natural sympathies; I have heard of good genii; there are grains of truth in the wildest fable. My cherished preserver, good-night!"
Strange energy was in his voice; strange fire in his look.
"I am glad I happened to be awake," I said; and then I was going.
"What, you will go?"
"I am cold, sir."
"Cold? Yes--and standing in a pool. Go, then, Jane; go!" But he still retained my hand, and I could not free it. I bethought myself of an expedient.
"I think I hear Mrs. Fairfax move, sir," said I.
"Well, leave me." He relaxed his fingers, and I was gone.
I regained my couch, but never thought of sleep. Till morning dawned I was tossed on a buoyant but unquiet sea, where billows of trouble rolled under surges of joy. I thought sometimes I saw beyond its wild waters a shore, sweet as the hills of Beulah;46 and now and then a freshening gale, wakened by hope, bore my spirit triumphantly toward the bourne; but I could not reach it, even in fancy--a counteracting breeze blew off land, and con
tinually drove me back. Sense would resist delirium; judgment would warn passion. Too feverish to rest, I rose as soon as day dawned.
Chapter XVI
I both wished and feared to see Mr. Rochester on the day which followed this sleepless night; I wanted to hear his voice again, yet feared to meet his eye. During the early part of the morning, I momentarily expected his coming. He was not in the frequent habit of entering the school-room; but he did step in for a few minutes sometimes, and I had the impression that he was sure to visit it that day.
But the morning passed just as usual; nothing happened to interrupt the quiet course of Adele's studies; only, soon after breakfast, I heard some bustle in the neighborhood of Mr. Rochester's chamber, Mrs. Fairfax's voice, and Leah's and the cook's--that is, John's wife--and even John's own gruff tones. There were exclamations of "What a mercy master was not burned in his bed!" "It is always dangerous to keep a candle lit at night." "How providential that he had presence of mind to think of the water-jug!" "I wonder he waked nobody!" "It is to be hoped he will not take cold with sleeping on the library sofa," &c.
To much confabulation succeeded a sound of scrubbing and setting to rights; and when I passed the room, in going down stairs to dinner, I saw through the open door that all was again restored to complete order, only the bed was stripped of its hangings. Leah stood up in the window-seat, rubbing the panes of glass dimmed with smoke. I was about to address her, for I wished to know what account had been given of the affair; but, on advancing, I saw a second person in the chamber--a woman sitting on a chair by the bedside, and sewing rings to new curtains. That woman was no other than Grace Poole.
There she sat, staid and taciturn-looking, as usual, in her brown stuff gown, her check apron, white handkerchief, and cap. She was intent on her work, in which her whole thoughts seemed absorbed; on her hard forehead, and in her commonplace features, was nothing either of the paleness or desperation one would have expected to see marking the countenance of a woman who had attempted murder, and whose intended victim had followed her last night to her lair, and, as I believed, charged her with the crime she wished to perpetrate. I was amazed--confounded. She looked up while I still gazed at her; no start, no increase or failure of color, betrayed emotion, consciousness of guilt, or fear of detection. She said, "Good-morning, miss," in her usual phlegmatic and brief manner; and, taking up another ring and more tape, went on with her sewing.
"I will put her to some test," thought I; "such absolute impenetrability is past comprehension."
"Good-morning, Grace," I said. "Has anything happened here? I thought I heard the servants all talking together a while ago."
"Only master had been reading in his bed last night; he fell asleep with his candle lit, and the curtains got on fire; but, fortunately, he awoke before the bed-clothes or the woodwork caught, and contrived to quench the flame with the water in the ewer."
"A strange affair!" I said, in a low voice; then, looking at her fixedly--"Did Mr. Rochester wake nobody? Did no one hear him move?"
She again raised her eyes to me, and this time there was something of consciousness in their expression. She seemed to examine me warily; then she answered--
"The servants sleep so far off, you know, miss, they would not be likely to hear. Mrs. Fairfax's room and yours are the nearest to master's; but Mrs. Fairfax said she heard nothing. When people get elderly, they often sleep heavy." She paused, and then added, with a sort of assumed indifference, but still in a marked and significant tone, "But you are young, miss, and I should say a light sleeper; perhaps you may have heard a noise?"
"I did," said I, dropping my voice, so that Leah, who was still polishing the panes, could not hear me; "and at first I thought it was Pilot; but Pilot cannot laugh; and I am certain I heard a laugh, and a strange one."
She took a new needleful of thread, waxed it carefully, threaded her needle with a steady hand, and then observed, with perfect composure--
"It is hardly likely master would laugh, I should think, miss, when he was in such danger; you must have been dreaming."
"I was not dreaming," I said, with some warmth, for her brazen coolness provoked me. Again she looked at me, and with the same scrutinizing and conscious eye.
"Have you told master that you heard a laugh?" she inquired.
"I have not had the opportunity of speaking to him this morning."
"You did not think of opening your door and looking out into the gallery?" she further asked.
She appeared to be cross-questioning me--attempting to draw from me information unawares; the idea struck me that if she discovered I knew or suspected her guilt, she would be playing off some of her malignant pranks on me; I thought it advisable to be on my guard.
"On the contrary," said I, "I bolted my door."
"Then you are not in the habit of bolting your door every night before you get into bed?"
Fiend! she wants to know my habits, that she may lay her plans accordingly! Indignation again prevailed over prudence. I replied, sharply, "Hitherto I have often omitted to fasten the bolt--I did not think it necessary. I was not aware any danger or annoyance was to be dreaded at Thornfield Hall; but in future (and I laid marked stress on the words) I shall take good care to make all secure before I venture to lie down."
"It will be wise so to do," was her answer. "This neighborhood is as quiet as any I know, and I never heard of the Hall being attempted by robbers since it was a house; though there are hundreds of pounds' worth of platedj in the plate-closet, as is well known. And, you see, for such a large house, there are very few servants, because master has never lived here much; and when he does come, being a bachelor, he needs little waiting on; but I always think it best to err on the safe side; a door is soon fastened,and it is as well to have a drawn bolt between one and any mischief that may be about. A deal of people, miss, are for trusting all to Providence; but I say Providence will not dispense with the means, though he often blesses them when they are used discreetly." And here she closed her harangue--a long one for her, and uttered with the demureness of a Quakeress.
I still stood absolutely dumbfoundered at what appeared to me her miraculous self-possession and most inscrutable hypocrisy, when the cook entered.
"Mrs. Poole," said she, addressing Grace, "the servants' dinner will soon be ready; will you come down?"
"No; just put my pint of porter and a bit of pudding on a tray, and I'll carry it up stairs."
"You'll have some meat?"
"Just a morsel, and a taste of cheese--that's all."
"And the sago?"dk
"Never mind it, at present; I shall be coming down before tea-time; I'll make it myself."
The cook here turned to me, saying that Mrs. Fairfax was waiting for me; so I departed.
I hardly heard Mrs. Fairfax's account of the curtain conflagration during dinner, so much was I occupied in puzzling my brains over the enigmatical character of Grace Poole, and still more in pondering the problem of her position at Thornfield; in questioning why she had not been given into custody that morning, or at the very least dismissed from her master's service. He had almost as much as declared his conviction of her criminality last night; what mysterious cause withheld him from accusing her? Why had he enjoined me to secresy? It was strange--a bold, vindictive, and haughty gentleman seemed somehow in the power of one of the meanest of his dependents; so much in her power that even when she lifted her hand against his life he dared not openly charge her with the attempt, much less punish her for it.
Had Grace been young and handsome, I should have been tempted to think that tenderer feelings than prudence or fear influenced Mr. Rochester in her behalf; but, hard-favored and matronly as she was, the idea could not be admitted. "Yet," I reflected, "she has been young once--her youth would be contemporary with her master's; Mrs. Fairfax told me, once, she had lived here many years. I don't think she can ever have been pretty; but, for aught I know, she may possess originality and strength of character to compensate for the wa
nt of personal advantages. Mr. Rochester is an amateur of the decided and eccentric; Grace is eccentric, at least. What if a former caprice (a freak very possible to a nature so sudden and headstrong as his) has delivered him into her power, and she now exercises over his actions a secret influence, the result of his own indiscretion, which he cannot shake off, and dare not disregard?" But, having reached this point of conjecture, Mrs. Poole's square, flat figure and uncomely, dry, even coarse face recurred so distinctly to my mind's eye that I thought, "No; impossible! my supposition cannot be correct. Yet," suggested the secret voice which talks to us in our own hearts, "you are not beautiful, either, and perhaps Mr. Rochester approves you; at any rate, you have often felt as if he did; and last night--remember his words; remember his look; remember his voice!"
I well remembered all: language, glance, and tone seemed at the moment vividly renewed. I was now in the school-room; Adele was drawing; I bent over her and directed her pencil. She looked up with a sort of start.
"Qu'avez-vous, mademoiselle?" said she; "Vos doigts tremblent comme la feuille, et vos joues sont rouges: mais, rouges comme des cerises!"dl
"I am hot, Adele, with stooping!" She went on sketching, I went on thinking.
I hastened to drive from my mind the hateful notion I had been conceiving respecting Grace Poole--it disgusted me. I compared myself with her, and found we were different. Bessie Leaven had said I was quite a lady, and she spoke truth--I was a lady. And now I looked much better than I did when Bessie saw me--I had more color and more flesh; more life, more vivacity; because I had brighter hopes and keener enjoyments.
"Evening approaches," said I, as I looked toward the window. "I have never heard Mr. Rochester's voice or step in the house to-day; but surely I shall see him before night. I feared the meeting in the morning; now I desire it, because expectation has been so long baffled that it is grown impatient."
When dusk actually closed, and when Adele left me to go and play in the nursery with Sophie, I did most keenly desire it. I listened for the bell to ring below; I listened for Leah coming up with a message; I fancied sometimes I heard Mr. Rochester's own tread, and I turned to the door, expecting it to open and admit him. The door remained shut; darkness only came in through the window. Still it was not late; he often sent for me at seven and eight o'clock, and it was yet but six. Surely I should not be wholly disappointed to-night, when I had so many things to say to him! I wanted again to introduce the subject of Grace Poole, and to hear what he would answer; I wanted to ask him plainly if he really believed it was she who had made last night's hideous attempt; and, if so, why he kept her wickedness a secret. It little mattered whether my curiosity irritated him; I knew the pleasure of vexing and soothing him by turns; it was one I chiefly delighted in, and a sure instinct always prevented me from going too far; beyond the verge of provocation I never ventured--on the extreme brink I liked well to try my skill. Retaining every minute form of respect, every propriety of my station, I could still meet him in argument without fear or uneasy restraint: this suited both him and me.