Jane Eyre: An Autobiography

The Press and the Public are but vague personifications for me, and I must thank them in vague...

There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless...

John Reed was a schoolboy of fourteen years old; four years older than I, for I was but ten. large...

I had nothing to say to these words. they were not new to me. my very first recollections of...

All John Reeds violent tyrannies, all his sisters proud indifference, all his mothers aversion, all...

Let her go, was the only answer. Loose Bessies hand, child. you cannot succeed in getting out by...

Next day, by noon, I was up and dressed, and sat wrapped in a shawl by the nursery hearth. I felt...

How much I wished to reply fully to this question. How difficult it was to frame any answer....

Mrs. Reed was rather a stout woman; but, on hearing this strange and audacious declaration, she ran...

Miss Jane, take off your pinafore; what are you doing there. Have you washed your hands and face...

How can you keep in good health. Children younger than you die daily. I buried a little child of...

No doubt, no doubt, madam; and now I wish you good morning. I shall return to Brocklehurst Hall in...

I was left there alone winner of the field. It was the hardest battle I had fought, and the first...

The moon was set, and it was very dark; Bessie carried a lantern, whose light glanced on wet steps...

The lady I had left might be about twenty nine; the one who went with me appeared some years...

Ravenous, and now very faint, I devoured a spoonful or two of my portion without thinking of its...

As yet I had spoken to no one, nor did anybody seem to take notice of me; I stood lonely enough....

Before the long hour and a half of prayers and Bible reading was over, I felt ready to perish with...

Probably you would do nothing of the sort. but if you did, Mr. Brocklehurst would expel you from...

In her turn, Helen Burns asked me to explain, and I proceeded forthwith to pour out, in my own way,...

The Sunday evening was spent in repeating, by heart, the Church Catechism, and the fifth, sixth,...

Meantime, Mr. Brocklehurst, standing on the hearth with his hands behind his back, majestically...

Of my own accord I could not have stirred; I was paralysed. but the two great girls who sat on each...

Never, I thought; and ardently I wished to die. While sobbing out this wish in broken accents, some...

I resolved, in the depth of my heart, that I would be most moderate most correct; and, having...

They conversed of things I had never heard of; of nations and times past; of countries far away; of...

Have I not described a pleasant site for a dwelling, when I speak of it as bosomed in hill and...

One evening, in the beginning of June, I had stayed out very late with Mary Ann in the wood; we...

Again I questioned, but this time only in thought. Where is that region. Does it exist. And I...

I walked about the chamber most of the time. I imagined myself only to be regretting my loss, and...

A young lady accustomed to tuition had I not been a teacher two years. is desirous of meeting with...

This testimonial I accordingly received in about a month, forwarded a copy of it to Mrs. Fairfax,...

That is one of my paintings over the chimney piece. It was a landscape in water colours, of which I...

I let down the window and looked out; Millcote was behind us; judging by the number of its lights,...

When Mrs. Fairfax had bidden me a kind good night, and I had fastened my door, gazed leisurely...

The nurse is a foreigner, and Adela was born on the Continent; and, I believe, never left it till...

With Madame Frdric and her husband. she took care of me, but she is nothing related to me. I think...

When we left the dining room, she proposed to show me over the rest of the house; and I followed...

Anybody may blame me who likes, when I add further, that, now and then, when I took a walk by...

A rude noise broke on these fine ripplings and whisperings, at once so far away and so clear. a...

I should have been afraid to touch a horse when alone, but when told to do it, I was disposed to...

Adle and I had now to vacate the library. it would be in daily requisition as a reception room for...

Let Miss Eyre be seated, said he. and there was something in the forced stiff bow, in the impatient...

Yes, said the good lady, who now knew what ground we were upon, and I am daily thankful for the...

The third showed the pinnacle of an iceberg piercing a polar winter sky. a muster of northern...

Yes, there is your boite at last. take it into a corner, you genuine daughter of Paris, and amuse...

Sir, I was too plain; I beg your pardon. I ought to have replied that it was not easy to give an...

Humph. Promptly spoken. But I wont allow that, seeing that it would never suit my case, as I have...

And better so much better as pure ore is than foul dross. You seem to doubt me; I dont doubt...

I liked bonbons too in those days, Miss Eyre, and I was croquant overlook the barbarism croquant...

I remained in the balcony. They will come to her boudoir, no doubt, thought I. let me prepare an...

Though I had now extinguished my candle and was laid down in bed, I could not sleep for thinking of...

The hiss of the quenched element, the breakage of a pitcher which I flung from my hand when I had...

I both wished and feared to see Mr. Rochester on the day which followed this sleepless night. I...

It will be wise so to do, was her answer. this neighbourhood is as quiet as any I know, and I never...

No nor to morrow either; I should think he is very likely to stay a week or more. when these fine,...

Afterwards, take a piece of smooth ivory you have one prepared in your drawing box. take your...

The three days were, as she had foretold, busy enough. I had thought all the rooms at Thornfield...

The cavalcade, following the sweep of the drive, quickly turned the angle of the house, and I lost...

You will see her this evening, answered Mrs. Fairfax. I happened to remark to Mr. Rochester how...

There were but eight; yet, somehow, as they flocked in, they gave the impression of a much larger...

Mary had a milder and more open countenance than Blanche; softer features too, and a skin some...

Coffee is handed. The ladies, since the gentlemen entered, have become lively as larks;...

I suppose, now, said Miss Ingram, curling her lip sarcastically, we shall have an abstract of the...

I wondered what they were going to do the first evening a change of entertainment was proposed....

Now, Dent, continued Mr. Rochester, it is your turn. And as the other party withdrew, he and his...

Meantime, while I thought only of my master and his future bride saw only them, heard only their...

I was now able to concentrate my attention on the group by the fire, and I presently gathered that...

Now, now, good people, returned Miss Ingram, dont press upon me. Really your organs of wonder and...

I stood on the rug and warmed my hands, which were rather cold with sitting at a distance from the...

The eagerness of a listener quickens the tongue of a narrator. I said this rather to myself than to...

I reflected, and thought, on the whole, I had. It was a comfort; but, indeed, I had been on my...

I had put on some clothes, though horror shook all my limbs; I issued from my apartment. The...

Here, Jane. he said; and I walked round to the other side of a large bed, which with its drawn...

And this man I bent over this commonplace, quiet stranger how had he become involved in the web of...

We shall get you off cannily, Dick. and it will be better, both for your sake, and for that of the...

He strayed down a walk edged with box, with apple trees, pear trees, and cherry trees on one side,...

He paused. the birds went on carolling, the leaves lightly rustling. I almost wondered they did not...

He was not in any of the lower rooms; he was not in the yard, the stables, or the grounds. I asked...

Robert here entered, and Bessie laid her sleeping child in the cradle and went to welcome him....

Both ladies, as I advanced, rose to welcome me, and both addressed me by the name of Miss Eyre....

The wandering look and changed utterance told what wreck had taken place in her once vigorous...

She told me one evening, when more disposed to be communicative than usual, that Johns conduct, and...

Aunt, she repeated. Who calls me aunt. You are not one of the Gibsons; and yet I know you that...

My disposition is not so bad as you think. I am passionate, but not vindictive. Many a time, as a...

How people feel when they are returning home from an absence, long or short, I did not know. I had...

Well, he is not a ghost; yet every nerve I have is unstrung. for a moment I am beyond my own...

I that evening shut my eyes resolutely against the future. I stopped my ears against the voice that...

It is one of my faults, that though my tongue is sometimes prompt enough at an answer, there are...

Because, he said, I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you especially when you are near...

But what had befallen the night. The moon was not yet set, and we were all in shadow. I could...

Come and bid me good morning, said he. I gladly advanced; and it was not merely a cold word now, or...

I laughed at him as he said this. I am not an angel, I asserted; and I will not be one till I die....

There, you are less than civil now; and I like rudeness a great deal better than flattery. I had...

I am sorry to grieve you, pursued the widow; but you are so young, and so little acquainted with...

In that field, Adle, I was walking late one evening about a fortnight since the evening of the day...

Ill be preparing myself to go out as a missionary to preach liberty to them that are enslaved your...

I assured him I was naturally hard very flinty, and that he would often find me so; and that,...

I sought the orchard, driven to its shelter by the wind, which all day had blown strong and full...

I obeyed. joy made me agile. I sprang up before him. A hearty kissing I got for a welcome, and some...

All the preface, sir; the tale is yet to come. On waking, a gleam dazzled my eyes; I thought Oh, it...

I reflected, and in truth it appeared to me the only possible one. satisfied I was not, but to...

And now I can recall the picture of the grey old house of God rising calm before me, of a rook...

Mr. Rochester, on hearing the name, set his teeth; he experienced, too, a sort of strong convulsive...

I heard him go as I stood at the half open door of my own room, to which I had now withdrawn. The...

You come out at last, he said. Well, I have been waiting for you long, and listening. yet not one...

Concealing the mad womans neighbourhood from you, however, was something like covering a child with...

Jane. Jane. he said, in such an accent of bitter sadness it thrilled along every nerve I had; you...

Jane, I will not trouble you with abominable details. some strong words shall express what I have...

Go, said Hope, and live again in Europe. there it is not known what a sullied name you bear, nor...

It was with me; and I did not like it. It was a grovelling fashion of existence. I should never...

It was because I felt and knew this, that I resolved to marry you. To tell me that I had already a...

As he said this, he released me from his clutch, and only looked at me. The look was far worse to...

I skirted fields, and hedges, and lanes till after sunrise. I believe it was a lovely summer...

Beside the crag the heath was very deep. when I lay down my feet were buried in it; rising high on...

I reflected. I was driven to the point now. I was brought face to face with Necessity. I stood in...

My strength is quite failing me, I said in a soliloquy. I feel I cannot go much farther. Shall I be...

I noticed these objects cursorily only in them there was nothing extraordinary. A group of more...

This was the climax. A pang of exquisite suffering a throe of true despair rent and heaved my...

They withdrew. Very soon one of the ladies returned I could not tell which. A kind of pleasant...

Hannah was evidently fond of talking. While I picked the fruit, and she made the paste for the...

I did not refuse it, for my appetite was awakened and keen. Mr. Rivers now closed his book,...

You would not like to be long dependent on our hospitality you would wish, I see, to dispense as...

No weather seemed to hinder him in these pastoral excursions. rain or fair, he would, when his...

You need be in no hurry to hear, he said. let me frankly tell you, I have nothing eligible or...

At that moment a little accident supervened, which seemed decreed by fate purposely to prove the...

Having brought my eventide musings to this point, I rose, went to my door, and looked at the sunset...

It was true. Though Mr. Rivers had started at the first of those musical accents, as if a...

Quite well, he enunciated; and, with a bow, he left the gate. She went one way; he another. She...

Had I done these pictures. Did I know French and German. What a love what a miracle I was. I drew...

With all his firmness and self control, thought I, he tasks himself too far. locks every feeling...

Dont imagine such hard things. Fancy me yielding and melting, as I am doing. human love rising like...

You have taken my confidence by storm, he continued, and now it is much at your service. I am...

He still slowly moved his finger over his upper lip, and still his eye dwelt dreamily on the...

Briggs wrote to me of a Jane Eyre. he said, the advertisements demanded a Jane Eyre. I knew a Jane...

My mothers name was Eyre; she had two brothers; one a clergyman, who married Miss Jane Reed, of...

You think so now, rejoined St. John, because you do not know what it is to possess, nor...

My first aim will be to clean down do you comprehend the full force of the expression. to clean...

They are coming. they are coming. cried Hannah, throwing open the parlour door. At the same moment...

The first time I found St. John alone after this communication, I felt tempted to inquire if the...

I found him a very patient, very forbearing, and yet an exacting master. he expected me to do a...

One day I had come to my studies in lower spirits than usual; the ebb was occasioned by a...

The glen and sky spun round. the hills heaved. It was as if I had heard a summons from Heaven as if...

Consent, then, to his demand is possible. but for one item one dreadful item. It is that he asks me...

A part of me you must become, he answered steadily; otherwise the whole bargain is void. How can I,...

What a cold, loose touch, he impressed on my fingers. He was deeply displeased by what had occurred...

I should kill you I am killing you. Your words are such as ought not to be used. violent,...

That brother of mine cherishes peculiar views of some sort respecting you, I am sure. he has long...

A calm, subdued triumph, blent with a longing earnestness, marked his enunciation of the last...

I might have said, Where is it. for it did not seem in the room nor in the house nor in the garden;...