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Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, CHAPTER XXIV-b

CHAPTER XXIV-b

He was quite peremptory, both in look and voice.

The chill of Mrs. Fairfax's warnings, and the damp of her doubts were upon me: something of unsubstantiality and uncertainty had beset my hopes. I half lost the sense of power over him. I was about mechanically to obey him, without further remonstrance; but as he helped me into the carriage, he looked at my face.

“What is the matter?” he asked; “all the sunshine is gone.

Do you really wish the bairn to go? Will it annoy you if she is left behind?”

“I would far rather she went, sir.”

“Then off for your bonnet, and back like a flash of lightning!” cried he to Adèle.

She obeyed him with what speed she might.

“After all, a single morning's interruption will not matter much,” said he, “when I mean shortly to claim you—your thoughts, conversation, and company—for life.” Adèle, when lifted in, commenced kissing me, by way of expressing her gratitude for my intercession: she was instantly stowed away into a corner on the other side of him.

She then peeped round to where I sat; so stern a neighbour was too restrictive to him, in his present fractious mood, she dared whisper no observations, nor ask of him any information.

“Let her come to me,” I entreated: “she will, perhaps, trouble you, sir: there is plenty of room on this side.”

He handed her over as if she had been a lapdog.

“I'll send her to school yet,” he said, but now he was smiling. Adèle heard him, and asked if she was to go to school “sans mademoiselle?”

“Yes,” he replied, “absolutely sans mademoiselle; for I am to take mademoiselle to the moon, and there I shall seek a cave in one of the white valleys among the volcano-tops, and mademoiselle shall live with me there, and only me.”

“She will have nothing to eat: you will starve her,” observed Adèle.

“I shall gather manna for her morning and night: the plains and hillsides in the moon are bleached with manna, Adèle.”

“She will want to warm herself: what will she do for a fire?”

“Fire rises out of the lunar mountains: when she is cold, I'll carry her up to a peak, and lay her down on the edge of a crater.” “Oh, qu' elle y sera mal—peu comfortable! And her clothes, they will wear out: how can she get new ones?”

Mr.

Rochester professed to be puzzled. “Hem!” said he. “What would you do, Adèle? Cudgel your brains for an expedient. How would a white or a pink cloud answer for a gown, do you think? And one could cut a pretty enough scarf out of a rainbow.”

“She is far better as she is,” concluded Adèle, after musing some time: “besides, she would get tired of living with only you in the moon.

If I were mademoiselle, I would never consent to go with you.”

“She has consented: she has pledged her word.”

“But you can't get her there; there is no road to the moon: it is all air; and neither you nor she can fly.” “Adèle, look at that field.” We were now outside Thornfield gates, and bowling lightly along the smooth road to Millcote, where the dust was well laid by the thunderstorm, and, where the low hedges and lofty timber trees on each side glistened green and rain-refreshed.

“In that field, Adèle, I was walking late one evening about a fortnight since—the evening of the day you helped me to make hay in the orchard meadows; and, as I was tired with raking swaths, I sat down to rest me on a stile; and there I took out a little book and a pencil, and began to write about a misfortune that befell me long ago, and a wish I had for happy days to come: I was writing away very fast, though daylight was fading from the leaf, when something came up the path and stopped two yards off me.

I looked at it. It was a little thing with a veil of gossamer on its head. I beckoned it to come near me; it stood soon at my knee. I never spoke to it, and it never spoke to me, in words; but I read its eyes, and it read mine; and our speechless colloquy was to this effect—

“It was a fairy, and come from Elf-land, it said; and its errand was to make me happy: I must go with it out of the common world to a lonely place—such as the moon, for instance—and it nodded its head towards her horn, rising over Hay-hill: it told me of the alabaster cave and silver vale where we might live.

I said I should like to go; but reminded it, as you did me, that I had no wings to fly.

“‘Oh,' returned the fairy, ‘that does not signify! Here is a talisman will remove all difficulties;' and she held out a pretty gold ring. ‘Put it,' she said, ‘on the fourth finger of my left hand, and I am yours, and you are mine; and we shall leave earth, and make our own heaven yonder. ' She nodded again at the moon. The ring, Adèle, is in my breeches-pocket, under the disguise of a sovereign: but I mean soon to change it to a ring again.”

“But what has mademoiselle to do with it?

I don't care for the fairy: you said it was mademoiselle you would take to the moon?” “Mademoiselle is a fairy,” he said, whispering mysteriously.

Whereupon I told her not to mind his badinage; and she, on her part, evinced a fund of genuine French scepticism: denominating Mr. Rochester “un vrai menteur,” and assuring him that she made no account whatever of his “contes de fée,” and that “du reste, il n'y avait pas de fées, et quand même il y en avait:” she was sure they would never appear to him, nor ever give him rings, or offer to live with him in the moon. The hour spent at Millcote was a somewhat harassing one to me.

Mr. Rochester obliged me to go to a certain silk warehouse: there I was ordered to choose half-a-dozen dresses. I hated the business, I begged leave to defer it: no—it should be gone through with now. By dint of entreaties expressed in energetic whispers, I reduced the half-dozen to two: these however, he vowed he would select himself. With anxiety I watched his eye rove over the gay stores: he fixed on a rich silk of the most brilliant amethyst dye, and a superb pink satin. I told him in a new series of whispers, that he might as well buy me a gold gown and a silver bonnet at once: I should certainly never venture to wear his choice. With infinite difficulty, for he was stubborn as a stone, I persuaded him to make an exchange in favour of a sober black satin and pearl-grey silk. “It might pass for the present,” he said; “but he would yet see me glittering like a parterre.”

Glad was I to get him out of the silk warehouse, and then out of a jewellers shop: the more he bought me, the more my cheek burned with a sense of annoyance and degradation.

As we re-entered the carriage, and I sat back feverish and fagged, I remembered what, in the hurry of events, dark and bright, I had wholly forgotten—the letter of my uncle, John Eyre, to Mrs. Reed: his intention to adopt me and make me his legatee. “It would, indeed, be a relief,” I thought, “if I had ever so small an independency; I never can bear being dressed like a doll by Mr. Rochester, or sitting like a second Danae with the golden shower falling daily round me. I will write to Madeira the moment I get home, and tell my uncle John I am going to be married, and to whom: if I had but a prospect of one day bringing Mr. Rochester an accession of fortune, I could better endure to be kept by him now.” And somewhat relieved by this idea (which I failed not to execute that day), I ventured once more to meet my master's and lover's eye, which most pertinaciously sought mine, though I averted both face and gaze. He smiled; and I thought his smile was such as a sultan might, in a blissful and fond moment, bestow on a slave his gold and gems had enriched: I crushed his hand, which was ever hunting mine, vigorously, and thrust it back to him red with the passionate pressure.

“You need not look in that way,” I said; “if you do, I'll wear nothing but my old Lowood frocks to the end of the chapter. I'll be married in this lilac gingham: you may make a dressing-gown for yourself out of the pearl-grey silk, and an infinite series of waistcoats out of the black satin.” He chuckled; he rubbed his hands.

“Oh, it is rich to see and hear her?” he exclaimed. “Is she original? Is she piquant? I would not exchange this one little English girl for the Grand Turk's whole seraglio, gazelle-eyes, houri forms, and all!” The Eastern allusion bit me again.

“I'll not stand you an inch in the stead of a seraglio,” I said; “so don't consider me an equivalent for one. If you have a fancy for anything in that line, away with you, sir, to the bazaars of Stamboul without delay, and lay out in extensive slave-purchases some of that spare cash you seem at a loss to spend satisfactorily here.”

“And what will you do, Janet, while I am bargaining for so many tons of flesh and such an assortment of black eyes?”

“I'll be preparing myself to go out as a missionary to preach liberty to them that are enslaved—your harem inmates amongst the rest. I'll get admitted there, and I'll stir up mutiny; and you, three-tailed bashaw as you are, sir, shall in a trice find yourself fettered amongst our hands: nor will I, for one, consent to cut your bonds till you have signed a charter, the most liberal that despot ever yet conferred.” “I would consent to be at your mercy, Jane.”

“I would have no mercy, Mr. Rochester, if you supplicated for it with an eye like that.

While you looked so, I should be certain that whatever charter you might grant under coercion, your first act, when released, would be to violate its conditions.”

“Why, Jane, what would you have?

I fear you will compel me to go through a private marriage ceremony, besides that performed at the altar. You will stipulate, I see, for peculiar terms—what will they be?”

“I only want an easy mind, sir; not crushed by crowded obligations.

Do you remember what you said of Céline Varens?—of the diamonds, the cashmeres you gave her? I will not be your English Céline Varens. I shall continue to act as Adèle's governess; by that I shall earn my board and lodging, and thirty pounds a year besides. I'll furnish my own wardrobe out of that money, and you shall give me nothing but—” “Well, but what?”

“Your regard; and if I give you mine in return, that debt will be quit.”

“Well, for cool native impudence and pure innate pride, you haven't your equal,” said he. We were now approaching Thornfield. “Will it please you to dine with me to-day?” he asked, as we re-entered the gates.

“No, thank you, sir.”

“And what for, ‘no, thank you?

' if one may inquire.” “I never have dined with you, sir: and I see no reason why I should now: till—”

“Till what?

You delight in half-phrases.”

“Till I can't help it.” “Do you suppose I eat like an ogre or a ghoul, that you dread being the companion of my repast?”

“I have formed no supposition on the subject, sir; but I want to go on as usual for another month.”

“You will give up your governessing slavery at once.”

“Indeed, begging your pardon, sir, I shall not.

I shall just go on with it as usual. I shall keep out of your way all day, as I have been accustomed to do: you may send for me in the evening, when you feel disposed to see me, and I'll come then; but at no other time.” “I want a smoke, Jane, or a pinch of snuff, to comfort me under all this, ‘pour me donner une contenance,' as Adèle would say; and unfortunately I have neither my cigar-case, nor my snuff-box. But listen—whisper. It is your time now, little tyrant, but it will be mine presently; and when once I have fairly seized you, to have and to hold, I'll just—figuratively speaking—attach you to a chain like this” (touching his watch-guard). “Yes, bonny wee thing, I'll wear you in my bosom, lest my jewel I should tyne.” He said this as he helped me to alight from the carriage, and while he afterwards lifted out Adèle, I entered the house, and made good my retreat upstairs.

He duly summoned me to his presence in the evening.

I had prepared an occupation for him; for I was determined not to spend the whole time in a tête-à-tête conversation. I remembered his fine voice; I knew he liked to sing—good singers generally do. I was no vocalist myself, and, in his fastidious judgment, no musician, either; but I delighted in listening when the performance was good. No sooner had twilight, that hour of romance, began to lower her blue and starry banner over the lattice, than I rose, opened the piano, and entreated him, for the love of heaven, to give me a song. He said I was a capricious witch, and that he would rather sing another time; but I averred that no time was like the present.

“Did I like his voice?” he asked.

“Very much.” I was not fond of pampering that susceptible vanity of his; but for once, and from motives of expediency, I would e'en soothe and stimulate it. “Then, Jane, you must play the accompaniment.”

“Very well, sir, I will try.”

I did try, but was presently swept off the stool and denominated “a little bungler.” Being pushed unceremoniously to one side—which was precisely what I wished—he usurped my place, and proceeded to accompany himself: for he could play as well as sing.

I hied me to the window-recess. And while I sat there and looked out on the still trees and dim lawn, to a sweet air was sung in mellow tones the following strain:—

“The truest love that ever heart Felt at its kindled core, Did through each vein, in quickened start, The tide of being pour.

Her coming was my hope each day, Her parting was my pain; The chance that did her steps delay Was ice in every vein.

I dreamed it would be nameless bliss, As I loved, loved to be; And to this object did I press As blind as eagerly.

But wide as pathless was the space That lay our lives between, And dangerous as the foamy race Of ocean-surges green.

And haunted as a robber-path Through wilderness or wood; For Might and Right, and Woe and Wrath, Between our spirits stood.

I dangers dared; I hindrance scorned; I omens did defy: Whatever menaced, harassed, warned, I passed impetuous by.

On sped my rainbow, fast as light; I flew as in a dream; For glorious rose upon my sight That child of Shower and Gleam.

Still bright on clouds of suffering dim Shines that soft, solemn joy; Nor care I now, how dense and grim Disasters gather nigh.

I care not in this moment sweet, Though all I have rushed o'er Should come on pinion, strong and fleet, Proclaiming vengeance sore: Though haughty Hate should strike me down, Right, bar approach to me, And grinding Might, with furious frown, Swear endless enmity.

My love has placed her little hand With noble faith in mine, And vowed that wedlock's sacred band Our nature shall entwine. My love has sworn, with sealing kiss, With me to live—to die; I have at last my nameless bliss. As I love—loved am I!”

He rose and came towards me, and I saw his face all kindled, and his full falcon-eye flashing, and tenderness and passion in every lineament.

I quailed momentarily—then I rallied. Soft scene, daring demonstration, I would not have; and I stood in peril of both: a weapon of defence must be prepared—I whetted my tongue: as he reached me, I asked with asperity, “whom he was going to marry now?”

“That was a strange question to be put by his darling Jane.”

“Indeed!

I considered it a very natural and necessary one: he had talked of his future wife dying with him. What did he mean by such a pagan idea? I had no intention of dying with him—he might depend on that.”

“Oh, all he longed, all he prayed for, was that I might live with him!

Death was not for such as I.”

“Indeed it was: I had as good a right to die when my time came as he had: but I should bide that time, and not be hurried away in a suttee.”

“Would I forgive him for the selfish idea, and prove my pardon by a reconciling kiss?”

“No: I would rather be excused.”

Here I heard myself apostrophised as a “hard little thing;” and it was added, “any other woman would have been melted to marrow at hearing such stanzas crooned in her praise.”

I assured him I was naturally hard—very flinty, and that he would often find me so; and that, moreover, I was determined to show him divers rugged points in my character before the ensuing four weeks elapsed: he should know fully what sort of a bargain he had made, while there was yet time to rescind it.

“Would I be quiet and talk rationally?”

“I would be quiet if he liked, and as to talking rationally, I flattered myself I was doing that now.”

He fretted, pished, and pshawed.

“Very good,” I thought; “you may fume and fidget as you please: but this is the best plan to pursue with you, I am certain. I like you more than I can say; but I'll not sink into a bathos of sentiment: and with this needle of repartee I'll keep you from the edge of the gulf too; and, moreover, maintain by its pungent aid that distance between you and myself most conducive to our real mutual advantage.” From less to more, I worked him up to considerable irritation; then, after he had retired, in dudgeon, quite to the other end of the room, I got up, and saying, “I wish you good-night, sir,” in my natural and wonted respectful manner, I slipped out by the side-door and got away.

The system thus entered on, I pursued during the whole season of probation; and with the best success.

He was kept, to be sure, rather cross and crusty; but on the whole I could see he was excellently entertained, and that a lamb-like submission and turtle-dove sensibility, while fostering his despotism more, would have pleased his judgment, satisfied his common-sense, and even suited his taste less.

In other people's presence I was, as formerly, deferential and quiet; any other line of conduct being uncalled for: it was only in the evening conferences I thus thwarted and afflicted him. He continued to send for me punctually the moment the clock struck seven; though when I appeared before him now, he had no such honeyed terms as “love” and “darling” on his lips: the best words at my service were “provoking puppet,” “malicious elf,” “sprite,” “changeling,” &c. For caresses, too, I now got grimaces; for a pressure of the hand, a pinch on the arm; for a kiss on the cheek, a severe tweak of the ear. It was all right: at present I decidedly preferred these fierce favours to anything more tender. Mrs. Fairfax, I saw, approved me: her anxiety on my account vanished; therefore I was certain I did well. Meantime, Mr. Rochester affirmed I was wearing him to skin and bone, and threatened awful vengeance for my present conduct at some period fast coming. I laughed in my sleeve at his menaces. “I can keep you in reasonable check now,” I reflected; “and I don't doubt to be able to do it hereafter: if one expedient loses its virtue, another must be devised.” Yet after all my task was not an easy one; often I would rather have pleased than teased him.

My future husband was becoming to me my whole world; and more than the world: almost my hope of heaven. He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun. I could not, in those days, see God for His creature: of whom I had made an idol.

CHAPTER XXIV-b CHAPITRE XXIV-b ГЛАВА XXIV-б BÖLÜM XXIV-b

He was quite peremptory, both in look and voice.

The chill of Mrs. Fairfax's warnings, and the damp of her doubts were upon me: something of unsubstantiality and uncertainty had beset my hopes. Le froid des avertissements de Mme Fairfax et l'humidité de ses doutes étaient sur moi: quelque chose de non substantiel et d'incertitude avait assailli mes espoirs. I half lost the sense of power over him. J'ai à moitié perdu le sentiment de pouvoir sur lui. I was about mechanically to obey him, without further remonstrance; but as he helped me into the carriage, he looked at my face. J'étais sur le point de lui obéir mécaniquement, sans autre remontrance; mais comme il m'a aidé à monter dans la voiture, il a regardé mon visage.

“What is the matter?” he asked; “all the sunshine is gone.

Do you really wish the bairn to go? Souhaitez-vous vraiment que le bairn aille? Will it annoy you if she is left behind?”

“I would far rather she went, sir.”

“Then off for your bonnet, and back like a flash of lightning!” cried he to Adèle. “Then off for your bonnet, and back like a flash of lightning!” cried he to Adèle. «Alors en route pour ton capot, et en arrière comme un éclair!» cria-t-il à Adèle.

She obeyed him with what speed she might.

“After all, a single morning's interruption will not matter much,” said he, “when I mean shortly to claim you—your thoughts, conversation, and company—for life.” «Après tout, l'interruption d'une seule matinée n'aura pas beaucoup d'importance», dit-il, «alors que je veux bientôt vous réclamer - vos pensées, votre conversation et votre compagnie - à vie. Adèle, when lifted in, commenced kissing me, by way of expressing her gratitude for my intercession: she was instantly stowed away into a corner on the other side of him. Adèle, soulevée, se mit à m'embrasser, en guise de remerciement pour mon intercession: elle fut aussitôt rangée dans un coin de l'autre côté de lui.

She then peeped round to where I sat; so stern a neighbour was too restrictive to him, in his present fractious mood, she dared whisper no observations, nor ask of him any information. Elle a alors jeté un coup d'œil à l'endroit où j'étais assise; un voisin si sévère lui était trop restrictif, dans son humeur actuelle, elle n'osait murmurer aucune observation, ni lui demander aucune information.

“Let her come to me,” I entreated: “she will, perhaps, trouble you, sir: there is plenty of room on this side.” "Laissez-la venir à moi", lui demandai-je : "Elle vous dérangera peut-être, monsieur ; il y a beaucoup de place de ce côté."

He handed her over as if she had been a lapdog. Il la remit comme si elle avait été un chien de poche.

“I'll send her to school yet,” he said, but now he was smiling. «Je vais encore l'envoyer à l'école», dit-il, mais maintenant il souriait. Adèle heard him, and asked if she was to go to school “sans mademoiselle?”

“Yes,” he replied, “absolutely sans mademoiselle; for I am to take mademoiselle to the moon, and there I shall seek a cave in one of the white valleys among the volcano-tops, and mademoiselle shall live with me there, and only me.” - Oui, répondit-il, absolument sans mademoiselle; car je dois emmener mademoiselle sur la lune, et là je chercherai une caverne dans l'une des vallées blanches parmi les sommets des volcans, et mademoiselle y vivra avec moi, et seulement moi.

“She will have nothing to eat: you will starve her,” observed Adèle.

“I shall gather manna for her morning and night: the plains and hillsides in the moon are bleached with manna, Adèle.” «Je vais ramasser la manne pour elle matin et soir: les plaines et les coteaux de la lune sont blanchis de manne, Adèle.

“She will want to warm herself: what will she do for a fire?” "Elle voudra se réchauffer : que fera-t-elle pour le feu ?"

“Fire rises out of the lunar mountains: when she is cold, I'll carry her up to a peak, and lay her down on the edge of a crater.” «Le feu monte des montagnes lunaires: quand elle aura froid, je la porterai jusqu'à un sommet et je la couche au bord d'un cratère. “Oh, qu' elle y sera mal—peu comfortable! And her clothes, they will wear out: how can she get new ones?”

Mr.

Rochester professed to be puzzled. Rochester se dit perplexe. “Hem!” said he. “What would you do, Adèle? Cudgel your brains for an expedient. Cudgel votre cerveau pour un expédient. How would a white or a pink cloud answer for a gown, do you think? Comment un nuage blanc ou rose répondrait-il pour une robe, pensez-vous? And one could cut a pretty enough scarf out of a rainbow.”

“She is far better as she is,” concluded Adèle, after musing some time: “besides, she would get tired of living with only you in the moon. «Elle va bien mieux comme elle est», a conclu Adèle, après avoir réfléchi un certain temps: «en plus, elle se lasserait de vivre avec vous seul dans la lune.

If I were mademoiselle, I would never consent to go with you.”

“She has consented: she has pledged her word.” «Elle a consenti: elle a promis sa parole.»

“But you can't get her there; there is no road to the moon: it is all air; and neither you nor she can fly.” “Adèle, look at that field.”  We were now outside Thornfield gates, and bowling lightly along the smooth road to Millcote, where the dust was well laid by the thunderstorm, and, where the low hedges and lofty timber trees on each side glistened green and rain-refreshed. «Adèle, regarde ce champ. Nous étions maintenant devant les portes de Thornfield, et jouions légèrement le long de la route lisse de Millcote, où la poussière était bien déposée par l'orage, et où les haies basses et les hauts arbres à bois de chaque côté brillaient de vert et se rafraîchissaient.

“In that field, Adèle, I was walking late one evening about a fortnight since—the evening of the day you helped me to make hay in the orchard meadows; and, as I was tired with raking swaths, I sat down to rest me on a stile; and there I took out a little book and a pencil, and began to write about a misfortune that befell me long ago, and a wish I had for happy days to come: I was writing away very fast, though daylight was fading from the leaf, when something came up the path and stopped two yards off me. «Dans ce champ, Adèle, je marchais tard un soir environ une quinzaine de jours depuis… le soir du jour où tu m'as aidé à faire du foin dans les prairies du verger; et, fatigué de ratisser les andains, je m'assis pour me reposer sur un montant; et là j'ai sorti un petit livre et un crayon, et j'ai commencé à écrire sur un malheur qui m'est arrivé il y a longtemps, et un souhait que j'avais pour les jours heureux à venir: j'écrivais très vite, bien que la lumière du jour disparaissait de la feuille , quand quelque chose est venu sur le chemin et s'est arrêté à deux mètres de moi.

I looked at it. It was a little thing with a veil of gossamer on its head. C'était une petite chose avec un voile de bavardage sur la tête. I beckoned it to come near me; it stood soon at my knee. Je lui ai fait signe de s'approcher de moi; il se tint bientôt à mon genou. I never spoke to it, and it never spoke to me, in words; but I read its eyes, and it read mine; and our speechless colloquy was to this effect—

“It was a fairy, and come from Elf-land, it said; and its errand was to make me happy: I must go with it out of the common world to a lonely place—such as the moon, for instance—and it nodded its head towards her horn, rising over Hay-hill: it told me of the alabaster cave and silver vale where we might live. «C'était une fée, et elle venait du pays des Elfes, disait-il; et sa mission était de me rendre heureux: je dois aller avec lui hors du monde commun dans un endroit isolé - comme la lune, par exemple - et il a hoché la tête vers sa corne, s'élevant sur Hay-hill: de la grotte d'albâtre et de la vallée d'argent où nous pourrions vivre.

I said I should like to go; but reminded it, as you did me, that I had no wings to fly. J'ai dit que j'aimerais y aller, mais je lui ai rappelé, comme vous l'avez fait pour moi, que je n'avais pas d'ailes pour voler.

“‘Oh,' returned the fairy, ‘that does not signify! Here is a talisman will remove all difficulties;' and she held out a pretty gold ring. Voici un talisman supprimera toutes les difficultés; et elle a tendu une jolie bague en or. ‘Put it,' she said, ‘on the fourth finger of my left hand, and I am yours, and you are mine; and we shall leave earth, and make our own heaven yonder. «Mettez-le, dit-elle, sur le quatrième doigt de ma main gauche, et je suis à vous, et vous êtes à moi; et nous quitterons la terre et créerons notre propre paradis là-bas. '  She nodded again at the moon. The ring, Adèle, is in my breeches-pocket, under the disguise of a sovereign: but I mean soon to change it to a ring again.” L'anneau, Adèle, est dans ma poche de culotte, sous le déguisement d'un souverain: mais je veux bientôt le changer en anneau à nouveau.

“But what has mademoiselle to do with it?

I don't care for the fairy: you said it was mademoiselle you would take to the moon?” Je me moque de la fée : vous avez dit que c'était mademoiselle que vous emmeniez dans la lune ?" “Mademoiselle is a fairy,” he said, whispering mysteriously.

Whereupon I told her not to mind his badinage; and she, on her part, evinced a fund of genuine French scepticism: denominating Mr. Rochester “un vrai menteur,” and assuring him that she made no account whatever of his “contes de fée,” and that “du reste, il n'y avait pas de fées, et quand même il y en avait:” she was sure they would never appear to him, nor ever give him rings, or offer to live with him in the moon. Sur quoi je lui ai dit de ne pas faire attention à son badinage; et elle, de son côté, manifestait un fond de scepticisme français authentique: dénommer M. Rochester «un vrai menteur», et l'assurer qu'elle ne tenait aucun compte de ses «contes de fée», et que «du reste, il n «y avait pas de fées, et quand même il y en avait:» elle était sûre qu'ils ne lui apparaîtront jamais, ne lui donneraient jamais de bagues, ni ne proposeraient de vivre avec lui dans la lune. The hour spent at Millcote was a somewhat harassing one to me. The hour spent at Millcote was a somewhat harassing one to me. L'heure passée à Millcote était pour moi quelque peu pénible.

Mr. Rochester obliged me to go to a certain silk warehouse: there I was ordered to choose half-a-dozen dresses. M. Rochester m'a obligé à me rendre dans un certain entrepôt de soie: là, on m'a ordonné de choisir une demi-douzaine de robes. I hated the business, I begged leave to defer it: no—it should be gone through with now. J'ai détesté l'affaire, j'ai demandé la permission de la reporter: non, elle devrait être terminée maintenant. By dint of entreaties expressed in energetic whispers, I reduced the half-dozen to two: these however, he vowed he would select himself. A force de supplications exprimées en chuchotements énergiques, je réduisis la demi-douzaine à deux: celles-ci cependant, il jura de se choisir lui-même. With anxiety I watched his eye rove over the gay stores: he fixed on a rich silk of the most brilliant amethyst dye, and a superb pink satin. With anxiety I watched his eye rove over the gay stores: he fixed on a rich silk of the most brilliant amethyst dye, and a superb pink satin. Avec anxiété, je regardais son regard parcourir les magasins gays: il se fixait sur une riche soie du colorant améthyste le plus brillant et un superbe satin rose. Con ansia osservai il suo sguardo scorrere tra gli allegri negozi: si fissò su una ricca seta della più brillante tinta ametista e su un superbo raso rosa. I told him in a new series of whispers, that he might as well buy me a gold gown and a silver bonnet at once: I should certainly never venture to wear his choice. I told him in a new series of whispers, that he might as well buy me a gold gown and a silver bonnet at once: I should certainly never venture to wear his choice. Je lui ai dit dans une nouvelle série de chuchotements, qu'il pourrait aussi bien m'acheter une robe d'or et un bonnet d'argent à la fois: je ne devrais certainement jamais oser porter son choix. With infinite difficulty, for he was stubborn as a stone, I persuaded him to make an exchange in favour of a sober black satin and pearl-grey silk. Avec une difficulté infinie, car il était têtu comme une pierre, je le persuadai de faire un échange contre un satin noir sobre et une soie gris perle. “It might pass for the present,” he said; “but he would yet see me glittering like a parterre.” «Cela pourrait passer pour le présent», dit-il; «Mais il me verrait encore scintiller comme un parterre.

Glad was I to get him out of the silk warehouse, and then out of a jewellers shop: the more he bought me, the more my cheek burned with a sense of annoyance and degradation. Heureux de l'avoir fait sortir de l'entrepôt de soie, puis d'une bijouterie: plus il m'achetait, plus ma joue brûlait d'un sentiment d'agacement et de dégradation.

As we re-entered the carriage, and I sat back feverish and fagged, I remembered what, in the hurry of events, dark and bright, I had wholly forgotten—the letter of my uncle, John Eyre, to Mrs. Reed: his intention to adopt me and make me his legatee. En rentrant dans la voiture, et je me suis assis fébrile et tapageur, je me suis souvenu de ce que, dans la précipitation des événements, sombre et lumineux, j'avais complètement oublié - la lettre de mon oncle, John Eyre, à Mme Reed: son intention de m'adopter et de faire de moi son légataire. “It would, indeed, be a relief,” I thought, “if I had ever so small an independency; I never can bear being dressed like a doll by Mr. Rochester, or sitting like a second Danae with the golden shower falling daily round me. «Ce serait, en effet, un soulagement, pensai-je, si j'avais une si petite indépendance; Je ne supporte jamais d'être habillé comme une poupée par M. Rochester, ou assis comme un second Danae avec la douche dorée qui tombe chaque jour autour de moi. I will write to Madeira the moment I get home, and tell my uncle John I am going to be married, and to whom: if I had but a prospect of one day bringing Mr. Rochester an accession of fortune, I could better endure to be kept by him now.”  And somewhat relieved by this idea (which I failed not to execute that day), I ventured once more to meet my master's and lover's eye, which most pertinaciously sought mine, though I averted both face and gaze. J'écrirai à Madère dès mon retour à la maison, et je dirai à mon oncle John que je vais me marier, et à qui: si je n'avais qu'une perspective d'apporter un jour à M. Rochester une fortune, je pourrais mieux supporter être gardé par lui maintenant. Et quelque peu soulagé par cette idée (que je ne réussis pas à exécuter ce jour-là), je me risquai une fois de plus à rencontrer l'œil de mon maître et de mon amant, qui cherchait le plus pertinemment le mien, tout en évitant le visage et le regard. He smiled; and I thought his smile was such as a sultan might, in a blissful and fond moment, bestow on a slave his gold and gems had enriched: I crushed his hand, which was ever hunting mine, vigorously, and thrust it back to him red with the passionate pressure. Il a souri; et je pensais que son sourire était tel qu'un sultan pourrait, dans un moment de bonheur et de tendresse, donner à un esclave son or et ses pierres précieuses avaient enrichi: j'ai écrasé sa main, qui chassait toujours la mienne, vigoureusement, et la lui ai repoussée en rouge avec la pression passionnée.

“You need not look in that way,” I said; “if you do, I'll wear nothing but my old Lowood frocks to the end of the chapter. «Vous n'avez pas besoin de regarder de cette façon», dis-je; «Si vous le faites, je ne porterai que mes vieilles robes Lowood jusqu'à la fin du chapitre. I'll be married in this lilac gingham: you may make a dressing-gown for yourself out of the pearl-grey silk, and an infinite series of waistcoats out of the black satin.” Je vais me marier dans ce vichy lilas: vous pouvez vous faire une robe de chambre en soie gris perle, et une série infinie de gilets en satin noir. He chuckled; he rubbed his hands. Il en riant; il se frotta les mains.

“Oh, it is rich to see and hear her?” he exclaimed. "Oh, c'est riche de la voir et de l'entendre ? s'exclama-t-il. “Is she original? Is she piquant? I would not exchange this one little English girl for the Grand Turk's whole seraglio, gazelle-eyes, houri forms, and all!” Je n'échangerais pas cette petite Anglaise contre tout le sérail du Grand Turc, ses yeux de gazelle, ses formes houri et tout! The Eastern allusion bit me again. L'allusion orientale m'a encore mordu.

“I'll not stand you an inch in the stead of a seraglio,” I said; “so don't consider me an equivalent for one. “I'll not stand you an inch in the stead of a seraglio,” I said; “so don't consider me an equivalent for one. «Je ne vous tiendrai pas un pouce à la place d'un sérail, dis-je; «Alors ne me considérez pas comme un équivalent. If you have a fancy for anything in that line, away with you, sir, to the bazaars of Stamboul without delay, and lay out in extensive slave-purchases some of that spare cash you seem at a loss to spend satisfactorily here.” Si vous avez envie de quoi que ce soit de ce genre, partez sans tarder avec vous, monsieur, aux bazars de Stamboul, et déposez dans de vastes achats d'esclaves une partie de cet argent de réserve que vous semblez incapable de dépenser de manière satisfaisante ici.

“And what will you do, Janet, while I am bargaining for so many tons of flesh and such an assortment of black eyes?” «Et que ferez-vous, Janet, pendant que je négocie pour tant de tonnes de chair et un tel assortiment d'yeux noirs?

“I'll be preparing myself to go out as a missionary to preach liberty to them that are enslaved—your harem inmates amongst the rest. «Je vais me préparer à sortir comme missionnaire pour prêcher la liberté à ceux qui sont réduits en esclavage - vos détenus de harem parmi les autres. I'll get admitted there, and I'll stir up mutiny; and you, three-tailed bashaw as you are, sir, shall in a trice find yourself fettered amongst our hands: nor will I, for one, consent to cut your bonds till you have signed a charter, the most liberal that despot ever yet conferred.” Je serai admis là-bas, et je provoquerai la mutinerie et vous, bashaw à trois queues comme vous êtes, monsieur, vous vous retrouverez en un clin d'œil enchaîné entre nos mains: et je ne consentirai pas non plus à couper vos liens jusqu'à ce que vous ayez signé une charte, le plus libéral que despote jamais encore conféré. " “I would consent to be at your mercy, Jane.”

“I would have no mercy, Mr. Rochester, if you supplicated for it with an eye like that. «Je n'aurais aucune pitié, M. Rochester, si vous le suppliiez d'un œil pareil.

While you looked so, I should be certain that whatever charter you might grant under coercion, your first act, when released, would be to violate its conditions.” Tant que vous en aurez l'air, je serai certain que, quelle que soit la charte que vous pourriez accorder sous la contrainte, votre premier acte, une fois libéré, sera d'en violer les conditions."

“Why, Jane, what would you have? «Pourquoi, Jane, qu'est-ce que tu aurais?

I fear you will compel me to go through a private marriage ceremony, besides that performed at the altar. Je crains que vous ne m'obligiez à passer par une cérémonie de mariage privé, en plus de celle célébrée à l'autel. You will stipulate, I see, for peculiar terms—what will they be?” Vous stipulerez, je vois, pour des termes particuliers, quels seront-ils?

“I only want an easy mind, sir; not crushed by crowded obligations. «Je veux seulement un esprit tranquille, monsieur; pas écrasé par des obligations encombrées.

Do you remember what you said of Céline Varens?—of the diamonds, the cashmeres you gave her? Vous souvenez-vous de ce que vous avez dit de Céline Varens? - des diamants, des cachemires que vous lui avez donnés? I will not be your English Céline Varens. Je ne serai pas votre Céline Varens anglaise. I shall continue to act as Adèle's governess; by that I shall earn my board and lodging, and thirty pounds a year besides. Je continuerai à agir comme gouvernante d'Adèle; par là je gagnerai ma pension et mon logement, et trente livres par an en plus. I'll furnish my own wardrobe out of that money, and you shall give me nothing but—” Je fournirai ma propre armoire avec cet argent, et vous ne me donnerez rien d'autre que… “Well, but what?”

“Your regard; and if I give you mine in return, that debt will be quit.” «Votre respect; et si je vous donne la mienne en retour, cette dette sera abandonnée.

“Well, for cool native impudence and pure innate pride, you haven't your equal,” said he. «Eh bien, par impudence indigène et pure fierté innée, vous n'avez pas votre égal, dit-il. We were now approaching Thornfield. “Will it please you to dine with me to-day?” he asked, as we re-entered the gates.

“No, thank you, sir.”

“And what for, ‘no, thank you?

' if one may inquire.” «si l'on peut se renseigner.» “I never have dined with you, sir: and I see no reason why I should now: till—”

“Till what?

You delight in half-phrases.” Vous aimez les demi-phrases. »

“Till I can't help it.” «Jusqu'à ce que je ne puisse pas m'en empêcher. “Do you suppose I eat like an ogre or a ghoul, that you dread being the companion of my repast?” «Pensez-vous que je mange comme un ogre ou une goule, que vous redoutez d'être le compagnon de mon repas?

“I have formed no supposition on the subject, sir; but I want to go on as usual for another month.”

“You will give up your governessing slavery at once.” «Vous abandonnerez immédiatement votre esclavage de gouvernante.»

“Indeed, begging your pardon, sir, I shall not. «En effet, vous demandant pardon, monsieur, je ne le ferai pas.

I shall just go on with it as usual. Je vais continuer comme d'habitude. I shall keep out of your way all day, as I have been accustomed to do: you may send for me in the evening, when you feel disposed to see me, and I'll come then; but at no other time.” Je me tiendrai à l'écart toute la journée, comme j'ai l'habitude de le faire ; vous pourrez me faire venir le soir, quand vous aurez envie de me voir, et je viendrai alors ; mais à aucun autre moment." “I want a smoke, Jane, or a pinch of snuff, to comfort me under all this, ‘pour me donner une contenance,' as Adèle would say; and unfortunately I have neither my cigar-case, nor my snuff-box. «Je veux une fumée, Jane, ou une pincée de tabac à priser, pour me réconforter sous tout cela,« pour me donner une contenance », comme dirait Adèle; et malheureusement je n'ai ni mon étui à cigares, ni ma tabatière. But listen—whisper. Mais écoutez, chuchotez. It is your time now, little tyrant, but it will be mine presently; and when once I have fairly seized you, to have and to hold, I'll just—figuratively speaking—attach you to a chain like this” (touching his watch-guard). C'est votre temps maintenant, petit tyran, mais ce sera le mien maintenant; et quand une fois que je t'aurai bien saisi, pour avoir et pour tenir, je vais juste - au sens figuré - t'attacher à une chaîne comme celle-ci »(touchant son garde-montre). “Yes, bonny wee thing, I'll wear you in my bosom, lest my jewel I should tyne.” «Oui, mon petit truc, je te porterai dans ma poitrine, de peur que mon bijou ne me tienne. He said this as he helped me to alight from the carriage, and while he afterwards lifted out Adèle, I entered the house, and made good my retreat upstairs. Il a dit cela en m'aidant à descendre de la voiture, et pendant qu'il soulevait Adèle par la suite, je suis entré dans la maison et j'ai fait ma retraite à l'étage.

He duly summoned me to his presence in the evening. Il m'a dûment convoqué en sa présence dans la soirée.

I had prepared an occupation for him; for I was determined not to spend the whole time in a tête-à-tête conversation. I had prepared an occupation for him; for I was determined not to spend the whole time in a tête-à-tête conversation. J'avais préparé une occupation pour lui; car j'étais déterminé à ne pas passer tout mon temps en tête-à-tête. Gli avevo preparato un'occupazione, perché ero deciso a non passare tutto il tempo in una conversazione tête-à-tête. I remembered his fine voice; I knew he liked to sing—good singers generally do. I was no vocalist myself, and, in his fastidious judgment, no musician, either; but I delighted in listening when the performance was good. Je n'étais pas un chanteur moi-même, et, selon son jugement fastidieux, pas non plus musicien; mais je suis ravi d'écouter quand la performance est bonne. No sooner had twilight, that hour of romance, began to lower her blue and starry banner over the lattice, than I rose, opened the piano, and entreated him, for the love of heaven, to give me a song. A peine le crépuscule, cette heure de romance, commença-t-il à abaisser sa bannière bleue et étoilée sur le treillis, que je me levai, ouvris le piano et le conjurai, pour l'amour du ciel, de me donner une chanson. He said I was a capricious witch, and that he would rather sing another time; but I averred that no time was like the present. Il a dit que j'étais une sorcière capricieuse et qu'il préférait chanter une autre fois; mais j'ai affirmé qu'aucun temps n'était comme le présent.

“Did I like his voice?” he asked. «Ai-je aimé sa voix? Il a demandé.

“Very much.”  I was not fond of pampering that susceptible vanity of his; but for once, and from motives of expediency, I would e'en soothe and stimulate it. "Beaucoup." Je n'aimais pas choyer cette vanité sensible de la sienne; mais pour une fois, et pour des raisons d'opportunité, je voudrais l'apaiser et le stimuler. “Then, Jane, you must play the accompaniment.” "Alors, Jane, tu dois jouer l'accompagnement."

“Very well, sir, I will try.”

I did try, but was presently swept off the stool and denominated “a little bungler.”  Being pushed unceremoniously to one side—which was precisely what I wished—he usurped my place, and proceeded to accompany himself: for he could play as well as sing. J'ai essayé, mais j'ai été actuellement balayé du tabouret et appelé «un petit gaillard». Poussé sans cérémonie de côté - ce que je souhaitais précisément - il usurpait ma place et se mit à s'accompagner: car il pouvait jouer aussi bien que chanter.

I hied me to the window-recess. And while I sat there and looked out on the still trees and dim lawn, to a sweet air was sung in mellow tones the following strain:— And while I sat there and looked out on the still trees and dim lawn, to a sweet air was sung in mellow tones the following strain:— Et pendant que j'étais assis là et que je regardais dehors les arbres immobiles et la pelouse sombre, un air doux a été chanté dans des tons doux la tension suivante: -

“The truest love that ever heart Felt at its kindled core, Did through each vein, in quickened start, The tide of being pour. «L'amour le plus vrai qui ait jamais ressenti le cœur à son cœur enflammé, A travers chaque veine, dans un départ accéléré, La marée d'être versée.

Her coming was my hope each day, Her parting was my pain; The chance that did her steps delay Was ice in every vein. Sa venue était mon espoir chaque jour, sa séparation était ma douleur; La chance qui a retardé ses pas était de la glace dans toutes les veines.

I dreamed it would be nameless bliss, As I loved, loved to be; And to this object did I press As blind as eagerly. J'ai rêvé que ce serait un bonheur sans nom, Comme j'aimais, aimais être; Et j'ai appuyé sur cet objet avec autant d'aveugle.

But wide as pathless was the space That lay our lives between, And dangerous as the foamy race Of ocean-surges green. Mais aussi large que sans chemin était l'espace qui séparait nos vies, Et dangereux comme la race écumeuse de l'océan-surgit au vert.

And haunted as a robber-path Through wilderness or wood; For Might and Right, and Woe and Wrath, Between our spirits stood. Et hanté comme un sentier de brigands A travers le désert ou la forêt, Car le Droit et la Droite, le Malheur et la Colère, S'opposaient à nos esprits.

I dangers dared; I hindrance scorned; I omens did defy: Whatever menaced, harassed, warned, I passed impetuous by. J'ai osé les dangers; J'empêche méprisé; J'ai défié: tout ce qui était menacé, harcelé, averti, je passais impétueusement.

On sped my rainbow, fast as light; I flew as in a dream; For glorious rose upon my sight That child of Shower and Gleam. Mon arc-en-ciel filait, rapide comme la lumière ; je volais comme dans un rêve ; car glorieux était l'enfant de la pluie et de l'éclat qui s'offrait à ma vue.

Still bright on clouds of suffering dim Shines that soft, solemn joy; Nor care I now, how dense and grim Disasters gather nigh. Cette joie douce et solennelle brille encore sur les nuages de la souffrance, et je ne me soucie plus de savoir comment les désastres s'accumulent.

I care not in this moment sweet, Though all I have rushed o'er Should come on pinion, strong and fleet, Proclaiming vengeance sore: Je ne me soucie pas en ce moment doux, bien que tout ce que je me suis précipité devrait venir sur pignon, fort et rapide, proclamant la vengeance douloureuse: Though haughty Hate should strike me down, Right, bar approach to me, And grinding Might, with furious frown, Swear endless enmity. Même si la haine hautaine me frappe, Le droit s'approche de moi, Et la puissance, avec un froncement de sourcils furieux, Jure une inimitié sans fin.

My love has placed her little hand With noble faith in mine, And vowed that wedlock's sacred band Our nature shall entwine. Mon amour a placé sa petite main dans la mienne avec une noble foi, et a fait le vœu que le lien sacré du mariage unisse notre nature. My love has sworn, with sealing kiss, With me to live—to die; I have at last my nameless bliss. Mon amour a juré, avec un baiser de scellement, Avec moi de vivre - de mourir; J'ai enfin mon bonheur sans nom. As I love—loved am I!”

He rose and came towards me, and I saw his face all kindled, and his full falcon-eye flashing, and tenderness and passion in every lineament. He rose and came towards me, and I saw his face all kindled, and his full falcon-eye flashing, and tenderness and passion in every lineament. Il se leva et vint vers moi, et je vis son visage tout enflammé, et son œil de faucon plein clignoter, et la tendresse et la passion dans chaque linéament.

I quailed momentarily—then I rallied. J'ai brièvement tremblé - puis je me suis rallié. Soft scene, daring demonstration, I would not have; and I stood in peril of both: a weapon of defence must be prepared—I whetted my tongue: as he reached me, I asked with asperity, “whom he was going to marry now?” Soft scene, daring demonstration, I would not have; and I stood in peril of both: a weapon of defence must be prepared—I whetted my tongue: as he reached me, I asked with asperity, “whom he was going to marry now?” Scène douce, démonstration audacieuse, je n'en aurais pas; et je me trouvais en péril l'un et l'autre: il fallait préparer une arme de défense - je me suis aiguisé la langue: en me rejoignant, j'ai demandé avec aspérité, «avec qui il allait épouser maintenant?

“That was a strange question to be put by his darling Jane.” «C'était une question étrange à poser par sa chérie Jane.

“Indeed!

I considered it a very natural and necessary one: he had talked of his future wife dying with him. Je trouvais cela très naturel et nécessaire: il avait parlé de la mort de sa future épouse avec lui. What did he mean by such a pagan idea? I had no intention of dying with him—he might depend on that.” Je n'avais aucune intention de mourir avec lui - il pourrait en dépendre.

“Oh, all he longed, all he prayed for, was that I might live with him! «Oh, tout ce qu'il désirait, tout ce pour quoi il priait, c'était que je puisse vivre avec lui!

Death was not for such as I.” La mort n'était pas pour un tel que moi.

“Indeed it was: I had as good a right to die when my time came as he had: but I should bide that time, and not be hurried away in a suttee.” «En effet, c'était le cas: j'avais aussi bien le droit de mourir le moment venu que lui: mais je devrais attendre ce moment-là et ne pas être précipité dans un suttee.

“Would I forgive him for the selfish idea, and prove my pardon by a reconciling kiss?” «Est-ce que je lui pardonnerais l'idée égoïste et lui prouverais mon pardon par un baiser de réconciliation?

“No: I would rather be excused.”

Here I heard myself apostrophised as a “hard little thing;” and it was added, “any other woman would have been melted to marrow at hearing such stanzas crooned in her praise.” Ici, je me suis entendu apostrophisé comme une «petite chose dure»; et il a été ajouté, "n'importe quelle autre femme aurait été fondue en moelle en entendant de telles strophes chantées dans ses louanges."

I assured him I was naturally hard—very flinty, and that he would often find me so; and that, moreover, I was determined to show him divers rugged points in my character before the ensuing four weeks elapsed: he should know fully what sort of a bargain he had made, while there was yet time to rescind it. Je lui ai assuré que j'étais naturellement dur - très silex, et qu'il me trouverait souvent ainsi; et que, de plus, j'étais déterminé à lui montrer divers points durs de mon caractère avant que les quatre semaines suivantes ne se soient écoulées: il devrait savoir parfaitement quelle sorte de marché il avait fait, alors qu'il était encore temps de le résilier.

“Would I be quiet and talk rationally?” «Est-ce que je serais calme et parlerais rationnellement?»

“I would be quiet if he liked, and as to talking rationally, I flattered myself I was doing that now.” "Je me tairais s'il le voulait, et pour ce qui est de parler rationnellement, je me flattais de le faire maintenant."

He fretted, pished, and pshawed. Il s'inquiétait, piaillait et poussait.

“Very good,” I thought; “you may fume and fidget as you please: but this is the best plan to pursue with you, I am certain. «Très bien», ai-je pensé; «Vous pouvez fumer et vous agiter à votre guise: mais c'est le meilleur plan à poursuivre avec vous, j'en suis certain. I like you more than I can say; but I'll not sink into a bathos of sentiment: and with this needle of repartee I'll keep you from the edge of the gulf too; and, moreover, maintain by its pungent aid that distance between you and myself most conducive to our real mutual advantage.” Je t'aime plus que je ne peux le dire; mais je ne sombrerai pas dans un bain de sentiment: et avec cette aiguille de répartition, je vous garderai aussi du bord du golfe; et, de plus, maintenez par son aide piquante cette distance entre vous et moi la plus propice à notre réel avantage mutuel. From less to more, I worked him up to considerable irritation; then, after he had retired, in dudgeon, quite to the other end of the room, I got up, and saying, “I wish you good-night, sir,” in my natural and wonted respectful manner, I slipped out by the side-door and got away. De moins en plus, je l'ai travaillé jusqu'à une irritation considérable; puis, après qu'il se soit retiré, en dudgeon, tout à fait à l'autre bout de la pièce, je me suis levé et en disant: «Je vous souhaite une bonne nuit, monsieur», à ma manière respectueuse naturelle et habituelle, je me suis échappé par le porte latérale et s'est enfui.

The system thus entered on, I pursued during the whole season of probation; and with the best success. Le système ainsi entré en vigueur, je l'ai poursuivi pendant toute la saison de probation; et avec le meilleur succès.

He was kept, to be sure, rather cross and crusty; but on the whole I could see he was excellently entertained, and that a lamb-like submission and turtle-dove sensibility, while fostering his despotism more, would have pleased his judgment, satisfied his common-sense, and even suited his taste less. Il était, certes, plutôt croisé et croustillant; mais dans l'ensemble je pouvais voir qu'il était excellemment diverti, et qu'une soumission semblable à l'agneau et une sensibilité de tourterelle, tout en favorisant davantage son despotisme, auraient plu à son jugement, satisfait son bon sens, et même convenaient moins à son goût.

In other people's presence I was, as formerly, deferential and quiet; any other line of conduct being uncalled for: it was only in the evening conferences I thus thwarted and afflicted him. En présence des autres, j'étais, comme autrefois, respectueux et calme; toute autre ligne de conduite étant déplacée: ce ne fut que lors des conférences du soir que je le contraris et l'affligeais. He continued to send for me punctually the moment the clock struck seven; though when I appeared before him now, he had no such honeyed terms as “love” and “darling” on his lips: the best words at my service were “provoking puppet,” “malicious elf,” “sprite,” “changeling,” &c.  For caresses, too, I now got grimaces; for a pressure of the hand, a pinch on the arm; for a kiss on the cheek, a severe tweak of the ear. Il a continué à me faire venir ponctuellement au moment où l'horloge sonnait sept heures; cependant quand je suis apparu devant lui maintenant, il n'avait pas de termes aussi mielleux que «amour» et «chéri» sur ses lèvres: les meilleurs mots à mon service étaient «provoquer une marionnette», «elfe malveillant», «sprite», «changeling, ”& C. Pour les caresses aussi, j'ai maintenant des grimaces; pour une pression de la main, une pincée sur le bras; pour un baiser sur la joue, un ajustement sévère de l'oreille. It was all right: at present I decidedly preferred these fierce favours to anything more tender. It was all right: at present I decidedly preferred these fierce favours to anything more tender. Tout allait bien: pour le moment je préférais décidément ces faveurs farouches à quelque chose de plus tendre. Mrs. Fairfax, I saw, approved me: her anxiety on my account vanished; therefore I was certain I did well. Mme Fairfax, je vis, m'approuva: son inquiétude à mon sujet s'évanouit; j'étais donc certain d'avoir bien fait. Meantime, Mr. Rochester affirmed I was wearing him to skin and bone, and threatened awful vengeance for my present conduct at some period fast coming. Meantime, Mr. Rochester affirmed I was wearing him to skin and bone, and threatened awful vengeance for my present conduct at some period fast coming. Pendant ce temps, M. Rochester a affirmé que je le portais jusqu'à la peau et les os, et a menacé de me venger d'une terrible vengeance pour ma conduite actuelle à une certaine période à venir. I laughed in my sleeve at his menaces. J'ai ri dans ma manche de ses menaces. “I can keep you in reasonable check now,” I reflected; “and I don't doubt to be able to do it hereafter: if one expedient loses its virtue, another must be devised.” «Je peux vous garder en contrôle raisonnable maintenant,» ai-je réfléchi; «Et je ne doute pas de pouvoir le faire plus tard: si un expédient perd sa vertu, il faut en concevoir un autre. Yet after all my task was not an easy one; often I would rather have pleased than teased him. Pourtant, après tout, ma tâche n'était pas facile; souvent j'aurais préféré plaire plutôt que le taquiner.

My future husband was becoming to me my whole world; and more than the world: almost my hope of heaven. Mon futur mari devenait pour moi tout mon monde ; et plus que le monde : presque mon espoir de paradis. He stood between me and every thought of religion, as an eclipse intervenes between man and the broad sun. Il se tenait entre moi et toute pensée de religion, comme une éclipse intervient entre l'homme et le grand soleil. I could not, in those days, see God for His creature: of whom I had made an idol. Je ne pouvais pas, en ce temps-là, voir Dieu pour sa créature: dont j'avais fait une idole.